Subject of this dissertation is the aetiology of crisis processes which place organizations under existential threats and which often cause organizational demise and bankruptcy. To date, research on organizational crises (OC) has not succeeded in identifying the generic grounds for these detrimental processes in organizations. A minimal consensus can be found in literature about some basic characteristics of slowly developing OC of non-catastrophic, non-sudden origin, which is the research object of this dissertation. The most often mentioned traits of such OC are: a) Increasing complexity and, at the same time, decreasing means of remedy in the course of OC. b) Ineffectiveness or adverse effectiveness of conventional management measures towards OC. c) Existential threat to the whole organization as a consequence of OC. d) Often very long incubation time with locally triggered or random place of OC outbreak. e) Unclear or seemingly multiple OC origins. Especially opaqueness and increasing complexity are two commonly reported properties which make OC both difficult to understand and to counteract as a manager, and also hard to explore theoretically. Complex, multifaceted and non-transparent phenomena are the research object of systems sciences, which deal with sets of invariant rules that are at work in systems and which are decisive for the behaviour of these systems. Because organizations are systems and OC are complex, multifaceted and non-transparent phenomena, this thesis looks at OC through the lens of system science. Using a systems, or more precisely, a management cybernetic theory called the Viable System Model (VSM) to address those issues, this work has overcome obstacles, observed in earlier research. The VSM is a topological model of the invariant control structure of any organization which defines the necessary and sufficient conditions for organizational viability or more specific for the ideal interplay of policy, adaptation, optimization, audit, co-ordination and operation. Because OC is a process which threatens an organization's viability, the hypothesis was tested to what degree the VSM conditions can be used to understand and predict OC. To test this hypothesis the viability conditions of the VSM have been operationalized and translated into a questionnaire. With it, the system viability of 135 institutions has been assessed. Using a partial least square structural equation modelling approach the causal relationship between system viability and the prevalence of OC in the sample was tested and a significant and strong connection was found: The (absence of) system viability of organizations is strongly connected with the occurrence of OC. With these findings, the contribution of this dissertation is threefold; it provides a quantitatively underpinned increase in knowledge about the aetiology of organizational crises, a qualitative framework coded in plain language for the early recognition and prevention of organizational crises in practice and a quantitative test of the Viable System Models substantial claims.


Introduction: A hospital information system (HIS) is a comprehensive, integrated information system designed to manage the administrative, financial and clinical aspects of a hospital. As an area of medical informatics, the introduction of a HIS into a hospital was purported to reduce the time spent on administrative and clinical activities by electronic data processing. However, adoption has been slow, and a key concern has been that staffs will require more time to complete their work using HIS. And also Most of available HIS have lots of deficiencies in data gathering, so hospital managers decided to keep their paper records and same time use HIS. Most previous studies addressing this issue have been done with concentration on clinical staff activities. Methods: Comparative observational of the impact of a HIS on Medical Records Department time in four units: Admission Discharge and Transfer/ADT, Medical Filing and Retrieval, Medical coding/billing, and Medical Statistics. Measurements: We used a time-motion method to measure staff time spent in predefined activities. Medical Records staff monitored while using HIS and paper based system. 15 clerical medical records staff were observed treating 300 documents while still using paper-based records, and same persons were observed treating 400 patients' records with HIS. Results: Following HIS implementation, the use of the computerized system decreased the average total workload by 61.35% (from 66.41 to 23.93 m). Conclusion: Hospital Information System (HIS) reduces three nonclinical activities time noticeably which is vital to decision making and plays a crucial role in the success of the organization.


The protection of the financial interests of the European Communities ('PIF'), as a political/legal endeavour presents unique features. Firstly it is central to the future of the Communities; increasingly it has been perceived as an essential ingredient to preserve the credibility of the 'European Project'. Secondly it has opened up a penal-administrative space at EC level, which many regard as a fore-runner to a European Criminal Legal Space - a vision fraught with difficulties. Notwithstanding the high profile of 'PIF', on the whole progress in fraud control has been uneven, due to the sectoral approach adopted. On the expenditure side of the budget, the most regulated area remains the part of the EA66F-Guarantee Section Fund, whilst Structural Funds remain fairly un-policed. Of late it has been recognized that procurement fraud, involving the corruption of officials who work with Structural Funds, is rife in many Member States, and legislative solutions have been sought at EC level. On the income side of the budget, the control of VAT fraud rests mainly with the Member States. Other duties have become increasingly difficult to collect in view of the near-collapse of the transit system: solutions advocated include the computerisation of the transit system and various improvements in Customs' modi operandi. All Member States have experienced difficulties in recovering EC funds obtained through irregularities: a case study is offered, which compares the British and Danish approaches to the recovery of EC funds. In relation to VAT and excise regimes, the organisation of Customs, and recovery of funds, greater integration would be more effective that Commission supervision of the Member States.


Econometric models in financial risk
This paper provides an overview of the contributions by prof JH Venter to financial risk and volatility modelling, estimation and forecasting. Venter's research is based on the classical GARCH model which he refines in various ways. In the classical GARCH model the innovation distribution is assumed to be standard normal but recent research emphasized the need for more general distributions allowing both asymmetry (skewness) and kurtosis in the innovation distribution to obtain better fitting models. This can be achieved by variance mixtures of normal distributions. If the mixing variable is taken as unit inverse Gaussian distributed the resulting innovation distribution has the NIG-distribution whose density can be computed analytically, easing likelihood calculations. In essence this is the NIG-GARCH model for daily returns. Venter interprets the mixing variable as a latent factor due to news noise impacts that adjust the traditional GARCH volatilities to account for events occurring after market closure on the previous day. This GARCH model with NIG-distributed innovations leads to more accurate parameter estimates than the normal GARCH model. Venter concludes that it is the mixing concept and not the particular distribution choice that leads to better fitting models. This is encouraging in the sense that it is the underlying phenomenon that one is trying to model that is important, more so than the specific mathematical forms that one uses in the process, and the results should be stable when these forms are varied over reasonably possible alternatives. These models are fitted to an empirical data set and in the process of doing so, Venter finds empirical support for Merton's ICAPM. In order to obtain even more accurate parameter estimates, and since Venter expected an information gain if more data is used, he extends the above mentioned model to cater for high, low and close data, as well as full intra-day data, instead of only daily returns. This is achieved by introducing the Brownian inverse Gaussian (BIG) process, which follows naturally from the unit inverse Gaussian distribution and standard Brownian motion. This model postulates that over each trading day anew the intra-day return process follows a Brownian motion with drift and volatility that are inherited from the previous day in typical GARCH fashion but are also subject to random Inverse Gaussian (IG) distributed news noise impacts that arrive after market closure on the previous day. He calls it the BIG-GARCH model and derives the likelihood function needed to fit the model; this uses the daily returns and realized volatilities as sufficient statistics. Venter then introduces a number of new distributions related to the Inverse Gaussian distribution and also derives diagnostics that may be used to check the quality of fit. The new model produces two volatility measures, called the expected volatility and the actual volatility. Venter shows that the latter is close to the realized volatility. Fitting these models to empirical data, he finds that the accuracy of the model fit increases as one moves from the models assuming normally distributed innovations and allowing for only daily data to those assuming underlying BIG processes and allowing for full intra-day data. However, Venter encounters one problematic result, namely that there is empirical evidence of time dependence in the random impact factors. This means that the news noise processes, which is assumed to be independent over time, are indeed time dependent, as can actually be expected. In order to cater for this time dependence, Venter extends the model still further by allowing for autocorrelation in the random impact factors. The increased complexity thatthis extension introduces means that one can no longer rely on standard Maximum Likelihood methods, but have to turn to Simulated Maximum Likelihood methods, in conjunction with Efficient Importance Sampling and the Control Variate variance reduction technique, in order to obtain an approximation to the likelihood function and the parameter estimates. He finds that this time dependent model assuming an underlying BIG process and catering for full intra-day data fits generated data and empirical data very well, as long as enough intra-day data are available. Several ideas for future research are given, especially the need to explore the application of this approach to other important areas of statistical finance, such as volatility forecasting and pricing of derivatives. He finds that this time dependent model assuming an underlying BIG process and catering for full intra-day data fits generated data and empirical data very well, as long as enough intra-day data are available. Several ideas for future research are given, especially the need to explore the application of this approach to other important areas of statistical finance, such as volatility forecasting and pricing of derivatives.
In hierdie artikel word 'n oorsig gegee van die bydrae wat prof JH Venter gemaak het tot finansiele risiko en volatiliteits-modellering, -beraming en -vooruitskatting. Venter gebruik die klassieke GARCH model as basis vir sy navorsing en konsentreer veral daarop om beter modelle as die normaal verdeling te vind vir die innovasie verdeling. In die verband stel hy 'n raamwerk voor waarbinne die klas van gemiddelde-normaal-mengselverdelings bespreek en evalueer word. Hy vind dat die klas van verdelings onderling min verskil ten opsigte van die akkuraatheid van modelpassing en volatiliteitsberaming, maar heelwat verbeter op die klassieke model. Wanneer intradag-data beskikbaar is, kan gerealiseerde volatiliteit gebruik word om volatiliteit te beraam. In hierdie konteks formuleer Venter 'n nuwe model wat 'n hibriede samestelling van die tradisionele GARCH-model en 'n stogastiese volatiliteitsmodel is. Hy verwys hierna as die BIG-GARCH- model en lei die aanneemlikheidsfunksie af wat nodig is vir die modelpassing. Twee volatiliteitsmaatstawwe spruit voort uit die nuwe model, naamlik verwagte volatiliteit en werklike volatiliteit. Venter wys dat laasgenoemde maatstaf baie nou verwant aan gerealiseerde volatiliteit is.


Abstract Elements that constitute the built environment are vast and so are the independent systems developed to model its various aspects. Many of these systems have been developed under various assumptions and approaches to execute functions that are distinct, complementary or sometimes similar. Furthermore, these systems are ever increasing in number and often assume similar nomenclatures and acronyms, thereby exacerbating the challenges of understanding their peculiar functions, definitions and differences. The current societal demand to improve sustainability performance through collaboration as well as whole-system and through-life thinking is driving the need to integrate independent systems associated with different aspects and scales of the built environment to deliver smart solutions and services that improve the well-being of citizens. The contemporary object-oriented digitization of real-world elements appears to provide a leeway for amalgamating the modelling systems of various domains in the built environment which we termed as built environment information modelling (BeIM). These domains include architecture, engineering, construction as well as urban planning and design. Applications such as building information modelling, geographic information systems and 3D city modelling systems are now being integrated for city modelling purposes. The various works directed at integrating these systems are examined, revealing that current research efforts on integration fall into three categories: (1) data/file conversion systems, (2) semantic mapping systems and (3) the hybrid of both. The review outcome suggests that good knowledge of these domains and how their respective systems operate is vital to pursuing holistic systems integration in the built environment.


Introduction: Bleeding from a ruptured or infected arteriovenous (AV) access is a life-threatening situation leading to increased mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. All these patients need emergent and expeditious management. The procedures described for bleeding complications in AV access are associated with high morbidity and mortality. In some cases, there is a need for a major surgery or bypass. Aim: The aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of brachial artery ligation (BAL) in bleeding AV access. Materials and Methods: This was a single-center retrospective analysis of 106 patients who underwent BAL for bleeding AV access (AV graft [AVG]/brachiocephalic [BC] AV fistula [AVF]) from January 2007 to 2017. Results: During this study period, BAL was done in a total of 106 patients, out of which 51 patients underwent AVG explantation with BA ligation and 55 with ligation in BC fistulas. There were 73 males and 33 females with a mean age of 45 years (11–90). The primary etiology was hypertension (66%), diabetes (23.58%), and other causes (10.3%). Twenty patients presented with acute bleeding due to graft erosion and 31 patients had purulent discharge from puncture site with sepsis. Infection was involving anastomosis in all patients. Out of 55 patients who underwent AVF, 5 patients had infection at puncture site 3–4 cm near the anastomosis. Fifty patients had infected pseudoaneurysms at the anastomotic site that developed within 1 week of the creation of fistula. All patients were evaluated and assessed for signs of ischemia in the postoperative period till the time of discharge. Conclusion: BAL is a safe alternative in patients with access site bleeding as it reduces not only the operative time but also the morbidity and mortality associated with CKD patients. Ligation of the brachial artery at the elbow can be used as a primary approach in complicated vascular access.


Abstract Standard gamble (SG) typically yields higher health state valuations than time trade‐off (TTO), which may be caused by biases affecting both methods. It has been suggested that TTO yields more accurate health state valuations, because TTO is subject to both upward and downward biases that may cancel out. Verifying this claim, however, would require a golden standard to test validity against. In this study, we attempted to provide a first direct test of the validity of health state valuation. A total of 119 students completed five TTO and SG tasks. Afterwards, their health state valuations elicited with TTO and SG were shown to them in an interactive graph. Respondents were asked to indicate which of the methods represented their valuation of a health state best. They could also adjust their valuation. Overall, we found that respondents indicated that TTO valuations better reflected health state valuations, a result that was more pronounced for more severe health states. When offered the opportunity, on average, respondents adjusted health state valuations downwards. These findings may have implications for future work on (bias correction in) health state valuations.


The objective of this research was to evaluate the genetic diversity among twelve apple rootstocks by using 14 simple sequence repeat primer pairs. Generally, 44 alleles were scored at SSR loci. The number of alleles (na) per locus ranged from two to five alleles with an average of 3.14. The maximum effective number of alleles (ne), expected heterozygosity (He), and observed heterozygosity (Hobs) were 2.3, 0.56 and 0.36, respectively. Results showed that the studied genotypes were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in most of studied loci. The polymorphism information content (PIC) varied from 0.5 to 0.86 which confirmed the effectiveness of SSR markers in determination of molecular polymorphism and characterization of the rootstocks genotypes. Cluster analysis using UPGMA algorithm on the basis of Jaccard's similarity coefficient classified the studied genotypes into three distinct groups. In this study, three Iranian local rootstocks were located in separate groups.


BACKGROUND
This study investigated the relationships between psychopathy and impulsive and risky decision making, by utilizing intertemporal and probabilistic choices for both gain and loss, in addition to the Iowa gambling task.

METHODS
The Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised - a 154-item measure that assesses psychopathic traits by self-report - was used with a 4-point response scale to assess 113 undergraduate students from three Japanese universities. Participants' performance on the Iowa Gambling Task and four behavioral neuroeconomic tasks of discounting - delayed gain, delayed loss, uncertain gain, and uncertain loss - were estimated.

RESULTS
Risky decisions in probability discounting of gain and loss were associated with psychopathy. Psychopathic traits had no relationship with performance on the Iowa Gambling and were not significantly related to delay discounting.

CONCLUSIONS
Psychopathy is predicted by risky decision in probability discounting of gain and loss, but not strongly associated with future myopia. Implications of the present findings for neuroeconomics and neurolaw are discussed.


The role of cities and local government generally has gone unexamined by legal scholars of the constitutional common market. Yet in a highly urbanized country in which cities and large metropolitan areas dominate the national economy, much of the cross-border movement of persons, goods, and capital inside the United States is more accurately characterized as inter-municipal rather than inter-state. This Article examines the constitutional rules that govern this cross-border movement from the perspective of the city. The Article argues that judges and commentators have misapprehended the jurisprudence of the American common market because they have been looking at its operation on the wrong scale. Examining how the doctrine operates at the municipal level exposes the gaps and contradictions in the jurisprudence, reveals connections between legal doctrines that heretofore had not been considered part of the free trade regime, and highlights the Supreme Court's implicit (and under-theorized) urban economic policy. The reframing of the economic and jurisprudential place of cities in the free trade constitution sheds light on a number of important recent cases, in particular Kelo v. New London, in which the Court upheld a city's use of eminent domain for economic development purposes under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause. The Article's city-centric approach also intervenes in a number of judicial and scholarly debates, including the appropriate reach and application of the "dormant" commerce clause, the appropriate judicial oversight of local land use regulations under the Takings Clause, and the role of courts in policing and shaping local economic development efforts more generally.


Telehaptics is the science of transmitting touch-related sensations over computer networks. With respect to robot teleoperation, telehaptics emphasizes more on reliably reproducing physical properties of a remote environment, as mediated over a network through the use of appropriate haptic interfacing technologies. One of the main factors that can cause degradation of the quality of a telehaptic system is the presence of time delays. Inspired by concepts such as impedance-reflection and model-mediated telemanipulation, an adaptive impedance control scheme has been proposed aiming to mitigate some of the problems caused by network delays in a telehaptic system. This paper presents an experimental analysis, which has been conducted to assess the actual performance of the proposed telehaptic scheme in terms of both control and human perception objectives. Firstly, a set of comparative numerical experiments is presented aiming to analyze stability and characterize transparency of the telehaptic system under large time delays. The results show the superior performance of the proposed adaptive impedance scheme as compared to direct force-reflecting teleoperation. Then, a series of psychophysical experiments is described, to evaluate the performance of the telehaptic system with respect to human perception of remote (delayed) stiffness. An analysis of the obtained results shows that the proposed adaptive scheme significantly improves telehaptic perception of linear stiffness in the presence of network delays, maintaining perceptual thresholds close to the ones obtained in the case of direct, nondelayed stimuli. A comparative experimental evaluation of psychometric transparency confirms the superior robustness with regard to time delay of the adaptive impedance telehaptic scheme as compared to state-of-the-art position/force transparentizing methods.


During the period 1929-34 a campaign forcing the repatriation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans was carried out in the U.S. by states and local authorities. The claim of politicians at the time was that repatriations would reduce local unemployment and give jobs to Americans, alleviating the local effects of the Great Depression. This paper uses this episode to examine the consequences of Mexican repatriations on labor market outcomes of natives. Analyzing 893 cities using full count decennial Census data in the period 1930-40, we find that repatriation of Mexicans was associated with small decreases in native employment and increases in native unemployment. These results are robust to the inclusion of many controls. We then apply an instrumental variable strategy based on the differential size of Mexican communities in 1930, as well as a matching method, to estimate a causal "average treatment effect." Confirming the OLS regressions, the causal estimates do not support the claim that repatriations had any expansionary effects on native employment, but suggest instead that they had no effect on, or possibly depressed, their employment and wages.


Survey data were collected from pre-service teachers studying at a large regional Australian university. These data were examined with the purpose of determining whether pre-service teachers' views (and concerns) about inclusion and their confidence to teach in inclusive classrooms had changed as a result of studying an inclusive education subject and undertaking a practicum linked to that subject. The results of an analysis based on mean values indicated that the various concerns, namely, resources, acceptance, workplace, and academic standards, did not change markedly as a consequence of the subject and practicum experiences. This analysis also showed a hierarchy of concerns running from resources through to standards. Moreover, the results of a MANCOVA, with self-efficacy serving as the covariate and using the concerns measures as the dependent variables and pre/posttest condition as the independent variable, revealed no significant difference between the various measures on the condition. The implications of the results for teacher education programs are considered.


In an earlier interview (April 2016), Ubiquity spoke with John Gustafson about the unum, a new format for floating point numbers. The unique property of unums is that they always know how many digits of accuracy they have. Now Gustafson has come up with yet another format that, like the unum 1.0, always knows how accurate it is. But it also allows an almost arbitrary mapping of bit patterns to the reals. In doing so, it paves the way for custom number systems that squeeze the maximum accuracy out of a given number of bits. This new format could have prime applications in deep learning, big data, and exascale computing.


We report on the detailed and systematic study of field line twist and length distributions within magnetic flux ropes embedded in interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). The Grad‐Shafranov reconstruction method is utilized together with a constant‐twist nonlinear force‐free (Gold‐Hoyle) flux rope model to reveal the close relation between the field line twist and length in cylindrical flux ropes, based on in situ Wind spacecraft measurements. We show that the field line twist distributions within interplanetary flux ropes are inconsistent with the Lundquist model. In particular, we utilize the unique measurements of magnetic field line lengths within selected ICME events as provided by Kahler et al. ( ) based on energetic electron burst observations at 1 AU and the associated type III radio emissions detected by the Wind spacecraft. These direct measurements are compared with our model calculations to help assess the flux rope interpretation of the embedded magnetic structures. By using the different flux rope models, we show that the in situ direct measurements of field line lengths are consistent with a flux rope structure with spiral field lines of constant and low twist, largely different from that of the Lundquist model, especially for relatively large‐scale flux ropes.


The specific surface area (SSA) of snow can be used as an objective measurement of grain size and is therefore a central variable to describe snow physical properties such as albedo. Snow SSA can now be easily measured in the field using optical methods based on infrared reflectance. However, existing optical methods have only been validated for dry snow. Here we test the possibility to use the DUFISSS instrument, based on the measurement of the 1310 nm reflectance of snow with an integrating sphere, to measure the SSA of wet snow. We perform cold room experiments where we measure the SSA of a wet snow sample, freeze it and measure it again, to quantify the difference in reflectance between frozen and wet snow. We study snow samples in the SSA range 12–37 m 2 kg −1 and in the mass liquid water content (LWC) range 5–32%. We conclude that the SSA of wet snow can be obtained from the measurement of its 1310 nm reflectance using three simple steps. In most cases, the SSA thus obtained is less than 10 {%} different from the value that would have been obtained if the sample had been considered dry, so that the three simple steps constitute a minor correction. We also run two optical models to interpret the results, but no model reproduces correctly the water–ice distribution in wet snow, so that their predictions of wet snow reflectance are imperfect. The correction on the determination of wet snow SSA using the DUFISSS instrument gives an overall uncertainty better than 11%, even if the LWC is unknown. If SSA is expressed as a surface to volume ratio (e.g., in mm −1 ), the uncertainty is then 13% because of additional uncertainties in the determination of the volume of ice and water when the LWC is unknown.


New forms of communication and greater accessibility of Islamic texts on-line allow Muslims to shape their own religiosity, to become less dependent on established sources of authority, and thereby to become more aware of their own cultural diversity as a community. New practices of transnational Islam, and the growth of new concepts of Muslim identities currently emerging in the on-line community, are relatively free from immediate constraints. This article provides the result of a sociological analysis of three Internet sites in Sydney which deliver on-line fatwas. Even if cyberspace has allowed the Muslim world to be de-territorialised and provides a way for people to distance themselves from traditional communities if they wish, this research points out a variety of approaches, including one case which is aiming at re-localising an Australian Muslim system of values. This case highlights ways in which first generation Muslims are re-territorialising Shari'a in a specific western country.


This thesis examines the development of policy towards the creative industries in the UK in the period 1997-2008. It argues that this can be seen in the light of New Labour's understanding of the knowledge economy, an understanding that influenced its development of education and social policy, as well as economic policy. It thus provides a unique insight into New Labour politics in general. The thesis asserts that New Labour's account of the knowledge economy was a deterministic one, which took its cue from what it believed to be long-term social and economic trends. In this, it is consistent with other critiques of New Labour politics, which argue that it can be seen as a development of prevailing neoliberal ideas (Hay 1999; Thompson 2002; Finlayson 2003; Clarke 2004); but in this case, I argue, it is a variety of neoliberalism that is heavily influenced by institutionalism (Bevir 2005). The importance of institutionalist ideas can be seen in the emphasis in creative industries policy on networks, characterised by social and ethical norms, as opposed to a neoliberal focus purely on marketisation. New Labour produced an essentially benign account of the knowledge economy; the creative industries were capable of producing 'good work', which offered opportunities for highly skilled labour. In addition, because of its links to popular culture, they could offer inclusion through work, for those deemed socially excluded. I argue that this account continued throughout the period under examination, despite mounting evidence, discussed in several of the publications below, that the creative industries produce labour markets that are highly unequal in terms of race and class. It is in attitudes to the labour market that the failures of New Labour's creative industries policy can be seen most sharply. The roots of that failure, and what it tells us about New Labour's creative industries policy, is the subject of the thesis.


The authors explain a developed concept for research-oriented education in optics and photonics. It is presented which goals are to be achieved, which strategies have been developed and how these can be implemented in a blended learning scenario. The goal of our education is the best possible qualification of the students on the basis of a strong scientific and research-oriented education, which also includes the acquisition of important interdisciplinary competences. All phases of a research process are to be mapped in the learning process and offer students an insight into current research topics in optics and photonics.


Kefir is a refreshing fermented milk with a slightly acidic taste obtained by incubating milk with kefir grains (Saloff-Coste, 1996). Kefir grains are a complex mixture of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in a strong and specific association. They are characterized by an irregular form, a folded and uneven surface and a white or slightly yellow colour. They are tough and resilient and have a characteristic acid taste (Bottazzi et al. 1994). The basic microflora contains lactococci, homofermentative and heterofermentative lactobacilli, yeasts and acetic acid bacteria (Bottazzi et al. 1994; Rea et al. 1996). Among the yeasts isolated from grains and identified are Candida kefir, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Sac. delbrueckii, Cand. holmii, Sac. unisporus and Sac. lipolytica (Angulo et al. 1993; Marshall, 1993; Garrote et al. 1997). Lactobacillus brevis, Lb. viridescens, Lb. casei, Lb. kefir, Lb. kefiranofaciens, Lb. kefirgranum, Lb. parakefir, Leuconostoc spp. and Lactococcus lactis are among the lactic acid bacteria present in the grains (Marshall et al. 1984; Toba et al. 1991; Takizawa et al. 1994; Garrote et al. 1997). The mixed microflora of yeasts and bacteria is held together by a matrix containing (g/kg dry weight) protein 340, polysaccharide 470 (Ottogalli et al. 1973). The study of kefir grains in milk has been centred on the characteristics of the polysaccharide produced by lactobacilli within the grain (Yokoi et al. 1991). This polysaccharide, named kefiran, is composed of glucose and galactose (Yokoi et al. 1991). It has been suggested that proteins are incorporated from the growth media (Bassette & Acosta 1988), but no details about structure and composition are available. Soyabeans are an important component of the diet in many countries and have been used to obtain fermented products such as sogurt (Mann, 1991). Special attention has been given to the growth of, and sugar utilization by, Bifidobacterium spp., Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus in soya milk (Buono et al. 1990; Murti et al. 1993; Ankenman Granata & Morr, 1996). To our knowledge, there have been no attempts to ferment soya milk with kefir grains. The aim of this study was to investigate the growth of kefir grains in soya milk and the composition of these grains, focusing on the matrix proteins.


Lake Erie is the most productive of the North American Great Lakes and experiences annual periods of hypolimnetic hypoxia with unknown consequences for the microbial food web. We established the abundances and mortality rates of microbes in Lake Erie during thermal stratification and determined how they varied with changes in bottom-water dissolved oxygen concentrations. The microbial plankton community (heterotrophic bacteria, Cyanobacteria, eukaryotic phytoplankton, nanozooplankton, microzooplankton) was quantified in surface and bottom waters along with mea- surements of herbivory and bacterivory rates on eukaryotic and prokaryotic picoplankton and rates of viral lysis of bacteria. High rates of grazing mortality of prokaryotic picoplankton (1.4 ± 0.6 d -1 ) and eukaryotic algae (0.66 ± 0.27 d -1 ) and significant correlations between microzooplankton abundances and all picoplankton populations quantified demonstrated the strong impacts of grazing on Lake Erie picoplanktonic communities. Microbial herbivory accounted for half of total phytoplankton mortality per day. Bacterivory and viral lysis turned over 85% of the heterotrophic bacterial community each day. During the onset of hypolimnetic hypoxia, abundances of ciliates and rotifers decreased signifi- cantly and herbivory was undetectable. Concurrently, bacterivory persisted at rates equal to those found in shallower oxygenated waters, and abundances of heterotrophic nanoflagellates did not change significantly. These results suggest that, during hypoxia events in Lake Erie, herbivory by microzooplankton is disrupted, but bacterivory by heterotrophic nanoflagellates persists. Finally, rates of viral lysis of heterotrophic bacteria were higher in the hypolimnion than in surface waters, suggesting that increased viral lysis may enhance regeneration of organic matter in bottom waters during hypoxic events.


Computational fluid dynamics has a wide range of application in the study of room air distribution. The application is providing valuable guidance for those interested in such areas as comfort, productivity and sick building syndrome. This paper gives a comparative review of some of the work undertaken in the field and highlights some of the modelling assumptions noted within the literature. It is apparent from the review that the use of the CFD methodology is helping to develop our understanding of internal ventilation flows, yet it is also apparent that many investigations are currently employing modelling assumptions that will hinder the development of generic guidance from such investigations.


An alternative look at Japanese life, history and culture Your Rough Guide or Lonely Planet book can tell who where to stay or what to see, but how do you really get under the skin of Japan? In this book Ben Stevens explores the serious and the frivolous, the history and the obsessions of a fascinating nation. Taking an A-Z walk through Japanese culture, A Gaijin's Guide To Japan looks at everything from akachochin bars to chikan (the weird blokes who touch you up on trains), geisha, inari shrines, karaoke, omikuji (sacred lottery) and ending up at zen. With a fair sprinkling of celebrity mentions - from David Beckham to soap opera star Yong-sama - and handy guides to kanji and sushi this is the perfect book for the Japanophile in all of us. Ideal for readers planning a visit to Japan but also to armchair fans of Japanese culture.


This book concerns software design. Although many current discussions of scientific programming focus on scalable performance, this book focuses on scalable design. The authors analyze how the structure of a package determines its developmental complexity according to such measures as bug search times and documentation information content. The work presents arguments for why these issues impact solution cost and time more than does scalable performance. The final chapter explores the question of scalable execution and shows how scalable design relates to scalable execution. The book's focus is on program organization, which has received considerable attention in the broader software engineering community, where graphical description standards for modeling software structure and behavior have been developed by computer scientists. These discussions might be enriched by engineers who write scientific codes. This book aims to bring such scientific programmers into discussion with computer scientists. The authors do so by introducing object-oriented software design patterns in the context of scientific simulation.


Indochinese refugees were a product of the longest war in modern history -- the thirty-year Vietnam War and its metastasis into Laos and Cambodia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. An immensely complex conflict that still creates bitter controversy, the war was a tragedy of staggering proportions for Americans and Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians alike. With the exception of the American Civil War a century earlier, the Vietnam War became the most divisive event in U.S. history. If the war divided America, it devastated Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The war also produced a massive refugee population for whom the United States assumed a historic responsibility. After the end of the war in 1975, over two million refugees fled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The 1975 refugee exodus was only the start of an extraordinary emigration which took many unexpected turns and lasted for years. By the early 1990s over one million had been resettled in the U.S., 750,000 in other Western countries (principally Canada, Australia and France), and many others still languished in refugee camps from the Thai-Cambodian border to Hong Kong. But an era was coming to a close, while a new phase of the Indochinese diaspora was opening. The end of the Cold War in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, U.N.-supervised elections in Cambodia in 1993, and the end of the U.S. trade embargo against Vietnam in 1994 were but the most remarkable events of a compressed period of rapid and fundamental change in international relations that transformed the nature of refugee resettlement in the United States. For a sizable and rapidly growing generation of young Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian Americans now rooted in communities throughout the United States and speaking accentless English, a new era was dawning in which the legacy of war was increasingly receding in practical importance. Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian Americans now form a sizable and diverse component of the Asian-origin population in the United States. If the studies reviewed here are any indication, the future of the Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Hmong and ethnic Chinese generations now coming of age in the United States will likely be as diverse as their past, and will be reached by multiple paths. In their diversity they are writing yet another chapter in the history of the American population and society, and in the process they are becoming, quintessentially, Americans.


On December 13, 1981, the Polish military under the leadership of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law, effectively ending sixteen months of popular protest and bargaining between the Polish United Workers Party (PUWP) and the independent trade union Solidarity. In the West, and particularly in the United States, martial law was interpreted as the Polish military declaring war on its own people on the orders of the Soviet Union. It was assumed and repeatedly asserted that the military was loyal to the Communist Party and to the Soviet high command, that they were little more than communists in uniform.  Such an assertion, however, leaves one hard pressed to explain the acquiescence of the militaries across Eastern Europe to the changes of 1989 and the ability of those militaries to adapt to noncommunist regimes to the point of being willing and even eager to join NATO.


Annexin A1 (AnxA1) is a key player in resolution of inflammation and a mediator of glucocorticoid actions. In atherosclerotic tissue, increased expression of AnxA1 has been associated with protective plaque-stabilizing effects. Here, we investigated the expression of AnxA1 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Blood was collected from 57 patients with stable CAD (SCAD) and 41 healthy controls. We also included a minor group (n = 10) with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). AnxA1 mRNA was measured in PBMCs. Expression of AnxA1 protein (total and surface-bound) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) were detected in PBMC subsets by flow cytometry. Also, salivary cortisol, interleukin(IL)-6 and IL-10 in plasma, and LPS-induced cytokine secretion from PBMCs, with or without dexamethasone, were assessed. AnxA1 mRNA was found to be slightly increased in PBMCs from SCAD patients compared with controls. However, protein expression of AnxA1 or GRs in PBMC subsets did not differ between SCAD patients and controls, despite SCAD patients showing a more proinflammatory cytokine profile ex vivo. Only surface expression of AnxA1 on monocytes correlated with dexamethasone-mediated suppression of cytokines. In ACS patients, a marked activation of AnxA1 was seen involving both gene expression and translocation of protein to cell surface probably reflecting a rapid glucocorticoid action modulating the acute inflammatory response in ACS. To conclude, surface expression of AnxA1 on monocytes may reflect the degree of glucocorticoid sensitivity. Speculatively, "normal" surface expression of AnxA1 indicates that anti-inflammatory capacity is impaired in SCAD patients.


Weber's claim that Buddhism is an otherworldly religion is only partially true. Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supramundane interests to dwell on a variety of politically-related matters. The significance of Asoka Maurya as a paradigm for later traditions of Buddhist kingship is also well-attested. However, there has been little scholarly effort to integrate findings on the extent to which Buddhism interacted with the political order in the classical and modern states of Theravada Asia into a wider, comparative study. This volume brings together the brightest minds in the study of Buddhism in Southeast Asia. Their contributions create a more coherent account of the relations between Buddhism and political order in the late pre-modern and modern period by questioning the contested relationship between monastic and secular power. In doing so, they expand the very nature of what is known as the 'Theravada'. Buddhism, Power and Political Order offers new insights for scholars of Buddhism, and it will stimulate new debates.


BACKGROUND
Nicotine preloading means using nicotine replacement therapy prior to a quit date while smoking normally. The aim is to reduce the drive to smoke, thereby reducing cravings for smoking after quit day, which are the main cause of early relapse. A prior systematic review showed inconclusive and heterogeneous evidence that preloading was effective and little evidence of the mechanism of action, with no cost-effectiveness data.

OBJECTIVES
To assess (1) the effectiveness, safety and tolerability of nicotine preloading in a routine NHS setting relative to usual care, (2) the mechanisms of the action of preloading and (3) the cost-effectiveness of preloading.

DESIGN
Open-label randomised controlled trial with examination of mediation and a cost-effectiveness analysis.

SETTING
NHS smoking cessation clinics.

PARTICIPANTS
People seeking help to stop smoking.

INTERVENTIONS
Nicotine preloading comprised wearing a 21 mg/24 hour nicotine patch for 4 weeks prior to quit date. In addition, minimal behavioural support was provided to explain the intervention rationale and to support adherence. In the comparator group, participants received equivalent behavioural support. Randomisation was stratified by centre and concealed from investigators.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome was 6-month prolonged abstinence assessed using the Russell Standard. The secondary outcomes were 4-week and 12-month abstinence. Adverse events (AEs) were assessed from baseline to 1 week after quit day. In a planned analysis, we adjusted for the use of varenicline (Champix®; Pfizer Inc., New York, NY, USA) as post-cessation medication. Cost-effectiveness analysis took a health-service perspective. The within-trial analysis assessed health-service costs during the 13 months of trial enrolment relative to the previous 6 months comparing trial arms. The base case was based on multiple imputation for missing cost data. We modelled long-term health outcomes of smoking-related diseases using the European-study on Quantifying Utility of Investment in Protection from Tobacco (EQUIPT) model.

RESULTS
In total, 1792 people were eligible and were enrolled in the study, with 893 randomised to the control group and 899 randomised to the intervention group. In the intervention group, 49 (5.5%) people discontinued preloading prematurely and most others used it daily. The primary outcome, biochemically validated 6-month abstinence, was achieved by 157 (17.5%) people in the intervention group and 129 (14.4%) people in the control group, a difference of 3.02 percentage points [95% confidence interval (CI) -0.37 to 6.41 percentage points; odds ratio (OR) 1.25, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.62; p = 0.081]. Adjusted for use of post-quit day varenicline, the OR was 1.34 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.73; p = 0.028). Secondary abstinence outcomes were similar. The OR for the occurrence of serious AEs was 1.12 (95% CI 0.42 to 3.03). Moderate-severity nausea occurred in an additional 4% of the preloading group compared with the control group. There was evidence that reduced urges to smoke and reduced smoke inhalation mediated the effect of preloading on abstinence. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio at the 6-month follow-up for preloading relative to control was £710 (95% CI -£13,674 to £23,205), but preloading was dominant at 12 months and in the long term, with an 80% probability that it is cost saving.

LIMITATIONS
The open-label design could partially account for the mediation results. Outcome assessment could not be blinded but was biochemically verified.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of nicotine-patch preloading for 4 weeks prior to attempting to stop smoking can increase the proportion of people who stop successfully, but its benefit is undermined because it reduces the use of varenicline after preloading. If this latter effect could be overcome, then nicotine preloading appears to improve health and reduce health-service costs in the long term. Future work should determine how to ensure that people using nicotine preloading opt to use varenicline as cessation medication.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN33031001.

FUNDING
This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 22, No. 41. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed employing the polarized protein-specific charge (PPC) to explore the origin of the cooperativity in streptavidin-biotin systems (wild type, two single mutations and one double-mutation). The results of the experiment found that the existence of cooperativity is mainly the result of the entropic effect. In this study, the entropic contribution to the binding free energy was calculated using the recently developed interaction entropy (IE) method, and computational results are in excellent agreement with the experimental observations and are further verified by the calculation of the thermodynamic integration. Comparison of different force fields in terms of predicted binding strength ordering, cooperativity of energy and the stability of hydrogen bonding suggests that the PPC force field combined IE method is a suitable choice. In addition, the IE method enables us to obtain the residue-specific entropic contributions to the streptavidin-biotin binding affinity and identify ten hot-spot residues providing the dominant contribution to the cooperative binding. Importantly, the overall cooperativity obtained from the ten residues also comes mainly from the entropic effect in our study. The calculation of the potential of mean force shows that the unbinding of streptavidin-biotin is a multi-step process, and each step corresponds to the formation and rupture of the hydrogen bond network. And S45A mutation may increase the rigidity of the linker region, making the flap region relatively difficult to open. The present study provides significant molecular insight into the binding cooperativity of the streptavidin-biotin complex.


Most buildings are intended to have a long service life, usually over 50 or even 100 years. It is, thus, important to analyse all phases of their life, considering both the influence on environment and expenses. In order to do this precisely the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Life Cycle Costs (LCC) methods are used. There are many commonly used LCA and LCC software tools. They make it easier to control maintenance issues, and let their users accumulate all the data for the building. This paper takes into consideration several LCA tools
and presents the main assumptions concerning the LCA and LCC methods.
The most widely used theory of the LCA analysis is an approach described in International Standards ISO 14040, that assumes four phases of the LCA: Goal and scope definition, Inventory Analysis, Impact Assessment, and Interpretation. There are a few variants of life cycle assessment, namely cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-cradle or gate-to-gate. For analysis in the building industry the most common method is cradle-to-grave approach, which best presents all the significant issues connected with buildings. The LCA of a building takes
into consideration phases such as material acquisition, creation, transportation, use, and finally the disposal of the products.
Strongly connected with the Life Cycle Assessment is the issue of the Life Cycle Costs. The LCC is used to help decision-making in all the phases of a building's life. It ought to be taken into account that construction costs are only the beginning, and in further phases there will be
other costs connected with operation and management, or special costs (e.g. taxes).
Bridge Management Systems are based on the LCA and LCC methods. They have been
developed so as to help manage resources effectively and to maintain bridges in satisfactory condition. Bridge Management Systems assess the present condition of the bridge and they also intend to predict the future performance of a bridge.


Understanding the complementary roles of surface roughness and energy in natural super-non-wetting surfaces has greatly promoted the development of biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces that repel water at a much greater rate than oils. These surfaces that are highly repellent to low-surface-tension oils and organic liquids, termed superoleophobic surfaces, are poorly understood. Inspired by springtails (collembolan), a third factor, re-entrant surface curvature, has been introduced to the design and fabrication system of superoleophobic surfaces in conjunction with two other factors of surface chemical composition and roughness. Over the past decade, superoleophobic surfaces have attracted tremendous attention with respect to their design, fabrication and applications due to their extraordinary properties. This review focuses on these aspects and thus summarizes recent research progress in superoleophobic surfaces. Starting from the origin, features of natural oil-resistant creatures have been introduced, and fundamental theories for surface design have been discussed. Calculations suggest that creation of these surfaces requires specific re-entrant structures and fluoride modifiers. Based on this principle, various fabrication methods, from top-down to bottom-up approaches, have been used, and some derivative structures with desirable properties have been produced. A precise and detailed classification has been provided in this review that includes representative methods and structures as well as functions (i.e., transparence and self-healing). Significantly, superoleophobic materials have many valuable applications, including oil pollution resistance, oil transportation, and synthesis of mesoporous supraparticles. However, their complicated manufacturing techniques, poor physical–chemical properties and environmentally unfriendly surface chemicals jointly impede their real-life applications. Therefore, it is highly necessary to optimize the craft and performance of theses surfaces for industrial operation and practical applications. To this end, some challenges and perspectives will be provided regarding the future research and development of superoleophobic surfaces.


Although the mouse is the most commonly used transgenic species, little is known regarding cardiovascular and fluid homeostasis in this animal. Therefore, the reference microsphere and dilution techniques were adapted for the measurement of cardiac output (CO), regional blood flows, and intravascular fluid volumes in the conscious mouse. Previously acclimatized C3H mice were studied 4-5 h after surgery and recovery from anesthesia. Approximately 40,000 85Sr-labeled microspheres were injected into the left ventricle while a reference sample was withdrawn at one of two rates from the femoral artery. 51Cr and 125I were used for the determination of blood volume (BV), plasma volume (PV), and Fcells ratio (whole body hematocrit/large vessel hematocrit). CO and BV in the conscious mouse were 16 +/- 1.4 ml/min and 2.3 +/- 0.1 ml, respectively. Anesthesia lowered heart rate, blood pressure, PV, and altered the distribution of CO. Two successive injections of 15,000-20,000 microspheres were tolerated in the mouse without an increase in total peripheral resistance. The results indicate that the microsphere and indicator dilution techniques can be applied to study cardiovascular and fluid homeostasis in the mouse.


We describe a cognitive vision system for a mobile robot. This system works in a manner similar to the human vision system, using saccadic, vergence and pursuit movements to extract information from visual input. At each fixation, the system builds a 3D model of a small region, combining information about distance, shape, texture and motion. These 3D models are embedded within an overall 3D model of the robot's environment. This approach turns the computer vision problem into a search problem, with the goal of constructing a physically realistic model of the entire environment. At each step, the vision system selects a point in the visual input to focus on. The distance, shape, texture and motion information are computed in a small region and used to build a mesh in a 3D virtual world. Background knowledge is used to extend this structure as appropriate, e.g. if a patch of wall is seen, it is hypothesized to be part of a large wall and the entire wall is created in the virtual world, or if part of an object is recognized, the whole object's mesh is retrieved from the library of objects and placed into the virtual world. The difference between the input from the real camera and from the virtual camera is compared using local Gaussians, creating an error mask that indicates the main differences between them. This is then used to select the next points to focus on. This approach permits us to use very expensive algorithms on small localities, thus generating very accurate models. It also is task-oriented, permitting the robot to use its knowledge about its task and goals to decide which parts of the environment need to be examined. The software components of this architecture include PhysX for the 3D virtual world, OpenCV and the Point Cloud Library for visual processing, and the Soar cognitive architecture, which controls the perceptual processing and robot planning. The hardware is a custom-built pan-tilt stereo color camera. We describe experiments using both static and moving objects.


Research suggests that a belief in the malleable nature of intelligence allows students to thrive during challenging periods of their lives. In contrast, the belief that intelligence is a fixed attribute leads people to respond to mistakes, confusion, and challenges with negative affect, ineffective strategies, and even cheating and lower performance. This research presents a troubling picture for law schools because law schools likely reinforce a fixed mindset. Because things like confusion and high-stakes challenges trigger maladaptive responses, including decreased performance, in fixed mindset students, this research also presents a troubling picture for graduates sitting for the Bar exam and beginning their law practices. Although the scientific literature contains numerous studies that have successfully induced short-term changes in mindset, little information exists on how to induce long-term, cognitively-accessible changes in mindset. But, studies that incorporate into their methodology research on changing deeply held beliefs suggest that law schools can not only teach their students to adopt a growth mindset in the short-term, they can teach an enduring shift to the growth mindset. Part I of this article summarizes the literature on mindsets as it relates to law students and law schools. Part II delves into the research on changing deeply held beliefs. Part III concludes that the steps for inducing a growth mindset in law students proposed by existing legal scholarship will likely induce a shift to the growth mindset that is not sufficiently deeply ingrained to persist over time and control at critical moments. The article then discusses specific methods to foster an enduring, cognitively available shift to the growth mindset. These methods include a series of lessons designed primarily for orientation or a first-year seminar or legal writing class, and an approach to feedback designed to trigger the adaptive responses associated with the growth mindset, which can be used in small and large law school classes and clinical settings.


Gender equity and the empowerment of women is a significant international issue. Successful adult education programs are vital to enhance women's situation. Lessons learned from a personal development program provided for thousands of women are analysed. The program is conducted by community service providers in Australia and internationally, with an Australian evaluation reported here. The three phase evaluation included 500 participants, with pre- and post-tests for a sample of 161, structured phone interviews with 53 and third-party observations from six organisations. The value includes multiple measurements over time, in a thorough evaluation with mixed methods, along with policy and practice implications. Key adult learning issues canvassed include the role of empowerment, adult education and transformative learning. Key findings included that women's self-esteem, emotional intelligence, purpose and mobilisation increased, with the latter evident in vocational outcomes and social connection. Some women expressed interest in facilitating the program for other groups. As one facilitator observed 'the program really empowers women to tap into their own gifts and talents'. Lessons learned encompassed improvements to the program including sustainable social networks, since for these women purpose in life and mobilisation were intertwined with social connection and helping other women.


The papers brought together in this issue of the Journal of African Elections were presented at EISA's Eighth Symposium, held in Johannesburg in September 2013. At this event academic specialists joined politicians and electoral officials from a wide range of settings within and outside Africa to reflect on the experiences of forming political party alliances and coalitions and governing through them. Their contributions to the symposium addressed five key questions: How do we define electoral alliances or coalitions? Which circumstances favour their formation? Why do parties form coalitions? What have been their effects? And, finally, which are the key issues that future researchers should address? This concluding essay brings together the main insights that were generated by the presentations and the discussions they prompted.


The characteristics of three-dimensional (3D) multilayer coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines incorporating a 90° vertical interconnection structure have been investigated using a full wave analysis. Possible coupling effects between CPW lines in different layers have been taken into account, with results showing that such effects could be very strong if the adjacent CPW lines are too close. As the distance between the adjacent lines increases, the coupling effects become weak; nevertheless it is not completely negligible for many practical applications. Equivalent circuits including such weak coupling effects which comprises of mixed lumped components and transmission lines have been developed. A good agreement with the full wave analysed results over ku, k and ka bands has been achieved. In addition to fundamental propagation mode, higher order mode effects have also been examined. The simulation results indicate that the second or third order modes might become dominant propagation mode at higher frequency depending upon the CPW structure and its layer distance.


I. INTRODUCTION On August 14, 2003, the East Coast of the United States and parts of Canada experienced one of the largest blackouts in history. (1) The blackout originated in a small area in Ohio, yet ultimately affected over fifty million people in eight states and one Canadian province. (2) In the end, the total cost estimates were between four billion and ten billion dollars. (3) This recent example illustrates the level of national dependency and instability that our electricity system allows. This current state of our electricity grid has resulted from a combination of government regulatory actions and natural market forces. (4) Naturally, then, the solution must be likewise multi-faceted. (5) Distributed Generation (6) offers one micro solution to this macro problem by encouraging more localized generation through smaller, closed systems. This Comment will argue that the federal government, through policy incentives and law, should be promoting distributed generation to supplement and stabilize our current grid and to allow more widespread use of renewable resources. This Comment will discuss the feasibility of, and problems with, distributed generation as a solution to the energy problems currently faced by the United States, focusing on federal initiatives that should be undertaken. Part II briefly discusses the history of electricity generation in the United States, explaining the background on how the current landscape developed. Part III explores the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which is the federal statute that sets forth the federal government's energy policy. (7) Specifically, Part III discusses renewable energy and distributed generation policy on the federal level and how the slack left in federal policy falls on the states to make up. Part IV discusses the problems with our current system and suggests why it is not a sustainable long-term solution to meet future electricity needs. This part includes a discussion of externalities that are unaccounted for in traditional electricity generation, and the widely underestimated problem of grid unreliability. Part V introduces distributed generation as one potential solution to these current problems. Also discussed in this part is distributed generation as a vehicle for introducing renewable energy sources into the grid. Part VI offers some ideas for realistically integrating distributed generation into our grid on a large-scale basis including: load response programs or incentives, federal encouragement of local installed capacity markets, federal net metering standards, and federal municipality incentives and tax credits to offset costs. Lastly, Part VII looks at New York's approach to distributed generation and how it differs in scope and level of commitment from the federal approach. Overall, the federal response and action toward distributed power generation has been a failure, forcing the states to intervene independently. II. HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY MARKET DEREGULATION The late 1800s marked the electrification of the United States. With it, small privately owned generators began serving customer's electric power needs at cost-based prices. (8) However, many factors pushed the nation to restructure this localized system into a privately-owned, centralized system. (9) As a result, during the early 1900s, many of the small generation resources were purchased by larger privately-owned holding companies, (10) and by 1930, about sixteen companies owned seventy-five percent of the generators in the United States. (11) In response to the changing industry, Congress enacted the Public Utility Holding Company Act, (12) which initiated the regulation of such holding companies. (13) Furthermore, Congress created the Federal Power Commission in 1935, which eventually became the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1977.14 Also at this time, the federal government began to subsidize target development of power systems through legislation such as the Rural Electrification Act, (15) where loans and assistance were given to electricity providers in rural areas. …


We present a first assessment of airborne laser and radar altimeter data over snow-covered sea ice, gathered during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Operation IceBridge Mission. We describe a new technique designed to process radar echograms from the University of Kansas snow radar to estimate snow depth. We combine IceBridge laser altimetry with radar-derived snow depths to determine sea ice thickness. Results are validated through comparison with direct measurements of snow and ice thickness collected in situ at the Danish GreenArc 2009 sea ice camp located on fast ice north of Greenland. The IceBridge instrument suite provides accurate measurements of snow and ice thickness, particularly over level ice. Mean IceBridge snow and ice thickness agree with in situ measurements to within ~ 0.01 and ~ 0.05 m, respectively, while modal snow and ice thickness estimates agree to within 0.02 and 0.10 m, respectively. IceBridge snow depths were correlated with in situ measurements (R = 0.7, for an averaging length of 55 m). The uncertainty associated with the derived IceBridge sea ice thickness estimates is 0.40 m. The results demonstrate the retrieval of both first-year and multiyear ice thickness from IceBridge data. The airborne data were however compromised in heavily ridged ice where snow depth, and hence ice thickness, could not be measured. Techniques developed as part of this study will be used for routine processing of IceBridge retrievals over Arctic sea ice. The limitations of the GreenArc study are discussed, and recommendations for future validation of airborne measurements via field activities are provided.


The initial step of the electrochemically controlled water oxidation reaction on transition metal oxide surfaces localizes positive charge onto surface atoms, creating one-electron intermediates. For decades, the stability of this critical reaction intermediate has been used to predict catalytic activity, by a Sabatier analysis of the first bond (O–O) the intermediates catalyse within the O2 evolution cycle. Recently, several groups directly detected these intermediates by their specific vibrations during the reaction on different material surfaces (Co3O4, Fe2O3, SrTiO3). By observing surface bound one-electron intermediates, these experiments validate a Sabatier analysis. However, the experiments strongly suggest that solvation by the electrolyte is important to their stability, which has not been a focus of calculations of their charge trapping capacity. For the time-resolved (femtosecond) experiments of the SrTiO3 surface, solvation by water rate limits the intermediates' formation time constant. Further, the kinetic stability or lifetime of the intermediates across diverse material surfaces points to the importance of re-organization within the electrolyte. In this highlight, we review these recent results, put them in the context of theoretical investigations, and discuss the implications of solvation-enabled intermediate stability for probing and understanding catalytic mechanism at surfaces.


Activities of marker enzymes for various cell components were studied with extracts of adriamycin-, aclacinomycin A- and bleomycin-resistant cells and with partially purified plasma membrane fraction of aclacinomycin A-resistant cells, in comparison with those of the parental cells. Alkaline phosphodiesterase and Na+-K+-ATPase activities were observed to alter in the drug-resistant sublines, but other enzymes showed similar activities in the resistant cells to those in the parental cells. Alkaline phosphodiesterase activities in all the resistant sublines were higher than that in the parental cells. Na+K+-ATPase activities of anthracycline-resistant sublines were lower and that in bleomycin-resistant cell line was higher than that of the parental cells. The adriamycin-resistant cells exhibited the same level of alkaline phosphodiesterase activity with the aclacinomycin A-resistant cells: Vmax was the same with, and the affinity was twice stronger than the parental cells. The bleomycin-resistant cells showed ca. 30% Vmax in comparison with the sensitive cells, and 17 fold higher affinity than the parental cells. The current results, concerning changes of membrane-associated enzymes in drug-resistant sublines of L5178Y cells, support the assumption that the resistance is due to alteration of plasma membrane transport systems.


Synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses in the brain is largely achieved by rapid changes in the number of synaptic alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) receptors. Stargazin, a membrane protein that interacts with AMPA receptors, is believed to play a pivotal role in trafficking AMPA receptors to the plasma membrane and targeting them to the synapse. However, it is unclear whether the trafficking of kainate receptors, which are structurally very similar to AMPA receptors, is also dependent on stargazin. Here we show that in both cerebellar granule cells and in Xenopus laevis oocytes expression system, surface delivery of kainate receptor is independent of stargazin. These results suggest that stargazin action is highly selective for AMPA receptors.


Oil palm plantations in Malaysia generate more than 36 million tonnes of pruned and felled oil palm fronds (OPF) and are generally considered as wastes. Fractionation of hemicelluloses from OPF using a hydrothermal process could be of interest in
obtaining useable substrate for different product applications. The aim of this study was to optimize the subcritical water extraction (SWE) conditions of oil palm fronds on the hemicelluloses yield and consequently on the production of high molecular weight hemicelluloses (HMH) and low molecular weight hemicelluloses (LMH). In order to optimize the hemicelluloses yield, the effects of temperature (180-200°C), pressure (500-700 psi) and time (5-15 min) of SWE were examined applying three level Box Behnken design and response surface methodology (RSM). The liquid
extract obtained at optimized conditions of subcritical water extraction was then precipitated with ethanol and filtered to produce high molecular weight hemicelluloses (solid precipitate). The supernatant was further separated using ultrafiltration lOkDa
molecular weight cut off membrane to obtain low molecular weight hemicelluloses. All the samples were characterized for monosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, lignin content, FTIR spectra and molecular weight determination. The statistical analysis indicated that three variables of SWE conditions had significant effects on the yields of hemicelluloses (p<0.05). The considered optimum conditions were: temperature of 185°C, pressure of 650 psi and contact time of 7 mins was 86.22%. Under these optimal conditions 16.64 mg/ml monosaccharides concentration of liquid extract, 7.86 mg/ml of HMH, 13. 72mg/ml ret en tate of LMH and 13.1 7mg/ml permeate of LMH were obtained. The monosaccharides composition of the liquid extract, HMH and LMH (retentate and permeate) contained xylose as major constituent followed by arabinose. This study demonstrated that the maximum yield of oil palm fronds hemicelluloses could be achieved by optimized the conditions of SWE through the RSM. The HMH and LMH separated via ultrafilltration membrane would be further investigated in the pharmaceutical and food applications


Deep learning models for semantic segmentation rely on expensive, large-scale, manually annotated datasets. Labelling is a tedious process that can take hours per image. Automatically annotating video sequences by propagating sparsely labeled frames through time is a more scalable alternative. In this work, we propose a novel label propagation method, termed Warp-Refine Propagation, that combines semantic cues with geometric cues to efficiently auto-label videos. Our method learns to refine geometrically-warped labels and infuse them with learned semantic priors in a semi-supervised setting by leveraging cycle-consistency across time. We quantitatively show that our method improves label-propagation by a noteworthy margin of 13.1 mIoU on the ApolloScape dataset. Furthermore, by training with the auto-labelled frames, we achieve competitive results on three semantic-segmentation benchmarks, improving the state-of-the-art by a large margin of 1.8 and 3.61 mIoU on NYU-V2 and KITTI, while matching the current best results on Cityscapes.


Currently, surgical training of physicians in Italy has limited possibilities.Surgical training can be performed on dissection of human bodies as well as in animal laboratories, but experience is very poor. We conducted a survey through an anonymous questionnaire in order to evaluate the opinions of post-graduate physicians on their need for experience training on both human and animal bodies during their medical studies. A total of 165 young Sicilian physicians responded to the survey. Only 14 of them (8.5%) declared they had specific training on a live animal, while 46 (27.9%) reported they already attended cadaver labs. Over 70% assigned the maximum score to the utility of such courses as integration of medical academic offer. Our results showed that the majority of the subjects interviewed expressed a need for training using these practices and that it might be necessary to investigate patterns to promote the opportunity for direct practice on human and animal bodies. © EuroMediterranean Biomedical Journal 2018


Three independent groups report on the diverse mechanisms by which pathogens subvert cellular signaling processes to gain entry or permit infection. Li et al. report the crystal structure of simian virus 5 V protein (SV5-V) complexed with the DDB1 subunit of the cullin Cul4-based E3 ubiquitin ligase. V proteins of paramyxoviruses hijack the DDB1-Cul4-Roc1 E3 complex and direct the ubiquitination and degradation of STATs (signal transducers and activators of transcription), which stimulate the expression of antiviral genes in response to interferon. SV5-V binds to the pocket formed by two rigidly coupled seven-bladed β propeller domains of DDB1. A third β propeller domain that is more flexible associates with the Cul4 subunit. Binding of SV5-V alters the substrate recognition by the double propeller pocket, thereby targeting STATs, which are not substrates of this ubiquitin ligase in uninfected cells. Alto et al. describe a new family of bacterial proteins that share a WxxxE motif. Individual overexpression of three members, IpgB1 and IpgB2 from Shigella and Map from E. coli, altered the actin cytoskeleton in the transfected cells. This effect appeared to result from the ability of these proteins to serve as guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) mimics, regulating the activity of downstream effectors of Rho, Cdc42, and Rac. The bacterial proteins were not GTPases; instead, they interacted directly with downstream effectors. In a screen for binding partners, IpgB2, which induced the formation of new stress fibers when transfected into multiple cell types, interacted with the Rho-binding domain (called the GBD) of CRIK, a kinase regulated by binding to Rho. In transfected cells, IpgB2 interacted with the Rho-associated kinase ROCK. Whereas inhibition of Rho did not block stress fiber formation in response to IpgB2, inhibition of ROCK did. IpgB2 also interacted with GBD of the Rho effector mDia. Transfection of IpgB1 stimulated actin-rich membrane ruffles, reminiscent of those triggered by Rac. Overexpression of Map or infection of cells with the bacteria that produces Map caused the formation of filopodia, which is also a characteristic of Cdc42 activation. Further analysis showed that phosphorylation of the Rac and Cdc42 downstream effectors Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and c-jun was increased in Map-overexpressing cells. Inhibition of Rac or Cdc42 did not block Map-induced actin reorganization. However, coexpression of a C-terminal fragment (the VCA fragment) of the Wiscott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) family, which are actin regulators through their interactions with the Arp2/3 complex, did block Map-induced actin reorganization. Map also contains a consensus PDZ binding motif and was found to interact with the ezrin binding protein 50 (EBP50, also known as NHERF). Map-induced actin reorganization was dependent on this interaction, which appeared to mediate subcellular targeting of Map. Thus, the WxxxE family of proteins appears to behave as selective GTPase mimics (see Hayward and Koronakis for commentary). Coyne and Bergelson describe how coxsackievirus uses signaling processes initiated by decay-accelerating factor (DAF) to disrupt tight junctions and gain entry into epithelial cells. Group B coxsackieviruses (CVBs) are known to attach to epithelial cells at the CAR (coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor), but this receptor is normally inaccessible because it is part of the tight junction complex. Although it was known that some CVB strains (or isolates) also interacted with DAF, a glycophospholipid-anchored protein that is exposed on the apical surface of epithelial cells, the functional consequence of that interaction was not clear. Coyne and Bergelson show that particular isolates of CVBs can bind DAF and trigger the redistribution of DAF and virus to punctate clusters, followed by movement of these clusters in a lipid raft-dependent fashion to the tight junction, where the virus colocalized with the CAR. Also required for delivery of the DAF-viral clusters to the tight junction was activation of the kinase Abl and Rac-stimulated remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. Not only does the virus need to reach the tight junction, it must also be internalized and the viral particle must be uncoated. Virus-induced DAF clustering activated Src and Fyn, and Fyn activation was required for infection. Phosphorylation of the Fyn target caveolin was required for viral internalization at caveolae. Thus, DAF serves as an initial CVB receptor that delivers virus to the tight junction where the virus binds CAR; furthermore, DAF clustering stimulates the Rac pathway to reorganize the actin cytoskeleton and the Src family pathway to stimulate internalization. T. Li, X. Chen, K. C. Garbutt, P. Zhou, N. Zheng, Structure of DDB1 in complex with a paramyxovirus V protein: Viral hijack of a propeller cluster in ubiquitin ligase. Cell 124, 105-117 (2006). [PubMed] N. M. Alto, F. Shao, C. S. Lazar, R. L. Brost, G. Chua, S. Mattoo, S. A. McMahon, P. Ghosh, T. R. Hughes, C. Boone, J. E. Dixon, Identification of a bacterial type III effector family with G protein mimicry functions. Cell 124, 133-145 (2006). [PubMed] R. D. Hayward, V. Koronakis, Pathogens reWritE Rho's rules. Cell 124, 15-17 (2006). [PubMed] C. B. Coyne, J. M. Bergelson, Virus-induced Abl and Fyn kinase signals permit coxsackievirus entry through epithelial tight junctions. Cell 124, 119-131 (2006). [PubMed]


Two long drill cores through the Transvaal Supergroup (Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic) record the vertical transition from a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramp (Schmidtsdrif Subgroup) through the Campbellrand-Malmani carbonate platform (Campbellrand Subgroup) to deeper-water banded iron formations (Asbestos Hills Subgroup). The cores were drilled in proximal (core GKF01) and distal (core GKP01) positions relative to the margin of the Campbellrand-Malmani carbonate platform. Correlation between cores is based on three types of marker horizons: sequence stratigraphic, volcanic/impact and lithologic markers. Several surfaces can be correlated to the platform succession. Gamma-ray data and bulk-rock XRF geochemistry of siliciclastic mudstones and tuff beds support the correlation. Following flooding of a shallow-water carbonate ramp (Boomplaas Formation of Schmidtsdrif Subgroup), deposition of slope carbonates with minor siliciclastic mudstones, chert and banded iron formation (BIF) occurred below storm wave base. Cycles of in situ microbialites and reworked slope carbonates are prominent in both cores. A final transgressive pulse near the top of the succession led to deposition of thick cherts and iron formations across the former platform, slope and basinal areas. Deposition on the slope was controlled by cementation potential in microbial facies and by sediment input, which in turn was linked to variations in platform margin geometry and changes in accommodation space. Results indicate preferred sediment accumulation in the proximal slope position, while chemical sediments were deposited preferentially beyond the reach of carbonate and siliciclastic detrital sediment. Similarly, sediment input and possibly early marine cementation influenced cycles of microbialites and reworked carbonates. Sequence stratigraphic analysis and siliciclastic mudstone geochemistry suggest a possible sea level fall and a change in provenance of the siliciclastic detritus at the transition from the Monteville Formation to the Nauga Formation (basal Campbellrand Subgroup). These changes were probably related to a major depositional hiatus on the platform.


A Resistor Network Model for the Determination of Electrical and Thermal Properties of Nanocomposites by Clayton Higginson Superior electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes have made them popular candidates for use as fillers in polymer nanocomposites. This thesis presents a numerical model developed to determine the electrical and heat transport properties of these materials via percolation theory. Realistic nanocomposite representative volume elements are generated in three-dimensional space according to user-defined input parameters. A spanning network algorithm is used to search for connections between nanotubes. Interconnected nanotubes are then converted into equivalent resistor networks. The resistor network is then examined using finite element analysis through Kirchoff's current law for electrical transport, and Fourier's law for thermal transport. Monte Carlo simulations eliminate statistical variation at each volume fraction of nanotube filler. Several boundary treatment methods are examined to determine which is the most computationally efficient. The model is validated through comparison to experimental data reported in the literature. The presented model is unique in that it can predict both the electrical and thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube based polymer nanocomposites.


Societies are constantly changing, facing new challenges and possibilities generated by innovative technologies, sociospatial re-structuring and mobilities. This research approaches these challenges by exploring the role that stories about pasts, presents and futures play in planning. It sees stories as interlinked spaces of struggle over meanings, legitimacies and powers through which "our" valuable pasts and "our" desirable futures become re-constructed, framed and projected. It argues that powerful stories might consciously or unconsciously become institutionalised in policy discourses and documents, foregrounding our spatial realities and affecting our living spaces. These arguments and assumptions are investigated in relation to three cases: Regional-Pasts, SeGI-Futures and ICT-Futures. The stories about pasts, presents and futures surrounding these cases are investigated with the aim of initiating critical discussions on how stories about pasts and futures can inform, but also be sustained by, planning processes. While studies of these cases are presented in separate papers, these studies are brought together in an introductory essay and reconstructed in response to the research questions: How do regional futures become informed by the pasts? How do particular stories about the pasts become selected, framed and projected as envisioned futures? What messages are conveyed to the pasts and the presents through envisioned futures? How can stories of the past be referred and re-employed in planning to build more inclusive futures? To engage with the multidisciplinarity of these questions, they are investigated through dialogues between three main fields: heritage studies, futures studies and planning. The discussions have challenged the conventional divides between pasts, presents and futures, emphasised their plural nature and uncovered how the discursive power of stories play a significant role when interpreting pasts and envision futures in planning practices.


In Walker Process v. Food Mach. & Chemical Corp., the Supreme Court held that a patent holder who enforces a patent obtained by fraud on the patent office can violate Sherman Act § 2, so long as the other elements of a monopolization claim are proven. Nevertheless, under prevailing law merely obtaining a patent by fraud, however egregious, does not establish an antitrust violation, absent some measure of enforcement. In Walker Process itself, the plaintiff-patent holder and the defendant, the alleged infringer, were themselves competitors. So, when in later cases, competitors of a patent holder asserted comparable § 2 claims, based on Walker Process fraud on the patent office, the courts had no difficulty recognizing the competitor's standing to sue. Commonly, the competitor pleaded the Walker Process claim as a counterclaim in the patent holder's infringement suit. Whether the claim was legally sufficient, however, often turned on whether the patent holder not only fraudulently procured the patent, but also engaged in activity amounting to "enforcing" it against the counterclaiming competitor. Moreover, whether the patent holder's conduct directed to the competitor constitutes "enforcement" for these purposes was held to be a matter of federal patent law.The morphing of patent holder conduct – fraudulent procurement and enforcement – into a Sherman Act § 2 violation has led several courts off track. In recent cases, these courts have held that customers of the patent holder – the ones who pay the artificially inflated prices charged under cover of the fraudulently obtained patent – lack standing to allege a Walker Process § 2 claim against the patent holder. These decisions hold, instead, that only a person against whom the patent holder has sought to enforce the patent – typically a competitor or, less frequently, a customer of a competitor – may assert a Walker Process claim.The decisions are unsound. A Walker Process claim arises under the antitrust laws. Established antitrust principles teach that where a monopolist excludes or otherwise wrongfully restrains a competitor, both the competitor and those who pay the supra-competitive prices that the monopolist is able to extract have standing to sue under Sherman Act § 2. The fact that the monopolist uses a fraudulently procured patent as the means to harm competition, and to impose inflated prices, does not detract from the standing of both groups – competitors and customers who purchase at inflated prices – to sue under § 2.One of these district court rulings is a case known as DDAVP. Because this case aptly illustrates this recurring issue, I use it as a springboard to discuss standing to allege Walker Process fraud. After discussing the lower court's ruling in DDAVP, I address the issues raised, and arguments made by the defendants in the Court of Appeals. As I endeavor to demonstrate, DDAVP and similar rulings denying standing to those purchasing directly from the monopolist are incorrectly decided. After that, I critique a commentator-proposal that state attorneys general take up the mantle of asserting Walker Process claims on behalf of direct purchasers. Finally, I conclude by briefly addressing wrinkles in the standing issue when indirect purchasers, typically end-user consumers, sue under state law.By way of summary, Walker Process establishes that no patent law interest is served by permitting a party who fraudulently procures a patent to use it to inhibit competition. Affording purchasers standing to assert Walker Process claims will advance the compensatory and deterrent functions of the antitrust laws, while also promoting the patent law system by deterring fraud on the patent office.


At the upcoming G20 meetings the issue what can be done to avoid a repetition of the current deep financialcrisis will again be debated. Much attention and criticism will be directed to central banks. That is unavoidable: central banks must never again permit the development of financial imbalances that are large enough to lead to the collapse of major parts of the financial system when they unwind. In the future, policy makers must â??lean against the windâ?? and tighten financial conditions if they perceive that imbalances are forming, even if there is little hard data to rely on. And they must be mindful that the costs of acting too late can dwarf those of acting too early. But monetary policy is not the best tool to use for this purpose. Interest rates have simply too blunt effects to deal with financial imbalances, which are typically localised in particular market segments, institutions or, inthe euro area, countries. To slow down the growth of such imbalances, interest rates would have to be raised by implausibly large amounts which would depress economic activity overall and would hurt other segmentsof the economy.Furthermore, within the euro area it is not desirable to use monetary policy to deal with financial imbalances that only affect some countries. While tighter monetary policy might have been useful to limit housingbubbles in Spain or Ireland, it would have made for an even weaker housing market in Germany. Of course, this is well-known to policy makers and precisely the reason why so much time and effort is being spent ondeveloping macroprudential tools â?? non-interest rate tools â?? that can be used to constrain financial activity and prevent bubbles from forming. This important process has just started and much work remains to bedone. To give it additional impetus, the G20 must focus squarely on it. What would a new macroprudential regime look like? It will have six important characteristics. First, the new regime must be international in scope. This is why the G20â??s attention is crucial. One common unintended consequence of regulation is that financial activity simply shifts to financial centres with a moreliberal regime, as evidenced most famously by Regulation Q in the US that led to the establishment of the euro dollar market in London in the 1960s. Of course, one could argue that if risky financial activities move abroad,they are somebody elseâ??s problem. But in the modern day, financial markets are closely integrated across the world and a crisis in one country can spread globally in little time. Thus, regulation must be international. Inturn, this implies that international agreement must be reached and that differences, such as those regarding hedge funds, must be overcome. Second, it must have a broad coverage and include all institutions that are highly leveraged or engaged in maturity transformation. One important factor that led to the adoption of the low-regulation regime thatcreated the conditions for the crisis was that during the tightly controlled regime of the 1970s firms avoided regulation by shifting financial activities to the unregulated sector. To prevent this from happening again, thenew regime must not focus solely on deposit-taking institutions but cover as many financial institutions as possible. Third, macroprudential policy must be transparent and predictable. To limit the procyclicality of the financial system, the macroprudential policy instruments will be varied over time. In financial booms and busts policymakers will thus rely on those instruments that they feel will most effectively deal with the precise imbalances diagnosed. To avoid that such policy changes trigger unexpected and therefore potentially harmful swings in asset prices, policy must be predictable. That requires transparency about the reasons for policy changes and the authoritiesâ?? assessment of financial conditions. Fourth, there is no single instrument that can be relied upon to ensure financial stability, and the macroprudential regime must make use of a whole range of available tools, even though some have shortcomings. Thus, pro-cyclical capital requirements, leverage ratios, loan-to-value ratios and other tools all have a role to play. A pragmatic approach must be taken.Fifth, macroprudential policy must be conducted together with monetary policy. While macroprudential policy, in contrast to interest rate policy, can be focussed on the market segment that raises financial stabilityconcerns, such as real estate lending or lending to hedge funds, both affect the economy in broadly similar ways, and it is therefore important that they are co-ordinated carefully.Sixth, the task of setting macroprudential policy must be determined jointly by representatives from the central bank and all government agencies with responsibility in this area. International cooperation is also essential and attention from the G20 is therefore desirable. Given the close links between monetary and macroprudential policy and the fact that the crisis has shown that the cooperation between central banks and other authorities responsible for financial stability has not always functioned as well as hoped for, it is crucial that the authority for setting macroprudential policy at the national level is vested in one body. At the international level, these bodies must maintain close contacts. Constructing a well-functioning macroprudential regime with a global dimension is no small task. The leadership of the G20 is thereforeessential.


From the middle of the eighth century to the tenth century, almost all non-literary and non-historical secular Greek books, including such diverse topics as astrology, alchemy, physics, botany and medicine, that were not available throughout the eastern Byzantine Empire and the Near East, were translated into Arabic. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture explores the major social, political and ideological factors that occasioned the unprecedented translation movement from Greek into Arabic in Baghdad, the newly founded capital of the Arab dynasty of the 'Abbasids', during the first two centuries of their rule. Dimitri Gutas draws upon the preceding historical and philological scholarship in Greco-Arabic studies and the study of medieval translations of secular Greek works into Arabic and analyses the social and historical reasons for this phenomenon. Dimitri Gutas provides a stimulating, erudite and well-documented survey of this key movement in the transmission of ancient Greek culture to the Middle Ages.