Imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism that restrains the expression of about 100 genes to one allele depending on its parental origin. Several imprinted genes are implicated in neurodevelopmental brain disorders, such as autism, Angelman, and Prader-Willi syndromes. However, how expression of these imprinted genes is regulated during neural development is poorly understood. Here, using single and double KO animals for the transcription factors Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) and Achaete-scute homolog 1 (Ascl1), we found that the expression of a specific subset of imprinted genes is controlled by these proneural genes. Using in situ hybridization and quantitative PCR, we determined that five imprinted transcripts situated at the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus (Dlk1, Gtl2, Mirg, Rian, Rtl1) are upregulated in the dorsal telencephalon of Ngn2 KO mice. This suggests that Ngn2 influences the expression of the entire Dlk1-Gtl2 locus, independently of the parental origin of the transcripts. Interestingly 14 other imprinted genes situated at other imprinted loci were not affected by the loss of Ngn2. Finally, using Ngn2/Ascl1 double KO mice, we show that the upregulation of genes at the Dlk1-Gtl2 locus in Ngn2 KO animals requires a functional copy of Ascl1. Our data suggest a complex interplay between proneural genes in the developing forebrain that control the level of expression at the imprinted Dlk1-Gtl2 locus (but not of other imprinted genes). This raises the possibility that the transcripts of this selective locus participate in the biological effects of proneural genes in the developing telencephalon.


Within the context of spatial rebalancing and a Northern (metro-region) Powerhouse, this article explores the implementation of the devolution of employment and skills within the Sheffield city region. We make both an original empirical and analytical contribution by suggesting that notions of governance and metagovernance failure are important for analyzing the development, tensions and contradictions of city region economic governance within the context of the UK Government's devolution and localism agenda (in particular "Devolution Agreements"). We consider that governance failure arises because of the primacy of a neoliberal-dominated strategy orientation towards the market and its failure in the delivery of skills. Governance and metagovernance mechanisms are unable to sufficiently coordinate effective responses to address a legacy of de-industrialisation, deep-rooted labour market and sociospatial inequalities.


This dissertation is a study of women and utterance in contexts of violence in the three selected novels written by the late Yvonne Vera: Nehanda (1993), Without a Name (1994), and The Stone Virgins (2002). A study of the representation of women in particular is appropriate because their role in the making of the history of Zimbabwe has been deliberately undermined or ignored by 'patriotic' historians and politicians alike. This study incorporates a historical and post-colonial feminist analysis of women and their empowerment through utterance in Vera's novels. Their achieving utterance is seen as a way of countering a past tendency to focus on women being victims of patriarchal ideologies with little being done to expose the degree and nature of women's resistance against oppressive, socially constructed gender relations. The kind of violence experienced by Vera's women is both physical (rape and murder) and psychological. Two dimensions of utterance have been explored in this study. Firstly, the study examined what the characters can and cannot say about their conditions of suffering. This entailed an examination of their cultural and contextual limitations as well as their personal difficulties. Secondly, the study investigated how Vera, writing some fifteen years after the events she depicts and with the advantage of hindsight, represents her women characters as agents of their own recovery from the violation perpetrated against them. This involved an analysis of Vera's utterance and her thematic concerns, especially her revisioning of history in breaking the silence of her women characters. Positioned in relation to existing critical works on Vera's novels, this study's contribution to the critical debate has been its demonstration of how Vera, through the use of her narrative technique and unique poetic style was able to challenge the conditions of women in the past in a way that has relevance to present-day Zimbabwe and offers possibilities for the future Zimbabwe.


Every now and again a paper is published on the number of errors made in academic articles. These papers document the frequency of conceptual errors, factual errors, errors in abstracts, errors in quotations, and errors in reference lists. James Hartley reports that the data are alarming, but suggests a possible way of reducing them. Perhaps in future there might be a single computer program that matches references in the text with correct (pre-stored) references as one writes the text.


Socrates' Ancestor is a rich and poetic exploration of architectural beginnings and the dawn of Western philosophy in preclassical Greece. Architecture precedes philosophy, McEwen argues, and it was here, in the archaic Greek polis, that Western architecture became the cradle of Western thought. McEwen's appreciation of the early Greek understanding of the indissolubility of craft and community yields new insight into such issues as orthogonal planning and the appearance of the encompassing colonnade - the ptera or "wings" - that made Greek temples Greek.Who was Socrates' ancestor? Socrates claims it was Daedalus, the mythical first architect. Socrates' ancestors were also the first Western philosophers: the preSocratic thinkers of archaic Greece where the Greek city-state with its monumental temples first came to light. McEwen brilliantly draws out the connections between Daedalus and the earliest Greek thinkers, between architecture and the advent of speculative thought. She argues that Greek thought and Greek architecture share a common ground in the amazing fabrications of the legendary Daedalus: statues so animated with divine life that they had to be bound in chains, the Labyrinth where Theseus slew the Minotaur, Ariadne's dancing floor in Knossos.Socrates' Ancestor is an exploration as remarkable for its clarity as for its avoidance of reductionism. Drawing as much on the power of myth and metaphor as on philosophical, philological, and historical considerations, McEwen first reaches backward: from Socrates to the earliest written record of Western philosophy in the Anaximander B1 fragment, and its physical expression in Anaximander's built work - a "cosmic model" that consisted of a celestial sphere, a map of the world, and the first Greek sun clock. From daedalean artifacts she draws out the centrality of early Greek craftsmanship and its role in the making of the Greek city-state. The investigation then moves James forward to a discussion of the polis and the first great peripteral temples that anchored for the meaning of "city." Indra Kagis McEwen teaches architecture at the National Theatre School of Canada and at I'Universite duQuebec a Montreal.


We explore controller input mappings for games using a deformable prototype that combines deformation gestures with standard button input. In study one, we tested discrete gestures using three simple games. We categorized the control schemes as binary (button only), action, and navigation, the latter two named based on the game mechanics mapped to the gestures. We found that the binary scheme performed the best, but gesture-based control schemes are stimulating and appealing. Results also suggest that the deformation gestures are best mapped to simple and natural tasks. In study two, we tested continuous gestures in a 3D racing game using the same control scheme categorization. Results were mostly consistent with study one but showed an improvement in performance and preference for the action control scheme.


To date, researchers from various disciplines have studies leisure time; most have focused on quality of leisure activity, psychological benefits of leisure, spiritual effect, thereby neglecting the effect of social classes on features and quality of the selected place. Third place is defined as a location outside of home or work that allows for social interaction and emotional support, regardless of levels and social classes, ethnic and racial differences. While it seems that the presence of such places in our society has a significant relationship with social classes; in the sense that different levels of social classes are more apt to form distinct number and types of third places. The current research tries to investigate the relationship between different social setting and people identification of third place, for spending leisure time. People attach identifications or meanings to these third places based on the type of needs met for the individual by these places.


The EITC is intended to encourage work. But EITC-induced increases in labor supply may drive wages down. I simulate the economic incidence of the EITC. In each scenario that I consider, a large portion of low-income single mothers' EITC payments is captured by employers through reduced wages. Workers who are EITC ineligible also see wage declines. By contrast, a traditional Negative Income Tax (NIT) discourages work, and so induces large transfers from employers to their workers. With my preferred parameters, $1 in EITC spending increases after-tax incomes by $0.73, while $1 spent on the NIT yields $1.39. (JEL H22, H23, H24, H31, J22)


Those teaching in the area of "Islamic law" (however imprecise that term is) can appreciate the difficulty in conveying information on sources and major principles. People unfamiliar with the Arabic language have enough struggles with the new lingo and could benefit from an overview of the main sources, principles and methodologies in pictorial form. This flowchart is a very basic representation or big picture of "Islamic law." It is best viewed as a digital document where you can adjust the size. It is only an attempt to give some perspective to the introductory student in this area, but nevertheless a caveat is in order at the outset. Any endeavor that attempts to provide a simple overview of a complex system always runs the risk of oversimplification. Clearly, it is an impossible task to set out detailed discussions of the Islamic system's principles, institutions and their interactions and permutations in such a static fashion. For a more detailed and nuanced explanation of most of what is set out on the flowchart, you may wish to download and read Part 5 of Faisal Kutty, The Myth and Reality of Shari'a Courts in Canada: A Delayed Opportunity for the Indigenization of Islamic Legal Rulings, 7 U. St. Thomas Law Journal 559 (2010), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract = 1749046. The idea is to demystify Islamic law and allow for people to see the involvment of human agency in the process with the objective of making it easier to reform Islamic rulings to address contemporary realities and challenges.


Kitchens are where we cook, clean, cry, talk, laugh, break things. Hugely symbolic - as well as practical - kitchens evoke thoughts of hearth and home, family and domesticity.People today commonly spend more refurbishing their kitchens than refurbishing any other room in the home. On kitchen units alone, annual expenditure in England has been around the billion pound mark for some time. And this only represents part of what people spend on a kitchen. For, when they do up their kitchens, people frequently also buy new machinery and nearly always buy new accessories.To get at the heart of the meaning, design and purpose of the modern kitchen, the author interviewed a sample of seventy four homeowners. She follows them through the process of shopping and purchasing a new kitchen, and she discusses the importance of layout, colour, shape and texture. She explores the dominant role that women play in shaping the appearance of a new kitchen and considers the evolution of the modern kitchen in the context of the consumer age.The first history of the fitted kitchen in England, this innovative new book will appeal to anyone interested in design, sociology, gender studies and cultural history.


The general administration of pharmaceutical care stated evidence-based pharmacy guidelines at Ministry of Health hospitals and primary healthcare centers in 2015. That has included several programs related to anticoagulation, pain management, and antibiotics. The new initiative's project from the most significant mental hospital in Riyadh region of starting psychiatric disease drug therapy management physician order. The hospital started with a standard disease like depression. The tax force team designed the updated guidelines and approved by an official body in the hospital. The form friendly used and very important in preventing drugrelated problems and education system for healthcare staff. Key words: Depression management, Physician Oder, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia


The configurable electromagnetic wave absorber (CEMA) defines a new method for the full design of layered carbon-based nanocomposites able to quasi-perfectly reproduce any kind of EM reflection coefficient (RC) profile. The method involves three main factors: (a) nanofillers-like carbon nanotube (CNT), carbon nanofiber (CNF), graphene nanoplatelet (GNP), and polyaniline (PANI) in different concentration versus the matrix; (b) the dielectric parameters of the nanoreinforced materials in the microwave range 2–18 GHz; (c) a numerical technique based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm within the MATLAB code of the EM propagation engine. Output is the layering of the wave absorber, that is, number of layers and material/thickness of each layer and the reflection/transmission simulated profiles. The frequency selective behavior is due to the multilayered composition, thanks to the direct/reflected wave combination tuning at interfaces. The dielectric characterization of the employed nanocomposites is presented in details: these materials constitute the database for the optimization code running toward the multilayer optimal solution. A FEM analysis is further proposed to highlight the EM propagation within the material's bulk at different frequencies. The mathematical model of layered materials, the PSO objective function used for RC target fitting, and some results are reported in the text.


Attorney surveys are the most common feature of judicial performance evaluation (JPE) programs around the country. In more than 30 states, attorneys are asked to complete anonymous reviews of the judges before whom they appear, focusing on each judge's impartiality, communication skills, demeanor, and knowledge of relevant rules and substantive law. Recently, however, these surveys have come under fire. Critics assert that survey results are highly subjective, reflecting attorney prejudices and cognitive biases rather than a judge's actual adjudicative skills. Critics further assert that such surveys adversely impact female and minority judges in a disproportionate manner.There is no denying that attorney surveys are subjective. Yet subjectivity is precisely what makes the surveys so valuable to JPE programs and to the judges themselves. Drawing on the cognitive literature, this short article (written for a symposium on the future of JPE programs) explains why the subjective impressions of attorneys are so important to robust judicial performance evaluation. The article then identifies potential problems with subjective assessments (including stereotyping, reliance on secondhand information, and selective information processing), and explores additional sources of information on judges that JPE program administrators may use to place attorney survey responses in the fuller context of a judge's overall performance.


The resource-based, dynamic-capability and knowledge-based views of the firm focus on identifying company-internal success factors. However, their empirical research and its managerial implications suffer from a lack of conceptual clarity and understanding of the structural and hierarchical complexity of resources and capabilities. This paper suggests a three-step capability-classification system that takes into account 1) the division between company-specific and industry-significant capabilities, 2) hierarchies of task-specific, functional and cross-functional capabilities, and 3) the structure of individual capabilities. We tested the usability of the theoretical construct by identifying and classifying the capabilities of the leading North American and European wood-industry case companies. Our study introduces conceptual tools for those aiming to do empirical research on capabilities, explores the interaction between a firm's capabilities and its competitive environment, and exposes the capability portfolio of wood-industry companies.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the performance of the PRISM (Pediatric Risk of Mortality) and the PIM (Pediatric Index of Mortality) scores at a general pediatric intensive care unit, investigating the relation between observed mortality and survival and predicted mortality and survival.

METHODS
A contemporary cohort study undertaken between 1 June 1999 and 31 May 2000 at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Hospital São Lucas pediatric intensive care unit. The inclusion criteria and the PRISM and PIM calculations were performed as set out in the original articles and using the formulae as published. Statistical analysis for model evaluation employed the Flora z test, Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, ROC curve (receiver operating characteristic) and Spearman's correlation tests. The study was approved by the institution's Ethics Committee.

RESULTS
Four hundred and ninety-eight patients were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit, 77 of whom presented exclusion criteria. Thirty-three (7.83%) of the 421 patients studied died and 388 patients were discharged. Estimated mortality by PRISM was 30.84 (7.22%) with a standardized mortality rate of 1.07 (0.74-1.50), z = -0.45 and by PIM this was 26.13 (6.21%) with a standardized mortality rate of 1.26 (0.87-1.77), z = -1.14. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test gave a chi-square of 9.23 (p = 0.100) for PRISM and 27.986 (p < 0.001) for PIM. The area under the ROC curve was 0.870 (0.810-0.930) for PRISM and 0.845 (0.769-0.920) for PIM. The Spearman test returned r = 0.65 (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION
Analyzing the tests we can observe that, although the PIM test was less well calibrated overall, both PRISM and PIM offer a good capacity for discriminating between survivors and moribund patients. They are tools with comparable performance at the prognostic evaluation of the pediatric patients admitted to our unit.


Context: Animal bites including insect, reptile, and mammalian bites are common presentations to the emergency department (ED). Although profile and outcome of individual bites are described in detail, the literature on comprehensive overall clinical spectrum and seasonal variation of all animal bites is scant. Aims: To describe the spectrum, seasonal variation, clinical features, and outcomes of all patients presenting as emergencies due to animal bites. Methods: All the patients who presented to the ED of a large tertiary care hospital in South India with bites from January 2017 to December 2018 were retrospectively included in the analysis. Results: During the 2-year study period, animal bites constituted 0.83% of all ED admissions with 1145 incidents included in our analysis. The various animal bites/stings were classified as follows: mammal bites (480: 41.9%), arthropod bites (275: 24%), reptile bites (290: 25.3%), and unknown bites (100: 8.6%). We found an increase in the incidence of bites during the monsoon months of July to September (average: 58 cases per month) in our geographical locality. More than half (46: 58%) of scorpion stings had features of envenomation while a quarter (19: 24%) had the signs of autonomic storm. Snake bites constituted a quarter (25.2%: 289/1145) of all animal bites with 66% (191/289) showing features of envenomation. Dog bites constituted the majority of mammalian bites with 73% (352/480), followed by rat bites (14%: 68/480), cat bites (7.5%: 37/480), human bites (2.5%: 12/480), and monkey bites (1.9%: 9/480). The World Health Organization rabies exposure Category 3 bites were seen in 48%, 12%, and 27% of dog, rat, and cat bites, respectively. Conclusion: Snake and dog bites comprised the majority of all animal bites. There was a clear seasonal pattern with increased prevalence of bites during the rainy season.


Bangladesh is gearing up for its general election in December, this year. With its two main political parties—the BNP and AL (Awami League) led by Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina respectively hedging against each other—the election will be decisive in determining the future of bi-party politics in the country along with shaping the roadmap for Bangladesh in the region. After holding power for two consecutive terms an anti-incumbency wave could be identified against the Awami League. The electoral ground is fertile for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief, Khaleda Zia, to come out of her political hibernation and contest the election. But the imprisonment of the BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on corruption charges just before the country entered the voting phase has raised two questions. First, how will the arrest of BNP chief impact the electoral future and bi-party politics in Bangladesh? Is this verdict a death- knell for the party? Secondly, would this election result affect the current India-Bangladesh relations?


Objective: There is emerging evidence from animal studies suggesting a key role for methylation in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. However, to date, very few studies have investigated the role of methylation in the development of human hypertension, and none has taken a genome-wide approach. Based on the recent studies that highlight the involvement of inflammation in the development of hypertension, we hypothesize that changes in DNA methylation of leukocytes are involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension. Method&Results: We conducted a genome-wide methylation analysis on 8 hypertensive cases and 8 normotensive age- matched controls aged 14–23 years and performed validation of the most significant CpG sites in 2 genes in an independent sample of 36 hypertensive cases and 60 normotensive controls aged 14–30 years. Validation of the CpG sites in the SULF1 gene was further conducted in a second replication sample of 36 hypertensive cases and 34 controls aged 15.8– 40 years. A CpG site in the SULF1 gene showed higher methylation levels in cases than in healthy controls in the genome- wide step (p=6.2 6 10 2 5 ), which was confirmed in the validation step (p =0.011) for subjects # 30 years old but was not significant for subjects of all ages combined (p =0.095). Conclusion: The identification of a difference in a blood leukocyte DNA methylation site between hypertensive cases and normotensive controls suggests that changes in DNA methylation may play an important role in the pathogenesis of hypertension. The age dependency of the effect further suggests complexity of epigenetic regulation in this age-related disease.


Batai (Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Barneby and J.W. Grimes) is one of the valuable multipurpose tree species for forest plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, since 1993, gall rust disease has been identified as a dangerous malady of batai causing severe damage to all growth stages of the plant from seedlings in the nursery to mature trees in the field. Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the environmental factors affecting disease development, to characterize and identify the gall rust fungus and gall rust symptoms, to screen F. moluccana seedlings from eleven seed sources for growth and gall rust disease resistance, and to assess the genetic variation of those seed sources and its relationship with gall rust disease severity.Based on the result from the step-wise multiple regression analysis, it was found that open sites with flat topography, preferably without the occurrence of fog did not favour gall rust disease development. In addition, silvicultural treatments such as pruning, thinning and clear cutting were able to reduce gall rust disease incidence and severity. Relative humidity and wind speed were two meteorological factors which were significantly associated with the incidence and severity of gall rust disease. High relative humidity (RH ≥ 90%) and slow wind speed (WS ≤ 80 km/hours), was found to promote gall rust disease development. In addition, it appeared that the spread of gall rust spores originated from the north, probably from the Philippines to Brumas Estate, Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia.
Gall rust disease on F. moluccana in Brumas Estate, is caused by the gall rust fungus Uromycladium tepperianum (Sacc.) McAlp., family: Pileolariaceae, order: Uredinales class: Urediniomycetes. The fungus produces teliospores which have ridged longitudinal striations, with three spores on each head. The size of the teliospores ranged from 13-18 μm wide and 17-26 μm long. The fungus completed entire life cycle on one host, i.e. F. moluccana. This study confirmed that the teliospores cannot themselves infect the host; they have to germinate to produce basidiospores, which are formed at least 10 hours after inoculation. Then a penetration peg was formed by a matured basidiospore 16 hours after inoculation, penetrates the host cells directly through the epidermis. Seven days after inoculation (DAI), vegetative mycelia of this gall-forming rust give rise to pycnia, recognized as small brown pustule which breaks through the epidermis. The typical symptom of gall rust disease on the seedlings is bending of the stem or shoot, either with or without the formation of a dark red necrotic lesion. However the symptoms on older trees range from the development of large chocolate brown, irregularly shaped, cauliflower-like or whip-like galls on the stem, branch, petiole, shoot, pod, seed or flower stalk. The surfaces of mature galls were generally covered with cinnamon-coloured spores. The older galls become reddish brown which eventually turned black and they are commonly invaded by tunneling insects.
Based on the rate of infection, cumulative mortality due to gall rust disease and the effect of gall rust disease on relative growth rate, seedlings from Wamena seed source were moderately resistant that this was the best seed source of the eleven seed sources tested. Generally, the effect of gall rust disease in decreasing the relative growth rate of seedlings was only significantly different at 47 DAI, particularly for seedlings from RO5/95 and Walang Gintang seed sources. Resistance to gall rust disease was accounted by approximately 41-46% of genetic and 54–59% of environmental factors respectively. The qualitative character of height was accounted for by approximately 50-84% and 16-50% of genetic and environmental factors respectively. The genetic correlation between gall rust disease severity and height of seedling was high (85%) and positive, particularly at 27 DAI.
The genetic diversity of eleven seed sources F. moluccana seedlings assessed using RAPDs technique was small, with 1.036-1.094 effective alleles, 34-55 polymorphic loci, 35.05% to 56.76% proportion of polymorphic loci, Shannon Diversity Index of 0.115-0.192 and Nei's Diversity Index of 0.18-0.29. In addition, the genetic distance between seed sources was narrow (0.036 to 0.152). All seedlings from Brumas seed sources (RO2, RO5, R2001 and 2S/75) were closely related to those from East Timor, East Flores, Moluccas and Java, but were distant from Wamena. There were negative and small relationship between polymorphic loci, Shannon's Diversity Index, Nei's Diversity Index and gall rust disease severity at 7, 17 and 27 DAI (R2 = 4% to 27%). However, their relationship at 37 and 47 DAI were positive and relatively moderate (R2 = 39% to 49%). Thus, the correlations between genetic variation and gall rust disease severity of F. moluccana seedlings were inconsistent by times and their relationship was not strong. Since gall rust disease resistance was accounted by genetic and environmental factors almost at the same proportion, applying integrated gall rust management control becomes essential. Site selection, using genetically resistant material, regular monitoring, pruning, thinning in the field and chemical control in the nursery are principle methods for preventing gall rust disease of F. moluccana at Brumas Estate.


Abstract Job characteristics can affect worker turnover through their effect on utility and through their effect on outside job opportunities. We separately identify and estimate the roles of these two channels. Our method exploits information on job changes and relies on an augmented sample selection correction. Taking our approach to an exhaustive register of Dutch primary school teachers, and using arguably plausible exclusion restrictions, we show a detailed picture of preferences for school characteristics. We also study how preference estimates may be biased when ignoring information on job opportunities and discuss the implications for the analysis of teacher turnover.


Between 1999 and 2007, several successive years of severe drought put South East Queensland9s water supply under immense pressure. The decision was taken in 2005 to build a seawater desalination plant and three water recycling advanced treatment plants as part of a large investment plan to secure the region9s potable water supply. The infrastructure built and commissioned in the past 3 years has a combined capacity producing more than 350,000 m 3 per day of very high quality water that can be used either directly (seawater desalination) or indirectly (recycled water) for supplying drinking water. All the plants primarily rely on reverse osmosis membranes for water purification which is an effective and reliable barrier to contaminants, but also requires high energy consumption and a high level of pre-treatment and chemicals. In this paper, the actual energy consumption of two of the plants (the seawater desalination plant and one water recycling plant) was investigated with the perspective of drinking water production over the July 2009–June 2010 period. Eolia™ Potable Water, a Life Cycle Analysis tool developed by Veolia Environnement Research & Innovation, was used to model the processes and estimate the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from both plants. As expected, the energy requirement of the desalination was higher (approximately 2.2 times) than the water recycling plant. The plants were found to be significantly more energy efficient when operated at higher flow. In both cases, the purchase of electrical energy represented by far the major contribution to GHG emissions. Indirect GHG emissions from chemical consumption could be reduced at the water recycling plant by optimising the dose of ferric chloride used at the plant and sourcing the chemical from a less distant supplier.


Background and Aims: Ferula Assafoetida is an antioxidant plant which has long been used in Iranian traditional medicine. Recently, it has been reported to have hypoglycemic and hyperinsulinemic effects, but the molecular mechanism of this effect have not been sufficiently described. This study was a step to evaluate the molecular mechanism of Ferula assafoetida action as an antihyperglycemic agent. For this purpose, some signling pathways of the hypoglycemic effect of its extract using C2C12 mouse cell line were examined. Materials and Methods: C2C12 cells were differentiated in DMEM medium supplemented with 2% heat inactivated horse serum, and treated with 10 µg/ml extract of assafoetida in presence or absence of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI-3K) inhibitor. The concentration of Glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) in cytosol and cytoplasmic membrane were determined using SDS–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting analyses. Results: Data indicated that assafoetida treatment increases translocation of the GLUT4 to the cell membrane in C2C12 cell line via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activation. Conclusion: our finding indicated that assafoetida has a potential antidiabetic effect and may be considered as antidiabetic drug.


Lower-middle Devonian iron-bearing successions were studied along 2 measured stratigraphic sections in the Camdag region of NW Anatolia. Ironstones in the upper part of the Findikli Formation in Kabalakdere are characterized by alternating red and green mudstones and sandstones at the bottom, followed by a series of dolomite, dolomitic limestone with oolitic ironstones, and chamositic mudstones at the top. Conodonts from these carbonates indicate the delta-pesavis zones of the late Lochkovian. The 12- to 45-m-thick Ferizli Formation unconformably overlies the Findikli Formation with a quartz-arenite succession at the bottom. The formation comprises alternating red, iron-rich limestones and dolomitic limestones, where iron-rich bioclastic grainstones are more dominant than iron-rich oolitic grainstones. The dolomitic limestones in this succession mark the ensensis and hemiansatus zones of the middle Givetian age. Mineralogically, the carbonates are dominated by goethitized and chamositized fossil fragments and chamositic oolites. In the oolitic facies, the oolites are made up of iron-bearing carbonates/iron, the bioclast of micritized/ironized brachiopods, and crinoids, whereas the matrix includes goethite, brown iron-silicates, chamosite, sideritic oolites, quartz clasts, and brachiopods. Partial iron precipitation within microborings or precipitation along the spine holes on echinoid grains is observed in the bioclastic grainstone/biosparite facies. Iron peloids are also recognized in the grainstone facies. Iron precipitation could be explained as precipitation of transported and dissolved iron from a terrestrial environment under wet/subtropical climate conditions within oxidizing and increased pH conditions, or as dissolved iron transported by upwelling currents over the shelves and precipitated under an oxidizing environment. The cyclic occurrence of primary iron in a marine carbonate environment and its extensive distribution over large areas indicates that a controlling mechanism for iron-rich carbonates and mudstones could be related to the cooperation of climate, sea level, and oceanographic changes in the middle Givetian. During the late Lochkovian, the same or very similar controlling factors might have operated, where the alternation of red mudstones can be explained by lateral facies changes or changes in terrestrial/nutrient influx.


The revised EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) grants partial, temporary free allocation of emission allowances to industry, based on benchmarks to address competitiveness concerns. The EU, led by the European Commission, has developed some 50 to 60 benchmarks covering around 85% of total EU ETS industrial emissions. There are many other opportunities for utilising benchmarking in the context of climate change policies. Possibilities include using it to set (industry) performance targets, i.e. as a regulatory scheme; to define (sectoral or national) GHG emission caps in a bottom-up fashion; to judge the national, EU-wide or international 'comparability' of sector efforts (both intra- and inter-sectoral); to establish the level of carbon credits that are granted under the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol or of the new post-2012 period; and to calculate the carbon content of products (e.g. for carbon footprinting), for example for setting a border tax for carbon. This CEPS Task Force Report identifies the key issues arising from the current benchmarking exercise under the EU ETS and analyses the principal controversial topics on benchmark-based allocation, leading to a number of concrete recommendations. In addition, the report examines the origins and experiences of earlier exercises and draws some general conclusions about the pros and cons of applying benchmarks beyond allocation. This examination includes a review of the application of benchmarks outside the EU to illustrate the role of benchmarks for mitigation actions worldwide.


ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SECONDARY VISUAL ARTS STANDARDS IN UTAH AND QUEENSLAND John Derby Department of Visual Arts Master of Arts Utah and the majority of states have adopted mandatory standards for visual arts, yet no accountability measures have been established. Consequently, it is impossible to determine if standards are being addressed in the art classroom and aggregate grades are subjective. Queensland, Australia instituted a system of moderated school-based assessment (moderation) in 1971, whereby assessment is accomplished locally, then verified by peer experts. Queensland ensures that standards are addressed in curricula and assessment and that exit grades are reliable and comparable. Research has shown that Utah and Queensland share comparable visual arts standards and similar demographics. Queensland moderation has been extensively studied for solutions to Utah and U.S. accountability problems. Queensland teachers submit curricula, assessment tasks, and assessed student work to the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA), which is responsible for moderation. QSA suggests modifications where appropriate, thus ensuring accuracy. Schools are then compared according to group performance on a standardized core skills test and aggregate grades are scaled, resulting in student rankings. Research has revealed that Queensland visual arts teachers widely approve of moderation. Accountability validates good teaching and promotes diligence. Teachers also appreciate QSA curriculum and assessment guidelines. Because these are regulated, QSA has been able to promote progressive directives effectively, including integrated authentic assessment and student-directed conceptual approaches to art. Queensland has constantly striven for improvement through research and teacher feedback. Consequently, Queensland is considered a global leader in school-based assessment. Art education literature implies that accountability for visual arts education is inevitable. Arts educators strongly oppose traditional external testing. Moderation is the proven alternative to traditional testing. While other models of moderation exist, the QSA model is similar in theory to the predominant Utah and U.S. philosophy of standardsbased assessment. At the same time, the QSA model offers flexible options that allow emerging theories to be embraced. The research, then, suggests that Utah and other states should consider implementing versions of moderated school-based assessment based on the success of QSA. The thesis concludes with recommendations for the U.S., and a practical curriculum guide that embraces curriculum and assessment merits of Queensland visual arts education.


Background/Context The Adult School of La Verneda-Sant Martí, located in Barcelona, Spain, is a reference at the international level because of its trajectory and its contributions to the transformative movement in democratic education. The school was created in 1978 to address the demands of the La Verneda neighborhood's working-class residents, who needed an adult school that could reverse the lack of academic education of neighborhood adults. This school builds on the precedents of popular education developed by the libertarian movement prior to the Franco dictatorship. Since its beginnings, the school has continuously taught people to read and write, helping adults obtain academic degrees that facilitated their labor insertion or promoted their access to university. The school's success is confirmed by the current data: It has approximately 2,000 participants, 5 workers, and 150 volunteers. The key to its success is an effective democratic organization and functioning as well as broad development of activities and an accessible schedule—the school is open Monday through Sunday, from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.—that meets the real needs of neighborhood residents. The adult participants, together with the teachers and the volunteers, determine and organize the activities that will be conducted in the school. Purpose This article analyzes the democratic organization of this school and its relation to libertarian education in the early 20th century in Spain to investigate two research questions. First, what type of democratic organization and functioning is contributing to increasing the educational level and skills of nonacademic adults? Second, how does this organization contribute to the improvement of the quality of life achieved through the La Verneda neighborhood's movement? Research Design The article reviews the literature on libertarian education in Spain and addresses the Adult School of La Verneda-Sant Martí and Schools as Learning Communities. Additionally, other documents related to the history, activities, and functioning of this school and different types of documents about the neighborhood in which it is located are analyzed. Interviews with participants (this is how adult learners refer to themselves) and communicative observations in classrooms, assemblies, and meetings during the 2012–2013 school year were conducted to contrast with the information found in the internal documents of the school. Findings/Results Besides the documents found on the School foundation that made explicit the libertarian educational ideals, the study identified these principles in the whole evolution and success of the Adult School until the current time. Particularly, we identified three main results: (1) nonacademic adults take part in all of the decision-making processes; therefore, all activities reflect their interests and needs, increasing their educational level and skills; (2) the school is open to the community and has engaged many diverse people as volunteers who contribute to a broad and high-quality education; and (3) the democratic organization of libertarian origins has influence beyond the School walls: a neighborhood movement to improve the quality of life and the transformation of children's schools into Learning Communities. Conclusions/Recommendations This article concludes that the principles present in libertarian education in the early 20th century in Spain have been included in the organization and in the education provided by the Adult School of La Verneda-Sant Martí. These principles are contributing to increasing the educational level and skills of nonacademic adults as well as improving the quality of life achieved through the La Verneda neighborhood's movement. Future research should focus on how this school model has been transferred to other schools and how it influenced the work of the teachers.


The authors examine the housing pathways of young people in the UK in the years 1999 to 2008, and consider the changing nature of these pathways in the run up to 2020. They employ a highly innovative methodology, which begins with the identification and description of key drivers likely to affect young people's housing circumstances in the future. The empirical identification and analysis of housing pathways is then achieved using multiple-sequence analysis and cluster analysis of the British Household Panel Survey, contextualised by qualitative interviews with a large sample of young people. The authors describe how the interactions between the meanings, perceptions, and aspirations of young people, and the opportunities and constraints imposed by the drivers, are having a major impact on young people's housing pathways, resulting in considerable housing policy challenges, particularly in relation to the private rented sector.


This paper explores experimentally the impairments in performance that are generated when multiple single-sideband (SSB) subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) signals are closely allocated in frequency to establish a spectrally efficient wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) link. The performance of cost-effective SSB WDM/ SCM implementations, without optical filters in the transmitter, presents a strong dependency on the imperfect sideband suppression ratio that can be directly achieved with the electro-optical modulator. A direct detected broadband multichannel SCM link composed of a state-of-the-art optical IQ modulator and five quadrature phase-shift keyed (QPSK) subcarriers per optical channel is presented, showing that a suppression ratio of 20 dB obtained directly with the modulator produced a penalty of 2 dB in overall performance, due to interference between adjacent optical channels.


Krill do not feed by passive, continuous filtration but use area-intensive searching and various rapid feeding behaviors to exploit local high food concentrations. Chemicals alone at low concentrations, not particles, trigger feeding. Krill form dense schools that move rapidly and migrate primarily horizontally. Abrupt disruption of a school can trigger mass molting, and molts may act as decoys.


This Article examines two intersecting phenomena: medical tourism and the outsourcing of health care goods and services. "Medical Tourism" (Part I) involves the resident of one state or country physically experiencing health care in another place. "Outsourcing" (Part II) involves care that appears domestic but has been disaggregated to allow some components to be performed non-domestically. Frequently the patient (or in the case of final beneficiaries of a clinical trial, a domestic user of a subsequently approved drug) does not know that care has been outsourced. These two phenomena currently operate outside, and may be disruptive of, contemporary Western health care regulation. While health care, particularly in the U.S., is our most highly regulated industry, medical tourism and outsourcing appear to operate outside our traditional regulatory matrix. Having examined the extent to which this is an accurate intuition, this Article questions (in Part III) the extent to which we do or will enjoy increased trading of health services and addresses some of the issues that must be considered in approaching any regulatory questions posed by medical tourism and outsourcing.


Abstract To guide conservators in their decisions in active conservation of polystyrene materials, seven adhesives were tested before and after light ageing. The material was investigated by assessment of working properties, appearance, colour measurement, tensile testing, hardness measurement, assessment of break type, scanning electron microscope imaging, and assessment of reversibility. Based on a survey among conservators, the adhesives included were acrylates (Paraloid® B-72 in acetone: ethanol, or only ethanol, Paraloid® B-67 in isopropanol, Primal® AC 35, Acrifix® 116), epoxies (HXTAL®-NYL-1, Araldite® 2020) and one cyanoacrylate (Loctite® Super Attack Precision). Adhesives were tested on extruded sheets of transparent, general purpose polystyrene applied on joined edges and as an open layer. Damage to the plastic could be seen for Acrifix® 116 and Loctite® Super Attack Precision. The average break force sensitivity values indicate that the cyanoacrylate was weakened while Acrifix® 116 was strengthened after ageing. In general, the cyanoacrylate was the strongest and Paraloid® B-67 the weakest. Most adhesives showed yellowing after ageing apart from Acrifix® 116 and HXTAL®-NYL-1. The Paraloids, Primal® AC 35, and the epoxies were possible to remove from the plastic.


This article provides a brief introduction to the physical science of climate change, aimed towards economists. We begin by describing the physics that controls global climate, how scientists measure and model the climate system, and the magnitude of human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide. We then summarize many of the climatic changes of interest to economists that have been documented and that are projected in the future. We conclude by highlighting some key areas in which economists are in a unique position to help climate science advance. An important message from this final section, which we believe is deeply underappreciated among economists, is that all climate change forecasts rely heavily and directly on economic forecasts for the world. On timescales of a half-century or longer, the largest source of uncertainty in climate science is not physics, but economics.


We describe a unified representation of occluders in light transport and photography using shield fields: the 4D attenuation function which acts on any light field incident on an occluder. Our key theoretical result is that shield fields can be used to decouple the effects of occluders and incident illumination. We first describe the properties of shield fields in the frequency-domain and briefly analyze the "forward" problem of efficiently computing cast shadows. Afterwards, we apply the shield field signal-processing framework to make several new observations regarding the "inverse" problem of reconstructing 3D occluders from cast shadows -- extending previous work on shape-from-silhouette and visual hull methods. From this analysis we develop the first single-camera, single-shot approach to capture visual hulls without requiring moving or programmable illumination. We analyze several competing camera designs, ultimately leading to the development of a new large-format, mask-based light field camera that exploits optimal tiled-broadband codes for light-efficient shield field capture. We conclude by presenting a detailed experimental analysis of shield field capture and 3D occluder reconstruction.


Coyote (Canis latrans) predation on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns in southeastern North America has led to deer population declines in some areas. Research or management efforts initiated in response to coyote predation on fawns have primarily focused on implementation of reduced antlerless deer harvest or coyote control to mitigate population declines. Vegetation characteristics may influence coyote hunting efficiency, but the potential influence of land cover at large scales in the southeastern United States is underexplored. We investigated whether mortality risk was affected by landscape characteristics within fawn home ranges for a sample of 165 fawns on the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, 2007–2012. We monitored fawns every 8 hours to ≥4 weeks of age and 1–3 times daily to 12 weeks of age. We included only surviving or coyote-predated fawns in the dataset. The most supported model describing hazard ratios included the length of edge (i.e., area where 2 land cover types joined) in fawn home ranges. Probability of coyote predation increased 1.26 times for each 968-m decrease in edge within a fawn's simulated home range (29.1-ha circular buffer) under this model. Further, fawns with the least edge in their home ranges were >2 times more likely to be depredated by a coyote than fawns with the greatest edge availability. Support for other models was relatively low, but informative variables (e.g., mean patch fractal dimension, Shannon's diversity index, mean forest patch size) supported a general trend that as fawn home ranges became more homogeneous and contained larger patches with less edge and fewer cover types, predation risk increased. These findings are consistent with similar work in the midwestern United States, despite landscape differences between regions. The combined weight of evidence suggests maintenance of a heterogeneous landscape consisting of relatively small dispersed patches may reduce fawn losses to coyotes. This information may also be used to identify areas susceptible to greater fawn predation rates across large spatial scales. However, the relatively long forestry rotation lengths and large scale of consistent forest management on the SRS are uncommon in the southeastern United States and the mechanism for the pattern we observed is unclear. Therefore, our results may not be applicable to sites with different forest management practices. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.


An experimental study of the vibratory deformation of the human vocal folds was conducted. Experiments were performed using model vocal folds [1, 2], Fig. 1, made of silicone rubber implemented into an air supply system, Fig. 2. The material used to cast the model is an isotropic homogeneous material, [3] with a tangent modulus E=5 kPa at e = 0, i.e. elastic properties similar to those of the human vocal fold cover [4]. The advantages of the use of model larynx systems over the use of excised larynges include easy accessibility to fundamental studies of the vocal fold vibration without invasive testing. Acoustic analysis of voice or electroglottography provide certain insight into voice production processes but optical techniques for the study of vocal fold vibrations have drawn considerable attention. Videoendoscopy, stroboscopy, high-speed photography, and kymography have shown to provide a visual impression of vocal fold dynamics but are limited in providing insight into the fundamental deformation processes of the vocal folds. Quantitative measures of deformation have been conducted through micro-suture techniques but are invasive and allows for measurements of only view image points. Laser triangulation is non-invasive but is limited to only one local measurement point. Here, digital image correlation technique with the software VIC 3D [5] is applied. For the experimental set-up see Fig. 2. The analysis consists of (1) stereo correlation to obtain in-plane displacements and (2) stereo triangulation step to obtain out-of-plane deformation. For the stereo correlation images of the object at two different stages of deformation are compared. A point in the image of the undeformed object is matched with the corresponding point in the deformed stage. "Subsets" of digital images are traced via their gray value distribution from the undeformed reference image to the deformed image. The uniqueness of the matching is enabled by the creation of a speckle pattern on the object's surface. Here, a white pigment is mixed into the silicone rubber and subsequently black enamel paint is sprayed onto the superior surface of the vocal folds. The stereo triangulation requires two images of the object at each stage of deformation. These are obtained in a single CCD frame by placing a beam splitter in the optical axis between camera and object. These images provide a "left" and "right" view of the model larynx. Thus, the deformed shape of the vocal folds can be obtained. The method allows for noninvasive measurement of the full-field displacement fields. Images of the superior surface of the model larynx are obtained by the use of a high speed digital camera with a frame rate of 3000 frames per second allowing for more than 30 image frames for each vibration cycle. For the 3D digital image correlation analysis two images of the object are obtained for each time instance as a beam splitter is placed in the optical axis between the camera and the model larynx. Phonation frequencies and onset pressure are given in Fig. 3, showing that the model larynx behavior is close to actual physiological data. Figs 4(a) and (b) provide superior views of the model larynx at maximum glottal opening and at glottal closure, respectively. As one example of measured strain fields, Figs 5(a) and (b) depict the distributions of the transverse strain component, on the glottal surface in a contour plot on the deformed superior surface. The knowledge of the distribution of this strain component is relevant to the assessment of the impact of vocal fold collision on potential tissue damage. In the position of maximum opening the vocal folds are deformed by a combination of a bulging-type deformation and the opening movement. At this time instance, the transverse strains at the medial surface are found to be negative, an indication of Poisson's deformation. During the closing stage, vocal folds collide and simultaneously a mode 3 vibration pattern emerges. Closure of the glottal opening is not complete and two incomplete closure areas are formed during the closure stage. These open areas are located at the anterior and posterior ends of the model larynx, see Fig. 4(b). The finding of this type of incomplete closure is agreement with both actual glottal measurements [6] and 3D finite element simulations of [7]. Transverse strains during that stage are now positive and considerably larger that during the opening stage. Finally, Fig. 6 depicts the time evolution of the out of plane displacements along the medial surface for the closing phase and Fig. 7 depicts the maximum values of the longitudinal strain (at the coronal section of the medial surface) in dependence of the flow rate. These examples of measurements indicate that the DIC method is promising for studies of vocal fold dynamics.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


Background Marginalized groups are more likely to experience problems with technology-related access, motivation, and skills. This is known as the "digital divide." Technology-related exclusion is a potential barrier to the equitable implementation of digital health. SlowMo therapy was developed with an inclusive, human-centered design to optimize accessibility and bridge the "digital divide." SlowMo is an effective, blended digital psychological therapy for paranoia in psychosis. Objective This study explores the "digital divide" and mobile app engagement in the SlowMo randomized controlled trial. Methods Digital literacy was assessed at baseline, and a multidimensional assessment of engagement (ie, adherence [via system analytics and self-report] and self-reported user experience) was conducted at 12 weeks after therapy. Engagement was investigated in relation to demographics (ie, gender, age, ethnicity, and paranoia severity). Results Digital literacy data demonstrated that technology use and confidence were lower in Black people and older people (n=168). The engagement findings indicated that 80.7% (96/119) of therapy completers met the a priori analytics adherence criteria. However, analytics adherence did not differ by demographics. High rates of user experience were reported overall (overall score: mean 75%, SD 17.1%; n=82). No differences in user experience were found for ethnicity, age, or paranoia severity, although self-reported app use, enjoyment, and usefulness were higher in women than in men. Conclusions This study identified technology-related inequalities related to age and ethnicity, which did not influence engagement with SlowMo, suggesting that the therapy design bridged the "digital divide." Intervention design may moderate the influence of individual differences on engagement. We recommend the adoption of inclusive, human-centered design to reduce the impact of the "digital divide" on therapy outcomes. Trial Registration ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN32448671; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN32448671


Chordate Origins and Evolution: The Molecular Evolutionary Road to Vertebrates focuses on echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins, and others), hemichordates (acorn worms, etc.), cephalochordates (lancelets), urochordates or tunicates (ascidians, larvaceans and others), and vertebrates. In general, evolution of these groups is discussed independently, on a larger scale: ambulacrarians (echi+hemi) and chordates (cephlo+uro+vert). Until now, discussion of these topics has been somewhat fragmented, and this work provides a unified presentation of the essential information. In the more than 150 years since Charles Darwin proposed the concept of the origin of species by means of natural selection, which has profoundly affected all fields of biology and medicine, the evolution of animals (metazoans) has been studied, discussed, and debated extensively. Following many decades of classical comparative morphology and embryology, the 1980s marked a turning point in studies of animal evolution, when molecular biological approaches, including molecular phylogeny (MP), molecular evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), and comparative genomics (CG), began to be employed. There are at least five key events in metazoan evolution, which include the origins of 1) diploblastic animals, such as cnidarians; 2) triploblastic animals or bilaterians; 3) protostomes and deuterostomes; 4) chordates, among deuterostomes; and 5) vertebrates, among chordates. The last two have received special attention in relation to evolution of human beings. During the past two decades, great advances have been made in this field, especially in regard to molecular and developmental mechanisms involved in the evolution of chordates. For example, the interpretation of phylogenetic relationships among deuterostomes has drastically changed. In addition, we have now obtained a large quantity of MP, evo-devo, and CG information on the origin and evolution of chordates.Covers the most significant advances in this field to give readers an understanding of the interesting biological issues involvedProvides a unified presentation of essential information regarding each phylum and an integrative understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in the origin and evolution of chordatesDiscusses the evolutionary scenario of chordates based on two major characteristic features of animals?namely modes of feeding (energy sources) and reproduction?as the two main forces driving animal evolution and benefiting dialogue for future studies of animal evolution


Recent changes in retirement trends and patterns have raised questions about the likely retirement behavior of baby boomers, the large cohort born between 1946 and 1964. This study compares the retirement expectations of workers ages 51 to 56 in 2004 (who were born between 1948 and 1953, the leading edge of the baby boom) and 1992 (born between 1936 and 1941). Data come from the Health and Retirement Study. Work expectations increased significantly over the period. Between 1992 and 2004, the mean expected probability of working full-time past age 62 among workers ages 51 to 56 increased from 47 percent to 51 percent. The increase was even more rapid for the expected mean probability of full-time work after age 65, which grew from 27 percent to about 33 percent over the period. Controlling for other factors, self employment, education, and earnings increased work expectations at older ages, while defined benefit pension coverage, employer-sponsored retiree health benefits, and household wealth reduced expectations. Lower rates of retiree health insurance offers from employers, higher levels of educational attainment, and lower rates of defined benefit pension coverage accounted for most of the increase between 1992 and 2004 in expected work probabilities after ages 62 and 65. These trends suggest that the boomers will remain at work longer than the previous generation. The recent uptick in average retirement ages appears to be the leading edge of a new long-term trend. Lengthier careers will likely promote economic growth, increase government revenue, and improve individual financial security at older ages.


Food security is an issue of global concern recognized by numerous international and national agencies. It has been mentioned over twenty times in the Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want. It is recognized as an essential human security by the World Health Organization Commission for Human Security and as a social determinant of health. Food security agendas are enacted in many places locally to globally. Media are to inform the public on issues of importance for the public. Disabled people are part of the public and disabled people are one group experiencing over proportional levels of food insecurity. We investigated the food security coverage of various newspapers through a disability studies lens. To obtain quantitative data on the visibility of disabled people and other groups in the food security discourse the following newspapers were investigated: The Globe and Mail (Canada), National Post (Canada), Calgary Herald (Canada), New York Times (USA), The Guardian (UK), The Times (UK), and the Canadian Newsstand complete, a collection of 300 Canadian newspapers. Quantitative and qualitative data on what food security issues were reported was obtained from The Globe and Mail (Canada), Calgary Herald (Canada) and the New York Times (USA). We discuss how issues reported around food security are influenced by disabled people and how they could impact disabled people. We found very little to no mentioning of disabled people within food security coverage. Our data also reveals the absence of coverage of other socially disadvantaged groups such as indigenous people and immigrants and a lack of a human rights or ethics angle. We posit that many of the food security problems mentioned are of relevance to and experienced by disabled people and other socially disadvantaged groups such as indigenous people and immigrants however the reader won't make the linkage by reading the newspapers we investigated. We conclude that the utility of the newspapers covered in advancing food security for disabled people and other socially disadvantaged groups is very low.


For decades, the use of vouchers has been widely debated. But often lost in the heat of debate is the fact that vouchers are just another tool in the government's tool chest, a restricted subsidy that falls somewhere between the extremes of cash and direct government provision of services. The instrument itself is not new --the 1944 GI Bill of Rights was a voucher, and vouchers for food, college aid, and housing have been in place for decades. Until now, however, the study of vouchers has been restricted to a few controversial applications. This volume, which grew out of a conference sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, and the Committee for Economic Development, fills the gap, offering a framework for comparative analysis of specific policy issues related to vouchers. Its 16 essays address the economics, politics, and legal issues of voucher use and explore how vouchers are currently employed in the United States and abroad for education, child care, job training, housing, and health care. C. Eugene Steuerle is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and has worked under four different U.S. presidents on a variety of reform issues in such areas as social security, budget, tax, and health policy. Robert D. Reischauer, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995. George Peterson is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute; from 1976 to 1985 he directed the Institute's Public Finance Research Center. Van Doorn Ooms, senior vice president and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development, was formerly executive director for policy and chief economist of the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, 1989-1990, and was the Budget Committee's chief economist from 1981 to 1988.


Technology has played an important role supporting education. Well-known paradigms like e-learning and m-learning have been revolutionizing traditional concepts of learning, which due to ubiquitous computing characteristics became closer to students. In this paper we approach the concept of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and their potential to improve the quality of teaching and learning in elementary education. WSNs are the ultimate interface between the students and the context, enhancing the interactivity with the learners' real context and consequently improving the acquisition and construction of knowledge. We also present uMove2Learn, a WSNs solution designed to assist learners and teachers in their daily activities.


We develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. Starting from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods, we show that the best-case scenarios hold when technology and social capital both support just one of the two productions at the expenses of the other. However, trajectories are possible where technology and social interaction balance one another in fostering the growth of both the social and the private sector of the economy. Along such tracks, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a "socially sustainable" economic growth.


Economic resilience is a rising topic in the field of economics. Although there is no standard definition, most literature suggests that the concept of regional economic resilience converged to encapsulate a region's ability to resist, recover from, and restructure itself after an economic or environmental shock. There are a multitude of methods in the literature used to measure economic resilience. All of these methods utilize either GDP, employment, or a combination of both. While both GDP and employment cycles are powerful tools for measuring the impact of a recession on an economy, they measure vastly different things and neither fully captures economic wellbeing. This work uses a lagged fixed-effect regression model to examine the recovery of both Employment and GDP from the 2008/2009 recession. By including economic, socio-economic, and industrial measures in the model we are able to show which impact resilience in terms of employment and output. With a strengthened understanding of a region's ability to withstand and recover from economic shocks, policy makers can better prepare for future recessions.


The "great recession" has affected labor markets in Euro-area countries in very different ways. This chapter documents two important aspects of their response: the impact effect of the recession on the rate of unemployment, and the persistence of high unemployment. We find that countries lie on a trade-off between "resilience" and "persistence": countries where the rate of unemployment is less affected on impact by output shocks (resilience) typically show higher unemployment persistence. We investigate the role of labor and product market institutions, and find evidence that more protected markets are associated to more resilience at the expense of more persistence. This suggests that implementing front loaded "structural reforms" at times of a fiscal consolidation, as many Southern European countries did during the recent crisis, may foster the rise in unemployment and possibly undermine the political support for the reforms. When we estimate the contribution of product and labor market reforms to the rise of unemployment in Southern Europe, however, we find positive, but relatively small effects that are quickly reversed.


The objective of this study was to investigate whether a tipping point exists in the calcification responses of coral reef calcifiers to CO2. We compared the effects of six partial pressures of CO2 (PCO2) from 28 Pa to 210 Pa on the net calcification of four corals (Acropora pulchra, Porites rus, Pocillopora damicornis, and Pavona cactus), and four calcified algae (Hydrolithon onkodes, Lithophyllum flavescens, Halimeda macroloba, and Halimeda minima). After 2 weeks of acclimation in a common environment, organisms were incubated in 12 aquaria for 2 weeks at the targeted PCO2 levels and net calcification was quantified. All eight species calcified at the highest PCO2 in which the calcium carbonate aragonite saturation state was ∼1. Calcification decreased linearly as a function of increasing partial PCO2 in three corals and three algae. Overall, the decrease in net calcification as a function of decreasing pH was ∼10% when ambient PCO2 (39 Pa) was doubled. The calcification responses of P. damicornis and H. macroloba were unaffected by increasing PCO2. These results are inconsistent with the notion that coral reefs will be affected by rising PCO2 in a response characterized by a tipping point. Instead, our findings combined among taxa suggest a gradual decline in calcification will occur, but this general response includes specific cases of complete resistance to rising PCO2. Together our results suggest that the overall response of coral reef communities to ocean acidification will be monotonic and inversely proportional to PCO2, with reef‐wide responses dependent on the species composition of calcifying taxa.


Over the last twenty years, a wide variety of resources have been developed to address the rights and licensing problems inherent with contemporary data sharing practices. The landscape of developments is this area is increasingly confusing and difficult to navigate, due to the complexity of intellectual property and ethics issues associated with sharing sensitive data. This paper seeks to address this challenge, examining the landscape and presenting a Version 1.0 directory of resources. A multi-method study was pursued, with an environmental scan examining 20 resources, resulting in three high-level categories: standards, tools, and community initiatives; and a content analysis revealing the subcategories of rights, licensing, metadata & ontologies. A timeline confirms a shift in licensing standardization priorities from open data to more nuanced and technologically robust solutions, over time, to accommodate for more sensitive data types. This paper reports on the research undertaking, and comments on the potential for using license-specific metadata supplements and developing data-centric rights and licensing ontologies.


We demonstrate the derivation of fine-grained where- and why-provenance for a rich dialect of SQL that includes recursion, (correlated) subqueries, windows, grouping/aggregation, and the RDBMS's library of built-in functions. The approach relies on ideas that originate in the programming language community---program slicing and abstract interpretation, in particular. A two-stage process first records a query's control flow decisions and locations of data access before it derives provenance without consultation of the actual data values (rendering the method largely "value-less"). We will bring an interactive demonstrator that uses this provenance information to make input/output dependencies in real-world SQL queries tangible.


ABSTRACT Shell disease in Crustacea is a widely recognized syndrome having a polymicrobial etiology, and manifesting itself as lesions of the shell with a variable structure and shell location. We characterized major members of bacterial communities in epizootic shell disease lesions of the American lobster (Homarus americanus, Milne Edwards) and compared these communities with the ones found in study cases of impoundment and enzootic shell disease. Bacteria belonging to several Flavobacteriaceae genera (Aquimarina, Tenacibaculum, Polaribacter, Maribacter, Cellulophaga) within the phylum Bacteroidetes appear to have particular attraction to lobster lesions. The most prominent Bacteroidetes in lobster lesions were representatives of the genus Aquimarina sp., but only Aquimarina 'homaria' was detected in all analyzed lesions of epizootic, impoundment, and enzootic shell disease. It was found on 45% of surfaces unaffected by shell disease, but in smaller numbers compared with lesions. Alphaproteobacteria represent the most diverse class of proteobacteria found in both lesions and on unaffected surfaces. Three bacteria of this class appear to be ubiquitous in shell disease lesions, but only one specific alphaproteobacterium tentatively assigned to the genus Thalassobius (herein designated as 'Thalassobius' sp.) was present in all analyzed lesions of epizootic, impoundment, and enzootic shell disease. A ubiquitous gammaproteobacterium called 'Candidatus Homarophilus dermatus' was also prevalent in lesions, but just as commonly it was associated with surfaces unaffected by shell disease. The bacteria A. 'homaria' and 'Thalassobius' sp. are dominant and appear obligatory in lobster shell lesions, and are only occasionally detected on unaffected surfaces, which serve as intermediate reservoirs for the two potential pathogens. Therefore, these two bacteria stand out as potential shell-disease pathogens.


A 70-year-old woman presented with increasing weakness and fatigue over 4 years. She had suffered motor problems from birth with hypotonia and delayed motor milestones. She walked abnormally in childhood but appeared to show some improvement at the age of 10 years, remaining ambulant throughout her life. She was seen by an eminent neurologist at the age of 15 years who documented a waddling gait, and after investigation she was given a diagnosis of "amyotonia congenita". At the age of 43 years she was reviewed; there had been no significant progression but she reported being intermittently worse during menstruation. Examination at that point revealed mild weakness of eye closure, mild right-sided ptosis, weakness and some wasting of the periscapular muscles and hip flexors. Investigations revealed mildly raised serum creatine kinase (CK) level (twice normal) and a myopathic electromyogram (EMG). Mild fibre hypertrophy and absence of type 2B fibres were noted on muscle biopsy and she was thought to have a form of congenital myopathy.

However, from the age of 66 years she had increasing difficulty climbing stairs and could only walk for 60 m. She was unable to lift heavy objects or use her arms above her head, she had difficulty holding her head up, occasional choking and breathlessness on exertion and when lying flat. Examination revealed bilateral ptosis with little fatigability (fig 1), mild facial and neck weakness, and her tongue was weak and had a central furrow. There was no ophthalmoplegia. She had marked shoulder girdle weakness with some wasting and scapular winging. There was also marked weakness around the pelvic girdle; she walked with a waddling lordotic posture, was just about able to get out of a chair without using her arms and she could stand on her heels and toes. Her vital capacity was 80% of …


Splendor and Pageantry is a volume of pleasant heft which focuses on two key elements: the titled splendor of these magnificent textiles, and the unknown yet extraordinary women who created them. Showcasing centuries of intricate and devoutly wondrous needlework, the book offers a fascinating chronicle of—as its publisher's preface states—how generations of Armenian female artisans "embroidered their love and religious zeal into objects of great beauty." By the end of the nineteenth century, Istanbul's Armenian population had become an integral part of the capital city. Following the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the Armenians of Istanbul prospered from a small group to a well-formed community, within which was a network of fifty-five Armenian Orthodox churches and a central cathedral. The end of the Ottoman empire in 1923 along with other resulting turmoil took its toll on this unique infrastructure, however, with both social and religious consequences. With the cooperation of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Professors Ronald T. Marchese (University of Minnesota) and Marlene R. Breu (Western Michigan University) have brought Istanbul's Armenian Orthodox sacred textiles to light, in a work featuring over 170 fine color photographs, background history, and a survey of various churches. While the men of bygone Armenian Istanbul were of all classes, from noble to merchant to trade and labor, the women of the families found community and expression in depictions of such holy subjects as the Virgin Mary, the life of Christ, the Magi and various saints. Utilizing materials like copper, gold, and silver thread and wire, along with human hair, jewels and silk, these wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts stitched Bible covers, chalice veils, altar curtains, mitres, and other vestments with such skill and attention to detail that their efforts soon became revered as the "Constantinople Style" of religious embroidery. Splendor and Pageantry: Textile Treasures from the Armenian Orthodox Churches of Istanbul offers a singular survey of the culture of the times and the textiles produced, including the sensual and natural imagery of the pieces to an actual list of ingredients found in the Holy Myron Oil (saffron, sweet violet, and rose water, to name a few) used to consecrate them. For textile lovers or creators, the book will surely be an inspiration—and for those of Armenian heritage, the work will be a true pageant of talent, legacy, and reverence. MEG NOLA (June 9, 2011)


Ration shop systems allow households to purchase limited quantities of some commodities at a fixed subsidized price and are in widespread use throughout the developing world. I construct a model of piece-wise increasing commodity taxation to consider whether the use of ration shops can be rationalized by the characteristics of developing countries: limited government capacity to observe household incomes and high commodity price risk. I find that an efficiency-maximizing government will never use ration shops but a welfare-maximizing one might, to redistribute and provide insurance. Welfare gains from introducing ration shops are highest for necessity goods with high price risk. Calibration results for India suggest that ration shops are welfare-improving relative to a universal transfer scheme for three of the four goods sold through the system today. Welfare gains are wiped out however once more than 6% of the funds allocated to ration shops are lost to corruption or administrative costs.


The support systems for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) at mass gatherings, such as the local marathon or large international baseball games, are underdeveloped. The purposes of this study were to extend well-developed, triage-based, EMS Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) support systems to cover pre-hospital emergency medical services and onsite evaluation forms for the mass gatherings, and to evaluate users ' perceived ease of use and usefulness of the systems in terms of Davis ' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The systems were developed based on an established intelligent triage PDA support system and two other forms the general EMS form from the Taipei EMT and the customer-made Mass Gathering Medical form used by a medical center. Twenty-three nurses and six physicians in the medical center, who had served at mass gatherings, were invited to examine the new systems and answer the TAM questionnaire. The PDA systems were composed of 450 information items within 42 screens in 6 categories. The results supported the potential for using triage-based PDA systems at mass gatherings. Overall, most of the subjects agreed that the systems were easy to use and useful for mass gatherings, and they were willing to accept the systems.


Rising food prices cause considerable policy dilemmas for developing country governments. Letting domestic prices adjust to reflect the full change in international prices generates inflationary pressures and causes severe hardship for poor households lacking access to social safety nets. Alternatively, governments can use food subsidies or export restrictions to stabilize domestic prices, yet this exacerbates global food price increases and undermines a rules-based trading system. The recent episode shows that many countries chose to shift the burden of adjustment back to international markets. The use of corn and oilseed for the production of biofuel will result in a recurrence of such episodes in the foreseeable future.


INTRODUCTION By far the most widely available computer programs for recording, manipulating, and displaying numerical data are spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel™ and Lotus 1-2-3™. These are powerful and flexible tools and for most workers this is an obvious way of recording micropalaeontological data. However, they have been primarily produced for business users and have limited abilities when it comes to plotting scientific graphs. This note describes some indirect but rapid methods, for using the standard graphing tools in such packages, to produce additional types of graphs of value to micropalaeontologists. STACKED HISTOGRAM CHARTS Figure 1 is a stacked histogram chart, produced in Microsoft Excel™. This type of diagram is useful, for instance, in displaying variations in size of a species between samples through a section. Stacked histogram charts are not directly supported by any spreadsheets that I have seen. As a result, they can usually only be produced by rather inefficient techniques. For example, making a separate chart for each sample and then combining them in a graphics program. The indirect approach used here is to separate each true data series with a mirror image padding data series, which is not displayed. The entire diagram is then plotted as a single chart. The steps for doing this are: (1) Enter the data (specimens per size class) in a spreadsheet (samples v. size classes). (2) Between each pair of data columns insert a column with equations which will calculate mirror image padding data. These will have the form C3 = . . .


Given one month to produce a weeding list of 4,000-5,000 monographs, librarians at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado developed a plan to make quick assessments while minimizing mistakes and protecting key works in the collection. The innovative process, utilizing keyword filtering and color coding in Microsoft Excel, could prove valuable to any library with limited staffing for weeding. Though the process is not suggested to replace ongoing deselection in collaboration with faculty, the method can be used to create focused weed lists to save valuable staff time.


Ensuring the integrity of embedded programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is critical for safe operation of industrial con-trol systems. In particular, a cyber-attack could manipulatecontrol logic running on the PLCs to bring the process ofsafety-critical application into unsafe states. Unfortunately,PLCs are typically not equipped with hardware support thatallows the use of techniques such as remote attestation to ver-ify the integrity of the logic code. In addition, so far remoteattestation is not able to verify the integrity of the physicalprocess controlled by the PLC.In this work, we present PAtt, a system that combines re-mote software attestation with control process validation. PAttleverages operation permutations—subtle changes in the op-eration sequences based on integrity measurements—whichdo not affect the physical process but yield unique traces ofsensor readings during execution. By encoding integrity mea-surements of the PLC's memory state (software and data) intoits control operation, our system allows to remotely verifythe integrity of the control logic based on the resulting sensortraces. We implement the proposed system on a real PLCcontrolling a robot arm, and demonstrate its feasibility. Ourimplementation enables the detection of attackers that ma-nipulate the PLC logic to change process state and/or reportspoofed sensor readings (with an accuracy of 97% againsttested attacks).


Since July 2015, the University of Houston (UH) Libraries Metadata and Digitization Services (MDS) Metadata Unit in collaboration with the UH Libraries Digital Repository Services (DRS) department has been working towards the goal of improving the quality of legacy Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) metadata in the UH Institutional Repository. In addition to standardizing the metadata for internal purposes, this effort, known as the ETD Metadata Upgrade Project, will align UH ETD metadata with the newest Dictionary of Texas Digital Library  Descriptive Metadata for Electronic Theses and Dissertations . The Texas Digital Library (TDL) is a consortium of higher education institutions in Texas that provides shared services in support of research, teaching, and the advancement of scholarship. It facilitates collaboration among the TDL community and with external partners. By bringing the University of Houston's ETD metadata into compliance with TDL guidelines, the connection to other TDL member institutions is strengthened and the Libraries are better positioned to take advantage of ETD system developments. This presentation will describe the background of this project, the procedures that have been developed, the tools used in the work, and plans for future work. Presenters will share how they wrangled and revised legacy ETD metadata exported from the Libraries' TDL-hosted DSpace and Vireo instances using Microsoft Access and Open Refine. They will detail how they addressed challenges presented by particular fields - such as standardizing advisor, committee member, department, and degree discipline names - and how they intend to re-import the cleaned data into DSpace.  The team will also share strategies for project communication, documentation, and task management using Basecamp and PmWiki. Finally, presenters will share goals of further streamlining and automating ongoing metadata remediation, deploying a local RDF vocabulary management system to aid in name and department standardization, and exploring the publication of ETD metadata as linked data. Overall, these strategies and tools have improved the ETD metadata quality and workflows, strengthened the communication and collaboration between the DRS department and the MDS Metadata Unit, and given insight into opportunities for future development. This presentation will be useful for libraries and information centers that have similar ETD goals. Session attendees will come away with techniques to address ETD metadata maintenance needs for their digital repositories.


We study the L2-convergence of two types of ergodic averages. The first is the average of a product of functions evaluated at return times along arithmetic progressions, such as the expressions appearing in Furstenberg?fs proof of Szemer?Ledi?fs theorem. The second average is taken along cubes whose sizes tend to +??. For each average, we show that it is sufficient to prove the convergence for special systems, the characteristic factors. We build these factors in a general way, independent of the type of the average. To each of these factors we associate a natural group of transformations and give them the structure of a nilmanifold. From the second convergence result we derive a combinatorial interpretation for the arithmetic structure inside a set of integers of positive upper density.


No country exists in isolation, and as developing countries like Nigeria aspire to 'international' standards of accountability and governance suited to the developed economies, they are confronted with the reality that it is difficult to separate the sociocultural context in which they operate from the external pressures to conform. This literature review provides deep insights into the developments in corporate governance and accountability in Nigeria, and in particular the influence of internal and external factors. While the extant literature suggests that the lack of corporate governance structures limits improvements in developing economies, we argue that the appropriateness, and the effectiveness of regulatory compliance systems explains corporate governance infractions in the country. We contribute to comparative corporate governance discourse, presenting important implications for key players in corporate governance development and monitoring, across global polity and practice.


Use of the web today, particularly amongst young people, is now more social and participative. Collectively known as Web 2.0, freely available tools have emerged that facilitate communication, user-generated content and social connectivity. Facebook and MySpace have become the most popular forms of this kind of online activity and networks are formed around all kind of interest and issues whether they are political, educational, professional or hobbies. In a recent survey of 500 students, 80% claimed that they regularly use social networking tools to communicate with peers (JISC, 2008). This pervasive use of Web 2.0 technology for everyday interaction has yet to see its potential fully recognised and integrated into Higher Education pedagogy. Despite 73% of students using such tools to 'discuss coursework' and 75% of these students recognising their value for enhancing learning, only 25% were encouraged to use such social software by academic staff (JISC, 2008). This raises the question as to whether Web 2.0 technology can promote social learning within educational contexts and how this might be realised in practice . In a bid to harness this creativity, energy and sociability, the Academic Skills Tutors (ASTs) at the University of Huddersfield have been exploring Web 2.0 technologies to investigate how such tools might enhance teaching and learning. This paper introduces practical examples of social software tools; how these are currently used to foster learning communities and promote academic development . Three distinct social software tools are discussed (del.icio.us, PBwiki - now PBworks - and Ning), illustrating current use of these with students and their initial evaluation.


Fecal samples from 131 cattle clinically suspect for paratuberculosis were cultured bacteriologically, using the traditional sedimentation processing method and a processing method that included a centrifugation step. Of 16 samples that were contaminated, 6 were culture-positive on at least 1 medium and by 1 processing method. Ten of 131 (7.6%) fecal samples processed by both methods were lost because of contamination. The number of culture-positive samples (using both processing methods) were 65 of 121 (53.7%) on media without miconazole and 60 of 121 (49.6%) on media with miconazole. Seven of the 121 (5.8%) samples were culture-positive, using centrifugation, after 16 weeks' incubation at 37 C. Thirteen of 60 (21.7%) isolates were obtained only with centrifugation, and 10 of these had low colony counts, suggesting that a centrifugation step may have concentrated microorganisms that would have gone undetected without centrifugation. Six of 60 (10%) isolates positive for M paratuberculosis on the sedimentation method were negative on the centrifugation method. Contamination rates were significantly (P less than 0.001) increased when centrifugation was used. The miconazole significantly (P less than 0.001) decreased contamination rates when centrifugation was used.


A fundamental principle of learning is that predictive cues or signals compete with each other to gain control over behavior. Associative and propositional reasoning theories of learning provide radically different accounts of cue competition. Propositional accounts predict that under conditions that do not afford or warrant the use of higher order reasoning processes, cue competition should not be observed. We tested this prediction in 2 contextual cuing experiments, using a visual search task in which patterns of distractor elements predict the location of a target object. Blocking designs were used in which 2 sets of predictive distractors were trained in compound, with 1 set trained independently. There was no evidence of cue competition in either experiment. In fact, in Experiment 2, we found evidence for augmentation of learning. The findings are contrasted with the predictions of an error-driven associative model of contextual cuing (Brady & Chun, 2007).


This paper traces the development of U.S.-Korean negotiations on exchange rates in the second half of the 1980s. Background on Korea's foreign exchange control system is provided, including the evolution of its exchange rate determination mechanisms from 1945 to the current period. The U.S. Congress' rationale for including exchange rates in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, the U.S. Treasury's Reports to Congress, and the results of the U.S. Treasury's negotiations with Korea on exchange rate "manipulation" are examined. ; Korea's current account surpluses emerged at a time when the United States was experiencing record current account deficits, in part due to the rapid appreciation of the dollar in the first half of the 1980s. The fact that the dollar subsequently depreciated against the United. States' industrial-country trading partners but moved little against the currencies of the NIEs prompted the U.S. Congress to examine the exchange rate policies of those economies. Under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, Korea and Taiwan were cited in 1988 as "manipulating" their currencies for "unfair" trade gain. With the implementation of the market average-rate system in March 1990, Korea was removed from Treasury's list of exchange rate manipulators. However, the Treasury has complained that even though Korea does not directly manipulate the won within the meaning of the Exchange Rates Act, pervasive capital controls limit potential exchange rate movements and may be used to "manipulate" the value of the won indirectly.