The ethical aspect of election is inherently an uncommon topic to be brought up for discussion in Malaysia, and more so when it involves the ruling party. Essentially, the ethics of election is in itself an exceptionally rare subject since ethics and politics are not commonly discussed. The ethical dimension of politics is often camouflaged as the seemingly more important and desirable sub-topics of transparency and accountability in the discussion of good governance. This leads to an obvious slant towards administration (even though administration and politics are invariably inextricable). In Malaysia, good governance in politics is classified under the universal values that are in line with the claim for democratization. It has become an issue after 1997 following a few major global and national events specifically the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the sacking of the then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and the 1999 General Election. All these happenings awakened a quest for a more meaningful and more specific democratization focusing on the issue of ethics and election, pressing for a fairer and more transparent election. The increasingly forceful claim for such democratization crescendoed to the 2008 election results that crumbled the hegemony of the ruling party, Barisan Nasional. Consequentially, to regain the confidence of the public, the ruling party has spearheaded a few transformation programs, among them the concepts of '1Malaysia, People First Performance Now', and the Government Transformation Program (GTP). However, the target group of these concepts seems to be those in civil service rather than the leader of the country. Therefore, the ethical conduct of the ruling party observed during the series of by-elections held after the 2008 Political Tsunami best reflects and assesses the extent of dedication and adherence of the ruling party to the aspiration of 1Malaysia and transformation.


This paper seeks to make some connections between legal theorist Janet Halley and contemporary artist Kara Walker. It compares their recent oeuvre to show how both reject understandings of the interplay of sex, power, and subordination proffered by conventional "justice projects" - specifically civil rights' and feminism's articulations of bodily violence and violation as key modes of racial and gender injury and subordination. Neither of these two is the first to dispute such accounts of injury and identity; yet, what distinguishes them is that both attempt to ground their theoretical and aesthetic indictments in the notion of abjection, or the liberatory potential of suffering, degradation, and shame, particularly in sexual contexts. Both seek in abjection an alternative conception of bodies and power, one not rooted in civil rights' and feminism's first principles of equality, anti-subordination, and what Halley calls "minoritizing" impulses. This Essay disputes abjection as a conceptual grounding for Walker and Halley's political and theoretical indictments. Abjection is classically associated with Julia Kristeva's work in psychoanalysis, but gained political traction in queer theorist Leo Bersani's call for a subversive sex-based queer identity. I contend that Halley's theoretical invocation of Bersani's abjection is misplaced, and that Walker's aesthetic claims fall victim to similar misreadings. In fact, the Essay argues that the theoretical innovations of both versions of abjection lie in their engagements with power and identity, their interplay with loss, longing, and belonging in Kristeva's classic iteration and with injury, rebellion, and politics in Bersani's subversive one. In particular, Bersani's notion of subversive abjection is hopelessly embedded in the very sorts of justice projects, identitarian claims, regulatory discourses, and material economies of bodies and power that Walker and Halley disavow. And, as I'll show, feminism's regulatory discourse of consent looms large in Bersani's call for a sex-based queer identity. While their aesthetic and academic invocations of abjection are fascinating and provocative, the Essay concludes that neither Kristeva's psychoanalytic turn nor Bersani's political one endorses Halley and Walker's embrace of dematerialized economies of bodies and disavowals of anti-subordination projects. The paper argues that Halley in particular has fallen prey to what might be thought of as a sort of sexuality exceptionalism, a deeply essentialist, almost Freudian, notion of sex as sacred, repressed, distinct from other bodily pleasures, and, because she views it as in need of liberation, exempt from regulation. (This is all the more odd given Halley's queer commitments, including her professed skepticism of the power feminists attribute to sex.) In addition, reading Walker and Halley together poses some tough questions for Halley about some of the conceptual limits of her claims. The Essay concludes that Walker and Halley have joined the anti-identitarian zeitgeist in a peculiar way: rooting their disavowal projects in abjection, while fascinating, even more deeply embeds them in what they are trying to escape, investigations of material economies of injury, identity, and power. And, importantly for Halley, may undermine her professed goal of liberating shameful sex, instead leaving her susceptible to what I'll characterize as sexuality exceptionalism.


Results of the physical impacts and adaptation cost assessment of sea-level rise for the European Union are presented for the A2 and B2 SRES socio-economic storylines and for a range of plausible sea-level rise scenarios, using data from the ECHAM4 and HADCM3 Global Climate Models (GCMs) models. In addition, to better understand the sensitivity of the results to the magnitude of sea-level rise, the full IPCC (2001) range of sea level rise predictions and scenarios of no climate change have also been modelled. These results are all derived using the global Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment (DIVA) tool for assessing regional to global coastal impacts and adaptation. Both the physical and economic impacts of sea-level rise increase with time for both the A2 and B2 storylines, especially under scenarios of high sea-level rise. Without adaptation, significant impacts and therefore damages are apparent. Significant populations are threatened with displacement by flooding and coastal erosion. An exploratory adaptation analysis using standard protection measures of dike construction and beach nourishment, where benefit-cost analysis suggests this is the optimum response, reduces these impacts significantly. While adaptation in Europe is likely to be much more diverse than these two simple options, these results demonstrate the significant benefits of protection, and more generally suggest that widespread adaptation to sustain human coastal activities would be prudent. Moreover, under these protection assumptions, coastal ecosystems are significantly reduced in area, especially under the high sea-level rise scenario and climate change raises significant challenges for wider coastal management in Europe, even if human uses in the coastal zone are protected.


Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, and especially the risk of early onset myocardial infarction, shows a strong familial pattern. Associations with other circulatory conditions and overall survival are less well studied. We estimated the associations between age at death of the parents and the risk of 18 prevalent and incident conditions, and mortality, in a large middle-aged UK cohort. Methods Prospective data from the UK Biobank was available for 189,076 participants aged 55–73 years (including 696 offspring of centenarians). Participants were followed-up from baseline for hospital admissions and mortality (mean period of 6 years and 5.5 years respectively, maximum >8 years for both). We excluded premature parental deaths and parental survival was ranked into short, intermediate and long-lived categories. A combined ranked parental longevity score was created, with a higher score indicating a greater parental age at death. Cox proportional hazards regression models investigated the associations of parental longevity score and the risk of prevalent and incident disease and mortality. Results At baseline, increasing parents' age at death was associated with participants being more physically active and having more education and higher income, plus having less obesity and lower rates of smoking. Adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, education, income, smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity and body mass index, parental longevity was associated with lower prevalence and incidence of several common circulatory conditions, including peripheral vascular disease (per longevity category Hazard Ratio for incidence: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.83), stroke (HR, 0.77; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.86), heart failure (HR, 0.78; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.87), coronary heart disease (HR, 0.86; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.91) and atrial fibrillation (HR, 0.88; 95% CI: 0.82, 0.94). Offspring of longer-lived parents also had a lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR, 0.87; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.91) and a markedly lower risk of CHD mortality (HR, 0.74; 95% CI: 0.65, 0.83). However, the associations with cancer mortality, incident cancers and other conditions were weaker. Conclusion Data from the UK Biobank provides evidence that the middle-aged offspring of longer-lived parents have markedly lower risks of several common cardiovascular conditions (in addition to coronary heart disease), and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and these associations remained after adjustment for several environmental risk factors. Family history of having longer lived parents could enhance risk assessment for a wide range of circulatory outcomes and all-cause mortality, but formal evaluations in representative samples are needed.


We reexamine a previously proposed model for thermal pressure acceleration of collimated outflows in young stellar objects (YSO). We are motivated by new results from recent X-ray observations of YSO. These show that there is essentially no difference between the properties of X-ray emission from YSO with and without outflows, imposing quite severe constraints on models based on magnetic launching of jets. In our scenario the magnetic fields are weak, and serve only to recollimate the outflow at large distances from the source. We perform time scale estimates and an analytical calculation of the acceleration of gas originating in the boundary layer (BL) of an accretion disk. By applying global energy conservation considerations we find that the mass escaping the system is compatible with observations. A crucial ingredient of the proposed model is that the accreted material is strongly shocked, and then cools down on a time scale longer than its ejection time from the disk. By using appropriate properties of accretion disks boundary layers around YSO, we show that the conditions for the proposed scenario to work are reasonably met. We find also that the thermal acceleration mechanism works only when the accretion rate in YSO accretion disk is large enough and the α parameter of the disk small enough - otherwise the cooling time is too short and significant ejection does not take place. This result appears to be compatible with observations as well as theoretical considerations.


Heart rate and blood pressure are the most important vital signs in diagnosing disease. Both heart rate and blood pressure are characterized by a high degree of short term variability from moment to moment, medium term over the normal day and night as well as in the very long term over months to years. The study of new mathematical algorithms to evaluate the variability of these cardiovascular parameters has a high potential in the development of new methods for early detection of cardiovascular disease, to establish differential diagnosis with possible therapeutic consequences. The autonomic nervous system is a major player in the general adaptive reaction to stress and disease. The quantitative prediction of the autonomic interactions in multiple control loops pathways of cardiovascular system is directly applicable to clinical situations. Exploration of new multimodal analytical techniques for the variability of cardiovascular system may detect new approaches for deterministic parameter identification. A multimodal analysis of cardiovascular signals can be studied by evaluating their amplitudes, phases, time domain patterns, and sensitivity to imposed stimuli, i.e., drugs blocking the autonomic system. The causal effects, gains, and dynamic relationships may be studied through dynamical fuzzy logic models, such as the discrete-time model and discrete-event model. We expect an increase in accuracy of modeling and a better estimation of the heart rate and blood pressure time series, which could be of benefit for intelligent patient monitoring. We foresee that identifying quantitative mathematical biomarkers for autonomic nervous system will allow individual therapy adjustments to aim at the most favorable sympathetic-parasympathetic balance.


This paper investigates hedging and risk management options in the energy sector. Energy firms tend to adopt risk management tools in order to cover their financial exposure. Taking into consideration that current crisis has a significant effect on their value; we check whether energy firms actually have better output when they use hedging tools. In order to measure the effectiveness of this strategy in the energy industry, we adopt Tobin's Q methodology. The sample of this study consists energy firms on a worldwide basis. The empirical evidence of this research confirms that energy firms may avoid huge economic problems when they adopt risk management methods. It is better enery market integration.


We investigated the emergence of discriminative responses to pitch by recording 2-, 3-, and 4-month-old infants' electro-encephalogram responses to infrequent pitch changes in piano tones. In all age groups, infants' responses to deviant tones were significantly different from responses to standard tones. However, two types of mismatch responses were observed simultaneously in the difference waves. An increase in the left-lateralized positive slow wave was prominent in 2-month-olds, present in 3-month-olds, but insignificant in 4-month-olds. A faster adultlike mismatch negativity (MMN), lateralized to the right hemisphere, emerged at 2 months of age and became earlier and stronger as age increased. The coexistence and dissociation of two types of mismatch responses suggests different underlying neuromechanisms for the two responses. Furthermore, the earlier emergence of the MMN-like component to changes in pitch compared to other sound features implies that neural circuits involved in generating MMN-like responses have different maturational timetables for different sound features.


Abstract. Rose-Bengal-stained foraminiferal assemblages (> 150 μm) were analysed along a five-station bathymetric transect across the core and the lower part of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) on the Indian margin of the Arabian Sea. Sediment cores were collected using the manned submersible Shinkai 6500 during the RV Yokosuka cruise YK08-11 in the post-monsoon season (October 2008) at water depths ranging from 535 to 2000 m, along a gradient from almost anoxic to well-oxygenated (0.3 to 108 μM) bottom waters. Stained benthic foraminifera were investigated from two different size fractions (150–300 μm and > 300 μm). Stained foraminiferal densities were very high in the core of the OMZ (at 535 and 649 m) and decreased at deeper sites. The faunas (> 150 μm) were dominated (40–80 %) by non-calcareous taxa at all stations. These were mainly species of Reophax and Lagenammina but also included delicate monothalamous taxa (organic-walled "allogromiids", agglutinated saccamminids, psammosphaerids and tubular forms). These new data from the Indian margin are compared to previous studies from the Murray Ridge, the Pakistan margin and the Oman margin. The fact that similar species were found at sites with comparable bottom-water oxygen concentrations but with very different surface water productivity suggests that, within the strongly developed Arabian Sea OMZ, bottom-water oxygen concentration, and not the organic flux to the sea floor, is the main factor controlling the species composition of the foraminiferal communities. Several foraminiferal species (e.g. Praeglobobulimina sp. 1, Ammodiscus sp. 1, Bolivina aff. dilatata) were confined to the core of the OMZ. These species are presently known only from the Arabian Sea. Because of their association with extremely low oxygen concentrations, these species may be good markers for very low oxygen concentrations, and could be used to reconstruct past OMZ variability in the Arabian Sea.


Abstract Insect odorant receptors are a large family of seven transmembrane proteins believed to be G-protein coupled receptors. The peptide sequences of two odorant receptors within a given species may share as little as 17% identity, and there is limited similarity between receptors of divergent species. One exception is DmOr83b, which is found in Drosophila melanogaster and is highly conserved in at least ten other insect species. DmOr83b is broadly expressed in most of the olfactory sensory neurons of D. melanogaster at most developmental stages, while other odorant receptors tend to have more restricted and specific expression patterns. DmOr83b is critical for D. melanogaster olfaction, and it is involved in properly localizing other odorant receptors possibly by forming heterodimers with these receptors. The C-terminal region has been implicated as sites for such heterodimer formation. Multiple em for motif elicitation (MEME), a hidden markov model based program, was used to uncover three conserved motifs in the C-termini of a vast majority of the odorant receptor peptides from Anopheles gambiae, D. melanogaster, and Apis mellifera. These motifs are also found in DmOr83b and its orthologs and the order of these motifs is conserved as well. The conservation of these motifs among divergent odorant receptors in divergent species suggests functional importance. We propose that these motifs are involved in receptor- receptor protein interactions, contributing to the heterodimer formation between DmOr83b (or its orthologs) and other odorant receptors.


This research provides a theory for modelling the relationships between role orientations and family purchasing behaviour. By taking the case of time-saving and
effort-sparing (TSES) durables and by apprehending spouses as consumers and actors at the same time, a comprehensive model is constructed in terms of input, process, and outcome. Input consists of socioeconomic characteristics of the household and output consists of product ownership (HPO), purchasing influence strategies (PIS), and purchasing role configurations (PRC).
For the process components, the model magnifies the role orientations into role ideology (RI), role overload, (RO) and role performance (RP) and proposes a new construct: Perceived Product Instrumentality (PPI). PPI is meant to account for consumption experiences that help role actors facilitate performance, reinforce identity and warrant compatibility with self-perception. Built from an interdisciplinary perspective, the model is believed to enhance the understanding of family purchasing and to account for differences among families in TSES product
ownership, purchasing role configurations, and purchasing influence strategies use.
As a step towards model testing, focus-group interviews with four panels of household members were used to assess the theoretical relevance for PPI and to generate substantive items for its measurement. These were three groups of women and one group of men. Content analyses confirmed the assumption that possessions, particularly TSES durables, were appreciated by role actors for their utilitarian, interpersonal, pleasure, and identity values. These values, which echoed previous consumer behaviour conceptualisations, were proposed to be the main facets of PPI.
On the basis of typical statements made by the participants and on previous literature, a 33-item scale was proposed as a tool for PPI measurement. A preliminary survey was used for unidimensionality assessment and PPI scale reduction. Four identical lists of 33 items, each corresponding to one durable, were administered to a convenience sample of 46 respondents. Exploratory factor and reliability analyses revealed that the 15-items scale could he proposed for PPI
operationalisation.
In order to constitute a data bank for model testing. a large scale survey was conducted among 480 families within a modern urban Tunisian middle class context. As preliminary steps, reliability analyses and purifications of the process components of the model were undertaken via latent structure modelling. The reduced scales were then integrated into a system's framework to evaluate their
relationship with PPI. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the adequacy of the process components measurement scales and structural path coefficients of the RI, RD, and RP relationships with PPI were calculated. Not all the hypothesized relationships were found to be significant, but the parts were interrelated in such a way that excluding anyone from the proposed comprehensive
model might distort the whole.
Finally, ownership of three TSES products by the surveyed families was predicted on the basis of the household's characteristics (number of children, hired help use, home-ownership), the men's as well as the women's socio-demographics (education, income, employment status, and age) and role orientations (RJ, RD, RP and PPI) via stepwise logistic regressions. Results confirmed the assumption that the inclusion of RI, RD, RP, and PPI enhanced the predictability of the socidemographic
variables for household TSES product ownership prediction.
The relationship of socio-demographics and role orientations with TSES product ownership were found to be different for men and women, whereby the women's PPI paralleled the men's income, and to be different for major and for minor durables whereby more variability was accounted for the former than for the latter. This seems to lead to the conclusion that the proposed model be more relevant to the high than to the low involvement TSES products.
Theoretically, the model is deemed comprehensive and generalizable. It is comprehensive because the different facets of PPI conveniently combine previous important consumer behaviour conceptualizations: buying as problem solving and need satisfaction processes, consumer involvement, and the self-concept theory. It is generalizable because it may be applicable not only to TSES durables but, eventually, to any TSES consumer products that are identifiable as role-based, timesaving and effort-sparing. I contend however that the framework will account for more variability in the former than in the latter cases.
Practically, the model can be helpful for market information and communication. By understanding who does what in the TSES buying process and by investigating both spouses' roles orientations, consumer data collection will no longer be based on stereotypical assumptions about spouses' roles. Market researchers will rather consider the involvement of previously non-involved informants in the choice of consumer panels (e.g. men in focus-groups about diapers and dishwashers, women in in-depth interviews about office equipment and car maintenance services). Information based on the proposed framework will help marketers select more effective communication appeals emphasizing subjective,
symbolic, intangible appeals such as identity preservation and self-concept reinforcement, rather than objective, utilitarian, tangible benefits such as timesaving and effort-sparing.
The model may also serve segmentation and targeting purposes for marketing professionals. Instead of limiting the investigation to the impact of sociodemographics on TSES purchasing, the role orientations and the PPI variables can be assessed with the objective of understanding motivations behind families' TSES product acquisition and decision behaviour and of identifying TSES products' prospects. Marketers can use such variables as ownership (owners versus nonowners), income level (high versus low income), and eventually PPI (high versus low
perceived instrumentality) so that respondents who are non-owners, and who score high on income and on PPI may represent prime targets for the sales promotion of TSES products.


SUMMARY Findings about the possible relation between smoking and dementia are ambiguous. Earlier research is dominated by the statement that smoking is a protective factor for Alzheimer's disease while later reports affirm that it could increase the risk for AD, and cessation could lower it to a certain degree. Some studies fail to establish an association between smoking and dementia or AD. The role of alcohol consumption as a risk factor for these disorders is also subject to discussion. Smoking, alcohol consumption and their possible relationships with dementia in persons over the age of 65 were assessed in the framework of a dementia prevalence study in the city of Varna, Bulgaria. No statistically significant correlations were found between the diagnosis of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, MCI, and the above-mentioned risk factors. This corresponds to the ambiguous data in the literature, where no clear statement exists whether smoking and alcohol consumption could be regarded as risk factors for dementing disorders or not.


Objectives Studies of underground miners have documented an increased risk of lung cancer mainly linked to radon exposure but possibly influenced by other concurrent exposures. Methods A cohort study was carried out in 8321 iron ore miners with low exposure to radon, employed in 1923–1998 and followed up for lung cancer in 1958–2000. Historical exposures to radon, crystalline silica and diesel exhaust were assessed. Data including exposure to radon, quartz and diesel exhaust from another mine with higher exposure to radon were reanalysed. Results Miners had increased risk for lung cancer (SIR 1.48 (95% CI 1.22 to 1.78), based on 112 cases during 227 000 person-years). The increased risk could not be explained by exposure to radon or diesel exhaust but was associated with exposure to crystalline silica: SIR 0.96 (0.53 to 1.62), 1.45 (1.10 to 1.87), 1.99 (1.31 to 2.90) and 1.77 (0.92 to 3.10) in groups with exposure to 0, 0–2, 2–5 and >5 mg years/m3, respectively. Reanalysis of data from the other mine indicated that quartz was a possible confounder in the analysis of relationship between radon and lung cancer. In the highest radon exposed group, the point estimate for the RR decreased from 5.65 to 3.90 when adjusting for concurrent exposure to quartz. Conclusions Crystalline silica, a known carcinogen, probably affects lung cancer risk in iron ore miners. The main implication of the results is for interpretation of the dose–response curve for radon and lung cancer in underground iron ore miners. Since exposure to radon and quartz is often correlated, quartz exposure can be an important confounder.


Recent marine climate change re search has largely focused on the response of individual species to environmental changes in cluding warming and acidification. The response of communities, driven by the direct effects of ocean change on individual species as well the cascade of indirect effects, has received far less study. We used several rocky intertidal species including crabs, whelks, juvenile abalone, and mussels to determine how feeding, growth, and interactions between species could be shifted by changing ocean conditions. Our 10 wk experiment revealed many complex outcomes which highlight the unpredictability of community-level responses. Contrary to our predictions, the largest impact of elevated CO2 was reduced crab feeding and survival, with a pH drop of 0.3 units. Surprisingly, whelks showed no response to higher temperatures or CO2 levels, while abalone shells grew 40% less under high CO2 conditions. Massive non-consumptive effects of crabs on whelks showed how important indirect effects can be in deter mining climate change responses. Predictions of species outcomes that account solely for physiological responses to climate change do not consider the potentially large role of indirect effects due to species interactions. For strongly linked species (e.g. predator−prey or competitor relationships), the indirect effects of climate change are much less known than direct effects, but may be far more powerful in reshaping future marine com munities.


Traditional User Experience (UX) research provides insights into situated uses of products, or reflections after their use, but tells us little about how products are experienced before use. In this article we demonstrate how people's engagement in web-based discussion forums creates ways through which they can experience products before they have actually used them, and reflect on the implications of this for UX research. To understand how product anticipation emerges in a digital-material setting we undertook an ethnographic analysis of members' contributions to http://www.teslaclubsweden.se, a web-based discussion forum that connects Tesla car enthusiasts. Anticipation developed as a shared endeavour that evolved through five ways which forum members engaged and participated in their community of practice. Through their online interactions their UX evolved before using the actual car. Our findings provide deeper understandings of anticipatory UX, and insights for UX design in HCI.


In order to examine the potential interactive pressures of local pollution and global climate change, we exposed corals and crustose coralline algae (CCA) to three agricultural photosystem II (PSII) herbicides at four temperatures (26–32°C). The coral Acropora millepora was 3‐ to 10‐fold more sensitive to the three herbicides than the CCA Neogoniolithon fosliei. While the photosynthesis of CCA was not affected by the herbicide concentrations used (< 1 μg L−1), temperatures of 31°C and 32°C alone significantly inhibited photosynthetic efficiency (ΔF:F′m) and caused chronic photoinhibition (reduced Fv:Fm) and substantial bleaching. Environmentally relevant concentrations of each herbicide increased the negative effects of thermal stress on coral at 31°C and 32°C. Mixed model analyses of variance showed that the effects of elevated sea surface temperatures (SST) and herbicide on photosynthetic efficiency of coral symbionts were additive. Furthermore, the effect of either diuron or atrazine in combination with higher SST (31°C and 32°C) on chronic photoinhibition was distinctly greater than additive (synergistic). Reducing the herbicide concentration by 1 μg L−1 diuron above 30°C would protect photosynthetic efficiency by the equivalent of 1.8°C and reduce chronic photoinhibition by the equivalent of a 1°C reduction. Reduced water quality increases the vulnerability of corals to elevated SSTs, and effective management of local water quality can reduce negative effects of global stressors such as elevated SST.


In recent years, the central claim of common-law constitutionalism has been that precedent and tradition embody some form of latent wisdom. Judges will generally do best by deferring to the wisdom embodied in precedent and tradition, rather than trusting to their unaided reason. In what follows, I offer a critical analysis of this family of claims. Drawing throughout on Jeremy Bentham's critique of the subconstitutional common law, I conclude that the constitutional common law is not plausibly seen as a repository of latent wisdom, at least not to any greater extent than statutes and other nonjudicial sources of law. The mechanisms advanced by common-law constitutionalists suffer from infirmities of internal logic and from a failure to make the necessary institutional comparisons between and among precedent and tradition, on the one hand, and the outputs of legislatures, executive officials, and constitutional framers on the other.


The introduction of robotics technology within endovascular surgical procedures has realised accurate catheter navigation and reduced surgeon irradiation. Insufficient force information from the catheter remains a limitation for significant improvement in the performance of these procedures. While recent developments of catheter tip-force measurement sensors have witnessed a notable outcome, packaging complexities and sensor size constraints limit their application. This work presents an approach to catheter tip-force measurement during endovascular surgery simulation. Image processing and photoelasticity are utilized to measure arterial stress and morphological deformation in a carotid artery segment model. Deformation is measured in real-time and conveyed to the user as haptic feedback during tele-operation of a robotic catheter insertion system. A preliminary single user study was completed to realise the potential of force feedback as it is correlated to the level of deformation and stress in the artery model. The results of this haptic feedback are compared with experimental results of the same operator manually inserting the catheter, and also using a computer graphical-user-interface to control the catheter insertion system.


Collective action can be an effective means of local development and risk reduction among rural people, but few examples have been documented in pastoral areas. We conducted extensive interviews for 16 women's groups residing in northern Kenya. Our objectives were to understand how groups were formed, governed, and sustained and what activities they have pursued. The groups we interviewed were 10 years old, on average. Charter memberships averaged about 24 women, 20 of whom were illiterate. Half of the groups formed after facilitation by a development partner and half formed spontaneously. Groups are governed under detailed constitutional frameworks with elected leaders. Groups primarily form to improve living standards of the members and undertake a wide variety of activities founded on savings and credit schemes, income diversification, small business development, education, health service delivery, and natural resource management. Groups have evolved means to buffer members from drought and poverty. The greatest threats to the sustainability of the groups come from internal factors such as unfavorable group dynamics and illiteracy, while external challenges include drought, poverty, and political incitement. Principles of good group governance and wisdom in business are reportedly the key ingredients for long-term success.


This review covers selected 2018 articles on the biological effects of pollutants, including human physical disturbances, on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems, and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing, and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, marine debris, dredging, and disposal. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and proliferation of data on the assimilation and effects of marine debris. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (e.g., mass mortalities ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not on pollutant sources, chemistry, fate, or transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g., some bioaccumulation data may be appear in other topical categories such as effects of wastewater discharges, or biomarker studies appearing in oil toxicity literature). Therefore, we strongly urge readers to use keyword searching of the text and references to locate related but distributed information. Although nearly 400 papers are cited, these now represent a fraction of the literature on these subjects. Use this review mainly as a starting point. And please consult the original papers before citing them.


In light of the trend towards open innovation, interorganizational technology transfer by means of alliances and licensing has often become a key component of open innovation processes. Inbound open innovation describes inward technology transfer, whereas outbound open innovation refers to outward technology transfer. Traditionally, inward technology transfer has received considerable attention because most practitioners and academics focus on the technology recipient's absorptive capacity. In contrast, the role of the technology source has been relatively neglected. This article addresses the concept of desorptive capacity, which refers to a firm's ability to identify technology transfer opportunities and to transfer technology to the recipient. The notion of market knowledge in the concept of desorptive capacity deepens our understanding of many firms' managerial difficulties in implementing active technology transfer strategies. Thus, desorptive capacity enriches our understanding of the dynamics of outward technology transfer. It provides new insights into the success or failure of interorganizational technology transactions.


Born with autism, both authors now famously live successful social lives, but their paths were very different. Temple's logical mind controlled her social behavior. She interacted with many adults and other children, experiencing varied social situations. Logic informed her decision to obey social rules and avoid unpleasant consequences. Sean's emotions controlled his social behavior. Baffled by social rules, isolated and friendless, he made up his own, and applied them to others. When they inevitably broke his rules, he felt worthless and unloved. Both Temple and Sean ultimately came to terms with the social world and found their places in it. Whether you are a person with autism, a caregiver in the autism community, or just someone interested in an 'outsider' view of society, their powerful stories will enthrall and enlighten you.


This transnational history of Paris in 1919 explores the global implications of the revolutionary crisis of French society at the end of World War I. As the site of the peace conference Paris was a victorious capital and a city at the center of the world, and Tyler Stovall explores these intersections of globalization and local revolution. The book takes as its central point the eruption of political activism in 1919, using the events of that year to illustrate broader tensions in working class, race, and gender politics in Parisian, French, and ultimately global society which fueled debates about colonial subjects and the empire. Viewing consumerism and consumer politics as key both to the revolutionary crisis and to new ideas about working-class identity, and arguing against the idea that consumerism depoliticized working people, this history of local labor movements is a study in the making of the modern world.


Natural Killer cells are large granular lymphocytes that contribute to both innate
and adaptive immunity, as they can not only lyse infected cells or tumors, but also
stimulate an adaptive immune response via production of cytokines and chemokines. NK cells function at the frontline of defense against intracellular pathogens and transformed cells due to their ability to respond rapidly and without prior sensitization on multiple signals.
Traditionally the knowledge about NK cell function and development was obtained
mainly from mouse models, transplantations and in vitro studies, but development of high throughput methods of gene expression analysis in the last years shed more light on NK cell developmental and functional diversity as well as on ontological relations between their subpopulations. However, our knowledge about NK cells remains incomplete, especially in comparison to T and B lymphocytes, and many questions in this field are yet to be answered.
Together with our collaborators, our group collected an RNA-seq data set that, to
our knowledge, is the most complete available for NK cell populations. This data set was comprehensively analyzed to elucidate the specific feature of transcriptomes of developing and mature NK cells.
Typical transcription signature of NK cells that distinguishes them from other peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and changes in expression profiles of NK cells during their development was described. In particular, a set of novel genes was
identified in which specific expression or function in NK cells was not described before.
Differences in expression profiles of NK cells from tissues and functional groups were also described, in particular the relative immature phenotype of bone marrow-derived stage 3 NK populations in comparison to their counterparts in tonsils.
Further, more mature and activated phenotype of NK cells produced by in vitro
differentiation assays in comparison to their ex vivo counterparts was stated, which can be explained by using a cytokine cocktail for proper growth and development of cells in vitro. In addition, expression levels of non-protein coding genes expressed by NK cells were estimated and the set of non-protein coding genes with regulatory potential in development and function of NK cells (e.g. LINC00299, RP11-222K16.2, RP11-212I21.4, RP11-456D7.1, RP11-121A8.1) was identified.
Furthermore, the single cell expression analysis of mature human NK lymphocytes
using the microfluidic Fluidigm© technique was established and a pilot experiment was performed, which allows further estimation of heterogeneity level of mature NK cell, identification of their functional subpopulations, and studying of regulatory gene networks within them.


Dynamic nonlinear models of metabolism offer a significant advantage as compared to constraint-based stoichiometric descriptions. However, progress in the development of large-scale nonlinear models has been hindered by both structural and quantitative uncertainties. In particular, the knowledge about kinetic rate laws and their parameters is till today still very limited when compared to the number of stoichiometric reactions known to be present in a large-scale metabolic model. In addition, strategies to systematically identify and implement large-scale dynamic models for metabolism are still lacking. In this contribution, we propose a novel methodology for development of dynamic nonlinear models for metabolism. Using the ORACLE (Optimization and Risk Analysis of Complex Living Entities) framework, we integrate thermodynamics and available omics and kinetic data into a large-scale stoichiometric model. The resulting set of log-linear kinetic models is used to compute kinetic parameters of the involved enzymatic reactions such as the maximal velocities and Michaelis constants. These kinetic parameters are in turn used to compute populations of stable, nonlinear, dynamic models sharing the same stable steady-state as the log-linear ones. The computed models offer unprecedented possibilities for system analysis, e.g. to study the responses of metabolism upon large perturbations; to investigate time course evolutions in and around the steady state; and to identify multiple steady-states and their basins of attraction. We illustrate the features of the generated models in the case of optimally grown E. coli, where our analysis of the estimated maximal reaction rates highlights the significance of network thermodynamics in constraining the variability of these quantities.


In this paper we prove the optimality of an aggregation procedure. We prove lower bounds for aggregation of model selection type of M density estimators for the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KL), the Hellinger's distance and the L1-distance. The lower bound, with respect to the KL distance, can be achieved by the on-line type estimate suggested, among others, by Yang (2000a). Combining these results, we state that log M/n is an optimal rate of aggregation in the sense of Tsybakov (2003), where n is the sample size.


Background. Donor-specific antibodies (DSA) are associated with acute kidney graft rejection, but their role in small bowel/multivisceral allograft remains unclear. We carried out a prospective study to understand the impact of DSA in the setting of intestinal allograft rejection. Methods. Thirteen patients (15 grafts) were serially evaluated for DSA levels pre- and posttransplant. DSA was determined by Luminex and the results were interpreted as fluorescence intensity (FI), with FI more than 3000 considered positive. Results. The clinical rejection episodes in allografts were significantly associated with the presence of DSA (P=0.041).We obtained 291 biopsy samples from graft ileum and date-matched DSA assay reports. Sixty-three (21.65%) of the biopsies showed acute rejection. The appearance of DSA were preformed (n=5, anti-human leukocyte antigen class II=3, anti-class I and II=2), de novo (n=4, 15.25±4.72 days after transplantation, anti-class II=1, and anti-class I and II=3) and never (n=6). Among the 63 biopsies, 30(47.6%) had significant correlations with positive DSA (kappa=0.30, P<0.001) and manifested severe rejection grade (P=0.009). Conclusions. In this cohort of small bowel/multivisceral transplantation patients, there was a high incidence of DSA. The presence of DSA should alert the clinical team of a higher risk of rejection, and reduction of the FI is clinically associated with resolution. Serial endoscopy guided biopsies combined with simultaneous DSA measurement in postintestinal transplantation follow-up is an effective means of screening for cellular and humoral-based forms of acute rejection.


Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) exhibit extreme differences in coloration of skin, eggs and flesh due to genetic polymorphisms affecting carotenoid deposition, where colour can range from white to bright red. A sympatric population of red and white Chinook salmon occurs in the Quesnel River, British Columbia, where frequencies of each phenotype are relatively equal. In our study, we examined evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the maintenance of the morphs, where we first tested whether morphs were reproductively isolated using microsatellite genotyping, and second, using breeding trials in seminatural spawning channels, we tested whether colour assortative mate choice could be operating to maintain the polymorphism in nature. Next, given extreme difference in carotenoid assimilation and the importance of carotenoids to immune function, we examined mate choice and selection between colour morphs at immune genes (major histocompatibility complex genes: MHC I‐A1 and MHC II‐B1). In our study, red and white individuals were found to interbreed, and under seminatural conditions, some degree of colour assortative mate choice (71% of matings) was observed. We found significant genetic differences at both MHC genes between morphs, but no evidence of MHC II‐B1‐based mate choice. White individuals were more heterozygous at MHC II‐B1 compared with red individuals, and morphs showed significant allele frequency differences at MHC I‐A1. Although colour assortative mate choice is likely not a primary mechanism maintaining the polymorphisms in the population, our results suggest that selection is operating differentially at immune genes in red and white Chinook salmon, possibly due to differences in carotenoid utilization.


In this paper the optimal transport and the metamorphosis perspectives are combined. For a pair of given input images geodesic paths in the space of images are defined as minimizers of a resulting path energy. To this end, the underlying Riemannian metric measures the rate of transport cost and the rate of viscous dissipation. Furthermore, the model is capable to deal with strongly varying image contrast and explicitly allows for sources and sinks in the transport equations which are incorporated in the metric related to the metamorphosis approach by Trouv\'e and Younes. In the non-viscous case with source term existence of geodesic paths is proven in the space of measures. The proposed model is explored on the range from merely optimal transport to strongly dissipative dynamics. For this model a robust and effective variational time discretization of geodesic paths is proposed. This requires to minimize a discrete path energy consisting of a sum of consecutive image matching functionals. These functionals are defined on corresponding pairs of intensity functions and on associated pairwise matching deformations. Existence of time discrete geodesics is demonstrated. Furthermore, a finite element implementation is proposed and applied to instructive test cases and to real images. In the non-viscous case this is compared to the algorithm proposed by Benamou and Brenier including a discretization of the source term. Finally, the model is generalized to define discrete weighted barycentres with applications to textures and objects.


Soil erosion is an important environmental phenomenon that causes many side effects such as reduction of soil productivity in the fields and transportation of pollutants to non-contaminated areas. Extensive well designed and controlled flume experiments in Ecological Engineering Laboratory at EPFL revealed that in order to understand some important aspects of erosion process such as morphological changes of the soil surface and crust effects, a detailed mechanistic study of erosion in small scale is needed. In this regard, this work is a start point of small scale simulation to get more interpretation of the soil particle rearrangement as the effect of raindrops. In this paper, particle rearrangement in saturated soil as a result of raindrop impact is studied. A raindrop with specified diameter falls into the container of saturated soil and causes agitation of dense particles inside the container. The aim is to visualize this process by testing the effect of raindrop diameter, particle size and particle physical properties. The numerical solution consists of two steps. At first, the raindrop impact on water surface is simulated using Large Eddy Simulation and VOF method so that the pressure change of the under layer is measured. Then, the profile of the pressure wave is applied on the mixture of water and particles in order to simulate the fluid-particle interaction using Particle-in-Cell (MP-PIC) method. This simulation reveals that the vertical rearrangement of particles has an important effect on crust and compaction process of the soil which needs further investigation. By presentation of this work in 9th OpenFOAM workshop, we intend to introduce the ability of the latest version of OpenFOAM (v 2.3) to simulate dense particle interaction and to discuss on the possibility of development of the solver to have a more robust two-way coupling between CFD and particle based methods such as Discrete Element Method (DEM).


Uncertainties in stellar structure and evolution theory are largest for stars undergoing core convection on the main sequence. A powerful way to calibrate the free parameters used in the theory of stellar interiors is asteroseismology, which provides direct measurements of angular momentum and element transport. We report the detection and classification of new variable O and B stars using high-precision short-cadence (2 minutes) photometric observations assembled by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). In our sample of 154 O and B stars, we detect a high percentage (90%) of variability. Among these we find 23 multiperiodic pulsators, 6 eclipsing binaries, 21 rotational variables, and 25 stars with stochastic low-frequency variability. Several additional variables overlap between these categories. Our study of O and B stars not only demonstrates the high data quality achieved by TESS for optimal studies of the variability of the most massive stars in the universe, but also represents the first step toward the selection and composition of a large sample of O and B pulsators with high potential for joint asteroseismic and spectroscopic modeling of their interior structure with unprecedented precision.


In recent years, a growing number of research groups have targeted the development and deployment of networks using low-cost chemical sensors for monitoring air quality. Due to economical reasoning, most of these systems make use of some sort of mobility to increase spatial coverage. The effect of mobility on measurement quality has, however, been largely neglected. The long response time of the chemical sensors typically used for this type of application, in conjunction with platform mobility, leads to significant signal distortion. While this problem can be addressed through signal deconvolution techniques, their effectiveness is limited by the typical poor Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of the measured signal. In this paper, we study the possibility of enhancing the measurement quality of chemical sensors through the use of active sampling (or sniffing). We propose different sniffer designs, employing both fans and pumps as actuators. Using a rigorous experimental framework, inside a wind tunnel, we study the ability of active samplers to increase measurement SNR, and thus indirectly to improve sensor dynamic response. We obtain a significant and consistent improvement in SNR for one of our pump-based sniffer designs. Finally, we validate the robustness of this signal enhancement in real-world conditions through an outdoor car-based experiment.


The Campos Basin is a petroleum-productive, marginal sag basin along the Brazilian margin. It contains a stratigraphic sequence recording lithospheric extension and rift tectonics developing to a fully evolved post-break-up setting. We present a combined approach using subsidence analysis and basin history inversion models to make predictions on source-rock maturation. The classical uniform stretching model does not account for the observed tectonic subsidence, and so we consider the thermal and subsidence implications of incorporating different events of magmatic underplating. The post-rift is characterized by one major phase of post-rift thermal subsidence: changes in sediment supply and load, as well as halokinetic movements, cause deviations from normal thermal subsidence and relaxation. The dimensions of these events have been examined and quantified. Our best-fit forward model is tested against measured borehole temperature (BHT) data. Results show a systematic overestimation of present-day temperatures in the shallow-water wells. Including the effects of hydrothermal convection by raising the conductivity of the top part of the stratigraphic sequence results in an almost perfect fit between predicted and measured BHTs in the shallow-water wells. Based on these forward models, we predict that the lacustrine shales of the syn-rift Lagoa Feia Fm. could be mature to generate oil and/or gas over a larger area than previously expected. Furthermore, our results suggest that the early post-rift Macaé Fm. is locally mature to generate oil, and that the middle/late post-rift Carapebus/Ubatuba Fm. shales are likely to generate oil as well, if organic-rich facies are indeed present. In light of the most recent pre- and post-salt discoveries made near established oil fields in the Campos Basin, our results support the idea that many more such accumulations may be found.


Since red alleles (R) of the genes that control grain colour are important for the improvement of preharvest sprouting resistance in wheat and there are three independently inherited loci, on chromosomes 3A, 3B and 3D of hexaploid wheat, it is possible to vary the dosage of dominant alleles in a breeding program. The objective of this work was to evaluate the dosage effect of R genes on preharvest sprouting, in a single seed descent population, named TRL, derived from the cross between Timgalen, white-grained wheat, and RL 4137, red-grained wheat. The study was carried out using sprouting data in ripe ears obtained under artificial conditions in a rainfall simulator over three years. According to the results there is a significant effect on preharvest sprouting provided by colour and a weaker effect of increasing R dosage. However, the significant residual genotypic variation between red lines and all lines (reds and whites) at 0.1% level showed that preharvest sprouting was also controlled by other genes. There are no significant correlations between sprouting and date of ripeness or between ripeness, R dosage and colour intensity.


AbstractSeismic inversion has become almost routine in quantitative 3D seismic interpretation. To ensure the quality of the seismic inversion, the input seismic data need to have a high signal-to-noise ratio. With the current low oil price environment, seismic reprocessing is often preferred over reacquisition to improve data quality. Common filter pairs include forward and inverse f-k and Radon transforms. Forward and inverse migrations (i.e., migration and demigration) are a more recently introduced transform pair that, when used together in an iterative workflow, results in a least-squares migration algorithm. Least-squares migration compensates for surface variation in data density and, when combined with a filter applied to prestack migrated images, suppresses the operator and data aliasing. We apply a least-squares migration workflow to a fractured-basement data set from the Texas Panhandle to demonstrate the enhancement in signal-to-noise ratio, the reduction in acquisition footprint and migration ...


Large-scale storage systems often attempt to achieve two seemingly conflicting goals: (1) the systems need to reduce the copies of redundant data to save space, a process called deduplication; and (2) users demand encryption of their data to ensure privacy. Conventional encryption makes deduplication on ciphertexts ineffective, as it destroys data redundancy. A line of work, originated from Convergent Encryption [28], and evolved into Message Locked Encryption [12], strives to solve this problem. The latest work, DupLESS [11], proposes a server-aided architecture that provides the strongest privacy. The DupLESS architecture relies on a key server to help the clients generate encryption keys that result in convergent ciphertexts. In this paper, we first provide a rigorous proof of security, in the random oracle model, for the DupLESS architecture which is lacking in the original paper. Our proof shows that using additional secret, other than the data itself, for generating encryption keys achieves the best possible security under current deduplication paradigm. We then introduce a distributed protocol that eliminates the need for a key server and allows less managed systems such as P2P systems to enjoy the high security level. Implementation and evaluation show that the scheme is both robust and practical.


For normal organ and tissue development and function, certain genes must be expressed at the appropriate place and time. For example, neural genes must be expressed in neural tissue but shut down in nonneural tissues. Lunyak et al. examined mechanisms by which neural-specific gene expression can be restricted from nonneural tissues. The zinc-finger transcription factor REST/NRSF can mediate extraneural restriction through two different mechanisms, one of which uses active repression via a histone deacetylation complex and one that involves gene silencing via DNA methylation and the recruitment of the corepressor CoREST and silencing machinery. The latter mechanism can mediate gene silencing of specific chromosomal regions, including gene clusters encompassing neuron-specific genes, some of which do not themselves contain REST/NRSF response elements. V. V. Lunyak, R. Burgess, G. G. Prefontaine, C. Nelson, S.-H. Sze, J. Chenoweth, P. Schwartz, P. A. Pevzner, C. Glass, G. Mandel, M. G. Rosenfeld, Corepressor-dependent silencing of chromosomal regions encoding neuronal genes. Science 298, 1747-1752 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


In order for artificial agents to coordinate effectively with people, they must act consistently with existing conventions (e.g. how to navigate in traffic, which language to speak, or how to work with teammates). A group's conventions can be viewed as a choice of equilibrium in a coordination game. We consider the problem of an agent learning a policy for a coordination game in a simulated environment and then using this policy when it enters an existing group. When there are multiple possible conventions we show that learning a policy via multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is likely to find policies which achieve high payoffs at training time but fail to coordinate with the real group into which the agent enters. We assume access to a small number of samples of behavior from the true convention and show that we can augment the MARL objective to help it find policies consistent with the real group's convention. In three environments from the literature - traffic, communication, and team coordination - we observe that augmenting MARL with a small amount of imitation learning greatly increases the probability that the strategy found by MARL fits well with the existing social convention. We show that this works even in an environment where standard training methods very rarely find the true convention of the agent's partners.


Background/Context This opening article, like the other articles in this special issue, is situated in scholarship that attempts to understand the racialized nature of mathematics education in the United States and to examine the racial identities of students and teachers in the context of school mathematics. It is designed to respond to the current (mathematics) education policy context that largely ignores teachers' experiential and cultural knowledge while stressing the importance of teachers' content knowledge and academic achievement. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article presents theoretical perspectives and research questions concerning the knowledge and other resources that African American teachers bring to teaching mathematics, perspectives and questions that are taken up in the five subsequent articles in this special issue. Setting The cases developed in this special issue were developed from observations of the introductory algebra classes of, and interviews with, two well-respected African American teachers in one neighborhood high school in a large urban school district that serves a predominantly African American student population. Research Design This opening article frames two case study papers and two analysis papers that report on findings from a large-scale qualitative study of the racialized identity and instructional approaches of two of the six African American mathematics teachers studied in the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning Algebra 1 Case Studies Project. Conclusions/Recommendations Together with the other articles in this special issue, this work contributes to the development of more sophisticated attempts to integrate understandings of race into the work of the mathematics education community. It challenges taken-for-granted notions of the knowledge base and resources needed to be an effective mathematics teacher of African American students in underresourced large urban schools.


The Spanish Civil War is typically presented as a military narrative of the ideological battle between socialism and fascism, foreshadowing World War II. Yet the Spanish war continued trends begun during World War I, notably the use of propaganda posters and the movement of women into visible roles within the public sphere. Employing cultural studies methods to read propaganda poster art from the Spanish war as texts, this thesis analyzes the ways in which this persuasive medium represented extremes of gender discourse within the context of letters, memoirs, and other experiential accounts. This thesis analyzes symbols present in propaganda art and considers how their meanings interacted with the changing gendered identities of Republic and nation. Even within the relatively egalitarian Republic, political factions constructed conflicting representations of femininity in propaganda art, and women's accounts indicate that despite ideological differences, both sides still shared a patriarchal worldview. INDEX WORDS: Cultural history, Feminism, Gender history, Interwar, Persuasive media, Poster, Propaganda, Social history, Spanish Civil War, Spanish Republic, Symbolism, Visual media, Women combatants GENDERING THE REPUBLIC AND THE NATION: POLITICAL POSTER ART OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, 1936-1939


Cognitive Behavioral Substance Treatment on Latino Engagement, Motivation, and Drug Use Thinking by Santiago Zepeda MS, Walden University, 2014 MPA, University of La Verne, 2008 BS, University of La Verne, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Clinical Psychology Walden University February 2018 Abstract The U.S. Latino population seeking substance abuse treatment has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, yet ethnic-based research and intervention strategies are lacking. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Treatment Readiness Induction Program (TRIP) among the Latino adolescent population. Cognitive behavioral therapy and the integrated judgment and decision making model provided the theoretical framework. Secondary data from 137 Latino/Latina participants were collected on engagement, motivation, and drug use thinking scales and their respective subscales to evaluate differences by gender and by a group of clients who received standard operating practice treatment (SOP) and those who, in addition to SOP, received TRIP treatment (SOP+TRIP). An independent t test found no gender differences on any of the subscales. Contrary to expectations, an independent t test indicated the SOP group had statistically significantly higher scores on the motivation subscale of desire for help and on the engagement subscale of peer support. The longer time in treatment by the SOP+TRIP group may account for the unexpected findings, and a repeated-measures design is recommended in future research to map and better understand changes inThe U.S. Latino population seeking substance abuse treatment has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, yet ethnic-based research and intervention strategies are lacking. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Treatment Readiness Induction Program (TRIP) among the Latino adolescent population. Cognitive behavioral therapy and the integrated judgment and decision making model provided the theoretical framework. Secondary data from 137 Latino/Latina participants were collected on engagement, motivation, and drug use thinking scales and their respective subscales to evaluate differences by gender and by a group of clients who received standard operating practice treatment (SOP) and those who, in addition to SOP, received TRIP treatment (SOP+TRIP). An independent t test found no gender differences on any of the subscales. Contrary to expectations, an independent t test indicated the SOP group had statistically significantly higher scores on the motivation subscale of desire for help and on the engagement subscale of peer support. The longer time in treatment by the SOP+TRIP group may account for the unexpected findings, and a repeated-measures design is recommended in future research to map and better understand changes in engagement, motivation, and drug use thinking across time in treatment. Findings and recommendations inform positive social change intervention and assessment strategies that target Latino clients seeking support of drug abuse. Cognitive Behavioral Substance Treatment on Latino Engagement, Motivation, and Drug Use Thinking by Santiago Zepeda MS, Walden University, 2014 MPA, University of La Verne, 2008 BS, University of La Verne, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Clinical Psychology


A superconducting magnet which is operated in persistent current mode in SMES, NMR, MRI and MAGLEV has many advantages such as high uniformity of magnetic field and reduced thermal loss. A high temperature superconducting (HTS) persistent current switch (PCS) system was designed and tested in this research. The HTS PCS was optimally designed using two different HTS tapes, second generation coated conductor (CC) HTS tape and Bi-2223 HTS tape by the finite element method (FEM) in thermal quench characteristic view. The CC tape is more prospective applicable wire in these days for its high n value and critical current independency from external magnetic field than Bi-2223 tape. Also a prototype PCS system using Bi-2223 tape was manufactured and tested. The PCS system consists of a PCS part, a heater which induces the PCS to quench, and a superconducting magnet. The test was performed in various conditions of transport current. An initial current decay appeared when the superconducting magnet was energized in a PCS system was analyzed. This paper would be foundation of HTS PCS researches.


Increasingly, transportation professionals are using technology, known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), to address transportation problems. This paper investigates the potential applications of ITS to safety issues on rural roadways in Washington. The most frequent type of rural crashes and their causal factors are identified from the state's Collision Report Form. The ability of ITS applications to reduce these types of crashes is then discussed. In Washington, the factor that contributes most to rural crashes is human behavior. Some ITS applications, such as speed warning systems, may be good solutions at known hazardous locations. However, most human behavioral issues, such as inattention or poor driver judgment, cannot be directly addressed by ITS applications that are currently available. In Washington, crashes due to some aspect of the roadside environment involved about one-third of the vehicles. ITS offer a viable alternative to traditional engineering solutions for a number of these types of crashes by informing drivers about roadside hazards. ITS weather systems and traveler information systems in general, can indirectly improve rural safety by providing information about travel and roadway conditions. Rural intersections, work zones, and railroad crossings are other potentially hazardous areas where ITS may be useful. The final factor that contributes to a small percentage of rural crashes is the vehicle and ITS applications may help indirectly by making trucks more compliant with safety laws and by improving the efficiency of safety inspections. ITS emergency notification systems also offer some safety benefits by mitigating some of the consequences of rural crashes. For the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), a handful of ITS safety applications have been well enough tested that they can be aggressively used as tools to reduce rural crashes. However, many more ITS safety applications, although promising, still need to be fully documented and would be best applied in this state as a demonstration of future potential. Most of these applications would warn drivers about road and roadside hazards. The greatest benefit from ITS for rural safety may come from future applications that will address rural crashes caused by human behavior. These applications will evolve from a number of the large federal research projects that are under way and are still a number of years away from providing benefits on a wide scale. Given their potential impact on rural safety, WSDOT should monitor these projects closely.


Since sometime in the 1960s, when literary scholarship went into theoretical overdrive, we members of the college educational proletariat increasingly found ourselves in deeper and deeper distress. This is not necessarily because literary theory distresses us in and of itself, but because this shift in methodological emphasis has brought about a polarization of labor. English departments designate graduate students and, in many cases, non-tenure faculty as the front line enforcers of core curriculum education while their tenured mandarin colleagues handle the teaching of the technical theoretical material. We graduate students and non-tenured faculty are the grunt workers of the academic humanities. We face the masses of students taking mandatory courses. It is usually we alone who separate the vast herds of non-select from the select. The young teacher of "Modern Literary Perspectives 201" (or, for undergraduates, known as "arts elective #3" on the diploma check-off list) receives none of the benefits of grade inflation in the upper echelons of doctoral course work. There the curve begins at "A-" and extends to "potential for publication." No, in the core curriculum trenches, Darwinism rules. The core curriculum literature curve begins at "functionally illiterate" or developmentally arrested, bulges into a large hump of "able to summarize a story plot, and then tapers precipitously toward "enjoy reading books voluntarily and able to make figurative connections between as many as three books read in the past." And this would probably be fine -- if the less talented students in the class admired the stronger students. The trouble is, however, that core curriculum literature in the academy allows very little common currency of admiration for students. As literacy rates and reading competence among high school students seem to fall, the greater the likelihood that students taking required literature classes see them as odd, archaic forms of torture. Students who don't like reading have difficulty reading. This seems obvious. What disturbs us who teach these students is how easily and quickly difficulty turns into dismissal. Failure of mastery causes pain and much more so as the object of mastery is seen as an absurd pursuit. To the mediocre undergraduate reader, the sophisticated undergraduate reader simply possesses a lucky genetic quirk or, worse, is "just weird." As the semester proceeds, so does the testing and the sifting, and talented literature students are transformed by their peers into a hated minority, the teacher into a "far out" eccentric figure speaking in tongues, or a self-indulged tyrant. My hunch, based on my experience, -- is that most assessors of literature classroom effectiveness provide scant evidence that students have acquired a great deal of subject matter from the literature course, i.e., transferred "stuff' from the outside of their brains to the inside. It's rare, for example, to see a student's course evaluation mentioning his having "learned the crucial structural differences between Acts I and II of _Waiting for Godot_" or his or her having come to "distinguish between the rising action of a story and its denouement." More commonly, student evaluations discuss the teacher--the teacher's fairness, the teacher's love of the subject ... how much the teacher seems to care about his or her students. It is easy to understand why literature teachers often end up mistrusting student evaluations--even teachers who get good evaluations--because they often have so little to do with literature and so much to do with personal presentation. Students forget (or never experience) the shaking of their philosophical foundations that the reading of a novel might cause; they remember the teacher's nifty pedagogical delivery. Poor readers do not admire good reading, I think, for two primary reasons. First, literature itself has been "devolved" out of the class of essential education by our predominantly consumer culture. …


Salinity has constituted one of the major problematic issues for agricultural production in Iraq. It is hence essential to develop some rational and reliable approach to conduct salinity mapping and assessment. Recently, we have proposed an innovative methodology in the Dujaila site for this purpose. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether the methodology we developed can be extended to other similar environment taking the Musaib site, another project site in Central Iraq, as an example. Field survey including soil sampling, EM38 (Geonics Ltd.) measurement and land use investigation was conducted and 30 soils samples were analysed in laboratory; 17 Landsat ETM+ spring and summer imagery in the frame of 168-37 from 2009 to 2012 were prepared for the study. By following the same procedure as we have done for the Dujaila site, we obtained similar remote sensing models in the vegetated area, that is, the field measured salinity are functions of the multiyear maximal GDVI (Generalized Difference Vegetation Index). For the non-vegetated area, only land surface temperature (T) among all nonvegetation indices (NVIs) was finally retained in the models, which are slightly different from those in Dujaila. However, these models can predict salinity with high reliability (83%). It is therefore concluded that our methodology developed in Dujaila is operational and extendible to other similar environment for salinity mapping.


Palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is a plantation commodity which plays important role in economics of Indonesia. Palm oil can grow at various ground type by paying attention to the soil characteristics including soil biology. Soil biology like existence of soil macrofauna depend on availibility of energy such as organic matter and decomposed it, so that can maintain the soil productivity. This research aims to determine the effect of organic matters and to determine the better of organic matters for soil macrofauna and palm oil growth. This research has been conducted at the experimental farm of Agricultural Faculty Riau University on May to August 2015. This research was carried out experimentally by using randomized block design (RBD) with 4 treatments (without organic matter, palm oil empty fruit bunch, sawdust and Congongrass of 10 kg/plant) and 6 replications, so there are 24 experimental units.The data obtained were analyzed using ANOVA and followed by further test DNMRT at 5% level. The result showed that the application of 10 kg/plant sawdustgave the best for number of individu, number of type and population densityof soil macrofauna. The application of 10 kg/plant palm oil empty fruit bunch showed the best results for increasing of plant height, increasing number of fronds, increasing of fronds length and increasing of leaves. Organic matter which showed the best result for soil macrofauna was not show the best results for oil palm growth.


In the petrochemical industry the fluidized catalytic cracking unit is an important vessel for refractory castables application due the necessity of obtaining specialized products. Usually, the selection of these materials is based on the chemical analysis, apparent density, cold crushing strength and cold erosion test. For the evaluation of the present selection requirements, five high-alumina castables, being three of low cement and two conventional of commercial use, were characterized under cold crushing strength and cold erosion tests. Additional tests that are actually not used in the selection were also performed, such as: thermal shock cycling, hot modulus of rupture and carbon deposition by CO atmosphere exposure. The analysis showed that the present specifications are mainly based in the experience with the use of products not designed for this application and that the development of more suitable castables is inhibited due to the close restrictions of the present specifications. It is also verified that the materials selection is limited by the absence of tests for the performance evaluation next to in-service conditions. In this sense, the carbon deposition test by CO atmosphere exposure was interesting in order to provide the better selection of dense antierosive refractory castables.


The study investigated several factors (level of exposure to English language, metacognitive awareness, and country) that affect the use of language learning strategies among Taiwanese students who live in Taiwan and in the Philippines and who speak English. The language learning strategies were also studied as predictors of oral proficiency (measured using the Test for Spoken English). The participants were 80 Taiwanese students studying in the Philippines and 66 Taiwanese studying in Taiwan. It was found in the study that English exposure and country of residence were significant predictors of language learning strategy. Students living and studying in the Philippines with high English exposure had higher oral proficiency than the Taiwanese in Taiwan sample. All language learning strategies when taken together significantly predicted oral proficiency (R=.58, p<.05). Only memory (B=-2.03), compensation (B=1.31), metacognition (B=1.54), and affect (B=-2.73) of the six strategies, significantly predicted oral proficiency.


Sialyltransferases are key enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of biologically and pathologically important sialic acid-containing molecules in nature. Binary X-ray crystal structures of a multifunctional Pasteurella multocida sialyltransferase (Delta24PmST1) with a donor analogue CMP-3F(a)Neu5Ac or CMP-3F(e)Neu5Ac were determined at 2.0 and 1.9 A resolutions, respectively. Ternary X-ray structures of the protein in complex with CMP or a donor analogue CMP-3F(a)Neu5Ac and an acceptor lactose have been determined at 2.0 and 2.27 A resolutions, respectively. This represents the first sialyltransferase structure and the first GT-B-type glycosyltransferase structure that is bound to both a donor analogue and an acceptor simultaneously. The four structures presented here reveal that binding of the nucleotide-activated donor sugar causes a buried tryptophan to flip out of the protein core to interact with the donor sugar and helps define the acceptor sugar binding site. Additionally, key amino acid residues involved in the catalysis have been identified. Structural and kinetic data support a direct displacement mechanism involving an oxocarbenium ion-like transition state assisted with Asp141 serving as a general base to activate the acceptor hydroxyl group.


Tolerance and physical dependence development to morphine in mice can be prevented by concomitant administration of cycloheximide. The fact that the rate of synthesis of brain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) increases with tolerance to morphine suggests that the protein involved may be associated with 5HT synthesis. Inhibition of this synthesis with p-chlorophenylalanine markedly decreases tolerance and physical dependence development to morphine.


Invincible by Amy Lawrence: A gripping insider's account of how Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira and Pires became the first team in 100 years to go the entire season undefeated 2014 Writer of the Year, Football Supporters' Federation. "This book is so full of exclusive interviews you'll soon feel like part of the squad. A worthy tribute to one of English football's best ever teams, it makes you long for one more game at Highbury." (Shortlist). "Unbeatable insight". (Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph). In 2003-04, a team that played with lightning speed and lustrous skill fulfilled Wenger's lifelong dream - to go a whole season unbeaten. They pushed and inspired each other, bringing the best out of strong characters like Jens Lehmann, a self-styled 'Mad German', Sol Campbell, an intense competitor, Robert Pires, an instant friend if you give him a football, Patrick Vieira, a soft-spoken, battle-hardened captain, Gilberto, a thoughtful Brazilian, Thierry Henry, a supremely gifted and obsessed scorer and creator, and Dennis Bergkamp, the perfectionist conductor. Based on exclusive player interviews, and with a foreword and afterword by Arsene Wenger, this definitive book allows the Invincibles to tell their own story. Football writer Amy Lawrence weaves together the team's recollections, and the testimonies of other key players and protagonists around the club, to relive the pivotal games and moments. From the battle of Old Trafford to jubilation at White Hart Lane, from training ground sparks to dressing room revelations, readers will go behind closed doors, onto the pitch, and into the players' minds to understand the teamwork and the psychology to go unbeaten. Published in time for the 10-year anniversary, this is a must-have read for any Arsenal fan. It will be enjoyed by readers of memoirs by Dennis Bergkamp and Tony Adams, and will also appeal to football fans everywhere who enjoy classic sports books such as The Damned United. Amy Lawrence has watched football avidly since her first trip to Highbury at the age of six, and has written about it, mostly for the Guardian and the Observer, for twenty years. She lives in London.


Late Minoan (LM) IIIB (1300–1200 B.C.) represents a crucial period in the history of Bronze Age Crete, heralding the transition to the Iron Age through a wave of site destruction and abandonment. According to the traditional view, earthquakes may have played a significant role in these events. A new archaeoseismological approach is proposed to test this hypothesis and to attribute destruction and abandonment to earthquakes. Potential earthquake archaeological effects (PEAEs) are defined and documented at LM IIIB sites. Synchronisms of PEAEs between sites are based on ceramic evidence. The reliability of the PEAEs is furthermore assessed using empirical ground-motion relationships defined for three types of earthquake mechanisms that can be considered to occur in the seismotectonic context of Crete: (1) normal-faulting earthquakes located within the overriding Aegean lithosphere; (2) earthquakes located on the subduction interface or on splay faults merging with the interface at depth; (3) earthquakes within the subducting African lithosphere. In the case of LM IIIB1/early Malia and Sissi (northeastern Crete), this proof of concept is successfully applied and supports the hypothesis that seismic shaking is likely to be responsible for the PEAEs observed. A 12 October 1856 A.D.-type earthquake located within the subducting African plate is suggested as the most likely earthquake mechanism. In other LM IIIB archaeological contexts, no convincing evidence for earthquake effects could be identified. The hypothesis of a seismic storm causing the demise of Minoan Crete is not supported by our analysis of archaeological evidence.


The deployment of encrypted transport protocols imposes new challenges for network operations. Key in-network functions such as those implemented by firewalls and passive measurement devices currently rely on information exposed by the transport layer. Encryption, in addition to improving privacy, helps to address ossification of network protocols caused by middleboxes that assume certain information to be present in the clear. However, "encrypting it all" risks diminishing the utility of these middleboxes for the traffic management tasks for which they were designed. A middlebox cannot use what it cannot see. We propose an architectural solution to this issue, by introducing a new "path layer" for transport-independent, in-band signaling between Internet endpoints and network elements on the paths between them, and using this layer to reinforce the boundary between the hop-by-hop network layer and the end-to-end transport layer. We define a path layer header on top of UDP to provide a common wire image for new, encrypted transports. This path layer header provides information to a transportindependent on-path state machine that replaces stateful handling currently based on exposed header flags and fields in TCP; it enables explicit measurability of transport layer performance; and offers extensibility by sender-to-path and path-to-receiver communications for diagnostics and management. This provides not only a replacement for signals that are not available with encrypted traffic, but also allows integrity-protected, enhanced signaling under endpoint control. We present an implementation of this wire image integrated with the QUIC protocol, as well as a basic stateful middlebox built on Vector Packet Processing (VPP) provided by FD.io.


Abstract How do rising powers choose to allocate their finite resources among the multiple global and regional security organizations? Building on the literatures on forum shopping and rising powers, we argue that the different organizational investment choices of rising powers are explained by varying regional ideational affinities. Organizational settings have ideational foundations that can look very different from region to region. We argue that regional ideational affinity leads rising powers to invest in regional rather than global organizations. However, if the ideational composition of the region is highly diverse, global organizations are a better vehicle to accommodate rising powers' emergent ambitions. To demonstrate our argument, we examine the choices of Brazil and South Africa in terms of their material and ideational investments in regional and global organizations.


Abstract This study evaluated monomer release and cytotoxicity of different adhesive restoration materials used for dental restorations. The extracts (1, 2, and 7 days) of three types of adhesive dental restoration materials, [Quixfill (QF), Silorane Restorative (SR), and Ketac N 100 Restorative (KR)], and the adhesive resins, [XP Bond (XP), Silorane Primer (SP), Ketac N 100 Primer (KP), and Silorane Bond (SB)] were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The cytotoxicity levels were determined at different time points (24, 48, and 72 h) of cell culture using 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. All adhesive resin materials showed monomer release at varying amounts with the highest release after 7 days. The lowest amount of release was observed in QF and the highest with KP. Bis-Phenol A (BPA) was not detected in SP and KR that contain bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether dimethacrylate (bis-GMA). Decamethylpenthasiloxane (D5) was not eluted from SR. Except for SR and QF, all other adhesive restoration materials showed different degrees of toxicity along with different monomer release kinetics. The correlation between the monomer release and cytotoxicity of the materials indicated that the cytotoxicity of the materials increased with the monomer release (Spearman's rho correlation coefficient – r). The correlation after 48 h was statistically significant (r = −0.342, p = 0.017).


In 1982, the North Dakota County Extension agents asked 5,000 homemakers were asked what they sought most in parenting and child upbringing information. The women and mothers wanted more information concerning parent-child communication. If the concerns of parents and their styles of parenting are not understood, it is difficult to design effective programs to aid them. The absence of localized parent-child data often reduces the credibility of programs for localized audiences. The family unit continues to be the cornerstone for the socialization of children in US society. Within this context, the child is expected to learn the perimateers of society - prohibitions, proscriptions and associated values and beliefs of their social context. the parent-child socialization process is a two way street where both influence each other. In 1982, research did not demonstrate clearly the degree to which this cross pollination, socialization process went. A study of parent-child interactions and socialization processes was developed to obtain information on parenting and parent-child relationships in both rural and urban areas. The objectives of the study were to determine the rewards and satisfactions, problems and stresses of parenting among families in North Dakota, to access the relationship between styles of parenting and the levels of social and emotional development of children, to determine the developmental patterns of parent-child interactions and, finally, to examine the stages of family and child development as both parents and children age. In summary, the study indicated that North Dakota families were communicating in specific ways given the age and the gender of the child and the gender of the parent.


This masterful synthesis of criticism and biography surveys all of Hermann Hesse's major works and many of his minor ones in relation to the intricate psychological design of his entire life history. Eugene Stelzig examines what it means to be an "autobiographical writer" by considering Hesse's fictions of the self as an exemplary instance of the relationship between life and art and between biography and autobiography. In a graceful and inviting style, he frees this major confessional writer from the confines of German culture and the status of "cult figure" of the 1960s, and situates him in the tradition of world literature and in a variety of literary, psychological, philosophical, and religious contexts.Three introductory chapters on autobiography and Hesse set the stage for a chronological study. Then follows a penetrating analysis of the balance between biographical fact and confessional fantasy in Hesse's long career, from the failed autobiography of his first literary success, Beneath the Wheel, through the protracted midlife crisis of the grotesque Steppenwolf period, to the visionary autobiography of his magisterial fictional finale, The Glass Bead Game.Originally published in 1988.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Summary

Surface fire has increasingly been regarded as a critical threat to tropical forests, but much of the research documenting degradation of tropical forests by fire comes from the low-elevation humid tropics. Fire in high-elevation tropical forests has received less research attention, but these forests are of high conservation value because they support unique ecosystems, which are often isolated due to their restriction to widely separated peaks.
We investigated the frequency and ecological impact of fire on a high-elevation tropical forest of Pinus hartwegii in Pico de Orizaba National Park in central Mexico. This forest was previously thought to have been degraded by excessive human-caused fires. We assessed human-caused changes to the fire regime as well as the impact of climate on fire occurrence, both previously undocumented in this region.
We found no increase in fire frequency or evidence of degradation of the forest. We found that the forest was uneven-aged and contained many large and old trees (maximum age 483 years). In the twentieth century, the forest experienced a frequent surface fire regime, with fires scarring trees in 90 of 100 years. However, most fires were small and asynchronous among sites. Inter-annual climatic variability was not an influential driver of fire, and El Nino–Southern Oscillation was not significantly related to the occurrence of widespread fire.
Synthesis and applications. Our results show that this high-elevation tropical forest has not been degraded but has existed with frequent fires for at least a century. A trend in the 21st century towards less-frequent fire could be cause for concern, as a decrease in fire frequency could lead to an increase in tree density and a loss of resilience in the face of climate change and other future disturbance. We recommend that managers take into account historical fire regimes in their local areas: frequent surface fires in the case of Pico de Orizaba. It is important to recognize that although fire can be detrimental in many low-elevation tropical forests, it is an integral part of this high-elevation tropical forest ecosystem, and other high-elevation forests may show similar patterns.


Background Patient-reported outcomes are increasingly used to understand the clinical meaningfulness of multiple sclerosis disability and its treatments. For example, the 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale (MSWS-12) measures the patient-reported impact of the disease on walking ability. Objective We studied longitudinal changes in walking ability using the MSWS-12 in a cohort of 108 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and moderate-to-severe disability from a single US center cohort study investigating multiple sclerosis symptoms and physical activity. Methods The MSWS-12 was completed every 6 months over 2 years together with self-reported measures of disease impact on daily life (Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale) and walking disability (Patient Determined Disease Steps scale). Results The results revealed a high frequency of self-reported changes in walking ability at the individual level, affecting approximately 80% of patients for all four time periods. MSWS-12 scores remained stable at the group level for all four time periods. The magnitude of observed changes at the individual level was higher than the proposed minimal clinically important differences of 4 or 6 points and correlated better with Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale physical scores than psychological scores, but little with self-reported Patient Determined Disease Steps Scale scores. Conclusions This novel finding of frequent fluctuations in self-reported walking ability is new and requires further investigation.