BACKGROUND
The molecular mechanisms in malignant transformation of laryngeal mucosa are unknown; many clinical and pathological factors affect prognosis. We investigated a possible correlation between overexpression of p53, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and c-erbB-2, and the clinicopathologic features of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and clarify their prognostic value.

MATERIAL/METHODS
Thirty-three men with laryngeal SCC participated; all underwent primary surgery or surgery plus radiotherapy between 1999 and 2004 at our department. Paraffin sections of laryngeal SCC were immunohistochemically stained for p53, PCNA, and c-erbB-2.

RESULTS
Overall, p53 overexpression was found in 16 patients. There was no relation between p53 immunohistochemical staining and tumor region. PCNA immunostaining was significantly stronger in supraglottic tumors compared with glottic tumors. Immunostaining of c-erbB-2 was not different in either location. There was no relation between the T stage of the tumor and p53 and c-erbB-2 immunostaining. However, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the PCNA staining and T stage (stronger staining was present in T3 and T4 stages than in T1 and T2 stages).

CONCLUSIONS
We could not find a statistically significant correlation between p53, PCNA, and c-erbB-2 and lymph node status, histologic differentiation, and survival rate. We demonstrated only a statistically significant positive correlation between PCNA staining and T stage. These data suggest that overexpression of p53, PCNA, and c-erbB-2 is not prognostic in laryngeal SCC.


Objective: Prior work suggests that younger athletes may be more vulnerable to postconcussive syndrome. We investigated measures of clinical outcome and quantitative volumetric imaging in 10- to 14-year-old adolescent athletes to better understand the impact of concussion on this younger population. Setting: Outpatient clinics. Participants: Ten- to 14-year-old symptomatic pediatric sports concussion patients and typically developing active controls. Design: Prospective, observational multiclinic study. Main Measures: Demographics, magnetic resonance imaging, clinical assessments (neurocognitive function, postconcussive symptoms, mental health symptoms, quality of life). Results: Neuropsychological performance was comparable between groups while symptoms of mental health were discriminating and comprised the top regression model describing factors related to overall health behavior impairment. Concussion patients had smaller total brain volume as well as total intracranial volume in comparison with controls even though there was no difference on measures of natural development (age, height, weight, education, gender, and handedness). Conclusions: Findings indicate that 10- to 14-year-old concussion patients symptomatic at 1 month more likely exhibit mental health symptoms impairing health behavior than cognitive dysfunction. There may be a vulnerability for those with smaller brain volumes at the time of the exposure. The study provides new data to support further investigation into risk factors for prolonged symptoms in this younger athlete population.


This publication is an extract from research work within microfinance at the Department of Economics at Uppsala University done by the author Ranjula Bali Swain. The purpose of the paper is to capture the relationship between microfinance and Millennium Development Goal number three, which concerns gender equality and women empowerment. The research is based on the Self Help Group Bank Linkage Programme in India and has revealed that the clients are in fact in the process of empowering themselves. The results show however that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on business training and awareness programmes. Therefore a minimalist approach to microfinance might not have the same outcome.


Context: The key to esthetic and biologic integrity of restorations for a long term, lies in the finishing and polishing, which is the most often neglected procedure.Various finishing and polishing systems are available in the market, however, the polishing regimen for the newer nano-based composites have not been adequately investigated. Aims: The purpose of this current study is to evaluate and compare the effect of two different polishing systems (Diamond Impregnated Compomaster and Aluminium oxide discs Super Snap Xtreme) on the surface roughness and micro hardness of a nanofill(Filtek Z 350 XT )and a nanohybrid composite resin(Filtek Z 250 XT). Methods and Material: A total of 60 composite discs of which, 30 specimens of each restorative material , were fabricated (8 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness). The respective finishing and polishing procedures were carried out and all the specimens were subjected to Surface roughnesss measurement using a Profilometer and micro hardness measurement using a Vickers Micro hardness testing Machine. Statistical analysis used: Means and Standard Deviation (Descriptive), one and two way ANOVA, Independent Sample t test, Pearson's correlation co efficient. Results: The nanofill Z350 XT and Super Snap Xtreme aluminium oxide discs showed least roughness values and Nanohybrid composite specimens had a higher microhardness value. Conclusions: Z350 XT showed least roughness values overall in comparison.For both nanohybrid and nanofill composites resins, the multistep polishing system-aluminium oxide discs (Supersnap Xtreme Shofu Inc.) provided significantly lower surface roughness .Nanohybrid composite specimens had a higher microhardness value when compared with nanofill specimens.


This study identified keywords that trigger national consciousness (here termed "Weness") of Koreans through an analysis of school textbooks using corpus-based techniques. The corpus is taken from Korean language textbooks compiled by the authorities and used in elementary schools in four Korean communities: in South Korea, North Korea, Korean Residents in Japan, and Korean Residents in China. Although the members of these four Korean communities come from the same ethnic stock, the current socio-political characteristics of each group are clearly different. Nevertheless, "Weness" in Korean mind-set, often expressed by the word wuli (we, our), suggests an immediate sense of homogeneity common across politico-social borders. Assuming that school textbooks are a linguistic reflection of a prevailing ideology, I show how this feeling is crystallized in a few special keywords frequently used in textbooks, and point out how Korean national identity is internalized and reproduced by school education.


This paper studied the metachrome process of an optimal dyeing method by comparing the color and fastness of walnut peel extract applied on the pearl fiber with ammonium ferrous sulfate as mordent. In addition, the paper also ascertained the reasonable dyeing process, that is, pH 9, walnut peel extract (the dye) dosage 200 ml/L, mordant (ammonium ferrous sulfate) 2.5 g/L, temperature 80 °C, time 60 min and liquor ratio 1:30, through analysis on single-factor experiments and orthogonal experiments by taking K/S as an evaluation index for the dyeing effect. The results showed that a better effect is achievable by dyeing the pearl fiber with walnut peel dye through the metachrome process.


Abstract Although the general factors influencing the occurrence and distribution of oolitic systems are well known, details of their landscape-scale patterns and formative processes are less systematically explored. By reviewing published studies and presenting new data and insights, this review systematically examines a suite of Holocene systems from the Bahamas in which patterns and processes are characterized and explicitly linked, with the goal of providing more realistic and accurate models for variability, heterogeneity, and predictability in these systems and their ancient analogs. Sedimentological, geomorphic, and hydrodynamical data document that each ooid shoal is unique in detail, yet shoals share common elements. Within bar forms, systematic trends in grain size, type, and sorting are related to spatial and temporal variability in wave, tide, and current energy. These trends are driven by connections among sedimentology, hydrodynamics, and geomorphic forms, as they shape, and concomitantly are shaped by, each other. Similarly, due to feedbacks, a limited number of bar forms occur among shoals, including tidal sand ridges, parabolic bars, transverse shoulder bars, tidal deltas, and sand flats; the dominant bar form broadly corresponds with flow velocities within and among shoals. Among Bahamian tidal shoals, the mean grain size of ooids, maximum bar heights, and the width of the oolitic facies belts are all positively correlated. Collectively, these results illustrate the mode and magnitude of variability in shapes, orientations, and sedimentology of Holocene oolitic bodies, interpreted to be driven by self-organization and autogenic processes. These perspectives provide testable qualitative and quantitative insights that can be used to understand and predict the character of ancient analogs.


This paper is the result of (literature) research and expertise acquired by digitisation projects in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB). The project described is part of the DELTA project, a joint project of Dutch university libraries together with Pica, which focuses on integration of existing and new local and central services into one integrated end-user service. Aim of this (sub)project is to establish a common working procedure within each library and between libraries to improve interoperability, exchange of expertise and to provide the basis for combining dispersed collections in a virtual digital library. During the project selection criteria were developed, five scholarly core journals of international reputation and use were selected, an organisation model was developed, costs were estimated, and decided was to work according to a simple hybrid model e.g. microfilming and digitisation of articles: the backfiles will be scanned in 400-600 dpi and made available in PDF, and the tables of contents in HTML. The articles will be catalogued in the central Pica database and are accessible via the Online Contents (OLC) database and PiCarta, an integrated, multimaterial database offering access to online resources and electronic documents. Copyright will be cleared individually with the Dutch publishers. Part of the project is to develop draft license agreements with different kind of publishers. Archiving will be integrated into the DNEP (Deposit of Dutch Electronic Publications) service of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek.


study estimates the additive and non-additive variances for egg production and body weight traits of two lines of quails from a long-term selection with the help of the REML method. For the body weight of 42-day-old females (BW42f) and males (BW42m), a total of 7,934 records for line 1 and 7,214 records for line 2 from 21 generations were used in our analyses. Additionally, 1,717 records of females from line 1 and 1,671 records of females from line 2 contained information on their egg production at an age of 42 to 200 days (EN200), on the average egg weight for the first 11 weeks of their laying season (EW1), on the average egg weight from weeks 12 to 23 (EW2), and on their body weight at an age of 200 days (BW200f). A multivariate additive animal model and one-trait dominance models, which include the inbreeding coefficients as covariates, were fitted to the data. The estimates of the heritability gained from our dominance models were smaller than those from the additive model. For line 1, the heritability values decreased for EN200 from 0.35 to 0.32, for EW1 from 0.66 to 0.56, for BW200f from 0.42 to 0.38, and for BW200m from 0.51 to 0.49, respectively. For the first line, the respective ratio (d 2 ) of the dominance variance to the phenotypic variance for EN200, EW1, BW200f and BW200m was 0.08, 0.22, 0.09 and 0.21, and the values for the second line were 0.12, 0.06, 0.001 and 0.23.


The abstract concept of indeterministic free will is distinguished from the phenomenon of free will. Evidence for the abstract concept is examined and critically compared with various designs of automata. It is concluded that there is no evidence to support the abstract concept of indeterministic free will, it is inconceivable that a test could be constructed to distinguish an indeterministic agent from a complicated automaton. Testing the free will of an alien visitor is introduced to separate prejudices about who has free will from objective experiments. The phenomenon of free will is modelled with a deterministic decision making agent. The agent values independence and satisfies a desire for independence by responding to challenges. When the agent generates challenges internally it will establish a record of being able to do otherwise. In principle a computer could be built with a free will property. The model also explains false attributions of free will (superstitions).


A pair of primers were designed according to the nsp5 gene of human group B rotavirus strain WH-1, and the nsp5 gene was amplified by PCR and subcloned into the expression vector pGEX-KG. After induced with IPTG, the NSP5 was expressed as a GST fusion protein in the soluble form. Then the protein was purified and immunized mice to obtain specific antiserum. At last, polyclonal antibody was analysed by Western Blot and the result indicated the specification and high titer of the antibody. This work provides important information of the immunogenicity and possible function exploration of NSP5, which is helpful for futher study on virus replication and pathogenic mechanism.


Appropriate treatment of subconjunctival benign lymphoid hyperplasia (BLH) has been unclear. Most have noted poor response to oral or topical corticosteroids. Many recommend observation. Radiotherapy has been used, but there are risks of vision loss. In this case, we found dramatic response to local subconjunctival injection of long acting corticosteroids, which may represent a therapeutic option for subconjunctival benign lymphoid hyperplasia.


This bibliometric study analyzes the research output produced by Spain during the 2005-2014 time period in Open Access (OA) journals indexed in Web of Science. The aim of the paper is to determine if papers published in Open Access journals contribute to the improvement of citation impact and collaboration indicators in Spanish research. The results are shown by scientific areas and compared with 17 European countries. Spain is the second highest ranking European country with gold OA publication output and the fourth highest in Open Access output (9%). In Spain OA output is especially high in the fields of Arts and Humanities (28%). Spain's normalized citation impact in Open access (0.72) is lower than the world average and that of the main European countries. Finally, we discuss how these results differ from the so-called Open Access citation advantage.


[1] The first NASA scout mission to Mars, Phoenix, launched 4 August will land in the northern part of Mars in the locality of 68°N and 233°E on 25 May 2008. Part of the science payload is the Magnetic Properties Experiments (MPE) that consists of two main experiments: the Improved Sweep Magnet Experiment (ISWEEP) and 10 sets of two Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) magnet substrates with embedded permanent magnets of different strength. The ISWEEP experiment is, as the name indicates, an improved version of the Sweep Magnet Experiments flown onboard the two Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) Spirit and Opportunity. The sweep magnet is ring shaped and is designed to allow only nonmagnetic particles to enter a small circular area at the center of the surface of this structure. Results from this experiment have shown that on the MERs hardly any particles can be detected in the central area of this ring-shaped magnet. From this we have concluded that essentially all particles in the Martian atmosphere are magnetic in the sense that they are attracted to permanent magnets. In order to improve the sensitivity of the Sweep Magnet Experiment for detection of nonmagnetic or very weakly magnetic particles, the ISWEEP holds six ring-shaped magnets, somewhat larger than the sweep magnet of the MERs, and with six different background colors in the central area. The six different colors provide new possibilities for improved contrast between these background colors, i.e., any putative nonmagnetic particles should render these more easily detectable. The Surface Stereo Imager will also take advantage of the small clean areas in the ISWEEPs and use the presumably constant colors for radiometric calibration of images. The MECA magnets work as substrates in the MECA microscopy experiments; they are built to attract and hold magnetic particles from dust samples. The collected dust will then be examined by the optical microscope and the atomic force microscope in the MECA package.


A variety of contracts between wineries and grape growers are observed in Brazil. This study addresses the concept of coordination of food chains, particularly the stability of contractual relationships. A qualitative analysis of industry-farmers contracts is presented, followed by a quantitative analysis testing transaction cost economics-based hypothesis. Scale, location, age of vineyard, and the cooperative organizational form are addressed in terms of the effect on the stability of contracts. Vertical and horizontal coordination are addressed. Data come from a sample of 139 grape-growers that supplied 10 major wineries. The results show that more stable contracts or vertical integration are characteristic of high quality wine production, where the need for strict contractual coordination is more relevant, i.e. risk of hold up losses is larger. We test the hypothesis that site specificity and quality-related specific investments are associated with more stable contractual architectures. Farmers' cooperatives present poorer performance but tend to hold more stable relationships with their members, possibly the result of adverse selection, since specialized farmers prefer to maintain contracts with investor-owned wineries, instead of farmers' cooperatives. Conclusions are presented in the final part.


The Adamawa North Senatorial zone was once relatively densely forested with various species of trees, shrubs, and grasses cohabitating varieties of animals, birds and insects. Rivers and streams and ponds in the zone were all season, but today, the physical features are opposite. The forests have disappeared, the rivers and the streams are now seasonal and the different species of animals (birds and insects) are gone. The main objective of this paper is to expose the menace of desertification with specific objectives of identifying the causes, examining the effects, evaluating the environmental changes and recommending mitigating measures to restore the lost environmental characteristics of the Adamawa north areas. Some secondary data of rainfall and temperatures were gotten and analysed statistically while primary data were gotten from the returned questionnaires which were administered equally and purposefully to people aged fifty years and above across the five local government areas. The result of the probit model indicated that rainfall and temperature have a negative impact on Desertification but not too statistically significant. The result of field responses from people who have seen the past and present revealed that important variables that dramatically affects desertification are deforestation, overgrazing, overpopulation and slash and burn cultivation among many other human activities. The paper ends by recommending competitive afforestation or tree planting exercise for a prize among all schools from primary to secondary as well as community based exercises, effective legislation and enforcement with regards to felling of trees, usage and replacement, regulations and education of herdsmen on modern patterns of raising animals. Keywords— Appraising, Slow and Steady, Threat, Desertification, Adamawa Northern Senatorial Zone


This paper presents the results of verification and validation (V&V) studies for resistance and self-propulsion simulations together with investigations of the local flow on the JAPAN Bulk Carrier (JBC) with and without an energy saving device (ESD). Computations are reported for all JBC test cases proposed by the Tokyo 2015 Workshop. In total, four V&V studies are presented for Case1.1a, Case1.2a, Case1.5a and Case1.6a using five systematically refined grids in each study. Local flow predictions for Case1.3a, Case1.4a, Case1.7a and Case1.8a are shown using the finest grids of the grid convergence studies. Resistance predictions using the finest grids are within 1% of the measured data both with and without the ESD. The predicted gain in delivered power is the same as in the measurements: 6.0%, although there is an under prediction of the effective wake in both cases


Kola is God's Gift: Agricultural Production, Export Initiatives and the Kola Industry of Ashante and the Gold Coast c. 1820-1950. By Edmund Abaka. Western African Studies. Athens: Ohio University Press; Oxford: James Curry; Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 2005. Pp. xv, 173; map, figure, and tables. $44.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. Abaka has written a slim but very erudite book focusing on the production of kola nuts in the Ashanti region and its export northwards, toward the Volta basin, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book includes a chapter on kola trade along the Atlantic coast, and a section on the volume of kola exports to Brazil in the middle of the nineteenth century. The author argues that the Asante developed the kola from an uncultivated local tree to a major cash crop, promoting plantations, and organizing its external trade. The kola trade illustrates some the unexpected features of the economic history of West Africa that are also reshaping our understanding of its cultural past. The Asante hardly used the kola themselves, which remains true today, and this is also the case with many farming populations living along the trade routes of the interior. The nuts were packed for the long haul to reach their consumer destination in the north, especially among the Muslims of the Sahel, the number of which greatly swelled during the nineteenth century. Abaka notes that this lead to an expansion of the transregional kola market, an additional corrective to the misconception that the intensification of the Atlantic trade resulted in the withering of the interior north-south trade links of West Africa. Another outlet for the kola nut was the medicinal market of the Middle East and Europe (from which we inherited the Cola drinks that became emblematic of modernity), although this aspect of the precolonial "legitimate trade" pales in the literature compared to discussion of the larger volume of palm oil exports from West Africa to Europe. In the first chapter Abaka discusses kola's significance as food and drug in West Africa, and the role it plays in local communities. In the second chapter he outlines the historical geography of the kola-producing zone, the botany of the plant, kola farming techniques and their development. The third chapter presents a discussion of the diffusion of kola farming from its cradle to other parts of the Gold Coast, areas west of the Volta River, and even parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. …


Equity crowdfunding (ECF) has potential benefits that might be attractive to high-quality entrepreneurs, including fast access to a large pool of investors and obtaining feedback from the market. However, there are potential costs associated with ECF due to early public disclosure of entrepreneurial activities, communication costs with large pools of investors, and equity dilution that could discourage future equity investors; these costs suggest that ECF attracts low-quality entrepreneurs. In this paper, we hypothesize that entrepreneurs tied to more risky banks are more likely to be low-quality entrepreneurs and thus are more likely to use ECF. A large sample of ECF campaigns in Germany shows strong evidence that connections to distressed banks push entrepreneurs to use ECF. We find some evidence, albeit less robust, that entrepreneurs who can access other forms of equity are less likely to use ECF. Finally, the data indicate that entrepreneurs who access ECF are more likely to fail.


Oliver Wendell Holmes's notion of the marketplace of ideas—that the best test of truth is the power of an idea to get itself accepted in the competition of the market— is a central idea in free speech thought. Yet extant social science evidence provides at best mixed support for the metaphor's veracity, and thus for the view that the truth of a proposition has substantial explanatory force in determining which propositions will be accepted and which not. But even if establishing an open marketplace for ideas is unlikely to produce a net gain in human knowledge, it may have other consequences. We illustrate how to empirically study the consequences of establishing or restricting a communicative domain. Our focus is on time, place, and manner restrictions, and we examine two potential natural experiments involving speech buffer zones around polling places and health care facilities providing abortions. Using a regression discontinuity design with geocoded polling information for over 1.3 million voters in two high-density jurisdictions (Hudson County and Manhattan), we provide suggestive evidence that speech restrictions in Hudson County reduced turnout amongst voters in the buffer zone. By failing to cue voters of the election, speech restrictions may have unanticipated costs. And using difference-in-differences and synthetic control matching with state-level data from 1973 to 2011, we illustrate how one might study the impact of speech restrictions around health care facilities. Although the evidence is limited, Massachusetts's restrictions were accompanied, if anything, by a decrease in the abortion rate. Buffer zones might channel speech toward more persuasive forms, belying the notion that the cure for bad speech is plainly more speech.


We introduce GPflux, a Python library for Bayesian deep learning with a strong emphasis on deep Gaussian processes (DGPs). Implementing DGPs is a challenging endeavour due to the various mathematical subtleties that arise when dealing with multivariate Gaussian distributions and the complex bookkeeping of indices. To date, there are no actively maintained, open-sourced and extendable libraries available that support research activities in this area. GPflux aims to fill this gap by providing a library with state-of-the-art DGP algorithms, as well as building blocks for implementing novel Bayesian and GP-based hierarchical models and inference schemes. GPflux is compatible with and built on top of the Keras deep learning eco-system. This enables practitioners to leverage tools from the deep learning community for building and training customised Bayesian models, and create hierarchical models that consist of Bayesian and standard neural network layers in a single coherent framework. GPflux relies on GPflow for most of its GP objects and operations, which makes it an efficient, modular and extensible library, while having a lean codebase.


Prior to Roe v. Wade, hundreds of thousands of illegal abortions occurred in the United States every year. Rickie Solinger uses the story of Ruth Barnett, an abortionist in Portland, Oregon, between 1918 and 1968 to demonstrate that it was the law, not so-called back-alley practitioners, that most endangered women's lives in the years before abortion was legal. Women from all walks of life came to Ruth Barnett to seek abortions. For most of her career she worked in a proper suite of offices, undisturbed by legal authorities. In her years of practice she performed forty thousand abortions and never lost a patient. But in the anti-abortion fervor of the post-World War II era, conditions in Portland and elsewhere began to change. Barnett and other practitioners were hounded by the police and became convenient targets for politicians and sensation-hungry journalists. Desperate women continued to seek abortions but were forced to turn to profiteering abortion syndicates run by racketeers or to use self-induced methods that often ended in serious injury or death. Solinger makes vivid use of newspaper accounts and extant legal transcripts to document how throughout the country laws were used to persecute competent abortion practitioners. While Roe v. Wade has alleviated some of the danger that shaped women's lives before 1973, Solinger points out that the abortion practitioner is again threatened in the United States, this time by the violence of anti-choice fanatics. Her book is an instructive reminder of the vigilance necessary to protect both women and those who would provide them with freedom of choice.


BACKGROUND
Single isomers of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors citalopram (escitalopram, S-citalopram) and fluoxetine (R-fluoxetine) are currently under development for the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. Previous studies conducted in laboratory animals have revealed that the biological effects on serotonin reuptake for citalopram reside in the S enantiomer. In contrast, both enantiomers of fluoxetine contribute to its biological activity.

METHODS
In the present study, the potency and selectivity of escitalopram, R-fluoxetine, and all of the other currently available selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were compared for binding affinity at the human serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine transporters and several select neurotransmitter receptors using radioligand binding assays.

RESULTS
Both escitalopram and R-fluoxetine were potent inhibitors of the serotonin transporter (K(i) = 1.1 and 1.4 nmol/L, respectively). Escitalopram was the most serotonin transporter-selective compound tested and was approximately 30-fold more potent than R-citalopram.

CONCLUSIONS
As noted previously, paroxetine and sertraline possess moderate affinity (<50 nmol/L) for the human norepinephrine transporter and dopamine transporter, respectively. R-Fluoxetine, unlike the other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, possesses moderate affinity (K(i) = 64 nmol/L) for the serotonin 2C receptor. Potential clinical correlates of these unique attributes of escitalopram and R-fluoxetine are discussed.


Child maltreatment continues to be a serious and prevalent issue that affects a significant portionof the population each year, and has been shown to predict negative short and long term effectson victims, and the family as a unit. Much of the literature concerning child maltreatmentfocuses on Child Protective Services (CPS), a department charged with the responsibility ofintervening in cases of child abuse and neglect. One of the responsibilities of CPS is to preventrecidivism (i.e., the reoccurrence of child maltreatment after an initial finding of neglect orabuse), which transpires in an alarming number of cases. Previous literature has focused on riskfactors of recidivism, including child and parent variables. Substance use has been identified as afactor that often, but not always, has been found to predict both maltreatment severity andrecidivism. The current study aimed to investigate the presence of both alcohol and illicitsubstance abuse in a CPS sample, and understand its relationship to abuse severity, removal fromthe home, and recidivism. Findings of this study showed that neither substance nor alcohol abusewas predictive of severity as measured by CPS. However, families where parents abused alcoholand other drugs (AOD) or just substances were more likely to be removed from the home.Additionally, this research identified substance abuse as a significant predictor in both removalfrom the home and recidivism. The results of this research may provide information into furtherinvestigation of links between substance use, child maltreatment, and other parental variables.


PCR ribotyping is considered as a rapid method for the identification of bacteria. . In this technique, the intergenic regions from 16S23S are amplified through PCR. The obtained PCR product is then digested using restriction endonuclease. This technique provides information about the length variability, useful in identifying the microorganisms. Ribotyping has been proved important in determining to prescribe treatment with antibiotics or not and in the recognition of Campylobacter fetus, a thermotolerant strain which has been found in causing bacteremia. The identification of rare and phenotypically abnormal strains is often met by multiple mistakes in clinical microbial laboratories and sometimes it is also difficult to know that the recognition of bacterial species that have been made in incorrect. Whereas ribotyping can identify rare and aberrant bacterial isolates or strains with high accuracy. The results of ribotyping in giving correct identifications fall in the range of sixty-two to ninety-two percent, depending upon the strains of bacteria and standard that is used for definition of species. All of these identifications have been helpful and important in a wide range of aspects in which the most important thing is the identification of disease causing or infectious strains and discovery of appropriate treatment against them.


OBJECTIVE
Recent studies demonstrated that current European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society spirometric reference equations, used in general population, may not be applicable in population of elite athletes. Althought it is well known that physical activity may affect lung volumes, the effect of sporting activity on pulmonary function testing indices was never examined. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in functional respiratory parameters in various types of sports by measuring lung volumes and to extend the existing factors as well as sport disciplines which affect respiratory function the most.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A total of 1639 elite male athletes, aged 18-35 years were divided in 4 groups according to the predominant characteristics of training: skill, power, mixed and endurance athletes. They performed basic anthropometric measurements and spirometry. Groups were compared, and Pearson's simple correlation was performed to test the relation between anthropometric and spirometric characteristics of athletes.

RESULTS
All anthropometric characteristics significantly differed among groups and correlate with respiratory parameters. The highest correlation was found for body height and weight.

CONCLUSIONS
Sports participation is associated with respiratory adaptation, and the extent of adaptation depends on type of activity. Endurance sports athletes have higher lung volumes in comparison with skill, mixed and power group of sport.


A detailed analysis of various factors that influence the accuracy of time-resolved laser-induced incandescence for the determination of primary soot particles is given. As the technique relies on the measurement of the signal ratio at two detection times of the enhanced thermal radiation after an intense laser pulse, guidelines are presented for a suitable choice of detection times to minimize statistical uncertainty. An error analysis is presented for the issues of laser energy absorption, vaporization, heat conduction, and signal detection. Results are shown for a laminar ethene diffusion flame that demonstrate that concurring results are obtained for various laser irradiances, detection characteristics, and times of observation.


We previously discovered that intact bacterial chromosomes can be directly transferred to a yeast host cell where they can propagate as centromeric plasmids by fusing bacterial cells with S accharomyces cerevisiae spheroplasts. Inside the host any desired number of genetic changes can be introduced into the yeast centromeric plasmid to produce designer genomes that can be brought to life using a genome transplantation protocol. Earlier research demonstrated that the removal of restriction-systems from donor bacteria, such as Mycoplasma mycoides, Mycoplasma capricolum, or Haemophilus influenzae increased successful genome transfers. These findings suggested that other genetic factors might also impact the bacteria-to-yeast genome transfer process. In this study, we demonstrated that the removal of a particular genetic factor, the glycerol uptake facilitator protein gene glpF from M. mycoides, significantly increased direct genome transfer by up to 21-fold. Additionally, we showed that intact bacterial cells were endocytosed by yeast spheroplasts producing organelle-like structures within these yeast cells. These might lead to the possibility of creating novel synthetic organelles.


While early literature on electricity externalities was largely concerned with fossil fuel power generation and the associated emissions, nuclear accidents (Chernobyl, Fukushima) and the large-scale deployment of renewable energy facilities have spurred a wave of research on the externalities of nuclear power and renewable energies. The issue is important because many countries have started reconsidering their energy policies, and the externalities from electricity generation play a major role in the benefit-cost analysis of relevant options. This paper reviews the literature on electricity-related externalities. It starts by discussing their nature and the methods employed in valuing them. It finds that appraisals of electricity externalities are complicated because of heterogeneity of both the externalities themselves and the methods applied in measuring them. The paper reviews valuation studies of the externalities from fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable sources, and it discusses the relevance of their findings for the siting of plants and the electricity mix. It concludes by pointing out gaps in our knowledge about electricity externalities that deserve to be addressed in future research.


We investigate an unconventional direction of research that aims at converting neural networks, a class of distributed, connectionist, sub-symbolic models into a symbolic level with the ultimate goal of achieving AI interpretability and safety. To that end, we propose Object-Oriented Deep Learning, a novel computational paradigm of deep learning that adopts interpretable "objects/symbols" as a basic representational atom instead of N-dimensional tensors (as in traditional "feature-oriented" deep learning). For visual processing, each "object/symbol" can explicitly package common properties of visual objects like its position, pose, scale, probability of being an object, pointers to parts, etc., providing a full spectrum of interpretable visual knowledge throughout all layers. It achieves a form of "symbolic disentanglement", offering one solution to the important problem of disentangled representations and invariance. Basic computations of the network include predicting high-level objects and their properties from low-level objects and binding/aggregating relevant objects together. These computations operate at a more fundamental level than convolutions, capturing convolution as a special case while being significantly more general than it. All operations are executed in an input-driven fashion, thus sparsity and dynamic computation per sample are naturally supported, complementing recent popular ideas of dynamic networks and may enable new types of hardware accelerations. We experimentally show on CIFAR-10 that it can perform flexible visual processing, rivaling the performance of ConvNet, but without using any convolution. Furthermore, it can generalize to novel rotations of images that it was not trained for. This work was supported by the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), funded by NSF STC award CCF 1231216.


Deep neural networks excel at image classification, but their performance is far less robust to input perturbations than human perception. In this work we explore whether this shortcoming may be partly addressed by incorporating brain-inspired recurrent dynamics in deep convolutional networks. We take inspiration from a popular framework in neuroscience: 'predictive coding'. At each layer of the hierarchical model, generative feedback 'predicts' (i.e., reconstructs) the pattern of activity in the previous layer. The reconstruction errors are used to iteratively update the network's representations across timesteps, and to optimize the network's feedback weights over the natural image dataset-a form of unsupervised training. We show that implementing this strategy into two popular networks, VGG16 and EfficientNetB0, improves their robustness against various corruptions and adversarial attacks. We hypothesize that other feedforward networks could similarly benefit from the proposed framework. To promote research in this direction, we provide an open-sourced PyTorch-based package called Predify, which can be used to implement and investigate the impacts of the predictive coding dynamics in any convolutional neural network.


We present a simple, deterministic energy balance model in this report. The model is designed to represent the atmospheric component of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. It is a one dimensional, global model with time and space resolutions of one year and 10^0 of latitude respectively. The model predicts the surface air temperature and estimates the surface freshwater flux diagnostically.The coupling between the atmospheric model and an ocean model is accomplished by heat and freshwater fluxes at their interface. The heat flux is calculated according to the difference in the surface air temperature and ocean surface temperature, while the freshwater flux is estimated from the latent heat transport in the atmosphere by a diagnostic equation since no explicit hydrologic cycle or water vapour budget is kept in the model. Two parameterizations for the latent heat transport are proposed, which distinguishes the two versions of the model. The assumptions made in the first version are that the total heat transport in the combined system is invariant and that the atmospheric sensible heat transport can be approximated by a diffusion process, whereas in the second version both atmospheric sensible heat and water vapour transport are treated as a diffusion process.Before proceeding with interactive runs, we study the behaviour of the model in a decoupled mode. Some experiments with initial conditions altered and external forcings changed are carried out to investigate the sensitivity and stability of the model. In particular, the influence of the ice-albedo feedback on model solutions is examined. The results of these experiments may be helpful both in understanding the characteristics of the model and in interpreting results when the model is coupled to an OGCM.2 x CO2 Experiment


The Mormon Mafia and Howard Hughes conspired to kill president John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Hughes reaped billions by doing secret business with the CIA, and Bennett served as the go – between for such deals. Hughes leased a Bahaman island to train Kennedy's CIA assassins, and Bennett provided instructions to some of the teams which appeared on Dealey Plaza. Bennett later hired E. Howard Hunt to work at his public relations firm at the time of the Watergate Scandal, and rumor has it that Bennett was the real "Deep Throat" of the Watergate Scandal, which was actually about Richard M. Nixon's participation in the Kennedy Assassination.


Structural bioinformatics deals with the analysis, classification and prediction of three-dimensional structures of biomacromolecules. It is becoming increasingly important as the number of structures is growing rapidly. This thesis describes three studies concerned with protein-function prediction and two studies about protein structure validation.New protein structures are often compared to known structures to find out if they have a known fold, which may provide hints about their function. The functionality and performance of eleven fold-comparison servers were evaluated. None of the tested servers achieved perfect recall, so in practise a combination of servers should be used.If fold comparison does not provide any hints about the function of a protein, structural motif searches can be employed. A survey of left-handed helices in known protein structures was carried out. The results show that left-handed helices are rare motifs, but most of them occur in active or ligand-binding sites. Their identification can therefore help to pinpoint potentially important residues.Sometimes all available methods fail to provide hints about the function of a protein. Therefore, the potential of using docking techniques to predict which ligands are likely to bind to a particular protein has been investigated. Initial results show that it will be difficult to build a reliable automated docking protocol that will suit all proteins.The effect of various phenomena on the precision of accessible surface area calculations was also investigated. The results suggest that it is prudent to report such values with a precision of 50 to 100 A2.Finally, a survey of register shifts in known protein structures was carried out. The identified potential register shifts were analysed and classified. A machine-learning approach ("rough sets") was used in an attempt to diagnose register errors in structures.


Research on the development of clustering of clean energy businesses and the social network that function within them has been sparse, particularly applications within the Appalachian region. This research addresses this knowledge gap by conducting case studies of potential Clean Energy Economy clustering in the Appalachian region of western North Carolina. Methods of this investigation include an analysis of energy policy at varying scales, SWOT analysis, and social network analysis ok key community stakeholders in Boon, Asheville, and Hickory-Lenoir, NC. The study areas are analyzed to determine the essential attributes of resilient social networks underlying the Clean Energy Economy in this region. Findings suggest Boone functions as a 'learning region' where specialized knowledge is generated, Asheville as an 'economic hub' where specialized knowledge is disseminated into various markets, and Lenoir-Hickory as an area with established manufacturing infrastructure capable of competing in the renewable energy system components market. Successful businesses in the region thrive at the intersection of collaborative social networks, entrepreneurial spirit, local knowledge and social capital, and policy incentives.


Isocyanates with oligo(ethylene glycol) units have been designed and synthesized as 2,5-dioxaheptyl, 2,5,8-trioxadecyl, 3,6,9-trioxaundecyl, and 2,5,8,11-tetraoxatridecyl isocyanates (MeEO2IC, MeEO3IC, EtEO3IC, and MeEO4IC, respectively). The bulk polymerization of the isocyanates using n-butoxy(η5-cyclopentadienyl)dichlorotitanium(IV) at 10 °C proceeded via a living manner to produce well-defined water-soluble polyisocyanates of PMeEO3IC, PEtEO3IC, and PMeEO4IC except for PMeEO2IC. The phase transition property of the obtained polyisocyanates was estimated by their cloud point temperatures (Tcps) in an aqueous solution (40 g L−1). For PMeEO3IC, the Tcp decreased from 90.0 to 74.9 °C with the increasing molecular weight (Mn,NMR) from 1960 to 9000 g mol−1. The Tcp of 94.0 °C for PMeEO4IC (4460 g mol−1) was higher than that of 79.6 °C for PMeEO3IC (4560 g mol−1), and the Tcp decreased from 79.6 to 34.7 °C by changing from the methyl to the ethyl group in the oligo(ethylene glycol) units from PMeEO3IC to PEtEO3IC (4470 g mol−1).


ABSTRACT UK Higher Education (HE) is going through a process of unprecedented change, where large numbers of its student body now come from internationally diverse contexts. These students come from different cultures, backgrounds and educational systems which influence the way they interact, learn and engage with UK HE. Key participants in this engagement and interaction are UK HE academics, who play a significant role in the development of the international student teaching and learning experience. This paper aims to investigate this role and investigate the academic expectations and perceptions of 22 academic tutors across 3 UK HE Business Schools. Within this context the paper will explore how academic knowledge and understanding of international students influence their pedagogical approaches; the participants in the research each had a minimum of three years' teaching experience. Data were analysed using template analysis through the lens of an interpretive approach. The findings indicate that more needs to be done to support the integration of international students in UK HE.


The present study planned and implemented a new farmers' market, the Catawba County Public Health Farmers' Market (CCPH FM) at the local WIC office in Catawba County, North Carolina, of which Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) participants were the main target audience. The purpose of this farmers' market was to provide convenience and improve access to locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables (F & V) in the community and to increase the FMNP coupon redemption rate. The main objectives of this study were to describe the overall process and key strategies involved in implementing a farmers' market at a WIC office, to examine motivators and enablers for visiting farmers' market located at the WIC clinic, and to assess improvement in redemption rate of FMNP coupons among WIC participants by expanding farmers' market access. A community-based participatory research design using different formative methods documented the process and key inputs in farmers' market implementation. Local farmers, program administrators, and community advocates were involved in documenting the implementation process. Multiple measurement methods included direct observation and semi structured interviews with staff and farmers (n = 13). The primary outcome measure was FMNP coupon redemption rate. Rates from 2007-2013 were averaged and compared using a weighted ranking system (% redemption * % eligible individuals). Furthermore, a customer survey was developed and carried out in partnership with CCPH. Surveys (n = 415) were collected using a convenience sampling technique. Descriptive frequencies were conducted to describe the socio-demographic profile and to understand farmers' market purchasing behaviors among the study population. A community partnership among WIC, Eat Smart Move More, local farmers, UNCG, and CCPH was key in implementing the onsite farmers' market. The market occurred weekly for 24 weeks. A total of twelve WIC-approved farmers sold at the market and offered a variety of local produce. The 2013 redemption rate increased from 51.3% to 62.9%. Overall, the primary enablers and motivators identified among visitors to the farmers' market included variety of the fresh F & V, quality of fresh F & V, and the ability to purchase food grown locally. WIC FMNP participants were further motivated by low prices and the ability to easily spend FMNP coupons. This study highlights the importance of leveraging resources at the community level to address barriers to FMNP redemption. Locating farmers' markets at WIC clinics, in particular, can reduce barriers for FMNP participants and increase redemption.


Fundamental to the development of new customer value offerings via web-based commerce is a small firm's ability to strategically acquire and exploit knowledge. The focus of this paper is the empirical testing of a normative web-based commerce adoption model developed from a review of the extant literature related to electronic marketing, the Internet and the diffusion of new innovations. A preliminary test of the model's theoretical contentions lent support to its overall focus, but found that the firm's existing learning capabilities were diminished during the adoption of web-based commerce. Consequently, sub-optimal adoption outcomes were associated with insufficient knowledge development.


The events at Fukushima Daiichi have greatly renewed the public focus on the safety of the existing fleet of nuclear reactors, especially as many US reactors share the same fundamental design—and safety systems—as the affected Japanese reactors. The authors explore the proposition that a transition to increasingly passive safety features in new advanced reactor designs— supplementing, and in some cases superseding, the existing approach of depending on active "defense-in-depth" safety systems—could significantly reduce reactor safety risks. Such passive safety features are highly developed in new small modular reactor designs now under thorough study, designs that may also markedly improve the economic case for nuclear power, based on a factory-built reactor approach. These reactors offer the possibility that US-based manufacturers could regain a significant share of the international nuclear reactor market.


In contrast to 15 or more validated and/or proposed tick-borne spotted fever group species, only three named medically important rickettsial species are associated with insects. These insect-borne rickettsiae are comprised of two highly pathogenic species, Rickettsia prowazekii (the agent of epidemic typhus) and R. typhi (the agent of murine typhus), as well as R. felis, a species with unconfirmed pathogenicity. Rickettsial association with obligate hematophagous insects such as the human body louse (R. prowazekii transmitted by Pediculus h. humanus) and several flea species (R. typhi and R. felis, as well as R. prowazekii in sylvatic form) provides rickettsiae the potential for further multiplications, longer transmission cycles and rapid spread among susceptible human populations. Both human body lice and fleas are intermittent feeders capable of multiple blood meals per generation, facilitating the efficient transmission of rickettsiae to several disparate hosts within urban/rural ecosystems. While taking into consideration the existing knowledge of rickettsial biology and genomic attributes, we have analyzed and summarized the interacting features that are unique to both the rickettsiae and their vector fleas and lice. Furthermore, factors that underlie rickettsial changing ecology, where native mammalian populations are involved in the maintenance of rickettsial cycle and transmission, are discussed.


OBJECTIVES
Bipolar disorder is a severe, recurrent, and often highly impairing psychiatric disorder. The Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) is a large-scale multicenter study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to examine the longitudinal course of the disorder and the effectiveness of current treatments. The current report provides a context for interpreting studies resulting from STEP-BD by summarizing the baseline demographic and diagnostic characteristics of the first 1000 enrolled.

METHODS
The majority of the sample met DSM-IV criteria for bipolar I disorder (71%). Mean age of patients was 40.6 (+/-12.7) years and mean duration of bipolar illness was 23.1 (+/-12.9) years. Among the first 1000 subjects enrolled, 58.6% are females and 92.6% Caucasian. This report compares the STEP-BD sample with other large cohorts of bipolar patients (treatment and community samples).

RESULTS
Compared with US population and community studies, the first 1000 STEP-BD patients were less racially diverse, more educated, had lower income, and a higher unemployment rate. Results are discussed in terms of the contributions of STEP-BD (and other large-scale treatment studies) in understanding the nature, treatments, and outcomes of bipolar disorder for patients seeking care at academic treatment centers.

CONCLUSIONS
The current report provides a context for interpreting future studies resulting from STEP-BD. The comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics between the samples across clinic-based studies suggests broad similarities despite the substantial differences in geography, payer mix, and clinical entry point.


The relationship between gender identity and psychological adjustment has long been investigated, but it is only in the 21 st century that gender identity has been examined as a multi-faceted construct. According to Egan and Perry (2001), there are five dimensions comprising a person's gender identity and they have demonstrated a significant relationship between these dimensions and youth's psychological adjustment. Three of their gender identity constructs are pertinent to this study: gender typicality, gender contentedness, and felt pressure. While subsequent studies have had similar significant results one study found that felt pressure was not negatively correlated with adjustment in minority youth, including Latinos, as it was with majority White samples from the previous studies (Corby, Hodges, & Perry, 2007). Minority youth face more pressure to conform to gender stereotypes (Corby et al., 2007) and Latinos in particular face more rigid gender stereotypes than European American cultures While having a strong ethnic identity has been significantly correlated with self-esteem in Latinos (Umaña-Taylor, 2004), the relationship between ethnic identity, gender identity, and self-esteem in Latino youth have been underrepresented in the literature (Mora, 2012). Since Latino male youth in particular are at-risk for low-self esteem (Twenge & Crocker, 2000) and self-esteem is a protective factor in adolescents (Hosogi, Okada, Fujii, Noguchi, & Watanabe, 2012), it is important to pinpoint variables that are related to high self-esteem. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between ethnic identity, gender identity, and self-esteem in an understudied population in the literature. The sample consisted of 55 males, aged 10-14, who are members of a school-based intervention program for boys at-risk of gang membership. The majority of boys were of Latino heritage. It was hypothesized that gender typicality and gender contentedness would be significantly correlated with self-esteem, and that ethnic identity would mediate the relationship between felt pressure and self-esteem. Statistical analysis yielded partial support for the hypothesis. Implications and future directions are discussed. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first and foremost thank my Thesis Chair, Dr. Lisa Sweatt, for your endless supply of encouragement, advocacy, patience, revisions, and for the constant reminder to always return to the literature. You are a wonderful supporter and sounding board, and I am grateful for your leadership and guidance during this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Kelly Moreno for your edits, our discussions on research and the future, and advising me to keep …


Subwavelength-slotted parallel plate waveguides exhibit a localized electromagnetic resonance bound to the slits at a frequency slightly below the transverse electric cutoff [R. Merlin, Phys. Rev. X 2, 031015 (2012)]. The resonance is long-lived and, as opposed to the vanishingly small transmission shown by a single sub-wavelength aperture, it gives perfect transmission for perfectly conducting plates. We show that the aperture-supported resonances of a pair of slotted copper plates have long lifetimes at Terahertz (THz) frequencies. Finite element method calculations show that these bound resonances can have quality factors greater than 100. The effects of the plate dimensions and imperfect parallel alignment are also discussed. Using THz time domain spectroscopy, we measured the transmission of a broadband pulse through a test structure for several plate separations and demonstrated, as a proof-of-principle, the function of the slotted waveguide as a highly compact THz spectrometer.


Context. Multiple studies demonstrate that most of the residential burglaries are committed by a few offenders. Statistics collected by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention show that the number of residential burglary varies from year to year. But this value normally increases. Besides, around half of all reported burglaries occur in big cities and only some burglaries occur in sparsely-populated areas. Thus, law enforcement agencies need to study possible linked residential burglaries for their investigations. Linking crime-reports is a difficult task and currently there is not a systematic way to do it. Objectives. This study presents an analysis of the different features of the collected residential burglaries by the law enforcement in Sweden. The objective is to study the possibility of linking crimes depending on these features. The characteristics used are residential features, modus operandi, victim features, goods stolen, difference of days and distance between crimes. Methods. To reach the objectives, quasi experiment and repeated measures are used. To obtain the distance between crimes, routes using Google maps are used. Different cluster methods are investigated in order to obtain the best cluster solution for linking residential burglaries. In addition, the study compares different algorithms in order to identify which algorithm offers the best performance in linking crimes. Results. Clustering quality is measured using different methods, Rule of Thumb, the Elbow method and Silhouette. To evaluate these measurements, ANOVA, Tukey and Fisher's test are used. Silhouette presents the greatest quality level compared to other methods. Other clustering algorithms present similar average Silhouette width, and therefore, similar quality clustering. Results also show that distance, days and residential features are the most important features to link crimes. Conclusions. The clustering suggestion denotes that it is possible to reduce the amount of burglaries cases. This reduction is done by finding linked residential burglaries. Having done the clustering, the results have to be investigated by law enforcement.


Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and manage one's own and others' emotions, empathy is the ability to understand how others feel, whereas alexithymia represents the difficulty in feeling and verbally expressing emotions. Emotional competences are important requirements for positive outcomes in nursing profession. The aim of the study: To analyze EI, empathy and alexithymia in nursing students. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in a sample of 237 students (53 males, 184 females), attending both the 1st and 3rd year of the University Nursing Course in Modena. We administered three Italian validated scales: Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Health Professions Student (JSE-HPS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Data were statistically analyzed. Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the 1st and 3rd year students at SSEIT (t=-0.6, p=0.52), JSE-HPS (t=-3.2, p=0.0016) and TAS-20 scores (t=-3.54, p=0.0005). Among 3rd year students, females obtained significantly different scores from those of males at SSEIT (t=2.8, p=0.006). All three scales reported a Cronbach's alpha >0.80. SSEIT correlated positively with JSE-HPS (Spearman's rho=0.15, p=0.02) and negatively with TAS-20 (Spearman's rho=-0.18, p=0.006). Conclusions: Our study highlighted a good level of emotional skills among students at the beginning of nursing training, further increased by the last year of the course, suggesting that emotional competences can be learned, and confirmed that empathy, but not alexithymia, is a dimension of EI. (www.actabiomedica.it)


The North Armorican composite terrane, NW France, is a collage of displaced terranes which result from the amalgamation of Cadomian continental arcs and marginal basin complexes by sinistral transpression along a continental margin above a subduction zone. Early Cadomian arc activity occurred at c. 700-650 Ma, but terrane accretion did not occur until c. 540 Ma, and post-tectonic magmatism persisted well into the Palaeozoic. Cadomian events thus span a considerably greater period than previously supposed.


Introduction Recently a specific MRSA sequence type, ST398, emerged in food production animals and farmers. Risk factors for carrying MRSA ST398 in both animals and humans have not been fully evaluated. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated factors associated with MRSA colonization in veal calves and humans working and living on these farms. Methods A sample of 102 veal calf farms were randomly selected and visited from March 2007–February 2008. Participating farmers were asked to fill in a questionnaire (n = 390) to identify potential risk factors. A nasal swab was taken from each participant. Furthermore, nasal swabs were taken from calves (n = 2151). Swabs were analysed for MRSA by selective enrichment and suspected colonies were confirmed as MRSA by using slide coagulase test and PCR for presence of the mecA-gene. Spa types were identified and a random selection of each spa type was tested with ST398 specific PCR. The Sequence Type of non ST398 strains was determined. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results Human MRSA carriage was strongly associated with intensity of animal contact and with the number of MRSA positive animals on the farm. Calves were more often carrier when treated with antibiotics, while farm hygiene was associated with a lower prevalence of MRSA. Conclusion This is the first study showing direct associations between animal and human carriage of ST398. The direct associations between animal and human MRSA carriage and the association between MRSA and antimicrobial use in calves implicate prudent use of antibiotics in farm animals.


Human development is a cultural process, and language serves as a cultural tool is closely related to virtually all the cognitive changes. The author addresses issues of language in education, and suggests that changing the medium of instruction should not be understood as purely a pedagogical decision. The connection between culture and language is examined for understanding why Hong Kong Chinese learners are stereotyped as passive learners. Through exploring personal experience with a student teacher, the author exemplifies how narrative inquiry is found to be a pragmatic approach to support teachers to become reflective thinkers. This study argues that narrative methods can serve as pedagogical strategies in teacher education since narrative can help both teachers and learners reflect on, question, and learn from their storied experiences.


Over 40 years ago I was frail, listless, and bewildered, yet no one, including my husband and doctor, seemed to notice that I was unwell. Trying to keep the house clean and the children cared for was a great effort; they were only 7 and 5 years old.

> I ceased to feel guilty about my neglect of the children

The first sign of illness was noticed by my dentist: blue marks on my gums. When I next visited my doctor he was unconcerned. About a year later the marks appeared on my nails. I became very thirsty, craving for beer, but rarely had the money to buy any.

My hair was lank and dull, I was very thin, brown pigmentation began to spread up my arms and on my cheeks; I was depressingly unattractive. This did not help the deteriorating situation with my husband. Work took him away regularly, but he grew less and less interested in me; finally I was told of the girlfriend in London. Each weekend when he was at home I tried to seem full of …


The movement of air in natural porous media is complex and challenging to measure. Yet gas transport has important implications, for instance, for the evolution of the seasonal snow cover and for water vapor transport in soil. A novel in situmulti‐sensor measurement system providing high‐resolution observation of gas transport in snow is demonstrated. Carbon monoxide was selected as the tracer gas for having essentially the same density as air, low background concentration, low water solubility, and for being detectable to ≤ 1 ppmv with small, low‐cost, low‐power sensors. The plume of 1% CO injections 30 cm below the snow surface was monitored using 28 sensors (4 locations, 7 depths). The CO breakthrough curves obtained at distances of 0.5–1 m were in good agreement with a simple analytical advection‐diffusion model. The tracer system appears suitable for a wide range of applications in experimental soil science and hydrology addressing moisture transport and evapotranspiration processes.


The paper deals with adaptive control of a shell and tube heat exchanger. Two different control inputs are considered. The procedure of the control design is based on approximation of a nonlinear model of the process by continuous-time external linear models with parameters recursively estimated via corresponding external delta models. The structures of approximating linear models are chosen on the basis of primary steady-state and dynamic analysis of the process. The control system configuration with two feedback controllers is used. The control laws for both control inputs are derived using the polynomial approach and the LQ control technique. The proposed method is verified by control simulations.


Using an experience factory is one possible concept for supporting and improving reuse in software development. (i.e., reuse of products, processes, quality models, ...). In the context of the Sonderforschungsbereich 501: "Development of Large Systems with Generic methods" (SFB501), the Software Engineering Laboratory (SE Lab) runs such an experience factory as part of the infrastructure services it offers. The SE Lab also provides several tools to support the planning, developing, measuring, and analyzing activities of software development processes. Among these tools, the SE Lab runs and maintains an experience base, the SFB-EB. When an experience factory is utilized, support for experience base maintenance is an important issue. Furthermore, it might be interesting to evaluate experience base usage with regard to the number of accesses to certain experience elements stored in the database. The same holds for the usage of the tools provided by the SE LAB. This report presents a set of supporting tools that were designed to aid in these tasks. These supporting tools check the experience base's consistency and gather information on the usage of SFB-EB and the tools installed in the SE Lab. The results are processed periodically and displayed as HTML result reports (consistency checking) or bar charts (usage profiles).


Distributed planning requires both architectures for structuring multiple planners and techniques for planning, communication, and cooperation. We describe a family of systems for distributed control of multiple aircraft, in which each aircraft plans its own flight path and avoids collisions with other aircraft. AUTOPILOT, the kernel planner used by each aircraft, comprises several processing "experts" that share a common world model. These experts sense the world, plan and evaluate flight paths, communicate with other aircraft, and control plan execution. We discuss four architectures for the distribution of airspace management and planning responsibility among the several aircraft occupying the airspace at any point in time. The architectures differ in the extent of cooperation and communication among aircraft.


There is an important but underappreciated ambiguity in Hobbes' concept of personhood. In one sense, persons are representatives or actors. In the other sense, persons are representees or characters. An estate agent is a person in the first sense; her client is a person in the second. This ambiguity is crucial for understanding Hobbes' claim that the state is a person. Most scholars follow the first sense of 'person', which suggests that the state is a kind of actor – in modern terms, a 'corporate agent'. I argue that Hobbes' state is a person only in the second sense: a character rather than an actor. If there are any primitive corporate agents in Hobbes' political thought, they are representative assemblies, not states or corporations. Contemporary political theorists and philosophers tend to miss what is unique and valuable about Hobbes' idea of state personality because they project the idea of corporate agency onto it.


The present study investigates whether immediate repetition improves consecutive interpreting performance during training. In addition, the study tries to shed light on whether the effects of immediate repetition differ between BA and MA interpreting trainees. In the experiment, ten raters judged six major quality measures of the accuracy and fluency of the interpreting output recorded from seven BA trainees and five MA trainees. The seventh quality measure expressed linguistic complexity as the number of clauses per AS-unit. The results show that the main effects of repetition and proficiency are both significant on accuracy and fluency, but the main effects are absent on linguistic complexity. Moreover, in terms of fluency BA trainees benefit significantly more from repetition than MA trainees. Accuracy improvement through repetition does not differ significantly between the two groups. The results have implications for consecutive interpreting training at different stages.


This paper adds a new Omni Directional Microstrip filter-antenna. In antenna design, this microstrip Lines are used to feed the V-shaped coupling slots in the ground Metal level. V-shaped coupling slots provide radiation at the top patches can detect the radiation action of the antenna. Bilateral power divider connected to the microstrip line, also understand the filtering function. The antenna has bandwidth 3.5 to 3.8 GHz of 0.50 GHz. In the frequency band from 3.2 to 3.6 GHz, average gain in vertical direction Antenna plane exceeds 10 dBi. Verlog hardware description Language architecture model. It is automatic and automatic mode with complex functionality. This work discusses the functional authentication of the DSP board using VLSI and MatLab. We can reduce and change the number register and complex parallel input / output functions. It is a pipeline based model so it is easy to change the step and adapt to any mathematical operations. Architecture is examined in terms of current functions and work environment


The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) finds its theoretical foundation in the economic theory of comparative advantage, from which it draws the set of basic trading principles that it overtly upholds, namely, nondiscrimination,
reciprocity, and transparency. In accordance with these principles, GATT sells itself as an agreement that will ensure fair trade through the rationalization of trade barriers and
prevention of trade wars between its members. This paper counters such claims, showing how developing countries could suffer from the stipulations of the treaty emerging from
the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. The purported economic improvements in developing countries under the treaty are highly suspect. GATT makes developing
countries vulnerable to potential exploitation by the dominators of the world market. Additionally, profit-driven transnational corporations successfully lobbied for their
interests—against those of developing countries—in the GATT negotiating table. The argument against the latest GATT treaty boils down to its effect on agricultural production in developing countries, particularly the Philippines. With a government that has never provided food subsidies or any similar forms of support to its farmers, the Philippines stands to lose from GATT's imposition against such subsidies in the name of creating a level playing field. The country is in a rush to industrialize in order to become globally competitive, hence it is reducing the portion of its lands dedicated to agriculture.
This could lead to the worsening of the country's dismal state of food security. With this subjection of lands to the terms of market efficiency comes the decreasing possibility of genuine land reform. In light of the country's ratification of the GATT treaty, the paper insists that after consulting with the affected sectors of society, the Philippine government must prioritize the establishment of national food self-reliance through
accelerated implementation of agrarian reform and the endowment of financial support to small farmers.


An important characteristic of marine sediments is the oxygen concentration that affects many central metabolic processes. There has been a widespread increase in hypoxia in coastal systems (referred to as 'dead zones') mainly caused by eutrophication. Hence, it is central to understand the metabolism and ecology of eukaryotic life in sediments during changing oxygen conditions. Therefore, we sampled coastal 'dead zone' Baltic Sea sediment during autumn and spring, and analysed the eukaryotic metatranscriptome from field samples and after incubation in the dark under oxic or anoxic conditions. Bacillariophyta (diatoms) dominated the eukaryotic metatranscriptome in spring and were also abundant during autumn. A large fraction of the diatom RNA reads was associated with the photosystems suggesting a constitutive expression in darkness. Microscope observation showed intact diatom cells and these would, if hatched, represent a significant part of the pelagic phytoplankton biomass. Oxygenation did not significantly change the relative proportion of diatoms nor resulted in any major shifts in metabolic 'signatures'. By contrast, diatoms rapidly responded when exposed to light suggesting that light is limiting diatom development in hypoxic sediments. Hence, it is suggested that diatoms in hypoxic sediments are on 'standby' to exploit the environment if they reach suitable habitats.


BACKGROUND
Ceruloplasmin is a copper-containing (2-glycoprotein and a member of the acute phase reactant family. Parallel changes in ceruloplasmin and copper concentration have been observed in diseases accompanied by severe inflammation, indicating a closely related process. Cholesterol esterase participates in lipoprotein degradation by the hydrolysis of cholesteryl esters in low density lipoproteins (LDL-CE). LDL-CEs are substrates for cholesterol esterase, but can also undergo oxidation by metal ions. The reduction of lipid hydroperoxides has been claimed to play a key role in the control of lipid peroxidation in living systems.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The experimental group consisted of 16 men with atherosclerosis obliterans of the lower limbs, with 12 healthy male volunteers as a control group. The activity of cholesterol esterase (CEase), ceruloplasmin (Cp), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and the concentrations of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) and copper were determined in serum samples.

RESULTS
CEase and Cp activity and copper concentrations were found to be greater in the AO group than in the controls. In addition, CEase and Cp were negatively correlated (r=(0.65, p< or = 0.05) in the serum of men with AO, but not in the controls. Moreover, copper concentration was significantly correlated with the activity of Cp and GPx (r=0.81 and r=0.58, respectively). The reduced GPx activity and the higher MDA concentration found in the AO group indicate a decline in the antioxidative barrier of plasma.

CONCLUSIONS
The results reported here show an inverse relationship between the activities of CEase and Cp in chronic arterial occlusion of the lower limbs, which may reveal the interaction between the antioxidant and lipolytic enzymes.


Climate projections in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) forecast an increase in the intensity and frequency of droughts with implications for maize production. While studies have examined how maize might be affected at the continental level, there have been few national or sub-national studies of vulnerability. We develop a vulnerability index that combines sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity and that integrates agroecological, climatic and socio-economic variables to evaluate the national and spatial pattern of maize yield vulnerability to droughts in Uganda. The results show that maize yields in the north of Uganda are more vulnerable to droughts than in the south and nationally. Adaptive capacity is higher in the south of the country than in the north. Maize yields also record higher levels of sensitivity and exposure in the north of Uganda than in the south. Latitudinally, it is observed that maize yields in Uganda tend to record higher levels of vulnerability, exposure and sensitivity towards higher latitudes, while in contrast, the adaptive capacity of maize yields is higher towards the lower latitudes. In addition to lower precipitation levels in the north of the country, these observations can also be explained by poor soil quality in most of the north and socio-economic proxies, such as, higher poverty and lower literacy rates in the north of Uganda.


Patent pools—licensing arrangements in which multiple patent owners agree to license their intellectual property to each other and/or third parties—have existed in some form for nearly two centuries. During that time, courts and competition agencies have noted both the benefits and risks associated with pools. On the one hand, patent pools can reduce transaction costs, clear blocking positions, and enable parties to avoid costly infringement litigation. On the other hand, patent pools can serve as a vehicle for collusion, charge for unnecessary patents, and include exclusionary licensing terms. Nonetheless, the consensus for more than twenty years has been that the procompetitive benefits of patent pools outweigh their anticompetitive effects.

But the current assessment of patent pools may be influenced by the nostalgia of events long past. Developments over the past two decades warrant revisiting some of the assumptions regarding the procompetitive nature of patent pools. Creativity and increasingly aggressive licensing behavior also are amplifying the anticompetitive effects of certain pools. As a result, the promise of using certain types of patent pools to resolve licensing issues for standards-essential patents ("SEPs") may be as yet another unrealized dream from glory days gone by.

This article proceeds as follows. First, it provides an overview of necessary background principles to understand the interaction between patent pools, commitments to license SEPS on terms that are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory ("FRAND"), and competition law. Second, it explores how competition law principles traditionally have been applied to SEP patent pools. Third, it critically examines how some of the assumptions underlying the procompetitive nature of patent pools no longer are true in today's SEP assertion environment. Fourth, it assesses how the anticompetitive risks of certain SEP pools likely eclipse their alleged procompetitive justifications. Finally, this article concludes by providing specific recommendations to restore SEP patent pools to a position where an appropriate balance is struck between competition risks and benefits.


ABSTRACT: Discrete cold water patches within the surface waters of summer warm streams afford potential thermal refuge for cold water fishes during periods of heat stress. This analysis focused on reach scale heterogeneity in water temperatures as influenced by local influx of cooler subsurface waters. Using field thermal probes and recording thermistors, we identified and characterized cold water patches (at least 3°C colder than ambient streamflow temperatures) potentially serving as thermal refugia for cold water fishes. Among 37 study sites within alluvial valleys of the Grande Ronde basin in northeastern Oregon, we identified cold water patches associated with side channels, alcoves, lateral seeps, and floodplain spring brooks. These types differed with regard to within floodplain position, area, spatial thermal range, substrate, and availability of cover for fish. Experimental shading cooled daily maximum temperatures of surface waters within cold water patches 2 to 4°C, indicating a strong influence of riparian vegetation on the expression of cold water patch thermal characteristics. Strong vertical temperature gradients associated with heating of surface layers of cold water patches exposed to solar radiation, superimposed upon vertical gradients in dissolved oxygen, can partially restrict suitable refuge volumes for stream salmonids within cold water patches.


Changes in leaf chlorophyll content can serve as relative indicators of plant vigor and environmental quality. This study identified reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance wavebands and band ratios within the 400- to 850-nm range for intact leaves that could be used to estimate extracted leaf chlorophyll per unit leaf area (areal concentration) with minimal error. Leaf optical properties along with chlorophyll a, b, and a + b concentrations were measured for the planar-leaved sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), wild grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.), and switchcane [Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl.], and for needles of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Miller). Generally, reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance corresponded most precisely with chlorophyll concentrations at wavelengths near 700 nm, although regressions were also strong in the 550- to 625-nm range. A power function was superior to a simple linear function in yielding low standard deviations of the estimate (s). When data were combined among the planar-leaved species, s values were low at approximately 50 mumol/m2 out of a 940 mumol/m2 range in chlorophyll a + b at best-fit wavelengths of 707 to 709 nm. Minimal s values for chlorophyll a + b ranged from 32 to 62 mumol/m2 across species when band ratios having numerator wavelengths of 693 to 720 nm were used with the application of a power function. Optimal denominator wavelengths for the band ratios were 850 nm for reflectance and transmittance and 400 nm for absorptance. This information can be applied in designing field portable chlorophyll meters and in the landscape-scale remote sensing of plant responses to the environment.


In everyday life, we often encounter groupings of objects. It could be a group of products kept on a retail shelf, food items in a shop window or depictions of groups of objects or people in an advertisement. However, very little attention has been paid to how these different groupings could influence consumer decisions. The main aim of this article is to study the influence of such groupings on consumer choice and behavior. A new phenomenon is presented that studies the influence of gestalt grouping of objects, such as economy, symmetry, and similarity in different consumer decision domains. Specifically, it is proposed that when each object in two groups has an equal chance of a gain (for instance, one in 10 has a gift coupon), then people prefer to select an object from the group with better gestalt features. However, when each object in two groups has an equal chance of a loss (for instance, one in 10 is defective), then people prefer to select an object from the group with worse gestalt features. Normative theory would predict that people should be indifferent between the two groups. However, this article demonstrates that people utilize spatial grouping, a non-informative factor, as a cue in their preferences. I call the differential influence of groupings on decisions the cooler effect. The cooler effect in the gain and loss domains is demonstrated in experiments 1 and 2. Both experiments use different domains of product choice and a game of chance to test the robustness of the findings. Subsequently, an underlying process utilizing gestalt theory and contagion theory is proposed. Further three alternate accounts are presented – motivational reasoning, contagion by itself being sufficient, and gestalt perception by itself being enough. Experiments 4 and 5 test the proposed account, rule out the alternate


Schools are complex systems with an important function in society, namely educating the future generations. As such, it is important to understand whether the built environments provided are assisting this educational process. This study used available data to create a database to evaluate the new buildings built under the Building Schools for Future programme by the British government, using them as a case study to determine whether there was any significant improvement in attainment and absenteeism. It was found that many schools improved in the two years prior to and immediately after the move to the new building, but any improvements in attainment continued only to the third year of occupation, following which it deteriorated considerably. The internal environment and the BREEAM ratings were also analysed, finding no significant overall relationship to the attainment. Further detailed studies need to be carried out at the school level to understand how the changes in school performance occur and how this relates to the built environment, whether the physical environment and design are affecting attainment.


It is well known in medicine that changes in tissue elasticity may be related to pathological phenomena such as cancer and other disease. Physicians routinely use palpation as means of inspecting the thyroid, prostate, and breast, where a palpably hard mass can often indicate the presence of a malignant lesion. Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) has emerged as a relatively new elasticity imaging technique which can be used to spatially map and measure displacement patterns resulting from harmonic shear-wave propagation in soft tissue. Displacement fields are then used in reconstructing the tissue's elastic property distributions. The feasibility of using MRE as a noninvasive means of characterizing the mechanical properties of silicone phantom mimicking human breast, was investigated though experiments involving MRE acquisitions of four phantoms. To achieve sufficient excitation of the phantom tissue, an acoustic actuator was developed. The results of these studies have shown the MRE acquisition to be successful in capturing sufficient data for elastic parameter reconstruction. Another different type of actuator has been developed and tested in the laboratory. The results show the potential for future use of this actuator in MRE experiments.


Van der Kleij et al. investigated the interaction of schistosome-derived lipids with the immune system and showed that schistosomal phosphatidylserine (PS) activated Toll-like receptors (TLR) on human dendritic cells, causing the dendritic cells to promote the differentiation of T cells into the T regulatory (Treg) phenotype. The chronic stage of infection with schistosomes, parasitic trematodes that cause schistosomiasis, is characterized by enhanced production of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and suppression of the T cell response to parasite antigens. The authors determined that the PS fraction of lipids isolated from Schistosoma mansoni eggs and worms and fractionated on anion-exchange columns stimulated cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy individuals. When cocultured with naïve T cells, monocyte-derived dendritic cells that were matured in the presence of schistosomal PS promoted the development of IL-10 producing Treg cells that were capable of suppressing the proliferation of autologous T helper (TH) cells. In HEK 293 cells transiently transfected with various human TLRs, only cells carrying TLR-2 were activated by schistosomal PS. Maturing dendritic cells in the presence of antibodies to TLR-2 (as well as schistosomal PS) attenuated their ability to promote the differentiation of IL-10-producing T cells. The authors used mass spectrometry in combination with HPLC to identify lysophosphatidylserine as the TLR-2-stimulating molecule. Activity was specific to schistosomal-derived lysophosphatidylserine; neither mammalian PS nor synthetic lysophosphatidylserine were effective. D. van der Kleij, E. Latz, J. F. H. M. Brouwers, Y. C. M. Kruize, M. Schmitz, E. A. Kurt-Jones, T. Espevik, E. C. de Jong, M. L. Kapsenberg, D. T. Golenbock, A. G. M. Tielens, M. Yazdanbakhsh, A novel host-parasite lipid cross-talk. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 48122-48129 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


In modeling human cognitive capacity there is a question of what needs to be built in and what can be left out, because we can offload it onto cognitive technology, such a google web search. Word meanings can be represented in two different ways: sensorimotor and verbal. Verbals definitions and descriptions can be offloaded, sensorimotor representations cannot. Dictionaries have a "grounding kernel" of words from which all other words can be reached through recombinatory definition alone. The words are learned at an earlier age and are more concrete. We tested conjunctive and disjunctive google search for target terms that had their own wikipedia entries, using either the target terms themselves, or the three words that had the highest co-occurrence frequency (latent semantic analysis) with the target words in Wordnet. The highly co-occurring words were surprisingly ineffective in retrieving the target word, even in joint conjunctive and disjunctive searches and there was no significant correlation with age of acquisition or concreteness. This raises some questions about the similarity between human associative memory and google-based associative search.


Abstract The low-level atmospheric transformation associated with a class of traveling convective storms observed. over Venezuela is described. A strong low-level cooling is observed, confined mostly to the subcloud layer, and associated with a deeper layer of drying and acceleration of the easterly flow. A density current model is used to stratify the storm travel speeds, peak surface gusts and the accelerated flow at low levels behind the storm, and to relate these to the low-level flow ahead of the storm. There is reasonable agreement between these atmospheric data and laboratory observations of density currents. The updraft and down-draft structure is discussed using an interesting sounding cross section and trajectories from a three-dimensional numerical simulation. It appears that two distinct downdrafts exist: one driven by precipitation within the cumulonimbus cell, and a second mesoscale feature which is dynamically driven, and associated with descent over the spreading cold outflow.


Our lives revolve around sharing stories with others. Expressing emotion (i.e., happy and sad) is an essential characteristic of sharing stories and could enhance the similarity of story comprehension across speaker–listener pairs. The Emotions as Social Information Model (EASI) suggests that emotional communication may influence interpersonal closeness, but the effect of sharing emotional (happy/sad) stories on interpersonal closeness remains poorly understood. Here, one speaker watched emotional videos and communicated the content of the videos to thirty-two listeners (happy/sad/neutral group). Both speaker and listeners' neural activities were recorded using EEG. After listening, we assessed the interpersonal closeness between the speaker and listeners. Compared to the sad group, sharing happy stories showed a better recall quality and a higher rating of interpersonal closeness. Meanwhile, the happy group showed higher interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and temporal cortex (specifically TPJ) than the sad group. Moreover, such IBS mediated the relationship between the quality of sharing stories and interpersonal closeness, and happy emotion moderated this mediation model. The magnitude of IBS differentiated high interpersonal closeness from low interpersonal closeness. Exploratory analysis using support vector regression showed that the IBS could also predict the ratings of interpersonal closeness in left-out subjects. These results suggest that IBS could serve as an indicator of whether sharing emotional stories facilitate interpersonal closeness. These findings improve our understanding of sharing emotional information among individuals that guide behaviors during interpersonal interactions.


This paper introduces a Monte Carlo method for maximum likelihood inference in the context of discretely observed diffusion processes. The method gives unbiased and a.s. continuous estimators of the likelihood function for a family of diffusion models aid its performance in numerical examples is computationally efficient. It uses a recently developed technique for the exact simulation of diffusions, and involves no discretization error. We show that, under regularity conditions, the Monte Carlo MLE converges a.s. to the true MLE. For datasize n -> infinity, we show that the number of Monte Carlo iterations should be tuned as O (n(1/2)) and we demonstrate the consistency properties of the Monte Carlo MLE as an estimator of the true parameter value.