The potential for identifying aircraft using one or more radar range profiles, in conjunction with a correlator, is investigated. Two types of filter which maximize the expected value of certain correlation peaks are described. The effectiveness of one type of filter was investigated in identification experiments using an extensive data set of real radar range profiles of 24 different aircraft. The results suggest that reliable identification is possible provided aircraft aspect information is used and identifications are based on multiple profiles. >


In this paper we follow the students that took the PISA 2012 test in Switzerland and analyze their transition into and progress in upper-secondary education. We observe a substantive difference in the rate of progress between natives and students with a migration background. One year after leaving compulsory school, the gap between the natives and migrants that are on-track - entering the second year of upper-secondary education - is 15 percentage points. Observable differences in cognitive and non-cognitive skills can explain the gap in the success rate within upper-secondary education, but cannot fully explain the difference in the transition rate into upper-secondary education. More refined analyses present results that are consistent with the hypotheses of differences in tastes, aspirations and incomplete or inaccurate information about the education system explaining the gap in the transition into post-compulsory education.


This report presents estimates of the size and characteristics of the resident nonimmigrant population in the United States. The estimates are daily averages for the 12-month period centered on January 1, 2012. In this report, the term resident nonimmigrant refers to foreign nationals who are legally admitted into the United States for specific, temporary purposes and whose classes of admission are associated with residency (e.g., students and temporary workers, as opposed to tourists and business travelers). The characteristics analyzed include category of admission, country of citizenship, age, sex, and destination state. The estimates are derived from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) administrative records of nonimmigrant arrivals and departures.


Pedestrians follow different trajectories to avoid obstacles and accommodate fellow pedestrians. Any autonomous vehicle navigating such a scene should be able to foresee the future positions of pedestrians and accordingly adjust its path to avoid collisions. This problem of trajectory prediction can be viewed as a sequence generation task, where we are interested in predicting the future trajectory of people based on their past positions. Following the recent success of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) models for sequence prediction tasks, we propose an LSTM model which can learn general human movement and predict their future trajectories. This is in contrast to traditional approaches which use hand-crafted functions such as Social forces. We demonstrate the performance of our method on several public datasets. Our model outperforms state-of-the-art methods on some of these datasets. We also analyze the trajectories predicted by our model to demonstrate the motion behaviour learned by our model.


In fisheries management, assessing year-class strength and recruitment to commercial stocks is essential, but can be difficult to do for fish species where the young stages are inaccessible to ship-based surveys. This is true for the northeast Arctic saithe Pollachius virens, where the juveniles spend their first years in coastal kelp forests and therefore cannot be assessed before they enter the pelagic stock at 3 yr of age. However, as top predators in marine ecosystems, coastal seabirds might prey on the same cohort 2−3 yr earlier. Long-term studies of European shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis at a colony in central Norway have revealed strong links between the birds' breeding performance and the availability of 0 and 1 yr old saithe in their diet. Following this, we wanted to explore if shag diet can be used as an early indicator of saithe recruitment by comparing it with abundance indices obtained by fisheries research. Our results indicate that the occurrence of 0 yr old saithe in the shag diet is a poor predictor of saithe recruitment 3 yr later. However, both the preand post-hatch biomass and the number and frequency of occurrence of 1 yr old saithe show a strong positive relationship with indices obtained from scientific surveys 2 yr later, indicating that shag diet can be used as an early and reasonably reliable predictor of saithe recruitment. We suggest implementing the occurrence of 1 yr old saithe in the shag diet as a supplementary tool for an adaptive management of the fisheries on young saithe.


This study examines trends in total and per capita food crop production, marketing and prices in Rwanda during the period 1970-1991. It gives special emphasis to dry beans. This study is also concerned with gaining more insights into rural household level dry bean transactions, and gaining a better understanding of the relative importance of rural bean imports through informal cross-border trade with Rwanda's neighboring countries. More specifically, the intent is to provide potential users and Rwandan policy makers with information on household dry bean transaction trends and other key market behavior indicators such as volume of bean sales, purchases, rural consumption and imports. Empirical analysis, using a national informal imports identity approach and data from the 1990 ENRD, leads to a major conclusion that Rwanda is increasingly a net importer of dry beans. It is also found that a large and growing majority (84%) of rural households are net purchasers of beans. Results of the analysis show also a decline in bean and overall calorie production on both per capita and total basis (from 8 major food crops studied) among households in the net buyer categories. Analysis undertaken to determine whether for a given household net sales position for one commodity are correlated with the net sales volume of other commodities shows relatively weak relationships at the national level, thus revealing some degree of specialization in sales. When analysis is conducted by selecting only households who are net sellers of beans, sweet potatoes or bananas and on agroclimatical zones basis, more insights are gained on the degree of specialization in sales at the household level. Bean production (coupled with overall food crop output) instability has led to year-to-year and monthly bean price fluctuations. This analysis tries to identify some of the factors responsible for such deviations from the typical seasonal pattern. Government officials and private sector managers involved in the bean subsector are under increasing pressure to adjust their policy decisions under different bean supply cenarios. This study provides potentially useful information about such issues and suggests possible public and private actions to be taken that could better facilitate the process of regional integration of dry bean markets in Rwanda and neighboring countries of Zaire, Uganda and Burundi.


Iapetus is a medium sized icy satellite of Saturn. It has two spectacular features: the equatorial ridge (ER) and the abnormally large flattening. The flattening is usually explained in terms of large non-hydrostatic fossil equatorial bulge (EB) supported by a thick lithosphere. Here we show, building on the principle of isostasy, that EB and ER could be a result of low density roots underlying the lithosphere below the equator. The low density matter formed the layer over the core of the satellite. Such situation was unstable. The instability led to origin of axially symmetric plumes that formed equatorial bulge and equatorial ridge. So, we explain both: EB and ER in the frame of one hypothesis.


We demonstrate a near-infrared electro-optic modulator with a bandwidth of 3 GHz and a V(pi)L figure of merit of 0.8 V-cm using a push-pull configuration. This is the highest operating speed achieved in a silicon-polymer hybrid system to date by several orders of magnitude. The modulator was fabricated from a silicon strip-loaded slot waveguide and clad in a nonlinear polymer. In this geometry, the electrodes form parts of the waveguide, and the modulator driving voltage drops across a 200 nm slot.


In India, Trichosanthes dioica is known as pointed gourd (in English), parwal (in Hindi) and potol (in Oriya) it is distributed in equatorial and subtropical regions and widely found in northern India. The present study is a unique example of interdisciplinary research as it deals not only with the phytochemical investigation of Trichosanthes dioica, using natural product technology but also correlates the presence of certain trace elements with its biological activities using Laser induced break down Spectroscopy (LIBS). The study reveals the isolation of one known and two unknown flavonoids and the presence of certain glycemic elements, responsible for the observed antidiabetic activity of Trichosanthes dioica. Hence, the presence of isolated flavonoids and trace elements can be very well correlated with its medicinal value. Copyright © 2010 VBRI press.


Magnetometry and neutron scattering have been used to study the magnetic properties of pressure-graded Co/Pd multilayers. The grading of the multilayer structure was done by varying the deposition pressure during sputtering of the samples. Magnetic depth profiling by polarized neutron reflectometry directly shows that for pressure-graded samples, the magnetization changes significantly from one pressure region to the next, while control samples sputtered at uniform pressure exhibit essentially uniform magnetic depth profiles. Complementary magnetometry results suggest that the observed graded magnetic profiles are due in part to a decrease in saturation magnetization for regions deposited at progressively higher pressure. Increased deposition pressure is shown to increase coercivity, and for graded samples, the absence of discrete steps in the hysteresis loops implies exchange coupling among regions deposited at different pressures.


Petroleum refining is a chemical process in which the raw material (crude oil) is converted to finished commercial products for end users. The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit is a key asset in refineries, requiring optimised processes in the context of engineering design. Following the first stage of separation of crude oil in a distillation tower, an additional 40 per cent quantity is attainable in the gasoline pool with further conversion of the downgraded product of crude oil (residue from the distillation tower) using a catalyst in the FCC process. Effective removal of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon and heavy metals from FCC gasoline requires greater separation efficiency and involves an enormous environmental significance. The FCC unit is primarily a reactor and regeneration system which employs cyclone systems for separation. Catalyst losses in FCC cyclones lead to high particulate matter emission on the regenerator side and fines carryover into the product on the reactor side. This paper aims at demonstrating the importance of FCC unit design criteria in terms of technical performance and compliance with environmental legislation. A systematic review of state-of-the-art FCC technology was carried out, identifying its key technical challenges and sources of emissions. Case studies of petroleum refineries in Nigeria were assessed against selected global case studies. The review highlights the need for further modelling investigations to help improve FCC design to more effectively meet product specification requirements while complying with stricter environmental legislation.


Many books on the 2008 financial crisis and the current recession focus on the financial sector. Unlike them, this book takes the real economy as the starting point and it situates the downturn within the societal context over the last several decades. Important elements of the story include global manufacturing overcapacity and declining profitability, failure of advanced industrial economies to make a quantum jump in discoveries and innovations across a broad range of technologies, ascent of neo-liberalism after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Asian financial crisis, the Japanese i°lost decadei±, and the dot-com boom. This provides the backdrop of the birth of a market society, deregulation, easy credit, and financial excesses. The financial crisis reveals much that has gone astray in the business world over the last few decades ia short term thinking, manipulation of figures and image management at the cost of the basics. The financial sector has become an arena for accounting shenanigans and corporate skullduggery. It is also a symptom of deeper social and cultural change. Crisis of a very serious nature functions as a cleansing exercise. Already we have seen debates which re-examine values and ideas, state policy and business practices. If the world could rise to the challenge, history will view the crisis as a blessing in disguise and thus render it in positive terms.


A total of 1,588 pigs representing six genetic lines were included in this study. These lines were selected to represent a wide range of biological types for appetite, rate and composition of gain, and meat quality traits. Each line was fed four different diets differing in lysine content. Barrows and gilts were used in the experiment, and pigs were randomly assigned to come off test at one of three weights (113.6, 131.8, or 150 kg). Rates of increase in weight, backfat thickness, and longissimus muscle area were essentially linear. Genetic type and diet influenced (P < .05) rates of change in weight, backfat thickness, and longissimus muscle area and 10th rib fat depth, carcass longissimus muscle area, and dressing percentage. Genetic type × diet interactions were significant for weight change and 10th rib fat. As off-test-weight class increased fat and longissimus muscle area increased in linear fashion. In general, interactions associated with diet resulted from feeding the diet lowest in lysine. There was little evidence of genetic type × diet interactions. If those interactions that tested significant are real, they are a result of extremes in both genetic type (high fatness) and lysine level (low). Slaughtering pigs at heavier weights results in no change in rate of gain over the feeding period and linear increases in longissimus muscle area and backfat thickness.


Abstract This essay introduces the translation of Shimizu Shikin's "Tōsei futari musume" (Two Modern Girls, 1897), which follows, and argues that by separating the body from gender, Shikin (1868–1933) effectively threatened the dimorphic ideology of sex that underpinned the literary establishment of Meiji Japan. In an essay written in 1896, Shikin posits an hermaphrodite combining allegedly gendered character traits in a "perfect" body, thus asserting that behavioral traits are not limited to one sex. Shikin calls attention not only to "the second sex" but a third sex decades before twentieth-century writers did in Japan and elsewhere, and she was erased because of it.


We investigated the postnatal development of L-type Ca2+ current (ICa) in enzymatically isolated adult (AD) and newborn (NB) (1-3-day-old) rabbit ventricular cells using the whole-cell, patch-clamp method. ICa was recorded with Cs(+)-rich pipettes and a Na(+)- and K(+)-free bath solution at 36 degrees C to eliminate other currents. ICa density (obtained by normalizing ICa to the cell capacitance) was significantly higher in AD cells than in NB cells at potential levels between 0 and +50 mV with 1.8 mM Ca2+ as the charge carrier. There was no shift in the current-voltage relation between AD and NB cells. The maximum ICa density was 9.9 +/- 2.0 pA/pF at 14 +/- 5 mV in AD cells (n = 11) compared with 5.6 +/- 2.0 pA/pF at 13 +/- 5 mV in NB cells (n = 7) (mean +/- SD). Time to half inactivation (T 1/2) showed a nearly U-shaped relation to membrane potentials from -10 to +30 mV with the shortest T 1/2 at the potential giving the maximum ICa density in both groups. T 1/2 at 0 and +10 mV was slightly but significantly longer in NB cells (16.8 +/- 4.6 and 13.5 +/- 2.4 msec, respectively) than in AD cells (12.6 +/- 3.0 and 10.6 +/0 1.5 msec).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


We develop a model of equilibrium price dispersion via retailer search and show that the degree of market segmentation within and across countries cannot be separately identified by good-level price data alone. We augment a set of well-known empirical facts about the failure of the law of one price with data on aggregate intranational and international trade quantities, and calibrate the model to match price and quantity facts simultaneously. The calibrated model matches the data very well and implies that within-country markets are strongly segmented, while international borders contribute virtually no additional market segmentation.


Discussions of the Michelson interferometer indicate that fringes are formed by the superposition of two approximately parallel wave fronts. Wave fronts having the necessary characteristics can be obtained by mounting gratings on the arms of the interferometer in the places of the customary reflecting mirrors. The construction and action of such an interferometer has been studied; it is here described. The instrument becomes its own monochromator when the gratings are rotated to positions of minimum deviation for some particular wave-length. The customary form of the Michelson interferometer may be considered as the special case of the grating interferometer for which the grating space is large in comparison with λ.


Objective – To conduct a longitudinal assessment of library spaces at the Georgia Tech Library and to determine the satisfaction of students with the most recent commons renovation. The library has completed three commons area renovations. The Library West Commons (LWC) opened in 2002 with an individual productivity lab, multimedia studio, and presentation rehearsal studio, while the Library East Commons (LEC) and the 2nd floor West Commons (2 West) opened in 2006 and 2009, respectively, with flexible, user-centered environments designed to promote collaborative activities. This analysis focuses on the renovated collaborative spaces, while also investigating and commenting on how renovation impacts usage of other spaces in the library.

Methods – Usage of all library spaces was measured during one-week periods in Fall 2008 and Spring 2010. Observations were made of each student floor in the library at four times during the day; measures included space utilization by groups, group sizes, and laptop utilization. In addition, a qualitative instrument was administered during Spring 2010 to 103 students using the 2 West Commons space to confirm whether the renovation met their needs.

Results – Overall, there was a 64.5% increase in group utilization of the library from 2008 to 2010, driven primarily by the 2 West renovation. The greatest concentration of group usage was in the LEC and 2 West, though the number of groups using the LEC declined. Laptop use in the 2 West commons more than doubled (33.6% to 70.5%), and laptop use in the entire library increased from 40.5% to 49.0%. In the qualitative survey, scores ranged between 4.0 and 5.0 on a 5-point scale for items regarding four design themes for the 2 West renovation: power/data, lighting, aesthetics, and the creation of a "defined yet open" space.

Conclusion – Findings suggest that the 2 West Commons is attracting more students and groups following its renovation, that it is attracting students and groups away from the previously renovated LEC, and that overall usage of the library increased subsequent to the 2 West renovation.


To read the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum is to encounter an individual imbued with the spirit of carnival as put forward by Mikhail Bakhtin in his ground-breaking work, Rabelais and His World. The correspondences between Bakhtin's rendition of the spirit of carnival in the late Middle Ages, a period when fear was utilised as the dominant tool of control by both church and state, and Jewish existence under the Third Reich were not by any means similar. Clearly Hillesum, the subject of this thesis, confronted a reign of darkness that far outweighed the worst excesses of the Middle Ages. Yet, and this is the impetus of the thesis, it was amidst the Shoah that Hillesum fought her own battle against all that the Nazis stood for by adopting both a discourse and spirit of accommodation and generosity that led to a Weltanschauung of embrace, the centre of which was the Other.

How that spirit of accommodation evolved against perhaps humankind's worst instance of inhumanity defined by the 'illogic' of a monologic reductivism finds one of its most powerful articulations in the letters and diaries of Etty Hillesum, herself a victim of Nazi genocide. It is the intention of this dissertation to explore a spirit of defiance that took the form of an expression of love for humanity even as the Other denied the possibility of such an expression. Hillesum's dialogic discourse brought the Nazi Other within the Jewish frame of reference even as the latter were denied any sense of self-presence in terms of the Other. This extraordinary act – at once a register of accommodation and of helplessness – found its greatest strength in the idea of compassion and love.


The State has substantially evolved over the past decades. Global phenomena, such as globalization, liberalization and cultural changes, challenge the State to face pertinent changes. More than ever, technology influences and will influence public participation and political mobilization in the future. Our paper is structured into four sections. In the first section, the paper describes our approach towards e-Governance in the framework of State transformation. The second section will point out current definitions and conceptualizations of enter-prise architecture (EA) and related frameworks. The explor¬ative third part will on the one hand highlight the potential, EA offers for e-Governance, and on the other hand it will critically examine the approach of putting EA into service for e-Governance. Part four is composed of a complementary perspective to the input of EA. Our paper is thus a contribu¬tion to a better understanding of how e-Governance is not only part of, but moreover actively shapes the transformation Anybody took care of administrative or government related processes, except the standard must-have permission or decla¬ration procedures. However, this has changed. The dot-com hype vanished and globalization came up with its more un¬pleasant side. A global regression and a market consolidation in almost every business sector urged society and government to react. A very turbulent and downstream oriented economy heavily questioned State-run governance mechanisms and public policy systems. Second to none, information technol¬ogy, represented by the internet, enables the actors in society and industry to critically asses the role and functionality of governments and administration. Initiated by industry and driven by societal pressures, the State is more then ever forced to apply standard economic methodologies such as process reengineering or outsourcing. Information and technology are forcing governments and administration to challenge their own structures and procedures. of the State, government, and public administration. The purpose of this paper is to enhance e-Governance theory towards a general implementation methodology.


The essays in this collection make a contribution to the greening of film studies and expand the scope of ecocriticism as a discipline traditionally rooted in literary studies. In addition to highlighting particular films as productive tools for raising awareness and educating us about environmental issues, "Framing the World: Explorations in Ecocriticism and Film" encourages its readers to become more ecologically minded viewers, sensitive to the ways in which films reflect, shape, reinforce, and challenge our perceptions of nature, of human/nature relations, and of environmental issues. The contributors to this volume offer in-depth analyses of a broad range of films, including fictional and documentary, Hollywood and independent, domestic and foreign, experimental and indigenous. Drawing from disciplines including film theory, ecocriticism, philosophy, rhetoric, environmental justice, and American and Indigenous studies, Framing the World offers new and original approaches to the ecocritical study of cinema. The twelve essays are gathered in four parts, focusing on ecocinema as activist cinema; the representation of environmental justice issues in Hollywood, independent, and foreign films; the representation of animals, ecosystems, and natural and human-made landscapes in live action and animation; and ecological themes in the films of two eco-auteurs, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Peter Greenaway. Willoquet-Maricondi's introduction provides an overview of the field of ecocriticism and offers both philosophical and theoretical foundations for the ecocritical study of films. ContributorsBeth Berila, St. Cloud State University * Lynne Dickson Bruckner, Chatham College * Elizabeth Henry, University of Denver * Joseph K. Heumann, Eastern Illinois University * Harri Kilpi, University of East Anglia * Jennifer Machiorlatti, Western Michigan University * Mark Minster, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology * Robin L. Murray, Eastern Illinois University * Tim Palmer, University of North Carolina, Wilmington * Cory Shaman, Arkansas Tech University * Rachel Stein, Siena College * Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, Marist College


Femtosecond-laser hyperdoping of sulfur in silicon typically produces a concentration gradient that results in undesirable inhomogeneous material properties. Using a mathematical model of the doping process, we design a fabrication method consisting of a sequence of laser pulses with varying sulfur concentrations in the atmosphere, which produces hyperdoped silicon with a uniform concentration depth profile. Our measurements of the evolution of the concentration profiles with each laser pulse are consistent with our mathematical model of the doping mechanism, based on classical heat and solute diffusion coupled to the far-from-equilibrium dopant incorporation. The use of optimization methods opens an avenue for creating controllable hyperdoped materials on demand.


Multilocular thymic cysts (MTCs) are considered to be acquired lesions associated with various inflammatory conditions and/or malignant tumors. MTCs associated with thymomas are rare, with only 11 cases having been reported. On reviewing 110 consecutive patients with thymomas, we found 20 cases of MTCs. The patients included 18 men and 2 women aged 32 to 65 years (median 52 y). Eleven of the patients were symptomatic, and 6 presented with symptoms associated with inflammation. Computed tomography images were available for 11 patients, and cystic lesions were identified in 4 patients. The histologic subtypes of thymoma observed were: 3 tumors of type AB, 4 tumors of type B1, 9 tumors of type B2, and 4 tumors of type B3. In addition, 2 tumors were in advanced stages. Multilocular cystic structures accompanied by acute and chronic inflammation were observed in the remnant thymic tissues. Immunohistochemically, CK13 was diffusely expressed in the inner surface cells lining the cysts, whereas CK5/6 and p63 were primarily expressed in the basal cells of the cysts. D2-40 was weakly expressed in a small number of basal epithelial cells. The immunohistochemical profiles of the cysts were similar to those of Hassall corpuscles of normal thymi. A clinical follow-up showed that 15 patients continued to be alive without any evidence of disease, 1 patient with tumor recurrence continued to be alive, and 3 patients had died of other diseases. Our results suggest that MTCs associated with thymomas are not as uncommon as thought and may develop from the promotion of differentiation of increased numbers of epithelial cells into Hassall corpuscles by inflammatory processes. Our data also suggest a better clinical behavior for patients with thymomas accompanied by MTCs than patients with thymomas unaccompanied by those cysts, although further investigation is needed.


The use of 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT) as an acetal or ketal exchange reagent and camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) as a catalyst permitted the efficient removal of benzylidene acetal and isopropylidene ketal protecting groups under mild conditions. A variety of acetal and ketal protected carbohydrates were deprotected with this method in 78–98% yields. In addition, terminal isopropylidene ketal or benzylidene acetal was selectively cleaved in the presence of internal isopropylidene ketal. Moreover, it was found that an unusual seven-membered 1,3-dithiepane was formed during the deprotection of benzylidene acetal with DTT.


The development of ultra-long (UL) cavity (hundreds of meters to several kilometres) mode-locked fibre lasers for the generation of high-energy light pulses with relatively low (sub-megahertz) repetition rates has emerged as a new rapidly advancing area of laser physics. The first demonstration of high pulse energy laser of this type was followed by a number of publications from many research groups on long-cavity Ytterbium and Erbium lasers featuring a variety of configurations with rather different mode-locked operations. The substantial interest to this new approach is stimulated both by non-trivial underlying physics and by the potential of high pulse energy laser sources with unique parameters for a range of applications in industry, bio-medicine, metrology and telecommunications. It is well known, that pulse generation regimes in mode-locked fibre lasers are determined by the intra-cavity balance between the effects of dispersion and non-linearity, and the processes of energy attenuation and amplification. The highest per-pulse energy has been achieved in normal-dispersion UL fibre lasers mode-locked through nonlinear polarization evolution (NPE) for self-modelocking operation. In such lasers are generated the so-called dissipative optical solitons. The uncompensated net normal dispersion in long-cavity resonatorsusually leads to very high chirp and, consequently, to a relatively long duration of generated pulses. This thesis presents the results of research Er-doped ultra-long (more than 1 km cavity length) fibre lasers mode-locked based on NPE. The self-mode-locked erbium-based 3.5-km-long all-fiber laser with the 1.7 µJ pulse energy at a wavelength of 1.55 µm was developed as a part of this research. It has resulted in direct generation of short laser pulses with an ultralow repetition rate of 35.1 kHz. The laser cavity has net normal-dispersion and has been fabricated from commercially-available telecom fibers and optical-fiber elements. Its unconventional linear-ring design with compensation for polarization instability ensures high reliability of the self-mode-locking operation, despite the use of a non polarization-maintaining fibers. The single pulse generation regime in all-fibre erbium mode-locking laser based on NPE with a record cavity length of 25 km was demonstrated. Modelocked lasers with such a long cavity have never been studied before. Our result shows a feasibility of stable mode-locked operation even for an ultra-long cavity length. A new design of fibre laser cavity – "y-configuration", that offers a range of new functionalities for optimization and stabilization of mode-locked lasing regimes was proposed. This novel cavity configuration has been successfully implemented into a long-cavity normal-dispersion self-mode-locked Er-fibre laser. In particular, it features compensation for polarization instability, suppression of ASE, reduction of pulse duration, prevention of in-cavity wave breaking, and stabilization of the lasing wavelength. This laser along with a specially designed double-pass EDFA have allowed us to demonstrate anenvironmentally stable all-fibre laser system able to deliver sub-nanosecond high-energy pulses with low level of ASE noise.


Recent studies in computer vision have shown that, while practically invisible to a human observer, skin color changes due to blood flow can be captured on face videos and, surprisingly, be used to estimate the heart rate (HR). While considerable progress has been made in the last few years, still many issues remain open. In particular, state of-the-art approaches are not robust enough to operate in natural conditions (e.g. in case of spontaneous movements, facial expressions, or illumination changes). Opposite to previous approaches that estimate the HR by processing all the skin pixels inside a fixed region of interest, we introduce a strategy to dynamically select face regions useful for robust HR estimation. Our approach, inspired by recent advances on matrix completion theory, allows us to predict the HR while simultaneously discover the best regions of the face to be used for estimation. Thorough experimental evaluation conducted on public benchmarks suggests that the proposed approach significantly outperforms state-of the-art HR estimation methods in naturalistic conditions.


We present a method for creating tree models with realistically curved branches, useful in the portrayal of natural scenes. Instead of attempting to replicate a tree's final shape by observation, we obtain this shape as nature does — by considering the tree's development in the context of its environment. The final shape of the branches results from their growth in length, girth, weight and rigidity under the influence of gravity and tropisms. Using the framework of L-systems, we extend Jirasek's biomechanical simulation of a plant axis to correctly represent an entire tree. Our model also simulates the reaction wood which actively re-orients a leaning branch by differentiating the wood production in angular portions of the branch cross-section. To obtain realistic and controllable tree architectures, we regulate growth elements in the model using functions based on botanical findings. We create a multi-year simulation of tree growth under environmental influences, obtaining a realistic tree shape at every stage of its development.


Phraseological expressions, here defined as common turns of phrase used by members of a speech community, are ubiquitous in language and play an important role in language processing, successful communication and general language proficiency. The present paper assesses the rate of diachronic change among phraseological expressions (PEs) over a century. There have been a good number of diachronic studies of PEs, set phrases, constructions and the like, but so far little work has appeared which seeks to quantify diachronic change at a more general level, beyond the investigation of individual expressions or small groups thereof. In the present study, corpus data from German and English are investigated. The corpus material, which covers the period from 1900 to 2000 was divided into segments of equal time periods and PEs were extracted for each segment. Change was operationalized in terms of the percentage of shared PEs between different time segments such that a high percentage of shared PEs indicated a more modest extent of change between periods, and a low percentage accordingly indicated greater change. Results from this measure were first compared to the extent of synchronic variation in PEs across different sets of contemporary texts to establish a baseline. Then synchronic variation across four genre groups and the extent of diachronic change among single lexical items was measured and compared. Results indicated that the extent of PE-change in our data over the 20th century was comparable to variation found on average between contemporary texts of different genres. In addition, the rate of change in PEs was found to be higher than the rate of lexical change which is typically thought to be the fastest type of linguistic change.


This paper compares alternative procedures to mitigate the procyclicality of the new risk-sensitive bank capital regulation (Basel II). We estimate a model of the probabilities of default (PDs) of Spanish firms during the period 1987-2008, and use the estimated PDs to compute the corresponding series of Basel II capital requirements per unit of loans. These requirements move significantly along the business cycle, ranging from 7.6% (in 2006) to 11.9% (in 1993). The comparison of the different procedures is based on the criterion of minimizing the root mean square deviations of each smoothed series with respect to the Hodrick-Prescott trend of the original series. The results show that the best procedures are either to smooth the inputs of the Basel II formula by using through-the-cycle PDs or to smooth the output with a multiplier based on GDP growth. Our discussion concludes that the latter is better in terms of simplicity, transparency, and consistency with banks� risk pricing and risk management systems. For the portfolio of Spanish commercial and industrial loans and a 45% loss given default (LGD), the multiplier would amount to a 6.5% surcharge for each standard deviation in GDP growth. The surcharge would be significantly higher with cyclically-varying LGDs.


Here's a book that every adult concerned about kids will want to read. The author convincingly argues that parents are the ones who not only can but also must take the lead in preventing their kids from getting mixed up with alcohol and other drugs. Parenting for Prevention shows them exactly what to do and how to do it. The theme is prevention, but the approach is thoroughly positive. You'll find no threats or warnings here, no long list of don'ts. Instead, this book says, in effect: If you really want to prevent your kids from getting involved with alcohol or other drugs, here's the way to do it. Teach them these life skills. "I make you a promise. If you read this book thoughtfully and follow its recommendations, you'll have new insights into a whole host of everyday parenting problems, as well as practical skills for handling them. Those insights and skills will be the best insurance policy you can take out to prevent your kids from getting into problems with alcohol or other drugs--because you'll be helping them develop into healthy, well-balanced kids who can stand on their own feet, resist unhealthy peer pressures, and still be accepted and respected wherever they go."


Twenty nine secondary forest stands with ages over four years were studied near Pucalipa in the Peruvian Amazon. Altogether 102 plant species 10 + cm dbh were recorded in the forest inventories. The most frequent species use group was timber, both in terms of number of species as well as abundance, being thus the main production objective for secondary forest management. Guazuma crinita (bolaina blanca), a tree species commercially used in construction housing, was the most important in secondary forest stands over 10 years old. The production potential of the secondary forest stands studied lies above all in the high number of social and economic useful timber and non-timber forest species, both for home consumption and for local trade.


Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia, the causal agents of Amebiasis and Giardiasis are worldwide distributed. The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro activity against Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia of four plants used popularly against intestinal disorders. The concentration of aqueous and organic leaf and stem extracts from Marrubium vulgare, Mentha spicata, Chenopodium ambrosioides and Artemisia ludoviciana producing 50% growth inhibition (IC50) of E. histolytica and G. lamblia axenic cultures was determined. Acetone and methanol extracts from M. vulgare were very active against E. histolytica (IC50 = 7 and 12 μg/mL, respectively) and slightly to moderately toxic to G. lamblia (IC50 = 90 and 34 μg/mL, respectively). Hexane, acetone, and methanol extracts from Mentha spicata were also very potent against E. histolytica (17, 13, and 8 μg/mL), while only the acetone extract was slightly active against G. lamblia (IC50 = 98 μg/mL). Hexane and acetic C. ambrosioides extracts were moderately active only against E. histolytica (IC50 = 57 and 58 μg/mL); while A. ludoviciana was inactive against both protozoan species (IC50 >100 μg/mL). Organic extract from M. vulgare and M. spicata were the most active; being E. histolytica strickingly more susceptible than G. lamblia. None of the aqueous extracts was active. Further studies to isolate and characterize the active principles against both protozoa species are justified.


Stereotypes in the media both reflect and perpetuate the notion that science is a masculine pursuit. The aim of the current study is to explore whether such stereotypes extend to imagery within children's science books. In order to determine the extent of stereotypes in gender representation both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Results demonstrated that overall females were under-represented in images across the books surveyed. Analyses of images of adults demonstrated under-representation of women in both physics and mathematics books, but images of children showed no significant difference between genders. Analyses of the target age of the children's books revealed that books targeted at older children contained fewer images of adult females. Qualitative visual analyses revealed that books about space exploration trivialized women's expertise, diminished their perceived technical competence, failed to acknowledge their contribution or presence, and represented them in a manner which suggested that they were passive, lower status, and superficial. Books about science that are currently available to children in libraries are not balanced in terms of their representation of gender. Imagery in children's books of women actively participating in scientific occupations would help to demonstrate that careers in these areas are meaningful, fulfilling and achievable for women.


IZA DP No. 14131 FEBRUARY 2021 Passthrough of Firm Performance to Income and Employment Stability* To what extent do firms pass through idiosyncratic shocks to their workers? In this paper, we investigate this question focusing on passthrough to income for workers that stay in the firm and passthrough to employment stability. We take an empirical approach and use matched employer-employee data from Denmark, three different measures of firm performance (sales, value added, and value added per worker), and two measures of income (earnings and hourly wages). We distinguish between unemployment and job-tojob transitions. We find that passthrough to income is much higher for permanent (5-9 percent) than transitory (1 percent) shocks. Income passthrough is higher for blue collar workers and workers in small firms. On the employment margin, we find that worse firm performance increases both unemployment and job-to-job transitions. The unemployment risk is especially pronounced for blue collar, low-educated, low tenure workers, while the effect on job-to-job transitions is larger for managers and high-educated workers. We also find clear evidence of non-linearities with negative shocks driving both unemployment and job-to-job transitions. JEL Classification: C33, D22, J31, J33


Candida parapsilosis is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with the ability to cause infections in immunocompromised patients. Echinocandins are the currently recommended first line of treatment for all Candida species. Resistance of Candida albicans to this drug type is well characterized. C. parapsilosis strains have the lowest in vitro susceptibility to echinocandins; however, patients with such infections typically respond well to echinocandin therapy. There is little knowledge of acquired resistance in C. parapsilosis and its consequences on other characteristics such as virulence properties. In this study, we aimed to dissect how acquired echinocandin resistance influences the pathogenicity of C. parapsilosis and to develop explanations for why echinocandins are clinically effective in the setting of acquired resistance. ABSTRACT Candida species are a major cause of life-threatening bloodstream infections worldwide. Although Candida albicans is responsible for the vast majority of infections, the clinical relevance of other Candida species has also emerged over the last twenty years. This shift might be due in part to changes in clinical guidelines, as echinocandins became the first line of therapeutics for the treatment. Candida parapsilosis is an emerging non-albicans Candida species that exhibits lower susceptibility levels to these drugs. Candida species frequently display resistance to echinocandins, and the mechanism for this is well-known in C. albicans and Candida glabrata, where it is mediated by amino acid substitutions at defined locations of the β-1,3-glucan synthase, Fks1p. In C. parapsilosis isolates, Fks1p harbors an intrinsic amino acid change at position 660 of the hot spot 1 (HS1) region, which is thought to be responsible for the high MIC values. Less is known about acquired substitutions in this species. In this study, we used directed evolution experiments to generate C. parapsilosis strains with acquired resistance to caspofungin, anidulafungin, and micafungin. We showed that cross-resistance was dependent on the type of echinocandin used to generate the evolved strains. During their characterization, all mutant strains showed attenuated virulence in vivo and also displayed alterations in the exposure of inner cell wall components. The evolved strains harbored 251 amino acid changes, including three in the HS1, HS2, and HS3 regions of Fks1p. Altogether, our results demonstrate a direct connection between acquired antifungal resistance and virulence of C. parapsilosis. IMPORTANCE Candida parapsilosis is an opportunistic fungal pathogen with the ability to cause infections in immunocompromised patients. Echinocandins are the currently recommended first line of treatment for all Candida species. Resistance of Candida albicans to this drug type is well characterized. C. parapsilosis strains have the lowest in vitro susceptibility to echinocandins; however, patients with such infections typically respond well to echinocandin therapy. There is little knowledge of acquired resistance in C. parapsilosis and its consequences on other characteristics such as virulence properties. In this study, we aimed to dissect how acquired echinocandin resistance influences the pathogenicity of C. parapsilosis and to develop explanations for why echinocandins are clinically effective in the setting of acquired resistance.


SUMMARY
With the advances of RNA sequencing technologies, scientists need new tools to analyze transcriptome data. We introduce RNAseqViewer, a new visualization tool dedicated to RNA-Seq data. The program offers innovative ways to represent transcriptome data for single or multiple samples. It is a handy tool for scientists who use RNA-Seq data to compare multiple transcriptomes, for example, to compare gene expression and alternative splicing of cancer samples or of different development stages.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
RNAseqViewer is freely available for academic use at http://bioinfo.au.tsinghua.edu.cn/software/RNAseqViewer/

CONTACT
firstname.lastname@example.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Compound events are extreme impacts that depend on multiple variables that need not be extreme themselves. In this study, we analyze soil moisture drought as a compound event of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) on multiple time scales related to both meteorological drought and heat waves in wet, transitional, and dry climates in Europe during summer. Drought indices that incorporate PET to account for the effect of temperature on drought conditions are sensitive to global warming. However, as evapotranspiration (ET) is moisture limited in dry climates, the use of such drought indices has often been criticized. We therefore assess the relevance of the contributions of both precipitation and PET to the estimation of soil moisture drought. Applying a statistical model based on pair copula constructions to data from FluxNet sites in Europe, we find at all sites that precipitation exerts the main control over soil moisture drought. At wet sites PET is additionally required to explain the onset, severity, and persistence of drought events over different time scales. At dry sites, where ET is moisture limited in summer, PET does not improve the estimation of soil moisture. In dry climates, increases in drought severity measured by indices incorporating PET may therefore not indicate further drying of soil but the increased availability of energy that can contribute to other environmental hazards such as heat waves and wildfires. We therefore highlight that drought indices including PET should be interpreted within the context of the climate and season in which they are applied in order to maximize their value.


Abstract: Madagascar is ranked at 154 on the human development index. During the dry period, it is hit by daily blackouts. Internet connections are poor. This makes e-learning difficult. My paper will present a possible solution to this problem: I will present a technical solution of how to realize e-learning systems for theologians in hard-to-reach areas by using Raspberry Pi mini-computers as servers and explain why so-called progressive web apps, which are single page-apps are now suitable for this approach; rather I will show how a client-server solution with a Raspberry Pi Server hosting an Emdros database of the Hebrew Bible and a native Android App, written in Java can provide Bible Online Learner Network Kits. The Raspberry Pis are set up as servers in independent computer networks, which do not rely on an internet connection and which are mobile access points. These servers handle the backend code, have the logic to create random exercises for the Bible OL App and send this information via a JSON string to the client app, realized as an Android app written in Java. For this client-side development I paid special attention to the challenges of computer illiterate students. I solved these challenges by using picture-based logins. As a result I developed the design für the Bible Online Learner App and the Bible Online Network Kit, which works with power banks as uninterruptable power supplies as well as a solar power kit, which enables e-learning in hard-to-reach areas in Africa even during the dry season.


The generally accepted metabolic concept that fructose 2,6-bisphosphate (Fru-2,6-P2) inhibits gluconeogenesis by directly inhibiting fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase is based entirely on in vitro observations. To establish whether gluconeogenesis is indeed inhibited by Fru-2,6-P2 in intact animals, a novel NMR method was developed using [U-13C]glucose and 2H2O as tracers. The method was used to estimate the sources of plasma glucose from gastric absorption of oral [U-13C]glucose, from gluconeogenesis, and from glycogen in 24-h fasted rats. Liver Fru-2,6-P2 increased ∼10-fold shortly after the glucose load, reached a maximum at 60 min, and then dropped to base-line levels by 150 min. The gastric contribution to plasma glucose reached ∼50% at 30 min after the glucose load and gradually decreased thereafter. Although the contribution of glycogen to plasma glucose was small, glucose formed from gluconeogenesis was substantial throughout the study period even when liver Fru-2,6-P2 was high. Liver glycogen repletion was also brisk throughout the study period, reaching ∼30 μmol/g at 3 h. These data demonstrate that Fru-2,6-P2 does not inhibit gluconeogenesis significantly in vivo.


Linking demographic and genetic dispersal measures is of fundamental importance for movement ecology and evolution. However, such integration can be difficult, particularly for highly fecund species that are often the target of management decisions guided by an understanding of population movement. Here, we present an example of how the influence of large population sizes can preclude genetic approaches from assessing demographic population structuring, even at a continental scale. The Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera, is a significant pest, with populations on the eastern and western sides of Australia having been monitored and managed independently to date. We used microsatellites to assess genetic variation in 12 C. terminifera population samples separated by up to 3000 km. Traditional summary statistics indicated high levels of genetic diversity and a surprising lack of population structure across the entire range. An approximate Bayesian computation treatment indicated that levels of genetic diversity in C. terminifera corresponded to effective population sizes conservatively composed of tens of thousands to several million individuals. We used these estimates and computer simulations to estimate the minimum rate of dispersal that could account for the observed range-wide genetic homogeneity. The rate of dispersal between both sides of the Australian continent could be several orders of (Resume d'auteur)


Intraosseous vascular lesions are rare conditions, comprising only 0.5-1% of all intraosseous tumors. Found mainly in the second decade of life, especially in female. Vertebral column and skull are the most common sites; nevertheless, the mandible is a quite rare location. Hemangiomas are benign vasoformative neoplasms of endothelial origin. However, the origin of central hemangioma is debatable. Some authors believe that it is a true neoplasm, whereas others state it as a hamartomatous lesion. The clinical and radiographic presentation is relatively nonspecific; therefore, a proper diagnosis has to be made. Clinically, the patient may be completely symptom-free or may present pulsatile bleeding, slow growing bluish mass, mobile teeth, and deranged dentition, early dental exfoliation and discomfort in normal life. Cavernous hemangioma produce dilemma in diagnosis with neoplasms such as ameloblastoma, cystic lesions such as residual cyst, keratocyst, osteosarcoma, central giant cell granuloma, multiple myeloma, and fibro-osseous lesions such as fibrous dysplasia. Among various treatment modalities, surgery is frequently used. A case report of 14-year-old male patient with cavernous hemangioma of right mandibular body with vague clinical features, but a characteristic radiographic and histological picture is presented here.


ABSTRACT The continuously growing use of digital services has provided social scientists with an expanding reservoir of data, potentially holding valuable insights into human behavior and social systems. This has often been associated with the terms "big data" and "computational social science." Using such data, social scientists have argued, will enable us to better understand social, political, and economic life. Yet this new data type comes not only with promises but with challenges as well. These include developing standards for data collection, preparation, analysis, and reporting; establishing more systematic links between established theories within the existing body of research in the social sciences; and moving away from proofs-of-concepts toward the systematic development and testing of hypotheses. In this article, we map these promises and challenges in detail and introduce five highly innovative contributions collected in this special issue. These articles illustrate impressively the potential of digital trace data in the social science all the while remaining conscious of its pitfalls.


On the summit of Kilauea volcano, sulfur dioxide, which is continuously emitted from Halemaumau crater and rapidly sequestered into sulfuric-acid–rich aerosol entrained in the prevailing trade winds, is subsequently precipitated as acid fog immediately downwind from Kilauea caldera in the Kau Desert. The characteristic pH of surface tephra deposits is <4.0 in Sand Wash, a region of nearly continuous, acidic aerosol fallout immediately southwest of the caldera. Vertical exposures of unconsolidated tephras of the Keanakakoi Ash found within fissures and small, dry gullies are coated with thin rock coatings of amorphous silica and jarosite. These rock coatings are formed via an evaporative mechanism whereby acidic pore fluids, circulating in the upper few meters within the highly porous tephra, are wicked toward the walls of the gullies. Geochemical modeling of the rock coating formation process implies that the sulfate formation via evaporation occurs subsequent to minimal interaction of acidic pore fluids with the basaltic tephra. This also suggests that the cycle from acid-fog fallout to precipitation of the siliceous-sulfate rock coatings must occur quite rapidly. Acid-fog deposition of sulfate and silica at Kilauea may provide one mechanism for the origin of jarosite-bearing outcrops on Mars.


By 2030, the United States will consume over 300 million tons of forest and agricultural feedstocks for energy production. The supply chain necessary to provide unprecedented quantities of new "bioenergy crops," however, is fraught with uncertainty. The vertically integrated model the nascent sector currently uses may have limited opportunity for expansion to meet renewable energy mandates. A hybrid structure is likely to emerge as the industry evolves, in which end-users closely cooperate with a large number of heterogeneous producers through long-term contracting rather than as direct owners or operators of biomass farms. This "vertically coordinated" industry model is dependent on a series of biomass supply contracts between end-user and farmer. The "take it or leave it" production contracts offered by end-users represent the archetypal cost and risk minimization perspectives common in the fossil fuel-based energy context (e.g., petroleum, coal). These initial offerings lack many of the considerations provided in agricultural-based contracting and are unlikely to engender the level of dedicated energy biomass cultivation needed to meet renewable energy mandates. In response, we propose an alternative Biomass Contract Framework, which incorporates three separate theoretical approaches to contract design with the objective of removing barriers to entry into the market. Incorporating a socioeconomic perspective into the more familiar risk and cost minimizing approaches found in contract theory literature will enhance producer ability to maintain existing social networks, while minimizing farmer disincentives to enter into production contracts for novel biomass crops. Our Framework also recognizes end-users' needs to meet emerging environmental sustainability requirements, even perhaps facilitating "shed-level" coordination.


DeShazo and Freeman use the example of climate change to explore two questions: what effect does initial state regulatory activity have on timing of federal regulation, and what explains the form of the ensuing federal policy response? Drawing on race to the bottom, interstate externality and defensive preemption theory, the article develops a picture of how state regulatory entrepreneurialism can provoke interest groups on both sides of an issue to simultaneously demand federal regulation, though for different reasons: environmentalists and state and local governments appeal for federal standards to help solve a collective action problem, spread the cost of regulation, and benefit in-state industries whereas industry will appeal for uniform and preemptive federal standards in the face of costly and heterogeneous state regulations. The article explains how states have hit the "regulatory sweet spot" with their climate change initiatives, illustrating how states can be incremental catalysts of a federal policy response, essentially prompting federal action sooner rather than later. The article then explores three key factors that influence the form of the federal policy response: the end-goals of the dominant interest groups, the particular properties of the regulatory problem, and the compatibility of the available regulatory tools with the eligible targets of regulation. These factors help explain interest group convergence on cap-and-trade as the regulatory tool of choice. The authors show how the unique nature of climate change - the fact that it involves stock pollutants - frees environmentalists from concerns about local effects and enables them to support a cap-and-trade approach; how cap-and-trade, uniquely, provides opportunities for rent seeking in the form of grandfathering, allocation, credits, and offsets; and how early "voluntary" emissions reductions programs create some path dependence for cap-and-trade. Finally, the article explains how some regulatory tools are more compatible than others with different nodes of regulation in the supply chain. As a result, the outcome of political struggles over where to place the burden of regulation (i.e., upstream or downstream) has an impact on what tools will be chosen. Although cap-and-trade may seem on its face like a sensible solution to greenhouse gas regulation, the article explains how a convergence of support for this instrument comes about.


PROFESSOR Marc Cohen went in to medicine to have fun. "I've been on the same path for 30 years," Professor Cohen tells the MJA. "To be honest, when I was a kid I just wanted to have fun, and that's been a real focus for me all my life. When I went in to medicine, it was because I figured I could learn about life, death and everything in between, and how to live a well, healthy life that would allow me to have the most fun possible." On the way, Professor Cohen became a GP with degrees in physiology and psychological medicine, as well as PhDs in Chinese medicine and biomedical engineering. He has since become Australia's first Professor of Complementary Medicine at RMIT University in Melbourne, and has led the way in pioneering integrative and holistic medicine. When asked to define integrative medicine, Professor Cohen has a simple answer. "Integrative medicine is the integration into medicine of practices that work," he says. The term "complementary" is an attempt to rebrand "alternative" medicine, he says. "After all, most people don't use it as an alternative to Western medicine. They use it as an adjunct to 'complement' western medicine." According to his online biography,1 he "is a Board Member of the Global Wellness Summit, PastPresident (from 2000-2007) of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA), a member of the RACGP-AIMA Joint Working party and sits on the editorial board of five international journals; has previously held positions as Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education at Monash University, Expert Advisor to the TGA Complementary Medicine Evaluation Committee, Member of the NHMRC Grant Review panel on Primary Healthcare, Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the National Institute of Complementary Medicine and multiple ministerial appointments on various Registration and Accreditation Panels; he previously held the position as Director of the Centre for Complementary Medicine at the Monash Institute for Health Services Research". Of his time at Monash he says: "That's when I was the 'alternative' guy surrounded by Western medicine practitioners. Now I'm the Western medicine guy surrounded by alternative medicine practitioners." "I walk a professional tightrope," he says. "I try to find the middle ground and stay balanced and I like to surround myself with highcalibre, open-minded people." It's his life work, he says, to study and test complementary medicines and lifestyle practices to evaluate their worth as aids to good health and he is now researching healthy living through bathing practices, herbal teas, health retreats, yoga and hot springs. In a climate where there are zealots on both sides of the complementary medicine debate, Professor Cohen finds himself frustrated by academics who refuse to countenance investigation of non-Western alternatives. "While I was still at Monash, I wanted to do a randomised control trial on acupuncture, so I went to one of the professors and the answer was 'I don't believe in it'", he says. "That was frustrating. It's not about belief, it's about putting it under scientific scrutiny, gathering evidence." One of Professor Cohen's current passions is the potential of bathing as a global health measure. "One in three people on the planet do not have access to water for bathing," he tells the MJA. "That's 2.4 billion people who are unable to wash off their blood, urine and faeces." "If every person on the planet had 10 litres of water a day – you would transform global health – hygiene would improve, people would regain their dignity. Bathing can also profoundly transform your mind and body through changing the temperature – whether it be a relaxing warm bath, an ice-bath or sauna." In September of 2018 Professor Cohen and his two teenage sons will join forces with Dutch daredevil Wim "the Iceman" Hof to climb Tanzania's Mt Kilimanjaro in just 24 hours, wearing nothing but board shorts. Hof who has multiple world records for ice bathing and other extreme feats, has developed the Wim Hof Method, which uses breathing techniques, cold exposure and mental focus to improve health and wellbeing. Professor Cohen's role will be to coordinate research on the effects of extreme altitude and cold on human physiology during the expedition. Professor Cohen's advice to students is simple. "There is only medicine that works, and medicine that doesn't work," he says. "No one person has ownership of the truth. Just because there may not be a high level of evidence for something doesn't mean that it doesn't work. "Get as many perspectives as possible. "Remember that you bring your humanity to the table when you are with your patient. Who you are is just as important as what you do. "Try to become a well-rounded person." "I didn't design my career this way, I've just been following my passion. That's all you need to do." * Professor Cohen has a letter published in this issue of the MJA.


ABSTRACT Aim: Patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergo surgical removal of their tumors. However, in some individuals tumors can recur and are re-removed multiple times. We identified patients (pts) who underwent multiple serial surgeries for early stage NSCLC and evaluated genetic changes in their tumors over time. Methods: Using an institutional database, we identified 15 pts that underwent surgical resection for stage I-II NSCLC with 2 or more recurrent tumors without intervening therapy. Among these, we selected 20 tumors from 6 pts with available tissue (median tumors/pt = 3 [3-4]) and their matched germline DNA. All pts provided informed consent. DNA extracted from archival FFPE samples and paired blood was analyzed by massively parallel sequencing (MPS) on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 using a targeted hybrid capture approach for 504 cancer-related genes. Sequencing was performed at high depth with a mean target coverage of 186x across all samples. We compared the somatic mutations and copy number variations (CNV) in the recurrent specimens to those in the primary tumor. We performed hierarchical clustering to compare the relapsed tumors to the primary tumors. Results: In 2/6 pts, the genetic changes confirmed that all the tumors were related among relapses, while in 4/6 pts some tumors showed distinctive genetic changes consistent with a different lung cancer. In pts with recurrent tumors, the subsequent relapsed tumors contained either additional mutations or increased CNV, suggesting genomic evolution over time. In pts with 3 or more surgically removed tumors, the time to relapse shortened with each subsequent tumor. In 3 pts with EGFR mutant NSCLC, the relapsed tumors contained additional potential driver mutations including EGFR T790M, PIK3CA E542K, and TP53 C176F, suggesting that these genetic changes can evolve even in the absence of drug treatment. Conclusions: Genomic changes in tumors from NSCLC pts with multiple recurrences evolve over time in the absence of systemic therapy. MPS helps to classify relapses vs. new primaries and reveals new insights in the biology and natural history of EGFR mutant lung cancer. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


: Here current creation online social networks (OSNs) become more and more common and the social life of people has become more linked to these pages. They use OSNs to remain in finger with everyone else, distribute news, prepare dealings and still run their personal e-. Out of control of the OSN's evolution and the huge extent of their supporters 'individual developments, they have been attackers and impostors who take individual information, share fake news and disseminate vindictive exercises. Researchers in various fields began inspecting environmentally friendly techniques in order to perform abnormal activity and counterfeit money that is based on accounting and classification algorithms [1]. However, the use of stand-alone classification algorithms no longer yields a straightforward outcome, some of the factors that are manipulated by the account have a low influence or have no impact in the closing results. The paper proposes to use the SVM-NN as a modern algorithm to effectively identify suspected Twitter accounts and bots, to add four choices and to restrict measurements. Three laptop classification mastering algorithms were used to determine the actual or false identity of target accounts. They included the SVM, the Neural Network and our recently urbanized SVM-NN method that utilizes far less hardware but is still able to correctly identify about 98% of the money due to the training data set.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To introduce a conceptual model detailing the physiologic contributions of malglycemia to cancer formation and increased morbidity and mortality.

DATA SOURCES
A literature search was conducted using the PubMed, CINAHL®, and Cochrane databases, as well as Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer statistics.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Multiple complex factors are associated with malignancy formation, proliferation, and outcomes for each individual. The authors present a model, termed the Malglycemia Orbit Model, that is analogous to an atom, centered on a core of individual factors, and surrounded by "orbits" containing cancer and related factors. Highlighted in this model is the role of malglycemia.

CONCLUSIONS
Cancer formation and sequelae involve numerous multifaceted factors. One factor not well described or understood within the context of malignancies is glycemic status, most notably how malglycemia impacts cancer formation and risks for adverse outcomes. The atomic-structured malglycemia model describes this process.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Among the many uncontrollable factors that contribute to cancer formation and adverse outcomes, malglycemia is one that is modifiable. Nurses are in a prime position to conduct research to enhance understanding and ultimately improve protocols for better glycemic control and, in effect, better outcomes for individuals with cancer.


Diversification and obfuscation methods are promising approaches used to secure software and prevent malware from functioning. Diversification makes each software instance unique so that malware attacks cannot rely on the knowledge of the program's execution environment and/or internal structure anymore. We present a systematic literature review on the state of-the-art of diversification and obfuscation research aiming to improve software security between 1993 and 2014. As the result of systematic search, in the final phase, 209 related papers were included in this study. In this study we focus on two specific research questions: what are the aims of diversification and obfuscation techniques and what are the environments they are applied to. The former question includes the languages and the execution environments that can benefit from these two techniques, while the second question presents the goals of the techniques and also the type of attacks they mitigate.


The rainforests of Amazonia comprise some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. Despite this high biodiversity, little is known about how landscape changes that took place in deep history have affected the assembly of its species, and whether the impact of such changes on biodiversity can still be observed. Here, we present a hypothesis to explain our observation that plants typical of Neotropical coastal habitats also occur in western Amazonia, in some cases thousands of kilometres away from the coast. Evidence on their current distribution, dispersal biology and divergence times estimated from molecular phylogenies suggest that these plants may be the legacy of the large marine‐influenced embayment that dominated the area for millions of years in the Neogene. We hypothesize that coastal plants dispersed along the shores of this embayment and persisted as inland relicts after the marine incursion(s) retreated, probably with the aid of changes in soil conditions caused by the deposition of marine sediments. This dispersal corridor may also have facilitated the colonization of coastal environments by Amazonian lineages. These scenarios could imply an unexpected coastal source that has contributed to Amazonia's high floristic diversity and led to disjunct distributions across the Neotropics. We highlight the need for future studies and additional evidence to validate and shed further light on this potentially important pattern.


A general computer simulation analysis of the coupling efficiency between surface emitting LEDs and optical fibers has been carried out using ray tracing techniques. Coupling efficiencies were evaluated as a function of both the fiber numerical aperture (N.A.) and the ratio of the fiber core diameter dF to the LED emission diameter dE for a spherical lens positioned between the LED and fiber. Coupling efficiencies near the theoretical maximum values were obtained for dF/dE ≤ 5 for 0.20-N.A. fibers and for dF/dE ≤ 2.5 for 0.40-N.A. fibers by optimizing the lens's index of refraction and the LED-to-lens spacing.


Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), a cytokine involved in cell growth and development, binds to type II receptors at the cell surface, which leads to the activation of type I receptors, and they phosphorylate the receptor-activated proteins Smad2 and Smad3. Phosphorylated Smad2 and Smad3 dissociate from the receptor and--after forming a complex with Smad4--translocate to the nucleus, where Smad2 and Smad3 activate the transcription of target genes. Felici et al. identified a new TGF-β receptor-associated protein, TLP [TGF-β receptor I-associated protein-1 (TRAP-1)-like protein], that, unlike previously identified Smad regulators, has opposing effects on Smad2- and Smad3-dependent signaling. The authors used immunoprecipitation and Western analysis in combination with the cotransfection of TLP and TGF-β superfamily receptors and receptor activation mutants to investigate the association of TLP with proteins involved in TGF-β signaling. Endogenous and overexpressed TLP associated with TGF-β and activin type II receptors, regardless of activation status. The association of endogenous TLP with Smad4, however, depended on TGF-β signaling. Although TLP did not affect Smad phosphorylation, TLP overexpression activated the transcription of Smad2-dependent gene reporters without affecting Smad2 association with Smad4, whereas TLP inhibited both Smad3-dependent transcription and the association of Smad3 with Smad4. Down-regulation of endogenous TLP expression with small-interfering RNA (siRNA) also inhibited TGF-β-stimulated Smad3-dependent signaling. The authors proposed that TLP acts as a molecular switch to regulate the balance between Smad2- and Smad3-mediated signaling after TGF-β stimulation and developed a model whereby this might occur. A. Felici, J. U. Wurthner, W. T. Parks, L. R.-Y. Gian, M. Reiss, T. S. Karpova, J. G. McNally, A. B. Roberts, TLP, a novel modulator of TGF-β signaling, has opposite effects on Smad2- and Smad3-dependent signaling. EMBO J. 22, 4465-4477 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This new edition of 'Research Methods for Postgraduates' is a response both to the success of the first edition and to the rapid change in methods and technology in this area. This book is unique in bringing together guidance for postgraduate students on how to organise plan and do research from an interdisciplinary perspective. The wide-ranging coverage of the first edition is enhanced by the addition of new chapter on creativity, the use of the web in research, guides to writing, and the use of software packages. Updates are provided on issues relevant to postgraduates in all subjects, from writing a proposal and securing research funds, to data analysis and the presentation of research, through to intellectual property protection and career opportunities. Like its predecessor, the second edition of 'Research Methods for Postgraduates' is accessible and comprehensive, and is a must for any postgraduate student.


Because green tea polyphenols (GTPs) possess anti-inflammatory properties and are effective in inhibiting autoimmune diseases in experimental settings, we examined whether GTPs prevented the development of autoimmune thyroiditis in iodide-treated nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice, an animal model of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Mice were given 0.05% iodide water or iodide water supplemented with 0.2% GTPs for 8 weeks. GTPs administration led to an enhanced production of interleukin-10 by concanavalin A-stimulated splenocytes but did not interfere with thyroiditis development. Serum thyroxine levels were not influenced by GTPs. Our data suggest that administration of GTPs may not be an effective strategy for the prevention of HT.


For more than a decade meteorologists at the German Antarctic research station Neumayer (70°S, 008°W) offer detailed and individual summer weather forecasts for all activities in the Dronning Maud Land. Especially the intercontinental air link with Cape Town made the establishment of this service mandatory. The work is performed in close cooperation between the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the German Weather Service (DWD).
The forecasts base mainly on in situ data including automatic weather stations (AWS), on near real time satellite pictures and on a variety of model products mainly from the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
To optimize this service the errors of a typical AWS had been quantified by running an unmaintained AWS one year side by side of the maintained instruments from the meteorological observatory from Neumayer. In a second year the same AWS was placed 11 km north of Neumayer to judge the spatial footprint of the observatory data. By comparing model products with the measurements of the observatory systematic errors in the forecast products have been observed. Also the ERA-Interim reanalysis differs significantly from the temperature time series observed at Neumayer despite the fact that the data is fed into the Global Telecommunication System GTS for more than 30 years. From these findings some guidance on optimizing the Antarctic observing and prediction systems could be developed.


Abstract:"Reacting to the Past" is a pedagogical method that uses immersive role-playing games set in discrete historical moments to motivate efficacious engagement with primary sources. Coniuratio, a new "Reacting" game set during the Catilinarian crisis of 63 bce, provides a mechanism for students to learn about Roman history and culture, to practice the tenets of classical rhetoric, and to hone their skills in English (and possibly Latin) communication. The article concludes by outlining supplemental activities that may be used to introduce Coniuratio in language and civilization courses and by reviewing the roots of the Reacting method in the ancient educational practice of ethopoeia.


The paper examines the impact of institutional environment on the growth of the Indian information technology (IT) industry. The study reveals that before the first generation of reforms, that is, 1991, the government was pursuing a structuralist approach toward economic development. After liberalization in 1991, the government embarked on pro-active economic policies for the diffusion and production of IT. Consequently, the IT industry experienced an unprecedented growth rate in domestic as well as export markets. However, foreign direct investment (FDI) policies have not been successful in attracting the desired level of foreign investment, which is very important for a high-tech sector such as IT hardware manufacturing. The study suggests that immediate corrective measures need to be taken to augment the IT manufacturing industry, which can *Email : email@example.com. in, Ph: +91-11-7416486, Fax: +91-11-7257410.


Mining social media messages such as tweets, articles, and Facebook posts for health and drug related information has received significant interest in pharmacovigilance research. Social media sites (e.g., Twitter), have been used for monitoring drug abuse, adverse reactions of drug usage and analyzing expression of sentiments related to drugs. Most of these studies are based on aggregated results from a large population rather than specific sets of individuals. In order to conduct studies at an individual level or specific cohorts, identifying posts mentioning intake of medicine by the user is necessary. Towards this objective we develop a classifier for identifying mentions of personal intake of medicine in tweets. We train a stacked ensemble of shallow convolutional neural network (CNN) models on an annotated dataset. We use random search for tuning the hyper-parameters of the CNN models and present an ensemble of best models for the prediction task. Our system produces state-of-the-art result, with a micro-averaged F-score of 0.693. We believe that the developed classifier has direct uses in the areas of psychology, health informatics, pharmacovigilance and affective computing for tracking moods, emotions and sentiments of patients expressing intake of medicine in social media.


In recent decades, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers have sought a new way of life in large numbers, often leaving their countries of origin behind in search of places that offer a better way of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate how elementary and middle school students in state schools in Reading, England (primarily speakers of Asian languages), and Richmond, Virginia (primarily speakers of Spanish), were supported academically, when most children's first language was not English. The authors were interested in exploring whether or not there were cultural or structural differences in the way each country helped or hindered these students as they progressed through the school systems. Three UK schools in a district of approximately 100,000 and three US schools in a district of approximately 250,000 were the focus of this exploration from 2000 to 2003. Findings indicated that there were cultural and legislative differences and similarities. Teachers and administrators in both countries attempted to provide services with limited and sometimes diminishing resources. Community support varied based on resources, attitudes toward various ethnic groups, and the coping strategies adopted by these groups in their new environments. Marked differences appeared with regard to the manner in which assessments took place and how the results were made available to the public.


During the past decade, ten new EU member states reached a high degree of market integration and
macroeconomic stabilization as part of their accession process. The main challenge for these countries is
to deal with large and potential volatile capital inflows and to achieve nominal convergence needed for
adopting the euro. These challenges must be addressed within the scope of the limited fiscal policy. In the
context of macroeconomic adjustment, macro-fiscal policies will be in the focus of macroeconomic
policies in the years that follow.
They need to focus on meeting the requirements for sustainability of EMU, and to assist in absorbing the
effects of aggregate demand of large capital inflows. So in terms of macroeconomic convergence for
SEE6 countries and the case of Macedonia, EU membership requires convergence of the Macedonian
economy with that of the EU in realistic conditions, indicating income per capita and economic structure,
and in nominal terms, meaning convergence of prices, inflation and interest rates.


In this paper we show that there are certain limits as to what applications of Maynard Smith's concept of evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) can tell us about evolutionary processes. We shall argue that ESS is very similar in spirit to a particular branch of rational choice game theory, namely, the literature on refinements of Nash equilibrium. In the first place, ESS can also be viewed as a Nash equilibrium refinement. At a deeper level, ESS shares a common structure with other rational choice equilibrium refinements. An equilibrium is evaluated according to whether it persists under specific kinds of perturbations. In the case of ESS, these perturbations are mutations. However, from a dynamical point of view, focusing exclusively on perturbations of equilibria provides only a partial account of the system under consideration. We will show that this has important consequences when it comes to analyzing game-theoretic models of evolutionary processes. In particular, there are non-ESS states which are significant for evolutionary dynamics.


The dynamic nature of complex Cyber-Physical Systems puts extra requirements on their functionalities: they not only need to be dependable, but also able to adapt to changing situations in their environment. When developing such systems, however, it is often impossible to explicitly design for all potential situations up front and provide corresponding strategies. Situations that come out of this "envelope of adaptability" can lead to problems that end up by applying an emergency fail-safe strategy to avoid complete system failure. The existing approaches to self-adaptation cannot typically cope with such situations better—while they are adaptive (and can apply learning) in choosing a strategy, they still rely on a pre-defined set of strategies not flexible enough to deal with those situations adequately. To alleviate this problem, we propose the concept of meta-adaptation strategies, which extends the limits of adaptability of a system by constructing new strategies at runtime to reflect the changes in the environment. Though the approach is generally applicable to most approaches to self-adaptation, we demonstrate our approach on IRM-SA—a design method and associated runtime model for self-adaptive distributed systems based on component ensembles. We exemplify the meta-adaptation strategies concept by providing three concrete meta-adaptation strategies and show its feasibility on an emergency coordination case study.


AIM
To develop a modeling approach to compare clinical outcomes of nonacog beta pegol to a standard-acting factor IX (FIX) product.

METHODS
Regression analysis linked FIX activity to bleed rates. Pharmacokinetic parameters were used to estimate FIX activity over time. The probability of bleeds was estimated for both treatment arms. A Markov model estimated the presence of target joints and annualized bleed rates (ABRs).

RESULTS
Higher FIX activity showed reduced ABRs (p < 0.001). Target joints resulted in higher bleed rates (p < 0.001). When FIX activity levels and bleed risks were applied to the Markov model, ABRs for nonacog beta pegol and its comparator were 2.40 and 6.36, respectively.

CONCLUSION
This model provides a starting point for assessing the added value of new FIX products.


Experimental huts with veranda traps have been used in Tanzania since 1963 for the study of residual insecticides for use with insecticide‐treated nets and indoor residual spraying. Mosquitoes are allowed unrestricted entry through the eaves to facilitate the collection of an estimable proportion of mosquitoes that attempt to exit through the eave gaps, which are left open on two sides of the hut. This study was designed to validate the use of eave baffles to funnel entry and to prevent mosquito escape, and to determine biting times of Anopheles arabiensis (Patton) (Diptera: Culicidae). Anopheles arabiensis and Culex quinquefasciatus (Say) (Diptera: Culicidae) were released into the room at 20.30 hours and collected the following morning from veranda traps, window traps and the room. Centers for Disease Control light traps hung overnight next to volunteers were emptied every 2 h to determine peak biting times. A total of 55% of An. arabiensis were trapped before 22.30 hours and the highest peak in 'biting' was recorded during 18.30–20.30 hours. Of the released An. arabiensis that exited into veranda traps, 7% were captured in veranda traps entered through baffles and 93% were captured in traps entered through unmodified eaves. When veranda screens were left open to allow for escape outdoors, recapture rates were 68% for huts with eave baffles and 39% for huts with unmodified eaves. The comparison of open eaves with baffled eaves validated the assumption that in huts of the traditional non‐baffled design, 50% of mosquitoes escape through open eaves. Eave baffles succeeded in reducing the potential for mosquito exit and produced more precise estimates of effect.


Insects account for the main fraction of Earth's biodiversity and are key players for ecosystems, notably as pollinators. While insect migration is suspected to represent a natural phenomenon of major importance, remarkably little is known about it, except for a few flagship species. The reason for this situation is mainly due to technical limitations in the study of insect movement. Here we propose using metabarcoding of pollen carried by insects as a method for tracking their migrations. We developed a flexible and simple protocol allowing high multiplexing and not requiring DNA extraction, one of the most time consuming part of metabarcoding protocols, and apply this method to the study of the longdistance migration of the butterfly Vanessa cardui, an emerging model for insect migration. We collected 47 butterfly samples along the Mediterranean coast of Spain in spring and performed metabarcoding of pollen collected from their bodies to test for potential arrivals from the African continent. In total, we detected 157 plant species from 23 orders, most of which (82.8%) were insect-pollinated. African or African-Arabian endemic taxa contributed 21.0% of our dataset, strongly supporting the hypothesis that migratory butterflies colonize southern Europe from Africa in spring. Moreover, our data suggest that a northwards trans-Saharan migration in spring is plausible for early arrivals (February) into Europe, as shown by the presence of Saharan floristic elements. Our results demonstrate the possibility of regular insect-mediated transcontinental pollination, with potential implications for ecosystem functioning, agriculture and plant phylogeography. Despite current limitations, mostly regarding the availability of plant reference sequences and distribution data, the method proved to be useful and demonstrates great potential as plant genetic libraries and distribution datasets improve.


This paper discusses complex water quality problems, including management of urban runoff. Mathematical modelling is used to asses runoff quantity and quality. Environmental impact on freshwater wetlands in the Puget Sound region is reviewed. Case studies for various areas in the US are discussed. A study to improve the understanding of opportunities for better water quality management practices in the Fox/Wolf River, Green Bay watershed in Wisconsin is reported. This investigation was initiated by a local citizen group concerned about inadequate funding for the implementation of the Green Bay Remedial Action Plan, RAP, a part of the International Joint Commission, IJC, sponsored effort throughout the Great Lakes. They created an organization called 'NEW Waters For Tomorrow' and obtained support from a number of public and private organizations, including the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, to fund a one year study. The goal of the study is to learn more about alternative methods, especially cost effective methods, to continue improvements in water quality in the region. The alternatives, which include various combinations of point and non point source pollution abatement practices throughout the 6,600 square mile drainage basin, are under investigation by a three person interdisciplinary team including a biologist, a resource economist and a civil engineer. A brief historical review of the region and its water resource management challenge, is the introduction. The framework for the first year effort, based upon the integration of ecology, economics, technology and institutions, follows. Some preliminary results are presented next. Plans for the study completion and presentation of the results follow. Some comments on the possible transferability of the study approach to other areas with similar challenges end the paper. The Bonneville Power Administration has sought to increase numbers of anadromous fish in the Columbia River for many years. In spite of these efforts, numbers of some species have continued to decline while others increased. As a result, several species of Salmon from the Snake River portion of the Columbia River basin have been listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This presentation will identify analytical tools used to assess fish mitigation measures and the changes in power production and marketing expected from implementation of the National Marine Fisheries Service Recovery Plan and the Northwest Power Planning Council's Fish and Wildlife Program.


The World Trade Organization (WTO) was formed in order to establish a set of international rules and norms for conducting trade among nations. The objective of the organization is not only to strive towards a more harmonious and equitable playing field within the global market, but to "rais[e] standards of living, ensur[e] full employment, and expand the production of and trade in goods and services. . . ." Despite the organization's recognition "that there is need for positive efforts designed to ensure that developing countries, especially the least developed among them, secure a share in the growth in international trade commensurate with the needs of their economic development," many WTO agreements have created discord between developed and developing nations with respect to implementing these goals.One particular WTO agreement, the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), has created a great deal of debate about the usefulness of international intellectual property rights. Will they result in increased trade and fairer global competition or will they simply strengthen the West's hold on the international economy as they increase western multinationals' profits and weed out competitors from developing nations? Although the process for developing and ratifying TRIPS was preceded with extensive debate among WTO members, there remain a number of disagreements among nations with regard to the interpretation and enforcement of TRIPS. The main divide exists between developed nations and developing nations due to their diverging national interests, which stem from their different levels of economic development. The developing nation members, with their limited research, development, and manufacturing capacities, took a leap of faith when they committed to adopting and enforcing strong, non-discriminatory minimum standards of intellectual property rights. Although it will take years to confirm whether this commitment will result in the foreign investment and domestic economic growth they aspire to obtain, these nations are under strong domestic pressure to produce tangible results in a short time frame. However, these expectations cannot be met simply by strengthening intellectual property laws, but rather require numerous other changes to interrelated legal regimes.This Note focuses on TRIPS' impact on the pharmaceutical industry and health care in developing nations. By using Egypt as a case study, this Note aims to emphasize that the benefits of TRIPS for developing nations depends on the linkage between intellectual property rights (IPR) and other legal regimes, particularly drug regulation, technology transfer, and foreign direct investment (FDI) policies. The failure to adopt a holistic approach to the creation of effective and beneficial intellectual property rights regimes will merely increase the western pharmaceuticals' market share and increase drug prices in developing nations. By asking whether Egypt, versus foreign multinational companies, is likely to benefit from its new IPR law (that is for the most part TRIPS compliant) one has to analyze the entire context in which the law exists. This in turn will expose the importance of various factors relevant to fulfilling the expected benefits of stronger IPRs in developing nations in general.Consequently, Section I provides a brief description of the ongoing debate between the developed and developing nations with regard to the costs and benefits of international pharmaceutical patents. Section II outlines and describes the controversial provisions in TRIPS and how they are addressed, adequately or inadequately, in Egypt's new IPR law. Section III then analyzes the context in which the new IPR law is being introduced including the structure of Egypt's pharmaceutical industry and national health care system. Section IV addresses other legal regimes and policies, such as research and development, technology transfer, and competition policy, which are inextricably linked to the efficacy of intellectual property rights. Finally, Section V offers recommendations on how Egypt can fully benefit from its commitment to TRIPS and its new IPR law, which can then be extrapolated to other developing nations in similar circumstances.