Giardiasis is one of the common parasitic diarrhoea in humans especially in children worldwide. Many drugs are used for its treatment but there is evidence of drug resistance, insufficient efficacy and unpleasant side effects. Natural products are good candidates for discovering more effective anti-giardial compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro antigiardial activity of ethanolic extracts of Solennostemma argel, Trigonella foenum graecum and Mentha x piperita in comparison with metronidazole. Giardia trophozoites were isolated from feacal samples. The ethanolic extracts of 3 plants with concentration of 5000 ppm were investigated together with metronidazole (positive control) at 0.3125 ppm against G. lamblia trophozoites. The extracts of 3 plants were incubated at 37°C for 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. Mortality of trophozoites was observed by 0.4% Trypan blue and a haemocytometer. Trigonella foenum graecum, Mentha x piperita and Solennostemma argel exhibited 98%, 92% and 65% mortality respectively within 96 h at concentration of 5000 ppm (5 mg/ml). This was compared to metronidazole which gave 100% inhibition at concentration of 0.3125 ppm at the same time. The ethanolic extracts of Trigonella foenum graecum, Solennostemma argel and Mentha x piperita had potent antigiardial activity. This will provide natural therapeutic treatment to giardiasis with minimal side effects and drug resistance. We recommend using these plants against Giardia lamblia in the in vivo and also to find fractions of the pharmacological effects of these plants.


Growth and sustenance of local democracy, enabling public (especially developmental) policy formulation and facilitating direct service delivery to resident population are three complementary expectations that e-governance could be directed to fulfil. Over the last decade or so, an overwhelming use of ICTs in government has meant that all such roles are serviced through a substantial dependence on them. However, recent research by Pratchett (1999), Mitra (2001), among others, shows that facilitating service delivery needs are being targeted to a greater degree through dependence on ICTs compared to other roles. At the same time, traditional understanding of the role of government has usually tended to view the impact and dependence on ICTs as a secondary influence. Whilst expectations of the tool, i.e. ICTs have gradually risen, the role of institutions has simultaneously altered to that of a less serious mediator. Government within the modern context is seen as an enabler rather than a provider of services. The enabling role essentially consists of a certain amount of selling of services rather than it being mainly provider of services.

The context of the present paper is within the domain delineated by the changing role of governance, the enabling ethos of electronically mediated services as well as the impact of software trade on it. It is generally accepted (Heeks 2000) that Indian software trade has reflected progress and gradual growth in revenue. Even though there is a growing shift towards eCommerce and distributed development (Singh, 2000) the Indian software sector has been significantly driven by revenues earned through body-shopping and code development for organisations based in the European and North American markets. State governments in India buoyed by successes in software exports have provided incentives to attract software companies through opportunities of electronically mediated governance as a sector that such companies may want to reap benefits from. The dot-com crash and the slowing down of the US economy have further added business pressure on the Indian IT sector to look for alternative sources of income and opportunities. The present paper argues that given these experiences, a positive effect of the software export sector would lead to a rise in e-governance initiatives on the one hand introducing smarter and higher end technology and on the other lead to government gradually becoming more dependent on outsourcing of services.


In just three years, the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria has vaulted from obscurity to become one of the most widely studied and exploited proteins in biochemistry and cell biology. Its amazing ability to generate a highly visible, efficiently emitting internal fluorophore is both intrinsically fascinating and tremendously valuable. High-resolution crystal structures of GFP offer unprecedented opportunities to understand and manipulate the relation between protein structure and spectroscopic function. GFP has become well established as a marker of gene expression and protein targeting in intact cells and organisms. Mutagenesis and engineering of GFP into chimeric proteins are opening new vistas in physiological indicators, biosensors, and photochemical memories.


In this paper, several demands placed on concept description algorithms are identified and discussed. The most important criterion is the ability to produce compact rule sets that, in a natural and accurate way, describe the most important relationships in the underlying domain. An algorithm based on the identified criteria is presented and evaluated. The algorithm, named Chipper, produces decision lists, where each rule covers a maximum number of remaining instances while meeting requested accuracy requirements. In the experiments, Chipper is evaluated on nine UCI data sets. The main result is that Chipper produces compact and understandable rule sets, clearly fulfilling the overall goal of concept description. In the experiments, Chipper's accuracy is similar to standard decision tree and rule induction algorithms, while rule sets have superior comprehensibility.


"Truthtellers of the Times" brings together the voices of fifteen of our most compelling contemporary poets and surveys a broad continuum of American literary culture. The voices are diverse in age, ethnicity, race, and sexuality, and together provide a mosaic portrait of the state of contemporary poetry by women. The women are social activists as well as poets and their appeal as individuals and artists resonates far beyond the academic setting. The poets represented are Robin Becker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Lucha Corpi, Rita Dove, Joy Harjo, Josephine Jacobsen, June Jordan, Janice Mirikitani, Alicia Ostriker, Linda Pastan, Minnie Bruce Pratt, May Miller Sullivan, and Karen Swenson.The interviews have been culled from the pages of "Belles Lettres: A Review of Books by Women," a pioneering journal that for twelve years has brought to light the best of women's writing. The subjects covered are consistently engaging, and as varied as the poets themselves. The common concerns of women's story-telling, oral tradition, and daily habit emerge from these conversations, giving the collection an energizing unity even as it explores an astonishing range of experiences.In each case, we see how the keen desire of each woman to be a poet triumphed over obstacles and constrictions, race prejudice and misogyny, the troubles and banalities of the everyday. The poets' frankness and humor, their obvious dedication to improving the world through the sharing of their gifts, and their hard-won wisdom make this book an invaluable forum on creativity and accomplishment.Janet Palmer Mullaney is founding editor and publisher of "Belles Lettres: A Review of Books by Women."


AYUSH is an Indian system of medicine which comprises of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. Unani medicines are an alternative approach to medical treatment that is practiced on a large scale in India. Tiryaq-E-Pechichis one of the Unani formulation which is known for its Abdominal disorders, Anti-pyretic, Heart ailment. Keeping in view the high medicinal importance of drug, it has been studied on the basis of physico-chemical and biological aspects. The parameters applied for the present study include qualitative and quantitative phytochemical tests, TLC fingerprinting, antimicrobial activity and stability studies. In the light of results obtained it can be concluded that this study play very important role in the herbal drugs development and standardization. Present study is based on integrated approaches to standardize physico-chemical and biological basis that can be useful to supplement information with regards to its identification and shall be helpful in establishing the medicinal use.


We developed a method of constructing a stacked structure of microparticles by using multiple beams emitted by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser array [Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 2969 (2003)]. We construct a new observation system to observe the stacked structure and to clarify the stacking process. Results confirmed that the stacked structure was lifted up from the sample stage and fabricated without space between the microparticles. Furthermore, we investigated the difference of stacking processes when 2 x 2 beams and a single beam were used. As a result, we found that a stacked structure, when 2 x 2 beams were used, can be fabricated with lower optical power than when a single beam was used.


A new human herpesvirus was recently identified in all forms of Kaposi's sarcoma (Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus [KSHV] or human herpesvirus 8), as well as in primary effusion (body cavity-based) lymphomas (PELs). A 12.3-kb-long KSHV clone was obtained from a PEL genomic library. Sequencing of this clone revealed extensive homology and colinearity with the right end of the herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) genome and more limited homology to the left end of the Epstein-Barr virus genome. Four open reading frames (ORFs) were sequenced and characterized; these are homologous to the following viral and/or cellular genes: (i) Epstein-Barr virus membrane antigen p140 and HVS p160, (ii) HVS and cellular type D cyclins, (iii) HVS and cellular G protein-coupled receptors, and (iv) HVS. Since there is considerable evidence that cyclin D1 and some G protein-coupled receptors contribute to the development of specific cancers, the presence of KSHV homologs of these genes provides support for a role for KSHV in malignant transformation. All ORFs identified are transcribed in PELs and Kaposi's sarcoma tissues, further suggesting an active role for KSHV in these diseases.


At the end of a controlled experiment where research assistants were hired for coding news from online newspapers, the experimenter-employer asked a number of them to roll a die and report the result in order to be paid in cash an amount linear on the reported number from 1 to 6 that could go from 1.6 to 9.4 USD. Another (control) group of similar students, recruited in a similar manner, were also invited to perform the same die-roll task, but they had no prior labor relationship with the experimenter-employer. Our treatment group showed in average higher levels of honesty as their distribution of reported numbers was less skewed to the right, that is, the long-term labor relationship group was more likely to report numbers that are closer to the uniform (honest) distribution than our control, and than other reported numbers in this kind of experiments. We conjecture that the previous experimenter-subject relationship of the treatment group induced higher levels of honesty among the participants. One of the possible reasons is that the labor relationship created for the group of "treatment" students included a series of shocks that involved the possibility of involuntary unemployment, bringing incentives for the students to signal honesty as a trait that could be valued in the labor market. This paper contributes to the growing literature on understanding the motives for honesty and cheating.


This work is based on an investigation of language acquisition process, particularly in regard to syntax, among Mauritian children learning to speak Mauritian Creole as their first language. As such, it is the first major study of the development of child grammar in a Creole context. Mauritian Creole, in common with many Creole languages, emerged under extreme conditions and, as an isolating language, Mauritian Creole is typologically different from languages where syntax is predominantly tied to morphology. There is thus an opportunity to broaden perspectives on language acquisition since until now most work has focused on languages such as English, French, German, Italian. The analysis proceeds within the GB framework of generative grammar, and discussion emanates from psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and theoretical linguistic viewpoints. The data also provide a means for evaluating Bickerton's theory, especially his conclusion that the acquisition of radical Creoles takes place with fewer errors than is the case for other languages, given that Creole languages are in harmony with the 'Bioprogram'.


Scooped: The Politics and Power of Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand critically examines some of the most pressing economic, political, social and cultural issues facing journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Approaching journalism as a field of cultural production, the book brings together contributions from a diverse list of academics and journalists, and interrogates the commonsense assumptions that typically structure public discussion of journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rather than simply treating power as something others have, and politics as something that the media simply covers, the book situates journalism itself as a site of power and cultural politics. Lamenting the often antagonistic relationship between journalism and academia, the book offers a vision of a critically engaged journalism studies that should be of interest to academics, students, journalists and general readers.


An automated molecularly imprinted sorbent based assay (MIA) for the rapid and sensitive analysis of penicillin-type beta-lactam antibiotics (BLAs) has been developed and optimized. The polymers were prepared using penicillin G procaine salt as template (PENGp) and a stoichiometric quantity of a urea-based functional monomer to target the single oxyanionic species in the template molecule. Highly fluorescent competitors (emission quantum yields of 0.4-0.95), molecularly engineered to contain pyrene labels while keeping intact the 6-aminopenicillanic acid moiety for efficient recognition by the cross-linked polymers, have been tested as analyte analogues in the competitive assay. Pyrenemethylacetamido penicillanic acid (PAAP) was the tagged antibiotic providing for the highest selectivity when competing with PenG for the specific binding sites in the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). Upon desorption from the MIP, the emission signal generated by the PAAP was related to the antibiotic concentration in the sample. The 50% binding inhibition concentration of penicillin G standard curves was at 1.81 x 10(-6) M PENG, and the detection limit was 1.97 x 10(-7) M. The sensor showed a dynamic range (normalized signal in the 20 to 80% range) from 6.80 x 10(-7) to 7.21 x 10(-6) M (20-80% binding inhibition) PENG in acetonitrile:HEPES buffer 0.1 M at pH 7.5 (40:60, v/v) solutions. Competitive binding studies demonstrated various degrees of cross-reactivity with penicillin-type beta-lactam antibiotics such as ampicillin (71%), oxacillin (66%), penicillin V (56%), amoxicillin (13%), and nafcillin (46%) and a lower response to other isoxazolyl penicillins such as cloxacillin (27%) and dicloxacillin (16%). The total analysis time was 14 min per determination, and the MIP reactor could be reused for more than 150 cycles without significant loss of recognition. The automatic MIA has been successfully applied to the direct analysis of penicillin G in spiked urine samples with excellent recoveries (mean value 92%). Results displayed by comparative analysis of the optimized MIA with a chromatographic procedure for penicillin G showed excellent agreement between both methods.


More than twenty (28±6) tropical cyclones (TC) are formed in the West Pacific basin annually with 18±4 of them entering the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), and 10±4 eventually making landfall in the archipelago. Predicting accurately at the earliest possible time if a TC will strike land is vital in disaster preparedness and mitigation planning. We develop a supervised backpropagation neural network (NN) that predicts if a TC will eventually make landfall right after its genesis. The three-layer NN has six inputs (two TC eye coordinates, maximum sustained wind speed at genesis, and distances from three PAGASA weather stations), seven hidden nodes and two outputs (yes or no). It is able to predict if a TC enters PAR twelve hours after genesis, and hits land within fifty-four hours at a success rate of 94.82 ± 1.89% and 91.08 ± 0.89%, respectively. Network performance is evaluated at different lead times for different numbers of input and hidden nodes and pairs of training and test sets. The data sets are taken from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center Best Track archives (1945-2017).


The paper deals with an experimental model, which describes the physiological environment within the vas deferens. For this purpose, special testing equipment is built and includes the following components: a positioning controlling system, a constriction device and a flexible tubing.

The model is applied for a non-invasive reversible vasectomy procedure based on a new medical device, but it may be used to test and to develop other occluding devices implanted on the vessels of the human body with similar properties. By taking into consideration the migration potential of the implant in contact with the sperm propelled by the vas deferens muscles, the device effectiveness is investigated. In order to achieve the device improvement different shapes for the implant head are designed and experimentally tested.


Has the holy grail of extraction technology been found? Is supercritical CO2 the supreme vessel for the extraction of naturals? Are supercritical fluid CO2 extracts (SFE) simply surfing the momentum of a fashionable wave within the perfumer and flavorist palette, or do they provide long-term solutions to an ever-more demanding and regulated industry? CO2 extracts have been all the rage lately: The technology is trendy, eco-friendly, efficient, highly selective and flexible. CO2 extracts shine a new light of naturalness on the palette for delivering a sparkling fresh aroma. They are truest to the botanical starting material due to the gentle temperatures of the process. SFEs leave behind zero residual solvent and boast exceptional shelf life, thanks to the inert atmosphere of the process. The technology has the ability to yield incredibly selective fine fractionation of aroma profiles. Supercritical CO2 performs admirably not only on solid starting materials (such as spices and herbs), but also uniquely well on liquids such as fruit juices or nut oils—thereby opening the door to a wealth of new starting materials.


In "Black Elk Speaks" and "When the Tree Flowered," John C. Neihardt recorded the teachings of the Oglala holy man Black Elk, who had, in a vision, seen himself as the "sixth grandfather," the spiritual representative of the earth and of mankind. Raymond J. DeMallie makes available for the first time the transcripts from Neihardt's interviews with Black Elk in 1931 and 1944, which formed the basis for the two books. His introduction offers new insights into the life of Black Elk.


BACKGROUND
Nurses in primary care, who see a large proportion of the population, are well placed to discuss weight with patients and offer management advice. Interventions to promote weight loss have shown that there are effective ways of making small changes for patients.

OBJECTIVES
To use qualitative semi-structured interviews to explore how practice nurses manage obesity within primary care and to identify good practice and explore barriers to achieving effective management.

METHODS
Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with practice nurses within two local health board areas in South Wales. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed qualitatively using a thematic approach.

RESULTS
Nurses described two roles. One role was providing obesity management to patients who had co-morbid conditions and were seen regularly in chronic disease clinics. All nurses perceived that these patients needed their weight addressing routinely. The other role was to broach the subject with overweight but healthy patients. Nurses were of divided opinion whether to address obesity with these patients and what primary care had to offer. Weight management advice, when given, lacked consistency of approach.

CONCLUSIONS
Broaching the subject of weight opportunistically with healthy but overweight patients may require a deeper appreciation of their motivations for change and discussion beyond future health risks. These patients also need clearer follow up to monitor their progress with weight loss. All overweight patients also need clearer guidance tailored to their own particular circumstances as to how to lose weight. For patients being counselled about their weight, interventions that promote consistency of advice are advocated to improve care.


Occupational therapists are encouraged to reflect on doing, being, and becoming not only as it relates to the development of their profession but also in their own lives (Wilcock 1999). This article is a description of that process for me and my family in our journey through perinatal loss. This autoethnography uses a personally situated account of perinatal death. This article is a form of self-narrative that places me and my family in social context through the lens of an occupational therapist. This article aims to convey the meanings attached to the experience of grief and loss in the context of participation in everyday occupations. By sharing a perspective on the lived experience and connecting it to the literature on grief and occupation, readers will be able to decide if the connection holds as valid from a theoretical and clinical perspective.


Abstract: Despite regional deforestation threats, the state of Quintana Roo has maintained over 80% of its territory in forests. Community forest management (CFM) has played a pivotal role in forest cover and biodiversity conservation in the region. In this article, we present the institutional, socioeconomic and environmental conditions under which community-based forest management has been consolidated in the tropical state of Quintana Roo, which occupies the eastern half of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. With a focus on management for timber and other market-based development strategies, we then examine the institutional and socioeconomic factors, as well as biophysical shocks, that have constrained community forestry development in the past 25 years, challenging its persistence. Following, we discuss how forest communities and institutions have responded and adapted to changing forest policies and markets as well as major environmental shocks from hurricanes and fires. CFM in Quintana Roo has shown resiliency since its institutionalization 30 years ago. Future challenges and opportunities include biodiversity conservation, carbon management through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation


This thesis documents the evolution and evaluation of a conceptual model for developing and
researching student teachers' online pedagogical practice. The research is set against a
backdrop of significant investment in web-based technologies in formal schooling in the United
Kingdom (UK). Thus, the research questions some of the factors that affect the development of
student teachers' online professional and pedagogical practice faced with new opportunities to
utilise web-based tools. As the project evolved it became apparent that a more fundamental
research question was: How do we research student teachers' professional learning and
development with new technologies in a manner that recognises their active agency in the
process?


Ali b. Abi Talib, son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, first Shi'i imam and fourth caliph, is a monumental figure within the Islamic tradition. But despite the immense importance of Imam Ali, there is a dearth of literature in Western languages about his life and thought. This book - the first serious engagement in English with the intellectual principles underpinning his teachings - is therefore a welcome and valuable addition to the sources available. It consists of three parts. Part one introduces the person of Ali in a general manner, and focuses particularly on the spiritual and ethical content of his teachings. Part two evaluates Ali's 'sacred conception of justice'. Part three addresses the theme of spiritual realization through the remembrance of God, the central mystical practice of the Sufis. "Justice and Remembrance" will be of great value to students and scholars of Islamic thought, as well as to those interested in the relationship between spirituality and ethics.


In its first century and a half, the Supreme Court never used the term "federalism" in its opinions. The Court had talked about federal-state relations before but the concept had gone unlabeled. That changed in 1939. Something new was happening, thanks in large part to Justice Felix Frankfurter. Just a month after joining the Court, Frankfurter authored the Court's first opinion using the term "federalism." Frankfurter introduced federalism as a key concept for analyzing the relationship between state courts and federal courts. Before long, Frankfurter would rely on federalism to fashion an original and enduring doctrine of judicial federalism: abstention, requiring federal courts to sometimes refrain from hearing cases that were within their jurisdiction.

This article provides a historical study of Frankfurter's contribution to the modern law of judicial federalism. It documents Frankfurter's theory of federalism in his judicial opinions with a focus on the abstention cases. It also shows how the abstention cases and their concept of federalism were rooted in Frankfurter's Progressive politics. They were a reaction to what he perceived as the federal courts' anti-regulatory and anti-labor attitudes.

The history—relevant again today, as the political discussion around the courts again echoes the Progressive era—sets the stage for considering the future of abstention. I suggest three possibilities. The first, an originalist future, would more or less maintain the contemporary Supreme Court's current status quo on abstention, somewhat more modest than what Frankfurter envisioned: a cautious use of abstention in a relatively small number of equitable cases. A second possibility would be a liberal future that backtracks from abstention, as legal liberals recognize a cautionary lesson in Frankfurter's hostility to an assertive, rights-protecting judiciary. The third future would be one of embracing Frankfurter's vision of abstention in the name of judicial restraint. Abstention has potential to curb federal court power and, at least on the margins, put more adjudicative power in state courts. This possibility might bring together modern progressives, who are wary about a largely-conservative federal judiciary, with conservatives who want to promote judicial restraint and an increase in democratic accountability.


Abstract This article presents an introduction to the special volume, titled The European Union (EU) and the Security Sector Reform Practices: Challenges of Implementation, by framing the debate on the EU's Security Sector Reform (SSR) activities in a variety of conflict and post-conflict settings. Drawing on the existing body of literature on SSR, the analytical model proposed here allows us to identify, categorize, and group a wide range of factors that are relevant for understanding the performance of the EU as an SSR actor. This article introduces the main themes of this special issue, summarizes each individual contribution briefly, extends the main research findings of this special issue, and concludes with broad commonalities across different cases. It is a conceptual article outlining a discussion of wider theoretical reflections based on the empirical contributions presented in this volume, and provides an explanatory framework for success or failure in the individual case studies that follow.


Synopsis The differential operators in question are of the form G(DZ) where G(w)is an entire function of order at most 1/n and minimal type while Dz is a linear differential operator of order n with coefficients which are entire ( = integral) functions of z, usually polynomials. This class of operators form a natural generalization of the class G(d/dz) studied during the first half of the century Muggli, Polya, Ritt and others. The class G(DZ) was introduced by the present author and his pupils in the 1940s. In fact, the present paper is partly based on a MS from that period, mostly devoted to the special case but also containing generalizations, some of which were later worked out by Klimczak. A basic tool in this paper is the characteristic series Examples are given showing that the domain of absolute convergence of such a series need neither be convex nor of finite connectivity, a question which has puzzled the author for forty odd years. Characteristic series arising from regular or singular boundary value problems for the operator Dz are used to study the inversion problem for given F(z). In particular it is shown that exp (Dx)[W(z)] = 0 has the unique solution W(z) ≡ 0. Some singular boundary value problems are considered briefly.


In countries with multiple options for healthcare, it is common for people to seek the services of more than one healthcare provider. Those services are likely to be provided outside of a hospital setting, where there are fewer opportunities for collaboration. Patients may seek additional help in the form of herbs, tinctures, vitamins and other non-prescribed medicines, which can impact the safety or efficacy of prescribed medicines. These patients are often quite vulnerable, perhaps suffering from: Chronic pain that's difficult to treat. Childhood maltreatment/abuse/neglect. Loneliness, lack of support. Emotional or physical disabilities. Addictions Healthcare providers in private practice are paid only for the time they see patients---not for collaborating. They may have few or short interactions with patients. They are often isolated from practitioners of different disciplines. They may have limited experience with collaboration across disciplines. A new idea about how providers could talk about cases was introduced to a group of 22 healthcare practitioners who shared office space. A small subgroup of practitioners chose to meet monthly for the next 18 months. The participants developed a connection that allowed them to both support and challenge each other. New ideas about healthcare emerged in the process, benefitting patients and providers. Collaboration across disciplines seemed to be linked to valuing multiple perspectives, outside one's own discipline. An ability to engage in dialogue that is open and curious and mutually respectful, without any pre-conceived agendas. A relational connection between collaborators that reflects the above, and provides sufficient safety to generate new ideas. Suggestions for others who wish to collaborate across disciplines in healthcare include patients requesting that their various healthcare providers engage in collaborative dialogue about their care. Professional organizations can recommend collaboration across disciplines as part of guidelines for ethical care. Medical and Allied Healthcare training programs can instill and foster these values during training, through Interprofessional Education. Technology can be utilized to foster collaboration across disciplines, through shared medical records or notes.


ABSTRACT This article describes the development of a self-report measure to assess children refusing contact with their parents following divorce or separation. Two samples of young adults were collected to conduct an exploratory factor analysis (N = 96) and a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 332). The fit of the CFA was found to be adequate. Comparison to qualitative descriptions of participants' families indicated good validity. The Contact Refusal Scale also correlated appropriately with related measures. The results suggest that the Contact Refusal Scale may be a useful measure in better understanding the complex relationships and actions that follow parental divorce or separation.


The Economic Crisis of 1997-1998 that invaded the Asian region prompted the Malaysian Government to realize that the dependence on the labor-intensive and capital–intensive modes of production was insufficient to sustain the future economic growth. The future competitiveness of the Malaysian economy depends heavily on the knowledge-based characteristics where entrepreneurial aspects are considered more important for future economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. In support for the entrepreneurial activities among the poor, microfinance1 program is deemed important for the poor to start their business activities in the form of microenterprises. The integration of entrepreneurial concept and microenterprise into microfinance program also contributes towards increasing the effectiveness of the program. Basically, the microfinance program in Malaysia has been administered by various institutions and non-banking government agencies. The most important institutions for this study are Lembaga Zakat Selangor (LZS), Yayasan Basmi Kemiskinan (YBK) Selangor, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) and Yayasan Tekun Nasional (TEKUN). However, it is doubtful whether this program has achieved its objective in enhancing the socio-economic level of the poor and contributing to the development of entrepreneurial activities. In addition, there have been very few studies to evaluate the importance of monitoring in enhancing the effectiveness of the microfinance program. Therefore, the focus of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of YBK Selangor, AIM, TEKUN and LZS microfinance programs in increasing the participants' business income by conducting microenterprise businesses through the adoption of entrepreneurial concept. Based on the univariate and multivariate analyses, the results show that AIM is the most effective microfinance program as it enables the poor to increase their business income and contributes to the development of entrepreneurial activities. Results of the study also show that monitoring, fund size, purpose of loan usage and total income before participating in the microfinance program, are the main factors which influence the level of income that poor people can generate. In addition, Islamic microfinance program which is based on Syariah and Islamic Finance concept has a very high potential in helping the poor to expand and diversify their economic activities, and increase their contribution towards development of entrepreneurial activities


Utopia – the word is simultaneously evocative of hope and dread. As a concept it is stupendously problematic, and yet despite its alleged passing into irrelevance, utopia still remains a household word. Why is this so?Utopia has been reduced to a category. We place a solution in the category of the utopian or, conversely, the not-utopian. Without fail, discussions involving utopia will eventually veer toward debates on whether a book, project, or building is utopian or not.Utopia reduced to such a category invokes both a problematic universality and a convoluted end of history – perhaps nowhere more so than in the field of architecture. However, if we begin with the problem to which the solution is a response rather than the solution being proposed, we soon realize that utopia is more complicated than a simple image of a perfect future.The study at hand re-interrogates the utopian concept. The question is not what architecture is utopian, but how and why architecture is utopian. Utopia is reinterpreted as a concept predicated on survival and a desire for a better way of living, rather than on immortality and perfection. Utopia in this sense is monstrous; its function is to challenge the presuppositions that define the horizons of our imagination, and to show us that the future is not predetermined: the future is fundamentally open.What assumptions, then, are formative of how architects relate to the future and utopia when projections of that future perfect have become irrelevant?If the projection of a perfect future is impossible, yet intimately associated with the architect, utopia becomes paradoxical for architects. Utopian desire is instead expressed in other ways, consciously or unconsciously. The study argues that the present worldview is dominated by what is here dubbed the Network-image; we think of everything in terms of networks, privileging connections over form, and the architect is again assuming a new role for herself as a manager, rather than an expert.Networks offer different ways of working with architecture. Rather than specifying the forms of the future (projections), architects can and do work by defining and elaborating protocols that enable and cultivate connections which, according to the prevalent narrative, build transversal collectives that can potentially transform the world.However, there are other implications linked to these new opportunities. Any network is governed by multiple protocols, and the architect as manager becomes inscribed in a logic of control. There is an implicit notion that architects can produce architecture that is self-governing, participatory, and implicitly egalitarian (and instrumental in opening up the future) through designing protocols. This assumption urgently needs to be interrogated.The discussion in this study centers on the need to challenge the Network-image itself, and not only to take our role in it as given. The dissertation is an argument for considering the how of imagining the future with more scrutiny, and it offers a set of principles and a terminology for discussion to enable further research on the subject. (Less)


Microglia affect and are sensitive to events in the central nervous system , changing in morphology and function as they respond to and resolve disruptions. Monitoring microglia is, therefore, an important goal of neuroscience. We investigated morphological changes in cultured mouse microglia, using the box counting fractal dimension (DB), lacunarity (Λ), and other measures. The DB and Λ corresponded well to visually applied classification systems of these cells. Complementing such systems, which depend on grossly visible differences between cells, the DB also differentiated between visually indistinguishable microglia in different functional states (i.e., deramifying versus reramifying). The results suggest that fractal analysis may help determine if a microglial cell is "resting", rousing itself for action, acting subtly, or returning to a resting state. Because of the awesome potential microglia have to affect events in the central nervous system, the implications of this for the study of human health and disease are profound.


Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems on the market today with a vast majority of the market share when it comes to mobile devices. Graphical user interfaces (GUI) are often seen on the applications on these devices. Testing of these GUIs is important since they often make up for half of the source code of the application, and they are used to interact with the application. Automating these tests is very useful since it saves a lot of time, but can be difficult. The tools that are available for automating the tests are often not suitable for the developers' needs, because of the lack of functionality. Therefore, the need for a characterization of the frameworks is needed, so that developers more easily can fit a framework for their needs.In this study, four open source frameworks for Android GUI testing have been selected for evaluation: Robotium, Selendroid, UI Automator and Espresso. Criteria used in the evaluation have been identified with the help of a literature analysis.The results show that two of the frameworks, Robotium and Espresso, lack the ability to fully test activities, which is the main component of Android application GUIs. Furthermore, the study resulted in characterizations of the frameworks.


Timing online auctions to attract a large number of prospective buyers is important for sellers. This study examines whether online auction sellers need to account for exogenous effects like TV viewing when timing and predicting their auction results. An ongoing debate questions whether TV viewers can spread their attention across multiple devices while watching TV, for example, by concurrently shopping online or posting on social media. Recent research has focused on understanding cross-media effects; however, little attention has been given to TV viewership's relationship with a very important economic activity, namely participation in online auctions.

We examine this potential cross-media effect by analyzing the four-year sales history of a German online auction platform and addressing potential endogeneity problems with an instrumental variable approach. We use three different instrumental variables that have different advantages and disadvantages but can, in sum, be used for triangulation as they lead to the same result. The analyses reveal a significant negative cross-media effect between TV consumption and online auction sales, indicating that TV consumption and online auction sales might compete for the scarce attention of consumers and are thus substitutes for each other rather than complements.


The tax treatment of benefits obtained under employee share and option plans is more complex than the taxation of many other forms of employee remuneration. There are at least five potential taxing points during the life cycle of the share or option and the gains realized can be characterized as either employment income or investment gains or both. When the benefits are subject to tax in more than one jurisdiction there is also the potential for double taxation or double non-taxation. The amendments enacted by Schedule 4 to the New International Tax Arrangements (Foreign-owned Branches and Other Measures) Act 2005 bring Australia's treatment closer to the OECD model which recognizes that the right to tax the employment income derived from employee shares and options is more correctly allocated on the basis of the days within the vesting period which are worked in the relevant jurisdiction.


Genetic redundancy is often associated with the duplication of an open reading frame within a genome or a multiplicity of regulatory elements sharing a target. Genetic redundancy is inferred when the modification or deletion of a portion of functional genetic material results in minimal changes to a trait or organismal phenotype – robustness – and when this genetic information is surplus to a reference, non-robust, genome. Robustness has been attributed to buffering mechanisms promoted by duplicates and to compensatory pathways that can be independent of duplication. Most redundant duplicates are rapidly lost from genomes by mutation and drift. The preservation of redundancy requires some form of epistasis or pleiotropy, typically evolving through subfunctionalization of gene products. The term redundancy is too coarse to capture the full range of phenomena that it is used to describe and new concepts are required for dealing with multi-locus and context-dependent robustness.

Key Concepts:

Redundancy arises through mechanisms that compensate for the loss of functional genetic information.

Redundancy can be achieved through a duplication of a structural or regulatory gene.

Redundancy arises neutrally through partial or whole-genome duplication and can persist without selection for short periods of time.

The long-term preservation of redundancy requires specific genetic mechanisms, epistastis or pleiotropy, and on-going selection pressures.

Redundancy is most common in species found in small populations with large genomes for whom neutral processes, dominated by drift, play a significant role.

Genetic or structural similarity among perturbed (knockout or knockdown) duplicates, to imply functional interchangeability, is empirically the strongest predictor of genetic redundancy.

Alternative, functionally equivalent pathways, that do not share genetic duplicates, can provide mechanisms of redundancy.

Redundancy is context-dependent and often involves numerous factors to include epigenetic modification, environmental compensation, not just genetic loci.

Recent studies showing a very high incidence of loss-function variants in human genomes provide strong support for the prevalence of mechanisms of redundancy.

New concepts are required to capture the robustness of genomes that go beyond mechanisms of redundancy. These new concepts will need to deal effectively with the contribution of numerous loci and factors – collective robustness.

Keywords:

robustness;
canalisation;
genome architecture;
evodevo;
regulatory network;
evolution;
subfunctionalization


S(_5)N(_5)Cl has been produced by a new route and is much more stable than previously reported owing to greater purity. Its chemical reduction to (SN) and reactions with SO and BF were studied. An X-ray structure analysis (R.W.H. Small) revealed secondary cation-anion interactions; the resulting strain in the cation ring could be detected both by bond angle-bond length correlations and MNDO calculations. Electro-reduction of S(_5)N(_5)Cl in liquid SO(_2) produced finely powdered (SN)(_x) which could be used to form good quality vapour deposited films. Cyclic voltammograms in liquid SO(_2) (obtained after spending much time developing an improved procedure) indicated possible solvent participation in the reduction process and so electrocystallization of (SN) by electro-reduction of S(_5)N(_5)BF(_4) (prepared from S(_5)N(_5)Cl) in acetonitrile was investigated. Cyclic voltammetric evidence was used to propose a mechanism of reduction and bulk electrolyis experiments using bright platinum and (SN)(_x) film cathodes showed the influence of the cathode on the nature of the (SN)(_x) deposit. Small quantities of NSF were produced in ca. 80% yield by the solid state reaction of SN(^+)AsF(_6) and excess CsF; an unoptimised larger scale preparation indicated the usefulness of this route. Various gas phase reactions of NSF were studied using infrared spectroscopy. Attempts to prepare the simple fluoride S(_4)N(_3)F by metathesis from S(_4)N(_3)BF(_4) and CsF were only partially successful owing to reaction with solvent. Reaction of S(_3)N(_2)(^2+)(AsF(_6))(_2) with CsF (1:1) produced S(_3)N(_2)F(^+)AsF but further conversion to S(_3)N(_2)F(^2) was not possible owing to reaction with solvent. Attempted crystal growth experiments indicated that the S(_3)N(_2)(^2+) ion existed in an equilibrium mixture containing S(_2)N(^+) and SN(^+) ; this hypothesis was confirmed by its reactions with sulphur and hexafluorobut-2-yne. These solution equilibria were exploited by designing more convenient preparations of S(_3)N(_2)(^2+) (AsF(_6))(_2) and S(_2)N(^+)SbCl(_6) . The chemical reactions of SN(^+)AsF(_6) were studied with a view to the preparation of new compounds. Although no such species were isolated, the results usefully indicated future experiments and the oxidising properties of the SN(^+) cation.


Background: To protect renewable packaging materials against autoxidation and decomposition when substituting harmful synthetic stabilizers with bioactive and bio-based compounds, extracts from Aesculus hippocastanum L. seeds were evaluated. The study objectives were to determine the antioxidant efficacy of bioactive compounds in horse chestnut seeds with regard to different seed fractions, improve their extraction, and to evaluate waste reuse. Methods: Different extraction techniques for field samples were evaluated and compared with extracts of industrial waste samples based on total phenolic content and total antioxidant capacity (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS)). The molecular weight distribution and absorbance in ultraviolet range (UV) of seed coat extracts were determined, and the possibility of extracts containing proanthocyanidins was examined. Results: Seed coat extracts show a remarkable antioxidant activity and a high UV absorbance. Passive extractions are efficient and much less laborious. Applying waste product seed coats leads to a reduced antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and UV absorbance compared to the field sample counterparts. In contrast to peeled seed extracts, all seed coat extracts contain proanthocyanidins. Discussion: Seed coats are a potential source of bioactive compounds, particularly regarding sustainable production and waste reuse. With minimum effort, highly bioactive extracts with high potential as additives can be prepared.


CARBITS is a market simulation model for the passenger vehicle market in California. Professor David S. Bunch developed CARBITS for the ARB during 2003-2004 under a contract with the University of California, Davis. Its primary purpose is as a scenario analysis tool to evaluate market response under alternative regulation scenarios. For purposes of this Final Report, the version of CARBITS developed during 2003-2004 will be referred to as "CARBITS 1.0." CARBITS 1.0 was requested by the ARB to meet specific needs for their work under AB 1493 regulating motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, and was developed within a short time frame to accommodate their schedule. The project was feasible because it was possible to base CARBITS development on preexisting research results developed under an earlier University of California-Institute of Transportation Studies research program. Although time and monetary constraints prevented development of a full range of features, ARB staff successfully used CARBITS 1.0 in support of the climate change regulation adopted by the Board in September 2004. This project has produced an updated version of CARBITS ("CARBITS 2.0") with a number of improvements and new features to address specific perceived "deficiencies" identified by ARB staff during the collaboration with Prof. Bunch. Some of these represented desired extensions based on experience in using the model. A related area of concern is the ever-present potential for criticism by the hired consultants of various stakeholders. The original project proposal identifies a list of specific goals: 1. Estimate a new set of vehicle choice models using more recent datasets. 2. Specifically address the issue of vehicle market exit/scrappage. 3. Develop re-calibration procedures to update certain model constants based on aggregate-level vehicle counts. 4. Include the capability to address hybrid electric vehicles. 5. Address issues of statistical noise and runtimes. These specific goals have been addressed by this project. A new set of vehicle choice models has been estimated using data from the 2000-2001 Caltrans Statewide Travel Survey. This data source (although a few years old) is attractive due to its large sample size and high-quality sampling and weighting characteristics. In conjunction with using these data (which include information on vehicle holdings, but not transactions), CARBITS was converted from a transactions microsimulation model to a vehicle holdings model. This approach directly addresses the issue of statistical noise and run times: holdings models use analytical computations that yield deterministic (noise free) results requiring relatively short run times. Substantial effort was invested in data compilation and cleaning for this project. In particular, procedures for using DMV data routinely accessible to ARB were developed to address needs for periodic re-calibration using updated vehicle counts, patterns of vehicle market exit, and recent penetration of hybrid electric vehicles. Aside from meeting specific project goals, the substantial amount of work on data development, and the formulation of a generic vehicle market model framework, will provide additional benefits to ARB in succeeding projects.


Previous empirical research demonstrates that the voluntary disclosure of defined benefit pension plan (DBPP) information by employers is value-relevant to investors and carries potential proprietary costs. This paper extends these findings in the context of the voluntary use of financial reporting standards (FRS) in annual reports sent by pension plans to their participants. FRS use is predicted to be related to proprietary costs for defined benefit pension plans (DBPPs) and to political visibility for defined contribution pension plans (DCPPs). Tests on the voluntary reporting practices of samples of 54 Australian DCPPs and 54 DBPPs during 1991-92 support these predictions


Most major geohazards such as floods, forest fire and oil spills occur suddenly, and require an immediate response. This paper describes the development and establishment
a spatial information technology and engineering system that uses GIS and Remote Sensing technologies to detect, monitor and assess geohazards, including floods, forest
fire and oil spills. The potential application of Remote sensing and GIS techniques for floods and oil spills is discussed. The oil spill risk management system study was
developed for coastal zone of Peninsular Malaysia. The development of GIS database used remotely sensed data from Landsat TM, SPOT Panchromatic and MSS, AVHRR and
air-borne images. For the flood studies, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was created for Klang River
Basin from the input data of contour lines. DEMs stored the data for the slope analysis, terrain analysis and also visualizing for the flood simulation. SCS TR-55 Model was used to predict the extent of inundation and depth of flooding. Parameters of rainfall, landuse
and hydrological relief were adopted as the main input data. These two case studies will provide the technical guidelines for in-depth study in GIS and remote sensing for
disaster management


A new approach to writing culture has arrived: multispecies ethnography. Plants, animals, fungi, and microbes appear alongside humans in this singular book about natural and cultural history. Anthropologists have collaborated with artists and biological scientists to illuminate how diverse organisms are entangled in political, economic, and cultural systems. Contributions from influential writers and scholars, such as Dorion Sagan, Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, are featured along with essays by emergent artists and cultural anthropologists.

Delectable mushrooms flourishing in the aftermath of ecological disaster, microbial cultures enlivening the politics and value of food, and nascent life forms running wild in the age of biotechnology all figure in this curated collection of essays and artifacts. Recipes provide instructions on how to cook acorn mush, make cheese out of human milk, and enliven forests after they have been clear-cut. The Multispecies Salon investigates messianic dreams, environmental nightmares, and modest sites of biocultural hope.

For additional materials see the companion website: www.multispecies-salon.org/

Contributors. Karen Barad, Caitlin Berrigan, Karin Bolender, Maria Brodine, Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn, David S. Edmunds, Christine Hamilton, Donna J. Haraway, Stefan Helmreich, Angela James, Lindsay Kelley, Eben Kirksey, Linda Noel, Heather Paxson, Nathan Rich, Anna Rodriguez, Dorion Sagan, Craig Schuetze, Nicholas Shapiro, Miriam Simun, Kim TallBear, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing


We report daily time series models containing both temporal and spatiotemporal lags, which are applied to forecasting intentional wildfires in Galicia, Spain. Models are estimated independently for each of the 19 forest districts in Galicia using a 1999-2003 training dataset and evaluated out-of-sample with a 2004-06 dataset. Poisson autoregressive models of order P - PAR(P) models - significantly out-perform competing alternative models over both in-sample and out-of-sample datasets, reducing out-of-sample root-mean-squared errors by an average of 15%. PAR(P) and static Poisson models included covariates deriving from crime theory, including the temporal and spatiotemporal autoregressive time series components. Estimates indicate highly significant autoregressive components, lasting up to 3 days, and spatiotemporal autoregression, lasting up to 2 days. Models also applied to predict the effect of increased arrest rates for illegal intentional firesetting indicate that the direct long-run effect of an additional firesetting arrest, summed across forest districts in Galicia, is -139.6 intentional wildfires, equivalent to a long-run elasticity of -0.94. Language: en


The rapid transfiguration of what was formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics presents American CPAs with great opportunities, according to William T. Potvin, managing partner of DRT Inaudit (Moscow), a joint venture between DRT International and Inaudit, the recently privatized Soviet state accounting body. Doors appear to be opening for U.S. CPAs and consultants to do much more work in the Soviet Union and its constituent republics. Most of the major international accounting firms are now represented in one form or another in the Russian republic, with anywhere from 2 to 40 people. "Things have been growing very dramatically and will continue to grow very dramatically," said Potvin, who before his mission to Moscow was a senior management consulting partner with Deloitte & Touche, the U.S. member firm of DRT International. In the past, Potvin said, attempts to operate in the Soviet Union provoked "abject frustration" due to the peculiarities of the Soviet accounting system (which is not based on accounting for profit and loss), but a United Nation's task force has drafted a model for a new chart of accounts that allows for a P&L-oriented accounting style much closer to international accounting standards. The new system is expected to be implemented over the next two years, first for joint ventures and then for Soviet enterprises. "I think if anything, recent events are going to accelerate that implementation," Potvin predicted. Inaudit itself was privatized over the last year, although it remains the largest Soviet auditing organization, with offices from St. Petersburg to Tashkent. Moreover, many smaller, independent Soviet auditing organizations have sprung up in the past year, part of the burgeoning private marketplace. "The Soviet groups generally are not serving the international market," observed Potvin. "They have a little way to go before they're quite ready for that." He noted, however, that Europeans are increasingly positioning themselves to take advantage of these opportunities. "The European Community this year is committing 400 million ecu--about $500 million--to pay European companies, accountants and consultants to provide technical assistance to the Soviets, and next year the number is probably going to double." Challenges ahead. Of course, great difficulties will remain for some time for both Europeans and Americans planning to enter the Soviet market. For one thing, Potvin said he wouldn't describe the state of business computerization in the Soviet Union as low: "I would more or less characterize it as non-existent. …


This original article details and discusses the information provided
by a group of hematologists, about the current use of health resources
in the management of chronic myeloid leukemia and its treatmentrelated
adverse events in Peru. By applying the Mini Delphi consensus
technique, a high degree of agreement about the issues of interest was
reached among the faculty. To summarize, although it was noticed that
the allocation of health resources matches the requirement for each
phase in the management of leukemia and it adheres to international
guidelines, some topics that could be optimized were identified. A
remarkable reduction of bone marrow transplant procedures was evident.
These data may represent a starting point for further studies in the
clinical practice setting in Latin America. Moreover, using appropriate
pharmacoeconomic models, the information obtained may speed up the
decision making process according to the local circumstances by those
responsible for sanitary assistance, allowing patients with CML to reach
the most convenient therapeutic options and, more importantly, improving
their quality of life and survival.


This study explains the emergence of the Sicilian mafia in the XIX century as the
product of the interaction between natural resource abundance and weak institutions. We advance
the hypothesis that the mafia emerged after the collapse of the Bourbon Kingdom in a context
characterized by a severe lack of state property-right enforcement in response to the rising demand
for the protection of sulfur - Sicily's most valuable export commodity - whose demand in the
international markets was soaring at the time. We test this hypothesis combining data on the early
presence of the mafia and on the distribution of sulfur reserves across Sicilian municipalities and
find evidence of a positive and significant effect of sulphur availability on mafia's diffusion. These
results remain unchanged when including department fixed-effects and various geographical and
historical controls, when controlling for spatial correlation, and when comparing pairs of
neighboring municipalities with and without sulfur.


All living organisms are autopoietic and cognitive. Autopoiesis refers to a system with well-defined identity and is capable of reproducing and maintaining itself. Cognition, on the other hand, is the ability to process information, apply knowledge, and change the circumstance A living organism is a unique autonomous system made up of components and relationships changing over time without changing the unity of the system. The genome contains the knowledge that is required to build the components using physical and chemical processes and physical resources. Information processing structures in the form of genes and neurons provide the means to build, operate and manage the stability of the system while interacting with the external world where the interactions are often, nondeterministic in nature and are subject to large fluctuations. Our understanding of how theses information processing structures operate comes from the analysis of the genome, experiments in neuroscience and the studies of cognitive behaviors in living organisms. First, we summarize here, the key learnings that point to how the organism manages both the "self" and its interactions with external world. Second, we use the new mathematics of structural machines, triadic automata, knowledge structures, named sets and cognizing oracle theories to present a model that captures the key features of autopoietic behavior. Finally, we use this model to design digital autopoietic machines by defining a digital genome that uses digital genes (in the form of executable algorithms) and digital neuronal models (in the form of deep learning neural networks) as information processing structures. Keywords— Cognition, Computing Models, Deep Learning, Autopoiesis, Knowledge Structures, Structural Machines, Autopoietic Machines.


Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the political roles of religious institutions and groups have captured inernational attention. This book examines how religious institutions and organizations in various Asian countries are influencing democratic development and the shaping of government policies. Religious Organizations and Democratization covers Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan. The chapters specifically address the engagement of Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and other religious organizations in the advancement and/or hindrance of democratization in the region. The contributors consider such questions as: Why have some religious organizations played a decisive role in democratic transitions, while others remained politically dormant, and other still acted in conservative alliances to block democratic development? Why did some religious organizations that once were active and instrumental to democratic change lose their political vitality as soon as civil liberties were successfully introduced? And why did other religious organizations, irrespective of their roles in the process of democratic transition, emerge as key political forces in the civil society?


The δ 1 3 C value of fossil plant materials can be used to gain insight into the dominant photosynthetic pathway, as well as other environmental attributes, of ancient plant ecosystems. Nucleotide sequences from land plantnucleic acids extracted from 400 ka fossil sediments have been recognized as the oldest authenticated fossil deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), making the inference of plant taxonomy possible in substrates devoid of plant macrofossils and microfossils. If the C isotope relationship between bulk plant tissue and associated plant nucleic acids were known, fossil plant nucleic acids could be analyzed for δ 1 3 C value and used as land plant isotopic substrates within mixed organic material. Toward this end, we present δ 1 3 C analyses of nucleic acids isolated from 12 higher plant species that span the full phylogenetic diversity of seed plants. Extracted nucleic acids were dominated by double-stranded DNA containing fragments of rbcL gene ∼350 base pairs in length. The C isotope compositions of plant nucleic acids were found to be enriched in 1 3 C relative to bulk plant tissue by a constant value = 1.39‰. This study represents the first comparison of the δ 1 3 C value of nucleic acids to the δ 1 3 C value of bulk tissue for multicellular organisms; our results contrasted with the minimal fractionations reported for microorganisms. Because the isotopic enrichment is constant across tracheophytes, the δ 1 3 C value of fossil plant DNA can be used as a paleoenvironmental indicator, eliminating the need for morphological recognition of fossil plant material in paleoenvironmental studies.


Actively motile, flagellated phytoplankton taxa often exploit vertical gradients in the availability of light and nutrients. The ability to move actively usually goes along with low investment in structural carbon components and should entail costs in terms of increased energy expenditure. This should be reflected in higher metabolic rates and higher light requirements for growth and, consequently, in lower light‐dependent specific production rates, carrying capacities, and carbon‐to‐phosphorus (C : P) ratios (during phosphorus limitation) of flagellated compared to nonmotile taxa. Laboratory experiments with four flagellated and five nonmotile species of green algae, performed over a light gradient, corroborated these expectations. Parameter fits to short‐term production‐irradiance measurements suggest that flagellated taxa had higher respiration rates and higher light requirements for growth than nonmotile taxa. Accordingly, both short‐term photosynthetic rates and longer‐term (14 d) biomass accrual were lower for flagellated than for nonmotile taxa. While most of the variance in algal C: P ratios was explained by species‐specific effects, there was also a tendency for algal C: P ratios to be lower in flagellated that in nonmotile taxa. Collectively, these results point at significant costs of motility, which may explain why flagellated taxa are often outcompeted by nonmotile taxa in turbulently mixed environments, where active motility is of little use.


The area of statistics is one in which teachers may be encouraged to make important links to other curriculum areas and social issues. Statistical literacy is a key component of being numerate and living as an informed citizen. The teaching of statistics provides an opportunity to inform and educate students about social issues and moral behaviour, as well as reinforcing the links between mathematics and other areas of study. The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACM) (ACARA, 2013b) states 'Mathematics is composed of multiple but interrelated and interdependent concepts and systems which students apply beyond the mathematics classroom'. In no other area is this so pronounced as in the Statistics and Probability Strand.


The Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus is a major source of our knowledge of the late Roman army. However, although himself a former army officer, it was not the intention of Ammianus to explain the institutions and organization of the late Roman army to his readers. We learn about these only from the incidental pieces of information which are scattered throughout his text. It was not his intention either to present us with the regimental histories of any individual units, yet repeated references to the more prominent and prestigious units were inevitable in a history such as his. This was particularly true in the case of the scholae palatinae because of their role as the bodyguard units of the emperors. It is my intention here to draw together such information as Ammianus provides about the scholae in order to demonstrate how, in a number of cases in particular, it is possible to reconstruct an almost complete list of their commanders for the period c. 353–364


In 1983 and 1984, an exploratory tunnel was constructed as part of the geotechnical exploration program for two highway tunnels to be constructed for the improvement of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. The geotechnical data obtained during construction of the exploratory tunnel consisted of: rock and rock mass descriptions, including physical properties such as strength and elasticity (or deformability); descriptions of rock mass discontinuities, including orientations and frequencies, aperture widths, and infilling material; and measurements relating to the rock mass behavior during and after construction. The construction data obtained included: rates of production, blast data, and overbreak measurements. The geotechnical and construction data were manually entered on an onsite microcomputer, through project-developed software, as the data were acquired. The on-site availability of the microcomputer permitted the efficient evaluation of the overall geotechnical investigation program to ensure that it is proceeding toward its goal of acquiring data for use in the design of the full-size tunnels.


Background: computerised image analysis and the building of electronic archives require the digitisation of x-ray films performed in the past, when direct digitisation was not yet available. Different techniques can be used, based on laser scanning or camera acquisition; both can be heavily impaired by the non-uniformity of the backlighting source. This work wants to develop a methodology, able to reduce this noise source. Methods: The introduced algorithm is a step beyond the common compensation of backlighting non-uniformity through subtraction; in fact, each grey level is corrected taking into account not only its position on the back-lighting system and its raw value, but also the interaction between these two parameters. Results: Given a certain acquisition system, the introduced algorithm has allowed to reduce the maximum grey level standard deviation, read on uniform grey level films, from 9.15 to 2.00 (on a scale from 0 to 255) against traditional subtraction techniques that achieved a minimum standard deviation equal to 5.39. Conclusions: The employed algorithm has proved to be effective in order to obtain same measured grey levels, almost independent from the position of the radiograph on the back-lighting system, and therefore makes x ray image digitisation more accurate. Only 26.4% had FADS prior to 20 weeks. Sonogram performed anytime during the pregnancy could detect 55.9% (62 of 121)) of congenital malformations suggesting that it was missed in 44.1% cases.  Those who submitted for FADS between 14 – 24 weeks of pregnancy, the malformations were detected in 53.2% of 66 pregnancies. The majority (45.2%) of anomalies diagnosed by ultrasonography were neural tube defects.


Greek Painted Pottery has been used by classics and classical archaeology students for some thirty years. It thoroughly examines all painted pottery styles from the Protogeometric to the Hellenistic period from all areas of Greece and from the colonies in parts of Italy. In each case it covers the development of iconography and the use of colour, decorative motifs and the distinctive styles of each stage. It examines the most utilitarian pottery objects as well as some of the finest pieces produced by a flourishing civilisation. Other chapters cover the pottery industry and pottery-making techniques, including firing, the types of local clay which were used and inscription. This study also considers how one can date pottery and establish a chronology and the various methods by which these artefacts have been classified, preserved and collected. This is the third edition of this classic text, which has been extensively revised and includes a fully updated bibliography. This edition also includes coverage of new evidence and new theories which have surfaced since the book was last revised in 1972. With over 100 black and white photographs and plentiful line drawings, the new edition of this comprehensive text will be invaluable to students studying classical art, archaeology and art history.


A rectangular enclosure has such an even distribution of resonances that it can be accurately and efficiently modelled using a feedback delay network. Conversely, a non rectangular shape such as a sphere has a distribution of resonances that challenges the construction of an efficient model. This work proposes an extension of the already known feedback delay network structure to model the resonant properties of a sphere. A specific frequency distribution of resonances can be approximated, up to a certain frequency, by inserting an allpass filter of moderate order after each delay line of a feedback delay network. The structure used for rectangular boxes is therefore augmented with a set of allpass filters allowing parametric control over the enclosure size ∗Accepted for publication in Applied Signal Processing, 2000 1 2 Applied Signal Processing, 2000 Springer V. Accepted for Publication and the boundary properties. This work was motivated by informal listening tests which have shown that it is possible to identify a basic shape just from the distribution of its audible resonances.


A constant social discount rate cannot reflect both a reasonable opportunity cost of public funds and an ethically defensible concern for generations in the distant future. We use a model of hyperbolic discounting that achieves both goals. We imbed this discounting model in a simple climate change model to calculate "constant equivalent discount rates" and plausible levels of expenditure to control climate change. We compare these results to discounting assumptions and policy recommendations in the Stern Review on Climate Change.


Background: There is controversy surrounding the benefit of adjuvant therapy for patients with pT2N0, stage IB gastric adenocarcinoma following surgical resection. Methods: Patients with T2N0 gastric adenocarcinoma (tumor invasion into the muscularis propria) who underwent surgical resection with pathological evaluation of at least 15 lymph nodes were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Registry (SEER) database. Demographics, adjuvant therapy, and survival data were collected and analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Results: A total of 452 cases were identified between 2004 and 2014. Median age at diagnosis was 69. 60.2% of the patients were white, 27.7% Asian, 10.8% black, and 1.3% from other races. Adjuvant therapy was administered to 30.5% of the patients, of which 44.2% received chemoradiation, 48% chemotherapy only, and 7.2% radiation therapy only. After a median follow up of 39 months, the median overall survival (OS) was not reached in the group of patients who received adjuvant therapy versus 100 months in the group that did not receive adjuvant therapy (P=.005). The 5-year OS rate (5-YOS) was 77% for the adjuvant therapy group versus 62% for those who did not receive adjuvant therapy. Univariate analysis revealed that the hazard ratio for death [adjuvant therapy vs observation] was 0.54; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.83. Adjuvant therapy showed statistically significant survival benefit in patients younger than 60 years of age (5-YOS, 95% vs 79%) and failed to show survival benefit in patients older than 60 (5-YOS, 63% vs 58%). Multivariate analysis revealed that age was associated with mortality, whereas sex, race, grade, tumor size, and number of lymph nodes examined were not associated with increased mortality. Conclusions: Adjuvant therapy provided survival benefit for pT2N0, stage IB resected gastric adenocarcinoma. Our results suggest that patients younger than 60 year of age may benefit the most from this therapy.


This article discusses how cultural changes in the United States led to an emergence of a number of mandated treatments intended to address the specific concerns of substance abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. A brief history of interventions for each of the respective fields is described and a trend toward more humanistic treatment methods is noted. The similarities between the Person-Centered Approach and current trends in these fields are explained.


Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) helps in reducing the dependency on hardware equipments by virtualizing the telecommunication network functions. While the current works have considered different frameworks for NFV and various challenges associated with it, only a few have considered trust as an aspect of NFV. In this paper, we discuss the challenges of incorporating trust in NFV. We discuss the importance of considering trust in NFV, followed by evaluating the requirements for establishing the trust. We also detail the terminologies associated with time and the components of NFV. The main contribution of this paper is the challenges we have encountered in incorporating trust in NFV environment and our approaches to address them.


The brown shrimp, Crangon crangon has a great ecological value in UK estuaries and coastal areas and it is also a commercially important species. It utilizes chromatophores (specialized cells containing pigments) to match its background, changing its colour either from pale (pigments contracted) to dark (pigments expanded) or vice versa, thus becoming almost invisible in its environment. Chromatophores also protect the shrimp (at least in the larval stages) from UV light. The control of pigments depends on hormones, secreted by the shrimp as a response to different stimuli (e.g., light, temperature and colour of substrate). Contaminants are found often and consistently in estuaries, due to human activities along the coasts and can potentially affect behavioural responses, acting as anthropogenic stressors. The use of colour change as a behavioural marker of pollution is considered here, as a potential effective tool to assess the initial stages of biological alteration in aquatic organisms. To test the efficiency of this novel technique, brown shrimp have been treated with non-lethal concentrations of cadmium (Cd) plus two different antibiotics [Gentamicin (Gt) and Furazolidone (FZN)] and arsenic (As). A great interindividual and interpopulation variability in response to the use of heavy metals and antibiotics was found. Therefore, colour change ability in the brown shrimp is not a sensitive behavioural ecotoxicological marker to detect early stages of contaminations in the environment, at least for Cd, As, Gt and FZD. Finally, given the high level of total As often detected in seafood, a speciation analysis was performed in the dosed specimens. The quantification of the various As species through time suggest the possibility of the brown shrimp to bio-transform inorganic arsenic (iAs) into the less toxic organic form [arsenobetaine (AsB)]. This has relevant implications for aquaculture and fisheries of crustaceans in areas contaminated by inorganic As: shrimp can be consumed by humans even if grown in contaminated areas, and potentially could detoxify water from iAs. However, more investigations are needed, leaving this field open to applied studies in the field.


Only the Rice Soils of Cambodia have been described in detail (White et al. 1997). The naming and identification of the rice soil groups has become familiar to agronomists, extension officers and farmers in Cambodia due to their common usage and many training programmes conducted on their identification and properties (Heer et al. 1999). However, the Rice Soil Manual does not describe all the soils of Cambodia (White et al. 1997). The key for identification of rice soils allows for undefined and unclassified soils. Most of the upland soils of Cambodia are likely to fall into this category. Increased interest in crop diversification and upland farming has created a need for more detailed information on the soils in these areas. This is one of a series of Notes describing new soil groups or new phases of existing groups that are proposed for inclusion into the Cambodian Agronomic Soil Classification (CASC). A new phase of Kompong Siem Soil Group has been recognised and described by the CARDI Soil and Water Research program under the ACIAR Project, "Assessing land suitability for crop diversification in Cambodia and Australia". The purpose of this note is to assist agronomists, extension officers and farmers to recognise a new calcareous phase of the Kompong Siem Soil group, to outline its main limiting factors, soil management requirements, and potential for land use.


It is now widely acknowledged that almost all human activity is seriously dependent on energy produced from fossil fuels. Energy consumption is one of the most reliable indicators of the development and quality of life of a country and the need to satisfy the demand for energy over a certain time period is the basis of energy planning. The increasing demand for energy and the expected shortage in the long term solicit new strategies to fill the widening demand-supply gap. The European Commission intends to implement these strategies in a context where both environmental and social goals are considered. It is recognized that a sustainable strategy must be addressed to achieve, first of all, the following goals: guarantee the security of the energy market; minimize the environmental impact; avoid the social consequences of energy shortage; improve the quality of life in rural areas and encourage diversification of the rural economy. In recent years the RES based on agricultural production has rendered agriculture multifunctional in the context of the EU Agricultural Policy. In this view, awareness of the multifunctional character of agriculture can act as a useful means for identifying the importance of social, environmental and economic functions, and define the best balance between them. Bioenergy production, as a function of multifunctional agriculture, can be used so as to reduce to the minimum the impact on the environment; it can also, in rural or in developing areas, enhance employment and contribute to improving this balance.


We investigate the seesaw mechanism for generally non-fine-tuned $n\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n$ mass matrices involving both Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. We specifically show that the number of naturally light neutrinos cannot exceed half of the dimension of the considered mass matrix. Furthermore, we determine a criterion for mass matrix textures leading to light Dirac neutrinos with the seesaw mechanism. In particular, we study $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4$ and $6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}6$ mass matrix textures and give some examples in order to highlight these types of texture. Next, we present a model scheme based on non-Abelian and discrete symmetries satisfying the above mentioned criterion for light Dirac neutrinos. Finally, we investigate the connection between symmetries and the invariants of a mass matrix on a formal level.


While some aspects of what has broadly been called alternative agri-food networks (AAFNs) are relatively prominent in Ireland, including farmers' markets, garden plots (or allotments), and the GIY, or the Grow it Yourself home gardening phenomenon, community supported agriculture (CSA) initiatives are still rare in Ireland. One of the few, earliest, and most prominent CSAs in Ireland is the subject matter of this article. This paper first contextualizes the study with some of the relevant literature on AAFNs, including a 'civic turn' in the European literature on AAFNs, toward civic food networks (Renting, Schermer, & Rossi, 2012). Key developments in this literature, including equity, governance, place, and empowerment, are unpacked and demarked as especially important. The studied CSA's organizational restructuring in the face of productivity pressures is examined in detail. While CSAs specifically involve sharing risks and rewards, and while this is described as an acceptable uncertainty, when pushed to its limits the actualized risk of not enough produce became in fact unacceptable for this CSA initiative. The process through which this member-owned and -operated CSA critically self-assessed and restructured in the face of challenges is a core part of what is termed here as a 'reflexive resilience.' The implications of reflexive resilience are then analyzed to draw out research implications. 'Reflexive' refers here to being critically self-aware and willing to change, and then changing. 'Resilience' refers to being prepared for shocks and responding accordingly to said shocks if and when they occur. Taken together, the term 'reflexive resilience' describes a CSA's adaptive awareness. That this reflexive resilience emerged in a member-owned and -operated CSA may make this CSA more a model for communities to use, if the aim is to have a truly civic agriculture (Lyson, 2000) as part of a more civic rural space. Implications for more fruitful interactions between research and practice are also suggested.


The extent to which carbohydrate reserves contribute to apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) fruit set is unclear. On 'Royal Gala'/'M9' trees, we used postharvest early defoliation (12 days after harvest) to alter carbohydrate reserve accumulation compared with natural leaf fall. Superimposed over this, late winter bud thinning using artificial spur extinction (ASE, 6 buds cm(-1) branch cross sectional area) to manipulate the number of developing sinks in spring was compared with unmodified trees. Reducing bud density using ASE did not affect the concentration of total non-structural or soluble carbohydrates in root or spur tissues sampled at intervals from dormancy to final fruit set. However, ASE increased within-bud fruit set compared with unmodified trees. Early defoliation did not affect fruit set compared with natural defoliation, but reduced concentrations of total non-structural carbohydrates in roots in winter by 44% (264 to 147 mg g(-1) dry weight) and concentrations of starch in spurs in winter by 60% (19 to 7.7 mg g(-1)). Between dormancy and 1 week before bloom (WBB), total non-structural carbohydrate concentration declined in roots of naturally defoliated trees by 31%, and in spurs of naturally and early defoliated trees by 37 and 46% (respectively). In trees defoliated early, concentrations of total non-structural carbohydrates increased from their minimum at 1WBB in spurs and 2 weeks after bloom (WAB) in roots. In naturally defoliated trees total non-structural carbohydrates did not increase in roots during the measurement period, but increased in spurs between 5 and 9 WAB. Lack of differences in fruit set among defoliation treatments despite differences in non-structural carbohydrate concentration in spurs and roots implied that at concentrations observed here, stored carbohydrates in these tissues had little role in fruit set. This was supported by observations that total non-structural carbohydrate concentration declined before full bloom, not during fruit set, and total non-structural carbohydrate concentration increased during the period 2 to 4 WAB, when limitations in carbohydrate resources are thought most likely to affect fruit set.


Reliability analysis is time consuming, and high efficiency could be maintained through the integration of the Kriging method and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). This Krigingbased MCS reduces the computational cost by building a surrogate model to replace the original limit-state function through MCS. The objective of this research is to further improve the efficiency of reliability analysis with a new strategy for building the surrogate model. The major approach used in this research is to refine (update) the surrogate model by accounting for the full information available from the Kriging method. The existing Kriging-based MCS uses only partial information. Higher efficiency is achieved by the following strategies: (1) a new formulation defined by the expectation of the probability of failure at all the MCS sample points, (2) the use of a new learning function to choose training points (TPs). The learning function accounts for dependencies between Kriging predictions at all the MCS samples, thereby resulting in more effective TPs, and (3) the employment of a new convergence criterion. The new method is suitable for highly nonlinear limit-state functions for which the traditional firstand second-order reliability methods (FORM and SORM) are not accurate. Its performance is compared with that of existing Kriging-based MCS method through five examples. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034219]


Abstract. Aerosol thermodenuders provide a measure of particle volatility. The information provided by a thermodenuder is fundamentally related to the kinetics of evaporation and condensation within the device. Here, a time-dependent, multi-component model of particle and gas-phase mass transfer in a thermodenuder is described. This model empirically accounts for the temperature profile along the length of a typical thermodenuder and distinguishes between the influence of the heating section and of the adsorbent denuder section. It is shown that "semi-volatile" aerosol is particularly sensitive to the inclusion of an adsorbent denuder in the model. As expected, the mass loss from evaporation of particles as they pass through the thermodenuder is directly related to the compound vapor pressure, although the assumptions regarding the enthalpy of vaporization are shown to also have a large influence on the overall calculated mass thermograms. The model has been validated by comparison with previously measured mass thermograms for single-component aerosols and is shown to provide reasonable semi-quantitative agreement. The model that has been developed here can be used to provide quantitative understanding of aerosol volatility measurements of single and multi-component aerosol made using thermodenuders that include adsorbent denuder sections.


Summary

1. The abundance and distribution of a species are affected by processes which operate at multiple scales. Large-scale dynamics are increasingly recognized in conservation responses such as metapopulation management, transfrontier protected areas and softening the agricultural matrix. Landscape-scale monitoring is needed both to inform and judge their efficacy. In this Special Profile we address some of the challenges presented by monitoring at the landscape scale, how models of species distribution can be used to inform policy, and we discuss how monitoring at the global-scale could be approached.

2. Collecting data over a large area is inherently costly, so methods which can provide robust information at low-cost are particularly valuable. We present two papers which test low-cost approaches against more data-hungry methods (indices of abundance vs. direct density estimates, and species distribution models built from presence-only vs. presence/absence data).

3. Occupancy modelling is a useful approach for landscape-scale monitoring due to the relatively low-cost of collecting detection/non-detection data. We discuss challenges, such as non-random sampling locations and periodical unavailability for detection, in using detection/non-detection data for monitoring species distribution. Such data can also provide estimates of abundance and we show how existing models have been modified to allow the abundance of multiple species to be estimated simultaneously.

4. Models of species distribution can be used to project likely future scenarios and thus inform conservation planning where distributions are likely to change because of climate change or changing disturbance patterns. We also discuss how an optimization framework can be used to make efficient management decisions for invasive species management in the light of imperfect information.

5. Synthesis and applications. Monitoring is needed for many purposes including auditing past management decisions and informing future choices. Much monitoring data are collected at the site scale, although management authorities increasingly recognize landscape-scale dynamics. Recent global targets for conservation require monitoring which can report trends at the global-scale. Integrating data collected at a variety of scales to draw robust inference at the scale required is a challenge which deserves more attention from applied ecologists.


Alpha alumina powders have been prepared by the pyrolysis of sucrose, aluminium nitrate and ammonium nitrate. After spray pyrolysis at 400°C the mixture yields fluffy light brown precursor mass. After grinding followed by heat-treatment at 900°C and 1000°C it produced the alpha-alumina having particle sizes of 42 nm and 55 nm with surface area 12 m 2 /gm and 16 m 2 /gm respectively .The yield per unit time from precursor with ammonium nitrate is 3-4 times that of simple thermal spray pyrolysis without ammonium nitrate. The particle size and crystallite size have been decreased with increase of sucrose commensurated with ammonium nitrate in the reaction mixture. The crystallite sizes are comparable with particle sizes due to poor agglomeration due to excess addition of sucrose and ammonium nitrate.


We study nonlinear mode coupling among two intense and copropagating beams of different wavelength in bimodal and high birefringence optical fibers. With the proper design of the bimodal fiber, we show that this process may lead to modal attraction, where the modal distribution of light at a pump wavelength is replicated at the signal wavelength, independently of the input mode excitation conditions of the signal. We analyse the dependence of the efficiency of the modal attraction process upon the input state of polarization of both the signal and the pump beams.


In the form of a discussion the founding editors of darkmatte r journal reflect on the challenges of developing an online race project in the neoliberal context of knowledge production. The independent open access journal, operating at the borders of academia and cultural production, attempts to grasp the shifting contours of contemporary race and racism in a networked postcolonial world. Against the limitations of solely working within disciplines such as Postcolonial or Cultural Studies, darkmatter brings into dialogue a diverse range of conceptual frameworks to address the proliferation of race discourses. Interrogating and reworking the developments in digital publishing, the project constructs a space for the exploration and dissemination of race thinking and creating relations between different fields, sites and groups. The threats posed by the info-colonialism of corporate academic publishing are transversed through the evolution of darkmatter with its experiments in techno-cultural design and innovations in autonomous working practices.


Analysis of the impacts of climate variability on evapotranspiration (ET) is of great importance in understanding climate variability and its effect on hydrological aspects. In this study, temporal and spatial variations in reference evapotranspiration (ET0) and actual evapotranspiration (AET) were comprehensively detected in the Taohe River Basin from 1981 to 2010. The spatial distributions of annual sensitivity of ET0 and AET to climatic variables were investigated. The quantitative contributions, the possible causes and dominant controlling factors were analyzed. The results suggested the following. (1) Considerable changes in ET0 occurred due to climate variability in the Gannan Plateau area (GPA) and Loess Plateau area (LPA) by 3.54 mm/yr and 3.39 mm/yr from 1981 to 2010, respectively. (2) Net solar radiation was the most sensitive factor on ET0. The dominant factor was air temperature leading to increase in ET0 due to high sensitive coefficient to ET0 and also exhibited significant increasing magnitude. (3) Precipitation (PPT) was the most sensitive factor for AET. AET in the GPA is controlled by air temperature and in LPA is controlled by PPT. This study provides a beneficial reference to agriculture, water resource and eco-environment management strategies in this region for associated policymakers and stakeholders.