The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the potential usefulness of tubulin inhibitors when complexed with hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CD) against a range of protozoan parasites. This approach involved investigations into the complexation of these drugs with HP-beta-CD, and subsequent investigations of these drugs and their complexes in regard to cytotoxicity, pharmacokinetics, in vitro efficacy against Giardia, Cryptosporidium and rodent malaria (Plasmodium chabaudi), and their in vivo efficacy against Giardia and malaria.

Albendazole (ABZ) is a benzimidazole carbamate with a broad anti-parasite spectrum, while the dinitroanilines trifluralin (TF) and oryzalin (OZ) have recently been found to exhibit activity against certain parasites. All three compounds are microtubule antagonists in either nematodes or weeds and have poor aqueous solubility, with the solubility of ABZ and OZ dependent on pH. Cyclodextrins (CD) have a hydrophobic cavity that allows them to form inclusion complexes with hydrophobic drugs, resulting in increased drug aqueous solubility, and often, improved drug dissolution and bioavailability. Thus the complexation of these drugs with HP-beta-CD was investigated. All three compounds exhibited type AL phase solubility diagrams with HP-beta-CD complexation, with additional increases in ABZ and OZ solubility achieved through the manipulation of temperature and pH. OZ displayed a stronger interaction with HP-beta-CD when ionised over its neutral form. However, insufficient concentrations of the TF/HP-beta-CD complex were achieved for drug efficacy studies. The cytotoxicity of the drugs and their complexes was assessed using the assay kit Cytotox 96 with human carcinoma cells. This is a colourimetric assay that measures lactate dehydrogenase release as a consequence of compromised cellular and membrane integrity. Both ABZ and OZ are cytotoxic to rapidly proliferating and differentiating cells but are not cytotoxic to cells in the stationary phase. Complexation did not affect drug cytotoxicity.

In pharmacokinetic studies, complexation improved ABZ (and metabolites) bioavailability, but had no significant affect on OZ bioavailability. In vitro drug assessment studies found ABZ to be highly effective against Giardia, and effectiveagainst Cryptosporidium and malaria. OZ on the other hand exhibited no activity against Giardia, but was effective against Cryptosporidium and malaria. Complexation did not improve the antiprotozoal efficacy of either ABZ or OZ. In particular, excess HP-beta-CD decreased the antigiardial effects of ABZ, possibly due to competitive complex formation. In addition, complexation did not improve the antiprotozoal effects of ABZ in vivo.

However, the cytotoxic effect of the ABZ/HP-beta-CD complex was more evident in the treatment of malaria in vivo, resulting in increased anaemia and suppression in weight gain, due to the improved bioavailability of ABZ and metabolites. HP-beta-CD alone was found to be cytotoxic at greater than 2.5%, and inhibited Giardia both in vitro and in vivo at greater than 1% and 2% respectively. This was attributed to membrane disruption caused by the dissolution and removal of membrane components.

In comparison, malaria grew better in the presence of HP-beta-CD in vitro, with no detrimental effect observed at up to 8% HP-beta-CD. This was attributed to either the increased solubilization of a necessary media component, or the complexation and removal of an inhibitory compound from the cultivation medium. Therefore HP-beta-CD complexation did not improve the antiprotozoal activity of the tubulin antagonists ABZ and OZ. However, the results of the pharmacokinetic studies suggest that anthelmintic activity of ABZ, particularly against systemic infections, may be improved with oral administration of the ABZ/HP-beta-CD complex. In addition, the antiparasitic activity of HP-beta-CD alone may be promising, especially against intestinal infections. Finally, the improved in vitro cultivation of P. chabaudi in the presence of HP-beta-CD presents a promising approach to its potential long term cultivation.


Investment in human capital is a key determinant of socio-economic development in the twenty-fi rst century. These investments in rural areas require well-planned interventions in the fi eld of education. The necessary funds for this purpose will be available under the multiannual fi nancial framework EU 2014–2020. Interventions in this area in Poland are planned mainly under the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development POWER) and the Regional Operational Programmes (RPO). It should therefore be valuable to preliminarily assess the opportunities and threats connected with the development of human capital in rural areas in Poland in the fi eld of education in 2014–2020. The aim of this article is, thus, an attempt to make such an assessment, taking into account the following aspects: scope of the EU support; procedures for obtaining fi nancial support; available funds and financial instruments. The article verifi es the following hypothesis: based on program POWER establishments and RPO 2014–2020 in the section on education potential chances of the HRD in rural areas mainly result from wide range scope of this suport; while the main threats stem from a very limited scale of prioritization in the procedure of obtaining fi nancial support and the use of non-repayable fi nancial instruments (grants). The article draws upon the analysis of regulations of the European Commission and national legislative sources, as well as literature on development of human capital in rural areas and the absorption of EU funds for social projects.


Phase-coded optical signal was spectrally translated from the conventional near-infrared communication band to the visible band. Spectrally narrow 780-nm pump was combined with phase-modulated 1575-nm signal in a small core photonic crystal fiber (PCF), to generate 518-nm idler through parametric process. The phase-modulated idler carrying 1-Gbps information was received in an error-free manner. The onset of the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) was found to be a major limitation for conversion efficiency and noise performance. The SBS effect and the birefringence properties of the small core PCF were studied at both 780 and 1550 nm and their impact on the parametric process was analyzed.


Developments in oyster production methods have resulted from the oyster breeders' wish to intensify their output and to protect the oysters against the hazards associated with present oyster beds in the sea, such as currents, storms, silting and frost. There are four phases of oyster production, as follows:- (i) Collecting the brood; (ii) Breeding the oysters; (iii) Fattening and refining; (iv) Final treatment and packing. The present tendency is for oysters to be bred in proteeted heds with wholly or partly controlled water conditions. Water requirements for present-day methods are as follow:Depth of water: 60 centimetres; Water renewal rate: If possible daily, with 0.4 to 0.6 cubic metre per square metre of bed area. Fattening and refining take place in fattening ponds with water renewal strictly controlled to within the following limits:- Depth of water: 30 to 40 centimetres; Water reneval rate: Total renewal twice or three times monthly. This takes two or three days ta complete at a rate of 0.1 to 0.2 cubic metre per square metre of fattening pool area daily. Two developments in Aiguillon and Bourgneuf Bays in the Vendee region are based on polders recently reclaimed from the sea. Their respective sizes are 55 hectares and 194 hectares. They provide examples of the type of arrangements that can he adopted in arder to meet the requirements for hydraulic installations for oyster fanns, the most important of wluch are as follows:- (i) The feed water must be brought in from an area known to be wholesome; (ii) The feed water must be adequately sally; (iii) Separate supply and outlet networks are necessary to prevent re-use of water from the fattening ponds. The installations also feature intake and discharge works build on mud at the water-front.


Socrates is one of the most influential philosophers in western civilisation, and Plato his most famous pupil. The Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, Crito and the death scene from the Phaedo are Plato's account of Socrates' trial and execution, and together they provide the most important depiction of Socrates' ideas. In this GuideBook, Brickhouse and Smith provide clear explanations of these texts for students coming to them for the first time. Situating the works in their historical context, the authors carefully go through each text, exploring the philosophical issues raised in an accessible way. Plato and the Trial of Socrates is the ideal introduction to both the ideas of Socrates and the work of Plato.


Freshwater crabs of the genus Sinopotamon Bott, 1967 (family Potamidae) are widely distributed along the Yangtze River (= Chang Jiang) drainage and are endemic to China. Two distinct clades can be distinguished within Sinopotamon s. lato. on the basis of morphological and molecular data. One clade corresponds to Sinopotamon s. str., with the type species Potamon (Potamon) davidi Rathbun, 1904, and 11 other species, all which occur in the Sichuan Basin (including Sichuan Province and Chongqing City) and reach the border areas of adjacent Shaanxi, Hubei, and Guizhou provinces. A new genus, Longpotamon gen. nov., is proposed for the second clade, with Sinopotamon exiguum Dai, 1997, designated as the type species. Sinopotamon s. str. can be distinguished from Longpotamon gen. nov. by the shape of the male telson and by characters of the male first gonopod and the female vulvae. These differences are supported by the mitochondrial 16S rDNA and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) genetic data. Longpotamon gen. nov. is the largest clade, with 73 known species and a wide distribution along the Yangtze River drainage extending north to the Yellow River drainage and south to the eastern side of Wuyishan Range. The two genera overlap in the Sichuan Basin and the adjacent provinces.


Quantity of small scale municipal solid waste available in each of the states of Nigeria was assessed and determined. Physical and Chemical characteristics of the various types of solid wastes were analysed and their values estimated. Thermal analysis of a small-scale municipal solid waste-fired steam generator was done. The analysis was based on the selected design parameters: operating steam pressure of 10 bar, with fuel consumption rate of 500 Kg/h and combustion chamber which utilizes mass burn incineration using water wall furnace. The plant is designed as a possible option for thermal utilization of rural and urban wastes in Nigeria. The average daily generation of MSW was considered in order to assess the availability of the material. The data were collected from Enugu State Waste Management Authority (ENSWAMA).This was calculated based on the state population, urbanization and industrialization strengths. Calculation of calorific value of the waste to determine the heat contents was carried out using two methods: Bomb calorimeter and Dulong's formula. Some samples of the garbage were analyzed with bomb calorimeter in the National Centre for Energy Research & Development Laboratory, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The calorific values obtained from this analysis were 12572.308 KJ/kg, 14012.05 KJ/kg, 21833.26 KJ/kg and 20551.01 KJ/kg for paper products, woods, plastics and textiles waste respectively, while the energy content obtained from the elemental composition of waste using Dulong's formula was 15,101 KJ/kg .The maximum temperature of the furnace attained from the energy balance based on this value around the combustion chamber was 833.7 K and the amount of air required per kg of MSW was 8.66kg


The aim of this study was to investigate organisational commitment in an organisation that had recently experienced organisational restructuring (a merger). The psychological contract that exists between employees and organisations is brittle due to many organisational changes that stem from organisational restructuring. When psychological contracts are breached, employees may experience reduced commitment to the organisation. The target population for this study consisted of all employees working at three recently-merged higher education institutions in the Nelson Mandela Metropolis (n=100) and a selfadministered questionnaire was distributed amongst staff. The results indicated that an increase in the number of positive human resource management (HRM) practices reported by respondents correlated with a decrease in violation and breach of the psychological contract, despite organisational restructuring. It was further revealed that effective management of the psychological contract is crucial during organisational restructuring, in order to maintain the commitment and loyalty of employees.


Target reader group are engineering students who want to perform tests using pulsed or chirped signals. Current Radar development is focusing the area of signal processing. This is taken into account by this educational note, where the R&S® SMW / SMBV instruments on the transmitter side and R&S®FSW / FSV instruments on the receiver side are combined to a closed loop Radar system, performing radar detection by means of pulse compression and digital signal processing. Appropriate R&S sofware tools for such applications are described as well as the interface between the tools and the test instruments.


A new direction recognizing and subdividing method for moir6 (interference) fringes is presented. By setting two certain thresholds, counting errors caused by direct voltage excursion are avoided. Counting and direction recognizing are discussed in detail. Experimental results are given. The better adaptability and large subdivision number are the good quality of this method.


Polarization independent bends and beam splitters for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations have been demonstrated in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PhCs). In virtuel of equi-frequency contour analysis and finite-difference time-domain calculations, self-collimation behaviors for TE- and TM-polarizations are achieved at the same frequency. Simulation results show a 90-degree bend with 90% efficiency and beam splitters with about 96% total efficiency for both TE- and TM-polarizations, where the light is self-guided by the self-collimation effect. Such bends and beam splitters are expected to play important roles in optical devices where polarization insensitivity is needed.


The effect of the local diameter of a focused CO(2) laser beam on calculated internal source function distributions and experimentally observed explosive characteristics is examined for 165-microm spherical methanol droplets. Experimental results show that the location and the characteristics of the explosive process change as the droplet is moved out of the laser focal point along the axis of propagation. Theoretical calculations indicate that, when the beam diameter is of the same order of magnitude as the droplet diameter, a modification of Mie theory, accounting for the finite beam size of the laser, is necessary to provide results which are consistent with experimental observations.


Drought is one of the major environmental challenges constraining the production of agricultural crops, including carrot. Seed germination is the initial and most critical stage of crop establishment, and it is very sensitive to drought stress because water scarcity affects the enzymatic solubilization of stored metabolites in seeds that provide energy for the growth of germinating embryo. Few studies evaluating the effect of drought stress on carrot seed germination of more than a few cultivars grown under stress have been published. Therefore, the present study was designed to define the appropriate osmotic potential for evaluating drought tolerance of carrot, evaluate the response of diverse carrot germplasm to drought stress during seed germination to identify drought-tolerant accessions that may be used by plant breeders, and evaluate the relation between amylase activity and germination rate of drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive accessions. To identify an appropriate screening osmotic potential, two commercial cultivars and two United States Department of Agriculture inbreeds were evaluated at six osmotic potentials (00, −0.30, −0.51, −0.58, −0.80, and −1.05 MPa); −0.58 MPa was identified as the optimal osmotic potential for screening the drought tolerance of carrot seed. Cultivated and wild carrot plant introductions (PIs) (n = 200 and n = 50, respectively) from the National Plant Germplasm System were evaluated for drought tolerance under nonstress and simulated drought stress conditions (00 MPa and −0.58 MPa, respectively) by calculating the absolute decrease (AD) in percent germination, inhibition index (II), relative drought tolerance (RDT), and drought tolerance index (DTI). All measurements of drought tolerance identified significant differences among accessions; the AD in seed germination ranged from 0.0% to 69.3%, II ranged from 0.0% to 80.2%, RDT ranged from 0.2 to 1.0, and DTI ranged from 0.13 to 1.47. All wild carrot accessions displayed low levels of drought tolerance, but PI 652387 and PI 177381 (both from Turkey) and PI 274297 (Pakistan) were most drought-sensitive, whereas cultivated accessions PI 643114 (United States), PI 652208 (China), and PI 502347 (Uzbekistan) were most drought-tolerant. Tolerant accessions displayed much higher α-amylase activity under nonstress conditions than sensitive accessions, and α-amylase activity of tolerant accessions was also reduced less with seed germination under increasing osmotic potential (range, 0.0 to −1.05 MPa) than sensitive accessions over 24, 48, and 72 hours of seed germination. This is the first evaluation of drought stress tolerance during seed germination and the enzymatic response of diverse carrot germplasms under simulated drought stress.


The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate the relevance of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) to social anxiety (SA) in the community and response to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) outcome for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Three studies were conducted to realise this objective.
Study 1 investigated the relationships between RST traits (and similar personality variables) and observation anxiety (OA) and interaction anxiety (IA). Participants in the community (N=200; Age M=26.84) completed questionnaires. The original Behavioural Inhibition System (o-BIS), revised BIS (r-BIS), Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS), Sensitivity to Punishment (SP; a measure of BIS), neuroticism, negative affectivity (NA), and a composite score of all of these personality variables, were all positive predictors of OA. Fun-Seeking (Fun-S), positive affectivity (PA) and extraversion were negative predictors. For IA, the same pattern of results was found except that FFFS was not a significant predictor.
Study 2 used an experimental mood-induction procedure to investigate the effects of RST traits on cognitive, affective and avoidance responses to induced SA with a community sample (N = 103; Age M=30.22). For affective responses, SP positively and independently predicted post-induction fear and SP interacted with Sensitivity to Reward (SR; a measure of BAS) to predict post-induction anxiety. For cognitive responses, SP positively predicted cognitions I want to leave/exit/escape this situation and People can see that I feel anxious. I am being judged/evaluated negatively by these people was positively predicted by FFFS and Fun-S, and negatively predicted by Drive. For avoidance responses, SP positively predicted desire to avoid but active avoidance was not significantly predicted by any RST trait.
Study 3 investigated how RST traits influenced responses to CBT outcome for SAD. Sixteen participants (Age M=41.82) attended treatment and completed various pre- and post-treatment outcome measures. For IA: r-BIS, o-BIS and SR each moderated relationships between pre- and post-treatment IA, with high personality scores being associated with higher post-treatment IA. For OA: Reward-Responsiveness (RR), Drive, and SR each moderated the relationship between pre- and post-treatment OA with high personality scores resulting in higher post-treatment OA. For the Cognitive Checklist Anxiety (CCL Anx; general anxiety cognitions); Drive and FFFS each moderated the relationship between pre- and post-treatment CCL Anx with low personality scores being associated with higher post-treatment CCL Anx.
Overall, results suggest that RST traits and SA share dimensional relationships; that RST traits affect cognitive, affective and avoidance responses to SA; and that high BIS and BAS scores relate to higher post-CBT outcome scores for SAD.


Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of bombesin (BN) induces a syndrome characterized by stereotypic locomotion and grooming, hyperactivity and sleep elimination, hyperglycemia and hypothermia, hyperhemodynamics, feeding inhibition, and gastrointestinal function changes. Mammalian BN-like peptides (MBNs), e.g. gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), Neuromedin C (NMC), and Neuromedin B (NMB), have been detected in the central nervous system. Radio-labeled BN binds to specific sites in discrete cerebral regions. Two specific BN receptor subtypes (GRP receptor and NMB receptor) have been identified in numerous brain regions. The quantitative 2-[14C]deoxyglucose ([14C]20G) autoradiographic method was used to map local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) in the rat brain following ICV injection of BN (vehicle, BN O.1Jlg, O.5Jlg). At each dose, experiments were conducted in freely moving or restrained conditions to determine whether alterations in cerebral function were the result of BN central administration, or were the result of BN-induced motor stereotypy. The anteroventral thalamic nucleus (AV) (p=O.029), especially its ventrolateral portion (AVVL) (p<O.0005), exhibited increased rates of metabolism under both restraint conditions. The effect was treatment dependent without interaction of the restraint conditions. Of all the regions that were reported to have high densities of BN receptors, the internal granular layer of the olfactory bulb (IGr) (p=O.028), and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCh) (p=O.003) exhibited BN treatment effects. BN effects on LCGU were also observed in the median eminence (ME) (p=O.011). Restraint, however, decreased LCGU in the lateral dorsal thalamic nucleus, ventrolateral and dorsomedial parts (LOVL and LOOM) (p=O.044, p=O.009), and the lateral geniculate (LG) (p=O.027). In sum, BN induced a marked and highly localized alteration in cerebral metabolism within parts of the anterior thalamus, which is the principle relay in the limbic circuitry. BN effects were also observed in IGr, Mi, SCh, and ME. Effects of restraint were found in LOVL, LOOM, and LG. It is suggested that increased LCGU in AV and AVVL may be the result of functional change in the limbic circuitry and the hypothalamus caused by BN receptor functional modification. In IGr, increased LCGU following BN administration is considered to be mainly the result the activation of NMB receptor, a subtype of BN receptors. In SCh, increased LCGU is believed to be caused both by BN effects on the thalamic, the hypothalamic, and the limbic functions and by activation of GRP receptor, another BN receptors subtype found in SCh. In ME, increased LCGU is suggested to be caused by BN effects on the hypothalamic functions, especially those related to the neuroendocrine functions. None of the alterations seen in these regions reflects the emission of stereotyped motor behaviors. Rather, they reflect a direct influence of BN central administration upon functioning of the cerebral regions influenced by BN administration. The restraint effects seen in LO, including LOOM and LOVL, are suggested to be the result of altered behavioral expression. The restraint effects seen in LG is suggested to be the result of reduced locomotion. i i


New fiscal rules needed to control government spending In a new paper released by the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kwasi Kwarteng and Jonathan Dupont argue that Britain should introduce a debt brake to ensure the Chancellor balances his budget. Looking at evidence from Switzerland and Germany, the research shows that debt brakes are effective at limiting government spending, while the fiscal rules Britain has followed in the past have not prevented governments from running up huge debts. The authors propose that if the Chancellor fails to observe the debt brake, there should be a public exchange of letters between him and the OBR explaining why and what action is being taken to rectify the situation. The Chancellor could also face a personal financial penalty of up to 20% of his salary. The report suggests that: No fiscal rule can predict the future or guarantee the sustainability of the public finances. However, they remain a useful tool to counter the myopic priorities of politicians and voters. From around 2002 Britain stopped reducing its debt and started running deficits. This left the country ill prepared for the arrival of the financial crisis. The Golden Rule, Britain's first fiscal rule, failed to bring the budget back into surplus. The regime left no room for error and gave politicians too much flexibility. Spending plans were based on over-optimistic forecasts. We should adopt a less flexible and more credible fiscal rule. We do not need discretionary fiscal policy to 'manage' the economy. Insofar as demand is actively managed, this can be done through monetary policy. Britain should adopt a fiscal rule similar to Switzerland's debt brake. We should balance the structural budget every year, rather than over the cycle. The rule should be backwards looking. Forecasts that prove over-optimistic should be compensated for by greater austerity in future years.


Now that learning is seen as lifelong and lifewide, what specifically makes a learning context? What are the resultant consequences for teaching practices when working in specific contexts? Drawing upon a variety of academic disciplines, Rethinking Contexts for Learning and Teaching explores some of the different means of understanding teaching and learning, both in and across contexts, the issues they raise and their implications for pedagogy and research. It specifically addresses

What constitutes a context for learning?

How do we engage the full resources of learners for learning?

What are the relationships between different learning contexts?

What forms of teaching can most effectively mobilise learning across contexts?

How do we methodologically and theoretically conceptualise contexts for learning?


In this contribution we present the results of an extensive linguistic and psycho-social survey we conducted on a representative sample of Italian and German-speaking high school pupils in multilingual South Tyrol (Italy). The aim of the project was to describe their L2 competences (Italian/German) according to the CEFR levels and to find out extra-linguistic factors that exercise an influence on the L2 competence levels of the students. In this article, we focus in particular on L2 motivation and orientations, explaining the role they play in this peculiar context. Furthermore, we comment on the results of the language tests in the light of these extra-linguistic findings, trying to point out some key elements that might help to promote bilingualism in South Tyrol.


The aim of the present study was to compare mood states in distance and sprint trained swimmers and observe how these moods relate to performance and change throughout the swim season. Participants from the ECU swim team completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ) at baseline mid-season max training and taper portions of the competitive season. Meets that fell within two weeks of an administered questionnaire were used to calculate performance as a percentage of the swimmer's best in-season time. There were changes over time in the POMS total mood disturbance (TMD) scores and fatigue subscale where team averages in TMD and fatigue peaked in mid-season and declined after the taper period to values much lower than observed at baseline. The only significant difference observed with a Time * Training Type Interaction was in feelings of fatigue. Sprint and mid-distance swimmers were more fatigued than distance swimmers at pre-season and max training. All groups had similar values at mid-season and taper. Significant changes in the dedication and enthusiasm components of Athlete Engagement (AE) were found over time. All groups experienced lower values of dedication at taper than reported at pre-season. Team averages in enthusiasm gradually decreased from baseline through max training and increased following the taper to exceed the average found at baseline. A significant difference existed in dedication in a Time * Training Type Interaction. Mid-distance and distance groups had substantial decreases in feelings of dedication from baseline to mid-season and max training. Distance swimmers maintained low feelings of dedication at taper while mid-distance swimmers resumed values near baseline. The sprint-trained swimmers experienced a gradual decrease in feelings of dedication from baseline to taper. These results suggest there are some differences in swimmer's mood states and feelings of engagement but further research is needed. Overall it appears that sprint and mid-distance trained swimmers experience similar feelings in POMS subscales and distance swimmers reported the least disturbances in negative subscales. Sprint and distance groups were similar in reports of engagement and overall mid-distance swimmers were the least engaged group.


Shelter poses global sustainability challenges, as the population increase accelerates and resources dwindle. It is crucial for initiatives addressing the growing housing demand to incorporate a sustainability perspective. Open source, a form of Internet information-sharing, is being utilised by various housing initiatives worldwide. However, a sustainability perspective is not always included in a robust and holistic way, despite the negative impacts for human needs and ecosystems resulting from many aspects of current housing practices. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development includes basic conditions for a sustainable society and a planning and decision-making methodology to move systematically towards sustainability. It provides a robust method for organizing, evaluating and using tools to aid in handling sustainability challenges effectively. This thesis aims to contribute to the development of affordable, sustainable design solutions, by modelling the incorporation of the FSSD into open source housing initiatives. A case study of a housing project under development in Ghana is used. Despite the complexity of the system under study, the research concludes that bringing a strategic sustainable development perspective to open source approaches can act as leverage for housing to move towards sustainability. Within this context, guidance is provided for approaching open source housing to contribute to SSD.


For many years scientists have employed dendritic polymers (dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers) in association with other nanomaterials (such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, proteins and peptides, as well as metallic nanoparticles) to synthesize hybrid nanomaterials with improved biocompatibility, biodegradability, functionality, physicochemical properties and the capability of carrying other molecules. However, more recent studies demonstrate that one of the less noticed effects and newly observed facets of dendritic polymers is their role in changing the structure (shape, size and sheet multiplicity) of the obtained hybrid nanomaterials, upon covalent and noncovalent interactions. In this review, we intend to have a more specialized look at these reports and discuss the 'whys' and 'hows' of this phenomenon.


National Empowerment Television (NET) is a satellite television station broadcast from Washington, D.C. and run by the Free Congress Foundation (FCF). NET is transmitted via the Hughes Communications satellite Galaxy 7 and is available free and unscrambled throughout the continental United States, Canada, and Mexico. Describing itself as "C-Span with an attitude,"(1) the station's programming presents contemporary political issues from the point of view of both the secular and Religious Right. The December 1993 launch of NET was not, as this invocation of "new technologies" suggests, the originary moment of a new television channel. Rather, NET represents the public component of a Conservative television service that had already been in existence for four years.(2) Since 1990 the FCF had been transmitting (via satellite) activist programs organized around specific lobbying concerns to small groups of subscribing affiliates nationwide. This subscription service was originally called National Empowerment Television. It changed its name to C-NET (Coalitions National Empowerment Television) when the free 24-hour public station was launched at the end of 1993 as NET. Originally transmitted on the non-commercial Ku band, C-NET produces four monthly shows tailored to specific constituencies: Family Forum Live addresses white middle-class "pro-family" activists; A Second Look Live is targeted at black Conservatives: Campus Connection is aimed at college students and Empowerment Outreach Live speaks to business people. These shows discuss specific legislative issues, usually pending state and federal legislation, and direct viewers to lobby appropriate politicians with letters and telephone calls.(3) This format is the television equivalent of direct mail (without requests for money) and has been used to organize Conservative activists around such issues as gays in the military, school choice, and health-are reform. In contrast to the public service rhetoric the FCF uses to characterize NET, Paul Weyrich described it as a "megaphone in the hands of the people:" C-NET represents a long-term commitment to covert political activism pioneered by the FCF as part of a wider strategy to intervene in the U.S electoral system in order to shift political representation further to the right. C-NET addresses a narrow, preselected audience and changes its broadcast coordinates regularly to prevent unauthorized reception by non-subscribers.(4) The FCF is an umbrella group and organizing center of the secular and Religious Right and functions as the ideological complement to the Heritage Foundation.(5) The two work together to produce, disseminate, and implement a coherent Conservative ideology. NET is a product of this collaboration: the Heritage Foundation has provided both programming and staff for the new station. Both institutions were rounded in the '70s by Weyrich with financial support from Conservative businessman Joseph Coors and philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife.(6) A former chief assistant to Coors told journalist Sara Diamond that the FCF, the Heritage Foundation and the Moral Majority were ostensibly secular organizations "intended to mobilize Conservative Christians and shift the political make-up of Congress."(7) Supplementing the Heritage Foundation's economic focus, the FCF undertakes the training and support of Conservative political candidates at all levels, and the development and promotion of an ideology of "Cultural Conservatism."(8) NET was launched on December 6, 1993 ostensibly as a new interactive channel that would provide Americans with long denied access to government in Washington. Although it is primarily distributed by satellite, the FCF hopes that NET will eventually get picked up by local cable services when the transfer from coaxial to fiberoptic cable increases available channel space. Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), has courted a similar audience as NET since its inception as a satellite station in 1977 and transition to cable. …


Despite the fact that PID controllers are undoubtedly the most popular controllers used in
industrial control processes for decades, they do not perform well when applied to systems
with significant time-delay. Consideration of this problem led to the development of
predictive control strategies in the 1950's and lately in the 1980's. Perhaps the best-known
predictive control techniques that has received the most attention in the control of long
time-delayed plants and used almost exclusively in the process industries are the Smith
Predictor Controller (SPC) and more recently the Internal Model controller (IMC). These
two controllers are amenable to conventional robustness measures such as Gain-margin,
Phase-margin, Delay-margin and Modulus-margin, which make them suitable for
comparison with conventional PID type controllers.
The application of Evolutionary Algorithms to process control systems constitutes a new
methodology within the CACSD. In recent years, the controls research community have
become increasingly interested in the use of genetic algorithms as a means to control
various classes of systems, however, the technique has concentrated on the unity feedback
control system design problem in both the SISO and MIMO cases and there are still a lot of
research topics that are not addressed (or properly addressed), in the application of genetic
algorithms. In this research, the genetic algorithm has been adopted as a major control
design tool for designing robust predictive control systems for process plants.
As much work on predictive control has been done using low order Pade' approximatios
(Morari, 1989), it is interesting to further investigate the robustness of IMC and SPC by not
using Pade' approximations and deploying the concept of delay-margin to assess
robustness. In this context, a new design methodology is proposed for designing robust IMC controllers under pre-prescribed gain-margin and delay-margin constraints where
controller tuning is replaced by simple design curves.
The robustness analysis of a single parameter Smith predictor controller (SP-SPC) in
comparison with a proportional plus integral Smith predictor controller (PI-SPC) revealed
that under robustness consideration, TMC controller and Pi-Smith predictor controller are
almost identical, however, IMC is preferred because the design curves developed in this
thesis can be used to automate the design.
hi this thesis also, Competitive Co-evolutionary Algorithm is proposed as a new technique
to design robust IMC controllers that can cope with large parametric uncertainty. The co-
evolutionary technique proposed is capable of determining the most difficult plants to
control, both in terms of stability and performance and can simultaneously select the
optimal nominal parameter values for the model used in the IMC controller.
A new gain-scheduled controller based on Internal model controller architecture is
proposed. This controller is novel in the sense that no controller design phase is needed as
the case with conventional gain-scheduled controller design. The only task required in the
gain-scheduled IMC controller design is the identification and mapping a set of locally
linearised models to fit the non-linear process. The design curves can be used to assure
robustness in terms of GM and DM for all the locally linearised control systems. In this
context, such gain-scheduled controllers have been designed for a non-linear water tank
system and a non-linear heating exchanger (laboratory process trainer).


Abstract Measurements of electron temperature fluctuations by means of correlation electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostics aid in understanding the nature of the turbulent transport in fusion plasmas. On Tore Supra tokamak, a 32-channel heterodyne ECE radiometer has been upgraded to include two channels for temperature fluctuation measurements. The central frequency of the yttrium iron garnet filter on each channel is remotely monitored by a driver, allowing one to shift the observation volume in the plasma radially. To resolve the fluctuation amplitude of 0.1%, integration times of ~3 s at 1 MHz sampling rate are required for the statistical error level of 0.05%. Together with the 32-channel profile radiometer, correlation ECE is a powerful and unique tool for simultaneous observation of the magnetohydrodynamic phenomena and studies of the plasma transport properties in various heating regimes during long-shot multimegawatt operation. First measurements of temperature fluctuations, of various origins, on Tore Supra (including the observation of the toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmodes), as well as a description of the analysis methods used in the data evaluation, are reported in this paper.


The Bartnik mass is a notion of quasi-local mass which is remarkably difficult to compute. Mantoulidis and Schoen [2016] developed a novel technique to construct asymptotically flat extensions of minimal Bartnik data in such a way that the ADM mass of these extensions is well-controlled, and thus, they were able to compute the Bartnik mass for minimal spheres satisfying a stability condition. In this work, we develop extensions and gluing tools, a la Mantoulidis and Schoen, for time-symmetric initial data sets for the Einstein-Maxwell equations that allow us to compute the value of an ad-hoc notion of charged Barnik mass for suitable charged minimal Bartnik data.


Previous research has not been conclusive as to whether people prefer different or identical allocation principles in distributions of positive and negative outcomes. Thus, in this study, the question of whether or not group goal accounts for preferred allocation of positive and negative outcomes was posed. As hypothesized for division of surpluses, the results showed that relationship-oriented goals predicted preferences for equality, whereas performance-oriented goals predicted preferences for equity. Moreover, the results were the same for allocation of deficits. This suggests that people implicitly have different orientations, or goals, in mind in group situations that similarly influence the way they prefer to allocate positive and negative outcomes. The results also showed that participants allocating deficits deviated to a larger extent from the allocation principles than did participants allocating surpluses.


Deep autoencoder is widely used in dimensionality reduction because of the expressive power of the neural network. Therefore, it is naturally suitable for embedding tasks, which essentially compresses high-dimensional information into a low-dimensional latent space. In terms of network representation, methods based on autoencoder such as SDNE and DNGR have achieved comparable results with the state-of-arts. However, all of them do not leverage label information, which leads to the embeddings lack the characteristic of discrimination. In this paper, we present Triplet Enhanced AutoEncoder (TEA), a new deep network embedding approach from the perspective of metric learning. Equipped with the triplet-loss constraint, the proposed approach not only allows capturing the topological structure but also preserving the discriminative information. Moreover, unlike existing discriminative embedding techniques, TEA is independent of any specific classifier, we call it the model-free property. Extensive empirical results on three public datasets (i.e, Cora, Citeseer and BlogCatalog) show that TEA is stable and achieves state-of-the-art performance compared with both supervised and unsupervised network embedding approaches on various percentages of labeled data. The source code can be obtained from https://github.com/yybeta/TEA.


The Roles of Phosducin-Like Protein 1 and Programmed Cell Death Protein 5 as Molecular Co-Chaperones of the Cytosolic Chaperonin Complex Christopher M. Tracy Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BYU Doctor of Philosophy A fundamental question in biology is how proteins, which are synthesized by the ribosome as a linear sequence of amino acids, fold into their native functional state. Many proteins require the assistance of molecular chaperones to maneuver through the folding process to protect them from aggregation and to help them reach their native state in the very concentrated protein environment of the cell. This study focuses on the roles of Phosducin-like Protein 1 (PhLP1) and Programmed Cell Death Protein 5 (PDCD5) as molecular co-chaperones of the Cytosolic Chaperonin Complex (CCT). Signaling in retinal photoreceptors is mediated by canonical G protein pathways. Previous in vitro studies have demonstrated that Gβ subunits rely on CCT and its co-chaperone PhLP1 to fold and assemble into Gβγ and RGS-Gβ5 heterodimers. The importance of PhLP1 in the assembly process was first demonstrated in vivo in a retinal rod photoreceptor-specific deletion of PhLP1. To test whether this mechanism applied to other cell types, we prepared a second mouse line that specifically disrupts the PhLP1 gene in cone photoreceptor cells and measured the effects on G-protein expression and cone visual signal transduction. In PhLP1 depleted cones, Gt2 and RGS9-Gβ5 levels were dramatically reduced, resulting a 60-fold decrease in cone sensitivity and a 50-fold increase in cone photoresponse recovery time. These results demonstrate a common mechanism of Gβγ and RGS9-Gβ5 assembly in rods and cones, underlining the significance of PhLP1/CCT-mediated folding in G protein signaling. PDCD5 has been proposed to act as a pro-apoptotic factor and tumor suppressor. However, the mechanisms underlying its apoptotic function are largely unknown. A proteomics search for PhLP1 binding partners revealed a robust interaction between PDCD5 and CCT. PDCD5 formed a complex with CCT and β-tubulin, a key CCT folding substrate, and specifically inhibited β-tubulin folding. Cryo-electron microscopy studies of the PDCD5-CCT complex suggested a possible mechanism of inhibition of β-tubulin folding. PDCD5 binds the apical domain of the CCTβ subunit, projecting above the folding cavity without entering it. Like PDCD5, β-tubulin also interacts with the CCTβ apical domain, but a second site is found at the sensor loop deep within the folding cavity. These orientations of PDCD5 and β-tubulin suggest that PDCD5 sterically interferes with β-tubulin binding to the CCTβ apical domain and inhibits β-tubulin folding. Given the importance of tubulins in cell division and proliferation, PDCD5 might exert its apoptotic function at least in part through inhibition of β-tubulin folding.


Life expectations are essential inputs for many important personal decisions. We propose that longevity beliefs are responses constructed at the time of judgment, subject to irrelevant task and context factors, and leading to predictable biases. Specifically, we examine whether life expectancy is affected by the framing of expectations questions as either live-to or die-by, as well as by factors that actually affect longevity such as age, gender, and self-reported health. We find that individuals in a live-to frame report significantly higher chances of being alive at ages 55 through 95 than people in a corresponding die-by frame. Estimated mean life expectancies across three studies and 2300 respondents were 7.38 to 9.17 years longer when solicited in a live-to frame. We are additionally able to show how this framing works on a process level and how it affects preference for life annuities. Implications for models of financial decision making are discussed.


Over the past ten years we have witnessed powerful advances in the professionalization of IT management. Today, especially the standardization and virtualization of the IT infrastructure and the subsequent market growth of mature service providers enable organizations to access flexible services of higher quality and reliability at lower cost. Nevertheless, even greater potential is seen in the professionalization of application management. As companies permanently need to adapt business processes, their IT organizations are facing an overwhelming demand to build new applications and to restructure their application landscapes. At the same time they are restrained by the increasing cost of support for legacy technologies. Many IT departments are already expected to achieve operational costs savings and efficiency gains continually. On top of that, innovation driven by IT is a necessity for the majority of organizations today. CIOs have therefore found their ways to focus their valuable human resources on core competencies of their organization and remove commodities and outdated systems from their portfolio. Our study shows that apart from fostering efficient structures in-house, companies are applying a wide variety of sourcing approaches to achieve changes at a faster rate and maintain flexibility.Within this study we have collected strategies for application management from 37 multinational companies in diverse industries with headquarters in Germany or Switzerland and with revenues from approximately 0.1 to more than 100 billion Euros. If your company is currently planning or undertaking activities to consolidate, modernize or outsource parts of its application management or portfolio, this study may offer you helpful answers and guidelines deduced from insights of the participating companies. The research was conducted by a senior research team at the chair of Prof. Dr. Walter Brenner (Institute of Information Management, University of St.Gallen), in cooperation with Navisco AG - Sourcing Professionals. The research project was funded with the financial support of Hewlett-Packard.


There are over 5 million reported motor vehicle collisions annually in the United States, and while crash rates and fatality rates have declined in the past decades, rates in work zones are disproportionately high. There are strict standards for evaluating the crashworthiness of temporary traffic control devices, but not for evaluating drivers' comprehension of existing or novel device deployments. This dissertation presents a series of three experiments evaluating driver comprehension for existing and novel traffic control devices conducted in a work zone setting. This evaluation is further expanded by decomposing the task of comprehending traffic control into the three subtasks of detection, localization, and identification. Methods are proposed for conducting a computer-based experiment with still image stimuli to measure participant performance at each of these subtasks. Next, procedures for categorizing localization responses and accounting for variation in participants physical responses are explored. Lastly, an application of Item Response Theory toward the evaluation and comparison of participant comprehension is demonstrated. It is hoped that these methods and procedures can be used by future researchers and experimenters to compare novel temporary traffic control devices and systems to inform future design.


This paper shows for the first time that distributed computing can be both reliable and efficient in an environment that is both highly dynamic and hostile. More specifically, we show how to maintain clusters of size O(log N), each containing more than two thirds of honest nodes with high probability, within a system whose size can vary polynomially with respect to its initial size. Furthermore, the communication cost induced by each node arrival or departure is polylogarithmic with respect to N, the maximal size of the system. Our clustering can be achieved despite the presence of a Byzantine adversary controlling a fraction τ ≤ 1⁄3-ε of the nodes, for some fixed constant ε > 0, independent of N. So far, such a clustering could only be performed for systems whose size can vary constantly and it was not clear whether that was at all possible for polynomial variances.


This paper proposes a new method for detecting loss of mains (LOM), which constitutes one of the principle protection requirements for an embedded generator (EG). It particularly consider the case when the EG is "islanded" with part of the utility load which has a capacity close to that of the generator. The proposed method is based on the application of artificial neural network (ANN). Various ANN architectures, using different training and test data and different ways of presenting the data were investigated. It was possible to achieve a very high correct classification from the developed ANN network which only requires sampled inputs from the instantaneous values of three phase voltages and currents signals. Using this proposed method it has also been found that the ANN-based relay not only correctly classified the LOM cases when an EG and the "islanded" load have matching capacities, but also able to differentiate between the LOM and loss of parallel line which previously reported as being a difficult problem.


A Signal Integrity Engineer's CompanionReal-Time Test and Measurement and Design SimulationGeoff LawdayDavid IrelandGreg EdlundForeword by Chris Edwards, Editor, IET Electronics Systems and Software magazinePrentice Hall Modern Semiconductor Design SeriesPrentice Hall Signal Integrity LibraryUse Real-World Test and Measurement Techniques to Systematically Eliminate Signal Integrity ProblemsThis is the industry's most comprehensive, authoritative, and practical guide to modern Signal Integrity (SI) test and measurement for high-speed digital designs. Three of the field's leading experts guide you through systematically detecting, observing, analyzing, and rectifying both modern logic signal defects and embedded system malfunctions. The authors cover the entire life cycle of embedded system design from specification and simulation onward, illuminating key techniques and concepts with easy-to-understand illustrations.Writing for all electrical engineers, signal integrity engineers, and chip designers, the authors show how to use real-time test and measurement to address today's increasingly difficult interoperability and compliance requirements. They also present detailed, start-to-finish case studies that walk you through commonly encountered design challenges, including ensuring that interfaces consistently operate with positive timing margins without incurring excessive cost; calculating total jitter budgets; and managing complex tradeoffs in high-speed serial interface design.Coverage includes Understanding the complex signal integrity issues that arise in today's high-speed designs Learning how eye diagrams, automated compliance tests, and signal analysis measurements can help you identify and solve SI problems Reviewing the electrical characteristics of today's most widely used CMOS IO circuits Performing signal path analyses based on intuitive Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) techniques Achieving more accurate real-time signal measurements and avoiding probe problems and artifacts Utilizing digital oscilloscopes and logic analyzers to make accurate measurements in high-frequency environments Simulating real-world signals that stress digital circuits and expose SI faults Accurately measuring jitter and other RF parameters in wireless applications About the Authors: Dr. Geoff Lawday is Tektronix Professor in Measurement at Buckinghamshire New University, England. He delivers courses in signal integrity engineering and high performance bus systems at the University Tektronix laboratory, and presents signal integrity seminars throughout Europe on behalf of Tektronix. David Ireland, European and Asian design and manufacturing marketing manager for Tektronix, has more than 30 years of experience in test and measurement. He writes regularly on signal integrity for leading technical journals. Greg Edlund, Senior Engineer, IBM Global Engineering Solutions division, has participated in development and testing for ten high-performance computing platforms. He authored Timing Analysis and Simulation for Signal Integrity Engineers (Prentice Hall).


It is widely assumed that the "nonclassical" nature of the Russian empire and its equally "nonclassical" modernity made Russian intellectuals immune to the racial obsessions of Western Europe and the United States. Homo Imperii corrects this perception by offering the first scholarly history of racial science in prerevolutionary Russia and the early Soviet Union. Marina Mogilner places this story in the context of imperial self-modernization, political and cultural debates of the epoch, different reformist and revolutionary trends, and the growing challenge of modern nationalism. By focusing on the competing centers of race science in different cities and regions of the empire, Homo Imperii introduces to English-language scholars the institutional nexus of racial science in Russia that exhibits the influence of imperial strategic relativism. Reminiscent of the work of anthropologists of empire such as Ann Stoler and Benedict Anderson, Homo Imperii reveals the complex imperial dynamics of Russian physical anthropology and contributes an important comparative perspective from which to understand the emergence of racial science in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and America.


The era of the monolithic, self-contained, inwardly focused corporation is over. In Wikinomics Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams showed how the internet is changing the way the very smartest business managers think about structures and strategies in the 21st century. Now, in MacroWikinomics, they demonstrate how this revolution in thinking is spreading outwards to other sectors - from education and scientific institutions, to entertainment and media, to government and democracy. MacroWikinomics is a groundbreaking and definitive look at achieving success for a new century, a new media, a new generation and a new economy.


Background: Random mutations in natural populations are the genetic basis of adaptive evolution. In particular, it is thought that mutations in cis-regulatory regions of genes are important targets for positive selection. Wild populations of house mouse subspecies (Mus musculus) are a convenient model to study molecular mechanisms of adaptation. The two subspecies Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus form a zone of secondary contact in middle Europe. In this contact zone hybrid formation as well as hybrid infertility have been documented. Therefore testis genes are an interesting subject for investigating ongoing speciation and adaptation processes in both subspecies. Surveys to compare expression signatures in both subspecies and to find adaptive trait genes were performed previously. Mitogen activated protein kinase kinase 7 (Mkk7) and the orphan gene LP10, were identified as adaptive trait genes differentially expressed in testis of Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus. The work presented here describes a molecular genetic analysis of both genes as part of a long term approach to provide experimental evidence for natural selection. Approach: RACE, Northern blot and qRT-PCR experiments were performed to resolve the details of the complex expression pattern of different isoforms of Mkk7 in wild mice. Testis expression of Mkk7 in M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus was examined by situ hybridization. Genomic sequencing of both subspecies identified mutations possibly contributing to cis regulatory differences. A luciferase expression system was developed for testing expression strength of Mkk7 promoter variants. Western blot experiments were performed to follow consequences of Mkk7 expression changes at the protein level. LP10 expression in different mouse species was assessed in Northern blot experiments to track the origin of the gene in the mouse lineage. A LP10 conditional knock-out mouse line was established to study LP10 function in testis. The male reproductive organs and spermatozoa of LP10 knock-out mice were phenotyped. Testis expression of knock-out mice and wild-type mice was compared by microarray analysis. Results: The Mkk7α1 transcript is an isoform specifically expressed in late spermatids in M. m. domesticus. It does not occur in M. m. musculus and is driven by an alternative promoter. A single proximal mutation in this promoter was identified as a possible cause of expression differences in cell culture reporter gene experiments. A potential insulator sequence was found that represses expression in non-testis cells. Evidence for a so far unknown function of Mkk7 in testis is deduced from protein analysis. The translation of a novel peptide is postulated. It appears that LP10 has evolved de novo from a non-coding sequence in the mouse lineage. An orthologous region is present in other mammals, but is not transcribed. This result show that even a locus with multiple exons can form de novo, without any gene duplications involved. The knockout of LP10 in testis does not lead to infertility, but the preliminary results suggest an effect on testis weight and sperm motility. The microarray analysis suggests that a small number of other genes are affected in LP10 knockout mice.


We show how to prepare any graph state of up to 12 qubits with (a) the minimum number of controlled-Z gates and (b) the minimum preparation depth. We assume only one-qubit and controlled-Z gates. The method exploits the fact that any graph state belongs to an equivalence class under local Clifford operations. We extend up to 12 qubits the classification of graph states according to their entanglement properties, and identify each class using only a reduced set of invariants. For any state, we provide a circuit with both properties (a) and (b), if it does exist, or, if it does not, one circuit with property (a) and one with property (b), including the explicit one-qubit gates needed.


Vitamin A, or retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin, essential for many important processes including proliferation, reproduction, vision and immunocompetence. Retinol binding protein (RBP) is the principal carrier of retinol in the blood from its storage site, the liver, to retinol dependant tissues. The long sought RBP receptor was recently identified as stimulated by retinoic acid gene 6 (STRA6), a 74 kDa multitransmembrane protein with no similarity to any other protein receptor. At present, receptor function, architecture and structure-function relationships remain relatively unexplored. Identification of any protein(s) that interact with STRA6 is imperative in identifying any other role STRA6 may play in the body.
The membrane yeast two hybrid (MYTH) represents a powerful tool to facilitate the characterisation of membrane protein interactions and was utilized to detect proteins that interact with full-length STRA6. A human kidney and a human brain library were screened. The human kidney screen was repeated in the presence of RBP-ROH to identify any protein interactions dependent on the presence of holo-RBP. The MYTH screens resulted in 11 unique protein interactions for STRA6. These interactions could not be verified using pull-down experiments despite numerous attempts.
In the hope of gaining insights into STRA6's architecture and function, the predicted large third intracellular loop (ICL3) of STRA6 was extracted from the full length protein, introduced into a carrier protein, Im7, and characterised. STRA6-ICL3 was found to form a tetramer. The native Im7 is monomeric; therefore, the domain conferred tetrameric behaviour. These data suggest that native STRA6 is likely to occur as a tetramer and that at least some of the oligomerization sites are located on this large intracellular loop. By determining the circular dichroism
spectra for STRA6-ICL3,
the
first structural data for STRA6 was collected. These data revealed that STRA6-ICL3 was mostly composed of β-sheet and random coil. Crystallization trials were also attempted and a crystal is eagerly awaited.


Outdoor pig production systems relying on local pig breeds may cope with environmental and socio-economic challenges. They produce high quality products with added economic value and rely mainly on local feed resources. Within the European TREASURE project, we conducted the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Noir de Bigorre (NDB) pig production systems located in South West of France. The environmental impacts were calculated at farm gate and expressed per kg live pig and per ha land use. From surveys on 25 farms of the NDB chain and data collected by the chain, we estimated the flows and average live weights of animals produced as well as the average quantities of feeds distributed to the animals. Formulas of the complete feeds were collected from manufacturers. Climate Change (CC), Acidification (AC), Eutrophication (EU), Cumulative Energy Demand and Land Occupation impacts per kg of pig were in the range of the impacts of traditional systems previously studied. CC impact per kg pig was higher than in intensive systems due to the higher amount of feed needed to reach slaughter weight. AC and EU impacts per ha of land were relatively low. NDB pig farming systems exhibit LCA impacts typical of extensive and outdoor systems. Further studies within the European project TREASURE will also give insights on the economic and societal dimensions of sustainability of these systems.


A hybrid projection-proximal point algorithm is proposed for variational inequality problems. Though the usual proximal point method and its variants require that the mapping involved be monotone, at least pseudomonotone, we assume only that the so-called Minty variational inequality has a solution, in order to ensure the global convergence. This assumption is less stringent than pseudomonotonicity. In particular, it applies to quasimonotone variational inequality having a nontrivial solution.


The small guanosine triphosphatase Ras transduces signals that regulate many diverse cellular processes, likely as a result of its dynamic interaction with various effector molecules. Wang et al. show that two effector proteins, Raf and Rin1, compete with each other to bind Ras in vitro and in vivo. Although activated Ras and its downstream effectors can induce cell transformation in fibroblasts, Ras-Rin1 interaction was antagonistic to this process. The protein 14-3-3 interacts with both Raf and Rin1. The authors further identify a serine residue in Rin1 that is critical for 14-3-3 interaction, and when mutated, allowed more Rin1 to localize to cellular membranes and activate Ras. In addition, protein kinase D (PKD) was shown to phosphorylate this serine residue in vitro. The authors propose that phosphorylation of Rin1 by PKD promotes interaction of Rin1 with 14-3-3. This could negatively regulate Rin1 by blocking its translocation to the membrane, thus preventing access by Ras. Ras interaction with Rin1 would otherwise block Raf activation and direct signaling through Rin1 downstream effectors. Y. Wang, R. T. Waldron, A. Dhaka, A. Patel, M. M. Riley, E. Rozengurt, J. Colicelli, The RAS effector RIN1 directly competes with RAF and is regulated by 14-3-3 proteins. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22, 916-926 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Nowadays, one of the most common groups of diseases in veterinary medicine is the urinary system pathology. Urolithiasis is widespread disease, could be found in many species, including cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea-pigs, turtles etc. Despite the large scale of this pathology in animal world, there are some challenges with diagnostic process and diagnosis's verification. The aim of our study is estimation of diagnostic value of advanced urine tesiocrystalloscopy in urolithiasis (by the example of cats). We studied crystallogenic and initiated properties of 24 healthy cats and 32 animals with urolithiasis. Own and initiated crystallogenesis of the urine specimens was studied. For teziographic test we used sodium chloride solution (0.45%, 0.9%, 3% consequently), hydrochloric acid solution (0.1H) and sodium hydroxide (0.1H) as a crystal-forming substances. We used the original criterions to estimate crystalloscopic and tezigraphic facias. As the main parameters structure index (SI), crystallizability (Cr), facia's destruction degree (FDD) and edge belt intensity (EB) were used to describe free crystallogenesis, and main tezigraphic coefficient (Q), belt coefficient (B) and FDD were used for the comparative tezigraphy data. Results showed that Cat's urine in normal conditions has moderate crystallogenic activity, but in urolithiasis it acquires high level of crystallizing, with intermedium value of structure index, and significant destruction of crystal-forming elements. A similar changes of physical-chemical biomedium properties are detected during analysis of tezigraphic microslides of urines of cats with urolithiasis, that was prepared using 0.9% sodium chloride as basis substance. In conclusion, we fixed that tesiocristalloscopic "pattern" of cats' urine in urolithiasis significantly transforms into activation of crystal formation and increasing of biomedium's initiating potential. So, the investigation of free or initialized urine crystallization in urolithiasis has diagnostic value.


The last decades of the seventeenth century were marked by persistent, bloody conflicts between the French and their Native allies on the one side and the Iroquois confederacy on the other. In the summer of 1701, 1,300 representatives of forty First Nations from the Maritimes to the Great Lakes and from James Bay to southern Illinois met with the French at Montreal. Elaborate, month-long ceremonies culminated in the signing of The Great Peace of Montreal, which effectively put an end to the Iroquois wars. In The Great Peace of Montreal of 1701 Gilles Havard brings to life the European and Native players who brought about this major feat of international diplomacy. He highlights the differing interests and strategies of the numerous First Nations involved while giving a dramatic account of the colourful conference. The treaty, Havard argues, was the culmination of the French colonial strategy of Native alliances and adaptation to Native political customs. It illustrates the extent of cultural interchange between the French and their Native allies and the crucial role the latter played in French conflicts with the Iroquois and the British. As we approach the 300th anniversary of the treaty's signing in August 1701, Gilles Havard emphasizes its contemporary significance: in signing a treaty with forty separate parties the French recognized the independent sovereignty of every First Nation. This translation is significantly revised and updated from the original French publication of 1992.


This paper advocates a novel framework for segmenting a dataset on a Riemannian manifold M into clusters lying around lowdimensional submanifolds of M . Important examples of M , for which the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient, include the sphere, the set of positive definite matrices, and the Grassmannian. The proposed algorithm constructs a data-affinity matrix by thoroughly exploiting the intrinsic geometry and then applies spectral clustering. Local geometry is encoded by sparse coding and directional information of local tangent spaces and geodesics, which is important in resolving intersecting clusters and establishing the theoretical guarantees for a simplified variant of the algorithm. To avoid complication, these guarantees assume that the underlying submanifolds are geodesic. Extensive validation on synthetic and real data demonstrates the resiliency of the proposed method against deviations from the theoretical (geodesic) model as well as its superior performance over state-of-the-art techniques.


In a recent paper we introduced the queue-and-idleness ratio (QIR) family of routing rules for many-server service systems with multiple customer classes and server pools. A newly available server serves the customer from the head of the queue of the class (from among those the server is eligible to serve) whose queue length most exceeds a specified proportion of the total queue length. Under fairly general conditions, QIR produces an important state-space collapse as the total arrival rate and the numbers of servers increase in a coordinated way. That state-space collapse was previously used to delicately balance service levels for the different customer classes. In this sequel, we show that a special version of QIR stochastically minimizes convex holding costs in a finite-horizon setting when the service rates are restricted to be pool dependent. Under additional regularity conditions, the special version of QIR reduces to a simple policy: linear costs produce a priority-type rule, in which the least-cost customers are given low priority. Strictly convex costs (plus other regularity conditions) produce a many-server analogue of the generalized-cμ (Gcμ) rule, under which a newly available server selects a customer from the class experiencing the greatest marginal cost at that time.


This paper examines the impact of family background on wages and returns to education. Using data from the GSOEP, we show that family background matters in the determination of wages. Moreover, returns to education appear to be heterogeneous with family background accounting for part of this heterogeneity. Estimated returns to education are higher for individuals from families with lower education levels. However, a simple regression analysis suffers from serious endogeneity problems. The construction of a sibling sample allows to control for unobserved characteristics that are shared by family members. Using a family fixed-effects estimation we attempt to reduce the endogeneity bias. Our results suggest that the conventional estimates overstate the returns to education. Moreover, family background accounts or a large part of the variation in wages in the sibling sample.


The research is a case study which was done to plastic bag manufacture PT Flamboyan Jaya Batu titled "Evaluation of Management Control System at Production to Increase Product Efficiency and Effectiveness" The research aimed to identify the important problem that may exist related with management control, whether now or in the future and find the alternative solution, also to find the problems inside the company according to the existed theories. Analytical method used to find the biases were by comparing fund and realization of production cost in 2007 : 1. Analysis of direct material aggregate 2. Analysis of direct work-force 3. Analysis of manufacture overhead cost From the equation, there could be found that in 2007 there are a product increasing that cause the aggregate between fund and realization. Direct raw-material cost stated by PT Flamboyan Jaya Batu has Rp. 8,05,- per kilogram biased. It caused by the production increasing in direct workforce stated by PT. Flamboyan Jaya Batu since the company could handle the direct workforce. It could be seen from the direct budget of workforce Rp. 148.320.000,-, while the realization was only Rp. 135.490.000,-. Manufacture overhead cost of PT. Flamboyan Jaya Batu has Rp. 3.799.150,- biased from the Rp. 124.732.050,- budget increased into Rp. 128.531.200,-. It caused by PT. Flamboyan Jaya Batu that used machinery power more than human resource. It caused the maintenance cost increasing, also the shrinkage cost for the organization active balance. According above explanation, the writer concluded that it would be better when the organization arranged production budget, they stated clear programs about the action and in arranging the budget not only based on the previous sell report. The organization should also analyzed the deviation between budget and realization since the bias could be found clear so that the correction action could be done.


This research aims at to assess the impact of natural hazards on the human activities and development planning held along the eastern coastal stretch of the Gulf of Suez. Change detection technique was used in combined with geologic and topographic maps, GIS and field investigations to specify and categorize environmental hazards along the concerned area. This site is characterized by enormous natural resources, including hot vents in Hammam Faroun and Ayun Mousa, oil exploration and mineral deposits in W. Araba, W. Sidri and Ras Malaab, natural protectorates in Ras Mohamed and archaeological sites in W. Sidri, W. Feiran, El-Qaa and coastal areas between W. Feiran and El-Tor and between W. Araba and Ayun Mousa. This encourages the construction of extensive and diverse economic activities such as urbanization, industrial and tourism projects. However, this area subjected natural hazards, including flash floods, mass movement, coastal erosion and sand encroachment. Risk assessment maps for roads and urban sites were established. The eastern coastal zone of the Gulf of Suez was classified into four sectors; Sudr, Ras Malaab, Bilaiyim and El-Tor coastal plains. Each sector is characterized by specific natural resources controlled by environmental hazards. This provides the end users and decision makers with necessary information required to design the most appropriate development projects at each sector and mitigate the environmental risk for the natural resources and natural development.


Meeting Abstract : Gesellschaft fur Arzneimittelanwendungsforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie e.V. (GAA). 17. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft fur Arzneimittelanwendungsforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie. Osnabruck, 25.-26.11.2010.
ntroduction: Several drugs require dose adjustment in patients with impaired renal function, which however, often goes undetected. Serum creatinine may be normal in patients while renal function is already reduced. The estimated GFR (eGFR) allows a more precise evaluation of the renal function. This study was carried out in a group practice for family medicine, in Frankfurt/ Main, Germany. The exploration aimed at investigating if patients with renal insufficiency were recognised and if their prescriptions were appropriate in terms of dose adjustment or contra-indications.
Methods: In patients (>65yrs) with renal insufficiency (creatinine clearance <60 ml/min), their prescribed medication was retrospectively explored (Observation period 1.1.2008 to 1.4.2009). The Cockroft-Gault formula was used as estimate for the eGFR, using a creatinine value from the patient's charts. In 90 patients, a second eGFR could be estimated from a second creatinine value obtained within 3-6 months. The recommended dose of each prescription in the SmPC (Fachinformation") was compared to the dose that had been actually prescribed.
Results: Out of 232 consecutively patients >65 yrs, 102 had an eGFR <60 ml/min, 16 of these had an eGFR <30 ml/min. The eGFR was closely correlated (r2=0.81) with an independent second eGFR. Out of these 102 patients, 48 had a serum creatinine level within the normal range. Renal adjustment was required in 263 of a total of 613 prescriptions. 72 prescriptions in a total of 45 patients were not appropriately adjusted (32) or prescribed despite a contraindication (40). For chronic prescriptions, metformin, ramipril, enalapril, HCTZ, and spironolactone accounted for 70% of inappropriate dosing; the magnitude of misdosing was 1.5 to 4 fold (median 2). 9 temporary prescriptions (of a total of 60 prescriptions) in 8 patients were not adjusted (cefuroxim, cefpodoxim, levofloxacin). We could not prove that patients with normal serum creatinine had a higher rate of inappropriate dosing than those with already elevated creatinine.
Discussion and conclusion: In this GP practice, we have demonstrated a considerable prevalence of inappropriate dosing in patients with impaired renal function. It remains to be elucidated whether surveillance of appropriate dosing in renal impairment can be optimized e.g. with CPOE.


Apex predators such as lions, wolves and orcas occupy the top of food chains and are known to exert strong top-down control of prey abundance, community structure and ecosystem productivity. Despite the importance of apex predators in both terrestrial and oceanic habitats, there is a paucity of information on this guild for coral reef ecosystems. Sharks are among the largest predators on coral reefs and may function as apex predators, but our understanding of the ecological role and importance of these organisms is poor. Recent declines in shark populations are also leading to concerns that these potentially important species may be effectively lost from reef systems before we realise their role in ecosystem dynamics. Thus, the overall focus of this thesis was to examine the status, trophic role and importance of large predators, namely reef sharks, on coral reefs, thereby providing management with improved tools for understanding how the removal of predators via fishing influences ecosystem properties.

The high mobility and generally low abundances of reef sharks has led to considerable debate regarding the optimal method/s for assessing their population status. Due to controversy surrounding previous stock assessments, the focus of Chapter 2 was to evaluate potential biases in five survey methods (timed-swim, towed-diver, baited-remote-underwater- video, stationary-point-count, and audible-stationary-count) for assessing reef shark populations, and whether these biases (if any) vary among reefs that are subject to different levels of human interaction due to conservation zoning. For timed-swim, towed-diver, and baited-remote-underwater-video (BRUV) surveys, shark encounter rates were constant over time, suggesting minimal bias caused by, for example, shark attraction to divers. For audible-stationary-count (ASC) surveys, encounter rates were elevated initially, then decreased rapidly, but the extent of upward bias did not differ between management zones. Timed-swim, BRUV, and ASC surveys produced comparable estimates of shark density, however, towed-diver-surveys produced significantly lower estimates of shark density. These findings provide no evidence for biases in diver-surveys: encounter rates with sharks were not elevated when divers first entered the water; behavioural responses of sharks were consistent across management zones; and diver-surveys yielded abundance estimates comparable to stationary non-diver surveys. These results indicate that estimates of abundance generated by diver-surveys such as underwater visual transects are reliable, minimally biased, and suitable for assessing shark populations in the field.

Quantifying the distribution and habitat use of sharks is critical for estimating their population sizes, understanding their ecological role, and for establishing appropriate conservation and management regimes. The goal of Chapter 3 was to survey shark populations across outer-shelf reefs of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in order to determine the diversity, abundance, and distribution of reef sharks across three major coral reef habitats: (1) the reef slope, (2) the back reef and (3) the reef flat. Results revealed that, of the variables that were examined, habitat was the best predictor of shark distribution and abundance. Specifically, overall shark abundance and diversity were significantly higher on the reef slope (and to a lesser degree, the back reef) than the reef flat. These results confirm that shark populations are not homogeneously distributed across coral reefs and also highlight the potential importance of the reef slope, with high levels of live coral cover, structural complexity, and diversity of potential prey species for sustaining reef shark populations.

The goal of Chapter 4 was to examine the top-down influence of reef sharks and mesopredators (predatory teleost fishes) on herbivores across a large spatial gradient. The abundance, size structure, and biomass of apex predators, mesopredators, and herbivores across fished, no-take, and no-entry management zones of the GBR were estimated. Shark abundance and mesopredator size and biomass were higher in no-entry zones than in fished and no-take zones, which indicates the viability of strictly enforced human exclusion areas as tools for the conservation of predator communities. However, changes in predator populations due to protection in no-entry zones did not have a discernible influence on the density, size, or biomass of different functional groups of herbivorous fishes. The lack of a relationship between predators and herbivores suggests that top-down forces may be much weaker than previously thought and that food web models developed for terrestrial systems may not be appropriate for describing reef communities across large spatial scales.

Using life-like models of a reef shark and another large predatory fish (coral-grouper), Chapter 5 examined the indirect effects of large predators on herbivore foraging behaviour and algal consumption. This study found that the presence of a model blacktip reef shark (1.7m length) or large coral-grouper (76 cm length) led to a substantial reduction in bite rate and species richness of herbivorous fishes feeding on a macroalgal thallus in the vicinity of the predator. The perceived risk of predation led to a near absolute localized cessation of macroagal removal. A smaller-sized model coral-grouper (48 cm length) also reduced herbivore diversity and activity but to a lesser degree than the larger model predators. These results highlight that the indirect effects of large predators on the foraging behaviour of herbivores may have flow-on effects on the biomass and distribution of macroalgae on a localized scale. Combined with the results of Chapter 4, this highlights that the ecological interactions and processes that contribute to ecosystem resilience may be more complex than previously assumed.

Due to their large size and conspicuous predatory behaviour, reef sharks are typically assumed to be apex predators on coral reefs, but this title is tenuous because little is known about their trophic ecology and functional role. In Chapter 6 stomach contents and stable isotope ratios (δ13Carbon and δ15Nitrogen) were used to estimate diet, trophic level and sources of primary production of three reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus, Carcharhinus melanopterus and Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) from the GBR. Their assumed functional roles as apex predators were evaluated by qualitative and quantitative comparisons with other sharks and large predatory fishes. It was found that reef sharks do not occupy the apex of coral reef food chains, but instead appear to have functional roles similar to those of large predatory fishes, which are typically regarded as high-level mesopredators. These findings suggest that a high degree of functional redundancy may exist within this guild of large predators, potentially explaining why shark-induced trophic cascades are rare or subtle in coral reef ecosystems. Furthermore, these results indicate that reef sharks should be reassigned to an alternative trophic group such as mesopredators. This change will increase the accuracy of ecosystem models, providing resource managers with improved tools for understanding how reef communities function and how removal of predators might affect ecosystem properties.

The current body of work has advanced our understanding of reef sharks, particularly in terms of their response to protection from fishing, spatial distribution, behaviour towards divers and their functional roles on coral reefs. This thesis demonstrates that reef sharks respond positively to protection from fishing but that the flow-on effects to lower trophic levels are variable and inconsistent with theory surrounding trophic cascades. These advances will be important for improving ecosystem-based management strategies that aim to conserve not only individual species, but also their functions and interactions. Such an approach is paramount given that coral reefs around the globe face ever-intensifying human-induced threats such as overfishing and climate change.


The importance of the magnetic (B) field in the formation of infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) and massive stars is an ongoing topic of investigation. We studied the plane-of-sky B field for one IRDC, G028.23-00.19, to understand the interaction between the field and the cloud. We used near-IR background starlight polarimetry to probe the B field and performed several observational tests to assess the field importance. The polarimetric data, taken with the Mimir instrument, consisted of H-band and K-band observations, totaling 17,160 stellar measurements. We traced the plane-of-sky B-field morphology with respect to the sky-projected cloud elongation. We also found the relationship between the estimated B-field strength and gas volume density, and we computed estimates of the normalized mass-to-magnetic flux ratio. The B-field orientation with respect to the cloud did not show a preferred alignment, but it did exhibit a large-scale pattern. The plane-of-sky B-field strengths ranged from 10 to 165 μG, and the B-field strength dependence on density followed a power law with an index consistent with 2/3. The mass-to-magnetic flux ratio also increased as a function of density. The relative orientations and relationship between the B field and density imply that the B field was not dynamically important in the formation of the IRDC. The increase in mass-to-flux ratio as a function of density, though, indicates a dynamically important B field. Therefore, it is unclear whether the B field influenced the formation of G28.23. However, it is likely that the presence of the IRDC changed the local B-field morphology.


Concentrations of biogenic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in seawater around mainland Britain in winter and summer (1985) ranged from 1 to 1,100 ng S (DMS) liter-'. The mean winter DMS concentration was 4 ng S (DMS) liter-' compared with the mean summer concentration of 220. Analyses of phytoplankton species composition in summer indicate that the main sources of DMS were coccolithophores, various dinoflagellates including the bloom species Gyrodinium aureolum, and certain unidentified taxa of small flagellates. Concentrations of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), the precursor of DMS, were measured in 53 of the summer samples, and its mean concentration was about an order of magnitude greater than that of DMS. Particulate (>0.2 pm) and dissolved fractions of DMSP were operationally resolved, with the latter showing the stronger correlation with DMS. Preliminary estimates for the areal and temporal average flux of sulfur (DMS) from the North Sea to the atmosphere during summer are of the order of lo3 pg S m-2 d-l, a 60-fold increase over winter flux. Biogenic emission in summer is equivalent to about 16% of the spatially averaged anthropogenic emission from Europe.


INTRODUCTION
Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Stroke accounts for the second leading cause of death, about 11.13% of total deaths worldwide. Microalbuminuria is known to be associated with increased risk of mortality in ischaemic stroke patients. But there have been no studies to assess whether microalbuminuria affects the early clinical outcome of patients with acute ischaemic stroke.

AIM
This study aims to investigate whether microalbuminuria affects the early clinical outcome of patients with acute ischaemic stroke.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This is a prospective study of patients with ischaemic stroke (who presented within 24 hours of symptom onset) who were consecutively admitted in three tertiary care centres during the time period from November 2013 to June 2015. Early clinical outcomes in patients were assessed by investigating the presence of Early Neurological Deterioration (END) using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale. Urine albumin creatinine ratio was divided into two categories - Normal (less than 30mg/g of creatinine) or Urine Microalbuminuria (30-300 mg/g of creatinine).

RESULTS
Total 42 out of 70 patients (60%) were found to have microalbuminuria. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, microalbuminuria was found to be independently associated with END in patients with acute ischaemic stroke (p=0.044).

CONCLUSION
In the early periods following acute ischaemic stroke, patients with microalbuminuria have worse clinical outcome.


The recent deployment of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) has emerged as a promising approach to provide extensive interaction between computational and physical worlds. For a large-scale distributed CPS comprising of numerous machines, sharing radio resource efficiently with the existing wireless networks while maintaining sufficient quality of service (QoS) for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications becomes an essential and challenging requirement. By clustering CPS machines as a swarm with the cluster head managing radio resources inside the swarm, spectrum sharing among numerous machines can be achieved in a distributed and scalable fashion. Specifically, we apply the recent innovation, cognitive radio, and a special mode in cognitive radio, interweave coexistence, to leverage machines to collect radio resource usage information for autonomous and interference-free radio resource management in the CPS. To reduce the communication overheads of channel sensing feed backing from machines, we apply compressive sensing to construct a spectrum map indicating the radio resource availability on any given locations within the CPS coverage. Such spectrum map resource management (SMRM) only utilizes a small portion of machines to perform channel sensing but enables distributed cluster-based spectrum sharing in an efficient way. Through the concept of effective capacity, the SMRM controls available resources to guarantee the QoS for communications of CPS. By evaluating the performance of the proposed SMRM in the most promising realization of CPS based on LTE-Advanced machine-type communications coexisting with LTE-Advanced Macrocells to utilize identical spectrum, the simulation results show effective QoS guarantees of CPS by SMRM in the realistic environments.


This is a critical reading of the current literature on law and geography. The article argues that the literature is characterized by an undertheorization of the concept of space. The focus is either on the specific geography of law in the form of jurisdiction, or as a simple terminological innovation. Instead, the article suggests that law's spatial turn ought to consider space as a singular parameter to the hitherto legal preoccupation with time, history and waiting. This forces law into dealing with a new, peculiarly spatial kind of uncertainty in terms of simultaneity, disorientation, materiality and exclusionary corporeal emplacement. The main area in which this undertheorization forcefully manifests itself is that of spatial justice. Despite its critical potential, the concept has been reduced by the majority of the relevant literature into another version of social, distributive or regional justice. On the contrary, if the peculiar characteristics of space are to be taken into account, a concept of justice will have to be rethought on a much more fundamental level than that.


This paper provides an in-depth description of the best rated human-machine interface that was presented during the 2016 Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge. It was demonstrated by the Chalmers Truck Team as the envisioned interface to their open source software framework OpenDLV, which is used to power Chalmers' fleet of self-driving vehicles. The design originates from the postulate that the vehicle is fully autonomous to handle even complex traffic scenarios. Thus, by including external and internal interfaces, and introducing a show, don't tell principle, it aims at fulfilling the needs of the vehicle occupants as well as other participants in the traffic environment. The design also attempts to comply with, and slightly extend, the current traffic rules and legislation for the purpose of being realistic for full-scale implementation.


Objectives We undertook this study in Kenya to understand the community's emergency care needs and barriers they face when trying to access care, and to seek community members' thoughts regarding high impact solutions to expand access to essential emergency services. Design We used a qualitative research methodology to conduct 59 focus groups with 528 total Kenyan community member participants. Data were coded, aggregated and analysed using the content analysis approach. Setting Participants were uniformly selected from all eight of the historical Kenyan provinces (Central, Coast, Eastern, Nairobi, North Eastern, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Western), with equal rural and urban community representation. Results Socioeconomic and cultural factors play a major role both in seeking and reaching emergency care. Community members in Kenya experience a wide range of medical emergencies, and seem to understand their time-critical nature. They rely on one another for assistance in the face of substantial barriers to care—a lack of: system structure, resources, transportation, trained healthcare providers and initial care at the scene. Conclusions Access to emergency care in Kenya can be improved by encouraging recognition and initial treatment of emergent illness in the community, strengthening the pre-hospital care system, improving emergency care delivery at health facilities and creating new policies at a national level. These community-generated solutions likely have a wider applicability in the region.