The main objective of this study was to analyze the Functional Fitness of the elderly when practicing aquagym. The study involved the analyses of a group of 18 female individuals with mean age of 65.5± 5.84, practicing aquagym at the Center of Excellence in Physical Activity (CEAF). The range of tests used in this study was taken from the Rikli and Jones Methods (1999) and adapted by Morrow Jr. (2003), and consisted of analyzing the strengths, flexibilities, agility and balance of the upper and lower limbs, taking into consideration their aerobic resistance and body composition. From the results of these tests we can observe that everyone attained an average or above score during elbow contractions, touching toes whilst seated, standing up and walking, and gained low scores when marching statically for two minutes and bending their arms behind their backs. On the BMI (Body Mass Index) tests, 65% of the subjects who were overweight or obese scored lower in comparison to the remaining 35% with normal BMI. Aquagym activities can improve the elderly's functional fitness, especially regarding the flexibility and mobility of upper and lower limbs.


The Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea have been depicted as a place of sexual freedom ever since these small atolls in the southwest Pacific were made famous by anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the early twentieth century. Today in the era of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, how do Trobrianders respond to public health interventions that link their cultural practices to the risk of HIV? How do they weigh HIV prevention messages of abstinence, fidelity, and condom use against traditional sexual practices that strengthen inter-clan relationships in a gift economy? Written by an anthropologist who has direct ties to the Trobriands through marriage and who has been involved in Papua New Guinea's national response to the HIV epidemic since the mid-1990s, Islands of Love, Islands of Risk is an unusual insider ethnography. Katherine Lepani describes in vivid detail the cultural practices of regeneration, from the traditional dance called Wosimwaya to the elaborate exchanges that are part of the mortuary feasts called sagali. Focusing on the sexual freedom of young people, the author reveals the social value of sexual practice. By bringing cultural context and lived experience to the fore, the book addresses the failure of standardised public health programs to bridge the persistent gap between HIV awareness and prevention. The book offers insights on the interplay between global and local understandings of gender, sexuality, and disease and suggests the possibility of viewing sexuality in terms other than risk. Islands of Love, Islands of Risk illustrates the contribution of ethnographic research methodology in facilitating dialogue between different ways of knowing. As a contemporary perspective on Malinowski's classic accounts of Trobriand sexuality, the book reaffirms the Trobriands' central place in the study of anthropology. This book is the recipient of the annual Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize for the best project in the area of medicine.


In a series of experiments, a retraining paradigm was used to test the effects of attitudes and stereotypes on individuals' motivation and cognitive capacity in stereotype-threatening contexts. Women trained to have a more positive math attitude exhibited increased math motivation (Study 1). This effect was not observed for men but was magnified among women when negative stereotypes were either primed subtly (Study 2) or indirectly reinforced (Study 3). Although attitudes had no effect on working memory capacity, women retrained to associate their gender with being good at math exhibited increased working memory capacity (Studies 3 and 4), which in turn mediated increased math performance (Study 4) in a stereotype-threatening context. Results suggest that although positive attitudes can motivate stigmatized individuals to engage with threatening domains, stereotypes need to be retrained to give them the cognitive capacity critical for success. Implications for interventions to reduce stereotype threat are discussed.


An increasing proportion of people choose to follow a vegetarian diet. To date, however, little is known about if and how individual differences in personality relate to following a vegetarian diet. In the two studies presented here, we aimed to (1) estimate the prevalence of self-defined vegetarians in two waves of a German representative sample (N = 4,496 and 5,125, respectively), (2) analyze the effect of socio-demographic variables on dietary behavior, and (3) examine individual differences between vegetarians and meat eaters in personality traits, political attitudes, and health-related variables. In Study 1, a strict definition of vegetarians was used, while in Study 2 the definition was laxer, to include also individuals who only predominantly followed a vegetarian diet. The prevalence of self-defined vegetarians was 2.74% in Study 1, and 5.97% in Study 2. Participants who were female, younger, and more educated were more likely to report following a vegetarian diet in both studies, and vegetarians had higher income as compared to meat eaters in Study 2. We also found differences between vegetarians and meat eaters with regard to personality traits, political attitudes, and health-related variables. Stepwise logistic regression analyses showed a unique effect beyond socio-demographic variables for openness (Studies 1 and 2), conscientiousness (Study 1), trust (Study 2), conservatism (Studies 1 and 2), and level of interest in politics (Study 1) on diet: Individuals with higher scores in openness and political interest had a higher probability of being vegetarian, whereas people with higher scores in conscientiousness and conservatism had a smaller likelihood of being vegetarian. We conclude that there are individual differences between vegetarians and meat eaters in socio-demographics, personality traits, and political attitudes.


This paper summarises parts of the research outcomes of a university-government collaborative project aiming at determining the capacity and reliability of veneer-based structural products manufactured from early to midrotation (juvenile) hardwood plantations logs. Two species planted for solid timber end-products (Eucalyptus cloeziana and Corymbia citriodora) and one species traditionally grown for pulpwood (Eucalyptus globulus) were studied for the manufacture of the new products. Focus of this paper is on LVL beams. To cost-effectively determine the nominal design bending strengths of the new beams, a numerical model was developed. The model was found to accurately predict the strength of LVL beams with an average predicted to experimental ratio of 1.00 with a low coefficient of variation of 0.10. Using an established probabilistic database of the material properties of the veneered resources as model input, Monte-Carlo simulations were then performed. The design strength of the new LVL beams was established and found to be comparable to, and in some cases up to 2.5 times higher than, the ones of commercially available softwood products. Recommendations are also made in the paper on the appropriate capacity factors to be used for various service categories of structures. The proposed capacity factors were found to be 5% to 12% lower than the ones currently used in Australia for beams manufactured from mature softwood logs.


We have fabricated a type of unique single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor, in which the channel length is only 90 nm and aluminum and gold are used as its drain and source electrodes, respectively. The channel conductance oscillations caused by single-electron tunneling through the asymmetric barriers at the drain and source contacts are observed up to 100 K. Above 100 K, the tunneling fades away, and thermionic emission dominates the conductance at sufficiently negative gate voltages. At room temperature, the device shows diode-like characteristics with a maximum current rectification ratio of approximately 10(4).


The mechanical resistance of UV irradiated optical fibers has been investigated by dynamic fatigue tests. The intrinsic Weibull distribution of the pristine and chemically stripped fiber were almost identical. The high germanium doped fiber was homogeneously irradiate using a KrF excimer with different pulse energy densities and different total doses, both corresponding to typical Bragg grating fabrication conditions. The Weibull distribution of the irradiated fibers depends on the pulse energy density and the total irradiation dose. Both a strong broadening and a reduction of the fiber strength were observed. With increasing total irradiation dose, the median breaking stress of the fiber decreases from 4.8 GPa for the pristine fiber to 2.5, 2.2, and 1.8 GPa for pulse energy densities of 50, 100 and 200 mJ/cm2, respectively, for a total dose of 1 kJ/cm2. At higher total irradiation levels the median breaking stress and hence the strain were found to be independent of laser fluence with a value of 2.7 GPa for 200 mJ/cm2.


The response of contemporary trees to strong winds (gale force and greater) is repeatable and well defined, as shown by field studies in southeast Britain after the October 1987 and January 1990 events, combined with a wide-ranging literature survey. It involves the general processes of windprune, windsnap, windtilt and windthrow. Windprune depends on a range of physical and physiological mechanisms and leads to the loss of axial symmetry by a tree, especially where open-grown at an exposed site. Windsnap, windtilt and windthrow see the fall of a tree, as the result of either the breaking of the trunk or partial to full uprooting. Damage of this sort in a forest or woodland ranges from single trees, to scattered groups (swathes), to general devastation. In the main, perfectly healthy trees in youth or early maturity are affected by windsnap, windtilt and windthrow during strong wind events. Their fall-direction is readily established using the position of the rootball or snapped end of the trunk, the alignment of a broken trunk and stump, the taper of the trunk, the position on the trunk of relatively crowded branches (tree crown), and the position of the typically upward acute angle between branch and trunk. Contemporary trees overthrown by wind fall in a direction close to the wind. The variance of fall-directions in a sample due to a single wind event is observed to increase with the size of the woodland area from which the sample is drawn, but appears to become constant for sample areas in excess of 10 $^{2}$ -10 $^{3}$ ha. Because this constant variance is relatively small, the mean fall-direction becomes, in contemporary woodlands and forests, a trustworthy indicator of the general direction of the strong wind which felled the trees. Rooted peats of mid Flandrian age (ca. 6000-2500 conventional radiocarbon years) which include prostrate trees are widely present among the post-glacial estuarine silts exposed along the shores of the Severn Estuary and the inner Bristol Channel. The trees when overthrown appear in the main to have been perfectly healthy and in youth to early maturity. Oak and alder are the predominant species, and their fall-directions, as judged from the criteria listed from contemporary forests and woodlands, and measured at 18 horizons distributed over 14 sites, are highly coherent both locally and over the area as a whole. Using a model in which the variance of fall-directions observed for a single event is combined with a probability density for event mean directions, it appears that the trees fossilized in the peats were felled by strong winds which blew chiefly toward a range of directions from N.N.W. clockwise to S.S.E. A westerly zonal air-flow is indicated but, compared to the contemporary wind regime as measured at Avonmouth, the strong winds came from a wider range of directions than now, with a greater emphasis on both southerly and westerly to northwesterly blows.


"Bible typology" is the systematic classification of Bible terms, concepts, and people that have common characteristics or traits. "A Dictionary of Bible Types" examines over 1,000 types, shadows, signs, symbols, pictures, figures, and patterns in the Bible with topics ranging from "Aaron" to "Yoke." This useful resource for teachers, study groups, and pastors provides explanations for over 6,000 different Scripture passages.- Examines the over 1,000 different types in over 6,000 different Bible passages.- Learn new truths about the Bible that may have been hidden or unclear before.- Discover how knowledge of certain traits and types can lead to understanding the Bible more deeply.


The brain effortlessly solves blind source separation (BSS) problems, but the algorithm it uses remains elusive. In signal processing, linear BSS problems are often solved by Independent Component Analysis (ICA). To serve as a model of a biological circuit, the ICA neural network (NN) must satisfy at least the following requirements: 1. The algorithm must operate in the online setting where data samples are streamed one at a time, and the NN computes the sources on the fly without storing any significant fraction of the data in memory. 2. The synaptic weight update is local, i.e., it depends only on the biophysical variables present in the vicinity of a synapse. Here, we propose a novel objective function for ICA from which we derive a biologically plausible NN, including both the neural architecture and the synaptic learning rules. Interestingly, our algorithm relies on modulating synaptic plasticity by the total activity of the output neurons. In the brain, this could be accomplished by neuromodulators, extracellular calcium, local field potential, or nitric oxide.


BACKGROUND
Treatment of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is an essential component of tuberculosis control and elimination. The current standard regimen of isoniazid for 9 months is efficacious but is limited by toxicity and low rates of treatment completion.

METHODS
We conducted an open-label, randomized noninferiority trial comparing 3 months of directly observed once-weekly therapy with rifapentine (900 mg) plus isoniazid (900 mg) (combination-therapy group) with 9 months of self-administered daily isoniazid (300 mg) (isoniazid-only group) in subjects at high risk for tuberculosis. Subjects were enrolled from the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Spain and followed for 33 months. The primary end point was confirmed tuberculosis, and the noninferiority margin was 0.75%.

RESULTS
In the modified intention-to-treat analysis, tuberculosis developed in 7 of 3986 subjects in the combination-therapy group (cumulative rate, 0.19%) and in 15 of 3745 subjects in the isoniazid-only group (cumulative rate, 0.43%), for a difference of 0.24 percentage points. Rates of treatment completion were 82.1% in the combination-therapy group and 69.0% in the isoniazid-only group (P<0.001). Rates of permanent drug discontinuation owing to an adverse event were 4.9% in the combination-therapy group and 3.7% in the isoniazid-only group (P=0.009). Rates of investigator-assessed drug-related hepatotoxicity were 0.4% and 2.7%, respectively (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
The use of rifapentine plus isoniazid for 3 months was as effective as 9 months of isoniazid alone in preventing tuberculosis and had a higher treatment-completion rate. Long-term safety monitoring will be important. (Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; PREVENT TB ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00023452.).


This essay explores Adam Smith's The Principles which lead and direct Philosophical Enquiries; illustrated by the History of Astronomy, written in the early 1750s, and unpublished in his lifetime, though, near the end of his life, he suggested that it might have some merit. It was published amongst other posthumous papers in 1795. Smith's Astronomy arises from the most intellectually riveting aspect of natural philosophy in the first half of the eighteenth century, Newtonian celestial mechanics and its analogies in the social and political worlds, and it explicitly engages with the most riveting cultural question of the same period, the theory of the sublime. Written shortly before Edmund Burke's Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), Smith's essay produces an aesthetics of the astronomical universe: it is, in part, a celebration of Newtonianism and, in part, a polemic against the unruly or un-masterable imagination of the Romantic sublime. In 1726, Newton's Principia Mathematica was translated into English, though his major theoretical insights and his mathematical inventions had over the previous twenty years already become part of polite conversation and salon demonstrations (Waters 121-154). The natural philosophy of Newtonianism served as a model for social and moral theory, a "Social Newtonianism" whose central cultural claim was the correspondence between Newtonian simplicity and system, and social relations: the beauty of the universal arrangement of gravitational attraction, "by whose simple power / the universe exists" (Glover 1. 176), made everything else explicable, either as an effect or an analogy. Having reconciled the enormity of space with the orderliness of its system, why should Newton's system not found social happiness as well? J.T. Desaguliers, the optimistic experimental demonstrator for the Royal Society, puts forward such an analogy in the preface to his The Newtonian System of the WORLD, the best Model of Government: An Allegorical Poem (1728): "The Limited Monarchy, whereby our Liberties, Rights, and Privileges are so well secured to us, as to make us happier than all the Nations round about us, seems to be a lively Image of our System; and the Happiness that we enjoy under His present Majesty's Government, makes us sensible, that ATTRACTION is now as universal in the Political, as in the Philosophical World." His poem, which, like other introductions to Newton published in the first half of the century, aimed to entertain and teach, is written with confidence that the newly explicable universe would teach us not only how to make sense of the heavens, but also how to live on earth. The Newtonian System of the WORLD, celebrating the new King George II, offers not only a history of astronomy (hinged to the poem through a series of explanatory footnotes), but of the parallel worlds of cosmic knowledge and good (that is, British) government. Desaguliers dismisses Descartes' theory of celestial vortices as dumbed-down science. "An easy, probable, Philosophy; / No conjuring Terms or Geometrick Spells; / His gentle Readers might be Beaux and Belles" (ll. 97-9). The "bold Britons," on the other hand, "who all tyrants hate, / In sciences as well as in the State" (ll. 100-1) condemn Descartes' theory. Gravitational attraction is the principle of balance at work, Desaguliers writes, maintaining the equilibrium of the planets through a law that "Directs but not Destroys, their Liberty" (ll. 17-20). Throughout the first half of the eighteenth century, Newton's universe provided an image for an equanimous social coherence underpinning the apparent disorderliness of human endeavour. Richard Glover, who became a respected poet and member of the political world (rumoured at one time to be the author of the "Junius" letters), had as a sixteen-year-old described Newton in his "Poem on Isaac Newton" as having "open'd nature's adamantine gates, / And to our minds her secret powers expos'd" (ll. …


This paper deals with interactivity's effects on certain instances of experiential iconicity in Gregory Weir's digital reading game Silent Conversation . Two new terms are proposed in this paper: 'shared experiential iconicity' and 'direct experiential iconicity'. The former term attempts to account for instances in which a reader's interaction with signs in digital text enables a simulation of a text's character's interpreted emotive response to a given situation in the text. The latter term is one that describes a hypothetical situation in which signs are linked iconically to a reader's psychological state during reading through a number of (bodily) measurements. This would lead to a continuous feedback loop being established between readers' psychological states and signs, which could prove beneficial for readers with reading disorders.


This work examines the validity of the two main assumptions of relative risk-aversion models of educational inequality. We compare the Breen-Goldthorpe (BG) and the Breen-Yaish (BY) models in terms of their assumptions about status maintenance motives and beliefs about the occupational risks associated with educational decisions. Concerning the first assumption, our contribution is threefold. First, we criticise the assumption of the BG model that families aim only at avoiding downward mobility and are insensitive to the prospects of upward mobility. We argue that the loss-aversion assumption proposed by BY is a more realistic formulation of status-maintenance motives. Second, we propose and implement a novel empirical approach to assess the validity of the loss-aversion assumption. Third, we present empirical results based on a sample of families of lower secondary school leavers indicating that families are sensitive to the prospects of both upward and downward mobility, and that the loss-aversion hypothesis of BY is empirically supported. As regards the risky choice assumption, we argue that families may not believe that more ambitious educational options entail occupational risks relative to less ambitious ones. We present empirical evidence indicating that, in France, the academic path is not perceived as a risky option. We conclude that, if the restrictive assumptions of the BG model are removed, relative-risk aversion needs not drive educational inequalities.


An automated pulmonary nodule detection system is necessary to help radiologist to identify and detect the nodules at ea rly stage. In this paper, a novel pulmonary nodule detection system is proposed using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) based on hybrid features consist of 2D and 3D Geometric and Intensity based statistical features. The lung volume is segmented using thresholding, 3D connected component labeling, contour correction and morphological operators. The candidate nodules are extracted and pruned based on the rules that are built using characteristics of nodules . The 2D and 3D Geometric features and Intensity Based Statistical features are extracted and used to train a Neural Network. The proposed Computer-Aided Diagnostic (CAD) system is tested and validated using standard dataset of Lung Image Consortium Database (LIDC). The results obtained from proposed CAD system are good as compared to existing CAD systems. The sensitivity of 96.95% is achieved with accuracy of 96.68%.


Values motivate consumer behaviour. The objective of this research is to show the impact of cultural differences on the consumer value system. The Netherlands and Chile were compared to identify to what extent differences between both cultures have an effect on what consumers value, and how this influences their preferences.


Periodic assessments provide an excellent opportunity for obstetricians and gynecologists to provide preventive screening, evaluation, and counseling. This Committee Opinion provides the recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Gynecologic Practice for routine assessments in primary and preventive care for women based on age and risk factors.


Factors affecting repeated sprint ability (RSA) were evaluated in a mixed-longitudinal sample of 48 elite basketball players 14 to 19 years of age (16.1±1.7 years). Players were observed on six occasions during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons. Three basketball-specific field tests were administered on each occasion: the Shuttle Sprint Test (SST) for RSA, the Vertical Jump (VJ) for lower body explosive strength (power), and the Interval Shuttle Run Test (ISRT) for interval endurance capacity. Height and weight were measured; body composition was estimated (percent fat, lean body mass). Multilevel modeling of RSA development curve was used with 32 players (16.0±1.7 years) who had two or more observations. The 16 players (16.1±1.8 years) measured on only one occasion were used as a control group to evaluate the appropriateness of the model. Age, lower body explosive strength, and interval endurance capacity significantly contributed to RSA (p < .05). RSA improved with age from 14-17 years (p < .05) and reached a plateau at 17-19 years. Predicted RSA did not significantly differ from measured RSA in the control group (p > .05). The results suggest a potentially important role for the training of lower body explosive strength and interval endurance capacity in the development of RSA among youth basketball players. Age-specific reference values for RSA of youth players may assist basketball coaches in setting appropriate goals for individual players.


We generate optical beams with rotating intensity blades by employing the moiré technique. We show that the number of the blades and the speed and direction of rotation can be controlled at ease with a spatial light modulator, while no mechanical movement or phase-sensitive interference is involved. By applying a noninstantaneous self-focusing nonlinearity, we demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally self-trapping of such optical propelling beams.


BACKGROUND
Calcium plays an integral role in olfactory signal transduction, including feedback inhibition. Sodium citrate acts as a calcium sequestrant and when applied intranasally, reduces free calcium available for feedback inhibition, which should theoretically improve olfaction. We aimed to investigate the utility of intranasal sodium citrate in improving the olfactory function of hyposmic patients, by performing this prospective placebo controlled, single-blind trial.

METHODOLOGY
Monorhinal olfactory testing for odour identification and threshold was performed in hyposmic patients using Sniffin Sticks, before and after treatment. Treatment consisted of one-off sodium citrate solution application to the olfactory cleft. Sodium chloride solution was applied to the contralateral olfactory cleft, which therefore acted as placebo control. Patients were blinded to the side of sodium citrate application, and side of treatment was randomized between patients.

RESULTS
57 patients participated, aged 22-79. Causes of hyposmia included: post-viral (7); posttraumatic (10); sinonasal disease (30) and idiopathic (10). Compared with placebo, there was significant improvement in the identification scores of participants with post-viral hyposmia, following sodium citrate treatment. No significant change in olfactory function occurred for either identification or threshold in any other aetiological subgroup.

CONCLUSIONS
Intranasal sodium citrate may be of benefit to patients with post-viral hyposmia.


OISS is covering the cost for your federal income tax return ($39.95) if you file using Sprintax. You must access Sprintax via the links on our website (see below) to benefit from this discount. There are a limited number of Sprintax codes offered by Yale for each tax year. Please file as early as possible. Although we usually have enough codes for all of our students and scholars, please note that we cannot guarantee a Sprintax discount code, especially after the April tax deadline.


Paul Mason is an interesting figure. UK's former Chancellor, George Osborne, recently described him as 'revolutionary Marxist' and compared him with Micky Mouse in a speech to the House of Commons . Trying to read this positively, Mason is undoubtedly a very progressive and energetic figure on the left in the UK. At a time when journalists claim to be independent and value-free and are simultaneously unable to conduct proper and informative interviews with politicians due to their pseudo-critical and aggressive style , it is refreshing to see journalists like Paul Mason in the arena. He is able to conduct critical, investigative and in-depth journalism and has proven his ability for many years at the BBC and until recently as Economics Editor at Channel 4 News. In order 'to escape the constraints of impartiality rules governing broadcasters' and to engage more fully in the debates of the political left, Mason decided to leave Channel 4 News and now works as a freelance journalist . Mason is quite active and well-known on the political left. He recently produced an independent documentary about the crisis in Greece (#ThisIsACoup) , hosts talks with people like Yanis Varoufakis in front of a massive audience , contributes to Labour's new economics series  and is followed by more than 400,000 people on Twitter.


This paper empirically establishes the significant roles of transport costs in price dispersions across regions. We identify and estimate the iceberg-type distance-elastic transport costs as a parameter of a structural model of cross-regional price differentials featuring product delivery decisions. Utilizing a data set of wholesale prices and product delivery patterns of agricultural products in Japan, our structural estimation approach finds large distance elasticities of the transport costs. The result confirms that geographical barriers are an economically significant contributor to the failures of the law of one price.


Previous research has shown uncertainty reduction to be critical in the fuzzy front end of the innovation process, but little attention has been given to the equally important concept of equivocality, although it is a defining characteristic of many front-end projects. To address this research gap, this paper report the results from a longitudinal, multiple case study of four large companies oriented to both product and process innovation. First, our results show that both uncertainty and equivocality is more effectively reduced in successful front-end projects than in unsuccessful ones. Second, the negative consequences of equivocality appear more critical to front-end performance than the consequences following uncertainty. Third, our results show that uncertainty and equivocality are reduced sequentially in successful projects and simultaneously in unsuccessful projects. Finally, uncertainty and equivocality takes longer time to reduce in process innovation projects than in product innovation projects, which is a consequence of the systemic nature of process innovation. Altogether, these findings provide strong implications for managing front-end projects more proficiently.


The February 2015 surveys of expectations conducted by Central Banks with inflation targeting regimes indicate that the simple average growth expectations for 2015 for the eight countries covered has decreased by 0.1%, from 3.2% to 3.1% while the GDP weighted average growth expectation fell by 0.4%, from 1.9% to 1.5%. Inflation expectations for 2015 have increased in the past month, by 0.1% on a simple average basis, from 4.3% to 4.4%, and by 0.3% on a GDP weighted average basis, from 5.0% to 5.3%. Comparing the January and February surveys, expected 2015 growth rose fell in the three largest economies covered in the REVELA database. Growth expectations decreased in Brazil (0.7%), Colombia (0.3%), and Mexico (0.2%). At the same time, they remained stable in Peru (at 4.0%) and increased in Chile (0.1%), Guatemala (0.1%), Paraguay (0.1%), and Uruguay (0.1%). Expected growth now ranges between 4.5% (Colombia) to -0.4% (Brazil). Inflation expectations rose in Brazil (0.6%), Chile (0.2%), Guatemala (0.1%), and Uruguay (0.1%) and fell only in Mexico (0.1%).


Large scale integration of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar PV and wind power, could affect the way in which the power system is planned, operated and controlled. In such systems, it could be desirable to utilize the flexibility of the demand, i.e. demand response (DR), to help maintain the balance between the supply and the demand, and to avoid or defer grid reinforcements. One approach to promote DR could be through the use of hourly electricity tariffs based on electricity prices on the dayahead market. In this context, a PEV could be seen as a flexible load, due to the possibility to schedule its charging. The main purposes of this thesis are to investigate: the impact of PEVs on distribution systems; strategies to schedule the charging and other flexible loads; customers' benefits of scheduling their loads according to these strategies; and the influence of different network tariffs in combination with hourly electricity pricing. Furthermore, the possible synergy between DR and wind power is investigated. The results show a large difference in possible PEV penetration levels between the investigated areas. The distribution system in the commercial area investigated could handle a full PEV penetration without any overloading while the residential distribution system was experiencing transformer overloading even without PEVs. By scheduling the charging in order to minimize the losses, the residential distribution system all cars could be replaced by PEVs without increased peak demand. If instead the day-ahead market prices were used as scheduling signals, 24% of the cars could be replaced by PEVs without increased peak demand. By considering other flexible loads, such as electric space-heating, the residential distribution system would experience a decreased peak demand, if up to 25% of the customers were responsive to day-ahead market prices and if an energy based network tariff was used. For higher shares of responsive customers, the peak demand was increased, due to an increased coincident factor. By using a power based network tariff instead, the peak demand could be reduced even if all customers were responsive. From a customer perspective, a cost reduction of up to approximately 10% could be achieved by actively managing the flexible loads. With PEVs available, a cost reduction of up to 13% could be reached. For customers with large variations in their demand, a power based network tariff would be preferable, while for other customers, the difference in benefits between the network tariffs was found to be small. The possible economic benefit for wind power producers in power systems with DR, was found to be slightly decreased for several price-areas, although the total benefit of all wind power producers was increased. From a customer perspective, the interaction between DR and wind power could lead to a cost reduction for responsive customers in some areas whereas the cost was increased for responsive customers in other areas.


In this paper, we propose a new 2-Dimensional Underwater Barrier Deployment Algorithm (2D-UBDA) ensuring the barrier detection of toxic substances in a river. Our objective is to guarantee a full detection of chemical pollutant sources, while minimizing the deployment cost. To achieve this, first 2D-UBDA determines the potential deployment areas within a predefined target field installation and this, for each pollution source, by using a 3D-propagation model of a substance to predict its molarity in any point within the river. Then, based on an integer linear programming algorithm, 2D-UBDA selects the minimum number of sub-areas in which chemical sensors will be deployed by taking into consideration the intersections between the potential deployment zones of all pollution sources located upstream of the target field installation. To validate our proposal, the Pamplonita river located in Amazon rainforest is used as a case of study. Based on extensive simulations, 2D-UBDA outperforms the basic deployment strategies in terms of number of chemical sensors and successful detection of pollutant.


In multiagent systems (MASs), each agent makes individual decisions but all of them contribute globally to the system evolution. Learning in MASs is difficult since each agent's selection of actions must take place in the presence of other co-learning agents. Moreover, the environmental stochasticity and uncertainties increase exponentially with the increase in the number of agents. Previous works borrow various multiagent coordination mechanisms into deep learning architecture to facilitate multiagent coordination. However, none of them explicitly consider action semantics between agents that different actions have different influences on other agents. In this paper, we propose a novel network architecture, named Action Semantics Network (ASN), that explicitly represents such action semantics between agents. ASN characterizes different actions' influence on other agents using neural networks based on the action semantics between them. ASN can be easily combined with existing deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms to boost their performance. Experimental results on StarCraft II micromanagement and Neural MMO show ASN significantly improves the performance of state-of-the-art DRL approaches compared with several network architectures.


Morphometric relations, feeding habits and dietary shifts of Labeobarbus intermedius in Lake Tana at gulf of Gorgora were studied during the dry season. A total of 250 fish ranging from 13.2 to 43.8 cm total length (TL) and 73.4 to 742.8 g total weight (TW) were randomly sampled from the lake. The data generated from both morphometric parameters were analyzed using SPSS (Version 20) and expressed using least square regression, and stomach content analysis was based on frequency of occurrence and volumetric contributions. The relation between TL and standard length (SL) was linear (SL = 0.802 TL - 0.164) and the relation between TL and TW as well as fork length (FL) and TW was curvilinear and significant (TW = 0.014 TL2.9; TW = 0.029 FL2.8). The results of gut content analysis revealed that about 4.4% of the sampled fish guts were empty and the remaining non empty. Detritus were the most important food item that dominates the bulk by accounting 43.12% of the total volume of the diet. Other important food items in the diet composition of the fish included insects, phytoplankton and gastropods which constituted 17.89, 14.57 and 12.02% to the bulk, respectively. The remaining groups of food items that included zooplankton, macrophyte and nematode were recorded as foods of minor importance in the diet of the fish. The result revealed that there was no visible dietary shift in the diet of L. intermedius in the lake. In conclusion, L. intermedius in Lake Tana shows an isometric growth and was found to be omnivorous in its feeding habit.

 Key words: Detritus, frequency of occurrence, isometric, Labeobarbus intermedius, omnivorous, volumetric composition.


Is there anything wrong with promoting marriage? Is there anything right about promoting marriage? Should an employer endorse marriage? Ought an employer meddle in an employee's private life and marital status? Can companies encourage marriage from within? This article will deal with these important and timely questions. Part I sets out, in detail, the reasons why marriage ought to be promoted, discussing the most recent medical and social science data on the topic, as well as reviewing government support for marriage initiatives. Part II discusses whether it is legal for any employer to promote marriage, setting out the federal guidelines, statutory framework, and case law on marital status discrimination. This section clearly details and distinguishes the case law on marital status discrimination, revealing that marital status discrimination is not the same as endorsing or promoting marriage. Part III questions whether an employer can be concerned about the private lives of its employees. This section discusses concerns about fostering a sexually charged workplace and the problems surrounding a sexually charged corporate culture. Setting forth the corporate effects of fraternization, sexual promiscuity, divorce and cohabitation, this section reveals why a company may want to promote marriage. Finally, Part IV sets forth the case for employer endorsement of marriage. This section offers legal guidelines and suggestions that promote productivity among employees by encouraging them to enter into healthy relationships and healthy marriages. Ultimately, employer endorsement of marriage yields happy and productive employees.


Abstract Two crinoid pluricolumnals from Permian rocks of Timor show similar patterns of external pitting. Platycrinitid sp. preserves circular, parabolic pits that do not cross-cut between columnals, some have raised rims and at least one columnal shows a growth deformity. These pits are interpreted as the trace fossil Oichnus paraboloides Bromley. Crinoid sp. indet. has particularly dense pits cross-cutting columnals on one side of the pluricolumnal only and extending onto the contiguous limestone; it is a Holocene microkarstic solution feature. Care must be taken to separate true bioerosive trace fossils from modern microkarstic features in limestones in the tropics.


Discover the Healing Power of the Wilderness People have moved away from Mother Earth, bringing heartache, pain, and other maladies of the modern age. The self-help movement claims to offer peace and fulfillment to individuals, but this solitary approach takes us only so far. Ultimately, it is in communion with our fellow beings and the natural world that we are made whole. We need to leave the path of Me and follow the path of We. This poetic, evocative story presents the meditations of an ancient Anasazi tribesman who rejects his family and sets off on a journey through the desert. He walks seven paths, each teaching a lesson symbolized by an element of the natural world: light, wind, water, stone, plants, animals, and, finally, the unity of all beings with the Creator. The Seven Paths reveals a source of wisdom, restoration, and renewal familiar to native people but lost to the rest of us, seven elements among nature that combine to mend human hearts.


This research aimed at discovering the effectiveness of learner control design Vs. program control design when developing e-learning multimedia educational computer program of Information Technology subject matter in developing informatics competencies among 10th grade students in Oman Sultanate. The Developmental research method was implemented. Research hypotheses were formulated. Research sample size was (50) students selected two random classes from one purposefully selected school. Then, the sample was divided into two equal groups that were randomly assigned to a Quasi-Excremental design of two experimental groups with pretest and posttest. Two programs were designed using (Elgazzar, 2002) ISD Model: the 1st one Learner Control design (for Experimental group 1), and the 2nd one Program Control (for Experimental group 2). The two treatments of the instructional program were identical in everything but the control type. Two research tools were developed: an achievement test for the cognitive aspect of informatics competencies, and observation checklists for the performance (skills) aspect of informatics competencies, then these two tools were approved for validity and reliability. The 1st author conducted the research experiment according the experimental design Data of both research tools were processed and research hypotheses were tested with suitable statistical procedures. Research results revealed significant effect differences between Learner Control Design vs. Program Control Design showing superiority of Learner Control Design in both aspects of informatics competencies. Then the main research question has been answered as there is an effectiveness of the design types: Learner Control and Program Control in developing 10th graders' informatics competencies. Tables, Figures, References, and a list of recommendations are included in the research report.


Using the Kiban-Kyoshin network (KiK-net) downhole array data in Japan, we analyze the accuracy (bias) and variability (precision) resulting from common site response modeling assumptions, and identify critical parameters that significantly contribute to the uncertainty in site response analyses. We perform linear and equivalent-linear site response analyses at 100 KiK-net sites using 3720 ground motions ranging from weak to strong in amplitude. We find that the maximum shear strain in the soil profile, the observed peak ground acceleration at the ground surface, and the predominant spectral period of the surface ground motion, are the best predictors of where the evaluated models become inaccurate and/or imprecise. The peak shear strains ( ) beyond which linear analyses become inaccurate in predicting surface pseudo-spectral accelerations (PSA) are a function of vibration period, and are between = 0.01% and 0.2% for periods less than 0.5 s. Equivalentlinear analyses become inaccurate at peak strains of approximately = 0.4% over this range of periods.


The fabrication of photocatalysts to achieve efficient utilization of renewable solar energy has attracted broad interest. Herein, a plasmonic spiky TiO2/Au nanorod (NR) nanohybrid was prepared by in situ nucleation and growth of spiky TiO2 in AuNR colloidal solution. The spiky TiO2/AuNR nanohybrids demonstrated enhanced hydrogen evolution activity and photocurrent generation under both visible light and simulated solar light irradiation as compared to bare spiky TiO2 nanoparticles and commercial TiO2. Specifically, the spiky nanohybrids displayed a high H2 production rate of 1.81 mmol g−1 h−1 under simulated solar light irradiation, which is 1.7 times higher than that of TiO2/Au nanosphere nanohybrids, and remain stable for three cycles. The improved photocatalytic H2 evolution demonstrated by the nanohybrids can be ascribed to the coupling effect of the AuNRs and the unique spiky structure. Furthermore, the charge transfer process during H2 evolution was investigated by photocurrent and electrochemical impendence spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. A fast and stable photocurrent was observed for the spiky TiO2/AuNR nanohybrid photoelectrode under both visible light and simulated solar light irradiation, while the EIS plots indicate a rapid charge transfer within the nanohybrids. Such a nanohybrid with a bio-inspired structure will afford new insights for the fabrication of novel photocatalysts.


Background: Music perception and performance are comprehensive human cognitive functions and thus provide an excellent model system for studying human behaviour and brain function. However, the molecules involved in mediating music perception and performance are so far uncharacterised. Objective: To unravel the biological background of music perception, using molecular and statistical genetic approaches. Methods: 15 Finnish multigenerational families (with a total of 234 family members) were recruited via a nationwide search. The phenotype of all family members was determined using three tests used in defining musical aptitude: a test for auditory structuring ability (Karma Music test; KMT) commonly used in Finland, and the Seashore pitch and time discrimination subtests (SP and ST respectively) used internationally. We calculated heritabilities and performed a genome-wide variance components-based linkage scan using genotype data for 1113 microsatellite markers. Results: The heritability estimates were 42% for KMT, 57% for SP, 21% for ST and 48% for the combined music test scores. Significant evidence of linkage was obtained on chromosome 4q22 (LOD 3.33) and suggestive evidence of linkage at 8q13-21 (LOD 2.29) with the combined music test scores, using variance component linkage analyses. The major contribution of the 4q22 locus was obtained for the KMT (LOD 2.91). Interestingly, a positive LOD score of 1.69 was shown at 18q, a region previously linked to dyslexia (DYX6) using combined music test scores. Conclusion: Our results show that there is a genetic contribution to musical aptitude that is likely to be regulated by several predisposing genes or variants.


The present work forms part of an ongoing effort at the Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology (LTC) to develop novel solvent-free processing methods for next generation resorbable porous scaffolds for bone replacement, based on supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) foaming. Although adequate mechanical performance and in vitro biocompatibility have been demonstrated for such scaffolds and results from in vivo testing have been promising, osteoconduction and osteogeneration remain inadequate. The approach proposed here is to use highly dispersed synthetic poly-L-lactide (PLLA)/bioceramic nanocomposites, in which the modifier particles are comparable in size and composition to those in natural bone, combined with targeted surface treatments, as a means of enhancing the osteoconductivity of the scaffolds. The investigation has covered: (i) the preparation, basic structure-property relationships and resorption behavior of the nanocomposites; (ii) the optimization of processing parameters for the production of porous nanocomposite scaffolds by supercritical CO2 foaming; (iii) the in vitro and in vivo response of the scaffolds with emphasis on the influence of selected surface treatments. The bulk of the work involved hydroxyapatite nanoparticle fillers (nHA), although some attention was also given to nanoparticles prepared from Bioglass® (nBG), which has been reported to show superior osteoconduction and osteinduction to hydroxyapatite. Mechanical mixing with a miniature twin screw extruder was found to give excellent dispersions of certain grades of nHA in the PLLA matrix without the need for an organic solvent or surfactants. Initial studies of the crystallization behavior of the resulting PLLA/nHA nanocomposites showed nHA addition to result in a decrease in spherulite growth rates but an increase in nucleation density, leading to a significant increase in the global crystallization rates. Addition of nHA particles also resulted in increases in the rate of mass loss during in vitro ageing of bulk films, identified with accelerated resorption at the matrix/particle interfaces. However, the tensile strengths and strains to fail were significantly higher in the aged films in the presence of nHA, which indicated the nHA to act as an effective toughener of the bulk material and hence to retard the loss in tensile strength during resorption. It was also shown that the initial presence of a coarse spherulitic morphology may be deleterious to mechanical performance during ageing, owing to large scale internal cracking associated with the spherulite radii. Finally, the accelerated ageing treatments used for the resorption tests were found to result in significantly increased hydrophilicity and, in the case of the PLLA/nHA nanocomposites, significant pitting at the scale of the nanoparticles and increased nanoparticle concentrations at the film surfaces, suggesting that such treatments may also be beneficial for the interactions between the nanocomposites and bone cells during implantation. In foams prepared by supercritical CO2 processing using a new dedicated autoclave designed specifically for this purpose, the addition of nHA resulted in reduced foam cell sizes and improved homogeneity in the cell size distribution, but did not significantly affect the degree of crystallinity, which remained of the order of 50 wt% in all the foams. Indeed, the compressive modulus and strength were found to be primarily influenced by the porosity of the foams regardless of the nHA content. Even so, the mechanical properties of the foams were comparable with those of trabecular bone, and by adjusting the saturation pressure and depressurization rate it was possible to generate porosities of about 76 %, an interconnected morphology and cell diameters in the range 200-400 µm from PLLA containing 10 wt% nHA, satisfying established geometrical requirements for bone replacement scaffolds. On the basis of the resorption studies and comparison with other potential surface treatments, selected scaffolds were also aged in aqueous NaOH in an attempt to improve cell-scaffold affinity. After 8 weeks of implantation in vivo in rat femoral condyles, growth of new bone was confirmed to be significantly enhanced in the NaOH treated PLLA/10 wt% nHA scaffolds, as compared with untreated controls and previous generation scaffolds containing βTCP microparticles. The results of these pre-clinical studies are considered to be highly promising, although they remain to be completed and extended to large animal models.


The practice of nursing in secure settings has been characterized by significant differences compared to traditional healthcare settings. Nurses in forensic settings report feelings of isolation, professional alienation, and lack of support. Although professional organizations for forensic and correctional nurses exist nationally, networking opportunities for nurses who work secure settings in rural Minnesota are lacking. The goal of this study was to seek information about the feasibility and desirability of creating a forensic nursing network in a rural Minnesota setting. Quantitative and qualitative responses were sought to identify specific needs for and barriers to networking. Challenges in forensic nursing and benefits of networking were identified through a review of the literature. The nurses strongly agreed that professional dialogue, moral support, and specialized training were important for forensic nursing. Several expressed interest in networking and some had already experienced networking through professional organizations. Those who had participated in professional organizations found networking to be the most valuable aspect. To create a successful network, those with previous experience desired improved availability, superior location, and increased overall attendance. Many nurses in the study's geographical area desired an opportunity for networking and had little preference for face-to-face time over that utilizing technology. This networking must consider nurses' time availability, especially personal time. Word Count: 208


This Opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) deals with lactose thresholds in lactose intolerance and galactosaemia. LACTASE DEFICIENCY AND LACTOSE INTOLERANCE: Primary lactase deficiency, also referred to as lactase-nonpersistence (LNP), is genetically determined and a normal, developmental phenomenon characterised by the down-regulation of lactase activity. In adults with LNP, undigested lactose reaches the colon where it can elicit symptoms of lactose intolerance. Lactose tolerance varies widely among individuals with lactose maldigestion. A single threshold of lactose for all lactose intolerant subjects cannot be determined owing to the great variation in individual tolerances. Symptoms of lactose intolerance have been described after intake of less than 6 g of lactose in some subjects. The vast majority of subjects with lactose maldigestion will tolerate up to 12 g of lactose as a single dose with no or minor symptoms. Higher doses may be tolerated if distributed throughout the day. GALACTOSAEMIA: Galactosaemia is caused by three different genetic enzyme defects in the metabolism of galactose. Severe galactosaemia, if untreated, is accompanied by a potentially fatal impairment of hepatic and renal function and with cataracts in the newborn and the young infant. The dietetic principle in the management of all types of galactosaemia is the elimination of all sources of galactose, including human milk, as far as possible. Dietetic management is started with lactose free infant and later follow-on formulae with a lactose content ≤10 mg/100 kcal. In older infants, children and adults, foods containing milk or milk products or lactose as an ingredient must be avoided, as far as possible, so that the overall daily lactose intake will be about 25 mg/100 kcal. A precise threshold for galactose/lactose intake below which adverse effects are not elicited cannot be given. © European Food Safety Authority, 2010.


SMADs function with other proteins to mediate transcriptional activation in response to transforming growth factor β and related proteins. SMADs are activated when phosphorylated by the TGF-β receptor, so one might have thought that the easy way to inactivate SMADs would be to dephosphorylate them. Although dephosphorylation might be a factor, new evidence points instead to a major role for ubiquitin-dependent degradation in termination of SMAD signaling. Lo and Massagué find that degradation of SMAD2 is increased in response to activation of the TGF-β receptor. Unlike regulation of some other transcription factors for which phosphorylation is a key tag that leads to ubiquitination and destruction, the essential event that leads to degradation of SMAD2 appears to be its translocation to the nucleus. The regulation of SMAD2 is also distinct from that recently described by Zhu et al. for SMAD1 and SMAD5, which appears to rely not on nuclear localization, but rather a cytoplasmic event that depends on a Pro-Tyr (PY) motif in the SMAD proteins. All the findings are summarized in an insightful "News and Views" by Heldin and ten Dijke. Lo, R.S., and Massagué, J. (1999) Ubiquitin-dependent degradation of TGF-β-activated Smad2. Nature Cell Biol. 1: 472-478. [Online Journal] Zhu, H., Kavsak, P., Abdollah, S., Wrana, J.L., and Thomsen, G.H. (1999) A SMAD ubiquitin ligase targets the BMP pathway and affects embryonic pattern formation. Nature 400: 687-693. [Online Journal] Heldin, C.-H., and ten Dijke, P. (1999) SMAD destruction turns off signalling. Nature Cell Biol. 1: E195 - E197. [Online Journal]


A commercial Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer was modified for remote near-IR Raman spectroscopy. In one configuration, a single optical fiber was used to guide the excitation light to the specimen and to collect scattered light from the specimen. In an alternative configuration, separate fibers were used for excitation and collection. The optical fiber probes were used to record the Raman spectra of both liquid and solid specimens. The Raman scattering of the optical fibers interfered with the analyte signal. This fiber interference was affected by the optical properties of the specimen and the optical sampling configuration. These interferences were partially removed by subtracting a background spectrum. Potential applications and improvements are discussed.


Despite the large focus in research and practice on audit, inspections and oversight activities there has been few empirical studies showing the effects of auditing on public sector performance. Hence, we have little knowledge of whether auditing lead to positive, negative or no effects at all on the public sector. This paper argues that there is a need to connect empirical studies of auditing to an overall theoretical framework, defining what "good government auditing" consists of, in order to study if such auditing has positive effects on public sector performance. The paper presents a definition of good government auditing which builds on three core principles: independence, professionalism and recognizing the people as the principal, which is operationalized and tested empirically in the paper. Using data from a unique worldwide expert survey, covering 122 countries, the results clearly demonstrate that good government auditing has a distinct positive and statistically significant effect of the performance of the public sector. These findings indicate that merely conducting audits of the public sector is not sufficient, auditing also needs to be organized according to certain principles, in order to contribute to well-functioning public administrations. Maria Gustavson The Quality of Government Institute Department of Political Science University of Gothenburg email@example.com


This thesis reports a classroom-based action-research study conducted in the
University of Sindh, Jamshoro Pakistan, where the researcher teaches English as a
Second Language in large compulsory language support classes. The study aims to
find an accessible solution to the problem that the majority of students do not
actively engage with the learning process in these classes, and therefore fail to make
satisfactory progress with their language learning.
The problem was investigated through a cyclical process of planning, action,
observation and reflection in the researcher's own class. An initial literature review
led to the hypothesis that a highly structured approach to group work, using
permanent groups and regular cooperative learning strategies, could effectively
improve participation without introducing the classroom management problems
sometimes associated with group work in large classes. These strategies were
introduced and regularly reviewed using the researcher's own reflections, as well as
feedback from the students and from other teachers who observed the classes. Both
quantitative and qualitative data were collected and the findings from the two types
of data were cross-referenced to check their validity.
The results indicate that the strategies enhanced students' participation, confidence,
motivation, cognitive skills, and willingness to take responsibility for their own and
others' learning; the intervention also increased student-student and student-teacher
interaction. Although there were initially some problems related to students'
unresponsiveness or reluctance to participate, these were largely brought under
control by adjusting group membership and constantly explaining to the shyer
students the benefits of learning in groups.
The study shows that a highly structured approach to group work, using permanent
groups and carefully selected cooperative learning activities, can serve to increase
student engagement in English language support classes at the University of Sindh,
without requiring significant extra resources or creating classroom management
issues. It is therefore suggested that wider adoption of this form of communicative
learning across the institution, and in similar situations elsewhere, is feasible and
could be beneficial for both students and university teachers.


This publication is one in a series of pictorial guides that is designed to assist in the identification of common freshwater fish parasites. The information provided in this guide is not intended to be a complete, detailed description of each parasite or parasite group and its characteristics but rather is intended to assist in the visual identification of some of the most common species or groups of parasites seen in freshwater fish. For further information on each parasite, refer to publications in the "Recommended Reading" and "Reference" sections. This document is Fact Sheet FA-110, one of a series from the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published: July 2005.
FA-110/FA110: Common Freshwater Fish Parasites Pictorial Guide: Dinoflagellates, Coccidia, Microsporidians, & Myxozoans (ufl.edu)


The characteristics of markets for free-range pigs in Busia District, Kenya were determined using retrospective analysis of veterinary records, key informant interviews and questionnaire survey. A total of 8,377 pigs were slaughtered between 2001 and 2005, which accounted for 27% of all the livestock slaughtered and inspected by the government officers. Loss of fetuses was recorded for 13% of slaughtered pigs and the loss was attributed to ignorance on pregnancy diagnosis. Although most of the money (82%) generated by the veterinary department arose from meat inspection fees, constraints including limited personnel and lack of enough vehicles were observed. The marketing system comprised of farmers, middlemen, slaughter-slab owners and butchers, while the government played the role of meat inspection. Majority of the butchers were males (94%) with a mean age of 39 (range: 21-74) years. The majority (63%) had a primary school level of education. The average net income per annum for each butcher was 887 USD and the profit earned per pig was 3.8 USD. The major constraints which affected the butchery business included conflicts with regulatory authorities, high government levies, erratic number of slaughter pigs mainly due to African Swine Fever (ASF) and poor mode of transportation. There is a need to address these constraints especially the control of ASF, reduction in levies and provision of incentives to improve pig trade in Busia District.


During the last decade, the United States lost its dominance as the owner and producer of mass communication, both domestically and around the world. The globalization of ownership of mass media content, production, and technology has major implications for audience definitions and theories about who controls these media, for what purposes, and with what effects. The articles in this special issue are the first collection to address the issues raised by these recent developments, not only in film but also for book / magazine publishing, record / television production, advertising, HDTV technology, and public broadcasting. The increasing importance of economic analysis is also explored, for the insights it provides in explaining the decline of American dominance and for the implications of redefining "news" when it is viewed as an economic product. This article sets out an overview of major research and conceptual issues that these developments raise for the field of mass communication.


Extracted from text ... wound care
8 Professional Nursing Today September / October 2006 Vol. 10 No. 5
Burnwounds:
A Generic Case Report
Sr. Liezl Naude
B Cur (UP), M Cur (UP)
Certificate Wound Care (UOFS)
Certificate Wound Care (University
of Hertfordshire)
Private Nursing Practitioner
Pretoria
INTRODUCTION
The patient is a 60 year old diabetic male
suffering from extensive neuropathy. He
had a history of a small black spot on the
second toe of his left foot that started 3
weeks prior to the treatment. The patient
consulted a pharmacist who suggested
that he soak his foot in warm water for
20 minutes with ..


The confluence of two significant developments in modern patent practice leads me to write a paper with such a provocative title. The first development is the rise of hold-up as a primary component of patent litigation and patent licensing. The second development in the last three decades is the massive surge in university patenting. At the confluence of these developments is a growing frustration on the part of industry with the role of universities as patent owners. Time and again, when I talk to people in a variety of industries, their view is that universities are the new patent trolls.In this paper, I argue that Universities should take a broader view of their role in technology transfer. University technology transfer ought to have as its goal maximizing the social impact of technology, not merely maximizing the university's licensing revenue. Sometimes those goals will coincide with the university's short-term financial interests. Sometimes universities will maximize the impact of an invention on society by granting exclusive licenses for substantial revenue to a company that will take the invention and commercialize it. Sometimes, but not always. At other times a non-exclusive license, particularly on a basic enabling technology, will ultimately maximize the invention's impact on society by allowing a large number of people to commercialize in different areas, to try out different things and see if they work, and the like. University policies might be made more nuanced than simply a choice between exclusive and nonexclusive licenses. For example, they might grant field-specific exclusivity, or exclusivity only for a limited term, or exclusivity only for commercial sales while exempting research, and they might condition continued exclusivity on achievement of certain dissemination goals. Finally, particularly in the software context, there are many circumstances in which the social impact of technology transfer is maximized either by the university not patenting at all or by granting licenses to those patents on a royalty-free basis to all comers.Finally, I think we can learn something about the raging debate over who's a patent troll and what to do about trolls by looking at university patents. Universities are non-practicing entities. They share some characteristics with trolls, at least if the term is broadly defined, but they are not trolls. Asking what distinguishes universities from trolls can actually help us figure out what concerns us about trolls. What we ought to do is abandon the search for a group of individual companies to define as trolls. In my view, troll is as troll does. Universities will sometimes be bad actors. Nonmanufacturing patent owners will sometimes be bad actors. Manufacturing patent owners will sometimes be bad actors. Instead of singling out bad actors, we should focus on the bad acts and the laws that make them possible.


This study involves the design and development of a triangular solar still (TSS) for providing pure water from saline and contaminated water. The TSS was fabricated with cheap, lightweight and locally acquired but durable materials for easy maintenance. The TSS consists of a trough made of Perspex, main frame, polythene cover and support structure. A few field experiments were carried out using seawater, pond water and synthesized salt water of varying salt percentages. The variations of temperatures, relative humidity and solar radiation were monitored along with the hourly water production. A new relationship was obtained between the temperature difference (cover-water) and daily production. The water quality analysis was performed before and after the experiments. The values of total dissolved solids were reduced to 1.2 from 57.7 ppm and to 440.4 from 9999 ppm. The electrical conductivities prior to the experiment were 114.5 and 17.1µS/cm which reduced to 104.41 and 2.52 µS/cm, respectively, after the experiment. The salinity values were reduced to 40 from 60 ppm and to 30 from 1003 ppm as well. These values fall within the accepted ranges for drinking water guidelines of the World Health Organization. Therefore, it is concluded that the TSS is able to provide pure water from saline and contaminated water for drinking purpose.


This paper surveys evidence documenting positive linkages among social capital, prosocial behaviour, and subjective well-being. Whether in the workplace, at home, in the community, or among nations, better and deeper social connections, and especially higher levels of trust are linked to higher subjective well-being, even beyond the effects flowing through higher incomes and better health. Prosocial behaviour is also shown to be a robust predictor of well-being in both correlational and experimental contexts. These two lines of research are connected, as prosocial acts are most likely to increase well-being when they are delivered in ways that improve social capital, and reflect intentional generosity free of either compulsion or personal gain. We infer that these deep links between prosocial acts and well-being have an evolutionary benefit in maintaining the quality of social capital and thereby delivering cooperative human responses in times of crisis.


We investigate under what conditions a neuron can learn by experimentally supported rules for spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) to predict the arrival times of strong "teacher inputs" to the same neuron. It turns out that in contrast to the famous Perceptron Convergence Theorem, which predicts convergence of the perceptron learning rule for a simplified neuron model whenever a stable solution exists, no equally strong convergence guarantee can be given for spiking neurons with STDP. But we derive a criterion on the statistical dependency structure of input spike trains which characterizes exactly when learning with STDP will converge on average for a simple model of a spiking neuron. This criterion is reminiscent of the linear separability criterion of the Perceptron Convergence Theorem, but it applies here to the rows of a correlation matrix related to the spike inputs. In addition we show through computer simulations for more realistic neuron models that the resulting analytically predicted positive learning results not only hold for the common interpretation of STDP where STDP changes the weights of synapses, but also for a more realistic interpretation suggested by experimental data where STDP modulates the initial release probability of dynamic synapses.


Malaysian LGAs (Local Government Authorities) are expected to establish high quality urban, social and recreation services; provide opportunities for uniform economic growth; be strong and able to contribute to the establishment of a progressive society and a clean and healthy environment. The new public sector management reforms movement has highlighted the importance that authorities use an appropriate MCS (Management Control System) as well as both financial and nonfinancial performance measurement in order to improve the ineffectiveness and inefficiency that was previously reported. By employing an inductive comparative case study using qualitative research techniques, the implementation of LOC (Levers of Control) and LOC:SSR-PBT Star Rating System was investigated in two selected Malaysian LGAs: LGKV and LGER. Using Institutional Theory as the underpinning theory, the phenomena of change that take place towards the implementation was also identified. The study found that there was a close connection between LOC and SSRPBT Star Rating System criteria where they more or less match each other in various ways, thus LOC:SSR-PBT Star Rating System was later used to provide a more systematic, thorough and deeper analysis. Both examination of the extent and nature of LOC and LOC:SSR-PBT Star Rating System implemented in both LGAs studied is observed to be in line. The differences in emphasis justify the nature of MCS which exists and they relate to the achievement of their star rating. In understanding the phenomena of change the study uses DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) framework to look at the institutional isomorphism in terms of the external forces penetrated to affect the change. It was found that there was a variation between the LGAs studied. Among the three forms of isomorphism (coercive, normataive and mimetic), the study found an obvious variation for LGKV and LGER in terms of normative isomorphism, whereby LGKV showed a strong external pressure whilst LGER is low. In relation to mimetic isomorphism, LGKV also had a strong external force whilst LGER was just moderate, whilst both experienced strong coercive pressures. Overall, the isomorphic forces was strong for LGKV and only moderate for LGER. Using Adler and Borys' (1996) framework, the study focusses on the internal force that enhances and provides energy to make the changes; concluded a different intensity of enabling formalization. Overall, the intensity for enabling formalization (repair, internal transparency, global transparency and flexibility) was found to be higher in most cases for LGKV rather than LGER, so overall it was generally high for LGKV and moderate for LGER. By means of Broadbent and Laughlin's (1998) context the study looks into the change absorption process. It was found that both LGAs had comparatively similar categories of absorption groups characteristics but different absorption process and rate. Majority of the staff were fully committed whilst minority were pessimistic and resisted group, however the change absorption rate was observed to be fast for LGKV and moderate for LGER. The variations in external and other internal forces were also found to have influenced the different rate. The study hopes that LGAs managers are able to induce the patterns of MCS that take place and then acquire the change insights so that whilst confronting the existence of external and internal forces, the performance of the authorities in financial and non-financial terms can be improved.


Web-based tutorials offer an opportunity to provide automated individualized feedback to help students develop, for example, the ability to identify independent and dependent variables and the ability to discriminate between experimental and predictor variables. Doing so enables them to distinguish between the relatively clear-cut causal conclusions from true experiments and the more in depth analysis required to judge causality from correlational studies. Evaluation data shows the Web tutorial (http://cas.bellarmine.edu/Osborn/hypertut_piv) improved student performance compared to a print tutorial. The strongest effect size (Cohen's d = .50) was obtained when comparing print problem solving only classes to print problem solving plus Web tutorial-available classes' performance. Also, using Blackboard to add class points as a direct incentive for using the tutorial material may lead to increased performance (Cohen's d = 30) over simply making the Web tutorial available. ********** Differentiating between antecedent or independent variables (IV) and consequent or dependent variables (DV) is essential for understanding psychological research. Understanding the difference between correlational findings and experimentally based causal findings is necessary for the critical thinking skill of the evaluation and specification of evidence. These higher level cognitive skills are difficult to teach and the rapid and accurate feedback available through computerized tutorials has the potential to develop these skills in the most time effective way for both students and instructors. Many instructors use publisher provided course supplements that seem to teach these distinctions but, unfortunately, there are no published evaluations of proprietary course supplements so their instructional value is uncertain. However, there are some evaluations of instructor developed electronic materials. Koch and Gobell (1999) found online tutorials led to improved accuracy in decisions about design issues and the correct choice of statistics in an advanced course on research methods and statistics. Similarly, in advanced research methods and cognitive classes, Washburn and Flemming (2004) showed their complicated computerized drills helped students develop the critical thinking skill of discriminating facts from interpretations, a basic building block of critical thinking. However, other studies have found lower student performance from computer-assisted instruction (CAI). For example, Cracolice and Abraham (1996) concluded that as the difficulty of the problems in a chemistry class increased, students assigned to the printed workbook condition outperformed students in both the discussion and CAI conditions. DeBord, Aruguete, and Muhlig (2004) presented an excellent review of a number of research articles on the effectiveness of CAI which shows the complexity of understanding its usefulness. Their finding that student performance in introductory psychology classes was not improved by making CAI available through a Web site shows computer technology is not necessarily a positive learning resource. Still, some researchers have found Web-enhanced instruction does lead to more learning. Bartini (2008) used the learning management system PageOut in a 200 level Child Psychology class to develop a Web site to administer on-line quizzes and provide students with a comprehensive set of supplemental instructional materials. Compared to a control class that did not have these resources, students in the Web enhanced section had higher exam scores. Also, in a study with differentiated treatments, Elicker, O'Malley, and Williams (2008) found that the simple addition of a chat room and e-mail-the-instructor feature to a basic WebCT site led to better performance in an introductory psychology class. While the students in the basic control site indicated they used the publisher provided tutorial modules for homework and test preparation significantly more frequently than the students in the experimental WebCT sections, the control students performed less well in scores on the three dependent variables of tests, homework assignments, and a paper. …


Rett syndrome (RTT) is a postnatal neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the loss of acquired motor and language skills, autistic features, and unusual stereotyped movements. RTT is caused by mutations in the X-linked gene encoding methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2). Mutations in MECP2 cause a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders including X-linked mental retardation, psychiatric disorders, and some cases of autism. Although MeCP2 was identified as a methylation-dependent transcriptional repressor, transcriptional profiling of RNAs from mice lacking MeCP2 did not reveal significant gene expression changes, suggesting that MeCP2 does not simply function as a global repressor. Changes in expression of a few genes have been observed, but these alterations do not explain the full spectrum of Rett-like phenotypes, raising the possibility that additional MeCP2 functions play a role in pathogenesis. In this study, we show that MeCP2 interacts with the RNA-binding protein Y box-binding protein 1 and regulates splicing of reporter minigenes. Importantly, we found aberrant alternative splicing patterns in a mouse model of RTT. Thus, we uncovered a previously uncharacterized function of MeCP2 that involves regulation of splicing, in addition to its role as a transcriptional repressor.


Designing a distributed architecture for content-based publish-subscribe service networks is challenging for two reasons: first, communication in such system is guided by the content of publications and subscriptions rather than addresses or network locations; second, while a publication often matches subscriptions from multiple locations, existing groupbased multicast techniques such as IP multicast or applicationlayer multicast are not readily applicable due to the highly diversified patterns of interests. We propose an architectural approach that combines two orthogonal aspects: Match Early, and DYnamic Multicast. We call this a MEDYM architecture, and we compare it with two major existing design approaches: Content-based Forwarding and Channelization. In MEDYM, event publications are matched as close as possible to publishers, to obtain the locations of servers that have matching subscriptions; then, a multicast route to the matching servers is computed dynamically, to best suit the heterogeneous event traffic patterns. We present methods to efficiently implement the dynamic multicast routing. We evaluate the MEDYM architecture using detailed simulations as well as a prototype deployment on the PlanetLab test bed. Experimental results show that the MEDYM approach significantly improves storage, computation and network efficiency compared to existing approaches, and is resilient, scalable, and extensible.


This study demonstrates that the induction of tolerance is possible across a class I only antigenic barrier that fails to produce heart graft rejection. However, the long-term residence alone of such a graft per se, does not necessarily lead to the establishment of systemic tolerance in the recipient. The important finding in this study with regard to the biology of allograft tolerance, is that while the class I antigen provides the stimulus, its presence alone is not sufficient for the induction of tolerance; indeed, the action of the Cyclosporine A (CyA) is a necessary adjunct to its induction.


Spatial relationships play an important role in many domains of computer science, including computer vision, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and medical imaging. In previous work, we introduced the notion of the histogram of forces. It is a quantitative representation of the relative position between two objects. It is sensitive to the shape, size, and orientation of the objects. The objects considered so far could be disjoint or intersecting, they could be bounded or unbounded, convex or concave, available in raster or in vector form, but they had to be two-dimensional. In this paper, we show that three-dimensional raster data can be handled as well. By adopting proper optimization procedures, the presented technique provides a fast and reliable way for representing the relative position between two 3D objects. The results of experiments conducted on synthetic and real data validate our approach.


Everyone seems to be talking about the need for leadership, but what does it take to be a good leader? What are the most common approaches used to lead? What are the tried-and-true methods of leadership, and what once-fashionable trends are now considered obsolete? This invaluable reference, with its overview of leadership approaches, developments, and trends, provides guidance to help any manager become a more effective leader. The book is designed to provide support for would-be leaders in their daily routine, whether interacting with colleagues, employees, executive boards, or organizations they are expected to lead. Sections in this book include, Part 1. First Steps, 2. Systemic Leadership Part, 3. Leadership as a Relational Phenomenon; Transformative Leadership; and Values and Ethics


We propose two novel energy-aware routing algorithms for wireless ad hoc networks, called reliable minimum energy cost routing (RMECR) and reliable minimum energy routing (RMER). RMECR addresses three important requirements of ad hoc networks: energy-efficiency, reliability, and prolonging network lifetime. It considers the energy consumption and the remaining battery energy of nodes as well as quality of links to find energy-efficient and reliable routes that increase the operational lifetime of the network. RMER, on the other hand, is an energy-efficient routing algorithm which finds routes minimizing the total energy required for end-to-end packet traversal. RMER and RMECR are proposed for networks in which either hop-by-hop or end-to-end retransmissions ensure reliability. Simulation studies show that RMECR is able to find energy-efficient and reliable routes similar to RMER, while also extending the operational lifetime of the network. This makes RMECR an elegant solution to increase energy-efficiency, reliability, and lifetime of wireless ad hoc networks. In the design of RMECR, we consider minute details such as energy consumed by processing elements of transceivers, limited number of retransmissions allowed per packet, packet sizes, and the impact of acknowledgment packets. This adds to the novelty of this work compared to the existing studies.


Until recently, issues surrounding ethnic-linked inequality, whether between Jews and Arabs or between Jewish ethnic groups, have dominated research on stratification in Israel to the exclusion of other dimensions. Rapidly growing inequality in Israeli society, and its intergenerational persistence, however, have generated several new trends in research. The chapters included in this volume represent the range and depth of recent developments in the study of social stratification, mobility, and inequality. Although they address a variety of issues, they have in common a focus on the institutional mechanisms that govern the allocation of rewards. The volume is divided into five parts: Part 1, "The Role of Education in the Stratification Process"; Part 2, "Class and Intergenerational Process"; Part 3, "The Ethnic Organization of the Labor Market"; Part 4, "Gender in the Stratification Process"; Part 5, "The State and the Stratification Process." Some chapters apply to Israel classical status attainment models and labor market research, developed primarily in American sociology, highlighting the peculiarities of Israeli society. Others start out with particular characteristics of Israeli society, most notably the centrality of the state apparatus, and explore their consequences for social stratification. Gender inequality inside and outside the military is examined as well as the issue of gender-related labor market inequality. Together these chapters provide a comprehensive picture of the structure of domination and subordination in various spheres of Israeli society, ranging from educational institutions to the labor market, housing, standard of living, and the cultural arena. This volume portrays the multiple dimensions of stratification and inequality in Israel by bringing together some of the most informative sociological research conducted during the past decade. It will be of particular interest to sociologists, social scientists, and students of Judaica.


For nearly 100 years w have aemi a trend tor the size ot t&l'lllS ~ increase. Sinoe 1920 we have seen a trend tor the number ot tatmS to decrease. Since the end ot World War II the rate ot both of' these trends has been markedq increased. And llinoe 1950 we have had a very sharp increase in the number ot large farms and a verr rapid decline in the number ot small farms. In recent years about 2s% ot the COJilllercial farms ot the United States have produced 75% ot the agricultural products - and have made nearq all ot the eamings trail agriculture. These are the farmers who are winning the race to stay in business, to be erJ.ccessf'ul. In order to meet the competition, these tarmers have increased the size ot their businesses. They have improved efticiency through the use of new tec,hnologies. And ti:ey have specialized in enterprises most advantageous to them. In doing this, these tanners have greatq increased their capital investments. The remaining 3/4 ot our farmers have found it impossible to keep pace with agricwltural progress. Their incomes from tanning have f'allen at a very rapid rate. Tlley are moving out ot tarm:ing a.nd into nontarm ocaapations at a verr rapid rate. Most of' them have substantial ·nontarm incomes. Hen.rly halt or them have nontarm incomes greater than their f'arm. income. Their total income per ca.pita is somewhat higher and their purchasing power about the same as it was in 1947.


When it comes to the arts and sciences, Northrop Frye argues that "it is clear that the arts do not stabilize the subject in the same way that science does. . . The stabilizing subject of science is usually identified with the reason; the unstabilizing subject is normally called the imagination". Since the nineteen eighties, with the institutionalization of Humanities Computing research, there have been attempts at combining humanistic questions with technological innovations, and by extension, scientific concerns. Within the digital humanities there is a tension between these two positions that often results in the neglect of the human analyst and an elevated use of technology when applied to tool design. This can be seen in the current trend of distant reading, which is the batch processing and analysis of text corpora using machines. This approach stands in stark contrast to close reading which traditionally in English studies has entailed looking at individual words and their relation to a text as a whole in terms of not what the text means, but how it means. In this thesis I argue that the bridge between technology and literary criticism can be built using digital tools as long as those tools allow access to both the reason of science and the imagination of art. I present four digital projects that each investigate this problem in a novel way: (1) I use an algorithmic approach to investigate T.S. Eliot's own theoretical position in terms of his diction, (2) I designed and developed a visualization of the English language, LDNA, that can be recovered back into the original text, (3) I conducted a study with 14 expert literary critics to analyze their current methods and used these results to design a tool, MetaTation, that can be integrated into the literary critical process, and (4) I also demonstrated how evidence-based testing of literary theory can be done in the context of Engineering writing by conducting a study that tests the feminist theory of false universals in human-computer interaction literature. I use


There is growing fear that world oil reserves are depleting fast due to the current energy demand, and future energy needs. Recently, there has been a call for radical shifts in investment towards cleaner and more efficient energy technologies. However, most of these renewable energy alternatives are still at infant stages of research. Thus, the more conventional hydrocarbon oil is still the most logical option. Oil recovery efficiency is heavily influenced by the structure of void space that oil occupies within the reservoir rocks. In general, less than 50 % of oil is recoverable from the source rock, and thus the understanding of oil entrapment (bound volume index) is essential in prediction of economical potential of an oil reservoir. The bound volume index is the non-movable fluid volume in oil reservoirs. Reservoir rocks are chemically and geometrically heterogeneous. In this study, model catalyst support pellets with similar chemical and geometrical properties to oil reservoir rocks, but with more homogeneous chemistry were investigated. In this thesis, novel multi-technique approaches have been used to understand the transport relationships in porous media. The mechanisms of entrapment and distribution of the irreducible non-wetting phase within porous media was investigated with mercury porosimetry. Mercury entrapment is strongly dependent on the structural (voidage fraction, pore size, and pore size distribution) as well as on topological (connectivity and tortuosity) properties of porous media. The pore size distribution (PSD), a measure of pore length, and pore connectivity were determined by gas sorption. PGSE NMR was used to study the heterogeneity and tortuosity of the samples. In addition, PSGE NMR was used to study the kinetics of adsorption in porous media, and thus elucidate the relationships of liquid connectivity, and molecular exchange between liquid and vapour phases. In general, mercury entrapment occurred at larger mesopore radii, and was present at all experimental time-scales. In addition, mercury entrapment was found to increase with increased variance in the PSD. PGSE NMR kinetic studies revealed that tortuosity decreased with an increased liquid connectivity and there was enough evidence to suggest molecular exchange between the liquid and vapour phases. Furthermore, the tortuosity of fully saturated samples increased with an increased mercury entrapment.


Hjorland contends that in order to further the goal of linking researchers to relevant information 'domain analysis' should be used in concept classification. He thinks that concept classification should not strive to classify on the basis of the properties of objects, but rather on descriptions of objects that are loosely derived from human activity and social negotiation. Currently, most information scientists operate under a 'positivist' view of concept classification, which, Hjorland maintains, mistakenly strives for universal classification schema while muddling the comprehension of individual researchers. Though he tends to include Wittgenstein in the positivist camp for classification, Hjorland's domain analysis is strongly Wittgensteinian. This work seeks to support the philosophical underpinnings of domain analysis through Wittgenstein's theory of language. Additionally, we outline Rick Szostak's criticism of domain analysis. While he levies an important charge against Hjorland, his solution proves inadequate in light of Wittgenstein's theory of language.


In the design for a fire or smoke emergency, a main concern is maintaining an evacuation path that is free of smoke and hot gases. In ventilated tunnel fires, smoke and hot gases may form a layer near the ceiling and flow in the direction opposite to the ventilation stream. The existence of the reverse stratified flow has an important bearing on fire fighting and evacuation of underground mine roadways, tunnels, and building corridors. In the present study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program is used as a design tool to model floor-level fires in a ventilated tunnel. The fire is simulated by a diffusion flame of propane issuing from a circular hole on the tunnel floor. The computed profiles of velocity and temperature along channel cross sections are similar to those obtained experimentally. The computed reverse-flow layer length has been correlated with a densimatric Froude number with some success. A nondimensional parameter involving the source fire intensity is also used for the correlation. These analyses show that an appropriate ventilation air current must be maintained to provide an evacuation path from the source fire clear of smoke and hot gases. It is believed that CFD modeling, employed correctly and interpreted carefully, can be a useful design tool for fire protection.


Background: Activated microglia with macrophage-like functions invade and surround β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD), possibly contributing to the turnover of Aβ, but they can also secrete proinflammatory factors that may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD. Microglia are known to modulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Objectives/Methods: To determine the role of microglia on neurogenesis in brains with Aβ pathology, we inhibited microglial activation with the tetracycline derivative minocycline in doubly transgenic mice expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APP) and mutant human presenilin-1 (PS1). Results: Minocycline increased the survival of new dentate granule cells in APP/PS1 mice indicated by more BrdU+/NeuN+ cells as compared to vehicle-treated transgenic littermates, accompanied by improved behavioral performance in a hippocampus-dependent learning task. Both brain levels of Aβ and Aβ-related morphological deficits in the new neurons labeled with GFP-expressing retrovirus were unaffected in minocycline-treated mice. Conclusions: These results suggest a role for microglia in Aβ-related functional deficits and in suppressing the survival of new neurons, and show that modulation of microglial function with minocycline can protect hippocampal neurogenesis in the presence of Aβ pathology.