The aim of this study was to map farm animal welfare university education in an enlarged Europe with emphasis on identifying existing differences and gaps. Information on 210 courses dealing with farm animal welfare from 98 universities in 26 European countries were obtained. Statistical analysis was carried out on 155 of these courses within animal science or veterinary programmes, at Bachelor and Master level and with the countries grouped into five regions (North West Europe, Mediterranean, West Central Europe, East Central Europe and Balkans). There were significantly more hours of teaching in animal welfare in the North West region of Europe. This region also had more 'interactive' education methods, eg group discussion and farm visits, whereas West Central Europe had most 'transmissive' methods, eg lecturing. A course was more likely to be given in English in North West Europe (even when the UK and the Republic of Ireland were excluded from the analysis) and East Central Europe compared to West Central Europe and the Balkans. There appeared to be no regional differences in the content of the courses although the focus was significantly more 'applied', ie towards welfare assessment and legislation in the veterinary education and more 'fundamental', ie oriented towards ethology, physiology and ethics, in the animal science education. In summary, the main differences in farm animal welfare education across Europe seem to be in the reduced number of hours of education, less interactive teaching and fewer courses in English available to students outside the North West region.


From renowned (and prolific) videogame writer, Brendan Keogh, 'Killing is Harmless' takes videogames criticism to unexplored depths, revealing the dark connection between videogame players and their characters through the third-person shooter, Spec Ops: The Line, developed by Yager and published by 2K. Brendan Keogh effortlessly weaves long-form narrative journalism and academic criticism with references to popular culture, politics and sociology, raising questions about how we play videogames and the moral responsibilities (or lack thereof) of videogame players. 'Killing is Harmless: A Critical Reading of Spec Ops: The Line' is essential reading for those who think about videogames. And for those who want to.


Abstract. We try to find out the details of how light fields behind the structures of photomasks develop in order to determine the best conditions and designs for proximity printing. The parameters that we use approach real situations like structure printing at proximity gaps of 20 to 50  μm and structure sizes down to 2  μm. This is the first time that an experimental analysis of light propagation through a mask is presented in detail, which includes information on intensity and phase. We use high-resolution interference microscopy (HRIM) for the measurement. HRIM is a Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which is capable of recording three-dimensional distributions of intensity and phase with diffraction-limited resolution. Our characterization technique allows plotting the evolution of the desired light field, usually called the aerial image, and therefore gives access to the printable structure until the desired proximity gap. Here, we discuss in detail the evolution of intensity and phase fields of elbow or corner structures at different positions behind a phase mask and interpret the main parameters. Of particular interest are tolerances against proximity gap variation and the theoretical explanation of the resolution in printed structures.


This report presents findings of a stakeholder consultation. The consultation gathered views on what should be the priorities for mental health related research sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The stakeholders were people with lived experience of mental health challenges and/or experience of supporting others with such challenges (either in a paid or voluntary working role, or as a friend/family member). The report was commissioned by the ESRC to complement an expert reference group report (December 2015) and other consultations. The not-for-profit Boingboing conducted the 'Have Your Say' consultation in collaboration with the University of Brighton. We drew on our experience of co-production in research and practice development with diverse and often marginalised groups, including people with lived experiences of mental health challenges. The events were organised and run by people with lived experience of mental health challenges and of supporting people with mental health issues. A copy of this report will be sent to each participant who either attended a consultation event or who filled in an online survey and chose not be anonymous.


Key life history traits such as breeding time and clutch size are frequently both heritable and under directional selection, yet many studies fail to document microevolutionary responses. One general explanation is that selection estimates are biased by the omission of correlated traits that have causal effects on fitness, but few valid tests of this exist. Here, we show, using a quantitative genetic framework and six decades of life‐history data on two free‐living populations of great tits Parus major, that selection estimates for egg‐laying date and clutch size are relatively unbiased. Predicted responses to selection based on the Robertson–Price Identity were similar to those based on the multivariate breeder's equation (MVBE), indicating that unmeasured covarying traits were not missing from the analysis. Changing patterns of phenotypic selection on these traits (for laying date, linked to climate change) therefore reflect changing selection on breeding values, and genetic constraints appear not to limit their independent evolution. Quantitative genetic analysis of correlational data from pedigreed populations can be a valuable complement to experimental approaches to help identify whether apparent associations between traits and fitness are biased by missing traits, and to parse the roles of direct versus indirect selection across a range of environments.


Objective: Endodontically obturated teeth have lower fracture resistance depending on the obturating material and technique. The purpose of this study was therefore to evaluate the influence of ProRoot MTA (Dentsply Sirona, Tulsa Division) and OrthoMTA III (BioMTA, Daejeon, Korea) as an obturating material on the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth. Material and Methods: Thirty extracted human maxillary central incisors were decoronated and instrumented using Protaper instruments (size F5). Irrigation was performed with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite between each instrument change followed by 7% maleic acid for one minute. Finally, canals were flushed with 5 ml of PBS solution for one minute. Samples were then divided into three groups. Group I- positive control (no root canal filling); Group II- obturation with ProRoot MTA; Group III- obturation with OrthoMTA III. Ten teeth were randomly selected as a negative control in which no treatment was performed. All the specimens were then subjected to fracture strength testing using universal testing machine. For evaluation of biomineralization, six maxillary central incisors were divided into two groups. Group I obturated with ProRoot MTA and group II obturated with OrthoMTA III. These samples were subjected to SEM analysis. Results: Positive control group demonstrated the least fracture resistance, while OrthoMTA III group showed the highest fracture resistance. There was no significant difference between negative control group and ProRoot MTA groups (p=0.821). OrthoMTA III group showed better tubular biomineralization when compared to ProRoot MTA. Conclusions: Root canals obturated with OrthoMTA III had better fracture resistance and increased tubular biomineralization compared to ProRoot MTA. Since root canals obturated with OrthoMTA III had better fracture resistance, it can be used as a promising obturating material.KeywordsBiomineralization; Fracture Resistance; OrthoMTA III; ProRoot MTA; Root Canal; Tubular.


Self-optimising flow reactors combine online analysis with evolutionary feedback algorithms to rapidly achieve optimum conditions. This technique has been applied to the final bond-forming step in the synthesis of AZD9291, an irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor kinase inhibitor developed by AstraZeneca. A four parameter optimisation of a telescoped amide coupling followed by an elimination reaction was achieved using at-line high performance liquid chromatography. Optimisations were initially carried out on a model compound (2,4-dimethoxyaniline) and the data used to track the formation of various impurities and ultimately propose a mechanism for their formation. Our protocol could then be applied to the optimisation of the 2-step telescoped reaction to synthesise AZD9291 in 89% yield.


To the Editor: Animal studies by Weinberg et al 1 and a recent human case report describe the successful use of lipid emulsion for reversing local anesthetic systemic toxicity. In these early reports, lipid emulsion was administered relatively late in the resuscitation sequence. We report herein the immediate use of lipid emulsion therapy to treat bupivacaine systemic local anesthetic toxicity. The patient and his parents have consented to presentation of this case. A healthy 17-year-old, 61-kg male adolescent presented to our free-standing ambulatory surgery center for repair of a ruptured patellofemoral ligament. He and his parents agreed to a single-shot femoral nerve block for postoperative analgesia. After standard monitors were applied, the patient was sedated with intravenously administered midazolam 2 mg and fentanyl 50 Kg, which resulted in a drowsy but conversant state. The femoral nerve was identified by eliciting a quadriceps motor response at 0.7 mA (0.1 millisec, 1 Hz). Negative aspiration for blood was performed before injection and after each 5-mL incremental injection of 0.5% bupivacaine without epinephrine; a total of 20 mL was injected over 2 to 3 mins. As the needle was withdrawn, the patient began seizing (1050 hrs); a presumptive diagnosis of bupivacaine systemic toxicity was made. Bag-mask ventilation with 100% oxygen was immediately initiated, followed by intravenously administered midazolam 3mg.Within 1 or 2 mins of seizure onset, other anesthesiologists arrived and immediately began administering lipid emulsion (Intralipid 20%; Fresenius Kabi, Bad Homburg, Germany). Electrocardiogram revealed no electrical activity, but a lead was soon thereafter discovered to be accidentally detached; however, the absence of pulses was confirmed, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was immediately instituted. Adequate compressions were confirmed by the presence of an easily palpable femoral artery pulse. Intubation and 100% oxygen ventilation were accomplished at 1051 hrs; carbon dioxide waveforms remained present throughout cardiac compression. Upon replacement of the displaced electrocardiogram lead, ventricular fibrillation was diagnosed. An automated electronic defibrillator was attached to the patient and confirmed ventricular fibrillation, which was immediately followed by delivery of 1 electrical countershock. The patient's cardiac rhythm converted to narrow complex sinus tachycardiawith bounding pulses and blood pressure 183/83 mm Hg. A total of 500-mL lipid emulsion 20% (È8 mL/kg) was administered during the course of resuscitation, with a significant volume (exact amount unknown) administered before intubation. No further lipid emulsion or any other drugs were administered during the resuscitation. The stable, intubated patient was transferred to a neighboring hospital at 1124 hrs. Daily follow-up for 1 week revealed no evidence of cardiac or cerebral sequelae. The nature of our patient's seizure deserves comment, as it waxed and waned in direct correlation to presumably adequate circulation. Specifically, seizures terminated when the patient became asystolic, then resumed with effective chest compressions, only to stop whenever compressions were held to check cardiac rhythm and pulse. Seizures stopped when CPR was held for defibrillation and then resumed for a brief period after conversion to stable cardiac rhythm. In summary, we have presented a case of bupivacaine systemic toxicity in which successful resuscitation may have been aided by the very early administration of lipid emulsion, in conjunction with effective CPR. Our case adds credence to the value of lipid emulsion for rescue from local anesthetic systemic toxicity and also suggests the need for further study to determine the optimal timing of its administration.


This bulletin describes forest resources of the Pisgah/Cherokee, Nantahala, Croatan, and Uwharrie National Forests in the State of North Carolina. It is based on sampling conducted by the U.S. Department of griculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Forest Inventory and nalysis Research Work Unit. This bulletin addresses forest area estimates; timber growth, removals, and mortality; and timber product output.


BACKGROUND
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), although rare, is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity, and methods of prophylaxis are therefore often used for women considered to be at risk. This may include women who have given birth by caesarean section, those with a personal or family history of VTE and women with inherited or acquired thrombophilias (conditions that predispose people to thrombosis). Many methods of prophylaxis carry risks of adverse effects, and as the risk of VTE is often low, it is possible that the benefits of thromboprophylaxis may be outweighed by harms. Guidelines for clinical practice have been based on expert opinion rather than high-quality evidence from randomised trials.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effects of thromboprophylaxis in women who are pregnant or have recently given birth and are at increased risk of VTE on the incidence of VTE and adverse effects of treatment.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (27 November 2013).

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised trials comparing one method of thromboprophylaxis with placebo or no treatment, and randomised trials comparing two (or more) methods of thromboprophylaxis.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
At least two review authors assessed trial eligibility and quality and extracted the data.

MAIN RESULTS
Nineteen trials, at an overall moderate risk of bias, met the inclusion criteria for the review. Only 16 trials, involving 2592 women, assessing a range of methods of thromboprophylaxis, contributed data to the review. Six trials compared methods of antenatal prophylaxis: heparin versus no treatment/placebo (two trials), and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) versus unfractionated heparin (UFH) (four trials). Nine trials assessed prophylaxis after caesarean section: four compared heparin with placebo; three compared LMWH with UFH; one compared hydroxyethyl starch (HES) with UFH; and one compared five-day versus 10-day LMWH. One study examined prophylaxis with UFH in the postnatal period (including following vaginal births).For antenatal prophylaxis, none of the included trials reported on maternal mortality, and no differences were detected for the other primary outcomes of symptomatic thromboembolic events, symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE) and symptomatic deep venous thrombosis (DVT) when LMWH or UFH was compared with no treatment/placebo or when LMWH was compared with UFH. The risk ratios (RR) for symptomatic thromboembolic events were: antenatal LMWH/UFH versus no heparin, RR 0.33; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 2.99 (two trials, 56 women); and antenatal LMWH versus UFH, RR 0.47; 95% CI 0.09 to 2.49 (four trials, 404 women). No differences were shown when antenatal LMWH or UFH was compared with no treatment/placebo for any secondary outcomes. Antenatal LMWH was associated with fewer adverse effects sufficient to stop treatment (RR 0.07; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.54; two trials, 226 women), and fewer fetal losses (RR 0.47; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.95; three trials, 343 women) when compared with UFH. In two trials, antenatal LMWH compared with UFH was associated with fewer bleeding episodes (defined in one trial of 121 women as bruises > 1 inch (RR 0.18, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.36); and in one trial of 105 women as injection site haematomas of ≥ 2 cm, bleeding during delivery or other bleeding (RR 0.28; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.53)), however in a further trial of 117 women no difference between groups was shown for bleeding at delivery. The results for these secondary outcomes should be interpreted with caution, being derived from small trials that were not of high methodological quality.For post-caesarean/postnatal prophylaxis, only one trial comparing five-day versus 10-day LMWH after caesarean section reported on maternal mortality, observing no deaths. No differences were seen across any of the comparisons for the other primary outcomes (symptomatic thromboembolic events, symptomatic PE and symptomatic DVT). The RRs for symptomatic thromboembolic events were: post-caesarean LMWH/UFH versus no heparin, RR 1.30; 95% CI 0.39 to 4.27 (four trials, 840 women); post-caesarean LMWH versus UFH, RR 0.33; 95% CI 0.01 to 7.99 (three trials, 217 women); post-caesarean five-day versus 10-day LMWH, RR 0.36; 95% CI 0.01 to 8.78 (one trial, 646 women); postnatal UFH versus no heparin, RR 0.16; 95% CI 0.02 to 1.36 (one trial, 210 women). For prophylaxis after caesarean section, in one trial (of 580 women), women receiving UFH and physiotherapy were more likely to have bleeding complications ('complications hémorragiques') than women receiving physiotherapy alone (RR 5.03; 95% CI 2.49 to 10.18). In two additional trials, that compared LMWH with placebo, no difference between groups in bleeding episodes (major bleeding; major bruising; bleeding/bruising reported at discharge) were detected. No other differences in secondary outcomes were shown when LMWH was compared with UFH post-caesarean, nor when post-caesarean HES was compared with UFH, post-caesarean five-day LMWH was compared with 10-day LMWH, or when UFH was compared to no heparin postnatally.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
There is insufficient evidence on which to base recommendations for thromboprophylaxis during pregnancy and the early postnatal period, with the small number of differences detected in this review being largely derived from trials that were not of high methodological quality. Large scale, high-quality randomised trials of currently used interventions are warranted.


The surveys were done by Charney Research, AC Nielsen, UNDP, CHPPS, and The Asia Foundation in 1999 and it has unraveled one important founding that television play a role as the main source of information for politics. Through television, the society gains political learning because they learn to analyze and take stances towards an occurrence.
There is a new political show in Indonesia that combine entertainment and education, which is Republik Mimpi, using a political parody format. Television audience is active audiences. Audiences who come from different backgrounds will negotiate towards texts broadcasted through Republik Mimpi by making of sense based on their individual backgrounds. As signifiers, each of them will have different concepts in reconstructing the meanings from the reality broadcasted through Republik Mimpi. Later, it will produce variety of themes and different capacities in perceiving texts amongst the viewers. This is the concept of reception analysis.
The aim of this research is to gain in-depth information, by analyzing the interpretation process done by television viewers towards Republik Mimpi's shows, mainly on how viewers perceive those shows.
This research uses a qualitative method with a reception analysis approach. The informants chosen are eight people with different backgrounds who were chosen by purposive sampling. An in-depth interview was then conducted with these eight informants.
Based on Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding categorizations, the researcher has discovered that informant IV, V, and VII accepts the dominant meanings suggested by Republik Mimpi (dominant-hegemonic position). Whilst on the other hand, informants I, II, III, and VIII, are in the Negotiated Position, accepting and also resisting meanings at the same time. Unlike the other informants, informant VI is in the oppositional position or having views that are contradictory with Republik Mimpi's shows.


Brazil plays a leading role in environmental issues. From Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to Bali in 2008, no major international discussion on the environment has occurred without Brazilian participation. Two decades ago, Brazil was on the defensive on this critical front. Since then, a number of structural changes - linked to redemocratization and the growing involvement of civil society in the policy debate - have led us to address environmental challenges in a proactive and transparent way, both domestically and abroad. In the international arena, the fact that Brazil has actively helped to negotiate and adhered to all multilateral instruments designed to ensure sustainable development speaks volumes about my country's commitment to the responsible use of the environment. At home, a story we are proud of is that of the development and consolidation of a modern environmental legislation. The initiative taken by the George Washington International Law Review to promote a focused exercise on the new directions in Latin American environmental law is a timely one. In the case of Brazil, there is much to be said. This brief essay, based on material put together by Brazilian legal experts, describes the building process and the general framework of Brazilian domestic legislation in this central area. BACKGROUND Three stages can be identified in the development of Brazilian attitudes to environmental issues from a legal perspective: a stage of unruly exploitation, a fragmentary stage, and a holistic stage. The first stage, the stage of unruly exploitation, which lasted from the so-called discovery of Brazil in 1500 until the early 1950s, was characterized by few environmental concerns. There were only a few unrelated laws, rules, and regulations, and their primary goals were either to safeguard human health or to ensure the survival of valuable natural resources, such as the pau-brasil (brazilwood) . The Brazilian Forest Code and Waters Code date from that period, as does the law that establishes measures providing economic assistance to Brazilian natural rubber producers. The second stage, the fragmentary stage, demonstrated lawmakers' concern with categories of natural resources, but not with the environment as a whole. In ethical terms, imposing controls on exploration and extraction activities was utilitarian in nature - legal protection was only granted when economic interest was at stake. The third stage, the holistic stage, began with the National Environmental Policy Law,1 which was the first Brazilian statute to include a legal definition of the environment, as follows: "the set of physical, chemical and/or biological conditions, laws, influences and interactions that facilitates, shelters and governs life in all of its forms."2 That model was characterized by an attempt to protect the environment as a whole. The environment was no longer dealt with in terms of a waters law, a forest law, or a biodiversity law, but rather as a field of law that, while not disregarding the specificities of each topic, seeks to interconnect them as legal mechanisms providing for preservation and restoration. This new field of law also seeks to create a system for collecting information, monitoring adherence, and encouraging participation. One can state that, during the third stage, environmental law increasingly became a "crosscutting" topic because it incorporated elements from almost every field of law into its framework. With the approval of the Environmental Crimes Law,3 the legal regulation of the environment became all encompassing, given that it was to be enforced through administrative, civil, and criminal law. In institutional terms, the National Environmental Policy Law created the National System for the Environment and the National Council on the Environment. In 1990, the Environmental Secretariat of the Office of the Brazilian President was created, which in 1992 was transformed into the Ministry of the Environment. …


We employed an azobenzene based non-nucleoside triphosphate, AzoTP, in a myosin-actin motile system and demonstrated its efficiency as an energy molecule to drive and photo-regulate the myosin-actin motile function at the macroscopic level along with an in vitro motility assay. The AzoTP in its trans state induced shortening of a glycerinated muscle fibre whilst a cis isomer had no significant effect. Direct photoirradiation of a cis-AzoTP infused muscle fibre induced shortening triggered by a locally photo-generated trans-AzoTP in the muscle fibre. Furthermore, we designed and synthesized three new derivatives of AzoTPs that served as substrates for myosin by driving and photo-regulating the myosin-actin motile function at the molecular as well as the macroscopic level with varied efficiencies.


In this paper, we propose jointly-optimized beam-forming algorithms for cognitive networks to maximize the achievable rates assuming single information stream in both primary and secondary links. The primary and cognitive users share the same spectrum and are equipped with multiple antennas. No coordination is required between the primary and cognitive users and the interference cancellation is done at the cognitive user. Specifically, the beamforming vectors of the cognitive link are designed to maximize the achievable rate under the condition that the interference both at the primary and cognitive receivers is completely nullified. The sum rate performance of the proposed algorithms is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations.


"The objective of this research is to extend the mixed inheritance model developed by Zeng et al (2004) to detect the segregation of two major genes using phenotypic data from a half-diallel mating design. The model can be used to select parents which are segregating for major genes, both for breeding purposes and studies of adaptive evolution. The model can be used to find parents that are heterozygous for major genes, so the cost of QTL mapping just to determine whether a QTL is present can be avoided. A Bayesian approach using Gibbs sampling was used to develop this model. Genotypes of the parents and progeny are updated using "parent blocking" in which the genotypes of the parents and progeny are updated as a block. For this study, only additive effects of major genes were taken into account. In general, estimates of genetic parameters were accurate. When major gene effects were large (> 0.5 phenotypic standard deviation), the genotypes of the parents along with genetic parameters were estimated correctly. However, when major gene effects were small, transformation between major genes and polygenic effects occurred frequently and heterozygotes were sometimes incorrectly identified. Suggestions for further modifications of the model are made, including addition of dominance, epistatic, and genotype X environment interactions and modifications to improve the mixing of the chains."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


While router buffers have been used as performance multipliers, they are also major consumers of area and power in on-chip networks. In this paper, we propose centralized elastic bubble router - a router micro-architecture based on the use of centralized buffers (CB) with elastic buffered (EB) links. At low loads, the CB is power gated, bypassed, and optimized to produce single cycle operation. A novel extension to bubble flow control enables routing deadlock and message dependent deadlock to be avoided with the same mechanism having constant buffer size per router independent of the number of message types. This solution enables end-to-end latency reduction via high radix switches with low overall buffer requirements. Comparisons made with other low latency routers across different topologies show consistent performance improvement, for example 26% improvement in no load latency of a 2D Mesh and 4X improvement in saturation throughput in a 2D-Generalized Hypercube.


Judging by the frequency with which it makes an appearance in television news shows and late night stand up routines, the frivolous lawsuit has become part and parcel of our national culture. A woman sues McDonald's because she was scalded when she spilled her coffee. Thousands file lawsuits claiming they were injured by Agent Orange, silicone breast implants, or Bendectin although scientists report these substances do not cause the diseases in question. The United States, conventional wisdom has it, is a hyperlitigious society, propelled by avaricious lawyers, harebrained judges, and runaway juries. Lawsuits waste money and time and, moreover, many are simply groundless. Carl T. Bogus is not so sure. In Why Lawsuits Are Good for America, Bogus argues that common law works far better than commonly understood. Indeed, Bogus contends that while the system can and occasionally does produce "wrong" results, it is very difficult for it to make flatly irrational decisions. Blending history, theory, empirical data, and colorful case studies, Bogus explains why the common law, rather than being outdated, may be more necessary than ever. As Bogus sees it, the common law is an essential adjunct to governmental regulation-essential, in part, because it is not as easily manipulated by big business. Meanwhile, big business has launched an all out war on the common law. "Tort reform"-measures designed to make more difficult for individuals to sue corporations-one of the ten proposals in the Republican Contract With America, and George W. Bush's first major initiative as Governor of Texas. And much of what we have come to believe about the system comes from a coordinated propaganda effort by big business and its allies. Bogus makes a compelling case for the necessity of safeguarding the system from current assaults. Why Lawsuits Are Good for America provides broad historical overviews of the development of American common law, torts, products liability, as well as fresh and provocative arguments about the role of the system of "disciplined democracy" in the twenty-first century.


O b j e c t i v e s: Pill-takers seem to have some deficiencies in developing problem-solving styles, in which it plays an important role in their mental health. The present study has aimed to examine the role of problem-solving styles in individuals who have suicidal behavior by taking pills. M e t h o d s: This research is a case-control study in which 100 people who had attempted to commit suicide by taking pills and had gone to the toxicity emergency room of the Razi Educational and Therapeutic center in Rasht city, were compared with 100 normal people who were selected as the control group. These two groups of people were compared with each other in terms of their problem-solving styles (which is measured using Cassidy and Long problem solving styles questionnaire). R e s u l t s: After adjusting the effects of the confounding variables, i.e. level of education, marital status, residential status, history of psychiatry and alcohol addiction, it became clear that pill-takers group in comparison with the control group scores significantly higher in the non-adaptive problem-solving styles i.e. helplessness, problem-solving control, and avoidance styles (P < 0.0001) and also lower scores in adaptive styles, i.e. creative, confidence and approach styles (P < 0.0001). The interactive effects of group membership and gender were not significant in any of the problem-solving styles (P < 0.05). C o n c l u s i o n s: Problem-solving styles are regarded as important risk factors when it comes to attempting to commit suicide by taking pills. Thus, it is essential to teach problem-solving styles to at-risk patients in order to preventing suicidal behavior.


How does the mental lexicon, the network of learned words in our semantic memory, change in old age? To address this question, we employ a new network inference method to infer networks from verbal fluency data of a group of younger and older adults. We find that older adults produce more unique words in verbal fluency tasks than younger adults. In line with recent theorizing, this suggests a larger mental lexicon for older than for younger adults. Moreover, we find that relative to the mental lexicon of younger adults, the mental lexicon of older adults is less small-world-like. Based on several findings linking network clustering to processing speed, this finding suggests that not only the size, but also the structure of the mental lexicon may contribute to apparent cognitive decline in old age.


Moulton descriptionbed Monilothrips kempi as a new genus and species in 1929, on the basis of a single female specimen of unknown habitat taken in the Darjiling District of the East Himalayas, in India. In 1941 Jacot-Guillarmod found in Basutoland a species of thrips feeding on ferns and, as this did not agree with the descriptionption of kempi in a number of important particulars, he gave it a new name, in 1942, calling it M. montanus. Eleven years later, Bailey and Cott recorded the finding of M. kempi in California, on Coffee Fern (doubtless Pallaea andromedaefolia).


We present a catalog of 1,143 periodic variables, compiled from our image-subtracted photometric analysis of the K2 Campaign-0 super stamp. This super stamp is centered on the open clusters M35 and NGC 2158. Approximately 46% of our periodic variables were previously unreported. Of the catalog variables, we find that 331 are members of M35 and 56 are members of NGC 2158 (Pm > 0.5). Our catalog contains two new transiting exoplanet candidates, both of which orbit field stars. The smaller planet candidate has a radius of 0.35 ± 0.04 RJ and orbits a K dwarf (Kp = 15.4 mag) with a transit depth of 2.9 millimag. The larger planet candidate has a radius of 0.72 ± 0.02 RJ and orbits a late G type star (Kp = 15.7 mag) with a transit depth of 2.2 millimag. The larger planet candidate may be an unresolved binary or a false alarm. Our catalog includes 44 eclipsing binaries, including ten new detections. Of the eclipsing binaries, one is an M35 member and five are NGC 2158 members. Our catalog contains a total of 1,097 non-transiting variable stars, including a field δ Cepheid exhibiting double mode pulsations, 561 rotational variables, and 251 pulsating variables (primarily γ Doradus and δ Scuti types). The periods of our catalog sources range between 43 minutes to 24 days. The known ages of our reported cluster variables will facilitate investigations of a variety of stellar evolutionary processes.


Disseminated peritoneal leiomyomatosis (DPL) is a rare, mostly benign clinical condition where multiple smooth-muscle nodules or growths of various sizes of uterine origin implant on the abdominal, pelvic and peritoneal surface. The condition can occur spontaneously, or iatrogenically after surgical seeding. We present the case of a 46-year-old woman who was incidentally diagnosed with DPL during a laparoscopic sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence. This patient had undergone a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy 9 years earlier for menorrhagia and uterine fibroids. During this procedure the uterine specimen had been removed with a laparoscopic morcellator. With the increase in laparoscopic hysterectomies and myomectomies, this case highlights the need for surgical diligence in removal of all morcellated fragments of the specimen. The patient should be made aware of the potential risks of this technique of tissue extraction.


Would the world be a better place if human societies were somehow able to curb their desires for material goods? Saleem Ali's pioneering book links human wants and needs by providing a natural history of consumption and materialism with scientific detail and humanistic nuance. It argues that simply disavowing consumption of materials is not likely to help in planning for a resource-scarce future, given global inequality, development imperatives, and our goals for a democratic global society. Rather than suppress the creativity and desire to discover that is often embedded in the exploration and production of material goods-which he calls "the treasure impulse"-Ali proposes a new environmental paradigm, one that accepts our need to consume "treasure" for cultural and developmental reasons, but warns of our concomitant need to conserve. In evaluating the impact of treasure consumption on resource-rich countries, he argues that there is a way to consume responsibly and alleviate global poverty.


Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a tremendously useful diagnostic imaging modality that provides outstanding soft tissue contrast. However, subject motion is a significant unsolved problem; motion during image acquisition can cause blurring and distortions in the image, limiting its diagnostic utility. Current techniques for addressing head motion include optical tracking which can be impractical in clinical settings due to challenges associated with camera cross-calibration and marker fixation. Another category of techniques is MRI navigators, which use specially acquired MRI data to track the motion of the head. This thesis presents two techniques for motion correction in MRI: the first is spherical navigator echoes (SNAVs), which are rapidly acquired k-space navigators. The second is a deep convolutional neural network trained to predict an artefact-free image from motion-corrupted data. Prior to this thesis, SNAVs had been demonstrated for motion measurement but not motion correction, and they required the acquisition of a 26s baseline scan during which the subject could not move. In this work, a novel baseline approach is developed where the acquisition is reduced to 2.6s. Spherical navigators were interleaved into a spoiled gradient echo sequence (SPGR) on a stand-alone MRI system and a turbo-FLASH sequence (tfl) on a hybrid PET/MRI system to enable motion measurement throughout image acquisition. The SNAV motion measurements were then used to retrospectively correct the image data. While MRI navigator methods, particularly SNAVs that can be acquired very rapidly, are useful for motion correction, they do require pulse sequence modifications. A deep learning technique may be a more general solution. In this thesis, a conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) is trained to perform motion correction on ii image data with simulated motion artefacts. We simulate motion in previously acquired brain images and use the image pairs (corrupted + original) to train the cGAN. MR image data was qualitatively and quantitatively improved following correction using the SNAV motion estimates. This was also true for the simultaneously acquired MR and PET data on the hybrid system. Motion corrected images were more similar than the uncorrected to the no-motion reference images. The deep learning approach was also successful for motion correction. The trained cGAN was evaluated on 5 subjects; and artefact suppression was observed in all images.


Discriminative training has been a leading factor for improving automatic speech recognition (ASR) performance over the last decade. The traditional discriminative training, however, has been aimed to minimize empirical error rates on training sets, which may not be well generalized to test sets. Many attempts have been made recently to incorporate the principle of large margin (PLM) into the training of hidden Markov models (HMMs) in ASR to improve the generalization abilities. Significant error rate reduction on the test sets has been observed on both small vocabulary and large vocabulary continuous ASR tasks using large-margin discriminative training (LMDT) techniques. In this paper, we introduce the PLM, define the concept of margin in the HMMs, and survey a number of popular LMDT algorithms proposed and developed recently. Specifically, we review and compare the large-margin minimum classification error (LM-MCE) estimation, soft-margin estimation (SME), large margin estimation (LME), large relative margin estimation (LRME), and large margin training (LMT) with a focus on the insights, the training criteria, the optimization techniques used, and the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches. We suggest future research directions in our conclusion of this paper.


Background/Context In regard to preparing prospective teachers for diverse classrooms, the agenda for teacher education research has been primarily concerned with identifying desired outcomes and promising strategies. Scholarship in multicultural education has been crucial for identifying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by teachers to respond to student diversity in a morally and educationally sound manner. Less attention, however, has been paid to the theoretical mechanisms by which preservice and in-service teachers are presumed to change their minds about the meaning of diversity in their classrooms. Current efforts to prepare teachers for diverse classrooms are currently only loosely anchored in the now robust knowledge about how people learn. As a result, many of the strategies deployed by teacher educators toward this end would be greatly strengthened by a theory of conceptual change. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose of this article is to argue that drawing on the theory of conceptual change as commonly applied to learning in science classrooms is an appropriate and valuable framework for understanding how teachers change their ideas about the pedagogical implications of student diversity. After a description of two traditions of conceptual change learning, the Teaching for Conceptual Change model articulated by Peter Hewson, Michael Beeth, and Richard Thorley is deployed to analyze two different accounts of teacher learning. Research Design This research entails demonstrating the use of the conceptual change framework as an analytic tool for understanding teacher learning. Consequently, this article draws from two different sources of data for this purpose. The first consists of a text content analysis of the opening to Vivian Paley's book, White Teacher. The second uses data from an empirical qualitative study conducted by the author to examine the experiences of a preservice biology teacher over a semester of full-time student teaching. Conclusions/Recommendations The article concludes with a discussion on the conceptual change model as a theoretical framework with explanatory power and outlines the implications for teacher preparation efforts. This view of teacher learning promises a potentially fruitful theoretical framework for explaining those elements of teacher education for diversity that have already demonstrated their power, such as racial autobiographies, cross-cultural tutoring experiences, and various approaches to reflection that are employed in teacher education programs. By bringing the lens of conceptual change theory to examine these practices, we can understand more clearly why they appear to work in some cases and not in others. The conceptual change model of learning, however, suggests that dissatisfaction with one's current conceptions alone may be insufficient for learning. Teachers throughout the professional continuum commonly engage in reflection about their practice, and the present research suggests that the process of articulating and examining statements of these conceptions may represent a powerful tool for professional growth.


Sudden death syndrome, caused by Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines, has increased in prevalence in soybean production regions in the North-Central United States. Little is known about soil factors and environmental conditions that influence disease severity in this pathosystem. We studied associations between biological, chemical, and physical soil variables and severity of foliar symptoms of sudden death syndrome in nine commercial soybean fields in Iowa during 1995 and 1996. Disease was patchy in all fields, and soil samples were collected in each field along a transect that ran from a symptomless area through a diseased area. There were 25 sampling stops along each transect, separated by distances of 1.5 to 2.5 m. At each stop, soil samples were collected and soil strength, soil moisture, and foliar disease severity (at plant growth stage R6) were measured. Soil samples were assayed for population densities of F. solani f. sp. glycines, cysts of the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines), and for chemical variables (soluble salts, pH, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and concentrations of P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, and Fe). Cross-correlation analyses were carried out to test for associations between soil variables and disease severity in individual fields, while discriminant analysis was used to assess the effects of soil variables across all fields. Disease severity showed consistent associations with F. solani f. sp. glycines populations (strong effect) and H. glycines cyst counts (minor effect). Available K was identified as a possible disease-enhancing factor, but the magnitude of its effect was dependent on the overall K-concentrations in the fields. For example, as the median K-concentration increased, the correlation between K and disease decreased. None of the other soil variables showed consistent associations with disease. The results suggest that localized presence or absence of F. solani f. sp. glycines is the chief reason for the patchiness of sudden death syndrome in affected fields. Thus, manipulation of soil nutrient status or fertility level appears to have limited potential for reducing disease in the high-yield soybean production environment of Iowa. Instead, producers should focus on preventing the establishment or reducing populations of F. solani f. sp. glycines and H. glycines in their fields.


The main goal of the work was detailed investigation in Republic of Karelia, which
included literature observation, field study, laboratory analysis and interviewing in order
to be able to suggest about possible market concerning stump treatments and its
applying in perpetual perspective.
Literature observation included information concerning the current situation with tree
species composition, age structure of the forests and silviculture regimes. The field work
was done on harvested areas for detailed investigation Norway spruce (Picea abies)
stumps were taken, totally 22 clear cuttings were examined with 1430 of visually
observed stumps and 220 samples from the stumps were taken for laboratory analyses
(10 samples per harvesting area). The survey was made among 3 groups of
respondents (forestry enterprises, scientists and forest industry) to find out the actual
problems concerning new forest legislation, forest certification, about general health
problems and regarding the Heterobasidion spp., as main species, which causing butt
and root rot. Interviewing the logging companies was done in order to apply automated
stump treatment.
Field work shows that 36,4% from the totally visually observed stumps were rotten,
although laboratory analysis shows that 6% from the total number of observed stumps
were infected by Heterobasidion spp.. The results on survey demonstrate that real wood
losses in forests between 3-5%. The proportion from total harvested volume of
mechanized and manual harvesting both in thinning and in final felling were 59/41 and
13/87 percent respectively. The proportion of seasonal harvesting is shown that 54% of
all operations are carried in winter time and 46% in summer time. Thus, Karelia has
high technical potential of automate stump treatments, in spite of that situation with new
Forest Legislation still unclear for forestry specialists, in term of responsibilities of main
stakeholders. There are possibilities to gain stump treatments, but applying into the
practical forestry can be done in two ways: by forcing from the governmental level, what
was not done yet; by subsidizing of forest leasers to apply stump treatments after
logging operations. Possible stump treatments are inhibited by the complex of factors
and main are: financial and political.


MED:1100 Introduction to Health Care Professions3 s.h. Introduction to current U.S. health care system and changes that are likely in the near future; information about distinct health care professions grouped by discipline (e.g., nursing, pharmacy, public health), and less traditional career pathways in health care fields; how health care professionals across disciplines coordinate to deliver better health care; instruction by prominent health care faculty at the University of Iowa; for students considering a career in the health care field.


The average intensity and spreading of cosh-Gaussian laser beams in the turbulent atmosphere are examined. Our research is based principally on formulating the average-intensity profile at the receiver plane for cosh-Gaussian excitation. The limiting cases of our formulation for the average intensity are found to reduce correctly to the existing Gaussian beam wave result in turbulence and the cosh-Gaussian beam result in free space (in the absence of turbulence). The average intensity and the broadening of the cosh-Gaussian beam wave after it propagates in the turbulent atmosphere are numerically evaluated versus source size, beam displacement, link length, structure constant, and two wavelengths of 0.85 and 1.55 microm, which are most widely used in currently employed free-space-optical links. Results indicate that in turbulence the beam is widened beyond its free-space diffraction values. At the receiver plane, analogous to the case of free space, this diffraction eventually leads to transformation of the cosh-Gaussian beam into an oscillatory average-intensity profile with a Gaussian envelope.


As recent socio-demographic, economic and cultural changes affected and complicated the transition phase of youngsters to adulthood, it is particularly interesting to investigate in what way this affected their housing trajectories and changes the socio-spatial structure of cities. In the literature, two of such changes, gentrification and suburbanisation, are usually analysed separately. In this paper however, we explore these changes as alternatives for young adults and explain on what criteria youngsters may choose for one or the other in the case of the Brussels metropolitan area. The paper first details the spatial distribution of young adults and the households they live in. We then focus on the motivations and strategies young adults set up to approach their preferred place of living, taking the changing macro-social context into account. Our findings are young adults housing preferences didn't change that much compared to those of their parents and their place of living during their youth. Nevertheless, the changed context brought up new restrictions and difficulties, forcing specific groups of young adults to look for alternatives to their preferred place of living. Five new strategies emerge from this and explain the coexistence of gentrification and suburbanisation: suburbanization in itself, living on a higher distance of the city centre, second-class (sub)urbanization, delay of independent living and postponement of ownership.


From Hegel to Merkel, from Bismarck to BMW, German culture has defined and re-defined itself through a cycle of reaction; thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Modern Germany has certainly not escaped this pattern, existing in a very deep and surprisingly present way in reaction to the collapse of the East German state and the formation of a unified Germany. This paper examines the ways in which contemporary German authors evidence this reaction in their work. As a nation at the heart of the East/West divide throughout the Cold War, Germany provides an ideal lens through which to view the shifting cultural, economic, artistic and societal trends of the last three decades. Feelings of powerlessness, loss and nostalgia are evidenced within these trends. Even a small sampling of contemporary German sources sheds light on the ways in which national and personal trauma are internalized and digested—both in the individual and in society as a whole. Using the novels Simple Stories (Schultze, 2002), Berlin Blues (Regener, 2001), and the short stories Ubuville (1998) and German Lesson (Wondratschek, 1998) among others, this paper examines the ways in which contemporary German authors manifest this reaction in their work. This paper demonstrates that although the works vary in form and tone, they all display the feelings of disaffection and the omnipresence of the reunification as the great ,"elephant in the room" of modern Germany. The forceful merging of two nations, two political systems and two peoples, left behind a great and living trauma, one which is made manifest daily in the thoughts and actions of Germans (especially in the East) and in their creative output. As attention in the global West was focused unilaterally on the West Germans and the financial burden they bore as a result of reunification, the real plight of reunification and the true force of the trauma (that is, the trauma endured by East Germans) was largely ignored. This paper is thus useful in not only sounding the depths of modern German literature, but also in defining the effects of reunification on those that faced regionalist discrimination and financial pillaging at the hands of the global West. This paper demonstrates how, in the ever shifting maelstrom of an increasingly globalized world, post-unification Germans and particularly former East Germans are an ideal subject of study to increase our understanding of interand pan-generational trauma and the resultant processes of personal identification in which we all, to some degree, take part.


Abstract Web search has become an essential task for most people. As the Web grows rapidly, effective searches have grown increasingly important. Most of us, however, have experienced frustration in trying to search for something on the Web. In existing keyword-based Web search, the user has to come up with keywords for a query, and a search engine passively retrieves pages based solely on what the user types in. Deciding on effective keywords is vital but often difficult. In this paper, we focus on the problem of how to help users find the right keywords in the first place, and our method is based on the idea that selecting from a suggested keyword list can be a more effective strategy in deciding on keywords for a query. We propose a new search method based on keyword suggestion and selection. The user is guided by a list of active keywords that is suggested dynamically during the search by a search engine. This active keyword list helps the user choose keywords that are more relevant to the search through recognition and guided selection. Our method is based on formal concept analysis and is complementary to the existing user-dependent keyword-based Web and desktop search engines. Based on the proposed method, a prototype system is implemented for directory search. Our method will be especially useful in domain-specific Web search, and can be extended to weighted keywords by applying the conceptual scaling process to a many-valued formal context.


Comparative corporate governance has focused either on prevailing differences across legal systems, or on spontaneous legal transplants of foreign institutions in response to global competition. This essay argues that corporate law today is not only a product of the invisible hand of the market, but also of the soft (and not-so-soft) hands of international organizations and standard setters. By tracing the emergence of international corporate law (ICL) since the Asian crisis of the late 1990s, it shows how the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank, and the United Nations, among several other international players, have helped shape legal reforms and corporate governance developments around the world. The observed influence of ICL ranges from the impulse for independent directors and the control of related-party transactions, to the growth of ESG investment factors and human rights policies.

The rise of ICL responds to interjurisdictional externalities and nationalist bias of domestic regimes that have been largely neglected by prevailing theories, which failed to predict and notice the strong push for international coordination and standard setting in the field. ICL has also gone beyond merely prescribing an Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance to also promote legal innovations that place the United States in the receiving end of international pressure. Legal implants from ICL, rather than legal transplants from a foreign jurisdiction, are an increasingly relevant force behind corporate governance change. While ICL has been influential, its efficacy and normative vision face challenges. The time has come to move beyond an exclusively comparative focus to also scrutinize the potential and limits of corporate lawmaking at the international level.


The Electoral College has played an important role in presidential politics since our nation's founding, but surprisingly little information exists about precisely how it affects campaign strategy. Daron R. Shaw, a scholar who also worked as a strategist in both Bush-Cheney campaigns, has written the first book to go inside the past two presidential elections and reveal how the race to 270 was won-and lost. Shaw's nonpartisan study lays out how both the Democrats and the Republicans developed strategies to win decisive electoral votes by targeting specific states and media markets. Drawing on his own experience with Republican battle plans, candidate schedules, and advertising purchases-plus key contacts in the Gore and Kerry camps-Shaw goes on to show that both sides used information on weekly shifts in candidate support to reallocate media buys and schedule appearances. Most importantly, he uses strikingly original research to prove that these carefully constructed plans significantly affected voters' preferences and opinions-not in huge numbers, but enough to shift critical votes in key battlegrounds. Bridging the gap between those who study campaigns and those who conduct them, "The Race to 270" will provide political scientists and practitioners alike with fresh insights about the new strategies that stem from one of our oldest institutions.


Current view synthesis prediction (VSP) techniques for multiview video coding (MVC) rely on disparity-based view interpolation or depth-based 3D warping. The former cannot be applied to every camera view, whereas the latter may require coding of the depth information of a scene. To avoid these constraints, we propose an improved VSP-based MVC scheme based on the following three techniques: 1) view extrapolation, which allows VSP to be applicable to almost all camera views, 2) projective rectification, which improves the synthesis quality when neighboring camera planes are not parallel, and 3) synthesis bias correction, which uses the past synthesis biases to improve the synthesis quality of the current frame. Experimental results demonstrate that our scheme offers PSNR gains of up to 1.6 dB compared to the current MVC standard.


Studies of ATP hydrolysis by various subcellular fractions isolated from rat mesenteric arteries and veins indicate that an apparent ATPase activity, which can be activated by Mg2+ or Ca2+, is primarily associated with the plasma membranes. Although both Mg2+-activated and Ca2+-activated ATPase activities under the optimal condition are substantially lower in venous than in arterial plasma membrane fraction, their dependence on the concentration of Mg2+ and Ca2+ are quite similar in arterial as well as venous plasma membrane fractions. No synergistic effect on ATP hydrolysis was observed in the presence of both Mg2+ and Ca2+. In addition, Mg2+-activated and Ca2+-activated ATPase activities show similar pH dependence, inhibition by deoxycholate, stability toward heat inactivation and substrate specificity. Furthermore, Mg2+-activated and Ca2+-activated ATPase activities were similarly reduced in vascular smooth muscles of spontaneously hypertensive rats. These results suggest that the activation of ATP hydrolysis by Mg2+ or Ca2+ may represent a single enzyme moiety in the plasma membrane of vascular smooth muscle. The possible involvement of such ATPase in the Ca2+ transport function of vascular smooth muscle is discussed.


Trends towards Next Generation Networks (NGN) are also changing the fundamental nature of TV services. Entertainment is becoming an increasingly participative experience, both with user feedback, and with user-generated content. Furthermore, the diversity of delivery mechanisms is increasing, reaching the mobile environment. The diversity of actors and technologies is now leading to a trend into IP-based content delivery, as a solution to heterogeneity management. We present an architecture for future environments, which bridges the gap between the content production and communication infrastructures, able to operate across different networks. This architecture resorts to the notion of Service Enablers deployed above evolved converged multimedia networks, based on the IP protocol. We demonstrated this architecture by laboratory prototyping.


I. INTRODUCTION Fostering liberty and standing with the persecuted, Congress enacted the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998(1) ("IRFA") to counteract renewed and increased assaults on freedom of religion throughout the globe.2 IRFA called upon the United States to challenge countries engaging in religious persecution to live up to international protections of religion, belief, and conscience.3 As an integral part of that policy, Congress also reformed domestic asylum law regarding adjudication of asylum claims in the United States based on foreign persecution on account of religion.4 Interestingly, although IRFA admires the domestic protection of freedom of religion that "undergirds the very origin and existence of the United States," it fails to cite the First Amendment as a source of protection.5 Instead, Congress specifically recognized religious freedom as a fundamental and universal right, listing international instruments that protect freedom of belief, religion, and conscience.6 With reference to those international protections, Congress mandated reform of the U.S. asylum laws and directed the Attorney General in conjunction with the Secretary of State to train asylum officers, immigration judges, and other immigration officials in not only these international instruments, but also in the diverse manifestations of religion and persecution by both governments and non-governmental parties.7 Critics have accused the United States of attempting to impose its understanding of religious liberty upon nations with different cultures, histories, and jurisprudence by regulating the relationship between government and religion.8 However, Congress did not intend to impose United States values upon other nations, but rather intended to hold countries to the international religious liberty treaties and covenants that they have signed.9 Less has been written, however, on the impact of interpreting international agreements pursuant to domestic asylum adjudication.10 IRFA requires reevaluation of asylum adjudication on both legal and factual grounds. Most significantly, it reveals congressional frustration with previous asylum and refugee adjudications. To address the problem, it points not to domestic United States law but to international declarations and covenants as critical guidelines for analyzing violations of religious freedom in the asylum context.11 Further, it emphasizes not just additional training but also stresses specific training "on the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion, the nature, activities, and beliefs of different religions, and the various aspects and manifestations of violations of religious freedom."12 This paper proposes that IRFA calls for adjudicating asylum claims on account of religion through the lens of international agreements, with greater sensitivity to the scope of religious persecution in the world. Moreover, this paper maintains that to rectify the neglect or bias in earlier administrative screenings and adjudications, Congress enacted IRFA to employ international protections and guidelines to expand protection against persecution for persons of faith or belief. Therefore, attorneys and advocates for refugees should raise new legal arguments pursuant to IRFA's engagement of international instruments for determining religious persecution claims in asylum cases. Part II describes the parameters of domestic asylum law prior to IRFA. Part III raises both the legal and cultural issues that make adjudication of religious asylum claims difficult and contribute to the bias or to the lack of information cited by Congress. Part IV discusses how IRFA's introduction of international law into asylum adjudications and its definitions of violations of religious liberty necessitates reevaluating adjudication of asylum claims on account of religious persecution. Although government training has been commenced on IRFA's impact, no asylum decisions have yet cited IRFA. …


ABSTRACT
 Flight dispersal of the triatomine bug species Rhodnius pallescens Barber, the principal vector of Chagas disease in Panama, is an important mechanism for spreading Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease. This study measures R. pallescens flight performance using a tethered flight mill both when uninfected, and when infected with T. cruzi or Trypanosoma rangeli. Forty-four out of the 48 (91.7%) insects initiated flight across all treatments, and trypanosome infection did not significantly impact flight initiation. Insects from all treatments flew a cumulative distance ranging from 0.5 to 5 km before fatiguing. The median cumulative distance flown before insect fatigue was higher in T. cruzi- and T. rangeli-infected insects than in control insects; however, this difference was not statistically significant. There was a positive relationship between parasite load ingested and time until flight initiation in T. rangeli-infected bugs, and T. rangeli- and T. cruzi-infected females flew significantly faster than males at different time points. These novel findings allow for a better understanding of R. pallescens dispersal ability and peridomestic management strategies for the prevention of Chagas disease in Panama.


This study is based on micro level data on urban household food consumption and expenditure collected between 1999 and 2000 in three Nigerian cities. The LA/AIDS model, which allows the inclusion of demographic variables, was applied to a subset of the data on meat and meat products namely beef, mutton/goat, chicken, fish, eggs, and milk. Results indicate that urban demand for meat products will continue to increase as incomes improve, suggesting potential market opportunities especially for poultry. Intra-household demand patterns clearly indicate the importance of beef for children but contrary to expectations, there is a reduced demand for milk as the number of infants in urban households increase. The observed high income elasticity of demand for poultry products may have a positive impact on the derived demand for maize, a primary product in poultry feed. Encouraging poultry production will help restore the battered agricultural sector of Nigeria, increase farmer income, reduce unemployment, and conserve foreign exchange earnings.


The era of molecular medicine begun after the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 (NHGRI). The availability of the data base of approximately 3 billion base pairs and 30,000 genes in human DNA has led to a better understanding of physiological and pathological changes in the human body


I went to Haiti in late January as a member of an Operation Rainbow (www.operationrainbow.org) surgical team which comprised both Kaiser Permanente (KP) and non-KP team members. As background, my own medical charity, Medical Exchange International (www.medicalexchangeintl.org), had partnered with Operation Rainbow in the past to provide anesthesia equipment for several surgical missions in the developing world. In Haiti, we had an opportunity not only to provide pulse oximeters and anesthesia supplies, but also to help out on the clinical front line. As an anesthesiologist with a background in medicine and critical care, I split my time about half and half between the operating rooms and the intensive care unit (ICU), both of which were intense and busy. Whereas I could write at length about what we did and how we coped with severely constrained resources, I want to focus this article on an important "epiphenomenon": the catalytic action of the earthquake tragedy to create a new inflection point in the long history of Haiti-Dominican Republic relations.

Although we experienced the startling devastation in Port-au-Prince when we went into the city to deliver a pulse oximeter, our clinical work took place entirely at the Buen Samaritano (or Bon Samaritain in French) makeshift hospital in the town of Jimani, one mile east of the Haitian-Dominican border in the Dominican Republic. Before the earthquake, the facility was a yet-to-open complex comprising a chapel, an orphanage, and a dental clinic. After the earthquake, the chapel and the orphanage were rapidly converted to hospital wards, and the dental clinic became our acute care venue including a 4-room operating suite. We estimated we had about 250 patients on site, almost all of whom were injured Haitian refugees. We did between 20 and 50 surgical cases a day in 4 converted dental consultation rooms. The vast majority of our surgical cases were orthopedic and plastics procedures, as expected. In our makeshift ICU, I cared for 5 to 10 patients on any given day, and we also opened up a perinatal ward when we suddenly found ourselves doing C-sections (if you build it, they will come …).

The facility was staffed by volunteers from all over the world. We worked closely with our own superb Operation Rainbow orthopedic surgeons, including our mission lead Dave Atkin, MD, from San Francisco and pediatric specialist Chris Comstock, MD, from Corpus Christi, Texas, and with surgeons from around the US and around the globe. In the ICU, I worked closely with an excellent emergency/critical care team from Barcelona (and by closely I mean cross-covering to maintain 24/7 on-site care—the real thing). Nurses and pharmacists from all over the world worked together, and I remember being particularly touched when I saw a group of Israelis help an Arab team unload several tons of food that was brought in by the United Arab Emirates. All this is to say that there was a tremendous and truly inspiring internationalism—a deep humanism was in full bloom here.

Post-op patient.

This leads me to my main point: I witnessed first-hand an extraordinary stepping-up-to-the-plate by the Dominican government and the Dominican people. From the moment we arrived, we saw that the Dominicans had dedicated their major international airport in Santo Domingo to international relief efforts. Because Haiti's airports were marginally functional at best, this was crucial to the immediate relief efforts. The short aid corridor between the Dominican Republic border and Port-au-Prince was active 24/7 with an endless stream of trucks laden with food, water, tents, coal, firewood, blankets, medical supplies, and more from dozens of countries and with a very notable contribution from the Dominican Republic itself. For example, the Dominican Republic sent 15 mobile cafeterias serving 100,000 meals a day into Haiti. Santo Domingo Water Corporation sent dozens of tank trucks, each containing 2000 gallons of water. Estimates of total Dominican Republic aid for Haiti to date have exceeded $17 million, no small sum for a small island republic that is itself a developing nation. We witnessed the Dominican army conspicuously keeping the Dominican side of the relief corridor safe and functional until the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Force (which fortuitously had been in Haiti prior to the earthquake) took over on the Haitian side to assure the relief lifeline kept flowing. Thankfully, the Dominican authorities allowed thousands of Haitian refugees to cross the border eastward into the Dominican Republic to seek care in our emergency relief hospital and in other Dominican hospitals.

Dr John Freedman at Buen Samaritano Hospital.

At Buen Samaritano, I noted that many of the drugs we used, and a hefty component of the supplies we used such as oxygen masks, epidural kits, and IV catheters, came from the Dominican Republic. The Dominican personnel presence was huge, literally hundreds of Dominicans representing the Dominican Public Health Department (known by its Spanish acronym of SESPAS), the Dominican Food Aid Program, the Dominican Republic's major emergency relief organization (known as URN for Unidad de Rescate Nacional), as well as Dominican representatives from countless humanitarian programs such as the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), US Agency for International Development, the UN World Food Program, and Ninos de las Naciones. The Dominican-based ARS Humano provided the trailers we used for our tuberculosis isolation ward and our spinal cord injury care unit. Dominican interpreters navigated the tricky Creole-French-Spanish language challenges for us. The Dominican government allowed US military transport choppers as well as those of several private US entities into their airspace to help us evacuate some of our most critically ill patients to the USNS Comfort hospital ship. The Dominican army was on-site day and night in Jimani, keeping us safe and keeping the peace amidst the influx of refugees. The Dominican charity Esperanza provided transportation and meals for our team. Last but certainly not least (from an anesthesiologist's standpoint), the Dominican Red Cross filled our rapidly depleting oxygen tanks every few days—life-giving assistance, literally and figuratively.

Buen Samaritano Hospital.

This Dominican largesse would be worthy of praise and worth relating in and of itself. But what makes it all the more heartening and extraordinary, in fact truly "game-changing" if one can apply that adjective to international relations, is that it opens a new era in the long history of tense and violent relations between these two neighboring nations. Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola on his first voyage to the New World in 1492 and promptly claimed it for Spain. But it did not take long for the French to wrest half of the island from the Spanish, thus establishing two separate but equal colonies with political, cultural, and economic disparities that persist to this day. The Dominicans still resent a period of Haitian occupation from 1822 through 1844, though some Haitian scholars insist that the Haitians were "invited" in to ensure abolition of slavery in post-Spanish Dominica. Little known to most outsiders, the Dominicans ultimately had to win their independence not from Spain but from their Haitian overseers. The Dominicans repaid the favor in kind with a brutal retaliatory massacre of over 20,000 Haitians by the despotic Trujillo regime in 1937. To make matters worse, the persistent sharp contrast in prosperity, and some say an inherent racism in the Dominican Republic—have continued to fuel the fires of hatred, fear, and mistrust. The Dominican Republic ranks a respectable 90 out of 182 countries on the UN's Human Development Index, a composite measure of wealth, health, and educational indices. Haiti comes in at a miserable 149, just a hair above Sudan. The Dominican economy has long profited from cheap Haitian labor: more than 90% of the country's sugar workers are of Haitian origin. The average Dominican can expect to live into his or her 70s, whereas 61 is the average life expectancy for Haitians and this is now surely reduced as a result of the earthquake. All of this makes it understandable that Haiti rejected an offer of over 3000 Dominican troops which was tendered the week after the quake with the intent of assisting the UN battalion in securing the aid corridor in eastern Haiti. To many Haitians that offer was similar to the idea of having Russian "peacekeepers" come into the Ukraine.

UN peacekeepers.

But that long and mostly ugly relationship which has prevailed for centuries may now be coming to an end. The opening was there after January 12, 2010, and the Dominicans took it. Some say it is in their interest to prevent a "failed Haiti" (if that is not already the case) and that the Dominicans are just pragmatists working to stem the tide of refugees. No doubt there is, as always, an element of public relations at work here and in fact the Dominicans have received some good press for their efforts. But having seen it in action, on the front lines, the Dominican effort by my observation is more than pragmatic and more than PR. It is huge and robust, carefully thought out, and thoroughly genuine.

Time will tell if this represents a true turning point and ushers in a new era for these two countries that uneasily share an island in our own backyard. Haiti's tragedy is the costliest natural disaster in recorded history according to the Inter-American Development Bank. But as with any great tragedy, there is great opportunity inherent in the rebuilding phase, and the Dominicans seem to have grasped that. The Dominican effort and the healing of Haiti-Dominican Republic relations may turn out to be a very major ingredient in the formula for Haiti's long-term (and I use the word advisedly) reconstruction.


Reports of total unilateral hypertrophy or hemihypertrophy are comparatively rare in medical literature. The earliest case was reported by Wagner, in Germany, in 1839; in 1879, Osler gave the number of reported cases of congenital hemihypertrophy as twelve. Gesell, in 1921, made a careful search of the literature and collected forty cases, which included one of his own. In 1927, he was able to add thirteen to this number, making a total of fifty-three cases. Wiseberg and Halperin each reported a case in 1931. The present case is reported for two reasons: (1) because it presents an unusual anatomic anomaly, congenital in origin and (2) because the comparative rarity of the condition makes it seem worth while to add another case to the few recorded. REPORT OF A CASE The patient was a white girl, 3½ years of age, who first came to the pediatric clinic of the outpatient department


The significance of improving nutrition knowledge in order to have a positive influence on food choices and health should not be underestimated. This study assessed the nutritional status and knowledge of school children attending selected secondary schools in Sokoto metropolis. The study population was purposively drawn from secondary school students in Nigeria attending Federal Government College and State Government-owned schools. Four secondary schools were used for the study: Federal Government College (FGC), Sani Dingyadi Secondary School (SDUSS), Nagarta Secondary School (NSS) and Army Day Secondary School (ADSS). A sample of 240 school students, aged 10 to 25 years participated in the study. The measuring instruments included a questionnaire to determine the nutrition knowledge of the students. Anthropometric measurements included weight, height and mid-upper arm circumference, measured using standard methodologies. The mean age recorded for male and female students were 18.0±1.90 and 15.7±1.20 years, respectively. The result showed that 27.9% were underweight, 7.5% overweight and 64.6% had normal BMI status. Nutritional status was significantly related with sex (χ 2 = 16.169, p<0.05) but not with age (χ 2 = 1.368, p>0.05). The prevalence of underweight was higher among the males (33.9%) compared to the females (13.9%), while more females were overweight (15.3%) compared to the males (4.2%). Seventy one percent performed poorly in the nutrition knowledge assessment rating. The overall performance of the female students was significantly higher (χ 2 = 46.386; P<0.05) than their male counterparts. Furthermore, 5, 12 and 12% had excellent, very good and good nutrition knowledge, respectively, while 33% and 38% had fair and poor nutrition knowledge, respectively. The results further revealed that the students were deficient in knowledge and understanding of the facts about energy and nutritive values of foods. Therefore, adequate nutrition education is needed at the secondary school level; this will enable the students to make good food choices and positively influence their eating habits thereby ensuring better nutritional status.


This paper considers the estimation of the variance of coefficients in time varying parameter models with stationary regressors. The maximum likelihood estimator has large point mass at zero. We therefore develop asymptotically median unbiased estimators and confidence intervals by inverting median functions of regression-based parameter stability test statistics, computed under the constant-parameter null. These estimators have good asymptotic relative efficiencies for small to moderate amounts of parameter variability. We apply these results to an unobserved components model of trend growth in postwar U.S. GDP: the MLE implies that there has been no change in the trend rate, while the upper range of the median-unbiased point estimates imply that the annual trend growth rate has fallen by 0.7 percentage points over the postwar period.


God has nothing to do with decolonization: A criticism of Dutch historiography on the demise of the Dutch East Indies and Dutch Surinam Inevitably, there is a moral side to decolonisation. In the Netherlands, the focus on this aspect has been encouraged by the culture of gospel preaching: that curious constant which permeates the history of the Netherlands. More specifically, however, we have identified an important trend stemming from the 1960s whereby many politicians and influential people placed pressure on historians to bear witness to this aspect. This fitted in with the general pattern of moralizing history, alongside tracing the history of morality. This jarred with the professional self-image of historians who, during the 1960s, had in fact shaken off the roles of moralist, educator of the common man and keeper of souls. Yet, generally speaking, the historiography of the colonies still has a touch of national self-purging about it: various authors still write about decolonization in a judgmental tone. Despite the unmistakable scientific merits of this wave of Dutch East Indian studies and Surinam studies, the effect of this moralising is rather futile: it has not resulted in any great consensus of opinion, nor to any visible demonstration of being able to cope with the past or public reconciliation (as far as historical moralism is actually capable of achieving this). This is all the more reason for us to ask ourselves to explain why the art of moralising continues. The reasons for can be attributed to a variety of factors, partly of a professional nature and partly social. With respect to the former, this demonstrates a contrived battle between different schools of thought, a fixation on everything that is Dutch and a lack of interesting historiography from the Indonesian and Caribbean side. As far as the latter is concerned, this centres around a fear of losing momentum in a society that is not retrospective, coupled with the post-colonial complex of awkwardness, shame and guilt. This fits in with the more general historical policy of governments: a cult of apologies, commemoration and compensation. In the Netherlands too this policy would greatly benefit from stronger and feistier politics and academic discussions and confrontations, as well as from a greater counterbalance of political parties, fora of historians and parliaments against the monopoly of those speaking on behalf of the victims. In this type of situation, historians might win back some of the ground that they now appear to have lost by delving more deeply into aspects of analytical ethics


A simple model for the early events in visual pigments and bacteriorhodopsin is proposed. The model makes use of the likelihood that a negatively charged amino acid forms a salt bridge with the positively charged nitrogen of the retinylic chromophore. The photochemical event is a cis-trans isomerization in visual pigments and a trans-cis isomerization in bacteriorhodopsin, which in each case cleaves the salt bridge and thus separates charge in the interior of the protein. We propose that this is how the energy of a photon is transduced into chemical free energy of the primary photoproduct. The use of photoisomerization of a flexible chromophore to achieve charge separation provides a general mechanism which may be applicable to other systems. Our model explains many of the fundamental properties of visual pigments and their photoproducts. First, the extraordinarily low rate of thermally populating the ground state of the primary photoproduct, as determined from psychophysical and electrophysiological measurements, is seen as resulting from the large barrier to thermal isomerization about a double bond, perhaps enhanced by electrostatic attraction in the salt bridge. Second, the increase in energy and the spectral red shift that characterize the primary photochemical events are natural consequences of the separation of charge. Proton-dependent processes detected with picosecond techniques are proposed to be ground-state relaxation processes following the primary photochemical event. Finally, the charged groups of the salt bridge, repositioned by photoisomerization, provide a simple mechanism for vectorial proton translocation in bacteriorhodopsin.


Since firms are interrelated via customer-supplier relationships, the bankruptcy of a firm may lead to the bankruptcy of its suppliers. Due to this contagion effect, one bankruptcy may trigger many subsequent bankruptcies of direct and indirect and have a nonnegligible impact on an aggregate economy. This paper empirically analyzes this bankruptcy propagation on a customer-supplier network by using a comprehensive dataset consisting of more than one million firms and their customer-supplier relationships, and bankruptcy records over April 2013 to February 2017 in Japan. We find that the contagion effect is significant at the firm-level; for example, if 50% customers of a firm go bankrupt, the firm's bankruptcy probability approximately triples. However, it does not immediately imply that there is a substantial risk at the aggregate level that a nonnegligible fraction of firms are forced into bankruptcies by the contagion effect. In fact, by simulating our model, we find that the reach of bankruptcy propagation is very limited in most cases and it is highly unlikely that bankruptcy spread extensively on the network. This is because of the structure of the customer-supplier network. The network structure contributes to absorbing bankruptcy shocks by an aggregate economy rather than spreads bankruptcy on the network.


This study focuses on performance of biomass pyrolysis processes for use in biochar systems. Objectives are to understand the range of control of such processes and how this affects potential benefits of pyrolysis biochar systems, in particular for climate change mitigation. Slow, intermediate and fast pyrolysis processes are reviewed. Product yield distributions change depending on feedstock composition and preparation, control of temperature and material flows. These allow some control over distribution of main products – char, liquids and gases. Typical yield ranges for pyrolysis processes are defined. Variability associated with char yield is estimated at ±5% (relative). Char yield should be considered an underlying, but minor source of variability in pyrolysis biochar systems. A model study is used to compare effects on greenhouse gas balance and electricity generating capability of slow, intermediate and fast pyrolysis processes with direct combustion; there is a trade-off between these benefits following from the different product yield distributions. High char yields allow greater net CO2 benefits but lower electrical output from slow or intermediate pyrolysis. Higher liquid and/or gas yields allow greater electrical output from fast pyrolysis but less than from direct combustion. Fast pyrolysis and direct combustion have similar net CO2 effects when retained char is low. If the objectives of pyrolysis biochar systems are for climate change mitigation then processes with higher char yields should be preferred. The model is sensitive to the reference case chosen for fossil fuel substitution and to the stability of biochar-carbon in soils – a major uncertainty in the analysis of pyrolysis biochar systems. Financial analysis shows the trend in income value for pyrolysis and combustion processes is opposite to the trend in climate change mitigation benefits. Lifecycle CO2 analysis suggests dominant factors in pyrolysis biochar systems relate to carbon sequestration in biochar and fossil fuels substitution by renewable electricity.


Studies on the physico-chemical changes between different hand
positions (top, middle and bottom) within a bunch and different finger positions
(upper and lower) within a hand at different maturity stages (between 3 to 15 weeks
from the appearance of flower emergence) were carried out on 'Montel' banana
(Musa cavendishii L). The size, weight, volume and peel colour of fruits increased
significantly (P<0.01) for fruits from all positions (hands and fingers within a hand)
within a bunch until the end of maturity stage. On the other hand, fruit texture
decreased significantly (P<0.01). The total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid (AA)
and sugar contents increased slowly during development, but the increase was rapid
during ripening. The starch composition accumulated gradually (P<0.05) at the early
stages and decreased thereafter. The pH and titratable acidity values showed an irregular pattern in an the fruits from an positions during the maturity stage. There
was a significant decrease (P<0.01) in the tannin content between the different
portions of hands within a bunch and between different fingers within a hand at
maturity. There was an increase in AIS at the early stages, but after approaching
maturity (week 12), it decreased significantly (P<0.05) in the ripe fruits. The pectins
increased at the early stages until a maximum at week 12 and then slowly decreased.
At the end of maturity stage, the pectic substances started to increase slowly until the
ripening stage. The suitable harvesting stage was found to be between 12 to 15
weeks after flower emergence. Postharvest treatment with liquid paraffin, clingwrap,
low density polyethylene (LDPE) with and without potassium permanganate
(KMn04) were studied to extend the shelf life of 'Montel' banana (Musa cavendishii L.), under refiigeration (15± l0 C) and at ambient temperature (27±1°C). The fruits
packed in LDPE with KMn04 ripened within 60 days after harvesting at week 12
from flower emergence. This was followed by fruits packed in LDPE without
KMn04 (54 days), clingwrap (42 days), liquid paraffin (36 days), control at 15°C (24
days) and control at ambient (18 days). The percentage weight loss, peel and pulp
colours of fruits increased significantly (P<0.01) for all treatments during storage. On
the other hand, the texture values and tannin content of the fruit decreased
significantly (P<0.01) during storage. The rise in total soluble solids (TSS) and sugar
were slow initially but gradually increase rapidly at the end of the storage period.


Modern healthcare's need for knowledge sharing and bridging the research–practice gap requires new forms of collaboration, in which clinicians of varying clinical and research expertise work together over geographical and organisational borders. To support such distributed communities of practice (CoPs), an understanding of their collaboration processes, outcomes, challenges and enablers is needed. The article examines these issues through a case study of a long-running CoP, the Swedish Oral Medicine Network (SOMNet). SOMNet's main form of collaboration is monthly telephone conference meetings centred on case consultations. Cases are submitted by the clinicians via a Web-based system. The methods used were interviews, observations, and a questionnaire. The work adds to previous research by studying a distributed CoP explicitly focused on supporting the transfer of scientific results from researchers to practitioners. We found that the regular meetings give a rhythm to the community. The centrality of cases means an immediate benefit for the submitter while the community is provided an authentic context for learning. SOMNet yields opportunities for help and learning for diverse expertise levels; the type of benefits is affected by the participant's degree of oral medicine knowledge and collaboration involvement. There are challenges in accommodating varying levels of expertise and encouraging those less experienced to participate. Enablers of the collaboration include the participation of experts, meeting facilitators and well-adapted ITs.


In this paper, we designed and fabricated an input-output coupler system using two or three volume gratings at 632.8nm wavelength. The additional third grating is added at the output coupler to enhance the overall efficiency. The experimental results show that the total system throughput reaches 63% with two-grating and 75% with three-grating input-output coupler. We also present a design method to obtain the desired output power ratio between the gratings.


Abstract Until today, the most accepted notion about the coinage of visual literacy as a concept has been credited to John Debes in the late 1960s. In this paper, the authors describe the use of available digital tools to unearth a history of the concept of visual literacy in education that precedes in roughly 30 years these events. These overlooked years shed light on the role of technology, policy and industrial intervention have played in the development of a concept that has only increased in relevance and popularity within education over the last decades. This paper also invites the reader to consider the potential of previously unavailable tools to revisit and re-examine the events that have shaped and will continue to shape the landscape of education.


This innovative ethnographic study animates the racial politics that underlie genomic research into type 2 diabetes, one of the most widespread chronic diseases and one that affects ethnic groups disproportionately. Michael J. Montoya follows blood donations from 'Mexican-American' donors to laboratories that are searching out genetic contributions to diabetes. His analysis lays bare the politics and ethics of the research process, addressing the implicit contradiction of undertaking genetic research that reinscribes race's importance even as it is being demonstrated to have little scientific validity. In placing DNA sampling, processing, data set sharing, and carefully crafted science into a broader social context, "Making the Mexican Diabetic" underscores the implications of geneticizing disease while illuminating the significance of type 2 diabetes research in American life.


In 1946, physicist Robert Wilson first suggested that protons could be used as a form of radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer because of the sharp drop-off that occurs on the distal edge of the radiation dose. Research soon confirmed that high-energy protons were particularly suitable for treating tumors near critical structures, such as the heart and spinal column. The precision with which protons can be delivered means that more radiation can be deposited into the tumor while the surrounding healthy tissue receives substantially less or, in some cases, no radiation. Since these times, particle accelerators have continuously been used in cancer therapy and today new facilities specifically designed for proton therapy are being built in many countries. Proton therapy has been hailed as a revolutionary cancer treatment, with higher cure rates and fewer side effects than traditional X-ray photon radiation therapy. Proton therapy is the modality of choice for treating certain small tumors of the eye, head or neck. Because it exposes less of the tissue surrounding a tumor to the dosage, proton therapy lowers the risk of secondary cancers later in life - especially important for young children. To date, over 80,000 patients worldwide have been treatedmore » with protons. Currently, there are nine proton radiation therapy facilities operating in the United States, one at the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute. An overview of the treatment technology and this new center will be presented.« less


Large quantities of waste reveal where the workshops of comb makers were located in medieval towns. Fragments of bone and antler tell us from what species the raw materials came and how the supply was organized. ln the J J'h and J2'h centuries, antler was the dominant raw material for combs, usually from local populations of elk or red deer. However, there is at least one example where reindeer antler, transported from afar, was clearly preferred over local resources. During the 13th century there was a general change in the nature of the raw material to more bones [rom domestic animais, especially cattle and horses.


: One of the philosophical uses of Dedekind's categoricity theorem for Peano Arithmetic is to provide support for semantic realism. To this end, the logical framework in which the proof of the theorem is conducted becomes highly significant. I examine different proposals regarding these logical frameworks and focus on the philosophical benefits of adopting open-ended schemas in contrast to second order logic as the logical medium of the proof. I investigate Pederson and Rossberg's critique of the ontological advantages of open-ended arithmetic when it comes to establishing the categoricity of Peano Arithmetic and show that the critique is highly problematic. I argue that Pederson and Rossberg's ontological criterion deliver the bizarre result that certain first order subsystems of Peano Arithmetic have a second order ontology. As a consequence, the application of the ontological criterion proposed by Pederson and Rossberg assigns a certain type of ontology to a theory, and a different, richer, ontology to one of its sub-theories. theorem, further implies that M j ⊨ φ. By definition 4 T is semantically complete.