We used a parametric design to study how task constraints modulate the relationship between single-trial ERPs and image noise. We used two pictures of faces equated in amplitude spectra and colourized with red and green tones. We added varying amounts of noise to the phase spectra. Thirteen subjects saw these faces in identity and colour discrimination tasks. Behavioural accuracy followed a noise dependent sigmoid in the identity task; it was high and independent of noise level in the colour task. Using a similar design, Philiastides, Ratcliff & Sajda [J. Neurosci. 2006, 26(35), 8965–75], suggested that brain activity before 200 ms is not modulated by task constraints, followed by a time-window sensitive to top-down influences. We used a single-trial ANCOVA [Rousselet et al. Frontiers in Psychology 1:19] to assess task modulation of ERP noise sensitivity while regressing out the main ERP differences due to identity, colour and task. Group analyses showed a reduction in noise sensitivity in the colour task compared to the identity task around 140–300 ms post-stimulus onset. A bootstrap spatial-temporal statistical analysis in every subject revealed more complicated results: significant task modulation occurred in 8/13 subjects, one showing an increase and 7 showing a decrease in noise sensitivity in the colour task. Onsets and durations of effects also differed between group and single-trial analyses, so that at any time point only 4 subjects showed results consistent with group analyses. A shift function analysis revealed non-uniform task effects on ERP distributions: decreased noise sensitivity in the colour task was due mostly to a modulation of single-trial ERPs to faces, not noise. In conclusion, single-trial analyses suggest that [1] early face processing can be modulated by task demand, at least in some subjects; [2] substantial individual differences in the time-course of task modulations speak against group statistics to study these effects.


P oaching for ivory has caused a steep decline in African elephant (Loxodonta africana, see the photo) populations over the past decade (1). This crisis has fueled a contentious global debate over which ivory policy would best protect elephants: banning all ivory trade or enabling regulated trade to incentivize and fund elephant conservation (2). The deep-seated deadlock on ivory policy consumes valuable resources and creates an antagonistic environment among elephant conservationists. Successful solutions must begin by recognizing the different values that influence stakeholder cognitive frameworks of how actions lead to outcomes ("mental models") (3), and therefore their diverging positions on ivory trade (4). Based on successful conflict resolution in other areas, we propose an iterative process through which countries with wild elephant populations may be able to understand their differences and develop workable solutions in a less confrontational manner.


The story of Lucifer's pride and fall fills an empty space within Satan's "biography." It originates in an angelological re-reading of Isa 14 and Ezek 28 which doesn't stem from early Judaism but from the Christianity of the late 2nd century. Its background is the dispute about the virulent question regarding the origin of evil, stimulated by the Marcionite school. The myth of Lucifer offers a counter-tale to the myth of Christ, thus reflecting developing Christology and conceptions of the Antichrist as well. The pattern of the devil's self-aggrandizement/pride and downfall in contrast to Christ's self-abasement/humility and exaltation is also ethically relevant.


In all glyphosate herbicide formulations, an adjuvant is usually added or incorporated to enhance the wetting, spreading and penetration of the active ingredient on the leaf surface. However, conventional adjuvants have side effects such as aquatic toxicity and irritation to skin and eyes. Palm oil-based adjuvants being renewable,
environmental friendly, less flammable (due to higher flash points) and cause fewer medical problems and allergies as to end-users or spraying operators provides the alternative solution to the problems. The general objective of the experiment is to evaluate the performance and physical properties of palm oil-based adjuvant or blended adjuvant formulated in the glyphosate isopropylamine and glyphosate monoammonium herbicides from the number of adjuvants developed by the Advanced Oleochemical Technology Division of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (AOTD,MPOB). Four experiments were conducted which includes bioefficacy evaluation of
seven type of palm oil based adjuvants formulated in glyphosate isopropylamine and glyphosate monoammonium herbicides, physical properties evaluation of the
selected formulations, influences of different adjuvant concentrations on the performance of the selected glyphosate formulations and rainfastness evaluation. The
results showed that MAGIPAS3 and MAGIPAS4 with 10% adjuvant concentration were the most effective glyphosate isopropylamine formulation as it has given visual
weed mortality of 95.00% and 95.55% on Paspalum conjugatum, 93.90 % and 96.00% on Asystasia gangetica and 95.10% and 98.07% on Ottochloa nodosa respectively at 14 Days After Treatment (DAT) which is significantly higher than
other formulation and comparable with the standard product Roundup and Asset. For glyphosate monoammonium formulations, MAGMAS6 and MAGMAS7 with 10% adjuvant concentrations were the most effective formulation with the visual weed mortality of 85.00% and 95.24% on Paspalum conjugatum, 85.00 % and 95.00% on Asystasia gangetica, 95.02% and 98.00% on Ottochloa nodosa respectively. In the
physical properties evaluation, all the glyphosate isopropylamine and glyphosate monoammonium samples formulated with palm oil based adjuvant showed surface
 tension below 40 mN/m for all the three adjuvant concentrations of 7.5%, 10% and 12.5%. Surface tension for MAGIPAS4 with 7.5% (35.25 mN/m), 10% (34.86 mN/m) and 12.5% (34.98 mN/m) was significantly lower than the standard product Asset (45.03 mN/m) but no significant different with Roundup (40.05 mN/m). As for glyphosate monoammonium, MAGMAS6 and MAGMAS7 at all adjuvant concentrations showed significantly lower surface tension (39.55 mN/m and 34.20
mN/m respectively) than the standard product of Ammo Supre (50.57 mN/m) and water (control) (72.24 mN/m). MAGIPAS4 at 10% concentration showed lower mean contact angle at 32.6° on Paspalum conjugatum and 27.7° on Asystasia gangetica indicating good wetting properties on the leaf surface. MAGMAS7 at 10% adjuvant concentration recorded lower mean contact angle on all weed leaf surface (74.6° on Paspalum conjugatum, 52.7° on Asystasia gangetica, 58.2° on Ottochloa nodosa and 37.5° on Clidemia hirta) compared to MAGMAS6. MAGIPAS4 and MAGMAS7 at 10% adjuvant concentration is the optimum formulation that consistently provide the largest droplet spread area and higher droplet spread
coefficient on leaf surfaces. In the influence of adjuvant concentration study,MAGIPAS4 has edged over MAGIPAS3 significantly in term of visual weed mortality for adjuvant concentrations of 10.0 and 12.5% on P. conjugatum and A.
gangetica but were equal to the standard product of Roundup and Asset. While MAGMAS7 at all concentration has shown superiority over MAGMAS6 in term of visual weed mortality, fresh and dry weight reduction and chlorophyll content
degradation for P. conjugatum and A. gangetica resulting from better droplet spread area and spread coefficient. In the rainfastness experiment, none of the glyphosate
isoropylamine or glyphosate monoammonium formulations with palm oil based adjuvant formulated samples were capable of providing rainfastness effect 30 minutes post-spraying on P. conjugatum and A. gangetica. However, MAGIPAS4
with 10% concentration proved to be a rainfast formulation on P. conjugatum 90 minutes post-spraying. For glyphosate monoammonium, none of the formulations were rainfast 90 minutes post-spraying. The increase of adjuvant concentrations did not increase the level of rainfastness of the glyphosate formulations.


We define isotropic springs to be central springs having the same restoring force in all directions. In pre- vious work, we showed that isotropic springs can be advantageously applied to horological time bases since they can be used to eliminate the escapement mechanism [7]. This paper presents our designs based on planar serial 2-DOF linear isotropic springs. We propose two architectures, both based on parallel leaf springs, then evaluate their isotropy defect using firstly an analytic model, secondly finite element anal- ysis and thirdly experimental data measured from physical prototypes. Using these results, we analyze the isotropy defect in terms of displacement, radial distance, angular separation, stiffness and linearity. Based on this analysis, we propose improved architectures stacking in parallel or in series duplicate copies of the original mechanisms rotated at specific angles to cancel isotropy defect. We show that using the mechanisms in pairs reduces isotropy defect by one to two orders of magnitude.


This article explores opportunities for expanding the vocabulary of Livonian through compounds, borrowings, derived words, and calques. It is clear that these methods have been effectively used already throughout the entire period of development of the modern Livonian literary language and, therefore, specific traditions have evolved in forming neologisms in Livonian. So, in forming compounds, one has to pay special attention to whether the singular or plural form is used for each component, the historical genitive is used in select types of compounds, or one or both components must be declined. Borrowings in Livonian are largely connected with internationalisms borrowed through Latvian, but adapted to fit with the unique demands of Livonian pronunciation and morphology. Derivation using suffixes is quite productive, while derivation using prefixes is distinctly limited, despite views to the contrary which are sometimes encountered. Many new concepts have actively entered Livonian through the use of calques. Two major groups of calques can be distinguished, which are those formed based on Latvian and those formed based on Estonian. Word formation in Livonian is still a little studied topic where more in depth studies are needed; however, already existing research into the expansion of the Livonian lexicon ensures the existence of a rich source of material for future study in this area.


Logic is a powerful tool for analyzing and verifying systems, including programs, discrete systems, real-time systems, hybrid systems, and distributed systems. Some applications also have a stochastic behavior, however, either because of fundamental properties of nature, uncertain environments, or simplifications to overcome complexity. Discrete probabilistic systems have been studied using logic. But logic has been chronically underdeveloped in the context of stochastic hybrid systems, i.e., systems with interacting discrete, continuous, and stochastic dynamics. We aim at overcoming this deficiency and introduce a dynamic logic for stochastic hybrid systems. Our results indicate that logic is a promising tool for understanding stochastic hybrid systems and can help taming some of their complexity. We introduce a compositional model for stochastic hybrid systems. We prove adaptivity, cadl ` ag, and Markov time properties, and prove that the semantics ` of our logic is measurable. We present compositional proof rules, including rules for stochastic differential equations, and prove soundness.


We evaluate what should be the optimal simple fiscal response to a monetary shock when inequality and redistribution matter. Due to persistent high indebtedness, unemployment and increasing inequality, the evolution of the income and wealth distributions has become essential to assess the coordination of fiscal and monetary policies. To deal with these distributional issues, we study welfare-maximising fiscal response to a monetary shock using a HANK model with search and matching frictions calibrated on US data. The main results show that the most welfare improving response is through a decrease of labor income taxation. In spite of a worsening of the labor market, this leads to an overall positive macroeconomic expansion, while it provides some distributional welfare improvement for the entire wealth distribution and might trigger a trade-off between higher inequality or higher unemployment.


This study evaluated the suitability of commercially produced fermented soybean meal (FSBM) known as PepSoyGen™, in a plant-based diet for Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus fingerlings. An 8-week growth trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets containing 0, 206, 309 and 410 g/kg FSBM, replacing approximately 0%, 50%, 75% and 100% SBM (designated as Basal, FSBM 50, FSBM 75 and FSBM 100, respectively) on growth performance, body composition, serum biochemistry and morphological condition of liver and distal intestine of Florida pompano. There were no significant differences in final mean weight, percentage weight gain, thermal unit growth coefficient and feed conversion ratio in all treatments. For serum biochemistry analysis, there were no significant differences in total protein, albumin, glucose, cholesterol, bile acids, plasma alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities in all treatments. Cellular infiltration, presence of goblet cells and the width of lamina propria in the distal intestine were partly improved in fish fed FSBM 75 and 100 compared to the fish fed FSBM 50 and basal diet. Glycogen granulation, inflammation and nuclear change condition in the liver of pompano were better as the inclusion of fermented product increased. Results of this study indicate that FSBM can be utilized as an alternative protein source and microbial fermentation process could improve the functional properties of SBM.


The author reviews a book by Nancy Shields Kollmann, a well-known specialist in the history of early-modern Russia and professor at Stanford University (California, USA). The book is a vast study of the judicial proceedings and enforcement of sentences in Russia between the 15th and early 18th centuries. The reviewer analyses the structure of the book, its methods, and the narrative: he focuses on Kollmann's basic concept, according to which Russia should be regarded as part of the all-European continuum. This conclusion is of considerable importance for understanding Russian history. The reviewer argues that Russian academia should pay close attention to the work as it contains many valuable factual materials and interesting observations. Another factor that the reviewer considers relevant is that the author's principles of work and the peculiarities of her representation of the material differ from the traditions of Russian historical scholarship. However, the translation tends to be literal. This book about "crime and punishment" is an important step for understanding the sociopolitical peculiarities of Russia's development in the early modern period.


Demand for impact assessment (IA) tools by public administrations has increased significantly in the last decades, when the European Union has also increased its efforts to measure the impact of its agricultural and environmental policies. Different IA tools have been applied to assess EU policies in agriculture and environment, like the Common Agricultural Policy reform, decoupling, the Water Framework Directive, agri-environmental schemes, the Nitrates Directive, etc. This paper considers impact assessment tools that are commonly used in Europe and the rest of the world for carrying out assessments initiated by policymakers. The aim of the paper is to provide a review of the IA tools applied for the assessment of the EU policies in agriculture and environment, to analyse them and to classify them by different criteria according to the policy that they have been applied to and by the impacts that they have been measured. This paper reviews 116 published studies for impact assessment carried out in European countries.


Mitochondria are the main energy providers of the cell. Procedures developed for the isolation of pure and intact mitochondria have contributed considerably to the understanding of the complex biochemical functions of mitochondria, as they permit the application of detailed biochemical and biophysical techniques to the investigation of this organelle. This article describes the principles underlying the procedures for the isolation of mitochondria from a large variety of tissues and the techniques for assessing the quality of mitochondrial preparations. Special emphasis is given to cell fractionation protocols for the isolation of mitochondria from model organisms, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana, cultured mammalian cells, and for the isolation of hydrogenosomes and mitosomes from amitochondriates. The special requirements for the determination of the mitochondrial proteome by high-throughput mass spectrometry are discussed.

Key Concepts:

Cell fractionation is a summary term for the isolation of cell organelles and subcellular fractions from tissues and cultivated cells.

Equilibrium centrifugation, a centrifugation technique by which particles are separated by virtue of their different densities in density gradients, is the most common technique for the preparation of highly enriched mitochondrial fractions.

Differential centrifugation, a centrifugation technique by which subcellular particles are separated by virtue of their differences in sedimentation rates, is the most common technique of cell fractionation protocols.

The mitochondrial proteome represents the whole set of proteins found within mitochondria.

Mitosomes and hydrogenosomes are mitochondria-related organelles from protists.

A model organism is an experimental organism that is representative for a whole group of species. Models that are easy to manipulate tend to be the most widely used.

A subcellular marker is a selected biomolecule that is confined to a specific organelle or suborganellar compartment and that may be used to determine the presence of this compartment in a subcellular fraction.

The subfractionation of mitochondria involves techniques that allow the physical separation of individual mitochondrial compartments.

The quality of a mitochondrial preparation is determined by the degree of other contaminating organelles, the level of specific mitochondrial activities and the degree of mitochondrial integrity.

Keywords:

cell organelles;
hydrogenosomes;
mitochondria;
mitosomes;
model organism;
oxidative phosphorylation;
preparative centrifugation;
proteomics;
subcellular fractionation


Nucleic acid based drugs (NADBs) are short DNA/RNA molecules that include among others, antisense oligonucleotides, aptamers, small interfering RNAs and micro-interfering RNAs. Despite the different mechanisms of actions, NABDs have the ability to combat the effects of pathological gene expression in many experimental systems. Thus, nowadays, NABDs are considered to have a great therapeutic potential, possibly superior to that of available drugs. Unfortunately, however, the lack of effective delivery systems limits the practical use of NABDs. Due to their hydrophilic nature, NABDs cannot efficiently cross cellular membrane; in addition, they are subjected to fast degradation by cellular and extracellular nucleases. Together these aspects make the delivery of NABDs as naked molecules almost un-effective. To optimize NABD delivery, several solutions have been investigated. From the first attempts described in the beginning of the 1980s, a burst in the number of published papers occurred in the beginning of 1990 s reaching a peak in 2012-13. The extensive amount of work performed so far clearly witnesses the interest of the scientific community in this topic. In the present review, we will concentrate on the description of the most interesting advances in the field. Particular emphasis will be put on polymeric and lipid materials used alone or in combination with a promising delivery strategy based on the use of carbon nanotubes. The data presented suggest that, although further improvements are required, we are not far from the identification of effective delivery systems for NABDs thus making the clinical use of these molecules closer to reality.


RDIPE has developed a detailed design of an enhanced safety nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) with a VK-300 boiling water reactor for combined heat and power generation. The thermal power of the reactor is 750 MW. The maximum electrical power in the condensation mode is 250 MWe. The maximum heat generation capacity of 400 Gcal/h is reached at 150 MWe. This report describes, in brief, the basic technical concepts for the VK-300 NSSS and the power unit, with an emphasis on enhanced safety and good economic performance. With relatively small power, good technical and economic performance of the VK-300 reactor that is a base for the desalination complex is attained through: reduced capital costs of the nuclear plant construction thanks to technical approaches ensuring maximum simplicity of the reactor design and the NSSS layout; a single-circuit power unit configuration (reactor-turbine) excluding expensive equipment with a lot of metal, less pipelines and valves; reduced construction costs of the basic buildings thanks to reduced construction volumes due to rational arrangement concepts; higher reliability of equipment and reduced maintenance and repair costs; longer reactor design service life of up to 60 years; selection of the best reactor and desalination equipment interface pattern. The report considers the potential application of the VK-300 reactor as a source of energy for distillation desalination units. The heat from the reactor is transferred to the desalination unit via an intermediate circuit. Comparison is made between variants of the reactor integration with desalination units of the following types: multi-stage flash (MSF technology); multi-effect distillation horizontal-tube film units of the DOU GTPA type (MED technology). The NDC capacity with the VK-300 reactor, in terms of distillate, will be more than 200,000 m³/day, with the simultaneous output of electric power from the turbine generator buses of around 150 MWe. The variants of the desalination technologies applied are compared, based on economic estimates performed. Acceptable values of the distillate cost have been obtained.


MS is a heterogeneous disease characterized by transient and later permanent disability caused by inflammatory CNS lesions with profound axonal loss and demyelination. Although the exact pathogenesis of the disease is still unknown, it is assumed that MS is an autoimmune disease. While earlier concepts focused on the role of T cells, B cells are increasingly recognized to play an important role. The fumaric acid ester DMF is an immunomodulatory agent which is approved for the therapy of relapsing-remitting MS. In MS patients, DMF effectively reduces the relapse rate as well as the number and extent of MRI lesions. DMF shows anti-inflammatory properties by modulating immune cell functions leading to a decrease in pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Furthermore, DMF may exert neuroprotective effects in part mediated by the induction of Nrf2 resulting in the activation of antioxidant response pathways. In our study, we investigated whether DMF has neuroprotective and/or neuroregenerative function independent of its effect on the peripheral immune system. For this purpose, DMF effects were studied in a setting of toxic demyelination, namely the cuprizone model. In the second part of our study, it was also analyzed to what extent DMF influences pathogenic B cell and T cell properties in in an EAE model, in which B cells are involved in a pathogenic manner.
Regarding the first part of the project, we found that DMF significantly diminished the cuprizone-induced apoptosis of oligodendrocytes and increased the number of oligodendrocytes over time during cuprizone intoxication. Upon short-term cuprizone exposure, DMF increased the number of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) whereas after long-term cuprizone diet higher numbers of mature oligodendrocytes could be observed. Although DMF treatment did not influence demyelination and remyelination of the corpus callosum, acute axonal damage was significantly decreased in DMF treated mice. In conclusion, DMF was found to exert moderate neuroprotective and neuroregenerative effects independent of the peripheral immune system. The observation of higher OPC numbers in conjunction with a higher number of mature oligodendrocytes after long-term cuprizone diet may suggest that DMF treatment potentially promotes the differentiation of oligodendrocytes.
In the second part, preventive as well as therapeutic DMF treatment was effective in a B cell-mediated EAE model. Clinical benefit of DMF treatment in mice with established EAE was associated with decreased demyelination and inflammation of the spinal cord. The infiltration of macrophages/microglia and partially also of T cells was reduced by DMF treatment, whereas DMF had no detectable effect on the number of infiltrating B cells. In peripheral compartments, DMF led to a lower T cell frequency in the blood, while a complementary accumulation of T cells could be observed in lymph node and spleen of DMF-treated mice with EAE. Besides its effect on T cell frequencies, DMF treatment significantly reduced activation, differentiation and proliferation of peripheral T cells. In contrast, DMF-treatment exerted no inhibitory effect on peripheral B cells and caused an enhanced activation and differentiation of B cells. Most persistently, we observed an upregulation of MHC II on B cells. Functionally, these alterations were associated with an enhanced capacity of B cells to act as antigen presenting cells for activation of T cells. In conclusion, the observed clinical and pathological benefit in EAE with pathogenic B cell function thus appears to be mediated by an immunomodulatory effect of DMF directly on T cells. Contrary, we found that DMF treatment promoted antigen-presenting properties of B cells, while this study could not conclusively reveal which T cell phenotype is induced by these more potent B cells. Nevertheless, the primary observation of an enhanced B cell activation and antigen presenting function upon DMF treatment might be of significant relevance in specific therapeutic decisions, such as choosing the appropriate MS medication subsequent to therapeutic B cell depletion.


Variation in a single amino acid in a transmembrane protein confers cold tolerance to rice. Rice is a major food source. Asian cultivated rice is primarily from two subspecies of Oryza sativa: indica, which produces a high yield but requires warm tropical temperatures, and japonica, which has a lower yield but can tolerate lower temperatures. Ma et al. identified a single nucleotide variation in the gene COLD1 (CHILLING-TOLERANCE DIVERGENCE 1) that was responsible for the difference in cold tolerance between indica and japonica (see Manishankar and Kudla). In the cold-tolerant japonica COLD1 had a lysine residue, whereas the cold-intolerant indica had either a methionine or threonine. Overexpression, knockdown, and mutation analysis confirmed that this variation in COLD1 was responsible for the difference in growth and survival after exposure to cold temperatures. COLD1 is predicted to have nine transmembrane domains and is related to the Arabidopsis orthologs GTG1 and GTG2, which interact with the α subunit of G proteins (RGA1) and function as guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase)–activating proteins. A yeast two-hybrid assay, immunoprecipitation experiments with transgenic plants expressing tagged versions of COLD1 and RGA1, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays revealed an interaction between COLD1 and RGA1. However, only the japonica COLD1 enhanced the GTPase activity of RGA1 in vitro; indica COLD1 inhibited RGA1 GTPase activity in vitro. Consistent with the enhancement of RGA1 activity by COLD1 in cold tolerance, RGA1 mutant japonica plants exhibited reduced survival when grown in cold conditions. Expression of COLD1 and RGA1 in Xenopus oocytes showed that COLD1 functions as an ion channel, with japonica, but not indica, COLD1 producing an inward current when coexpressed with RGA1. Analysis of calcium signals in plants showed that cold shock induced a stronger calcium signal in japonica than in indica and that the response depended on COLD1 and its magnitude depended on RGA1. This study provides a molecular clue to the differences in cold tolerance for two common strains of rice, which could lead to improved crop yield through molecular breeding techniques. Y. Ma, X. Dai, Y. Xu, W. Luo, X. Zheng, D. Zeng, Y. Pan, X. Lin, H. Liu, D. Zhang, J. Xiao, X. Guo, S. Xu, Y. Niu, J. Jin, H. Zhang, X. Xu, L. Li, W. Wang, Q. Qian, S. Ge, K. Chong, COLD1 confers chilling tolerance in rice. Cell 160, 1209–1221 (2015). [PubMed] P. Manishankar, J. Kudla, Cold tolerance encoded in one SNP. Cell 160, 1045–1046 (2015). [PubMed]


Background and aims There is increasing evidence that childhood vitamin D deficiency is associated with poorer overall health and associated with numerous diseases. We wanted to assess knowledge and use of vitamin D in mothers of the Somali Community in West London with the aim of improving knowledge, access to vitamin D and reducing the burden of vitamin D associated healthcare problems in mothers and their children. Methods A representative sample of Somali individuals were contacted by HASVO (Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations) and three meetings conducted with these community members. Participants were asked to complete a detailed vitamin D questionnaire assessing baseline knowledge of vitamin D deficiency, awareness of its importance and current uptake. This was followed by an educational presentation and discussion. Questionnaires and presentations were in English and translators provided for those who required assistance. Results 45 participants completed the questionnaire. Most participants had heard of vitamin D deficiency (33), but the participants and their children were at high risk of it through lifestyle factors, particularly low sun exposure. The discussion exposed variability in both lay health beliefs and experiences with healthcare professionals. Conclusion Phase I of this study has shown that (i) there is a current vitamin D crisis in this community and knowledge is variable, (ii) clearer community information is needed about vitamin D dosage, (iii) access to cheap vitamin D needs to be better publicised. Thus, we propose that a vitamin D campaign is needed and will be rolled out in Phase II.


MKVH (Milton Keynes Vertical Horizontal) was a public art work produced by Milton Keynes Gallery. It involved a coach being driven round the Milton Keynes road grid for 39 hours until it ran out of diesel. The initial invite to participate in this project was a public call, inviting people from Milton Keynes to come on a road trip for up to 3 days.

MKVH was part re-enactment of a story about the guru Gurdieff who drove his car until it ran out of petrol and part examination of the life as a journey metaphor in the road-movie genre. It also draws on genres of fiction such as the picaresque novel that are based on linear event-based narrative structures. The narrative resolution of this work was running out of diesel, an event that contributed to current discussion surrounding peak oil. MKVH was covered extensively by local news agencies, taking its debate into the public sphere.

MKVH (The Script), 2007, is an artists' book that documents this trip. It is written as a film script and is based on transcriptions of dialogues between participants occurring during the 39 hour journey. The script is structured chronologically with each page of the book representing 15 minutes of journey time. It incorporates local press and transcripts of radio interviews conducted during the journey as well as shared documentation/contributions by participants in the form of photos, global positioning drawings, texts and diary entries. Taking the form of a film-script, the book both documents a past event (the journey) and proposes its own future as a film, and as such it is a continuation of work that relates to performance documentation and the fictionalisation of the archive.

The project was written about in Contemporary Magazine (special issue on performance) in 2006.


The current narrative regarding the 2008 systemic financial system collapse is that numerous seemingly unrelated events occurred in unregulated or underregulated markets, requiring widespread bailouts of actors across the financial spectrum, from mortgage borrowers to investors in money market funds. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, created by the U.S. Congress to investigate the causes of the crisis, promotes this politically convenient narrative, and the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act operationalizes it by completing the progressive extension of federal protection and regulation of banking and finance that began in the 1930s so that it now covers virtually all financial activities, including hedge funds and proprietary trading. The Dodd-Frank Act further charges the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council, made up of politicians, bureaucrats, and university professors, with preventing a subsequent systemic crisis. Markets can become unbalanced, but they generally correct themselves before crises become systemic. Because of the accumulation of past political reactions to previous crises, this did not occur with the most recent crisis. Public enterprises had crowded out private enterprises, and public protection and the associated prudential regulation had trumped market discipline. Prudential regulation created moral hazard and public protection invited mission regulation, both of which undermined prudential regulation itself. This eventually led to systemic failure. Politicians are responsible for both regulatory incompetence and mission-induced laxity.


Angiotensin II (Ang II), the product of sequential degradation of angiotensinogen by renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme, has long been considered the effector of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which plays a key role in regulating blood pressure and thus in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Recent research, however, suggests that the peptide angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)], which is produced through an alternative degradative pathway and has cardiovascular effects antagonistic to those of Ang II, may be a physiologically relevant effector of the RAS as well. Santos et al. implicated the orphan heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor (GPCR) Mas as a functional receptor for Ang-(1-7), thus providing a molecular basis for Ang-(1-7) activity. The authors used autoradiographic analysis to compare Ang II and Ang-(1-7) binding to kidney slices from wild-type mice and mutant mice that lacked Mas. Specific Ang-(1-7) binding was eliminated in the Mas-deficient mice, whereas specific AngII binding was not affected. Ang-(1-7) elicited arachidonic acid release from Cos and Chinese hamster ovary cell lines transfected with Mas and showed specific binding to Mas-transfected cells. Mas knockout mice lost the wild-type antidiuretic response to Ang-(1-7) after water loading, and aortic rings from the mutant mice lacked Ang-(1-7)-dependent relaxation. These data implicate Mas as a physiologically active receptor for Ang-(1-7) and thus open the door to new therapies for treating cardiovascular disease. R. A. S. Santos, A. C. Simoes e Silva, C. Maric, D. M. R. Silva, R. P. Machado, I. de Buhr, S. Heringer-Walther, S. V. B. Pinheiro, M. T. Lopes, M. Bader, E. P. Mendes, V. S. Lemos, M. J. Campagnole-Santos, H.-P. Schultheiss, R. Speth, T. Walther, Angiotensin-(1-7) is an endogenous ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor Mas. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100, 8258-8263 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The ongoing incorporation of women into the Islamic State (IS) is unlike what any other jihadi organization in the recent history of jihadism has attempted to achieve. An important question is therefore: how does IS reconcile its ultra-conservative Islamic narrative of women, with the organization's incorporation of women? By analyzing primary data collected through fieldwork in the Middle East, the author of this article argues that, through the platform of 'gender-segregated parallel institutions,' IS has established a mechanism by which Muslim women are being effectively incorporated into its envisaged Islamic State. Through this mechanism, IS has inspired a substantial number of women from around the globe by advocating an alternative narrative of divine redemption to the one of secular emancipation of women.


Participants of this workshop will be confronted exemplarily with a considerable inconsistency of global Informatics education at lower secondary level. More importantly, they are invited to contribute actively on this issue in form of short case studies of their countries. Until now, very few countries have been successful in implementing Informatics or Computing at primary and lower secondary level. The spectrum from digital literacy to informatics, particularly as a discipline in its own right, has not really achieved a breakthrough and seems to be underrepresented for these age groups. The goal of this workshop is not only to discuss the anamnesis and diagnosis of this fragmented field, but also to discuss and suggest viable forms of therapy in form of setting educational standards. Making visible good practices in some countries and comparing successful approaches are rewarding tasks for this workshop. Discussing and defining common educational standards on a transcontinental level for the age group of 14 to 15 years old students in a readable, assessable and acceptable form should keep the participants of this workshop active beyond the limited time at the workshop.


Acanthocephalus lutzi (Hamann, 1891) is proposed to be transferred to the genus Pseudoacanthocephalus Petrochenko, 1956 based on the type material from Rhinella marina (L.) from Brazil and recently collected material from R. arenarum (Hensel) from Argentina. Pseudoacanthocephalus is characterised by the following features: a cylindrical trunk without spines, a cylindrical proboscis, testes in tandem, a compact cluster of cement glands, a nearly terminal male genital pore, a ventral and sub-terminal female genital pore, and egg without polar prolongations, containing a holoechinate acanthor. Pseudoacanthocephalus lutzi comb. n. has a proboscis armature of 14-18 longitudinal rows of 5-8 hooks each, with all roots formed by a posteriorly directed longitudinal spatulate sheet having a central rib, and an inconspicuous sheet directed anteriorly; a variable number (4, 5 or 6) of cement glands; a cerebral ganglion located near the base of the proboscis receptacle; digitiform to claviform lemnisci, as long as, or slightly shorter or slightly longer than the proboscis receptacle; a sigmoid-shaped posterior end in males; an egg with a conspicuous fibrillar coat; and one of the larval hooks more robust and different in shape than the others. Additionally, the type material of Acanthocephalus saopaulensis Smales, 2007 from Rhinella icterica (Spix) from Brazil and a paratype of A. caspanensis Fernández et Ibarra Vidal, 1992 from R. spinulosa (Wiegmann) from Chile were studied. Acanthocephalus saopaulensis is considered conspecific with P. lutzi and A. caspanensis is transferred to Pseudoacanthocephalus because it possesses all the characters of the genus mentioned above. The use of characters such as egg morphology and host ecology for distinguishing Acanthocephalus from Pseudoacanthocephalus is also discussed.


Beauty Technology is a wearable computing paradigm that uses the body's surface as an interactive platform by integrating technology into beauty products applied directly to one's skin, fingernails and hair. Hairware is a Beauty Technology Prototype that connects chemically metalized hair extensions to a microcontroller turning it into an input device for triggering different objects. Hairware acts as a capacitive touch sensor that detects touch variations on hair and uses machine learning algorithms in order to recognize user's intention. Normally, while someone touches her own hair, unconsciously she is bringing comfort to herself and at the same time is emitting a non-verbal message decodable by an observer. However, when she replays that touch on Hairware, she is not just emitting a message to an observer, because touching her hair would trigger an object, creating in this way, a concealed interface to different devices. Therefore, Hairware brings the opportunity to make conscious use of an unconscious auto-contact behavior. We present Hairware's hardware and software implementation.


Immigration and Innovation in European Regions The concentration of people with diverse socio-cultural backgrounds in particular geographic areas may boost the creation of new ideas, knowledge spillovers, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. In this paper we measure the impact of the size, skills, and diversity of immigration on the innovativeness of host regions. For this purpose we construct a panel of data on 170 regions in Europe (NUTS 2 level) for the periods 1991-1995 and 2001-2005. Innovation outcomes are measured by means of the number of patent applications per million inhabitants. Given the geographical concentration and subsequent diffusion of innovation activity, and the spatial selectivity of immigrants' location choices, we take account of spatial dependence and of the endogeneity of immigrant settlement in our econometric modelling. We use the location of McDonald's restaurants as a novel instrument for immigration. The results confirm that innovation is clearly a function of regional accessibility, industrial structure, human capital, and GDP growth. In addition, patent applications are positively affected by the diversity of the immigrant community beyond a critical minimum level. An increase in the fractionalization index by 0.1 from the regional mean of 0.5 increases patent applications per million inhabitants by about 0.2 percent. Moreover, the average skill level of immigrants (proxied by global regions of origin) also affects patent applications. In contrast, an increasing share of foreigners in the population does not conclusively impact on patent applications. Therefore, a distinct composition of immigrants from different backgrounds is a more important driving force for innovation than the sheer size of the immigrant population in a certain locality. JEL Classification: J61, O31, R23


Edge computing enables new, low-latency services close to data producers and consumers. However, edge service management is challenged by high hardware heterogeneity and missing elasticity capabilities. To address these challenges, this paper introduces the concept of elastic services. Elastic services are situation aware and can adapt themselves to the current execution environment dynamically to adhere to their Service Level Objectives (SLOs). This adaptation is achieved through Diversifiable Programming (DivProg), a new programming model which uses function annotations as interface between the service logic, its SLOs, and the execution framework. DivProg enables developers to characterize their services in a way that allows a third-party execution framework to run them with the flow and the parametrization that conforms to changing SLOs. We develop a prototype and perform an experimental evaluation which shows that elastic services can seamlessly adapt to heterogeneous platforms and scale with a wide range of input sizes, while adhering to their SLOs with little programming effort.


Upon oxidative challenge the genome accumulates adducts and breaks that activate the DNA damage response to repair, arrest, or eliminate the damaged cell. Thus, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by endogenous oxygen metabolism are thought to affect mutation frequency. However, few studies determined the mutation frequency when oxidative stress is reduced. To test whether in vivo spontaneous mutation frequency is altered in mice with reduced oxidative stress and cell death rate, we crossed p66Shc knockout (p66KO) mice, characterized by reduced intracellular concentration of ROS and by impaired apoptosis, with a transgenic line harboring multiple copies of the lacZ mutation reporter gene as part of a plasmid that can be recovered from organs into Escherichia coli to measure mutation rate. Liver and small intestine from 2‐ to 24‐month‐old, lacZ (p66Shc+/+) and lacZp66KO mice, were investigated revealing no difference in overall mutation frequency but a significant increase in the frequency of size‐change mutations in the intestine of lacZp66KO mice. This difference was further increased upon irradiation of mice with X‐ray. In addition, we found that knocking down cyclophilin D, a gene that facilitates mitochondrial apoptosis acting downstream of p66Shc, increased the size‐change mutation frequency in small intestine. Size‐change mutations also accumulated in death‐resistant embryonic fibroblasts from lacZp66KO mice treated with H2O2. These results indicate that p66Shc plays a role in the accumulation of DNA rearrangements and suggest that p66Shc functions to clear damaged cells rather than affect DNA metabolism.


Knygotyra ("Book Science") is one of the longest existing scholarly journals among the periodicals published by Vilnius University. It has been in print since 1961. Until 1969, it was published under the title Bibliotekininkystės ir bibliografijos klausimai ("Issues of Librarianship and Bibliography"). During 1981–1991, as part of the series "Research Work of the Higher Education Institutions of the Lithuanian SSR," it appeared in two volumes: one devoted to the problems of book history, publishing and distribution, and the other – to issues of libraries, bibliography, and information science. In 1990, the first volumes were turned into Knygotyra, a serial published by Vilnius University, while the second volumes were published independently under the title Informacijos mokslai ("Information Sciences"). Since 2003, Knygotyra has been regularly published twice a year as a scholarly journal. For decades, it has been referred to in Lithuanian and international databases as an open access, peer-reviewed journal and, since 2018, it is included into the Elsevier Scopus database. Domas Kaunas is the most experienced member of the Editorial Board and has been an Editor-in-Chief till 2019. Docent Genovaitė Raguotienė had been in this position for three years (1970‒1973), Professor Levas Vladimirovas – for fifteen years (1974‒1989), when Domas Kaunas subsequently joined the editorial board in 1979 and served as the Editor-in-Chief for three decades.


A major obstacle of many active pharmaceutical compounds is their low ability to cross body barriers, especially cell membranes. Cell permeability of a drug is therefore considered as a key step for therapeutic efficacy. Over the last decades, different approaches to overcome this limitation have been studied intensively. Among these are so-called cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). CPPs are able to autonomously internalize into cells without the need for auxiliary proteins. However, not only the cellular uptake is important but also cell selectivity has to be addressed. Over the past two decades, cancer research has dramatically evolved, particularly with the appearance of targeted molecular therapies and advances in antibody engineering that allowed the discovery and validation of innovative molecules, more effective and less harmful than conventional chemotherapy. Especially small molecule-drug conjugates, like peptide-drug conjugates, became of particular interest since they combine several advantages as deep tissue penetration, possibility of cell organelle targeting and relatively easy access by chemical synthesis.
This work focuses on the design and synthesis of an array of tumor-targeting peptide-drug conjugates combining known tumor-homing peptides with a well-described CPP and potent cytotoxic drugs. The development of these hybrids was followed by a validation of the model via in vitro studies where their selectivity towards different cell lines was evaluated. Two targeting ligands (GnRH-III and c[DKPf3RGD]) were employed for the conjugation to the CPP sC18 and a very straightforward synthesis could be developed in both cases. The conjugates maintained a remarkable binding affinity in low nanomolar range towards GnRH and αvβ3 integrin receptors, respectively, and for further in vitro experiments, the expression of the receptors in different cell lines was explored. For the investigation of the final compounds, a new in vitro model based on a short contact time with the cells was established in order to emphasize the role of the fast CPP-mediated internalization after reversible binding to the receptors. While for the GnRH-III-conjugates a selectivity was difficult to detect, the c[DKPf3RGD] was identified as very effective targeting moiety for the synthesis of an efficient drug delivery system. Different drugs were attached to the CPP and daunorubicin turned out to be the most advantageous in terms of simple synthesis and stability. Fluorescence analysis demonstrated that the internalization was mainly mediated by the CPP but that the ligand had an important role in targeting the surface of the cells overexpressing the receptor. The selectivity could also be proved by anti-proliferative assays providing another demonstration that with this approach it would be possible to overcome the drawbacks of CPP-mediated drug transport leading to higher target selectivity and better bioavailability.
In the second part of the thesis, cyclic CPPs with peculiar diketopiperazine scaffolds (trans DKP3 and cis DKP1) were synthesized starting from the sequence of a truncated variant of
II
sC18. An optimized cyclization strategy could be developed and the secondary structure of these peptides was analyzed and compared with the linear counterparts by different techniques. The biological activity of these compounds was also evaluated in cell systems where the ability to transport cytotoxic drugs inside the cells was explored by using both a non-covalent as well as covalent drug coupling approach. Notably, the cycle actually showed a higher ability to increase the activity of daunorubicin than the linear CPP, proving that cyclization via a diketopiperazine scaffold is a promising strategy to improve CPP-mediated drug delivery.


Jamie Heckert and Richard Cleminson (eds.), Anarchism & Sexuality. Ethics, Relationships and Power London: Routledge, 201 1 ; 232 pp ISBN 978-0-415-59989-4; £75.00 (hbk) This is a timely collection of original articles dealing with connections between anarchism and sexuality. Notably, it bears witness to an intensifying cross-fertilisation between queer theory and anarchism in the present day. The contemporary study of sexuality, particularly the philosophy of sexuality, is very much influenced by queer theory, a theory of sexuality which started to take shape around 1990, and which challenges existing norms governing our understanding of sex, gender and desire, and in particular, the relationship between the three: Challenging established identities, questioning notions of family and society and even the very idea of what constitutes 'sex' (as both an activity and with respect to what are considered to be biological truths of male and female) can dramatically undercut the foundations of established ways of relating to ourselves, each other and the world (pp.9- 10). Queer theory has evolved out of gay and lesbian studies, feminist theory and poststructuralism. The influence of the latter on anarchist thought has already led to the development of what is now commonly referred to as postanarchism, and this is a natural stepping stone facilitating intellectual links between queer theory and anarchism. Because of this, both postanarchism and queer theory are frequently referenced in this collection. This is particularly the case in Lena Eckert's 'Post(-) anarchism and the Contrasexual Practices of Cyborgs in Dildotopia: or "The War on the Phallus"', which focuses on the Countersexual Manifesto by queer theorist Beatriz Preciado, an important reference for those who read Spanish, French or German, yet little known in the English-speaking world. Furthermore, in his contribution 'Structures of Desire: Postanarchist Kink in the Speculative Fiction of Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany', the well-known postanarchist writer Lewis Call connects queer theory to his postanarchism, seeking to invent a new concept which he calls 'postanarchist kink'. The collection further contains an interview with the queen of queer theory (pun intended), Judith Butler, dealing with her relationship to anarchism. Those who enjoyed her recent participation at 'The Anarchist Turn' conference will welcome her thoughtful engagement with anarchism in this interview.1 Readers who are uncomfortable with the jargon-heavy disciplines of poststructuralist and queer theory will rejoice in those parts of the collection which are less dense, yet by no means less rigorous. In her contribution, Jenny Alexander argues that Alexander Berkman's Prison Memoirs are an example of sexual radicalism; a radicalism largely ignored in subsequent narratives. Many readers will have become familiar with Berkman's homoerotic experiences through Terence Kissack's 'Free Comrades: Anarchism and Homosexuality in the United States' (sec Anarchist Studies 17.1 for an appreciative review by Judy Greenway2), and may find Alexander's to be an interesting addition to the few existing accounts of Berkman's views on sexuality. The collection further contains a beautifully-written analysis of 'Love and revolution in Ursula Le Guin's Four Ways to Forgiveness' by Laurence Davis; and a highly informative overview of contemporary Czech anarchists' relationship to issues of sexuality by Marta Kolarova, which deals among other things with the recent appropriation of queer theory by Czech anarchists and anarchafeminists. Overall, this is a nicely composed collection of historiographical, sociological, geographical, philosophical and literary analyses of connections between anarchism and sexuality, lightened up with 'poetic interludes'. …


The urge of new strategies to overcome the world wide health problem of antibiotic resistance induced researchers as well governmental and private institution to come together to increase the medical and scientific knowledge on this topic.
This PhD project is part of the ITN Translocation, whose aim was to investigate the molecular and cellular mechanism at the basis of influx and efflux processes in gram-negative bacteria. The work behind the scientific advances reached during my 3-year-journey has been accomplished mainly between the Fraunhofer IME ScreeningPort in Hamburg and the Jacobs University Bremen, enriched by external collaborations with the University of Frankfurt and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, from in silico studies to biophysical characterization in vitro, small molecules hits to be developed as efflux pump inhibitors (EPIs) were identified. In particular, these compounds were shown to bind TolC, part of the major efflux systems in E.coli, in docking studies targeting an acidic pocket present in the periplasmic tip of the channel; to selectively bind TolCWT against a recombinant version, where key residues in the target site are mutated, in a biophysical setup allowing the determination of binding constant; to modulate ion current in reconstituted TolCWT in single-channel electrophysiology measurements.
Overall, the findings reported in this PhD thesis increase the knowledge of the biophysical characteristics of TolC through the use of cutting-edge methods and technologies, in particular in the field of membrane channels, and allowed the identification of promising compounds hits to support the development of EPIs to be employed as adjuvants in antimicrobial therapies.


The aim of this study was to gain insight into the lived experience of mother-therapists' (therapists who are also active mothers) therapeutic work with mothers whose child had died. Through this exploration an awareness of how motherhood can shape the therapeutic encounter when working with this client group was created. The study furthermore considered how the work shaped participants' personal and clinical selves.

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with its inductive, idiographic and interpretative stance was considered appropriate for this study. Six mother-therapists were interviewed twice on their experiences of working with mothers who grieved for their child. Due to high in-sample variation, two participants' accounts were not included in the data analysis in order to achieve greater homogeneity.

The remaining four participants were mother-therapists of different therapeutic orientations either qualified and registered with BACP/UKCP/BPS or training towards such registration. They were also mothers of live-children up to the age of 16. Analysis of their interviews led to the creation of four superordinate themes: (1) The personal in the professional; (2) Sitting with the grieving mother; (3) The double-edged sword of identification; (4) How this work has shaped me;

The findings indicate that the mother-therapists in this study considered their role as mother to be influential to their overall identity as well as their work as therapists. Being a mother shaped their work directly and practically, i.e., the hours worked; and indirectly, i.e., empathising with parent-issues through an experiential lens shaped by their own experiences as mothers.

Working with grieving mothers was found to be challenging at times, due to identification with clients and similarities between children. Nevertheless, mother-therapists in this study also felt that being a mother helped empathic attunement, aided connection and working at relational depth. Supervision and self-care were deemed important when working with bereaved mothers.

The findings of this research are intended to support other clinicians who work with child-death. It furthermore contributes to the literature on 'bereavement work' and 'the person of the therapist' as it highlights the reciprocal nature of the therapist and their work.


Molybdenum and tungsten porphyry mineralization occurs near Bear Mountain in northeast Alaska within a regional zone of small domes and intrusions. This zone can be traced 80 km to the west and easterly into Canada.A 50-ha (approximately 100 acres) mineralized area, defined by soil samples containing greater than 600 ppm Mo and 500 ppm W, is underlain by an altered complex of probable early Tertiary age consisting of rhyolite porphyry, quartz porphyry, intrusive breccia, and rhyolite porphyry dikes. The complex has intruded upper Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks.Surface exposures of rubble and limited outcrop are extensively leached; molybdenum occurs as molybdite oxides and tungsten occurs in both ferberite and huebnerite end members of the wolframite series. There is an apparent zonation from an upper tungsten-topaz zone capped by massive silica to a lower oxidized molybdenum-rich zone. A lead-rich halo surrounds the complex.


Nonpoint source pollution continuously draws the attention of both scientist and the public. Nutrient and microbial pathogens from the application of liquid swine manure (LSM) have been implicated as the source of contamination and pollution to water and soil. The overall goal of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of LSM on nutrient loss and pathogenic bacteria transport to subsurface drainage water quality under corn and soybean crop rotation. A field experiment at the plot-scale was conducted to achieve this goal. Data collected from the 6-year experiment (2001-2006) at Nashua research site was used to study the effects of LSM applied to both corn and soybeans in comparison to manure applied to the corn phase only in term of NO3-N and PO4-P losses to subsurface drainage and its residual in the soil. Data used for investigation of directly connected macropores in transporting bacteria from soil surface to subsurface drainage were conducted in four different experiments in 2008 and 2009. Overall the results showed that LSM applied to soybean crop every year increased the NO3-N in subsurface drainage water and accumulated a high concentration of phosphorus in soil profile, especially in the top 30 cm of soil depth. So, the changes of this LSM application should be modified in terms of application rate and/or adding a land cover crop to minimize the contamination of these nutrients. Also, transport of bacteria like E. coli from LSM through macropores, especially for the ones that are directly connected from soil surface to subsurface tile drainage are clearly shown. This is specially shown in the first three hours if rainfall occurred after manure application. For these reasons, it is suggested that weather conditions should be seriously taken into consideration in the timing of the LSM application in order to minimize the transportation not only of bacteria, but also nutrients to tile drainage.


Supercomputers offer a wide range of possibilities for advancing knowledge and solving difficult, real-world problems. Solute transport-related theory and applications have long been an area of specialization within hydrology. In this review, recent applications of supercomputers to solute transport problems are presented. These applications are based mostly on the assumption of a dilute solute, allowing the governing equations to be decoupled. An application of supercomputers is the simulation of solute transport in large heterogeneous spatial domains by both direct solution of the governing equations and by particle- tracking methods. An impetus for this research has been the rapid increase in predictive dispersion models based on analytical stochastic theory. Up until now, relatively few applications have incorporated algorithms designed with a targeted supercomputer in mind, with the result that the machine's potential cannot be exploited fully. Since many numerical problems are reduced to solutions of algebraic systems when they are implemented on computers, algorithms for linear algebraic systems of equations suitable for vector and parallel machines are discussed in some detail. Data analysis, necessary both for evaluating emerging theories and for more "routine" applications like determining model parameters, is identified as another general area that is ably handled by supercomputers. In particular, supercomputers offer a way to become less dependent on parametric assumptions and constraints, substituting, instead, raw computational power. Visualization techniques and associated facilities have flourished alongside the development of supercomputer centers. These offer the possibility for real-time viewing of solute transport processes, both real and simulated, although little has been produced thus far. It is expected that many more researchers involved with subsurface solute transport will make use of supercomputers in the future.


Take your Android programming skills to the next level by unleashing the potential of Android Studio Expert Android Studiobridges the gap between your Android programing skills with the provided tools including Android Studio, NDK, Gradle and Plugins for IntelliJ Idea Platform. Packed with best practices and advanced tips and techniques on Android tools, development cycle, continuos integration, release management, testing, and performance, this book offers professional guidance to experienced developers who want to push the boundaries of the Android platform with the developer tools. You'll discover how to use the tools and techniques to unleash your true potential as a developer. Discover the basics of working in Android Studio and Gradle, as well as the application architecture of the latest Android platform Understand Native Development Kit and its integration with Android Studio Complete your development lifecycle with automated tests, dependency management,continuosintegration and release management Writing your own Gradle plugins to customize build cycle Writing your own plugins for Android Studio to help your development tasks. Expert Android Studiois a tool for expert and experienced developers who want to learn how to make use of the tools while creating Android applications for use on mobile devices.


The Nogo-66 receptor (NgR) plays a critical role in restricting axon regeneration in the central nervous system. This inhibitory action is in part mediated by a neuronal receptor complex containing p75NTR, a multifunctional receptor also well known to trigger cell death upon binding to neurotrophins such as NGF. In the present study, we show that Pep4 and NEP1–40, which are two peptides derived from the Nogo-66 sequence that modulate NgR-mediated neurite outgrowth inhibition, prevent NGF-stimulated p75NTR-dependent death of cultured embryonic motor neurons. They also confer protection on spinal cord motor neurons after neonatal sciatic nerve axotomy. These findings demonstrate an as-yet-unknown function of NgR in maintaining neuronal survival that may be relevant for motor neuron development and degeneration.


In recognition of the fact that a lack of savings is the most significant barrier to homeownership for most low-income families, Congress passed the American Dream Down-payment Act of 2003, which established the American Dream Down-payment Initiative (ADDI). The ADDI program was designed to provide assistance with down-payments, closing costs, and, if necessary, rehabilitation work done in conjunction with a home purchase. This formula-based program disburses assistance through a network of Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) in all 50 states and affords them significant flexibility in designing homebuyer programs to meet the needs of their communities. Established as part of the HOME program, ADDI is a prime example of direct federal assistance to promote low-income homeownership.In recent years there have been growing concerns that many new low-income homeowners have had difficulty maintaining homeownership. To address these concerns in the context of the ADDI program, the Fiscal Year 2006 U.S. Senate Report on the Transportation, Treasury and HUD Appropriations Bill directed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to report on the foreclosure and delinquency rate of households who received down-payment assistance through ADDI. This report has been developed in response to this congressional mandate. Due to the limited program history of ADDI, and since HOME-assisted homebuyers are quite similar to those assisted by the ADDI, this study jointly estimates annual foreclosure and delinquency rates for both HOME- and ADDI-assisted borrowers who purchased homes during the period from 2001 through 2005. While all HOME/ADDI-assisted borrowers were included in the analysis, in order to have the results be representative of the ADDI program, the sample of PJs was limited to those that were eligible for an allocation of ADDI funds in 2004, the year in which the largest number of PJs were eligible. The primary objective of the study, which addresses the congressional inquiry, is to provide an estimate of the foreclosure and delinquency rates among HOME/ADDI-assisted homebuyers. HUD was also interested in an analysis of the reasons behind these outcomes. Thus, a secondary objective of this study is to analyze the factors associated with variations in delinquency and default rates. 1 See, for example, U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Barriers to Minority Homeownership, July 17, 2002, and Herbert et. al., Homeownership Gaps Among Low-Income and Minority Borrowers and Neighborhoods, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, March 2005.2 Created under Title II of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, the HOME program is designed to provide affordable housing to low-income households, expand the capacity of nonprofit housing providers, and strengthen the ability of state and local governments to develop and implement affordable housing strategies tailored to local needs and priorities.3 See, for example, Dean Baker, "Who's Dreaming?: Homeownership Among Low-Income Families," Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, DC, January 2005. 4 Throughout our discussion the terms "default" and "foreclosure" are used to refer to the same outcome where homeowners lose their home in foreclosure. 5 Foreclosure and delinquency rates for 2000 are not included here as the data was not consistent enough to produce valid estimations.


TSVETKOV, Tsv. D., G. PETROV and P. TSVETKOVA, 2009. Causality properties of the energy-momentum tensor of the living cells by the low temperatures. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 15: 487-493 From the theory and experiment to day it's known the vacuum is a ground state of the quantum field. It is not just "nothing" but has a rich structure, which determines its possible seeing or virtual excitations, the particle spectrum. At the molecular level with thermodynamic behaviour is considered by any electromagnetic quantum field that the additional boundaries as by the Casimir effect changes the energy of the vacuum and then it depends from the distance between the boundaries, the two parallel, perfectly conducting square plates (side L, distance d, L>d), moved inertial to each other, so that the so-called Casimir force can be calculated theoretically. The Casimir force for electromagnetic field has been measured with great accuracy, proving at its best the reality and non-triviality of the quantum vacuum. By the calculation of the Casimir effect it has been obtained by the help of the quantum field methods the vacuum by weak gravitation and electric force as a ground state of the quantum fields fulfilled the void space between the boundaries e.g. the empty space between the molecules in the living cells. From the recent consideration of the temporal organization of the leaving cells to discussing the quantization on the foliation in a causality form of generalized quantum field theory we show how the discussion in (Tsvetkov et al., 2005) of a time arrow version of free generalized scalar field theory can be augmented in such way as to include the energy momentum tensor of the quantizing non local generalized quantum field depended of the time-like vector kxμ that determines a Lorentzian foliation of Minkowski space-time in the non local sense. So the classical thermodynamically model of the living cells can be obtained as a relativistic thermodynamically model by the help of the energy momentum tensor of the relativistic biophysical system called living cell. By the heat transmissions it is possible to obtain a heat 4-impulse k μ where the 0-component k 0 is obtained by heat difference δQ = Φdt and k i = Π i dt (i= 1,2,3) where Φ and Π i are the energy and the impulse transmits of the convection way to the local event points for unit time in the Minkowski space-time.


This paper links the concept and practice of accountability with child rights, by asking: (1) What accountability means when children are the rights holders, and whose role is it to exact that accountability? (2) What are the assumptions underpinning social accountability, and how can they be revised from the child-rights perspective? (3) How do social and political dynamics at community and national levels, often not linked to child rights issues, shape accountability outcomes? The paper is addressed to child rights practitioners, while drawing from political economy and political science as well as the women's rights movement. In doing so, it seeks to link the various lessons learnt in order to lay the ground for thinking about child-responsive accountability.


Background Childhood obesity prevalence has increased worldwide and is an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The production of inflammatory adipokines by obese adipose tissue contributes to the development of T2D and CVD. While levels of circulating adipokines such as adiponectin and leptin have been established in obese children and adults, the expression of adiponectin and leptin receptors on circulating immune cells can modulate adipokine signalling, but has not been studied so far. Here, we aim to establish the expression of adiponectin and leptin receptors on circulating immune cells in obese children pre and post-lifestyle intervention compared to normal weight control children. Methods 13 obese children before and after a 1-year lifestyle intervention were compared with an age and sex-matched normal weight control group of 15 children. Next to routine clinical and biochemical parameters, circulating adipokines were measured, and flow cytometric analysis of adiponectin receptor 1 and 2 (AdipoR1, AdipoR2) and leptin receptor expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cell subsets was performed. Results Obese children exhibited typical clinical and biochemical characteristics compared to controls, including a higher BMI-SD, blood pressure and circulating leptin levels, combined with a lower insulin sensitivity index (QUICKI). The 1-year lifestyle intervention resulted in stabilization of their BMI-SD. Overall, circulating leukocyte subsets showed distinct adipokine receptor expression profiles. While monocytes expressed high levels of all adipokine receptors, NK and iNKT cells predominantly expressed AdipoR2, and B-lymphocytes and CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte subsets expressed AdipoR2 as well as leptin receptor. Strikingly though, leukocyte subset numbers and adipokine receptor expression profiles were largely similar in obese children and controls. Obese children showed higher naïve B-cell numbers, and pre-intervention also higher numbers of immature transition B-cells and intermediate CD14++CD16+ monocytes combined with lower total monocyte numbers, compared to controls. Furthermore, adiponectin receptor 1 expression on nonclassical CD14+CD16++ monocytes was consistently upregulated in obese children pre-intervention, compared to controls. However, none of the differences in leukocyte subset numbers and adipokine receptor expression profiles between obese children and controls remained significant after multiple testing correction. Conclusions First, the distinct adipokine receptor profiles of circulating leukocyte subsets may partly explain the differential impact of adipokines on leukocyte subsets. Second, the similarities in adipokine receptor expression profiles between obese children and normal weight controls suggest that adipokine signaling in childhood obesity is primarily modulated by circulating adipokine levels, instead of adipokine receptor expression.


Hickey (2005) has argued that there are three social varieties of Dublin English ('Local', 'Mainstream' and 'New Dublin') and that younger females are key players in the shift towards the 'New Dublin' type. With a view to further investigating some aspects of Hickey's proposals, this article reports on a pilot project that focused on native Dubliners whose working class origins would place them at the 'Local' end of Hickey's continuum. It investigated responses to perception and production tests on morphosyntactic and phonological variables amongst two generations of males and females. Interestingly, speaker judgments on stereotypical southern Irish-English features, in particular, did not uncover the significant gender and generational differences which Hickey (2005) finds evidence for amongst his young female subjects. Keywords: Dublin English; pronominalisation; agreement; complementation; rhoticity; dentality; acceptability judgement


Study Design: Single-center retrospective study. Purpose: We aimed to explore the postoperative prognostic factors for spinal intramedullary ependymoma. Overview of Literature: Ependymoma (World Health Organization grade II) is the most frequent intramedullary spinal tumor and is treated by total resection. However, postoperative deterioration of motor function occasionally occurs. Methods: Eighty patients who underwent surgical resection at Keio University and Fujita Health University in Tokyo, Japan between 2003 and 2015 with more than 2 years of follow-up were enrolled. A good surgical result was defined as an improvement in the modified McCormick Scale score by one grade or more or having the same clinical grade as was observed preoperatively. Meanwhile, a poor result was defined as a reduction in the McCormick Scale score of one grade or more or remaining in grade IV or V at final follow-up. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses of the following factors were performed in the two groups: sex, age, preoperative Visual Analog Scale (VAS), tumor location, the extent of tumor resection, hemosiderin caps, cavity length, and tumor length on magnetic resonance imaging. Results: At final follow-up, 15 patients were included in the poor results group and 65 in the good results group. In the univariate analysis, the factors related to poor results were as follows: higher age, preoperative McCormick Scale score severity, higher preoperative VAS, thoracic location, hemosiderin capped, and non-gross total resection (GTR). A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted and showed that age, worse preoperative McCormick Scale score, and non-GTR were significant factors for poor prognosis. Conclusions: The independent risk factors for motor deterioration after ependymoma resection were age, worse preoperative McCormick Scale score, and non-GTR. Early surgery for patients with even mild neurological disorders could facilitate functional outcomes. These results may contribute to determining the optimal timing of surgery for spinal intramedullary ependymoma.


Since the publication of Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville's readers have debated the nature of his political allegiances, with critics on both the right and left attempting to claim him as a partisan. In this paper, I reassess an aspect of Tocqueville's work frequently cited as evidence of his conservative sympathies: his criticism of a "philosophic method" he thought peculiar to democracies, one grounded on the belief that "everything in the world can be explained and that nothing passes beyond the limits of intelligence."I refer to this as Tocqueville's critique of rationalism. My driving concern is not that conservative interpretations of Tocqueville's critique of rationalism are misleading — though I believe that, generally, they are — but that they have tended to short-circuit a potentially fruitful discussion about Tocqueville's insights into the uses and abuses of different modes of political thinking. This paper lays the groundwork for such a discussion by offering an alternative to conservative readings of Tocqueville's critique of rationalism. My argument proceeds as follows. I begin the paper by offering a basic sketch of Tocqueville's critique of rationalism, attempting to draw together its various aspects while avoiding the more controversial interpretative claims that I deal with later in the paper. I then go on to examine some of the ways in which Tocqueville's critique of rationalism has been taken to support more or less conservative readings of his work, drawing out common themes in these accounts. Specifically, I argue, Tocqueville's conservative readers tend to assume that he opposes rationalism because it fosters a pernicious sort of free thinking that undermines the stabilizing force of established opinions and existing institutions. Next, I challenge these readings by showing that Tocqueville's critique of rationalism is compatible (and intentionally so) with far-reaching social criticism and political reform. I argue that we should read Tocqueville's critique of rationalism as part of a larger effort to defend a mode of critical political thought that aims to enliven and preserve independent judgment rather than limit it. I then raise another problem for conservative readings of Tocqueville's critique of rationalism by showing that this critique is not intended to be categorical. Otherwise put, I argue that Tocqueville does not mean to reject rationalism completely but merely to indicate its proper role as one particular mode of political thinking. I conclude that once we recast Tocqueville's critique of rationalism in the terms I propose, we can better see both how it informs his reflections on institutional design and how it can inform our own thinking in this area.


A popular investment choice for UK investors is unit trusts. This paper examines the impact of derivative use on the risk, performance, and risk management of UK unit trusts between January 1995 and December 1997, extending an earlier US study. Despite the well-documented increased use of derivatives by corporate investors, approximately three-quarters of our UK sample did not use derivatives, consistent with US evidence. The main findings of the paper show that the cross-sectional variability of a number of risk measures tends to be larger for trusts that use derivatives compared with those who do not use derivatives. Derivative use tends to have little influence on performance inferences for the overall sample of trusts but does for some investment sectors of our trust sample. Finally, and in contrast to evidence in the US, trusts that use derivatives tend to have less severe changes in risk due to past performance within a calendar year. The findings have important implications for the existing regulations in the UK on derivative use by unit trusts that prohibit the use of derivatives for speculative purposes and for the large number of individual investors who invest in these trusts.


We report the results of deep optical follow-up surveys of the first two gravitational-wave sources, GW150914 and GW151226, done by the GRAvitational Wave Inaf TeAm Collaboration (GRAWITA). The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) responded promptly to the gravitational-wave alerts sent by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations, monitoring a region of $90$ deg$^2$ and $72$ deg$^2$ for GW150914 and GW151226, respectively, and repeated the observations over nearly two months. Both surveys reached an average limiting magnitude of about 21 in the $r-$band. The paper describes the VST observational strategy and two independent procedures developed to search for transient counterpart candidates in multi-epoch VST images. Several transients have been discovered but no candidates are recognized to be related to the gravitational-wave events. Interestingly, among many contaminant supernovae, we find a possible correlation between the supernova VSTJ57.77559-59.13990 and GRB150827A detected by {\it Fermi}-GBM. The detection efficiency of VST observations for different types of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational-wave events are evaluated for the present and future follow-up surveys.


Objective: Pleural Effusion (PE) is a considerable and a common health problem. The classification of this condition is of great importance in terms of clinical decision making. The purpose of the study is to design an intelligent system for the classification of postoperative pleural effusion between 4 and 30 days after surgery by medical knowledge discovery (MKD) methods.
Materials and Methods: This study included 2309 individuals diagnosed with coronary artery disease for elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) operation. The results of chest x-ray were used to diagnose PE. The subjects were allocated to two groups: PE group (n=81) and non-PE group (n=2228), consecutively. In the preprocessing step, outlier analysis, data transformation and feature selection processes were performed. In the data mining step, Naive Bayes, Bayesian network and Random Forest algorithms were utilized. Accuracy and area under receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC) were calculated as evaluation metrics.
Results: In the preprocessing step, 85 outlier observations were removed from the study. The rest of the data consisted of 2224 subjects: 2149 of these individuals were in non-PE group, and the 75 were in PE group. Random Forest yielded the best classification performance with 97.45% of accuracy and 0.990 of AUC for 0.7 of the optimal split ratio by Grid search algorithm.
Conclusion: The achieved results pointed out that the best classification performance was obtained from the RF ensemble model. Therefore, the suggested intelligent system can be used as a clinical decision making tool.


In a unidirectional composite under static tensile loading, breaking of a fiber is shown to be a locally dynamic process that leads to stress concentrations in the interface, matrix and neighboring fibers that can propagate at high speed over long distances. To gain better understanding of this event, a fiber-level finite element model of a two-dimensional array of S2-glass fibers embedded in an elastic epoxy matrix with interfacial cohesive traction law is developed. The brittle fiber fracture results in release of stored strain energy as a compressive stress wave that propagates along the length of the broken fiber at speeds approaching the axial wave-speed in the fiber (6 km/s). This wave induces an axial tensile wave with a dynamic tensile stress concentration in adjacent fibers that diminishes with distance. Moreover, dynamic interfacial failure is predicted where debonding initiates, propagates and arrests at longer distances than predicted by models that assume quasi-static fiber breakage. In the case of higher strength fibers breaks, unstable debond growth is predicted. A stability criterion to define the threshold fiber break strength is derived based on an energy balance between the release of fiber elastic energy and energy absorption associated with interfacial debonding. A contour map of peak dynamic stress concentrations is generated at various break stresses to quantify the zone-of-influence of dynamic failure. The dynamic results are shown to envelop a much larger volume of the microstructure than the quasi-static results. The implications of dynamic fiber fracture on damage evolution in the composite are discussed.


A close conjunction of several satellites (LANL, GOES, Polar, Geotail, and Cluster) distributed from the geostationary altitude to about 16 RE downstream in the tail occurred during substorm activity as indicated by global auroral imaging and ground-based magnetometer data. This constellation of satellites resembles what is planned for the THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscopic Interactions during Substorms) mission to resolve the substorm controversy on the location of the substorm expansion onset region. In this article, we show in detail the dipolarization and dynamic changes seen by these satellites associated with two onsets of substorm intensification activity. In particular, we find that dipolarization at ∼16RE downstream in the tail can occur with dawnward electric field and without plasma flow, just like some near-Earth dipolarization events reported previously. The spreading of substorm disturbances in the tail coupled with complementary ground observations indicates that the observed time sequence on the onsets of substorm disturbances favors initiation in the near-Earth region for this THEMIS-like conjunction.


This report documents a case study of the socio-economic impacts of the construction and operation of the St. Lucie nuclear power station. It is part of a major post-licensing study of the socio-economic impacts at twelve nuclear power stations. The case study covers the period beginning with the announcement of plans to construct the reactor and ending in the period, 1980-1981. The case study deals with changes in the economy, population, settlement patterns and housing, local government and public services, social structure, and public response in the study area during the construction/operation of the reactor. A regional modeling approach is used to trace the impact of construction/operation on the local economy, labor market, and housing market. Emphasis in the study is on the attribution of socio-economic impacts to the reactor or other causal factors. As part of the study of local public response to the construction/operation of the reactor, the effects of the Three Mile Island accident are examined.


The importance of computer learner corpora for research in both second language acquisition and foreign language teaching is rapidly increasing. Computer learner corpora can provide us with data to describe the learner's interlanguage system at different points of its development and they can be used to create pedagogical tools. In this paper, we first present a new computer learner corpus in French. We then describe an analyzer called Direkt Profil, that we have developed using this corpus. The system carries out a sentence analysis based on developmental sequences, i.e. local morphosyntactic phenomena linked to a development in the acquisition of French as a foreign language. We present a brief introduction to developmental sequences and some examples in French. In the final section, we introduce and evaluate a method to optimize the definition and detection of learner profiles using machine-learning techniques.


Direct laser writing has become a versatile and routine tool for the mask‐free fabrication of polymer structures with lateral linewidths down to less than 100 nm. In contrast to its planar counterpart, electron‐beam lithography, direct laser writing also allows for the making of three‐dimensional structures. However, its spatial resolution has been restricted by diffraction. Clearly, linewidths and resolutions on the scale of few tens of nanometers and below are highly desirable for various applications in nanotechnology. In visible‐light far‐field fluorescence microscopy, the concept of stimulated emission depletion (STED) introduced in 1994 has led to spectacular record resolutions down to 5.6 nm in 2009. This review addresses approaches aiming at translating this success in optical microscopy to optical lithography. After explaining basic principles and limitations, possible depletion mechanisms and recent lithography experiments by various groups are summarized. Today, Abbe's diffraction barrier as well as the generalized two‐photon Sparrow criterion have been broken in far‐field optical lithography. For further future progress in resolution, the development of novel tailored photoresists in combination with attractive laser sources is of utmost importance.


Indigo has a powerful hold on the imagination - as evidenced by the traditional picture of Ancient Britons coloured blue with woad indigo - but, until now, the actual application of the dye and possible explanations underlying the practice have rarely been considered. The dyestuff is equally fascinating to the scientist, to Adolf von Baeyer in the 19th century, or to the modern chemist using modern instrumental methods for its characterisation. Indigoid dyes are not the only blues and purples, however, lichen dyes have an equally long history and their inconspicuous sources, found in many, often inhospitable, habitats, are no less intriguing, if difficult to categorise. Perhaps the most humble colouring matter is mud, but this, too, has a biological aspect to its use.

These and other naturally occuring organic colouring matters were among the subjects for discussion at the 18th Meeting of Dyes in History and Archaeology, held in Brussels in 1999. The textiles and other artefacts coloured with the dyes are no less interesting and varied. Romanian and Polish textiles and, as the cover illustrates, Japanese ukiyo-e prints are only examples of the possible uses discussed in this book.


The majority of applications are in areas where rapid deployment and dynamic reconfiguration are necessary and a wire line network is not available. These include military battlefields, emergency search and rescue sites, classrooms, and conventions where participants share information dynamically using their mobile devices. Well established routing protocols do exist to offer efficient multicasting service in conventional wired networks. These protocols, having been designed for fixed networks, may fails to keep up with node movements and frequent topology changes in a MANET. Therefore, adapting existing wired multicast protocols as such to a MANET, which completely lacks infrastructure, appear less promising. Providing efficient multicasting over MANET faces many challenges, includes scalability, quality of service, reliable service, security, Address configuration, Applications for multicast over MANET. The existing multicast routing protocol do not addresses these issues effectively over Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET).


Humans possess an ability to abstractly reason about objects and their interactions, an ability not shared with state-of-the-art deep learning models. Relational networks, introduced by Santoro et al. (2017), add the capacity for relational reasoning to deep neural networks, but are limited in the complexity of the reasoning tasks they can address. We introduce recurrent relational networks which increase the suite of solvable tasks to those that require an order of magnitude more steps of relational reasoning. We use recurrent relational networks to solve Sudoku puzzles and achieve state-of-the-art results by solving 96.6% of the hardest Sudoku puzzles, where relational networks fail to solve any. We also apply our model to the BaBi textual QA dataset solving 19/20 tasks which is competitive with state-of-the-art sparse differentiable neural computers. The recurrent relational network is a general purpose module that can augment any neural network model with the capacity to do many-step relational reasoning.


Background: The Minerals Tertiary Education Council (MTEC) was conceived in 2000 by the Minerals Council of Australia at a time when a sustained minerals downturn was forcing minerals schools and departments to close. Since this time, MTEC has made significant investments into nationally collaborative higher education programs in mining engineering, metallurgy and minerals geoscience, involving some seventeen Australian universities, to build capacity in these core disciplines. This paper will provide an overview of MTEC, outline these successful industry/higher education collaboration models, and describe the collaborative strategies and processes that were created and employed to support the MTEC programs. Purpose: This paper presents a working model of the collaborative processes utilised by MTEC and its education partners in the formation, development and growth of three national programs. It also provides an overview of the collaborative tools that can be used to support industry-led collaborative learning in specialist engineering disciplines. Design/Method: Key operational elements of the three unique MTEC programs are individually mapped against success factors in industry/higher education collaboration. These include the contextual, organisational and process factors that ensure the objective and subjective goals of the collaboration are reached. This approach tests whether the confidence which MTEC and the Australian minerals industry has in the success of its programs, fits an overall model of success in industry/higher education collaboration (as proposed by Thune, 2011). Results: Each of the MTEC programs respectively and collectively demonstrate the existence of contextual, organisational and process factors that define success in industry/higher education collaboration. This in turn demonstrates that the objective and/or subjective goals for each program are indicators of success. The MTEC programs predate Thune's (2011) model and have continued over a number of uninterrupted years. This validates the MTEC approach beyond the casual indicators of success. Conclusions: The MTEC programs collectively address the various categories that define the success factors for industry/university collaborations. Accordingly, either the overall MTEC approach or any of its individual programs can be considered as successful models, which other industries or sectors could use as a basis for collaboration with higher education to achieve specific objective and/or subjective goals.


An inherent risk of algorithmic personalization is disproportionate targeting of individuals from certain groups (or demographic characteristics such as gender or race), even when the decision maker does not intend to discriminate based on those "protected" attributes. This unintended discrimination is often caused by underlying correlations in the data between protected attributes and other observed characteristics used by the algorithm (or machine learning (ML) tool) to create predictions and target individuals optimally. Because these correlations are hidden in high dimensional data, removing protected attributes from the database does not solve the discrimination problem; instead, removing those attributes often exacerbates the problem by making it undetectable and, in some cases, even increases the bias generated by the algorithm.

We propose the BEAT (Bias-Eliminating Adapted Trees) framework to address these issues. This framework allows decision makers to target individuals based on differences in their predicted behavior—hence capturing value from personalization—while ensuring that the allocation of resources is balanced with respect to the population. Essentially, the method only extracts heterogeneity in the data that is unrelated to those protected attributes. To do so, we build on the General Random Forest (GRF) framework (Wager and Athey 2018; Athey et al. 2019) and develop a targeting allocation that is "balanced" with respect to protected attributes. We validate the BEAT framework using simulations and an online experiment with N=3,146 participants. This framework can be applied to any type of allocation decision that is based on prediction algorithms, such as medical treatments, hiring decisions, product recommendations, or dynamic pricing.