Recently, naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) has drawn the attention of numerous health and regulatory agencies and citizen groups. NOA can be released airborne by (1) the disturbance of asbestos-bearing bedrocks through human activities or natural weathering, and (2) the mining and milling of some mineral deposits in which asbestos occurs as an accessory mineral(s). Because asbestos forms in specific rock types and geologic conditions, this information can be used to focus on areas with the potential to contain asbestos, rather than devoting effort to areas with minimal NOA potential. All asbestos minerals contain magnesium, silica, and water as essential constituents, and some also contain major iron and/or calcium. Predictably, the geologic environments that host asbestos are enriched in these components. Most asbestos deposits form by metasomatic replacement of magnesium-rich rocks. Asbestos-forming environments typically display shear or evidence for a significant influx of silica-rich hydrothermal fluids. Asbestos-forming processes can be driven by regional metamorphism, contact metamorphism, or magmatic hydrothermal systems. Thus, asbestos deposits of all sizes and styles are typically hosted by magnesium-rich rocks (often also iron-rich) that were altered by a metamorphic or magmatic process. Rock types known to host asbestos include serpentinites, altered ultramafic and some mafic rocks, dolomitic marbles and metamorphosed dolostones, metamorphosed iron formations, and alkalic intrusions and carbonatites. Other rock types appear unlikely to contain asbestos. These geologic insights can be used by the mining industry, regulators, land managers, and others to focus attention on the critical locales most likely to contain asbestos.


Prelingual deafness occurs with a frequency of 1 in 1000 live births and is divided into syndromic and non-syndromic forms contributing 40 and 60% respectively. Autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) is responsible for 80% cases of childhood deafness. Nearly all genes localized for ARNSHL cause prelingual, severe to profound, sensorineural hearing impairment. ARNSHL is genetically heterogeneous and at least 39 loci have been identified. The most significant finding to date has been the discovery of mutations in GJB2 gene at the DFNB1 locus on chromosome 13q12 as the major cause of profound prelingual deafness. This was first reported in a Tunisian family in 1994 and thereafter in many different countries. GJB2 gene encodes the gap-junction protein, connexin 26 (Cx26), mutations in which have become the first genetic marker of inherited hearing loss. Allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (AS-PCR), single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing methods have been developed for the detection of mutations in Cx26 gene. In India as well, the Cx26 mutations are being screened in families with hearing impaired children using these molecular methods. Therefore, in order to create awareness among the clinicians and the affected families; we have attempted to review the Cx26 gene mutations responsible for autosomal recessive type of non-syndromic hearing loss. The efficacy and utility of Cx26 gene analysis might open the path to proper counseling of families for carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis. It may even facilitate the development of strategies in future for the treatment of this common genetic disorder.


BACKGROUND
mobility-related limitations predict future disability; however, the extent to which individual and combined mobility tests may predict disability remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES
to estimate the odds of developing disability in activities of daily living (ADL) according to limitations in walking speed, balance or both; and explore the role of chronic diseases and cognitive function.

DESIGN
a prospective cohort study.

SETTING
urban area of Stockholm, Sweden.

SUBJECTS
one thousand nine hundred and seventy-one disability-free persons (age ≥60 years, 63% women) from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), who underwent baseline examination in 2001-04 and follow-up assessments for 6 years.

MEASUREMENTS
mobility limitation was defined as a one-leg balance stand <5 s or walking speed <0.8 m/s. ADL disability was defined as the inability to complete one or more ADL: bathing, dressing, using the toilet, transferring and eating.

RESULTS
during a total of 11,404 person-years (mean per person 5.8 years, SD 0.30) of follow-up, 119 (incidence 1.5/100 person-years) participants developed ADL disability. The demographic adjusted odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals, CI) of incident ADL disability related to balance stand and walking speed limitations were 3.8 (2.3-6.3) and 8.4 (5.2-13.3), respectively. The associations remained statistically significant after controlling for number of chronic diseases and cognitive status. People with limitations in both balance and walking speed had an OR of 12.9 (95% CI 7.0-23.7) for incident disability compared with no limitation.

CONCLUSION
balance and walking speed tests are simple clinical procedures that can indicate hierarchical risk of ADL dependence in older adults.


Cafri, Yamamiya, Brannick, and Thompson (this issue) reported results from a meta-analysis of relations between three sociocultural factors and body image dissatisfaction. Comparison of the effect sizes reveals that internalization of a thin ideal and perceived pressures have significantly stronger relations to body image dissatisfaction than does awareness of a thin ideal. The authors tested for and found no evidence of a moderating relationship involving age or ethnicity. The findings raise implications for advancing the study of body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders. In this commentary, I consider some of the challenges of studying sociocultural factors within the contexts of clinical research and practice. Specifically, I consider how cultural influences may arise and describe the utility of ecological frameworks for conceptualizing and assessing the impact of sociocultural factors within a treatment context.


When producing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), one of the main goals of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) was to create a set of standards which were more useful to investors as a predictive tool. We assess the success of the IASB in achieving this goal by investigating the effects of the introduction of IFRS on the relative information content of reported earnings and forecasted earnings under UK generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) and IFRS. Results indicate that the value relevance of forecasted earnings is significantly lower under IFRS while the value relevance of reported earnings is significantly larger. These findings suggest that IFRS substitutes price-relevant information previously provided to the market in the form of analyst forecasts with information encoded by companies in their reported earnings. This implies that the IASB was indeed successful in its stated goal and points towards IFRS forecasts being more accurate and less dispersed than UK GAAP forecasts. This, in turn, implies that analysts are able to provide more informative forecasts under IFRS than under pre-IFRS regimes and that the aforementioned substitution effect is not a consequence of any decrease in the quality of forecasts under the new regime.


Despite the fact that duplicated fragments of code also called code clones are considered one of the prominent code smells that may exist in software, cloning is widely practiced in industrial development. The larger the system, the more people involved in its development and the more parts developed by different teams result in an increased possibility of having cloned code in the system. While there are particular benefits of code cloning in software development, research shows that it might be a source of various troubles in evolving software. Therefore, investigating and understanding clones in a software system is important to manage the clones efficiently. However, when the system is fairly large, it is challenging to identify and manage those clones properly. Among the various types of clones that may exist in software, research shows detection of near-miss clones where there might be minor to significant differences (e.g., renaming of identifiers and additions/deletions/modifications of statements) among the cloned fragments is costly in terms of time and memory. Thus, there is a great demand of state-of-the-art technologies in dealing with clones in software. Over the years, several tools have been developed to detect and visualize exact and similar clones. However, usually the tools are standalone and do not integrate well with a software developer's workflow. In this thesis, first, a study is presented on the effectiveness of a fingerprint based data similarity measurement technique named 'simhash' in detecting clones in large scale code-base. Based on the positive outcome of the study, a time efficient detection approach is proposed to find exact and near-miss clones in software, especially in large scale software systems. The novel detection approach has been made available as a highly configurable and fully fledged standalone clone detection tool named 'SimCad', which can be configured for detection of clones in both source code and non-source code based data. Second, we show a robust use of the clone detection approach studied earlier by assembling its detection service as a portable library named 'SimLib'. This library can provide tightly coupled (integrated) clone detection functionality to other applications as opposed to loosely coupled service provided by a typical standalone tool. Because of being highly configurable and easily extensible, this library allows the user to customize its clone detection process for detecting clones in data having diverse characteristics. We performed a user study to get some feedback on installation and use of the 'SimLib' API (Application Programming Interface) and to uncover its potential use as a third-party clone detection library. Third, we investigated on what tools and techniques are currently in use to detect and manage clones and understand their evolution. The goal was to find how those tools and techniques can be made available to a developer's own software development platform for convenient identification, tracking and management of clones in the software. Based on that, we developed a clone-aware software development platform named 'SimEclipse' to promote the practical use of code clone research and to provide better support for clone management in software. Finally, we performed an evaluation on 'SimEclipse' by conducting a user study on its effectiveness, usability and information management. We believe that both researchers and developers would enjoy and utilize the benefit of using these tools in different aspect of code clone research and manage cloned code in software systems.


Intraplate alkaline lavas typically exhibit isotopic characteristics that require a source with long-term isolation from the convecting asthenosphere, such as in the sub-continental lithosphere mantle or a mantle boundary layer. Melting of metasomatically enriched domains, or metasomes, within the lithospheric mantle provides a viable mechanism for generating the geochemical characteristics of intraplate alkaline basalts. The origins and distribution of these metasomes have been attributed to recent enrichment of the lithosphere by a mantle plume or ancient events that occurred during the early evolution of the sub-continental lithosphere mantle. Here, we present a geochemical study of Ethiopian Miocene intraplate alkaline lavas: melts of a lithospheric mantle that was enriched metasomatically during lithospheric stabilization and by recent plume-lithosphere interaction. We find that these lavas have geochemical characteristics consistent with melting of an amphibole-bearing lithospheric-mantle metasome. New Pb and Hf isotope data for these lavas require a HIMU-like source component, similar to other alkaline lavas erupted through the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and Egypt, and adjacent Arabian plate lithospheres. The isotopic characteristics of this component are distinct from the Afar plume mantle source and instead are consistent with the long-term evolution of a lithospheric metasome created during a Neoproterozoic subduction event associated with the Pan-African orogeny. The widespread distribution of easily fusible lithospheric metasomes within the continental lithosphere mantle may facilitate magma generation without the need for substantial lithospheric thinning or elevated mantle potential temperatures. Mantle heterogeneity of this nature has implications for the source origin of HIMU magmas associated with continental lithosphere.


Postpartum depression (PPD) affects up to 19% of women, negatively impacting maternal and infant health. Reductions in plasma oxytocin levels have been associated with PPD and heritability studies have established a genetic contribution. Epigenetic regulation of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) has been demonstrated and we hypothesized that individual epigenetic variability at OXTR may impact the development of PPD and that such variability may be central to predicting risk. This case-control study is nested within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and included 269 cases with PPD and 276 controls matched on age group, parity, and presence or absence of depressive symptoms in pregnancy as assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. OXTR DNA methylation (CpG site -934) and genotype (rs53576 and rs2254298) were assayed from DNA extracted from blood collected during pregnancy. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association of elevated symptoms of PPD with genotype, methylation, and their interaction adjusted for psychosocial factors (n = 500). There was evidence of an interaction between rs53576 and methylation in the OXTR gene amongst women who did not have depression prenatally but developed PPD (p interaction = 0.026, adjusted for covariates, n = 257). Those women with GG genotype showed 2.63 greater odds of PPD for every 10% increase in methylation level (95% CI: 1.37, 5.03), whereas methylation was unrelated to PPD amongst "A" carriers (OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.58, 1.73). There was no such interaction among women with PPD and prenatal depression. These data indicate that epigenetic variation that decreases expression of OXTR in a susceptible genotype may play a contributory role in the etiology of PPD.


This paper introduces LIBS, a light-weight and inexpensive wearable sensing system, that can capture electrical activities of human brain, eyes, and facial muscles with two pairs of custom-built flexible electrodes each of which is embedded on an off-the-shelf foam earplug. A supervised non-negative matrix factorization algorithm to adaptively analyze and extract these bioelectrical signals from a single mixed in-ear channel collected by the sensor is also proposed. While LIBS can enable a wide class of low-cost self-care, human computer interaction, and health monitoring applications, we demonstrate its medical potential by developing an autonomous whole-night sleep staging system utilizing LIBS's outputs. We constructed a hardware prototype from off-the-shelf electronic components and used it to conduct 38 hours of sleep studies on 8 participants over a period of 30 days. Our evaluation results show that LIBS can monitor biosignals representing brain activities, eye movements, and muscle contractions with excellent fidelity such that it can be used for sleep stage classification with an average of more than 95% accuracy.


The durations of extreme-ultraviolet femtosecond pulses (harmonics 21 and 27 of a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser) have been measured by a cross-correlation technique. Photoelectron energy spectra resulting from ionization of helium atoms by one harmonic photon in the presence of the infrared laser field show sidebands that provide a cross-correlation signal from which the durations of the harmonic pulses can be obtained. The measurements yield a mean value of 130 fs for both harmonics. The accuracy of the method depends on the actual intensity dependence of the sidebands.


Objective: The present study deals with the in vivo investigation of healing properties of Achyranthes aspera L. seeds in excision, incision, dead space and burn wound model. Methods: Preliminary phytochemical tests were performed to find out different phytoconstituents in the test extract. Acute toxicity test were performed to find any abnormalities in mice. Wound healing activities were performed on Wistar rats using excision, incision, dead space and burn wound model. The percentage of wound closure and period of epithelization were recorded for excision and thermal burn wound model, whereas the breaking strength was recorded in incision wound model. In dead space wound model, hydroxyproline content and granulation tissue antioxidant enzymes like SOD and CAT were estimated. Results: The phytochemical investigation showed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, lipids and triterpenoids. There were no abnormalities observed in the acute toxicity test. The results of wound healing activity revealed that EEAAS treated group showed an enhanced wound contraction and epithelization period in both excision and burn wound models, whereas in incision wound model the wound breaking strength was significantly increased in extract treated group compared to control. The histology of the skin of healed excised wound showed restoration to almost the normal architecture of the skin in extract treated group compared to the control. In dead space wound model, enhanced antioxidant enzymes and connective tissue markers were observed in the extract treated group. Conclusion: Thus the results conclude that EEAAS possesses potent wound healing properties with a reasonable safety profile.


This guidebook aims to bring citizen-driven innovation to policy makers and change agents around the globe, by spreading good practice on open and participatory approaches as applied to digital service development in different nations, climates, cultures, and urban settings. The report explores the concept of smart cities through a lens that promotes citizens as the driving force of urban innovation. Different models of smart cities are presented, showing how citizen-centric methods have been used to mobilize resources to respond to urban innovation challenges in a variety of situations, objectives, and governance structures. The living lab approach strengthens these processes as one of the leading methods for agile development or the rapid prototyping of ideas, concepts, products, services, and processes in a highly decentralized and user-centric manner. By adopting these approaches and promoting citizen-driven innovation, cities around the world are aiming to alleviate the demand for services, increase the quality of delivery, and promote local entrepreneurship. This guidebook is structured into seven main sections: an introductory section describes the vision of a humanly smart city, in order to give an idea of the kind of result that can be attained from opening up and applying citizen-driven innovation methods. Chapter one getting started helps mayors launch co-design initiatives, exploring innovation processes founded on trust and verifying the benefits of opening up. Chapter two, building a strategy identifies the key steps for building an innovation partnership and together defining a sustainable city vision and scenarios for getting there. Chapter three, co-designing solutions looks at the process of unpacking concrete problems, working creatively to address them, and following up on implementation. Chapter four, ensuring sustainability describes key elements for long-term viability: evaluation and impact assessment, appropriate institutional structuring, and funding and policy support. Chapter five, joining forces suggests ways to identify a unique role for participation in international networks and how to best learn from cooperation. Finally, the report provides a starter pack with some of the more commonly used tools and methods to support the kinds of activities described in this guidebook.


Extracted from text ... 4 July 2005 Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE
SHARES - TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR
Telco's still in buying
turf?
By BELINDAANDERSON
TELKOM rose from R28 to R118
in just over two years, with MTN
from R9 to R50 over a similar
period. Now what?
Investors are weighing up whether
there's still value in the JSE
Securities Exchange-listed telecommunication
companies -
mobile operator MTN and de
facto monopoly fixed line operator
Telkom, which also owns 50%
of Vodacom - in the wake of their
full-year results recently.
Both delivered stellar performances
in the 2005 financial year.
More please, MTN
But the market wants more from ..


Recently, we reported hippocampal and temporal lobe abnormalities in 5 toddlers with sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC). The association of these anomalies with a high incidence (40%) of individual/family histories of simple febrile seizures in the cases raised concern that febrile seizures can be associated with death. In a series of 64 toddlers with sudden death, we tested the hypothesis that an SUDC subset is characterized by hippocampal and temporal lobe maldevelopment and an individual and/or family history of simple familial seizures. Cases of sudden and unexplained death in children aged 1.0 to 5.9 years (median 1.7 years) were divided into groups based upon a history of febrile or nonfebrile seizures, familial febrile seizures, and autopsy classification of cause of death. Forty-nine of the 64 cases (77%) were classified as SUDC, of which 40% had an individual/family history of febrile seizures. Of the 26 SUDC cases with available hippocampal sections, 62% (16/26) had hippocampal and temporal lobe anomalies, including 82% (9/11) of cases with an individual/family history of febrile seizures. Cases with these anomalies were all found dead during a sleep period, typically in the prone (87%) position. We conclude that a potential new entity may account for the majority of SUDC in toddlers, defined by sleep-related death in the prone position, individual/family history of febrile seizures, and hippocampal and temporal lobe anomalies. The mechanism of death appears analogous to sudden death in (temporal lobe) epilepsy, with a putative unwitnessed seizure during sleep leading to airway occlusion and death. This study mandates further research into the potential link between simple febrile seizures and death.


A method is presented for characterizing the linearity of photodetectors based on time-domain analysis of response to sinusoidal excitation. Nonlinearity is quantified solely from the output distortion. Relative response is converted to absolute response by including two calibration points. For low signal level, one calibration point is required, while using dark current as the second point. The response is mapped over a wider range using a series of overlapping sinusoids for calibration transfer. The method is demonstrated with a relatively linear photodiode and a nonlinear phototransistor. A Michelson interferometer is used to generate sinusoidal modulation of a laser source. Results demonstrate the potential of the proposed technique.


Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become one of the major factors that determines the future survival or success of organizations. Like any new field, e-commerce is replete with confusion and lack of coherence. As if there aren't enough buzzwords in the e-commerce literature, new ones such as electronic business (e-business) and collaborative commerce (c-commerce) are created which further add to the confusion. Here, we extend the existing five-fold e-commerce taxonomy to accommodate various e-business and c-commerce perspectives as well. However, none of these perspectives explicitly acknowledges the role of knowledge and its management. We contend that these are the essence of e-commerce/c-commerce/e-business. Thus, the objective of this paper is to extend the taxonomy's traditional perspectives by advancing the eknowledge view that explicitly recognizes the importance of knowledge management. A knowledge-oriented perspective of e-commerce/c-commerce/e-business is beneficial in furnishing a common, organized, and unified foundation for understanding and managing the electronic organization.


This paper proposes an empirical method to estimate the model of sustainable profit and corporate social responsibility originated by Sudtasan and Suriya (2013). It suggests analysts to use data from official financial statements of companies which may be reported to the Stock Exchange in a particular country. These data can construct a time series data of a company if the number of years is long enough. Otherwise, the pooled cross-section and time series data from companies in the same industry may allow the construction of a panel data set. Then analysts can apply panel data analysis with fixed effects model and random effects model to estimate the data. These methods aim at locating the position of a company or a group of companies onto a phase diagram and calculate the steady state indicating the sustainability of profit and corporate social responsibility. By comparing the location of companies to the steady state, analysts can predict the direction of the firms in the long-run according to the streamlines in the phase diagram. They will be able to suggest policy manipulation to the firms to move toward the steady state.


The nonparametric learning of positive-valued functions appears widely in machine learning, especially in the context of estimating intensity functions of point processes. Yet, existing approaches either require computing expensive projections or semidefinite relaxations, or lack convexity and theoretical guarantees after introducing nonlinear link functions. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm, pseudo mirror descent, that performs efficient estimation of positive functions within a Hilbert space without expensive projections. The algorithm guarantees positivity by performing mirror descent with an appropriately selected Bregman divergence, and a pseudo-gradient is adopted to speed up the gradient evaluation procedure in practice. We analyze both asymptotic and nonasymptotic convergence of the algorithm. Through simulations, we show that pseudo mirror descent outperforms the state-of-the-art benchmarks for learning intensities of Poisson and multivariate Hawkes processes, in terms of both computational efficiency and accuracy.


This paper presents improved approaches to measurement of services barriers by using alternative weighting methods and improved econometric specifications; the data include barriers affecting each mode of services supply and additional sector-specific regulatory variables. We provide an illustration of these improvements for banking, insurance, telecom (fixed and mobile), professional (engineering) and distribution services in selected countries in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. We report sector-specific restrictiveness indices at aggregate and modal levels along with aggregate and modal tax equivalents. We also provide confidence intervals for each estimated tax equivalent to take into account the limitations in the estimation techniques. Indeed these limitations lead us to argue against a strict interpretation of the empirical results and in favor of a more flexible, qualitative interpretation, combined with rank ordering of countries for indicative purposes.


So far, the concept of image row or tuples in the development of intelligent systems has been discussed in relation to the role of phenotypic (external) manifestations of diseases in diagnostics. This study introduces the idea of neuroimaging tuples as a tool to make a prognosis of the course of chronic cerebral ischemia. The phenomenon of leukoaraiosis is analyzed as a radiological feature of chronic brain ischemia and a predictor of stroke. Image tuples are formed from the results of computed tomography, computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, of 85 patients with chronic cerebral ischemia. Native computed tomography images were processed with adaptive filtering methods. Computed tomography angiography results were processed through a vesselness filter that allows development of 3D reconstructions of vasculature in leukoaraiosis areas. The problem of fuzzy images, the principles of comparative analysis of images and the possibility of using confidence factors in the image tuples are discussed in the article. A scheme of a hybrid intelligent system that combines traditional logic-linguistic rules and images based on primary information and reconstruction of the original DICOM images in the knowledge base was developed. The sphere of the application is stroke risk prediction using an intelligent system.


This paper examines the dynamics affecting access to highly regulated public capital markets by developers of the technology underpinning blockchain, distributed ledger technology and similar. Regulatory agencies have to date primarily applied existing regulatory standards to the industry where they can. There is a general sense that this will not be enough to facilitate industry development while also dealing with the risk of fraud and criminal use. Establishing a sustainable regulatory approach is complicated by features of the technology still undergoing transformational evolution that pose novel challenges to regulatory policy making and raise fundamental questions about what regulatory oversight might look like, and to what it should attach.
Participants within some segments of the industry actively invite regulatory oversight and voluntarily adopt best practices that go beyond their legal obligations. However, policy considerations and the usual patterns of legal and regulatory development can mean that wanting to be regulated is not always the same as being able to be regulated. Other participants in the industry either wish to take advantage of the current situation by moving to the lowest commercially viable legal standard or jurisdiction, or advocate that the industry should not be subjected to any regulatory oversight other than by the community participating in cryptos.
After a discussion of the relationship between technology, capital formation and the delivery of social benefits, this paper discusses how the technology intersects with regulatory policy making. It explores the potential uses and dangers of attempts to understand the technology via taxonomies, and suggests that an approach based more closely on the underlying technology could assist policy development. The issues within the industry itself that impact on the ability to regulate it are considered. The building blocks essential for industry maturation in the financial sector and for meaningful, comprehensive regulation to be imposed are discussed. Whether the current trajectory of regulatory thought and action on cryptos is working toward supporting the efficient allocation of risk and industry development is considered.
It is argued that the reality of being able to engage in anonymous yet secure commerce, as a result of scientific breakthroughs, is a significant game-changer that requires regulators to adopt different approaches from that taken previously. It is suggested that solutions can and will be found within the technology itself.


Recycled palynomorphs in the Tertiary Seymour Island Group, Antarctic Peninsula, include more than 25 spore and pollen species well known in Gondwana rocks of Permian and Triassic age. Their relative abundance and the lack of associated recycled marine phytoplankton of similar age suggest that the provenance for the palynomorphs was a nonmarine sedimentary sequence. Consideration of the regional geology points to the provenance being part of an emergent topographic high in the forearc terrain of the late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic Gondwana plate margin and supports the conclusion that the Antarctic Peninsula was part of Gondwanaland.


Objective: People affected by schizophrenia spectrum disorders are at a higher risk of offending violently. This study aims to investigate risk factors in relation to the peri-diagnostic period and possible predictors of post-diagnostic violence of people diagnosed for the first time in the public mental health system. Methods: The study compared various risk factors for post-diagnostic violence in patients (n = 1453) diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Patients were grouped according to the occurrence of peri-diagnostic violence. Of the 246 violent offenders, 164 committed their first offence pre-diagnosis. Mental health and criminological variables were evaluated across the lifespan (median age at end of follow-up = 34.22 years, range = 17.02–55.80 years). Results: Gender, employment, non-violent offending, family incidents, violent and non-violent victimisation, substance use, personality disorder, number of in-patient admissions and history of non-compliance differed significantly across violent and non-violent subgroups (all p ⩽ 0.01 and at least small effect size). More frequent and longer inpatient admissions were found in the violent subgroups (all p ⩽ 0.01). For the whole sample, sex, number of violent offences, non-violent offences, violent victimisation, substance use and number of inpatient admissions predicted post-diagnostic violence (χ2 (6) = 188.13, p < 0.001). Among patients with a history of pre-diagnostic violence, a history of non-violent offending in the 18-month period pre-diagnosis was the strongest predictor of future violence (odds ratio = 3.08, 95% confidence interval [1.32, 7.21]). Conclusion: At triage, violence risk assessment should consider the presence of antisocial behaviour and violent victimisation, substance use, male gender and frequency of inpatient admissions. Common treatment targets for the prevention of post-diagnostic violence include criminality and victimisation. Treatment of positive symptoms should be of greater emphasis for individuals without a history of pre-diagnostic violence.


Bioremediation for elimination of heavy metals gaining much importance through microorganisms. This study was aimed to in-vitro elimination of lead and zinc by using of filamentous fungiAspergillus oryzae.Biosorption of Lead and Zinc by Aspergiilus oryzae was tested at 5 different initial concentrations ranging from 20ppm to 100ppm . The samples were analyzed for decrease in concentrations after 5 days incubation usingAtomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Chemito AA-203). Aspergillus oryzae showed the maximumpercentage removal of Pb and Zn at 20ppmconcentration and minimum adsorption at 100ppm. It was also observed that removal efficiency of Aspergillus oryzae decreases with increasing concentrations.


The widespread prevalence of obesity is one of the most pressing matters of international public health importance in the present day. In the United States the amount of people either obese or overweight has reached epidemic proportions. There is growing empirical evidence that suggests that obesity is responsible for nearly one-quarter of all cancers. Numerous studies have supported the correlation between obesity and/or increased BMI and esophageal disease. The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has rapidly increased in the United States over the past thirty years and there is a strong association between body mass index (BMI) and esophageal adenocarcinoma. There is currently an urgent need for the implementation of preventive public health measures to quell the growing obesity crisis and reduce the incidence of esophageal cancer.


Nature has evolved the ability to form a C-F bond, as exemplified by the bacterium Streptomyces cattleya, which elaborates fluoroacetate (FAc) and 4-fluorothreomne (4- FT). The mechanism of this bond formation are unknown. This thesis probes the biosynthesis of fluoroacetate and 4-fiuorothreonine and in doing so explores the C-F bond forming process. Feeding stable isotope enriched primary metabolites to S. cattleya, followed by (^19)F NMR and GCMS analysis of the resultant fluorometabolites, highlights the role of the glycolytic pathway in delivering a substrate for fluorination. 3-Fluoro-l- hydroxypropan-2-one was synthesised and feeding studies eliminate this as the initial product of fluorination. Fluoroacetaldehyde was identified as a common fluorinated intermediate in the biosynthesis of both FAc and 4-FT. Whole cell studies demonstrate the rapid oxidation of fluoroacetaldehyde to FAc. 4-FT is produced in low quantities by S. cattleya incubated with fluoroacetaldehyde. The synthesis and feeding of [1-(^2)H]- fluoroacetaldehyde provide evidence that the resultant 4-FT is biosynthesised from fluoroacetaldehyde. The biotransformation from fluoroacetaldehyde to FAc was shown in cell free studies to be mediated by an aldehyde dehydrogenase, requiring NAD(^4) as a co-factor. The substrate specificity of fluoroacetaldehyde dehydrogenase was probed by spectrophotometrically monitoring the production of NADH in the presence of different aldehydes. Further cell free experiments probed the biosynthetic origins of fluoroacetaldehyde. Glycolaldehyde phosphate and various phosphorylated glycolytic intermediates were incubated with cell free extracts of S. cattleya and a plethora of co-factors. In the absence of observing fluorination activity, it was shown that the cell free extract acts to dephosphorylate the substrates. The putative role of glycolaldehyde phosphate was explored by feeding isotopically labelled glycolaldehydes to whole cells of the bacterium. The results were not consistent with direct conversion from glycolaldehyde phosphate to fluoroacetaldehyde.


Raaga is the spine of Indian classical music. It is the single most crucial element of the melodic framework on which the music of the subcontinent thrives. Naturally, automatic raaga recognition is an important step in computational musicology as far as Indian music is considered. It has several applications like indexing Indian music, automatic note transcription, comparing, classifying and recommending tunes, and teaching to mention a few. Simply put, it is the first logical step in the process of creating computational methods for Indian classical music. In this work, we investigate the properties of a raaga and the natural process by which people identify the raaga. We survey the past raaga recognition techniques correlating them with human techniques, in both north Indian (Hindustani) and south Indian (Carnatic) music systems. We identify the main drawbacks and propose minor, but multiple improvements to the state-of-the-art raaga recognition technique.


Introduction Body representation is a form of higher order somatosensory functioning containing multiple integrative processes in which information from different primary sensory modalities is integrated in a representation of the body. It is crucial for the conscious experience of the position and structure of our body parts and directing bodily movements. Disorders of body representation can affect the entire body or only specific body parts. The exact neurological substrate underlying body representation disorders remains unclear. The aim of the current study is to determine the neural substrate of body representation. Methodology In the present study we investigate in the neurological mechanisms underlying body representation-disorders in a sample of 17 first episode-stroke patients by linking neurological lesions with body representation disorders, i.e. finger agnosia, tactile localization impairments or left-right disorientation. Furthermore, the overlap and interplay between these impairments are mapped by using an advanced voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping approach. Results The voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analysis showed that lesions significantly related to left right disorientation are mainly located in the right hemisphere, more specifically the caudate nucleus, external capsule and putamen. Analyses on finger agnosia and tactile localization impairments gained no significant results, but a qualitative lesion subtraction analysis shows a trend that lesions related to these disorders are also mainly situated in the right hemisphere, more specifically the caudate nucleus, external capsule , putamen and frontal cortex. Conclusions These results indicate that parts of the basal ganglia and the external capsule of the right hemisphere are key anatomical structures in body representation. Master thesis Neuropsychology, D. Sluiter, 3680746


The learning landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade and is undergoing a further seismic shift with the ubiquity of mobile internet-connected devices. Smartphones and tablets can now provide access to an almost unlimited amount of information that is accessible anytime and anyplace. Mobile devices have become commonplace for learning (and perhaps even the norm) in the classroom, higher education and the workplace. Early evaluation data from such projects have revealed heterogeneity in the adoption and acceptance of these devices among users. Whilst many see the undoubted benefits, issues including digital literacy and the need to integrate new ways of learning can be a barrier to uptake. With the increasing availability of highly intuitive devices and a generation of learners that access, and indeed process, information in a completely different way than the generations that preceded them, the issue is not whether we adopt these new technologies but whether we make the most of the opportunities they provide.

The paediatric setting is a complex and demanding clinical learning environment. The provision of ready access to learning can be thought of in terms of supporting both explicit and tacit knowledge requirements. Clinicians are expected to apply the highest standards of practice according to local and national guidelines. Achieving this draws on their explicit knowledge, sourced from traditional references, a process that can, and will, be facilitated by connectivity. Perhaps for the first time patients, parents and relatives have almost unfettered access to the same resources and have consequently higher or differing expectations of patient care. In addition, it could be argued that the public are no longer willing to unquestioningly accept the opinion of a clinician. The instant access to high-quality reference resources will be crucial to doctors both for their own learning and their clinical practice. Doctors are also …


William Howard Taft was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1921 through 1930. This paper, excerpted from the forthcoming Volume X of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States, chronicles and evaluates the incomparable contributions of Taft during the period. The paper is forthcoming in the Michigan State Law Review.

Taft played three roles on the Court during the 1920s. He was a Justice, a Chief Justice, and a prodigious judicial reformer. The paper evaluates his performance in Taft's contributions to each of these roles, which Taft occupied with exceptional vigor and competence. The paper gives special attention to Taft's creation of a new Supreme Court building; to Taft's influence on the selection of lower court federal judges; to Taft's establishment of the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, which fundamentally altered the structure of the federal judiciary; and to Taft's inspired advocacy for the Act of February 13, 1925, which reconfigured the Supreme Court from a simple tribunal of last resort into a manager of the system of federal law.

As a former President, Taft imagined the Chief Justice as the supervisor of the Judicial Branch, in much the same way as the President was the supervisor of the Executive Branch. In so doing, Taft profoundly altered the office of the Chief Justice. The paper discusses the tensions implicit in Taft's efforts to import into the American constitutional order an office approximating an English Lord Chancellor, responsible for the administration of justice.


Learning in the corporate setting not only relates to individual competence development but also to a demonstration of business impact and a contribution to the strategic ambitions of the company. An approach to learning design that blends generic principles of learning and instruction with strategic goals important to the particular context, anchored in a commitment to authentic and engaging learning activities is needed. We describe how a particular action-research partnership has developed such an approach to learning design, give examples of learning events that illustrate the design, and then synthesize results of 12 of these events from three perspectivesthe designer/researcher, the instructor, and the participant--in order to reflect on the lessons learned and apply them in an on-going way to a dynamic learning evolution. Although the experiences reported are from one global corporate setting, the research-based reference model used to steer this approach to learning design is by its very nature adaptable to other organizational contexts.


Warp Drives are solutions of the Einstein Field Equations that allows superluminal travel within the framework of General Relativity. There are at the present moment two known solutions: The Alcubierre warp drive discovered in 1994 and the Natario warp drive discovered in 2001. However as stated by both Alcubierre and Natario themselves the warp drive violates all the known energy conditions because the stress energy momentum tensor(the right side of the Einstein Field Equations) for the Einstein tensor G00 is negative implying in a negative energy density. While from a classical point of view the negative energy is forbidden the Quantum Field Theory allows the existence of very small amounts of it being the Casimir effect a good example as stated by Alcubierre himself.The major drawback concerning negative energies for the warp drive are the so-called Quantum Inequalities(QI) that restricts the time we can observe the negative energy density.This time is known as the sampling time.Ford and Pfenning computed the QI for the Alcubierre warp drive using a Planck Length Scale shape function and concluded that the negative energy in the Alcubierre warp drive can only exists for a sampling time of approximately 10−33 seconds rendering the warp drive impossible for an interstellar trip for example a given star at 20 light years away with a speed of 200 times faster than light because such a trip would require months not 10−33 seconds. We repeated the QI analysis of Ford and Pfenning for the Natario warp drive using the same Planck Length Scale but with a shape function that although different from the function choosed by Ford and Pfenning it obeys Natario requirements and because the Natario warp drive have a very different distribution of negative energy when compared to its Alcubierre counterpart this affects the QI analysis.We arrived at a sampling time that can last longer than 10−33 seconds enough to sustain a warp bubble for the interstellar travel mentioned above.We also computed the total negative energy requirements for the Natario warp drive and we arrived at a comfortable result.This leads us to conclude that the Natario warp drive is a valid solution of the Einstein Field Equations of General Relativity physically accessible for interstellar spaceflight. We also discuss Horizons and infinite Doppler blueshifts. ∗firstname.lastname@example.com


A common method to prevent automated abuses of Internet services is utilizing challenge-response tests that distinguish human users from machines. These tests are known as CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) and should represent a task that is easy to solve for humans, but difficult for fraudulent programs. To enable access for visually impaired people, an acoustic CAPTCHA is typically provided in addition to the better-known visual CAPTCHAs. Recent security studies show that most acoustic CAPTCHAs, albeit difficult to solve for humans, can be broken via machine learning. In this work, we suggest using speech recognition rather than generic classification methods for better analyzing the security of acoustic CAPTCHAs. We show that our attack based on an automatic speech recognition system can successfully defeat reCAPTCHA with a significantly higher success rate than reported in previous studies. A major difficulty in designing CAPTCHAs arises from the trade-off between human usability and robustness against automated attacks. We present and analyze an alternative CAPTCHA design that exploits specific capabilities of the human auditory system, i.e., auditory streaming and tolerance to reverberation. Since state-of-the-art speech recognition technology still does not provide these capabilities, the resulting CAPTCHA is hard to solve automatically. A detailed analysis of the proposed CAPTCHA shows a far better trade-off between usability and security than the current quasi-standard approach of reCAPTCHA.


The Surduk loess section in Serbia provides a 20 m thick pedosedimentary record of the last interglacial–glacial climatic cycle (Upper Pleistocene). Based on optical dating, a chronostratigraphy could be established for the last climatic cycle, yielding the first numerical ages of a loess record from the middle Danube basin. Infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IR‐OSL) dating has been applied to the polymineral silt fraction using a multiple aliquot additive‐dose protocol to determine the equivalent dose (DE). Within error limits, all age estimates are in stratigraphic order. Owing to the application of shine‐plateau tests, the samples showed no evidence of insufficient bleaching. The Surduk loess section comprises three major periods of soil formation. Based on the IR‐OSL chronostratigraphy, the lowermost pedocomplex is attributed to the Last Interglacial and to the Early Glacial (Marine Isotope Stage – MIS 5e to 5a). The middle part of the section exhibits a succession of weakly developed brown soils and a humic horizon, named 'Surduk soil', formed during MIS 3. On top of the section, recent soil formation is related to the Holocene. Thick loess deposits are preserved between these palaeosols and are attributed to the Lower and Upper Pleniglacials (MIS 4 and 2), respectively. Estimated mean sedimentation rates are 0.1–0.2 mm/yr for the last glacial cycle, with a strong increase to 0.6 mm/yr with onset of the Pleniglacial.


Abstract MCNP applies only nuclear data tabulated at specific temperatures and does not incorporate methods for general temperature interpolation of nuclear data. However, in models representing realistic power reactor cores, it is generally necessary to represent the distribution of fuel and coolant temperatures to reliably predict detailed power distributions and reactivity feedback effects. This paper describes methods that can be easily applied for the representation of cross-section data at general temperatures, based on interpolation through mixing of nuclide representations at multiple temperatures. The discrepancies due to the interpolations have been determined to be insignificant relative to the estimated uncertainties in typical calculated eigenvalues.


Why batteries go bad Rechargeable batteries are found in a range of everyday devices, from shavers and laptops to cars and airplanes. Over time, these batteries can fail, either through a gradual loss of charge or through the inability to work under tough environmental conditions, leading to more catastrophic failures that cause fires or explosions. Palacin and de Guibert review such failures and suggest that, although often chemistry-specific, common causes can be found. They also look at ways to enhance battery lifetime, such as through improved battery management systems, which are needed for advanced rechargeable batteries. Science, this issue p. 10.1126/science.1253292 BACKGROUND We are all familiar with the importance of mobile power sources (automobile batteries, cell phone batteries, etc.) and their seeming tendency to malfunction at just the wrong moment. All batteries show performance losses during their service lives that involve a progressive decrease in capacity (loss of autonomy) and increase in internal resistance, leading to voltage decay and loss of power. Battery aging phenomena evolve at substantially different rates depending on storage or usage conditions (temperature, charge/discharge rates, and voltage operation limits) and are specific to each battery chemistry. The study of the origin of such processes is important for battery calendar-life predictions, but this research is complex to carry out because it involves field trials as well as extrapolation from accelerated tests using suitable models. ADVANCES Electrification of automotive transportation and renewable energy integration constitute two imperative pathways toward reduction of gas emissions and global warming. These incur challenges in terms of energy storage technologies, for which batteries emerge as a versatile and efficient option. Durability is critical per se in such large-scale applications and also has a direct impact in terms of cost. As a result, efforts toward understanding the mechanisms of battery degradation have intensified in recent years. Aging and failure mechanisms result from various interrelated processes taking place at diverse time scales, hence their complete elucidation is a very challenging target. Battery operation upon each charge/discharge cycle should ideally only involve changes in the phases present at both electrodes and modification of their physical properties. However, all battery components can interact with one another to some extent, contributing to a convoluted system of interrelated physicochemical processes in which the influences of temperature and charge/discharge rate are decisive. Although interactions between the active materials and the electrolyte are largely responsible for aging upon storage, cycling generally damages electrode active materials' reversibility because of the mechanical stresses induced by the structural changes taking place. Although both mechanisms are often considered as additive, interactions may occur and some additional factors (such as temperature) have an impact on both. Moreover, the variety of possible parasitic reactions is enhanced by the number of chemical elements present in the cell; this number is lowest for Pb/acid batteries (redox processes involve lead at both electrodes and current collectors are also made of lead) and highest for lithium-ion batteries, which can also comprise a larger variety of subtechnologies depending on the active materials used. Overall, the current available knowledge on these matters results from a vast combination of experimental and modeling approaches and has greatly benefited from the progressive improvement of available materials science characterization tools. OUTLOOK The requirements for battery long-term stability are extremely stringent, and hence the advent of batteries with optimized calendar and cycle life will only be triggered by a full understanding of the ways in which the different systems fail. Thorough studies involving both testing and monitoring of real or model cells under different environments and/or postmortem studies using a wide range of experimental techniques coupled to modeling approaches are crucial to the complete elucidation of aging and failure mechanisms. Such knowledge is vital to developing reliable, realistic operation models, which in turn will synergistically contribute to the development of batteries with optimized calendar life. This is currently a research priority in the field that is expected to yield substantial progress in the years to come. Performance degradation is common to all battery technologies. Failure and gradual performance degradation (aging) are the result of complex interrelated phenomena that depend on battery chemistry, design, environment (temperature), and actual operation conditions (discharge rate, charge protocol, depth of discharge, etc.). Knowledge of such processes is crucial for the widespread deployment of large-scale battery applications such as transportation and the electric grid. Battery failure and gradual performance degradation (aging) are the result of complex interrelated phenomena that depend on battery chemistry, design, environment, and the actual operation conditions. The current available knowledge on these matters results from a vast combination of experimental and modeling approaches. We explore the state of the art with respect to materials as well as usage (temperature, charge/discharge rate, etc.) for lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel–metal hydride, and lithium-ion chemistries. Battery diagnosis strategies and plausible developments related to large-scale battery applications are also discussed.


Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England explores the dynamic between kingship and masculinity in fifteenth century England, with a particular focus on Henry V and Henry VI. The role of gender in the rhetoric and practice of medieval kingship is still largely unexplored by medieval historians. Discourses of masculinity informed much of the contemporary comment on fifteenth century kings, for a variety of purposes: to praise and eulogise but also to explain shortcomings and provide justification for deposition. Katherine J. Lewis examines discourses of masculinity in relation to contemporary understandings of the nature and acquisition of manhood in the period and considers the extent to which judgements of a king's performance were informed by his ability to embody the right balance of manly qualities. This book's primary concern is with how these two kings were presented, represented and perceived by those around them, but it also asks how far Henry V and Henry VI can be said to have understood the importance of personifying a particular brand of masculinity in their performance of kingship and of meeting the expectations of their subjects in this respect. It explores the extent to which their established reputations as inherently 'manly' and 'unmanly' kings were the product of their handling of political circumstances, but owed something to factors beyond their immediate control as well. Consideration is also given to Margaret of Anjou's manipulation of ideologies of kingship and manhood in response to her husband's incapacity, and the ramifications of this for perceptions of the relational gender identities which she and Henry VI embodied together. Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England is an essential resource for students of gender and medieval history.... Download ebook, read file pdf Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England


Abstraction is one of the most important strategies for dealing with the state space explosion problem in model checking. With an abstract model, the state space is largely reduced, however, a counterexample found in such a model that does not satisfy the desired property may not exist in the concrete model. Therefore, how to check whether a reported counterexample is spurious is a key problem in the abstraction-refinement loop. Particularly, there are often thousands of millions of states in systems of industrial scale, how to check spurious counterexamples in these systems practically is a significant problem. In this paper, by re-analyzing spurious counterexamples, a new formal definition of spurious path is given. Based on it, efficient algorithms for detecting spurious counterexamples are presented. By the new algorithms, when dealing with infinite counterexamples, the finite prefix to be analyzed will be polynomially shorter than the one dealt by the existing algorithm. Moreover, in practical terms, the new algorithms can naturally be parallelized that makes multi-core processors contributes more in spurious counterexample checking. In addition, by the new algorithms, the state resulting in a spurious path (false state) that is hidden shallower will be reported earlier. Hence, as long as a false state is detected, lots of iterations for detecting all the false states will be avoided. Experimental results show that the new algorithms perform well along with the growth of system scale.


Ever since Turkish forces first crossed the Bosporus, the threat of Ottoman domination in Europe was made real by almost 400 years of armed confrontation. The West viewed the Turkish empire with a mixture of curiosity and fear. A long series of cultural contacts by diplomats, businessmen, explorers, scientists, physicians, clergymen and artists brought back reports of the Turkish court military musical ensemble known as the mehter. Eager to emulate the powerful and exotic image of the Ottoman sultan, the courts of the German Protestant Union in particular appropriated the concept of the 'Janissary' band in their festivals of state. At first Turkish themes incorporated into these events featured musicians in Turkish dress, playing on conventional trumpets, shawms, drums and the like. Later, actual ensembles of Turkish musicians were imported. When tensions lessened during relatively long periods of peace, a 'Turkish craze' developed: anything Turkish was eagerly adopted by the Europeans. This was reflected not only in state celebrations, but in literature, opera and symphonic music. Finally the concept of the mehter spilled over into the military, with regiments being outfitted with Turkish-style bands, though by this time they were a poor imitation of the real thing, and in large part much westernized.


Retrotransposons are the most common class of eukaryotic transposable elements
that make up over 50% of nuclear DNA found in many plants with large and
complex genomes. The long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons have a high
degree of autonomy and encode at least five distinct protein components, which are
required for their movement in the genome. We have exploited the repetitive,
dispersed nature of many LTR-containing retrotransposon families for the
visualization of genomic polymorphism (genome constitution) and the visualization
of varieties polymorphism (varieties classification). The IRAP-PCR (Inter-
Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism-Polymerase Chain Reaction) markers are
generated by the proximity of two LTRs or reverse transcriptase CRT) genes using
outward-facing primers annealing to LTR target sequence. This method could
distinguish between banana genome constitution (A and B genome) and varieties.
This method can track new insertion of retrotransposon in banana tissue culture
materials. The evolution of Malaysian bananas can also be tracked using this
phylogenetic analysis. Since the method is PCR-based, it may allow the detection
and isolation of the active, newly inserted retrotransposon copies easily, by analyzing the subsequent generations within an otherwise genetically homogeneous material.
This method is applicable to other plants with dispersed families of LTR retrotransposons
where either the LTR or nearby internal sequences are known.


DNA replication in higher organisms starts at many places across the genome and throughout S (synthesis) phase. In order to understand replication in eukaryotes, one needs to know not only how the replicative machinery functions on the molecular level but also how the machinery is organized genome wide to ensure complete duplication. Over the past fifteen years, advances in technology have allowed researchers to perform genome-wide experiments that probe the state of replication in many organisms. These datasets make possible quantitative modelling of the replication process. The kinetics of DNA replication is formally analogous to a physical phase-transformation process. In replication, the DNA is transformed from a "non-replicated" phase to a "replicated" phase, just as freezing water is transformed from a liquid phase to a solid phase. Using this analogy, we map the replication process onto a stochastic nucleation-and-growth model introduced in statistical physics to describe first-order phase transitions. Extending the model, we develop a mathematical framework that is flexible enough to describe the kinetics of replication in eukaryotes. We present three applications of our theory: 1) We apply the theory to a recent dataset on budding yeast to extract its genome-wide replication program. Based on this study, we give the first proposal to explain how the temporal aspect of the replication program can be controlled mechanistically. 2) We address the "random-completion problem," which asks how replication-completion times can be controlled when replication starts at random places and times. We find that the strategy adopted in frog embryos to solve the problem also nearly minimizes the use of certain replicative machinery. 3) We study possible ways to extract information from a popular technique used to probe replication in multicellular eukaryotes, ranging from worms to humans. We show preliminary results that can be extended to real experiments in the near future.


Abstract. Detailed measurements of ice crystals in cirrus clouds were used to compare with results from the Community Atmospheric Model Version 5 (CAM5) global climate model. The observations are from two different field campaigns with contrasting conditions: Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Spring Cloud Intensive Operational Period in 2000 (ARM-IOP), which was characterized primarily by midlatitude frontal clouds and cirrus, and Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4), which was dominated by anvil cirrus. Results show that the model typically overestimates the slope parameter of the exponential size distributions of cloud ice and snow, while the variation with temperature (height) is comparable. The model also overestimates the ice/snow number concentration (0th moment of the size distribution) and underestimates higher moments (2nd through 5th), but compares well with observations for the 1st moment. Overall the model shows better agreement with observations for TC4 than for ARM-IOP in regards to the moments. The mass-weighted terminal fall speed is lower in the model compared to observations for both ARM-IOP and TC4, which is partly due to the overestimation of the size distribution slope parameter. Sensitivity tests with modification of the threshold size for cloud ice to snow autoconversion (Dcs) do not show noticeable improvement in modeled moments, slope parameter and mass weighed fall speed compared to observations. Further, there is considerable sensitivity of the cloud radiative forcing to Dcs, consistent with previous studies, but no value of Dcs improves modeled cloud radiative forcing compared to measurements. Since the autoconversion of cloud ice to snow using the threshold size Dcs has little physical basis, future improvement to combine cloud ice and snow into a single category, eliminating the need for autoconversion, is suggested.


Linear equality restrictions derived from economic theory are frequently observation-varying. Except in special cases, Restricted Least Squares (RLS) cannot be used to impose such restrictions without either underconstraining or overconstraining the parameter space. We solve the problem by developing a new estimator that collapses to RLS in cases where the restrictions are observation-invariant. We derive some theoretical properties of our so-called Generalised Restricted Least Squares (GRLS) estimator, and conduct a simulation experiment involving the estimation of a constant returns to scale production function. We find that GRLS significantly outperforms RLS in both small and large samples.


Amount of coverage of senator on TV news is function of both power and stance. Legitimacy is necessary for the survival of a government, a regime, an idea, or a leadership. In ancient history, the "Godly origin" of the king provided legitimacy, and in early human society, "close association with a charismatic leader often conferred charisma and legitimacy to others."1 In modern society, legitimacy is obtained through other means. Bureaucracy gains legitimacy simply because "people accept the fact that complex tasks need to be done in large-scale societies."2 Public elections are a source of legitimacy for political leaders, as are revolutions, if they succeed. The mass media are also important legitimizing and delegitimizing agencies in modern society, especially in the political arena. The media have the ability to "bestow prestige and enhance the authority of individuals ... by legitimizing their status."3 The inherent prestige of the media is "sufficient to allow them (the media) to build media personalities into symbols of charisma to which the public frequently responds."4 Similarly, the media can discredit and censure individuals to the extent that they are cast out of public favor and completely delegitimized. Both processes-legitimation and delegitimation-are powerful forms of social control in which the media frequently participate. A large body of literature on the study of mass media has established beyond doubt the role of the media in such forms of social control.5 Most studies about how the media cover members of the U.S. Senate have focused on the role various structural variables like committee chairmanship, Senate seniority, and state size play in determining media coverage of senators. Nonetheless, such studies have yielded different and inconsistent results. For example, Matthews6 found senatorial seniority to be the most important variable in determining the type of news coverage received by senators. Wilhoit and Sherrill7 examined the wire service visibility of U.S. senators and found a correlation between coverage and some aspects of power such as state size and seniority. Weaver and Wilhoit,8 on the other hand, reported a different set of findings which suggest that a senator's political power does not necessarily lead to coverage. In another study,9 researchers found that "each Congress study ... showed different patterns of relationships of structural variables to mass media elite visibility." In only one study did researchers examine ideology,10 and in that case they concluded that it made no difference in coverage. The perceived power of senators has also been found to be a strong predictor of media coverage. Hess" examined national media coverage of U.S. senators from 1953 to 1983 and concluded that "national news media focus on those senators who seem to wield institutional power ... definable leaders at the expense of the nonleaders, mavericks and others." This study examines the role of media coverage in providing political legitimacy for U.S. senators and introduces new variables and combinations of variables to the study of how the media cover members of the U.S. Senate. These new variables include: 1) Senators' attitudes toward an issue; 2) Senators' voting behavior regarding that issue; 3) An index of senators' power (i.e., a combination of seniority, committee chairmanship, state size, and membership in particular committees). Although these variables have been studied individually in other studies, the combination of them in this type of index is new. Thus, in addition to examining two completely new variables (variables 1 and 2 above), this study also examines previously studied structural variables by combining them into a single "power" index (variable 3 above). The main assumption of this study is that media coverage of U.S. senators and their statements relative to a particular issue is a function of a senator's power status and his/her stance on the issue. …


We describe Sarmientosaurus musacchioi gen. et sp. nov., a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian—Turonian) Lower Member of the Bajo Barreal Formation of southern Chubut Province in central Patagonia, Argentina. The holotypic and only known specimen consists of an articulated, virtually complete skull and part of the cranial and middle cervical series. Sarmientosaurus exhibits the following distinctive features that we interpret as autapomorphies: (1) maximum diameter of orbit nearly 40% rostrocaudal length of cranium; (2) complex maxilla—lacrimal articulation, in which the lacrimal clasps the ascending ramus of the maxilla; (3) medial edge of caudal sector of maxillary ascending ramus bordering bony nasal aperture with low but distinct ridge; (4) 'tongue-like' ventral process of quadratojugal that overlaps quadrate caudally; (5) separate foramina for all three branches of the trigeminal nerve; (6) absence of median venous canal connecting infundibular region to ventral part of brainstem; (7) subvertical premaxillary, procumbent maxillary, and recumbent dentary teeth; (8) cervical vertebrae with 'strut-like' centroprezygapophyseal laminae; (9) extremely elongate and slender ossified tendon positioned ventrolateral to cervical vertebrae and ribs. The cranial endocast of Sarmientosaurus preserves some of the most complete information obtained to date regarding the brain and sensory systems of sauropods. Phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as a basal member of Lithostrotia, as the most plesiomorphic titanosaurian to be preserved with a complete skull. Sarmientosaurus provides a wealth of new cranial evidence that reaffirms the close relationship of titanosaurs to Brachiosauridae. Moreover, the presence of the relatively derived lithostrotian Tapuiasaurus in Aptian deposits indicates that the new Patagonian genus represents a 'ghost lineage' with a comparatively plesiomorphic craniodental form, the evolutionary history of which is missing for at least 13 million years of the Cretaceous. The skull anatomy of Sarmientosaurus suggests that multiple titanosaurian species with dissimilar cranial structures coexisted in the early Late Cretaceous of southern South America. Furthermore, the new taxon possesses a number of distinctive morphologies—such as the ossified cervical tendon, extremely pneumatized cervical vertebrae, and a habitually downward-facing snout—that have rarely, if ever, been documented in other titanosaurs, thus broadening our understanding of the anatomical diversity of this remarkable sauropod clade. The latter two features were convergently acquired by at least one penecontemporaneous diplodocoid, and may represent mutual specializations for consuming low-growing vegetation.


Australian Institute of Criminology research in 2003 examined the costs of crime to the Australian community. This current report provides an update to the previous work by estimating the costs of crime for 2005. While relying primarily on data from the United Kingdom and United States, some Australian data provide general estimates of crime-related costs. The total costs of crime cover components of the criminal justice systems: police, courts, corrections, and other criminal justice-related government agencies; and the costs of fraud. The report covers a range of crimes against people and property, fraud, and drug-related crimes. Estimates for each of these cover the general characteristics of incidents, property loss, medical costs, lost output and intangible costs. Notwithstanding the considerable difficulties in estimating costs of crime, which are described in this report, the estimated costs of crime for 2005 are $35.8b. The report highlights the need for improved availability of Australian crime data. Emerging challenges for research that informs government policy include cybercrimes - comprising fraud and identity theft - arson and bushfires, theft from motor vehicles, shop theft, estimates of intangible losses and lost output, estimates of lost business productivity due to criminal activity and national injury estimates.


Coherent light, as produced by lasers, gives rise to an intrinsic noise, known as quantum noise, optical noise or shot noise. AlphaEta is a protocol which exploits this physical phenomenon to obtain secure data encryption or key distribution over a fiber-optic channel in the presence of an eavesdropper. In this paper we focus on the cryptographic aspects of AlphaEta and its variants. Moreover, we propose a new protocol for which we can provide a rigorous proof that the eavesdropper obtains neglible information. In comparison to singlephoton quantum cryptography, AlphaEta provide much higher throughputs combined with a well-known technology.


C.S. Lewis, himself a convert, wrote of being "surprised by joy" when he discovered his belief in Jesus Christ. In these 127 devotional readings, selected from Lewis's many works on faith and spirituality, Christians everywhere can share in the joy of this master theologian as he discusses topics ranging from the nature of prayer and good works to psychoanalysis and fascism. In "The Joyful Christian", Lewis offers inspiration for all those who hunger and thirst after joy.


Nudges—policy proposals informed by work in behavioural economics and psychology that are designed to lead to better decision-making or better behaviour—are controversial. Critics allege that they bypass our deliberative capacities, thereby undermining autonomy and responsible agency. In this paper, I identify a kind of nudge I call a nudge to reason, which make us more responsive to genuine evidence. I argue that at least some nudges to reason do not bypass our deliberative capacities. Instead, use of these nudges should be seen as appeals to mechanisms partially constitutive of these capacities, and therefore as benign (so far as autonomy and responsible agency are concerned). I sketch some concrete proposals for nudges to reason which are especially important given the apparent widespread resistance to evidence seen in recent political events.


INTRODUCTION On Tuesday, July 15, 1941, New York City detectives supervised the recovery of a male body from the Hudson River near 72nd Street. After contacting the Missing Persons Bureau, it was determined that this unfortunate person was Dr. Willis Nathaniel Huggins. His sister, Mrs. Roberta Goldsby and his wife, Rosetta, identified the body at the city morgue on Wednesday morning. Huggins had been missing since December 23rd and last seen by friends and relatives at his home located at 1890 Seventh Avenue. He was reported to have $500 in his wallet at this time. This was not unusual, since Huggins owned the Blyden Bookstore and had been associated with several independent Black publications. The only clues to his whereabouts was an overcoat that had been found on the George Washington Bridge and a letter that Huggins sent to his wife stating that "Something is going to happen." At the time of his disappearance, Huggins was teaching history and economics at Bushwick High School in Brooklyn and serving as Assistant Principal at Harlem's Union High School in the evening. (1) The Harlem community was both shocked and saddened to hear confirmation of Huggins's death. In the past six and half months, his disappearance had been a hotly debated mystery. The press, his family, and his lawyer all publicly declared that Huggins had committed suicide. His students at the Blyden Society and the street community believed that Huggins had met with foul play from a gangster element due to unpaid business loans. The competing versions of his death have not been reconciled nor does firm documentation exist to disprove either version. Huggins had been associated with the Garvey movement since 1919 and recognized as a dedicated and talented "Race Man" by Harlem's leadership for more than two decades. In addition, he was the former president of the New York branch of the Association for the Study for New York Life and History; the executive secretary for the Friends of Ethiopia In America (FEA); a tireless advocate for including African and African American history in public school curriculums; and an articulate voice for the Black history movement. In addition, he had a network of national and international friends and contacts that included: J. A. Rogers, Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. Du Bois, Arthur A. Schomburg, Charles S. Johnson, Claude McKay; Jesse E. Moorland, Amy Jacques Garvey, Dantes Bellegarde (the Haitian Ambassador to the United States), President Stenio Vincent of Haiti; Ras Desta Damtew of Ethiopia, and scores of former students in West Africa, Ethiopia, and London. On the community level, his leadership of the Blyden Society facilitated the education of such noted self-trained historians as John Henrik Clarke and John G. Jackson. These accomplishments and his mentorship of a generation of young self-trained Black historians have sadly been neglected and forgotten by contemporary scholars of the African American experience. This paper will rescue and briefly discuss the life and contributions of this Black activist intellectual from his family roots in Alabama to his mysterious death in the early 1940s. (2) THE EARLY YEARS Willis Nathaniel Huggins was born February 7, 1886, in Selma, Alabama. His father, Reverend A. Z. Huggins, was a respected Baptist minister. As a youth, Huggins received his first education at the Selma Training School. The Huggins family then joined the wave of Black migrants to the North and moved to Washington, D.C. Huggins, an excellent student, attended Armstrong High School for colored youth. During his senior year he won a scholarship to Columbia University. His outstanding academic record and probably one of the Black faculty members who graduated from Columbia facilitated this connection. The M Street School, later renamed Dunbar High School and Armstrong's sister institution, had a great track record of placing its top students in Ivy League and other prominent private white schools. …


Recent work has shown that the probabilistic SLAM approach of explicit uncertainty propagation can succeed in permitting repeatable 3D real-time localization and mapping even in the 'pure vision' domain of a single agile camera with no extra sensing. An issue which has caused difficulty in monocular SLAM however is the initialization of features, since information from multiple images acquired during motion must be combined to achieve accurate depth estimates. This has led algorithms to deviate from the desirable Gaussian uncertainty representation of the EKF and related probabilistic filters during special initialization steps. In this paper we present a new unified parametrization for point features within monocular SLAM which permits efficient and accurate representation of uncertainty during undelayed initialisation and beyond, all within the standard EKF (Extended Kalman Filter). The key concept is direct parametrization of inverse depth, where there is a high degree of linearity. Importantly, our parametrization can cope with features which are so far from the camera that they present little parallax during motion, maintaining sufficient representative uncertainty that these points retain the opportunity to 'come in' from infinity if the camera makes larger movements. We demonstrate the parametrization using real image sequences of large-scale indoor and outdoor scenes.


Background: Numerous quantitative studies have attributed the increase in childhood overweight and obesity the built environment, low socioeconomic status, sedentary behavior, or any combination of the three. Concurrently, qualitative information, including assessments of parents' perspectives of their roles relating to child health and nutrition generally, and child overweight and obesity specifically, is often lacking. The purpose of this research was to add to the existing literature by offering such a qualitative perspective. Methods: Semi–structured interviews were conducted with parents living in Hays County, Texas. Participation was limited to parents with children between the ages 5 and 10 years. Interviews were audio–recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed through content analysis. Results: Analysis of interview texts suggested that parents in this study had similar understandings of health and nutrition, generally lacked specific knowledge of overweight and obesity, and agreed it is the responsibility of parents to provide for and influence the food choices of their children. Mothers agreed that time, monetary expense, and children's behaviors were seen as barriers to routinely providing a healthy food environment. Among mothers who were successful in living what they perceived to be a healthy lifestyle, planning was essential. Conclusions: Qualitative assessments of parents' perspectives of child health and nutrition are important because they offer additional insight into the current problem of childhood overweight and obesity in the U.S. In turn, these insights may provide


Genetic programming is an Evolutionary Computing technique, inspired by biological evolution, capable of discovering complex non-linear patterns in large datasets. Genetic programming is a general methodology, the specific implementation of which requires development of several different specific elements such as problem representation, fitness, selection and genetic variation. Despite the potential advantages of genetic programming over standard statistical methods, its applications to survival analysis are at best rare, primarily because of the difficulty in handling censored data. The aim of this work was to develop a genetic programming approach for survival analysis and demonstrate its utility for the automatic development of clinical prediction models using cardiovascular disease as a case study.
We developed a tree-based untyped steady-state genetic programming approach for censored longitudinal data, comparing its performance to the de facto statistical method—Cox regression—in the development of clinical prediction models for the prediction of future cardiovascular events in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic cardiovascular disease, using large observational datasets. We also used genetic programming to examine the prognostic significance of different risk factors together with their non-linear combinations for the prognosis of health outcomes in cardiovascular disease.
These experiments showed that Cox regression and the developed steady-state genetic programming approach produced similar results when evaluated in common validation datasets. Despite slight relative differences, both approaches demonstrated an acceptable level of discriminative and calibration at a range of times points. Whilst the application of genetic programming did not provide more accurate representations of factors that predict the risk of both symptomatic and asymptomatic cardiovascular disease when compared with existing methods, genetic programming did offer comparable performance. Despite generally comparable performance, albeit in slight favour of the Cox model, the predictors selected for representing their relationships with the outcome were quite different and, on average, the models developed using genetic programming used considerably fewer predictors. The results of the genetic programming confirm the prognostic significance of a small number of the most highly associated predictors in the Cox modelling; age, previous atherosclerosis, and albumin for secondary prevention; age, recorded diagnosis of 'other' cardiovascular disease, and ethnicity for primary prevention in patients with type 2 diabetes. When considered as a whole, genetic programming did not produce better performing clinical prediction models, rather it utilised fewer predictors, most of which were the predictors that Cox regression estimated be most strongly associated with the outcome, whilst achieving comparable performance. This suggests that genetic programming may better represent the potentially non-linear relationship of (a smaller subset of) the strongest predictors.
To our knowledge, this work is the first study to develop a genetic programming approach for censored longitudinal data and assess its value for clinical prediction in comparison with the well-known and widely applied Cox regression technique. Using empirical data this work has demonstrated that clinical prediction models developed by steady-state genetic programming have predictive ability comparable to those developed using Cox regression. The genetic programming models were more complex and thus more difficult to validate by domain experts, however these models were developed in an automated fashion, using fewer input variables, without the need for domain specific knowledge and expertise required to appropriately perform survival analysis. This work has demonstrated the strong potential of genetic programming as a methodology for automated development of clinical prediction models for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in the presence of censored data. This work compared untuned genetic programming models that were developed in an automated fashion with highly tuned Cox regression models that was developed in a very involved manner that required a certain amount of clinical and statistical expertise. Whilst the highly tuned Cox regression models performed slightly better in validation data, the performance of the automatically generated genetic programming models were generally comparable. The comparable performance demonstrates the utility of genetic programming for clinical prediction modelling and prognostic research, where the primary goal is accurate prediction. In aetiological research, where the primary goal is to examine the relative strength of association between risk factors and the outcome, then Cox regression and its variants remain as the de facto approach.


Regression mixture models, which have only recently begun to be used in applied research, are a new approach for finding differential effects. This approach comes at the cost of the assumption that error terms are normally distributed within classes. This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore the effects of relatively minor violations of this assumption. The use of an ordered polytomous outcome is then examined as an alternative that makes somewhat weaker assumptions, and finally both approaches are demonstrated with an applied example looking at differences in the effects of family management on the highly skewed outcome of drug use. Results show that violating the assumption of normal errors results in systematic bias in both latent class enumeration and parameter estimates. Additional classes that reflect violations of distributional assumptions are found. Under some conditions it is possible to come to conclusions that are consistent with the effects in the population, but when errors are skewed in both classes the results typically no longer reflect even the pattern of effects in the population. The polytomous regression model performs better under all scenarios examined and comes to reasonable results with the highly skewed outcome in the applied example. We recommend that careful evaluation of model sensitivity to distributional assumptions be the norm when conducting regression mixture models.


In the last decade, there has been increased global, domestic and media focus on the economic, political, and social costs associated with corruption, such as the prevalent business practice of bribing foreign public officials in order to obtain lucrative contracts, with the resulting need of the bribe recipient to launder the illicit proceeds. This increased focus on corruption can be attributed to factors such as the end of the Cold War, the further integration of Europe, the increase in international business mergers, the borderless global market and a greater recognition of the economic costs of corruption. One of the most significant economic costs of corruption results from money laundering. Money laundering occurs when secret deposits of illicit funds move through a series of deceptive transactions designed to disguise the source of the funds and make them reappear in the market in a legitimate form, without a trace of their origin. As an integral part of numerous forms of business corruption, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, terrorism and other illegal activities, the consequences of money laundering have a notable economic impact. With one estimate as to the annual global amount of money laundered calculated in a range between $500 billion and $1 trillion and an estimate that such laundered funds are equal to approximately 2 percent to 5 percent of the worlds' gross domestic product, it is obvious that decisive action needs to be taken to halt this flow of illegal funds. This is a uniquely opportune time for anti-money laundering initiatives and policy reform to occur. Since the terrorist attack in the U.S. in September, 2001, security agencies throughout the world have rushed to follow leads that may prove that Osama bin Laden financed the attack with massive amounts of money that was laundered to hide the source through a variety of schemes. Greater awareness of the harmful effects of money laundering, and public and governmental concerns regarding reverse-money laundering by terrorists, has resulted in a surge of attention directed toward anti-money laundering efforts. Consequently, financial institutions are under increasing pressure to comply with existing anti-money laundering regulations by implementing internal anti-money laundering guidelines. Governments also are experiencing significant public pressure to enhance and expand the anti-money laundering legislative framework. To determine the future direction for effective anti-money laundering initiatives, it is important to first examine the multiple challenges faced by government and other organizations and institutions trying to eradicate money laundering. These challenges include, inter alia, private banks, correspondent banks, unregulated financial services and various banking practices traditionally shrouded in secrecy. In order to assess these challenges it is necessary to evaluate the existing money laundering initiatives to determine if they sufficiently resolve the challenges relevant to the eradication of money laundering. The initiatives evaluated by the authors include those from the U.S., European Union (EU), Council of Europe (COE), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations, the Organization of American States (OAS), Transparency International (TI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the Financial Stability Forum (FSF). In this paper the authors will: 1) delineate the insidious role of money laundering in business corruption, 2) identify the challenges to the eradication of money laundering, 3) summarize the adopted and proposed initiatives taken by the U.S., EU, COE, and a number of multilateral and non-governmental entities, 4) analyze the feasibility and effectiveness of the current adopted and proposed domestic, European, and multilateral initiatives in addressing those challenges identified, and 5) make recommendations regarding future money laundering policies.


The popular image of the "digital native" -- usually depicted as a technically savvy and digitally empowered teen -- is based on the assumption that all young people are equally equipped to become innovators and entrepreneurs. Yet young people in low-income communities often lack access to the learning opportunities, tools, and collaborators (at school and elsewhere) that help digital natives develop the necessary expertise. This book describes one approach to address this disparity: the Digital Youth Network (DYN), an ambitious project to help economically disadvantaged middle-school students in Chicago develop technical, creative, and analytical skills across a learning ecology that spans school, community, home, and online. The book reports findings from a pioneering mixed-method three-year study of DYN and how it nurtured imaginative production, expertise with digital media tools, and the propensity to share these creative capacities with others. Through DYN, students, despite differing interests and identities -- the gamer, the poet, the activist -- were able to find some aspect of DYN that engaged them individually and connected them to one another. Finally, the authors offer generative suggestions for designers of similar informal learning spaces.


Elevated serum free fatty acids (FFAs) levels play an important role in the development of insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes. We investigated the dynamic changes and the underlying regulatory mechanism of postprandial FFA profile in hyperlipidemia (HLP) and their relation with insulin sensitivity in both humans and mice. We found that serum stearic acid (SA) is the only fatty acid that is increased dramatically in the postprandial state. The elevation of SA is due to increased insulin-stimulated de novo synthesis mediated by sterol regulatory element–binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c)/acetyl-CoA carboxylase/fatty acid synthase/elongation of long-chain fatty acid family member 6 (ELOVL6) and the elongation of palmitic acid (PA) catalyzed by ELOVL6. Downregulation of SREBP-1c or ELOVL6 by small interfering RNA can reduce SA synthesis in liver and serum SA level, followed by amelioration of IR in HLP mice. However, inhibition of SREBP-1c is more effective in improving IR than suppression of ELOVL6, which resulted in accumulation of PA. In summary, increased postprandial SA is caused by the insulin-stimulated SREBP-1c pathway and elongation of PA in HLP. Reduction of postprandial SA is a good candidate for improving IR, and SREBP-1c is potentially a better target to prevent IR and diabetes by decreasing SA.