Abstract As the impacts of climate change grow, we need better ways to raise awareness and motivate action. Here we assess the effectiveness of an Arctic climate change card game in comparison with the more conventional approach of reading an illustrated article. In-person assessments with control/reading and treatment/game groups (N = 41), were followed four weeks later with a survey. The game was found to be as effective as the article in teaching content of the impacts of climate change over the short term, and was more effective than the article in long-term retention of new information. Game players also had higher levels of engagement and perceptions that they knew ways to help protect Arctic ecosystems. They were also more likely to recommend the game to friends or family than those in the control group were likely to recommend the article to friends or family. As we consider ways to broaden engagement with climate change, we should include games in our portfolio of approaches.


Nowadays the smart-city concept is shifting from a top-down, mere technological approach towards bottom-up processes that are based on the participation of creative citizens, research organisations and companies. Here, the city acts as an urban innovation ecosystem in which smart applications, open government data and new modes of participation are fostering innovation in the city. However, detailed analyses on how to manage smart city initiatives as well as descriptions of underlying challenges and barriers seem still scarce. Therefore, this paper investigates four, collaborative smart city initiatives in Europe to learn how cities can optimize the citizen's involvement in the context of open innovation. The analytical framework focuses on the innovation ecosystem and the civic capacities to engage in the public domain. Findings show that public service delivery can be co-designed between the city and citizens, if different toolkits aligned with the specific capacities and skills of the users are provided. By providing the right tools, even ordinary citizens can take a much more active role in the evolution of their cities and generate solutions from which both the city and everyday urban life can possibly benefit.


Water repellency is often generated by taking advantage of surface textures and low surface energy coatings such as the one afforded by long perfluorinated side‐chains polymers. However, new regulations are phasing out these polymers because of their related health and safety hazard concerns. This is a particular challenge for water‐repellent fabrics as consumers expect safer products with stable performance and new functionalities. In this work, an approach is developed that allows for iCVD deposition of durable, conformal short fluorinated polymers stabilized with a crosslinking agent. As a result, high hydrophobicity and low liquid adhesion are achieved simultaneously while maintaining initial substrate breathability. It is explained why this polymeric coating—1H,1H‐perfluorooctyl methacrylate co divinylbenzene—exhibits remarkable hydrophobic properties amidst a wide range of other possible candidates. In order to further enhance the dynamic water repellency performance, the chemical treatment is combined with physical texturing—obtained through microsandblasting, a process particularly suitable for fabrics—thus making this combined approach a suitable candidate to meet the industrial needs. This work paves the way for the development of environmentally friendly, highly repellent coatings for large volume production and the application of roll‐to‐roll coating techniques, and multifunctionalization of fabrics and wearable devices.


Abstract The Canadian constitution is to some extent characterised by its focus on equality, and in particular gender equality. This development of women's rights in Canada and the greater engagement of women as political actors is often presented as a steady linear process, moving forwards from post-enlightenment modernity. This article seeks to disturb this 'discourse of the continuous,' by using an analysis of the pre-confederation history of suffrage in Canada to both refute a simplistic linear view of women's rights development and to argue for recognition of the Indigenous contribution to the history of women's rights in Canada. The gain of franchise and suffrage movements in Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century are, rightly, the focus of considerable study (Pauker 2015), This article takes an alternative perspective. Instead, it examines the exercise of earlier franchises in pre-confederation Canada. In particular it analyses why franchise was exercised more widely in Lower Canada and relates this to the context of the removal of franchises from women prior to confederation.


We initially assessed the characteristics of stroke development in Dahl salt-sensitive
rats (Dahl-SS). Dahl-SS developed high blood pressure (BP) when fed
a high salt diet (8.7% NaCl) from weaning and a 50% mortality after being fed the
diet for 4 to 5 weeks. Prior to death, Dahl-SS exhibited behavioural symptoms
(convulsions, seizures, paralysis and stupor) consistent with the possible
development of stroke. However, unlike true stroke, the behavioural
dysfunctions observed were not associated with cerebral ischemia and occurred
in the virtual absence of cerebral hemorrhage. An investigation of the
cerebrovascular pathology indicated a breakdown in the integrity of the blood
brain barrier and fluid movement into the extravascular space (edema). It was
concluded that Dahl-SS best represents a model of hypertensive encephalopathy
(HE). In humans HE is produced by brain edema as a result of hypertension in
the absence of cerebral ischemia or hemorrhage. It produces convulsions,
confusion, and stupor and can result in death. The latter symptoms are
consistent with those observed in Dahl-SS fed high salt.
Antihypertensive intervention (captopril) was ineffective in lowering blood
pressure or reducing the incidence of mortality. Non-cerebral organ failure was
also evident prior to death as demonstrated by kidney dysfunction associated
with increased plasma creatinine, urea, urinary protein excretion and decreased
plasma albumin levels.
In subsequent experiments we tested the hypothesis that a breakdown in
the ability to autoregulate cerebral blood flow (CBF) may contribute to the
development of HE in Dahl-SS fed high salt. Such a defect could promote
cerebrovascular overperfusion and elevate microvascular blood pressure,
alterations that would facilitate blood brain barrier disruption and HE
development. Laser Doppler techniques were used to assess the changes in
relative CBF with varying BP in the perfusion domain of the middle cerebral
arteries (MCA's). Dahl-SS fed 8.7% NaCl for 1 week exhibited an ability to
autoregulate near constant CBF up to an upper mean BP of 168 mmHg. Two
thirds of the rats lost the ability to autoregulate CBF after they were fed a high
salt diet: for 3 weeks at a time prior to the development of HE. These rats
exhibited a linear increase in CBF with elevations in arterial pressure. The
characteristics of the CBF autoregulatory curves suggested that CBF
autoregulation was lost under conditions of cerebrovascular constriction.
In other experiments we assessed the hypothesis that the loss of CBF
autoregulation in the MCA perfusion domain of Dahl-SS was associated with an
inability of the MCA's to elicit pressure dependent constriction (PDC). PDC is an
important mechanism involved in promoting CBF autoregulation. Elevations in
BP promote cerebrovascular constriction, which raises vascular resistance to
blood flow. This counteracts the potential elevation in CBF enabling CBF to
remain constant under conditions of elevated BP. Isolated MCA's from
asymptomatic Dahl-SS exhibited constriction in response to elevated pressure and protein kinase (PKC) activation (a signaling intermediate for PDC in MCA's).
In addition the MCA's vasodilated in an endothelium dependent manner in
response to bradykinin. These functions were lost in the MCA's of Dahl-SS with
HE. MCA's from post-HE Dahl-SS that were unable to constrict to pressure
lacked the ability to constrict in response to PKC activation via phorbol esters.
They exhibited high levels of basal tone and no response to the endothelial
specific vasodilator, bradykinin. The loss of PDC in MCA's of Dahl-SS preceded
the development of HE and occurred in asymptomatic rats fed high salt for 3
weeks at a time when CBF autoregulation was lost.
It was concluded that defects in the ability of the cerebrovasculature to
autoregulate CBF in conjunction with the development of renal dysfunction could
contribute to the development of HE in Dahl-SS fed high salt. Cerebrovascular
PDC is thought to play an important role in facilitating CBF autoregulation. The
loss of this function could contribute to a loss of CBF autoregulation under
hypertensive conditions. This could increase cerebrovascular pressures and
promote overperfusion in the brain, leading to the development of cerebral
edema and HE. The development of HE could be further augmented by a
decrease in plasma oncotic pressure promoted by the loss of plasma proteins
due to the occurrence of proteinuria. The presence of a dysfunctional PKC
system in the vascular smooth muscle of MCA's sampled from Dahl-SS with HE
could contribute to the loss of PDC in the arteries.


LITHOPROBE seismic reflection data acquired in 1994 within the Trans-Hudson orogen include a 180 km profile that crosses the boundary between a collapsed marginal basin (Kisseynew domain) and an older volcanic-plutonic arc terrane (Lynn Lake belt). The seismic data image a prominent band of northeast-dipping anastomosing reflections that extend to 10 s two-way traveltime from the surface location of a geological boundary where interpreted oceanic crust is preserved, and separate thick crust (16 s) of the Kisseynew domain from the abruptly thinner crust (12 s) of the Lynn Lake belt. Highly reflective lower crust (10–16 s) of the Kisseynew domain dips gently northward and extends laterally for at least 40 km beneath the adjacent Lynn Lake belt in a manner reminiscent of the western Alps. Complementary gravity modeling shows that the thickness of metasedimentary rocks within the Kisseynew domain is 20 ± 3 km. The seismic image is interpreted as portraying a crustal-scale collisional suture that formed as the end result of northward subduction of backarc basin crust (ancestral Kisseynew basin floor), and subsequent contraction and thrusting of the remnant Kisseynew basin fill under the margin of the Lynn Lake belt.


Osteoporosis is a metabolic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass, depleted micro-architecture and reduced strength. The public health costs of osteoporosis relate almost entirely to the fractures that are the clinical manifestation of the disease and it presents a significant cause of morbidity in today's ageing population. Oestrogen deficiency during the menopause is the primary causative factor for postmenopausal osteoporosis and although much is known about the pathophysiology of the disease, including dysregulated bone cell function whereby more bone is digested than is formed; the underlying mechanisms involved have not yet been delineated. Recent studies have suggested that although overall strength is decreased following osteoporotic bone loss, the remaining bone tissue is stronger and stiffer, suggesting an alteration in bone tissue composition. Bisphosphonates are among drug treatments administered to tackle bone loss, however the incidence of osteoporotic fractures still remains high. Furthermore, the precise effect of drug treatment on bone tissue mineralisation is unknown. The global aim of this thesis is to discern the alterations in the quantity and distribution of bone mineral during osteoporosis. Specifically, it is sought to test the hypotheses that bone mineral distribution is altered at a tissue level following oestrogen deficiency and bisphosphonate treatment and that oestrogen depletion alters normal mineralisation and mechano-responsiveness of bone cells. Quantitative backscattered imaging (qBEI) on a scanning electron microscope was used to examine individual bone trabeculae from the proximal femur of ovariectomised sheep (oestrogen deficient state), aged matched control sheep and sheep treated with the bisphosphonate Zoledronic acid. It was found that oestrogen deficiency caused significantly higher mineral heterogeneity within trabeculae (site speficic within the femur) and along a common osteoporotic fracture line. Bone mineralisation was diminished with prolonged oestrogen deficiency and conversely was higher in older healthy sheep compared to younger control sheep. Furthermore, significantly lower mineral heterogeneity was found in OVX sheep treated with Zoledronic acid compared to untreated OVX sheep. These results indicate that changes in bone tissue mineralisation during oestrogen deficiency may be a contributing factor for reduced mechanical strength during osteoporosis, while drug induced increased homogeneity may contribute to the ability of Zoledronic acid to prevent fracture occurrence during oestrogen deficiency. The next study aimed to delineate the mechanisms responsible for such altered mineral distribution. Osteoblast and osteocyte cells were pre-treated with oestrogen and the effects of oestrogen deficiency were evaluated by subsequently withdrawing oestrogen from cells, or blocking oestrogen receptors using an oestrogen antagonist, fulvestrant. Specifically, alkaline phosphatase expression was investigated using p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP), proliferation by assessing DNA content, calcium production using alizarin red assay and apoptosis by measuring for caspase 3/7 activity. Although mineral production was significantly increased by oestrogen pre-treatment, a further increase in mineral production and apoptosis were observed following oestrogen withdrawal from cells. These observations increase our understanding of the mechanisms controlling bone formation and bone cell death and may aid in the development of enhanced therapeutics for the treatment of osteoporosis. The final study of this thesis aimed to determine if the mechano-biological response of osteoblasts is impaired during oestrogen deficiency and whether changes in bone mineralisation may be related to altered bone formation in response to mechanical stimulation. Osteoblasts were pre-treated with oestrogen and subsequently oestrogen was withdrawn from cell cultures and their responses under fluid shear stress were evaluated. Firstly, daily loading cycles, using an orbital rotator, were applied to cells and mineralisation and cell viability (using alamar blue assay) were assessed after 7 and 14 days. In a separate experiment, following 2 and 7 days of oestrogen withdrawal, osteoblasts were exposed to 2 hours of shear stress in a custom designed parallel plate bioreactor. PGE2 was quantified in cell culture conditioned media using an immunoassay kit. It was found that orbital fluid flow induced shear stress significantly increased mineral production by bone cells and that under an applied shear stress, mineral production was decreased during oestrogen withdrawal. It was also observed that mechanical loading and oestrogen are required in unison to promote mineral production. PGE2 release was significantly increased with applied laminar flow, but was decreased by oestrogen withdrawal. Together, these studies provide evidence that bone cells become accustomed to levels of circulating oestrogen and that diminished oestrogen causes osteocyte apoptosis, increased osteoblast mineralisation and altered mechano-sensitivity. These changes might explain the decreased mean concentrations of mineral, together with increased mineral heterogeneity, from our earlier in vivo studies. Therefore, the results of the thesis provide a unique insight into why the tightly coupled mechanisms of matching bone's structure and composition to the loads it experiences are disrupted when levels of circulating oestrogen are depleted.


Objective. To calculate the risk of fetal death due to neural tube defects and estimate associated factors in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Material and Methods. Data were abstracted from death certificates registered during 1990-1995 in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. The design was a proportional mortality study, which is considered as a variant of the case control design. Cases were deaths with any type of neural tube defect, and controls were fetal deaths due to other causes. Results. A total of 3 673 fetal death certificates were analyzed; 8.06% had neural tube defects and the remaining died of other causes. Fetal death was associated with fetal weight less than 2500 grams (OR 5.0, 95% CI 3.6-6.8), being female (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3-2.3), and death during the late fetal period (OR 5.5, 95% CI 3.8-8.1). Conclusions. Results show that the risk of fetal death due to neural tube defects is greater among low birth weight babies, females, and during the late fetal period.


Objective: This study is designed to measure the effect of 10-minutes training about occupational diseases, history taking and relation of occupation and hypertension on occupational history taking rates of physicians.
Materials and Methods: This research is conducted between 01 April 2018 to 31 May 2018 at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic. The training including the importance and methods of taking occupational history, and the relation between occupation and diseases is given to the new assistant doctor group as an extra 10 minutes' education session. At the end of May, researchers screened electronic medical files of patients who diagnosed with hypertension (ICD10 code I10) of outpatients in General Internal Medicine Division in April and May 2018.
Results: We reviewed the data of 3619 adult patients administered to General Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic of Hacettepe University Hospitals in between 01 April to 31 May 2018. A total of 395 (10.9%) patients had hypertension diagnosis code. The total number of patients whose occupational history taken were 151 (38.2%). There were statistically significant difference between physician groups not trained in April and trained 10 minutes in May, 62 (32%), and 89 (44.3%), respectively (p:0.012). Among the hypertensive patients whose occupational history were recorded, 36 (23.8%) had an occupation.
Conclusion: This result emphasizes the importance of education in raising awareness of taking an occupational history. As occupational diseases are 100% preventable diseases, taking occupational history will enhance the diagnosis and effective treatment of the occupational or work-related diseases. Beginning from the medical faculty lectures, seminars and post-graduate education have to be added and increased regarding this important issue.
Keywords: Occupational history, occupational disease, hypertension.


Lean product development is a major innovative business strategy that employs sets of practices to achieve an efficient, innovative and a sustainable product development. Despite the many benefits and high hopes in the lean strategy, many companies are still struggling, and unable to either achieve or sustain substantial positive results with their lean implementation efforts. However, as the first step towards addressing this issue, this paper seeks to propose a systematic model that considers the administrative and implementation limitations of lean thinking practices in the product development process. The model which is based on the integration of fuzzy Shannon's entropy and Modified Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (M-TOPSIS) model for the lean product development practices implementation with respective to different criteria including management and leadership, financial capabilities, skills and expertise and organization culture, provides a guide or roadmap for product development managers on the lean implementation route.


Structures like roads and port yards located in cold climate are affected by freezing and thawing every year. The global trend of a warmer climate and temperatures around 0°C for longer periods of time will change the freezing/thawing behaviour in many locations. The tendency will change to have several freezing /thawing cycles in a given location every year. The bearing capacity of low volume roads and simple port yards will be affected by a prolonged thawing period with lower bearing capacity as a consequence. Bearing capacity problems can lead to increased costs for traffic as well as increased maintenance costs. Due to very high costs for destroyed structures during thaw, a lot can be gained if bearing capacity problems at a given site can be forecasted well in advance in order not to destroy the structure. Such a method should preferably be based upon simple measurements like air temperatures to make it easy to use also in remote areas. In the described temperature based model air and ground temperatures are used to develop an accumulated thaw index and corresponding limits. When the thaw index limit is reached, the construction at the evaluated depth thaws, leading to increased pore water pressure and reduction of strength and bearing capacity. This paper presents a study of the application of the model at low volume roads in Sweden. Bearing capacity at the road was evaluated from field tests by falling weight deflectometer (FWD) test carried out 24 times during the thawing season i.e. March 4 through June 9. Predictions made by the model were compared with the subgrade module evaluated from the FWD series. The results show that the model might be possible to use in Sweden and elsewhere if minor adjustments are carried out.


S. Kuznets wrote that structural changes are the central element in the process of development and the most important part of the growth model. They can hinder the growth, if carried out too slowly or inefficiently, but they can also promote economic growth if the distribution of resources gets better. The article has presented the authors' attempts to present new approaches to modeling the institutional behavior of economic agents. Different approaches and views on economic growth and economic development in their application to institutional changes are considered. The descriptive method explains the hypothesis of the dominant role of social innovations (primarily institutional changes) in social and economic development. Significance of sociocultural capital in the context of contemporary knowledge economy is potentiated. The conclusion is that transition countries must use exemplary models and civilization achievements of institutional changes in developed countries.


We explore the quantitative effects of transitory and persistent increases in income inequality on equilibrium interest rates and output. Our starting point is a Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari model featuring rich heterogeneity and earnings dynamics as well as downward nominal wage rigidities. A temporary rise in inequality, if not accommodated by monetary policy, has an immediate effect on output that can be quantified using the empirical covariance between income and marginal propensities to consume. A permanent rise in inequality can lead to a permanent Keynesian recession, which is not fully offset by monetary policy due to a lower bound on interest rates. We show that the magnitude of the real interest rate fall and the severity of the steady-state slump can be approximated by simple formulas involving quantifiable elasticities and shares, together with two parameters that summarize the effect of idiosyncratic uncertainty and real interest rates on aggregate savings. For plausible parametrizations the rise in inequality can push the economy into a liquidity trap and create a deep recession. Capital investment and deficit-financed fiscal policy mitigate the fall in real interest rates and the severity of the slump.


That the question of identity takes on a sense of urgency, one with its own possibilities and impossibilities, the moment that identity is bound up with death, is hardy surprising. What follows are a series of reflections on the question of identity, Jewish identity, raised by Jean Amery's remarkable text On the Necessity and Impossibility of Being a Jew ( Uber Zwang und Unmoglichkeit, Jude zu sein ). Amery's text was of course published in the wake of his own experiences as an active member of the resistance, as having been imprisoned in Auschwitz and as the victim of torture. Philosophically, rather than biographically, if there were a point of comparison, then it is to Levinas's 1947 text Etre juif . Both pose the problem of how the question of Jewish identity, Jewish being, is to be understood in the wake of the Shoah. The meaning of the formulations - Jude zu sein , Jude sein , Etre juif , Jewish being – delimits the question to be addressed. This will be the case even if its point of address, namely what the question stages, is itself far from straightforward. Moreover, while what is demanded within that question is itself philosophically important, it is equally the case that the question of Jewish being is at work within both communities and synagogues across the Jewish world. As a consequence it is as much a philosophical question as it is one that has a structuring effect on how Jewish survival is conceived (and thus equally on what that survival is taken to be). How survival is understood is an issue that continues to exert its force. Who is the subject of survival? What is the subject of survival? Who or what has been subjected to the issue of survival? Survival is both more nuanced and complex than the brute fact of an afterlife. Jewish being as a present question – a question of the present - continues therefore.


The paper reviews recent results on modeling a viscous liquid flow driven by ablation pressure. Based on the analysis of the Navier-Stokes equation various strongly different manifestations of this phenomenon are explained. These are: (i) a "clean" laser ablation, when laser spot has a clean sharp spot border, free from a re-solidified melt dross; (ii) a new form of material removal in laser ablation - expulsion on a poly(methyl methacrylate) target of long (up to 1 mm) nanofibers with a radius about 150-200 nm to the exterior of the spot under the action of a single pulse of KrF excimer laser; and (iii) a new way of laser surface nanostructuring - the formation of a surface foam having a structure of micro-pores interconnected with nanofilaments of diameters about 100 nm as a result of single pulse KrF laser irradiation of biopolymer films.


Spanning more than five decades of fabric design, Plaids is an invaluable visual reference guide for designers. With more than 550 full-color photographs of printed and woven plaids, this colorful book provides a sweeping survey of plaid fabric designs, from the standard checks and gingham patterns to the farthest reaches of designers' imaginations. Special sections detail variations in plaid styles, including imitation weaves, hound's-tooth, harlequin, florals, and novelty prints. The book also includes French and Italian couture fabrics and more than 150 traditional Scottish tartans. Plaids is the most comprehensive pictorial guide ever produced on the subject.


This paper analyzes the impact of courts and different systems of judicial review on subnational constitutional autonomy. Focus is put on the question on which interpretive guidelines courts may draw when they assess the compatibility of state constitutions with the federal constitution and whether there is potential for interpretive federalism in subnational constitutional contexts. Three cases where subnational constitutional provisions were respectively dealt with in civil law and common law jurisdictions with different forms of constitutional review have been selected: The first case relates to the Austrian Constitutional Court's views on subnational direct democracy. The second case discusses the Spanish Constitutional Court's decision on the Catalonian Statute. Thirdly, the paper examines US federal courts' decisions which have recently prevented a constitutional amendment of the Oklahoma Constitution. While the arguments and methodology used in these decisions cannot be generalized, they nevertheless raise awareness for the tensions between federalism and judicial interpretation.


Rapid urbanization and economic growth, new demographic trends, and climate change are key challenges that developing countries must face as they strive to meet growing energy demand. The main objectives of this study are to offer: (a) a global taxonomy of the economic and financial incentives provided by renewable support schemes and (b) an economic modeling of the sustainability and affordability of such support schemes. In an attempt to contribute to the lively debate, this study provides a global taxonomy of the economic and financial incentives provided by renewable energy (RE) support schemes. It summarizes economic models of the sustainability and affordability of such support schemes, alongside operational advice on how the regulatory design may need to be modified to minimize the impact on the budget and be affordable to the poor, as well as how to identify and fill the financing gap. This analytical framework: (a) differentiates and illustrates tradeoffs among local, regional, and national impacts, in the short and long run; (b) captures distributional impacts (since subsidies to cover the incremental costs of RE may have very different beneficiaries); and (c) captures externalities and compares (where possible) alternative projects based on equivalent output and cost (comparing, for example, RE and energy efficiency projects against those using fossil fuels). The report is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two presents the analytical framework that underpins the case studies, and provides the background for the principal research hypothesis of this report, which is better attention to the principles of economic analysis and market efficiency leads to more sustainable and effective policies. Chapter's three to ten present country case studies for Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt, Brazil, and Turkey. The conclusions of the study are presented in chapter eleven.


A
 large body of diabetes and cardiovascular research has reported the
effect of various interventions or risk factors on a composite
categorical outcome such as the first major adverse cardiovascular event
 (MACE). Defined as either a nonfatal stroke, nonfatal MI, or
cardiovascular death, this outcome better reflects the underlying
construct of vascular disease than any of its individual components, and
 has been a very useful diabetes research tool. In contrast, a simple
approach for combining two or more continuous measurements into a
composite continuous outcome has not been described. Such an approach
could provide a better reflection of constructs such as glucose control
than any one measurement alone (e.g., HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose,
time-in-target). This paper suggests a simple and convenient approach to
 creating composite continuous indices that can be used by clinical
researchers as either independent variables or outcomes, and provides
worked examples illustrating its utility.


Women drug users have been in the focus of social science
research for several decades. Quite a lot has been written
about their specific situation, especially concerning their
unequal gender position, higher stigmatization, or harder
access to treatment or social services. On the other hand, not
much attention has been given to their strategies of
resistance, or dealing with problems they encounter in their
everyday lives. In this book, the author provides a different
view on their living situations. Through the narrative analysis
of qualitative interviews and focus groups with seven women who
have experience with long-term methamphetamine use, the author
explores not only the challenges that they face, but also the
strengths and agency they use to influence and take control of
their lives, and negotiate their needs and interests with the
world around them.


[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] International comparisons help us explore the assumptions made about U.S. schools, students, and pedagogy. That is why I decided to spend five months in the Czech Republic teaching science education courses at Palacky and Ostrava Universities and learning about the Czech education system. The new context challenged some of my notions about science education in the United States. The intent of this article is to raise questions to encourage discussion and analysis, not to advocate the superiority of any nation's education system or methods. Why the Czech Republic? The Czech science education system attracted my professional attention as a university science educator when the results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were announced in 1995. (Editor's note: Later TIMMS assessments were renamed "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.") Despite the political changes after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, the Czech Republic outperformed the United States and most other European countries on the TIMSS tests. In addition to TIMSS, the Czechs also performed well on the 1999 TIMSS-Repeat (TIMSS-R) and the 2000 and 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assessments administered by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Figure 1 (p. 66) summarizes some of the results from these studies. The Czechs have a history of performing well on various international science tests at several grade levels. Pedagogy When I first entered a Czech science classroom, I immediately noticed the strict discipline and orientation of the entire class toward the teacher. Students faced the teacher, quietly paid attention, and answered questions when called upon. Every classroom I visited in a variety of Czech schools was uniform in orientation and tone. Czechs describe their pedagogy as predominately teacher-centered and lacking in variety, but there are efforts to change this approach as evidenced by the following excerpt from Czech education researchers Jana Svecova and Jana Strakova: Currently there is a greater focus on the integration of topics from different science subjects. Independent and creative work is stressed more. The laboratories in science are more investigative in nature, moving away from a 'follow the cookbook' style. More emphasis is placed on written and oral communication. Reasoning, as opposed to mechanical memorization of facts, is stressed. There is an effort to balance deductive and inductive approaches in the curriculum (Svecova and Strakova 1997, p. 107). Despite such efforts to change, my personal conversations with Czech educators and visits to schools indicate that the country's schools are still dominated by teacher-centered pedagogies with modest progress toward student-centered approaches. All lessons are 45 minutes in length and are very structured with a clear introduction at the beginning of the lesson. Czech teachers do a consistent job of summarizing the content at the end of the lesson, which marks a clear end to one lesson and transition to the next lesson. I have struggled with convincing U.S. preservice teachers of the value of strong lesson introductions and summaries. Czech teachers incorporate a variety of memorization strategies in their lectures and devote a lot of class time to review. I observed one example of fourth-grade Czech students working together to complete matching puzzles that reviewed types of plants and animals while another group completed a worksheet identifying different types of trees using their textbook. An upper-secondary physics class spent approximately 10 minutes reviewing one type of problem for a future test. Students worked independently for several minutes before one student shared her solution on the blackboard. The teacher then summarized the solution using the student's work. …


In this letter, we consider underlay spectrum access in a cognitive radio network, where two coexisting cellular systems, i.e., primary and cognitive, share the same frequency band. The throughput performance of this system is directly linked to the tolerated interference level at the primary receiver. We investigate the fundamental trade-off between the interference tolerance in the primary system and the achievable throughput of the cognitive network. We formulate the network performance as a multi-objective optimization problem with a set of objectives including minimizing the interference imposed on each primary user, and maximizing the intended signal received at every secondary user. We then derive an equivalent standard semi-definite programming form and prove that the derived problem always yields rank-one solutions. The obtained solution set provides the best achievable throughput (characterized by the maximum intended signal power at each cognitive user) for a given level of interference tolerance in the primary system. It also gives the achievable gain on the system throughput if the primary system is able to compromise and increase its interference tolerance, such framework could be a base for negotiations between the operators. An improvement of 0.38 bits/s/channel-use is observed on the achievable throughput for 1 dB higher interference tolerance at the primary receivers.


In this guest column, the author argues, first, that being at the place of an event does not guarantee that one understands what is going on and, second, that something's happening with or to me does not guarantee that I understand what has occurred. He shows that it is generally assumed that the best descriptions of oneself are those given by oneself and, further, generally felt that allowing for the possibility that better descriptions than one's own have been produced by others is comparable to surrendering a civil right. He concludes instead that allowing for that possibility is commendable and shows its application to an aspect of the life of Louis XVI that historians and ideologists of revolution have widely ridiculed.


Mannose-specific lectins (MSLs) were isolated from bulbs of fifteen wild Narcissus species growing in Spain and assayed for their HIV-1 infection inhibitory activity in MT-4 cells and compared to the Narcissus pseudonarcissus agglutinin (NPA), the commercially available MSL obtained from daffodils. Almost all the tested MSLs were found to be active, showing EC50 values (microg/mL) similar to that of NPA, with some being comparable to those obtained with dextran sulfate without significant cytotoxicity. However, on a molar basis almost all of the MSLs tested exhibited lower EC50 values than dextran sulfate whilst six MSLs had values lower than AZT. The most efficacious anti-HIV-1 activity was exhibited by the Narcissus tortifolious MSL, which was 10- (microg/mL) and 100- (molarity) fold more potent than dextran sulfate. Significantly, although this MSL was 15-fold less potent than AZT in terms of quantity (microg/mL), it was 68-fold more potent on a molar basis. The antiviral indices, a ratio of the concentrations that produce cytotoxicity and HIV-1 replication, were calculated and three of the MSLs, N. confusus, N. leonensis and N. tortifolius reported 1.5-, 2- and 8.5-fold greater AI values than dextran sulfate or AZT. Comparison of MSL haemagglutination activities (HAA) to their anti-HIV-1 activities showed that there was no significant correlation. It was suggested that this may be due to a dissociation between both activities as a consequence of multiple isolectin composition.


Blocking JNK signaling halts neuroinflammation caused by infection with Japanese encephalitis virus. Halting viral encephalitis Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a member of the mosquito-borne flavivirus family, which includes hepatitis C virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, Zika virus, and dengue virus. Common in Asia and Australia, JEV crosses the blood-brain barrier and produces massive neuroinflammation, which causes neuronal damage and death, such that even people who survive the infection have long-term neurological impairment. Ye et al. took a phosphoproteomic approach and identified several kinase pathways induced by JEV infection of cultured human glial cells. Substrates of the JNK pathway were the most overrepresented in the data set, and treating glial cells in culture with a JNK inhibitor reduced the JEV infection–induced stimulation of inflammatory cytokines. This same inhibitor prevented JEV lethality in mice, which was associated with a decrease in neuroinflammation (reduced astrocytosis and microgliosis), as well as less neuronal injury (reduced apoptotic neurons). These results may prove useful in treating JEV and other neurotropic viruses of this or other viral families. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading cause of epidemic encephalitis worldwide. The pathogenesis of JEV is linked to a robust inflammatory response in the central nervous system (CNS). Glial cells are the resident immune cells in the CNS and represent critical effectors of CNS inflammation. To obtain a global overview of signaling events in glial cells during JEV infection, we conducted phosphoproteomics profiling of a JEV-infected glial cell line. We identified 1816 phosphopeptides, corresponding to 1264 proteins, that exhibited a change in phosphorylation status upon JEV infection. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that these proteins were predominantly related to transcription regulation, signal transduction, the cell cycle, and the cytoskeleton. Kinase substrate motif revealed that substrates for c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) were the most overrepresented, along with evidence of increased AKT1 and protein kinase A (PKA) signaling. Pharmacological inhibition of JNK, AKT, or PKA reduced the inflammatory response of cultured glial cells infected with JEV, as did knockdown of JNK1 or its target JUN. JEV genomic RNA was sufficient to activate JNK1 signaling in cultured glial cells. Of potential clinical relevance, we showed that inhibition of JNK signaling significantly attenuated the production of inflammatory cytokines in the brain and reduced lethality in JEV-infected mice, thereby suggesting that JNK signaling is a potential therapeutic target for the management of Japanese encephalitis.


A description of all exit space extensions with finitely many negative squares of a symmetric operator of defect one is given via Krein's formula. As one of the main results an exact characterization of the number of negative squares in terms of a fixed canonical extension and the behaviour of a function τ (that determines the exit space extension in Krein's formula) at zero and at infinity is obtained. To this end the class of matrix valued \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$\mathcal {D}_\kappa ^{n\times n}$\end{document}‐functions is introduced and, in particular, the properties of the inverse of a certain \documentclass{article}\usepackage{amssymb}\begin{document}\pagestyle{empty}$\mathcal {D}_\kappa ^{2\times 2}$\end{document}‐function which is closely connected with the spectral properties of the exit space extensions with finitely many negative squares is investigated in detail. Among the main tools here are the analytic characterization of the degree of non‐positivity of generalized poles of matrix valued generalized Nevanlinna functions and some extensions of recent factorization results.


The adenosine A{rcub} receptor (AR) is an important G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) distributed widely throughout the human body and influences many bodily functions. The work presented here investigates in detail the complex heterogeneous nature of agonist binding to the human AR in order to explore receptor-receptor interactions that might be present in oligomeric receptor complexes. The equilibrium and kinetic binding properties of two cell lines expressing the AR at different densities were characterised in detail. This characterisation was compared with that of a series of 47 cell lines expressing different levels of either the AjR-GFP or AR-GFP-Gaj fusion proteins. Equilibrium radioligand saturation and competition experiments provided evidence for a re lationship between the fraction of high affinity agonist binding sites and the level of receptor expression. Cell lines expressing lower levels of the AR showed a greater relative ability to bind agonists with high affinity, and to promote formation of the activated agonist-receptor-G protein ternary complex. The association of Hjagonist to the AjR was biphasic and determined by two different molec ular processes. The association rate constant of the fast component was entirely dependent on the concentration of Hjagonist, whereas dependence of the slow component on concentration was inconclusive. The dissociation of a Hjinverse agonist from the AR was rapid, mono-exponential, complete, and insensitive to GTP. In contrast, the kinetics of H agonist dissociation were complex. Disso ciation of H agonist from the AR-G protein complex was biphasic and dependent on the nature of ligand used to prevent H agonist rebinding. Greater H agonist dissociation was observed in the presence of competing agonist than competing inverse agonist, a novel finding called "agonist- induced agonist dissociation," and was dependent on agonist efficacy. The mechanism behind this is unknown, but appears to involve interactions between high affinity receptor-G protein complexes, possibly in the form of receptor oligomerisation. These interactions are absent at low expression levels and progressively increase with level of expression. Agonist-induced agonist dissociation was observed even in the presence of a high concentration of GTP. Separation of cell membrane fractions by their buoyant density clearly showed the AR-GFP and AR-GFP-Gaj fusion proteins were not found in lower density caveolin-enriched "raft" frac tions. These observations have implications for the nature of the immediate receptor environment and whether the AR and other components of the receptor signalling complex are actively con centrated in regions of the cell membrane. The work presented here describes novel properties of agonist and antagonist binding at the human adenosine Aj receptor and to AjR-GFP and AR-GFP-Go fusion proteins. The ligand dependence of the kinetics of agonist dissociation provides direct evidence for receptor-receptor interactions, such as receptor oligomerisation.


The iNEMI Connector Reliability Test Recommendations Project was organized to address the need for a standardized reliability qualification method for connectors. The project team reviewed current standards pertaining to connector reliability and also conducted an industry-wide connector reliability survey to determine common metrics for connector reliability guidelines across the industry. This paper summarizes their findings and reviews a multilevel interconnect hierarchy and a matrix of application classes defined by the team. It also discusses possible connector reliability test strategies based on the interconnect hierarchy developed.


Title of Dissertation: ANALOGIES AS CATEGORIZATION PHENOMENA: STUDIES FROM SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE Leslie Jill Atkins, Ph.D., 2004 Dissertation Directed By: Associate Professor David Hammer, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Department of Physics Studies on the role of analogies in science classrooms have tended to focus on analogies that come from the teacher or curriculum, and not the analogies that students generate. Such studies are derivative of an educational system that values content knowledge over scientific creativity, and derivative of a model of teaching in which the teacher's role is to convey content knowledge. This dissertation begins with the contention that science classrooms should encourage scientific thinking and one role of the teacher is to model that behavior and identify and encourage it in her students. One element of scientific thinking is analogy. This dissertation focuses on student-generated analogies in science, and offers a model for understanding these. I provide evidence that generated analogies are assertions of categorization, and the base of an analogy is the constructed prototype of an ad hoc category. Drawing from research on categorization, I argue that generated analogies are based in schemas and cognitive models. This model allows for a clear distinction between analogy and literal similarity; prior to this research analogy has been considered to exist on a spectrum of similarity, differing from literal similarity to the degree that structural relations hold but features do not. I argue for a definition in which generated analogies are an assertion of an unexpected categorization: that is, they are asserted as contradictions to an expected schema. ANALOGIES AS CATEGORIZATION PHENOMENA: STUDIES FROM SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE


With innovations in science and technology, the world is transforming at a fast pace. The Universities in today's world, their structures, differences, and the work they do could have a significant impact on the lives of the people. This opinion piece proposes that a new Science, Technology and Medicine University is needed in the Middle East. The article also argues why such a University is needed in the presence of other Universities. This proposed University could act as a global think tank and could bridge the ideas, gaps, and work between low, middle and high-income countries. Currently, in the Middle East (in Dubai), several large western Universities have opened their campuses. The initiatives like this would certainly improve the quality of education, however, this also indicates that there are gaps and the need to build the more educational institution. Specifically, an institution in the region is needed with a global outlook and approach; a centre or powerhouse of ideas. In this paper, I briefly discuss the proposed University, its people, scope, vision, geographical areas to cover, financial models and the stakeholders who might be interested to build this University.


The present study concentrates on specific linguistic aspects in traditional Estonian poetic texts. Focusing on the verse structure of the traditional folk song of Vana kannel and the individually edited and authored epic poem Kalevipoeg , different aspects of the length of verse lines, of the words included in these verses, and of the relation between verse and word length shall be analyzed, aiming to study verse variability in detail. Given there are specific rules of verse and word length organization, as well as of regular relations between them, sequences of words with different length, resulting in different verse types, are focused. Theoretical and empirical evidence is provided that, in addition to existing regularities, verse variability, too, follows specific rules which can be modelled in terms of a diversificational process.


Zircon age peaks are commonly interpreted either as crustal production peaks or as selective preservation peaks of subduction-produced crust selectively preserved during continent-continent collision. We contribute to this ongoing debate, using the Nd isotopic compositions of felsic igneous rocks and their distribution during the accretionary and collisional phases of orogens. The proportion of juvenile input into the continental crust is estimated with a mixing model using arc-like mantle and reworked continental crust end members. Orogen length and duration proxies for juvenile crustal volume show that the amount of juvenile crust produced and preserved at zircon age peaks during the accretionary phase of orogens is ≥3 times that preserved during the collisional phase of orogens. The fact that most juvenile crust is both produced and preserved during the accretionary phase of orogens does not require craton collisions for its preservation, thus favoring the interpretation of zircon age peaks as crustal production peaks. Most juvenile continental crust older than 600 Ma is produced and preserved before final supercontinent assembly and does not require supercontinent assembly for its preservation. Episodic destabilization of a compositionally heterogeneous layer at the base of the mantle may produce mantle plume events leading to enhanced subduction and crustal production. Our Nd isotope model for cumulative continental growth based on juvenile crust proxies for the past 2.5 b.y. suggests a step-like growth curve with rapid growth in accretionary orogens at the times of zircon age peaks.


Silicon photoanodes patterned with thin-film Ni catalyst islands exhibited stable oxygen evolution for over 240 h of continuous operation in 1.0 mol L−1 KOH under simulated sunlight conditions. Buried-junction np+-Si(111) photoanodes with an 18.0% filling fraction of a square array of Ni microelectrodes, np+-Si(111)|NiμE18.0%, demonstrated performance equivalent to a Ni anode in series with a photovoltaic device having an open-circuit voltage of 538 ± 20 mV, a short-circuit current density of 20.4 ± 1.3 mA cm−2, and a photovoltaic efficiency of 6.7 ± 0.9%. For the np+-Si(111)|NiμE18.0% samples, the photocurrent density at the equilibrium potential for oxygen evolution was 12.7 ± 0.9 mA cm−2, yielding an ideal regenerative cell solar-to-oxygen conversion efficiency of 0.47 ± 0.07%. The photocurrent passed exclusively through the Ni catalyst islands to evolve O2 with nearly 100% faradaic efficiency, while a passivating, insulating surface layer of SiOx formed in situ on areas of the Si in direct contact with the electrolyte. The (photo)electrochemical behavior of Si electrodes patterned with varying areal filling fractions of Ni catalyst islands was also investigated. The stability and efficiency of the patterned-catalyst Si electrodes were affected by the filling fraction of the Ni catalyst, the orientation and dopant type of the substrates, and the measurement conditions. The electrochemical behavior at different stages of operation, including Ni catalyst activation, Si passivation, stable operation, and device failure, was affected by the dynamic processes of anodic formation and isotropic dissolution of SiOx on the exposed Si. Ex situ and operando microscopic and spectroscopic studies revealed that these processes were three-dimensional and spatially non-uniform across the surface of the substrate, and occurred near the active catalyst islands. The patterned catalyst/substrate electrodes serve as a model system for accelerated studies of failure mechanisms in photoanodes protected by multifunctional catalytic coatings or other hole-conductive thin-film coatings that contain defects.


We introduce the concept of Convertible and Constrained Nucleic Acids (C2NAs). By means of the synthesis of a stereocontrolled N-propargyl dioxo-1,3,2-oxaza-phosphorinane as an internucleotidic linkage, the torsional angles α and β can adopt either the canonical (g-, t) set of values able to increase DNA duplex stability or the non-canonical (g+, t) set that stabilized the hairpin structure when installed within the loop moiety. With an appended propargyl function on the nitrogen atom of the six-membered ring, the copper catalysed Huisgen's cycloaddition (CuAAC click chemistry) allows for the introduction of new functionalities at any location on the nucleic acid chain while maintaining the properties brought by the geometrical constraint and the neutral internucleotidic linkage.


This article examines the question of whether there has been a pattern of increasing partisan polarization in decisions by federal judges. After an initial section briefly discussing the general issue of partisan polarization in American politics, the analysis draws on several extant data sources to present evidence of concerning polarization for each of the three levels of the federal courts. That analysis shows increasing, and quite significant, polarization in the behavior of the justices of the Supreme Court, although that is not true for decisions dealing with economics issues and regulation. Much of the change reflects who presidents have been appointing to the Court. For the Court of Appeals and the federal district courts, there is also evidence of increasing differentiation between appointees of the two parties' presidents. Given the more routine nature of cases below the Supreme Court, the gaps and the change at the lower levels are much less. Again, the nature of the changes varies with the types of cases and those changes significantly reflect who is being appointed to the courts.


With more emphasis placed upon research in undergraduate biology courses offered at Emporia State University, students needed to use the library. Since the library canceled its subscription to Biological Abstracts in 1985, biology students rely upon subsidized online searches to obtain citations relevant to their research. To do their research, collaboration with librarians has become a necessity. Initially the mediated search service was only available to graduate students and faculty members associated with the Division of Biological Sciences. As time progressed and new faculty members joined the division, more emphasis was placed upon research in undergraduate courses as well. To accommodate these students with a limited online search budget and search staff, something needed to be done. The result was a collaboration between instructors in the Biology Division and the librarian in charge of the Library's Online Search Service. Through time this relationship has evolved as access to more electronic databases has been added to the library's resources. Currently, the students attend an instructional session on research strategy and an introduction to OCLC's FirstSearch Service. This article will explore the relationship formed and how the collaboration has evolved over the years. It will also outline the instruction session that is now being offered and discuss its effectiveness.


New policies that are being developed in Washington in the aftermath of the election could impact the current environment of low real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates on such safe assets as short-term government debt, President James Bullard said in a presentation at Arizona State University in Phoenix. He singled out three efforts being discussed by legislators in Washington, saying they have the potential to affect productivity growth and, therefore, real interest rates; those three are deregulation, tax reform and targeted infrastructure spending. Bullard also explained his reasoning for recommending an increase in the fed funds rate of 25 basis points, which would bring it up to 63 basis points, still exceptionally low.


The paper deals with a novel enhanced connection of AC/AC powertrain for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). The substantial contribution of such a connection is the absence of 4QC auxiliary converter needed for autonomous and hybrid operational modes and its compensation by power-lesser 0x5 matrix converter. The main advantages of a simplified connection are, beside smaller auxiliary converter sizing, also possible better efficiency of the HEV powertrain. So, powertrain operation in autonomous traction accu-battery modes uses direct 0x5 configuration of traction 3x5 MxC matrix converter, and in hybrid modes of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and accu-battery uses besides traction 3x5 MxC matrix converter the auxiliary 0x5 matrix converter. Modeling and simulation using Matlab-Simulink environment of traction powertrain configuration in autonomous modes are presented in the paper as well as all simulation experiment results.


INTRODUCTION: Plastic surgery consultation is commonly sought for the treatment of pelviperineal injuries in general hospitals. The objective of this study was to present the experience acquired in the treatment of perineal, sacral, and hip injuries with the use of perforator flaps. METHODS: Patients referred to the Plastic Surgery Division of the Clinical Hospital of Medicine College of Universidade de Sao Paulo for evaluation of pelviperineal and hip wounds from February to May 2009 were retrospectively evaluated. A total of 22 patients underwent reconstruction with skin and fasciocutaneous flaps based on the perforator vessels, according to the inclusion criteria. The average follow-up period was 6 months. RESULTS: Pelviperineal injuries consisted of pressure ulcers in 20 cases (91%), deep infection in 1 case (45%), and perineal hidradenitis in 1 case (4.5%). The choice of flap for reconstruction was dependent on the local wound: 15 cases (68.2%) of sacral ulcers were repaired with a superior gluteal artery perforator flap; 3 cases (13.6%) of ischial ulcers were repaired with an inferior gluteal artery perforator flap; and 2 cases (9.1%) of trochanteric ulcers were repaired using a tensor fascia lata perforator flap. A fasciocutaneous gluteofemoral flap was selected for reconstruction of post Fournier' syndrome in 1 patient and was used after resection of perineal hidradenitis in 1 patient. A new suture for late primary closure was necessary in 3 (13.6%) cases in which the suture line dehiscence was 3% necrosis of the flap surface. These results were maintained during the follow-up evaluation period. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study were satisfactory, and the utility of surgical flaps without the incorporation of muscle for pelviperineal reconstruction was demonstrated. This treatment alternative decreases donor site morbidity and preserves the muscular tissue for future interventions.


Abstract: The primary aim of the Terrorist Transgressions network which is presented here was to analyse the myths inscribed in images of the terrorist and identify how agency is attributed to representation through invocations and inversions of gender stereotypes. Although terrorism, its contexts, histories and forms, has been the focus of intense academic activity in recent years, especially in the fields of politics and international relations, cultural representations of the terrorist have received less attention. While the terrorist is predominantly aligned with masculinity, women have been active in terrorist organizations since the late nineteenth century. Particularly since the 1980s, women have perpetrated suicidal terrorist attacks, including suicide bombing, where the body becomes a weapon. Such attacks have confounded constructions of femininity and masculinity, with profound implications for the gendering of violence and horror. The network established that there is a shift away from analyses of cultural representations of the Red Army Faction, which have dominated the literature since the 1980s. New work has emerged examining representations of the terrorist and gender, including investigations of material from the 1970s, recently made available in archives. There also has been a shift in terms of military discourses around the figure of the enemy or terrorist insurgent in relation to visualizing the invisible enemy. Emerging work on colonial insurgencies contributed to a historical understanding of such debates.


The paper focuses on systemically important jurisdictions in the global trade network, complementing recent IMF work on systemically important financial sectors. Using the IMF's Direction of Trade Statistics (DOTS) database and network analysis, the paper develops a framework for ranking jurisdictions based on trade size and trade interconnectedness indicators using data for 2000 and 2010. The results show a near perfect overlap between the top 25 systemically important trade and financial jurisdictions, suggesting that these ought to be the focus of risk-based surveillance on cross-border spillovers and contagion. In addition, a number of extensions to the approach are developed that can provide a better understanding of trade dynamics at the bilateral, regional, and global levels.


This article considers some of the issues and difficulties relating to the use of spatial panel data regression in prediction, illustrated by the effects of mass immigration on wages and income levels in local authority areas of Great Britain. Motivated by contemporary urban economics theory, and using recent advances in spatial econometrics, the panel regression has wages dependent on employment density and the efficiency of the labor force. There are two types of spatial interaction, a spatial lag of wages and an autoregressive process for error components. The estimates suggest that increased employment densities will increase wage levels, but wages may fall if migrants are underqualified. This uncertainty highlights the fact that ex ante forecasting should be used with great caution as a basis for policy decisions.


Beginning systematically with the fundamentals, the fully updated third edition of this popular graduate textbook provides an understanding of all the essential elements of marine optics. It explains the key role of light as a major factor in determining the operation and biological composition of aquatic ecosystems, and its scope ranges from the physics of light transmission within water, through the biochemistry and physiology of aquatic photosynthesis, to the ecological relationships that depend on the underwater light climate. This book also provides a valuable introduction to the remote sensing of the ocean from space, which is now recognized to be of great environmental significance due to its direct relevance to global warming. An important resource for graduate courses on marine optics, aquatic photosynthesis, or ocean remote sensing; and for aquatic scientists, both oceanographers and limnologists.


This guidance represents the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, healthcare professionals are expected to take this guidance fully into account, and specifically any special arrangements relating to the introduction of new interventional procedures. The guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer.


In this paper, we demonstrated a miniaturized bacteria-based biosensing platform for sensitive, reliable, and practical online monitoring of water quality. Two biosensors were integrated into a dual-channel microfluidic device which operated as a detection and a reference sensor, respectively. By providing a reference-compensated sensing response, the device was capable of minimizing environmental interferences, such as temperature and flow rate, ultimately leading to high sensitivity and reliability in water quality monitoring. We used a microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology as a biosensor for the detection of toxic substances in water. Toxic components inhibit bacterial metabolic activity, generating a distinct change in the current output of the MFC-based biosensor. Each biosensor incorporated a single-chambered MFC with an air cathode, which substantially decreased the device complexity and enhanced the practicability as a real-world application. The miniaturization of the MFC biosensor having a 90-μL microfluidic chamber provided rapid and sensitive sensing responses with a concentration range from 0.003% to 0.075% of formaldehyde in media. By controlling the introduction time of the toxic sample with sequential injection of the fresh media into the detection channel, the biosensor is completely reusable and is potentially applicable to long-term in situ monitoring of water quality.


Abstract Four original monomineral methods for mantle peridotite associations are used to reconstruct P–T conditions beneath the kimberlite pipes of Yakutia. The clinopyroxene Jd–Di method gives the closest coincidence with Opx barometry in accord with all physico-chemical boundaries. Garnet thermometers calibrated using Opx, Gar–Cpx and Ni-garnet thermometers and two variants of barometers were developed separately for pyroxenites and peridotites. A Cr–Sp thermobarometer uses the monomineralic version of the Ol–Sp thermometer and a newly calibrated Cr–Sp barometer. A picroilmenite method uses the Ol–Sp thermometer and a pressure-calibration of the geikielite component. Each mantle column is divided into two (upper and lower) sections by a pyroxenite layer located near 40 kbar. Below the pyroxenite layer, the lower section comprises 3–4 lithologically distinct horizons, with a thermally perturbed layer at the base. Above the pyroxenite layer are 3–5 lithologically distinct horizons, which are more fertile than the lower sections. Splitting of the geotherms characterizes most P–T diagrams and is ascribed to multistage melt percolation processes typical for the mantle beneath kimberlite pipes. The largest pipes are diamond-bearing and have a highly depleted peridotite lens above the asthenospheric layer.


ABSTRACT Objective: Air polishing is a safe tooth polishing technique used by dental professionals for stain and plaque removal and as a preventive procedure for dental health. We previously reported the antibacterial properties of cannabinoids against dental plaque bacteria. The objective of this study was to analyze the possibilities to improvise the existing air-polishing technique by supplementing cannabinoid powder into the classic polishing powder for effective removal of supragingival and subgingival plaque and for inhibition of plaque-forming bacteria. Materials and Methods: The cannabidiol (CBD) powder was added to the tooth polishing powder (AIR-N-GO, classic) at a 1% (wt/wt) ratio. The study was conducted on 12 patients, of whom six received regular polishing treatment and six received CBD-supplemented polishing treatment. The dental plaque samples were collected before and after each treatment and subjected to in vitro microbiological analysis, and the colony forming units (CFU) were analyzed by using an automated colony counter. Results: Based on in vitro microbiological analysis, the average CFU of interdental space samples collected from post-CBD-supplemented polishing treatment was significantly reduced (linear fold change between 3.9 and 18.4) compared with that of postregular polishing (linear fold change between 1.0 and 2.6) treatment. Conclusions: The CBD-supplemented polishing powder can help in effective removal and killing of dental plaque bacteria during the polishing treatment; it can also be added as an enhancing supplement to the existing polishing powders.


The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has governed the trading rules between its contracting parties since its inception in 1947. The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations was signed in Marrakesh on April 15, 1994. The Final Act called for the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which came into being on January 1, 1995. The raison d'etre of the WTO is to eliminate barriers of any sort that have an adverse impact upon trade between WTO contracting parties. Environmental leaders are concerned that an effective technique for promoting environmental ends, namely the threat or imposition of trade barriers, will no longer be available. The goals of development and sustainability have therefore come into direct conflict in the international arena. While this conflict had been developing over a long period of time, the release in 1991 of the GATT panel decision in the infamous Tuna/Dolphin case served to define the parameters of the debate. In light of the Tuna/Dolphin case, the GATT became an enemy. Worldwide, environmental groups moved quickly to make their concerns known. Domestic leaders, particularly in the US and the European Union (EU), came under considerable pressure to make the environment a central topic of the ongoing Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations. This pressure was in part successful; environmental concerns made it into the Final Act in the form of the Decision on Trade and Environment. As a function of this resolution, a Committee on Trade and Environment was formed and shall report its initial findings and recommendations to the first biennial meeting of the Ministerial Conference, set to occur in 1996. Currently, there exist provisions in the GATT that can be interpreted alternately to permit or exclude various environmental trade restrictions. It is accepted that the provisions allowing for non-protectionist environmental trade measures (ETMs) should be maintained. Instead, the committee shall focus on resolving the debate between proponents of the status quo and those who believe that there should be allowances for the "extrajurisdictional" application of ETMs. This paper shall serve as an exposition of the arguments for and against the extrajurisdictional application of ETMs. Potential compromises, along with possible and probable outcomes, shall be explored through an analysis of the permitted and prohibited types of ETMs. It is hoped that the following discussion contributes to a clearer understanding of the issues and fosters future accord.


In recent years, a rapid increase in bacterial strains resistant to modern antibiotics has been observed. This alarming rise in drug-resistant organisms has emphasized the importance of identifying new effective antimicrobial agents. Since traditional approaches for drug susceptibility testing are time-consuming and labor-intensive, more ef cient methods are urgently needed. Here, we report an automatic image analysis system for drug susceptibility testing that provides results within 3 hours using a drug susceptibility testing micro uidic (DSTM) device. The device consists of ve sets of four micro uidic channels prepared by soft lithography. The channels are in close proximity to allow simultaneous observations. The antimicrobial agent and bacterial suspension to be tested are added to the channel and incubated for 3 hours. Previously, microscopic images of the DSTM device were analyzed manually by an expert to evaluate the susceptibility of a strain. In this work, we present an automatic computer vision algorithm for processing images and performing analysis. The algorithm enhances the quality of the input image, detects cells in each channel, extracts a variety of cell-related characteristics, and estimates drug susceptibility using a pre-trained support vector machine. We address the issue of overlapping cells by incorporating a graph-based cell separation algorithm. The minimum concentration of a drug for which the proposed method predicted susceptibility represents the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The novel method was implemented as a standalone application and tested on a dataset containing images of 101 clinically isolated strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa incubated in the presence of ve different drugs. The estimated MICs correlated well with the results obtained using the conventional broth microdilution method.


Objective- to consider the influence of Aloe vera L fresh gel on healing process histopathologically. Design- Experimental study Animals- Five adult male mixed breed dogs aged 2-4 years Procedures- Eight symmetrical full-thickness wounds were surgically created on the back of all five dogs under general anesthesia and sterile condition. After wound creation, 1 ml fluid containing 105 CFU of S. aureus was inoculated on each wound. Right wounds were covered with 1 ml Aloe vera fresh gel whereas the left wounds were not received any therapeutic material. Wounds' biopsies were assessed on days 7, 15, 21 and 28 in treatment and control groups. Results- In microscopic examinations density of collagen fibers in the superficial (P = 0.039) and deep (P = 0.042) sections of 28-days old wounds were significantly higher in treatment group compared to control group. Also these fibers had more diameter and better alignment in treatment group. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were seen in other indices including fibrocytes, fibroblasts and inflammatory cells between treatment and control wounds. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance- It seems that Aloe vera in addition to antibacterial effects, probably exerts its main effects on the characteristics of collagen fibers. These positive effects could cause the improvement of quality and quantity of collagen fibers and their structures.


Remote sensing technology has become a standard tool for archaeological prospecting. Yet the ethical guidelines associated with the use of these technologies are not well established and are even less‐often discussed in published literature. With a nearly unobstructed view of large geographic spaces, aerial and spaceborne remote sensing technology creates an asymmetrical power dynamic between observers and the observed. Here, we explore the power dynamics involved with aerial and spaceborne remote sensing, using Foucault's notion of power and the panopticon. In many other areas of archaeological practice, such power imbalances have been actively confronted by collaborative approaches and community engagement, but remote sensing archaeology has been largely absent from such interventions. We discuss how aerial and spaceborne imagery is perceived by local communities in southwest Madagascar and advocate for a more collaborative approach to remote sensing archaeology that includes local stakeholders and researchers in all levels of data acquisition, analysis, and dissemination.


Accuracy and robustness are vital to present and future air navigation, both in the military and civil spheres. The strengths of INS and GPS are well known; integrated INS/GPS systems combine their advantages. However, the knowledge required to jam GPS is becoming public, and it can be carried out with basic hardware. When GPS data are unavailable, and a low grade INS is used, navigation accuracy quickly degrades to an unacceptable level. Terrain-referenced navigation (TRN) techniques - for example, terrain contour navigation based on radio altimeter measurements over undulating terrain - provide a complementary technology: when integrated with INS and GPS, TRN can allow the system to establish and maintain high accuracy even in sustained GPS outages. In a previous paper, the authors explored different techniques for performing the triple integration of TRN, INS and GPS, and found that there were performance advantages if TRN data were processed using a novel data fusion algorithm known as IGMAP; in particular, IGMAP was found to provide more accurate and robust performance over low roughness terrain, which can prove challenging to conventional TRN algorithms. The present paper explores the IGMAP algorithm and its performance in more detail. IGMAP (Iterative Gaussian Mixture Approximation of the Posterior) is an advanced data fusion algorithm for handling non-linear measurements, particularly ambiguous measurements (i.e. measurements for which the likelihood function may be multimodal), in conjunction with a linear or linearisable system model. It is particularly well suited to system models of high dimensionality, and applications where it is desired to interoperate with existing approaches using a Kalman Filter or multi-hypothesis Kalman Filter. Although devised with integrated TRN/INS or TRN/INS/GPS systems in mind, the algorithm has potential applications to other data fusion problems, for example in target tracking. The paper outlines the mathematical foundations of the algorithm, and illustrates its operation using recorded flight data based on the use of an inertial system aided by terrain height information from a radio altimeter.


The scope of this study was to understand the current discursive practices and meanings that have been produced about the relationship between health and ageing. The study was based on abstracts of dissertations available in the CAPES (Coordination of Personal of Higher Education) portal between 2000 and 2009, accessed by using the following search words: aged, ageing, old age, senescence, the elderly and old people. Based on the material selected, 175 abstracts of papers, in-depth readings were made and analytical categories created. The conclusion was reached that there are several terms used to designate the people in the life cycle under scrutiny: the elderly, old people and senior citizens, with predominance of the first. Although there is still a negative connotation related to the elderly and ageing, this is changing. Several meanings are possible and coexist, forged in accordance with historical, social, economic and cultural factors. Many problems faced by the elderly may be intrinsically related to how they see themselves and are perceived by others. It is therefore essential to affirm and share the positive aspects of being old and the ageing process, ensuring care and protection by the family and society to this social group.


This paper reports on a study of 35 Mandarin Chinese learners who (1) created pitch curves of their spoken word tones and (2) compared their pitch curves with those of native speakers while practicing pronunciation. Following a pretest, the learners received training for 20-25 minutes weekly over nine weeks and took a posttest. Two types of data analyses were performed. First, native speakers of Mandarin auditorily rated the pretests and posttests. The ratings revealed that learners' pronunciation of tones improved between pretest and posttest. Second, acoustic analyses of the learners' recordings were conducted, and the learners' production was compared with that of native speakers. Results indicated that students' pronunciation of some tones improved in the posttest. The postsurveys indicated that two-thirds of the participants found viewing pitch curves helpful. This study confirms previous research but suggests that acoustic analyses complement auditory analyses with more precise indications of L2 learners' tonal difficulties.


A mild temperature sequential reduction method in aqueous medium is reported for the synthesis of Au@Ni nanoparticles with a core–shell morphology. The nickel shell thickness with a gold core in the nanostructure can be tuned from 2 nm up to about 10 nm. Near ambient pressure XPS (NAPXPS) studies under oxygen atmosphere show that Au80@Ni20 with an extremely thin nickel shell (∼2 nm) follows a distinctly different decomposition pathway of metastable Ni(OOH) species compared to those with larger shell thickness which behave more like individual nickel surfaces. Thus, Ni(OOH) on Au80@Ni20 decomposes to metallic Ni at 100 °C and is found to resist oxidation at 0.1 mbar oxygen at this temperature. Those with a larger nickel shell thickness behave more like monometallic Ni in terms of their decomposition and oxidation properties. The Au@Ni system with an ultra thin metallic nickel overlayer (2 nm) shows high catalytic activity and selectivity for phenylacetylene hydrogenation under mild conditions which outweighs their monometallic counterparts and those with higher nickel shell thickness.


Title: Sense of coherence, coping, burnout and engagement in the ministry Key terms: Sense of coherence, coping, burnout, engagement, clergy, salutogenesis, fortigenesis Not much research regarding burnout amongst clergy in South Africa has been done. Recently a shift in the direction of positive psychology or salutogenesis took place and which highlighted two relatively new constructs, namely sense of coherence and engagement. Previous research in the "Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk" (NG Church) found a correlation between sense of coherence and burnout. In the "Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika" (NH Church) however, no research regarding burnout within a salutogenic paradigm was ever done. The general objective of this research was to determine the levels and relationship of sense of coherence, coping, burnout and engagement amongst ministers of the NH Church. A crosssectional research design was used. The Orientation to Life Questionnaire (OLQ), COPEQuestionnaire (COPE), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) were used as measuring instruments on a stratified random (proportional) sample (n = 200) of ministers of the NH Church and from which 87 useable responses were received. Structural equation modelling was applied on the MBI-HSS to confirm a three-factor model with best fit. Cronbach alpha coefficients, interitem correlation coefficients and factor analysis were used to determine the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics, Pearson-product correlation coefficients, canonical correlation coefficients, and analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. The results showed that high levels of sense of coherence, approach coping and high levels of engagement are related to low levels of burnout, while venting of emotions are related to high levels of burnout. It was also found that sense of coherence and coping predicted emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment. Furthermore, it was found that levels of emotional exhaustion for ministers in the age group 25-29, were consistently lower than that of any other age group in the sample, while levels for the age group 50-65 were also lower than that for ministers in the age groups 30-39 and 40-49, but still higher than levels for age group 25-29. Limitations of the study and recommendations regarding the organisation and future research were indicated.


The scope of this work is to investigate the precipitation of two Al-Mg-Si alloys with and without Cu and excess Si by using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), transmission electron microscopic (TEM), Vickers hardness measurement and X-ray diffraction. The analysis of the DSC curves found that the excess Si accelerate the precipitation and the alloy contain the excess Si and small addition of copper has higher aging-hardness than that of free alloy (without excess Si and Cu) at the same heat treatment condition. The sufficient holding time for the precipitation of the β'' phase was estimated to be 6 hours for the alloy aged at 100°C and 10 hours for the alloy aged at 180°C. The low Copper containing Al-Mg-Si alloy gives rise to the forming a finer distribution of β (Mg2Si) precipitates which increases the hardness of the alloy. In order to know more about the precipitation reactions, concern the peaks on the DSC curve transmission electron microscopy observation were made on samples annealed at temperatures (250°C, 290°C and 400°C) just above the corresponding peaks of the three phases β'', β' and β respectively.


We demonstrate a near-flat self-biased magnetoelectric (ME) effect in geometry gradient magnetostrictive-piezoelectric laminates. The near-flat behavior was characterized by a stable ME response over a wide range of magnetic DC bias. By adjusting the configuration of the magnetostrictive layer, we were able to control the magnitude of the self-biased magnetoelectric coefficient. The ME response was found to be almost independent of the applied DC bias in the range of 0∼260 Oe. This bandwidth was almost 650%∼3800% higher than that of the conventional ME composites. This significant advancement opens great potential towards the development of high stability/sensitivity magnetic field sensors and energy harvesters.


It's no secret to the historian that sportsmen and women have long had a role in public lands policy. Certainly, the public lands legacy that has been left to us in this country is a legacy of sportsmen before us; Roosevelt was a hunter, Pinchot was a fisherman. But in recent years, sportsmen have again stepped into the lead, particularly on public lands issues that challenge our society to balance our growing country and our need to have places to get away, places of retreat. Trout Unlimited has been instrumental in guiding and driving much of the good public lands decisions that have been made in the recent past. In particular, the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, sponsored by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, is case in point. Located just south of Jackson, Wyoming, and running ~ 125 mi north-south to near the town of Kemmerer, the range is home to three subspecies of cutthroat trout including the Colorado River, the Snake River and the Bonneville. The Bridger-Teton National Forest cloaks some 1.2 million ac of the range. A group led by TU called Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range pushed for withdrawal legislation; legislation that would allow one use of the public's land—mineral extraction—to be taken off the table. Whereas some of the range was previously leased for oil and gas exploration, much of the range was not. The Act did two things: it provided for no new leasing on unleased land, and it allowed for private buyout of existing leases while not preventing drilling of valid existing leases. The Act passed as part of the Omnibus Public Lands bill that was signed by the President in March 2009. Today, some 1.2 million ac of public land will never see a drill rig whereas ~ 60-70,000 ac is targeted for buy-out or light development. Senator Jon Tester, D-Montana, introduced a bill last summer that TU is very supportive of and has some similarities to the Wyoming Range Legacy Act. The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act seeks to mandate logging on 100,000 ac of federal USDA Forest Service land, create some 670,000 ac of designated big 'W' wilderness, and 330,000 some ac of motorized recreation area. For TU, the bill fits our mission perfectly: Protect, Reconnect, Restore and Sustain. Protect: Wilderness and recreation designation would set aside the headwaters of some of Montana's most fabled trout streams. Reconnect: Stewardship logging would pay for much-needed culvert removal for fish passage. Restore: Stewardship logging would pay for road removal or realignment where interfering with fisheries habitat. Sustain: The Act would maintain Montana lifestyles for those who like to fish and do other activities outside. TU is fully supportive of the bill for not only the mission fit, but also because of its grassroots nature, its collaborative process, its bipartisan nature, and its Montana-based common-sense solution.


We recently engineered Aspergillus nidulans to produce a pimarane-type diterpene, ent-pimara-8(14),15-diene. Here, we describe methods for its isolation and purification from the engineered A. nidulans production strain and extend these findings with structural confirmation for the diterpene from this fungal source. The extraction protocol was optimized using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) with three varying parameters: solvent composition, pressure, and temperature. This ASE method using 100% ethyl acetate at 90 °C with 12.07 MPa was more efficient and faster compared to ultrasonic-assisted extraction. Using both analytical and preparative C18 columns at isocratic elution of acetonitrile developed an HPLC separation; and, the diterpene was well separated within 28 min and 35 min, respectively. Also, TLC of the fungal culture extracts was performed with visualization using rhodamine. The reproduction and efficiency of the purification methods were evaluated by GC-MS; and, the structure of the compound was verified by NMR. The method enabled the isolation of this very lipophilic diterpene in pure form, allowing its testing in a number of bioactivity assays. Notably, we demonstrate for the first time the antioxidant activity for ent-pimara-8(14),15-diene using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay.


Summary

1
Artificial structures have become ubiquitous features of coastal landscapes. Although they provide novel habitats for the colonization of marine organisms, their role in facilitating biological invasions has been largely unexplored.

2
We investigated the distribution and dynamics of the introduced green alga, Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides, at a variety of spatial scales on breakwaters in the north Adriatic Sea, and analysed experimentally the mechanisms underlying its establishment. We assessed the provision of sheltered habitats by breakwaters, the role of disturbance (e.g. from recreational harvesting and storms) acting at different times of the year, and the interactions between Codium and the dominant native space-occupier, the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis.

3
Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides has established viable populations on artificial structures along the shores investigated. The density, cover and size (length, branching and weight) of annual erect thalli of Codium was enhanced in sheltered conditions, resulting in the monopolization of landward low-shore habitats of breakwaters.

4
On the landward sides of breakwaters, disturbance enhanced recruitment of Codium. The time when bare space was provided within mussels beds was crucial. Removal of mussels in April or January did not affect the recruitment of Codium, whereas harvest in August, shortly before Codium gamete release, doubled its success. On the seaward sides of breakwaters, the effects of disturbance were more complex because mussels both inhibited recruitment of Codium and provided shelter from wave action to adult thalli.

5
Synthesis and applications. Artificial structures can provide suitable habitats for non-indigenous marine species and function as corridors for their expansion. Physical (wave exposure) and biotic (resident assemblages) features of artificial habitats can be important determinants of their susceptibility to biological invasions. Alternative options in the design of artificial structures and effective management of native assemblages could minimize their role in biological invasions. In particular, increased water motion and retention of space by mussels in spring–summer would be effective in reducing the ability of C. fragile ssp. tomentosoides to persist on the breakwaters investigated in this study.


A pyrene-based simple fluorosensor has been synthesized by a one step process. It exhibited high selectivity towards Cu(2+) ions via fluorescence enhancement of monomer and excimer emission. The origin of excimer formation was examined and established to be of static in nature from the study of absorption and excitation spectra. The observed monomer and excimer emission in the presence and absence of Cu(2+) ion with varying pH was studied and provided probable justification. The effect of varying portions of water content in solvent on the sensor molecule was also examined. The sensor found its proper application in finding accurate and trace amount of Cu(2+) ions present in drinking water samples from various sources. The detection limit of the current sensor was found to be 4 × 10(-8) M.


In this paper, whe show that the strategic choice of spatial price policy under duopoly crucially depends on the rules of price competition. Thisse and Vives (1988) show that spatial price discrimination is a dominant strategy when the mill pricing firm is the leader and the discriminatory firm is the follower. When the leader-follower roles are reversed we find that equilibrium pricing policies depend on the consumer's reservation value. The pricing policy game has two equilibria in pure strategies, either both firms price uniformly (f.o.b.) or both firms price discriminate, when the reservation value is low. For intermediate levels of the reservation value, price discrimination is a dominant strategy and the pricing policy game is similar to a Prisoner's Dilemma. When the consumer reservation value is large enough we obtain asymmetric equilibria in which one firm prices according to f.o.b. and the other price discriminates. We also analyze the case of simultaneous price competition and find a mixed strategies equilibrium for the price competition subgame such that the pricing policy game has two equilibria in pure strategies, either both firms price uniformly or both firms price discriminate.


Ruffed grouse populations are low in Appalachian forests, possibly because low habitat quality negatively affects survival, condition, and reproduction. Through the Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project (ACGRP) researchers tracked >1500 radioed grouse at 10 study sites (1996–2002). To improve our understanding of Appalachian grouse habitat ecology, I carried out two primary analyses of this database. First, grouse should be under selective pressure to minimize movements, so I studied factors associated with variation in home range size. Second, importance of a habitat is affected by an individual's resource needs, and I investigated factors associated with variation in selection of "preferred" habitats. Both approaches yielded important insights into the species' regional habitat ecology. As elsewhere, clearcuts, which afford escape cover, formed the cornerstone of grouse habitat in the region. However, a number of other factors were also important. At the root of this was a divergence in habitat ecology between grouse inhabiting the two major forest types in the region. In oak-hickory forests nutritional constraint strongly influenced habitat use. Grouse home ranges increased 2.5× following poor hard mast crops, and at these times grouse increased use of alternate foraging habitats. Grouse, especially females and broods, made extensive use of mesic bottomlands and forest edges, which in oak-hickory forests support relatively abundant soft mast and herbaceous forages. In contrast, grouse inhabiting mixed mesophytic forests were insensitive to hard mast, did not select bottomlands, reduced use of forest edges, and increased use of clearcuts. I feel that greater abundance of birch, cherry, and aspen, buds of which are a high quality winter food, relieves nutritional stress on grouse inhabiting mesophytic forests. A general inference was that grouse attempted to balance competing strategies of maximizing either survival or condition, and the expression of this tradeoff was mediated by forest composition. Also presented here were studies of radiotelemetry error, roost site selection, and suitability of prescribed burning as a habitat improvement technique. In the closing chapter I make recommendations for managing Appalachian forests for grouse, which focus on improving winter foraging habitat, brood habitat, and escape cover, all of which are limiting in Appalachian forests.