Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged as a viable treatment modality for patients with severe aortic valve stenosis and multiple co-morbidities. More recent indications include the use of transcatheter heart valves (THV) to treat degenerated bioprosthetic surgical heart valves (SHV), which are failing due to stenosis or regurgitation. Valve-in-valve (VIV) procedures in the aortic position have been performed with a variety of THV devices, although the balloon-expandable SAPIEN valve platform (Edwards Lifesciences Ltd, Irvine, CA, USA) and self-expandable CoreValve platform (Medtronic Inc., MN, USA) have been used in majority of the patients. VIV treatment is appealing as it is less invasive than conventional surgery but optimal patient selection is vital to avoid complications such as malposition, residual high gradients and coronary obstruction. To minimize the risk of complications, thorough procedural planning is critical. The first step is identification of the degenerated SHV, including its model, size, fluoroscopic appearance. Although label size and stent internal diameter (ID) are provided by the manufacturer, it is important to note the true ID. The true ID is the ID of a SHV after the leaflets are mounted and helps determine the optimal size of THV. The second step is to determine the type and size of the THV. Although this is determined in the majority of the cases by user preference, in certain situations one THV may be more suitable than another. As the procedure is performed under fluoroscopy, the third step is to become familiarized with the fluoroscopic appearance of both the SHV and THV. This helps to determine the landmarks for optimal positioning, which in turn determines the gradients and fixation. The fourth step is to assess the risk of coronary obstruction. This is performed with either aortic root angiography or ECG-gated computerised tomography (CT). Finally, the route of approach must be carefully planned. Once these aspects are addressed, the procedure can be performed efficiently with a low risk of complications.


This paper deals with the principle of relative risk aversion (RRA), which has been put forward by Breen and Goldthorpe (1997) as an explanation of inequality in educational attainment. While the original idea of the concept is to account for the basic mechanisms that produce educational inequality, this paper argues that RRA can also provide an explanation of dynamic processes related to changes in educational attainment over successive birth cohorts. RRA provides a rationale for educational upward mobility vis-a-vis the parents' generation whenever educational requirements attached to occupations change. Relatedly, RRA can also account for changes in educational inequality if these processes vary with social origin. The paper elaborates on these implications theoretically and also suggests an empirical analytical framework for testing the explanatory contribution that the RRA principle can make to changes in educational mobility and inequality. The empirical analyses refer to Germany as a test case and utilize data from the German Microcensus and ALLBUS studies. The findings indicate that the RRA principle actually provides a partial explanation of educational upward mobility and also accounts for substantial parts of the changes in inequality in educational attainment.


In this book, Jacob Neusner gives an introductory, systematic, and holistic account of the theology and practice of Rabbinic Judaism, which emerged, along with Christianity, from antiquity and formed the classical statement of Judaism to the present day. He offers a description of beliefs and practices, theology as expressed in mythic narratives, and norms of ritual and symbolic behavior. Neusner also discusses: revelation and scripture, the doctrine of God, the definition of the holy, the chain of tradition embodied in the story of the written and oral Torah, the intervention of God in history through miracles, sacred space, atonement and repentance, death and afterlife, and art and symbol in Judaism.


Infill redevelopment—the transformation of previously used urban sites—is generally regarded as an important way to attain environmental and urban sustainability goals. At many locales, however, such urban renewal, community development, and tax revenue goals must be reconciled with historic preservation objectives. Are economic incentives and regulatory relief useful tools for encouraging reuse of abandoned or underutilized urban sites with historic buildings? Answering this question is of key importance for many European cities and for older US cities, and has important implications in terms of urban sustainability and "smart growth" initiatives. We use conjoint choice experiments to explore the relative importance of economic incentives, regulatory relief, land use and property regime offerings at underutilized historical sites in Venice, Italy. We survey real estate developers and investors, and ask them to choose between pairs of hypothetical projects in three Venice locations, as well as between one of these projects and the alternative to do a development project elsewhere. Statistical models of the responses to these choice questions indicate that respondents are sensitive to the price of acquiring the land (and hence to any policies that influence prices), and especially sensitive to the property regime that would be granted to developers and investors and to the allowable land use. Contrary to expectations, our respondents were insensitive to tightening or relaxing the stringency of building conservation restrictions. Our findings sound a common theme with Howland (2004), who warns that redevelopment of previously used sites in Baltimore is impaired by obsolete land uses, zoning and infrastructure (but not by suspected or actual contamination). We conclude that the City should focus on offering land uses and property regimes that are more in tune with developer demand.


The report gives an assessment of the degree of traffic nuisance in a small town at different levels of traffic flow, before and after the construction of a by-pass. Measurements of traffic characteristics and of public attitudes are given. A nuisance index ranging from 0 to 6 showed a median of 1.7 when trunk road traffic passed through the town. This dropped to 0.3 when the traffic changes due to the by-pass occurred. Such environmental ill-effects as there were, were virtually eliminated by the reduction in flows following the opening of the by-pass. The main disadvantage was considered by some respondents to be a drop in commercial activity in the town. The study is one of a series of case studies where changes in traffic flow have occurred, and from which more general conclusions will be published. /Author/TRRL/


Always consult local infection prevention and control protocols; only basic principles are detailed here.Immediately isolate all suspected or confirmed cases in an area that is separate from other patients. Place patients in adequately ventilated single rooms if possible. When single rooms are not available, place all cases together in the same room and ensure there is at least 3 feet (1 meter) between patients. Implement standard precautions at all times: Practice hand and respiratory hygiene, Give patients a medical mask to wear, Wear appropriate personal protective equipment, Practice safe waste management and environmental cleaning. Implement additional contact and droplet precautions before entering a room where cases are admitted:Wear a medical mask, gloves, an appropriate gown, and eye/facial protection (e.g., goggles or a face shield), Use single-use or disposable equipment.


What do your donors need? How can you win their support? For the nonprofit seeking to improve programs and increase fundraising, this book provides a step-by-step guide to listening to the needs of your donors through effective survey research. Bruce Campbell draws from over fifteen years of professional experience and real-life examples to provide many of the research tools that a nonprofit needs. He explains how to design questionnaires, select sample populations, create focus groups, analyze survey results, and much more. Throughout the book, there are tables, action steps, and sample questionnaires to help tailor your donor research to the organization's mission and goals. With the right approach, your nonprofit can not only build donor relations but also expand its resources. Listening to Your Donors is an essential tool for nonprofit executives involved with fundraising, communications, marketing, or public relations.


Several recent studies suggest that magnetic reconnection is able to erode substantial amounts of the outer magnetic flux of interplanetary magnetic clouds (MCs) as they propagate in the heliosphere. We quantify and provide a broader context to this process, starting from 263 tabulated interplanetary coronal mass ejections, including MCs, observed over a time period covering 17 years and at a distance of 1 AU from the Sun with Wind (1995–2008) and the two STEREO (2009–2012) spacecraft. Based on several quality factors, including careful determination of the MC boundaries and main magnetic flux rope axes, an analysis of the azimuthal flux imbalance expected from erosion by magnetic reconnection was performed on a subset of 50 MCs. The results suggest that MCs may be eroded at the front or at rear and in similar proportions, with a significant average erosion of about 40% of the total azimuthal magnetic flux. We also searched for in situ signatures of magnetic reconnection causing erosion at the front and rear boundaries of these MCs. Nearly ~30% of the selected MC boundaries show reconnection signatures. Given that observations were acquired only at 1 AU and that MCs are large‐scale structures, this finding is also consistent with the idea that erosion is a common process. Finally, we studied potential correlations between the amount of eroded azimuthal magnetic flux and various parameters such as local magnetic shear, Alfvén speed, and leading and trailing ambient solar wind speeds. However, no significant correlations were found, suggesting that the locally observed parameters at 1 AU are not likely to be representative of the conditions that prevailed during the erosion which occurred during propagation from the Sun to 1 AU. Future heliospheric missions, and in particular Solar Orbiter or Solar Probe Plus, will be fully geared to answer such questions.


New vaccine technology has led to vaccines containing highly purified antigens with improved safety profiles, but increased antigen purity often results in weakened immunogenicity. A better understanding of innate and adaptive immunity and their interaction at the molecular level has led to the use of innovative adjuvants combined with careful an- tigen selection. Adjuvants can be used to amplify the immune response, and the combination of antigens with more than one adjuvant, the Adjuvant System approach, allows the development of vaccines which generate specific and effective immune responses adapted to both the pathogen and the target population. One of those Adjuvant Systems is AS04, a combination of the TLR4 agonist MPL (3-O-desacyl-4'-monophosphoryl lipid A) and aluminum salt. The added value of MPL in AS04-based formulation above Aluminium was evidenced for a prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18 vaccine by higher vaccine-elicited antibody responses, as well as the induction of higher levels of memory B-cells. This review focuses on the role of AS04 for development of Cervarix™, a vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer. © 2010 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.


OBJECTIVE
To describe delivery management of singleton stillbirths in a population-based, multicenter case series.

METHODS
We conducted a retrospective chart review of 611 women with singleton stillbirths at 20 weeks of gestation or greater from March 2006 to September 2008. Medical and delivery information was abstracted from medical records. Both antepartum and intrapartum stillbirths were included; these were analyzed both together and separately. The primary outcome was mode of delivery. Secondary outcomes included induction of labor and indications for cesarean delivery. Indications for cesarean delivery were classified as obstetric (abnormal fetal heart tracing before intrapartum demise, abruption, coagulopathy, uterine rupture, placenta previa, or labor dystocia) or nonobstetric (patient request, repeat cesarean delivery, or not documented).

RESULTS
Of the 611 total cases of stillbirth, 93 (15.2%) underwent cesarean delivery, including 43.0% (46/107) of women with prior cesarean delivery and 9.3% (47/504) of women without prior cesarean delivery. No documented obstetric indication was evident for 38.3% (18/47) of primary and 78.3% (36/46) of repeat cesarean deliveries. Labor induction resulted in vaginal delivery for 98.5% (321/326) of women without prior cesarean delivery and 91.1% (41/45) of women with a history of prior cesarean delivery, including two women who had uterine rupture. Among women with a history of prior cesarean delivery who had spontaneous labor, 74.1% (20/27) delivered vaginally, with no cases of uterine rupture.

CONCLUSION
Women with stillbirth usually delivered vaginally regardless of whether labor was spontaneous or induced or whether they had a prior cesarean delivery. However, 15% underwent cesarean delivery, often without a documented obstetric indication.


The study is aimed at investigating the binder properties ofTreculia africana seed gum in metronidazole tablets in order to find a suitable locally sourced alternative for use as pharmaceutical binder in tablet dosage forms. The treculia gum was extracted from the seeds of Treculia africana by defatting using chloroform and methanol in the ratio of 2:1 and cold precipitation in acetone using acetone/gum powder mucilage in the ratio of 3:1. Tablets of metronidazole containing 0 1, 2, 3 and 4% w/w concentrations of Treculia africana gum were prepared using wet granulation method. The tablets were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, disintegration time and dissolution time according to the British Pharmacopoeia standards. Results showed that tablet crushing strength values of 2 – 8 kgf, disintegration time of 0.49 -1.31 minutes and friability values of 0.5825.801%.The dissolution test result showed that all the batches had more than 80%release of their metronidazole content within 45 minutes and more than 95% release within one hour. The tablets produced using treculia gum especially at 3% and 4% w/w gum concentrations conformed with the official quality control standards as stipulated in the British Pharmacopoiea. Therefore, Treculia Africana gum could serve as a local alternative for use as binder in tablet production.


Birds and bird lore provide a fascinating window onto our social and cultural history, and can tell us much about our changing relationship with the British landscape, our people and society.

We Brits love our birds. They hold a special place in our hearts – whether it's the sound of birdsong on a spring morning, the sight of a Barn Owl hunting on a summer's evening, or a Robin perched on our garden spade. In this book, Stephen Moss focusses on some of our most beloved and charismatic birds. He explores their fascinating biology, and their place in the evolving culture and history of the British people.

The author delves into the worlds of Sea Birds (Puffin, Sea Eagle and Gannet), Water Birds (Kingfisher, Swan and Avocet), Countryside Birds (Red Grouse, Nightingale and Skylark ) and Town & Garden Birds (Robin, House Sparrow and Magpie), weaving their stories together to tell four very different stories about the changing face of Britain.


A set of novel time-domain features characterizing multi-channel surface EMG (sEMG) signals of six muscles (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, and semitendinosus of each leg) is proposed for prediction of physiological parameters considered important in cycling: blood lactate concentration and oxygen uptake. Fifty one different features, including phase shifts between muscles, active time percentages, sEMG amplitudes, as well as symmetry measures between both legs, were defined from sEMG data and used to train linear and random forest models. The random forests models achieved the coefficient of determination R2 = 0:962 (lactate) and R2 = 0:980 (oxygen). The linear models were less accurate. Feature pruning applied enabled creating accurate random forest models (R2 >0:9) using as few as 7 (lactate) or 4 (oxygen) time-domain features. sEMG amplitude was important for both types of models. Models to predict lactate also relied on measurements describing interaction between front and back muscles, while models to predict oxygen uptake relied on front muscles only, but also included interactions between the two legs.


BACKGROUND
Two major determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are a sedentary lifestyle and stress. Qigong involves physical exercise, mind regulation and breathing control to restore the flow of Qi (a pivotal life energy). As it is thought to help reduce stress and involves exercise, qigong may be an effective strategy for the primary prevention of CVD.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the effectiveness of qigong for the primary prevention of CVD.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the following electronic databases: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (November 2014, Issue 10 of 12); MEDLINE (Ovid) (1946 to 2014 October week 4); EMBASE Classic + EMBASE (Ovid) (1947 to 2014 November 4); Web of Science Core Collection (1970 to 31 October 2014); Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment Database and Health Economics Evaluations Database (November 2014, Issue 4 of 4). We searched several Asian databases (inception to July 2013) and the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) (inception to December 2013), as well as trial registers and reference lists of reviews and articles; we also approached experts in the field and applied no language restrictions in our search.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials lasting at least three months involving healthy adults or those at high risk of CVD. Trials examined any type of qigong, and comparison groups provided no intervention or minimal intervention. Outcomes of interest included clinical CVD events and major CVD risk factors. We did not include trials that involved multi-factorial lifestyle interventions or weight loss.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently selected trials for inclusion. Two review authors extracted data from included studies and assessed the risk of bias.

MAIN RESULTS
We identified 11 completed trials (1369 participants) and one ongoing trial. Trials were heterogeneous in participants recruited, qigong duration and length of follow-up periods. We were unable to ascertain the risk of bias in nine trials published in Chinese, as insufficient methodological details were reported and we were unable to contact the study authors to clarify this.We performed no meta-analyses, as trials were small and were at significant risk of bias. Clinical events were detailed in subsequent reports of two trials when statistically significant effects of qigong were seen for all-cause mortality, stroke mortality and stroke incidence at 20 to 30 years after completion of the trials. However, these trials were designed to examine outcomes in the short term, and it is not clear whether qigong was practised during extended periods of follow-up; therefore effects cannot be attributed to the intervention. None of the included studies reported other non-fatal CVD events.Six trials provided data that could be used to examine the effects of qigong on blood pressure. Reductions in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were seen in three and two trials, respectively. Three trials examined the effects of qigong on blood lipids when favourable effects were seen in one trial for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides, and two trials showed favourable effects on high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The only trial considered at low risk of selection and detection bias did not demonstrate statistically significant effects on CVD risk factors with qigong, but this study was small and was underpowered. None of the included studies reported incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), adverse events, quality of life or costs.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Currently, very limited evidence is available on the effectiveness of qigong for the primary prevention of CVD. Most of the trials included in this review are likely to be at high risk of bias, so we have very low confidence in the validity of the results. Publication of the ongoing trial will add to the limited evidence base, but further trials of high methodological quality with sufficient sample size and follow-up are needed to be incorporated in an update of this review before the effectiveness of qigong for CVD prevention can be established.


2nd Mediterranean Symposium on the Conservation of Coralligenous and other Calcareous Bio-Concretions, 29-30 October 2014, Portorož, Slovenia.-- 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table


Automation using deep learning from demonstrations requires many training examples. Gathering this data is time consuming and expensive, and human demonstrators are prone to inconsistencies and errors that can delay or degrade learning. This paper explores how characterizing supervisor inconsistency and correcting for this noise can improve task performance with a limited budget of data. We consider a planar part extraction task (separating one part from a group) where human operators provide demonstrations by teleoperating a 2DOF robot. We analyze 30, 000 image-control pairs from 480 trajectories. After error corrections, trained CNN models show an improvement of 11.2% upon the baseline in mean absolute success rate.


Coal has been the world's fastest-growing energy source in absolute terms for over a decade. Coal also emits more CO2 than any other fossil fuel and contributes to serious air pollution problems in many regions of the world. If we hope to satisfy the demand for affordable energy in emerging economies while protecting the environment we need to develop a keen understanding of the market that supplies coal. This book offers an in-depth analysis of the key producers and consumers that will most influence coal production, transport, and use in the future. By exploring how countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa have developed their respective coal industries - and how these industries link together through the international coal trade - experts shed light on how the global coal market may evolve, and the economic and environmental implications. This book is the most comprehensive treatment of these topics to date and will appeal to a wide readership, including scholars and practitioners working on energy economics and policy.


BACKGROUND
Dialysis-requiring acute kidney injury (AKI) is common among critically ill patients, but little is known about trends in the incidence and outcomes of this condition over time.

STUDY DESIGN
Population-based cohort study.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS
All adult patients admitted to an intensive care unit in Ontario, Canada, 1996 to 2010.

PREDICTOR
Year and era (1996-2000, 2001-2005, and 2006-2010) of cohort entry.

OUTCOMES
Mortality and dialysis dependence, each evaluated at 90 and 365 days after initiation of dialysis therapy for AKI.

MEASUREMENTS
The annual incidence proportion of dialysis-requiring AKI was evaluated and patients with this condition were characterized by era. Associations between era and the outcomes of interest were evaluated with Cox proportional hazards (for time to death) and logistic regression (for dialysis dependence), with adjustment for relevant demographic and clinical variables.

RESULTS
The annual incidence of dialysis-requiring AKI among critically ill patients increased from 0.8% in 1996 to 3.0% in 2010 (P for trend < 0.001). 90-day mortality declined from 50% in 1996 to 2000 to 45% in 2006 to 2010 (adjusted HR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.79-0.87] compared to 1996-2000). Dialysis dependence among surviving patients at 90 days was marginally lower in 2006 to 2010 (25.1%) compared to 1996 to 2000 (27.2%), but after adjustment for confounding factors, was not significantly different (adjusted OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.80-1.03).

LIMITATIONS
Unmeasured confounding by factors that may have changed in patients with dialysis-requiring AKI during the different eras; data set does not allow for mechanistic explanation for the findings; and lack of access to laboratory investigations after hospital discharge.

CONCLUSIONS
The incidence proportion of dialysis-requiring AKI among critically ill patients increased by almost 4-fold between 1996 and 2010. This was accompanied by a significant decline in mortality, but the risk of long-term dialysis dependence continues to affect a substantial minority of surviving patients with no clear evidence of improvement over time.


We use combinations of geomagnetic indices, based on both variation range and hourly means, to derive the solar wind flow speed, the interplanetary magnetic field strength at 1 AU and the total open solar flux between 1895 and the present. We analyze the effects of the regression procedure and geomagnetic indices used by adopting four analysis methods. These give a mean interplanetary magnetic field strength increase of 45.1 ± 4.5% between 1903 and 1956, associated with a 14.4 ± 0.7% rise in the solar wind speed. We use averaging timescales of 1 and 2 days to allow for the difference between the magnetic fluxes threading the coronal source surface and the heliocentric sphere at 1 AU. The largest uncertainties originate from the choice of regression procedure: the average of all eight estimates of the rise in open solar flux is 73.0 ± 5.0%, but the best procedure, giving the narrowest and most symmetric distribution of fit residuals, yields 87.3 ± 3.9%.


The last decade has seen the emergence of a number of innovative community level initiatives in Asia, Africa and Latin America for agrobiodiversity development and conservation. Traditional knowledge systems form and integral part of many of these programs. However, there is still a considerable lack of awareness of the importance of traditional agrobiodiversity knowledge systems and of the successes of these new initiatives within formal science institutions. This paper will address a few issues that will need special attention if the successes of the new programs are to be consolidated and their developments shared in a broader perspective. The paper argues that further research is needed inter alia on: (a) approaches to encourage enable inter-cultural recognition and acceptance; (b) specific adjustments needed of national agricultural policy and national agricultural research systems to become supportive of local plant genetic resource management, and (c) different options for protection of traditional knowledge and of collective systems for conservation and development of biodiversity in a wider, non-IPR sense.


Effective government matters, but what is it? Good governance indicators go some way to provide a definition, but how much do they say about what effectiveness is, why this is so, and how it matters to development? This is the current article's question. It argues that good governance work suggests a one-best-way model ostensibly of an idyllic, developed country government: Sweden or Denmark on a good day, perhaps. The model lacks consistency, however, seems inappropriate for use in the development dialog and is not easily convey-able, looking more like a set of well meaning but problematic proverbs. The good governance picture of effective government is not only of limited use in development but also constitutes a threat, promoting isomorphism, institutional dualism, and 'flailing states' and imposing an inappropriate model of government that "kicks away the ladder" today's effective governments climbed to reach their current states. The model's major weakness lies in the lack of an effective underlying theoretical framework. A theory of government is needed before we measure government effectiveness or propose specific models of what government should look like. Such theory should address basic questions that center on the fit of different governing systems to different contexts.


Due to the alarming increase in overweight/obesity among adolescents in the UK and in response to low levels of PAS (physical activity and sport), initiatives have been developed to promote PAS in vulnerable groups. The purpose of this study is: (1) to evaluate the effect of one such PAS initiative on 11-13 (n = 913) years old young people's PAS patterns and participation; (2) to assess young peoples' expectations and perceived benefits of the program; and (3) to make evidenced based recommendations for future interventions. Socio-demographic data, PAS data and perceptions of the program were assessed via questionnaire. Anthropometric data (height, weight, waist circumference) were also measured. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to test for significant differences between baseline and follow-up PAS data. McNemar chi-square tests were used to test for significance between baseline and follow-up expectations data. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests showed a reduction in total PAS (from 39% to 7%) from baseline to follow-up but five sports not currently offered through the national PE (physical education) curriculum (badminton, basketball, volleyball, cricket and rowing) saw an increase in participation. Young people's perception of the program was positive, with a significant increase in those reporting the program helped them "be more sporty" and "be more healthy" (both significant at P < 0.05). While overall PAS did not increase, sports offered outside of those available as part of the national curriculum for PE were more popular; strengthening the case for further research and supporting the current trend of extending the sports available through PE in schools and school sports to positively contribute to increase in PAS. Future interventions should consider the target population more carefully in the design and implementation of such programs by offering culturally responsive PAS programs.


From Russia with Lovely Data Climate and the atmospheric concentration of CO2 are closely linked. Brigham-Grette et al. (p. 1421, published online 9 May) present data from Lake El'gygytgyn, in northeast Arctic Russia, that shows how climate varied between 3.6 and 2.2 million years ago, an important interval in the global cooling trend that accelerated rapidly at the end of the Miocene. Summer temperatures were about 10°C warmer than today, even though the concentration of atmospheric CO2 was similar. A sediment core from Lake El'gygytgyn, in northeast Russia, provides a high-latitude climate record of the late Pliocene. Understanding the evolution of Arctic polar climate from the protracted warmth of the middle Pliocene into the earliest glacial cycles in the Northern Hemisphere has been hindered by the lack of continuous, highly resolved Arctic time series. Evidence from Lake El'gygytgyn, in northeast (NE) Arctic Russia, shows that 3.6 to 3.4 million years ago, summer temperatures were ~8°C warmer than today, when the partial pressure of CO2 was ~400 parts per million. Multiproxy evidence suggests extreme warmth and polar amplification during the middle Pliocene, sudden stepped cooling events during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, and warmer than present Arctic summers until ~2.2 million years ago, after the onset of Northern Hemispheric glaciation. Our data are consistent with sea-level records and other proxies indicating that Arctic cooling was insufficient to support large-scale ice sheets until the early Pleistocene.


Nowadays foreign exchange interventions occur in emerging market economies whereas empirical studies on interventions mainly refer to advanced economies. However, interventions in emerging markets are different from those in advanced economies: they occur "regularly" and central banks have considerable leverage, derived from relatively high reserves, some non-sterilization, the central bank's information advantage and capital controls. Consequently, these interventions often successfully impact the level and volatility of exchange rates. Nevertheless, more research on interventions in emerging markets is needed analyzing the influence of heterogeneous institutional circumstances, examining the role of central bank communication and using high-frequency data.


This study is aimed at developing internal reform plans for a water department of Seoul City by benchmarking it with selected best practices of the world. At first a performance indicator system was developed to logically evaluate concerns, problems, and issues of the Seoul water department. Since it is typical of Korean water services providers, the Seoul water department was selected while Tokyo's in Japan and Denver's in America were selected since they were considered as best practices of public waterworks much similar in governing structure to the one in Seoul. The results of benchmarking concluded that Seoul has traditionally been emphasizing more on being a good public servant providing drinking water services, and should be reformed in directions emphasizing 'entrepreneurship' to overcome its current limitations. Based on the results, a road map to reform the Seoul water department was established. Since it is typical in Korea, the reform plans and road map established were further recommended for reforming other drinking water services providers in Korea.


One of the basic principle of the transaction in Islamic law is the freedom of the contract.By this principle, Moslem community have freedom to create, to modify or to innovate the forms of aqd as long as do not contradict to the basic and the goal of Islamic legislation. Thu s, the field of social affairs of Islamic law can develop dynamically and answer the the cases of the contemporary economics affairs. In order to answer those problems the Islamic jurists beside master the basic principles of Islamic law and aslo master the social affairs aspect of the contemporary of economics.Th ose principles of course differ from those of the field of ritual personal matters in Islamic law. Keywords: asas perjanjian, hukum kontrak syari'ah, dan asas kebebasan berkontrak.


The robustness of calix[4]arene dihydroxyphosphonic acid and its ubiquitous dimeric motif offers perspectives for predefined solid-state complexation with small molecules. In the current article, we describe the complex of calix[4]arene dihydroxyphosphonic acid with three different forms of bipyridyl ligand:  2,2'-bipyridine, 4,4'-bipyridine, and 1,2-bipyridylethane. A number of resemblances and differences in the interactions between the components in the complexes are pointed out. All the complexes are based on layers of calixarene dimers alternated with layers of bipyridyl molecules. While the complex with 2,2'-bipyridine is encaged by a dense network of hydrogen bonds, the complexes with 4,4'-bipyridine and 1,2-bipyridylethane generate an extended 1-D ladder network. All of the complexes present π−π interactions between the bipyridyl moieties and the calix[4]arene dihydroxyphosphonic acid.


The present study aimed to assess the live weight, carcass weight and the importance of fat storage in camel by barymetric measurement before and after slaughtering. A total of 61 camels aged between 6 months and 15 years were measured at the abattoir of Dakhla in south of Morocco. The barymetric measures were achieved before slaughtering. After the death of the animals, the hump volume was estimated by using Archimedes' principle. The hump length and the height were good indicators of the carcass weight (r= 0.73 and r = 0.78, respectively) and of the live weight (r = 0.54 and r = 0.53, respectively). Neck perimeter and thigh perimeter were good predictors of the carcass weight. The live weight and carcass weight could be assessed by the following equations: (i) Carcass weight (kg) = 1.21 x (Hump height (cm) + neck perimeter (cm) - 17.49; (ii) Live weight (kg) = 4.06 x Age (year) + 3.05 x neck perimeter (cm) + 3.38 x thigh perimeter (cm) + 1.38 x hump length (cm) - 191; with 86 and 94% of the explained variance, respectively. Hump volume, length and height of the hump were good indicators of the adiposity of camel (correlations coefficient of 0.80, 0.70 and 0.60, respectively with the total fat storage. The hump represented 80% of the fat stored while the fat around kidney and mesentery represented 15 and 5%, respectively. The multivariate analysis allowed identifying three types of body condition (live measures) and body composition (post-mortem measures). (Resume d'auteur)


Data is growing at an exponential rate and several systems have emerged to store and analyze such large amounts of data. These systems, termed Big data systems are fast evolving Examples include the NoSQL storage systems, Hadoop Map-Reduce, data analytics platforms, search and indexing platforms, and messaging infrastructures. These systems address needs for structured and unstructured data across a wide spectrum of domains such as web, social networks, enterprise, cloud, mobile, sensor networks, multimedia/streaming, cyberphysical and high performance systems, and for multiple application verticals such as biosciences, healthcare, transportation, public sector, energy utilities, oil & gas, and scientific computing.

With increasing scale and complexity, managing these big data systems to cope with failures and performance problems is becoming non-trivial. New resource management and scheduling mechanisms are also needed for such systems, and so are mechanisms for tuning and support from platform layers. Several open source and proprietary solutions have been proposed to address these requirements, with extensive contributions from industry and academia. However, there remain substantial challenges, including those that pertain to such systems autonomic and self-management capabilities.

The objective of the MBDS workshop is to bring together researchers, practitioners, system administrators, system programmers, and others interested in sharing and presenting their perspectives on the effective management of big data systems. The focus of the workshop is on novel and practical, systems-oriented work. MBDS offers an opportunity for researchers and practitioners from industry, academia, and national labs to showcase the latest advances in this area and to also discuss and identify future directions and challenges in all aspects on autonomic management of big data systems.

Papers are solicited on all aspects of big data management. Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited, to the following:
* Autonomic and self-managing techniques
* Application-level resource management and scheduling mechanisms
* System tuning/auto-tuning and configuration management
* Performance management, fault management, and power management
* Scalability challenges
* Complexity challenges, as for composite, cross-tier systems with multiple control loops
* Unified management of 'data in motion' and 'data at rest'
* Dealing with both structured and unstructured data
* Monitoring, diagnosis, and automated behaviour detection
* System-level principles and support for resource management
* Holistic management across hardware and software
* Implications of emerging hardware technologies such as non-volatile memory
* Domain specific challenges in web, cloud, social networks, mobile, sensor networks, streaming analytics, cyber-physical systems
* System building and experience papers for specific industry verticals


Synthesis and characterization of transition metal (TM)-doped In 2O3 oxide is reported. Most of the samples were found to be paramagnetic, and only Ye and Cr co-doped sample showed as light trace of ferromagnetism at 300 K with saturation magnetization M s = 0.35 emug/g. Measured transport properties revealed significant differences in transport among the samples. The absolute value of electrical resistivity for the In1.8Fe0.1Mn0.1O3 sample at 300 K was rho= 9.4 x 103 Omega middot cm, while In1.8Fe0.1Cr0.1O3 had rho = 62 Omega middot cm at the same temperature. Furthermore, magnetoresistance (MR) studies of In1.8Fe0.1Cr0.1O3 showed that the sign of MR changes from negative (200 K), with MR(200 K) = -0.2%, to positive T < 50 K reaching maximum absolute value at 10 K, i.e., MR(10K) = 5.2 %.


Background— Despite guideline recommendations that patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass surgery, or valve surgery be referred to cardiac rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation is underused. The objective of this study was to examine hospital-level variation in cardiac rehabilitation referral after PCI, coronary artery bypass surgery, and valve surgery. Methods and Results— We analyzed data from the Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program, a registry of all nonfederal hospitals performing PCI and cardiac surgery in Washington State. We included eligible PCI, coronary artery bypass surgery, and valve surgery patients from 2010 to 2015. We analyzed PCI and cardiac surgery separately by performing multivariable hierarchical logistic regression for the outcome of cardiac rehabilitation referral at discharge, clustered by hospital. Patient-level covariates included age, sex, race/ethnicity, comorbidities, and procedure indication/status. Cardiac rehabilitation referral was reported in 48% (34 047/71 556) of PCI patients and 91% (21 831/23 972) of cardiac surgery patients. The hospital performing the procedure was a stronger predictor of referral than any individual patient characteristic for PCI (hospital referral range 3%–97%; median odds ratio, 5.94; 95% confidence interval, 4.10–9.49) and cardiac surgery (range 54%–100%; median odds ratio, 7.09; 95% confidence interval, 3.79–17.80). Hospitals having an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program explained only 10% of PCI variation and 0% of cardiac surgery variation. Conclusions— Cardiac rehabilitation referral at discharge was less prevalent after PCI than cardiac surgery. The strongest predictor of cardiac rehabilitation referral was the hospital performing the procedure. Efforts to improve cardiac rehabilitation referral should focus on increasing referral after PCI, especially in low referral hospitals.


Landslide is among one of the most important natural hazards that lead to modification of the environment. It is a regular feature of a rapidly growing district Mansehra, Pakistan. This caused extensive loss of life and property in the district located at the foothills of Himalaya. Keeping in view the situation it is concluded that besides structural approaches the non-structural approaches such as hazard and risk assessment maps are effective tools to reduce the intensity of damage. A landslide susceptibility map is base for engineering geologists and geomorphologists. However, it is not easy to produce a reliable susceptibility map due to complex nature of landslides. Since 1980s, several mathematical models have been developed to map landslide susceptibility and hazard. Among various models this paper is discussing the effectiveness of fuzzy logic approach for landslide susceptibility mapping in District Mansehra, Pakistan. The factor maps were modified as landslide susceptibility and fuzzy membership functions were assessed for each class. Likelihood ratios are obtained for each class of contributing factors by considering the expert opinion. The fuzzy operators are applied to generate landslide susceptibility maps. According to this map, 17% of the study area is classified as high susceptibility, 32% as moderate susceptibility, 51% as low susceptibility and areas. From the results it is found that the fuzzy model can integrate effectively with various spatial data for landslide hazard mapping, suggestions in this study are hope to be helpful to improve the applications including interpretation, and integration phases in order to obtain an accurate decision supporting layer.


Data engineering is generally considered to be a central issue in the development of data mining applications. The success of many learning schemes, in their attempts to construct models of data, hinges on the reliable identification of a small set of highly predictive attributes. The inclusion of irrelevant, redundant, and noisy attributes in the model building process phase can result in poor predictive performance and increased computation. Attribute selection generally involves a combination of search and attribute utility estimation plus evaluation with respect to specific learning schemes. This leads to a large number of possible permutations and has led to a situation where very few benchmark studies have been conducted. This paper presents a benchmark comparison of several attribute selection methods for supervised classification. All the methods produce an attribute ranking, a useful devise for isolating the individual merit of an attribute. Attribute selection is achieved by cross-validating the attribute rankings with respect to a classification learner to find the best attributes. Results are reported for a selection of standard data sets and two diverse learning schemes C4.5 and naive Bayes.


The ionome, or elemental profile, of a maize kernel can be viewed in at least two distinct ways. First, the collection of elements within the kernel are food and feed for people and animals. Second, the ionome of the kernel represents a developmental end point that can summarize the life history of a plant, combining genetic programs and environmental interactions. We assert that single-kernel-based phenotyping of the ionome is an effective method of analysis, as it represents a reasonable compromise between precision, efficiency, and power. Here, we evaluate potential pitfalls of this sampling strategy using several field-grown maize sample sets. We demonstrate that there is enough genetically determined diversity in accumulation of many of the elements assayed to overcome potential artifacts. Further, we demonstrate that environmental signals are detectable through their influence on the kernel ionome. We conclude that using single kernels as the sampling unit is a valid approach for understanding genetic and environmental effects on the maize kernel ionome.


In this significant Marxist critique of contemporary American imperialism, the cultural theorist Randy Martin argues that a finance-based logic of risk control has come to dominate Americans' everyday lives as well as U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Risk management—the ability to adjust for risk and to leverage it for financial gain—is the key to personal finance as well as the defining element of the massive global market in financial derivatives. The United States wages its amorphous war on terror by leveraging particular interventions (such as Iraq) to much larger ends (winning the war on terror) and by deploying small numbers of troops and targeted weaponry to achieve broad effects. Both in global financial markets and on far-flung battlegrounds, the multiplier effects are difficult to foresee or control.

Drawing on theorists including Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, and Achille Mbembe, Martin illuminates a frightening financial logic that must be understood in order to be countered. Martin maintains that finance divides the world between those able to avail themselves of wealth opportunities through risk taking (investors) and those who cannot do so, who are considered "at risk." He contends that modern-day American imperialism differs from previous models of imperialism, in which the occupiers engaged with the occupied to "civilize" them, siphon off wealth, or both. American imperialism, by contrast, is an empire of indifference: a massive flight from engagement. The United States urges an embrace of risk and self-management on the occupied and then ignores or dispossesses those who cannot make the grade.


Do Conventions Matter? provides a complete overview of national party conventions in Canada, from 1919, when the first convention was held, to 1993, including the selection of Stanfield, Trudeau, Broadbent, Clark, Mulroney, Turner, McLaughlin, Chretien, Campbell, and Manning. Courtney compares leadership selection practices in Canada with those in the United States, Britain, and Australia, and shows that Canadian conventions remain a distinctive means of choosing party leaders. Focusing on modern developments in the convention process, Courtney highlights changes in representation over the last thirty years, addresses criticisms about costs and delegate selection practices, and examines the role of the media. He concludes with an examination of the future of conventions in the context of Canadian democracy, given sky-rocketing costs, the movement to reform political parties, and the push towards a universal membership vote. He argues convincingly that the objectives of greater representation and greater democracy explain both the emergence of conventions to choose the leaders of federal parties and their possible demise in the near future.


High-level descriptions for web-based adaptive education and collaborative problem solving proposed by Kennedy et al and by Eccles and Groth (this issue) provide useful starting points. The challenge is to build on and to convert such analyses into executable systems. This commentary shows how the proposed frameworks may be automated by representing knowledge in terms of Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs) and associated Structural Learning Theory (SLT). A wide range of questions can be asked both at conceptually high levels of abstraction as well as regarding implementation. ASTs provide an intuitive basis for accomplishing this goal by making it possible to represent knowledge at multiple levels of abstraction. The relatively complex inferential nature of associated tutorial logic also is shown to have important implications for how web-based adaptive education is actually implemented. Supporting collaborating learners will require representing the knowledge associated with multiple learners, and specifying inferences between multiple (or shared) learner models as learning progresses. In cooperative problem solving, problem solvers receive the same or complementary problems. In adversarial situations, problem solvers, human or automated, effectively have different problems (e.g., different goals), as well as different rule sets (i.e., knowledge).


Chilean flame creeper is a summer active perennial vine growing to 5 m or more. It has an extensive rhizomatous root system and has proved very difficult to control with herbicides. Both the above and below ground stems are soft, without any tough outer skin or bark. For these studies plants were grown in 50 litre tubs in Waikato and Southland and four replicate tubs were destructively harvested at monthly intervals to measure the root structure and top growth. Plant material for both studies was sourced from an infestation at Mangaweka. The rhizomes appeared to be entirely replaced with none of the remaining original root fragments sprouting in the second year. Also, the growing rhizomes initiated secondary rhizomes before they emerged. It appears that this is the reason this species is difficult to control as the herbicides were not translocating into the secondary rhizomes. The growth of Chilean flame creeper from Waikato and Southland was markedly different. After 4 months growth the Waikato plants averaged 151 mm of primary rhizome and nine emerged shoots while Southland plants averaged 116 mm of rhizome and three emerged shoots. At this time, however, plants grown in both locations had tertiary rhizomes.


This article explores the lived experiences of disabled men and women who work in sheltered employment. Specifically, it analyses how the entanglement of sociomaterial practices affects disabled workers' co-constructions of work and disability. Theoretically grounded in posthumanist performativity theory, the article shows how embodied employment experiences within organisational spaces contribute to the materialisation of disability. Findings emerged from ethnographic participant observations and interviews with management and workers at a sheltered workshop. The data highlight how the entanglement of bodies, space, objects and discourses affects materialisations of disability in ways that appear more inclusive than in mainstream employment. However, these sociomaterial practices remain embedded in a productivity-oriented work logic.


This chapter looks at the impact and opportunities of semantic technologies and Web services to business relationships and how social Semantic Web techniques foster e-business and collaborative networks in many dimensions. For this the authors follow the vision to support collaborative services for business relationship management within semantic services. Based on a newly approach for business partner management with ontologies in large business communities, the chapter elaborates the conceptual framework for the design and implementation of collaborative services. The often postulated adaptiveness and intelligence of novel collaborative structures, foremost collaborative networks, require new approaches to deal with the increasing difficulty to cope with the resulting complexity of relational ties in communities and business networks. This research strives to leverage the capabilities to deal with large number of business relationships. The chapter formulates a vision based on three stages developing digital business ecosystems. Semantic Web technologies, mainly modelling business partner profiles (BPP) with ontology, combined with sound techniques of information retrieval and selected concepts and methods of social network analysis build the conceptual framework. On this basis, a newly approach is elaborated which offers support for communication processes and complex interactions of business entities in collaborative spaces.


The purpose of this study was to determine what hydraulic characteristics enhance or diminish upstream juvenile salmon passage within a sloped-weir baffled culvert. The culvert slope, baffle spacing, and baffle height were varied to observe flow regime trends that describe conditions suitable for fish passage. Biological testing was conducted in conjunction with the hydraulic micro-Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) measurements. There was considerable spatial variability in the flow created by the sloped baffles within the culvert. The asymmetry of flow decreased for increasing discharge, larger baffle spacing and smaller baffle heights. To describe the flow features essential to fish passage, the interrelation between flow asymmetry, depth, and velocity was presented in comparison with biological testing. For the range of parameters tested, flows were described by a series of three jet regimes which were a function of water depth over baffles. Comparing these regimes to the biological study revealed peak juvenile salmon passage was associated with a critical transition between jet regimes. Generalizing this transition for the entire data set using dimensionless scales provides professionals with guidance for retrofitting culverts.


The brand equity is created not only by some dimensions of brand equity such as brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty but also created by marketing activities called antecedents of brand equity. This research used brand equity dimensions as variables. The aim of this research was to analyze consumer's perceive toward brand equity of ice cream (IM Meiji). The data was collected from 150 respondents in Bogor. The data analysis technique was the multicolinearity measurement with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assisted by a computer application LISREL (Linear Structural Relationship) 8.3 version. The output analysis of SEM indicated that the structural model could be accepted (close-fit) based on empirical facts. The structural model indicated that the brand equity of ice cream products (IM Meiji) was created by brand association (compound with brand awareness), brand loyalty, and perceived quality. Brand loyalty with significant positive correlation toward brand equity had the biggest contribution, while the perceived quality had the lowest contribution with negative correlation toward brand equity. The estimation of parameter also showed that advertisement and distribution intensity had significant positive correlation towards brand equity, but price had negative correlation.


The "heat" in hot peppers or from an acid burn turns out to be due to the triggering of one of the same receptors that contributes to the sensation of painful heat. Caterina et al. have constructed transgenic mice that are lacking the VR1 receptor, a cation channel selectively found in neural ganglia that mediate pain, which opens when activated by capsaicin or protons. These mice can eat chili peppers without painful consequences. The ability of these mice to sense noxious heat is impaired, but not completely eliminated, which suggests that other systems also contribute to heat detection. The VR1 receptor likely integrates stimuli released from tissue damage (such as protons) with the sensation of painful heat to send a rapid danger signal to the brain to remove the animal from the stimulus. Caterina, M.J., Leffler, A., Malmberg, A.B., Martin, W.J., Trafton, J., Petersen-Zeitz, K.R., Koltzenburg, M., Basbaum, A.I., and Julius, D. (2000) Impaired nociception and pain sensation in mice lacking the capsaicin receptor. Science 288: 306 -313. [Abstract] [Full Text]


The paper analyses the effects of tariff liberalization amongst the leading exporters and importers of forest products, in particular, as well as global merchandise, in general. The study utilises the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and its database, version 7. Given that forest products only comprise a small proportion of world merchandise trade, it is expected that trade liberalisation would cause small changes in terms of trade, real GDP, production, consumption and prices of forest products in most countries. In the short-run, national welfare in China and Japan would increase substantially by more than $US400 million while the opposite is true for the United States. In the long-run, national welfare in China, Mexico and Thailand would increase between $US230 million and $US295 million. Food production in Australia, Chile and New Zealand would increase slightly but significantly compared to other countries/regions. Similarly, food consumption in Malaysia and Thailand would increase by about 0.10 per cent.


Background African American (AA) women face unique sociocultural barriers to physical activity (PA) engagement. Such barriers may contribute to their low PA levels and high cardiometabolic disease burden. One particular barrier reported among AA women in recent research is that being physically active can have an undesirable effect on the hairstyles and hair maintenance of many AA women. However, the underlying mechanisms contributing to this barrier have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study is to explore hairstyle maintenance as a barrier to PA among AA women and to identify effective strategies to overcome this barrier in the design of a culturally relevant PA intervention. Methods A qualitative study design was used. Data were collected from the focus groups comprising 23 sedentary and obese AA women (median age = 38.1 years, median body mass index = 39.8 kg/m2). Content analysis was used to analyze these focus group data. Results Three key themes emerged from the qualitative narratives of participants: (1) impact of perspiration on hair and hairstyle maintenance, (2) image and social comparisons, and (3) solutions to overcome hair-related barriers to PA. For impact of perspiration and hairstyle maintenance, participants described how perspiring while engaging in PA negatively impacts many of their hairstyles. Participants further discussed how time and monetary burdens associated with PA-related hairstyle maintenance further contributed to this issue. Findings for the theme of image and social comparison focused on how an AA woman's hairstyle is an important part of the image and the social comparisons made by non-AAs regarding the hairstyles and maintenance practices of AA women. For solutions to hairstyle maintenance barriers, participant described a variety of potential styling techniques that may help alleviate PA-related maintenance concerns, including braids, locks, and natural hairstyles. However, no styling technique was uniformly endorsed by all study participants. Conclusion Findings highlight the significance of hair in the AA community and provide further insight on appropriate intervention design strategies to overcome this sociocultural barrier to PA. Future research is needed to corroborate and further expand on our findings.


The paper discusses the issue of labor force mobility in a broad sense, and analyses how changes in social security policy and the structure of the social safety net (SSN) affects different aspects of labor force mobility. The text is structured as follows: Introduction, then follows Chapter 2, which provides an overview of the labor market and social safety net developments in Russian and Ukraine over the last decade, as well as discusses common features of these countries. The Chapter 3 establishes theoretical models for different aspects of labor force mobility, discusses the availability of data on Russia and Ukraine to test these models, and provides a statistical analysis of the data. The Chapter 4 discusses results of the statistical analysis. The final chapter discusses policy conclusions that can be derived from comparison of the effect of the SSN on labor mobility in these two countries, and extends them to all countries in transition.


University libraries have played an important role in constructing an infrastructure of support for Research Data Management at an institutional level. This paper presents a comparative analysis of two international surveys of libraries about their involvement in Research Data Services conducted in 2014 and 2018. The aim was to explore how services had developed over this time period, and to explore the drivers and barriers to change. In particular, there was an interest in how far the FAIR data principles had been adopted.
Services in nearly every area were more developed in 2018 than before, but technical services remained less developed than advisory. Progress on institutional policy was also evident. However, priorities did not seem to have shifted significantly. Open ended answers suggested that funder policy, rather than researcher demand, remained the main driver of service development and that resources and skills gaps remained issues. While widely understood as an important reference point and standard, because of their relatively recent publication date, FAIR principles had not been widely adopted explicitly in policy.


In this study, palm oil mill effluent (POME) was utilized as a substrate for the
production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) by Alcaligenes eutrophus. PHA
production was achieved via a two-stage process; organic acids production from
POME followed by PHA production from the organic acids. In the first stage,
the study focused on optimisation of organic acids production as part of an
integrated zero-emission system. Optimisation of organic acids production was
performed by batch and continuous anaerobic treatments. In batch treatment,
POME was mixed with different inoculum sizes (POME sludge) of 25%, 33%,
50% and 33% diluted sludge (two times) with tapwater in all conical flask.
The result showed using inoculum size of 25%, 33% and 50% gave high organic
acids production (7.0 g/L) after 4 days/of treatment.Continuous treatment was carried out at four different retention times (2.5, 5,
7.5 and 10 days). POME was mixed with an equal ratio of anaerobic POME
sludge in a 12 L stirred-tank bioreactor. The pH was controlled at 7.0 to
enhance organic acids production, particularly acetic and propionic. Total organic
acids produced were 7.7 to 9.6 g/L for 2.5, 5 and 7.5 days retention times. More
than 75% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) conversion of POME was
achieved during anaerobic treatment at 5, 7.5 and 10 days retention times. The
best retention time was 5 days which produced 9.53±1.28 g/L of total organic
acids, 11700 mg/L COD and 77% COD conversion of POME at steady state.
After separation of the organic acids
in the treated effluent by ion exchange
chromatography, the residual COD of the effluent was less than 100 mg/L
which met the effluent discharge standard set for the industry by the Department
of Environment of Malaysia.
The effluent collected during continuous anaerobic treatment at 5 days retention
time was concentrated by evaporation to be used in the second stage for
polyhydroxyalkanoate production. The results showed that by evaporation, the
organic acids could be concentrated ten-fold to about 100 giL for use as
substrates for the fed-batch fermentation. The concentrated organic acids were
successfully converted to PHA by Alcaligenes eutrophus strain ATCC 17699
under a non-sterile fermentation system when the initial cell density was kept
high at 4 g/L. After 150 hours, 20 g/L cells were obtained with more than 60%
(gig) PHA content being produced.


The energy-sensing kinase AMPK is coupled to hormonal control of metabolism through PKA. Storage of energy in adipocytes as triacylglycerides (TAGs) and release of such stored energy into the circulation in the form of nonesterified free fatty acids (NEFAs) or glycerol is essential to energy homeostasis. Djouder et al. provide insight into the intricate mechanisms by which lipolysis is regulated in response to hormonal signals that signal increased energy demands and more local sensing of energy status, specifically concentrations of AMP (adenosine monophosphate). Lipolytic hormones stimulate β-adrenergic receptors and cause activation of PKA (cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase), which in turn phosphorylates hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) and other enzymes that regulate lipid stores. The authors studied the interplay of this mechanism with control of HSL by the energy status–sensing protein kinase AMPK (adenosine monophosphate–activated protein kinase). AMPK, activated when conditions dictate depletion of ATP and accumulation of ADP, also phosphorylates HSL, at a site distinct from that phosphorylated by PKA. These phosphorylation events on HSL appear to be mutually exclusive, and thus activation of AMPK can prevent further activation of HSL by PKA. But the system appears even more tightly controlled, as Djouder et al.'s results indicate that PKA and AMPK are associated in mouse adipocytes and that phosphorylation of AMPKα1 subunit by PKA inhibits activity of that enzyme. The authors provide evidence that phosphorylation of AMPKα1 by PKA at Ser173 prevents phosphorylation of AMPKα1 at the adjacent Ser172 by the AMPK-activating kinase LKB1. The physiological relevance of such regulation is supported by experiments in which the authors expressed a mutant version of AMPKα1 that cannot be phosphorylated by PKA in mouse embryo fibroblasts that lack AMPKα1. When these cells were differentiated into adipocytes, they released less glycerol than did cells expressing the wild-type enzyme and were less responsive to isoproterenol, a stimulus that activates PKA and thus enhances lipolysis. Studies in primary mouse adipocytes also showed that stimuli that activate PKA inhibited activation of AMPK in response to glucose deprivation. Lipid hydrolysis promoted by HSL increases cellular concentrations of AMP, also providing feedback to AMPK. The authors propose that these linked feedback mechanisms help balance effects of PKA and AMPK so that acute effects of PKA to stimulate lipolysis are followed at later times by activation of AMPK to prevent excessive depletion of lipid stores. N. Djouder, R. D. Tuerk, M. Suter, P. Salvioni, R. F. Thali, R. Scholz, K. Vaahtomeri, Y. Auchli, H. Rechsteiner, R. A. Brunisholz, B. Viollet, T. P. Mäkelä, T. Wallimann, D. Neumann, W. Krek, PKA phosphorylates and inactivates AMPKα to promote efficient lipolysis. EMBO J. 29, 469–481 (2010). [PubMed]


Background and Purpose: Periodic limb movements of sleep (PLMS) are usually comorbid with hypertension, tachycardia, and coronary arterial diseases, which are also risk factors for cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). However, evidence about the relationship between CVA and PLMS is still weak. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) the prevalence of CVA in patients with PLMS, and (2) the severity of PLMS in patients with or without CVA through a meta-analysis. Methods: The electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect, ClinicalKey, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched. The inclusion criteria were (1) articles investigating comorbidity between PLMS and CVA, and (2) clinical trials in humans. Results: This meta-analysis included (1) 9,823 patients with PLMS and 9,416 controls from 5 studies to analyze the prevalence of CVA in PLMS, and (2) 158 patients with PLMS with CVA and 88 PLMS controls without CVA from 3 studies to analyze the severity of PLMS with and without CVA. The results showed (1) significantly higher comorbidity rates of CVA in the patients with PLMS than in the controls without PLMS (OR 1.267, p = 0.019), and (2) higher PLM index in the patients with CVA than in the controls (Hedges' g = 0.860, p = 0.001; means difference: 4.435, p = 0.016). Conclusions: The results revealed (1) a worse severity of PLMS in the patients with CVA, and (2) increased prevalence of CVA in the patients with PLMS. Based on our results, the patients had a higher prevalence of CVA within 8 years of a diagnosis of PLMS compared to those without PLMS by about 1.3-fold. Whether (1) patients with PLMS receiving treatment have a similar incidence of stroke to those without PLMS, and (2) secondary stroke prevention can lower the severity of PLMS or whether those with severe PLMS have a higher risk of stroke is still inconclusive. Future studies investigating the prevalence of CVA in patients with PLMS should use a follow-up period of over 8 years.


Persistent luminescence (PersL) has long commanded the curiosity of researchers owing to the complicated and profound physics behind it. In this work, the PersL mechanism in a new kind of persistent garnet phosphors, Lu2CaMg2(Si1 xGex)3O12:Ce , is studied from the new perspective of a ''solid-solution'' scheme. Different from the conventional study in pursuit of long PersL, we focus on manipulation of afterglow to the millisecond range and tentatively demonstrate its potential to compensate the flickering of the alternating current driven LED (AC-LED) in every AC cycle. Evidently, the tailored host bandgap favors efficient electron charging and facilitates electron detrapping, as well as redeploying trap distribution, which results in a blue light activated afterglow in the millisecond time range, and subsequently a reduced percent flicker of 64.1% for the AC-LED. This investigation is the first attempt to establish the design guidelines for new PersL materials with an adjustable millisecond ranged afterglow, and, hopefully, it paves a pathway to the development of burgeoning low-flickering AC-LED technology.


Five phytase-producing bacterial strains isolated from the rumen of cattle were
identified to be a new bacterial species based on their morphological, physiological,
biochemical and molecular characters. The new species is named Mitsuokella
jalaludinii. Mitsuokella jalaludinii hydrolysed sodium phytate rapidly and the
phytase production was strongly induced by phytate present in the medium. Rice
bran (RB) and soybean milk (SM) were found to be the best carbon and nitrogen
sources, respectively, for phytase production by M. jalaludinii. Phosphate at a level
of 0.05 - 0.5% in RB -SM medium had no effect on phytase production. Glucose
added to RB-SM medium had a negative effect on phytase production of M
jalaludinii. The optimum temperature and optimum initial pH for phytase
production of M jalaludinii were 3 9 °C and about 7.0, respectively.
The activity of M jalaludinii phytase was highest at 55 - 60°C and pH 4.0 -
5.0. It was specific to phytate as a substrate, significantly stimulated by Ba2+, Mn2+,
and Ca2+ and significantly inhibited by Zn2+, Cu2+, Fe2+ and Fe3+. The metal ion
chelators and phosphate were not the inhibitors of M jalaludinii phytase activity. Acute pathogenicity tests indicated that M jalaludinii was non-pathogenic to
chickens and mice. Supplementation of M jalaludinii culture to corn soybean meal
feed for chickens significantly increased P released from the feed in vitro and P,
DM and CP digestibilities in vivo. About 70% of in vivo response in P digestibility
and 90% of in vivo response in DM and CP digestibilities or AME value could be
predicted by the P released in vitro. Mitsuokellajalaludinii phytase was most active
in the crop of broiler chickens and was inactivated in the stomach.
Supplementation of either fresh active M jalaludinii culture (AMJC) or freezedried
active M jalaludinii culture (FD-AMJC) or Natuphos® phytase to 10w-aP diet
significantly improved the feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio
of broilers. The digestibilities of DM, CP, P , Ca, and Cu and the AME value of diet
were significantly increased by the supplementation of AMJC. S upplementation of
AMJC or FD-AMJC or Natuphos® phytase to 10w-aP diet significantly increased
the tibia ash content and serum P concentration but significantly reduced Mn
concentration in tibia ash of broiler chickens. Chicks receiving FD-AMJC had
better (P<0.05) feed conversion rate as compared to those receiving Natuphos®
phytase. FD-AMJC supplementation to 1 0w-aP diet significantly (P<O.OS) increased
the AME value of diet and the digestibilities of DM, CP, P, Ca and Cu ( 1 1 to 1 3 -
day-old and 1 8 to 20-day-old chicks) but Natuphos® phytase supplementation only
significantly improved the digestibilities of DM, P ( 1 1 to 1 3 -day-old and ] 8 to 20-
day-old chicks) and Ca ( 1 1 to 1 3 -day-old chicks). Chicks receiving 10w-aP diet
added with AMJC or FD-AMJC or Natuphos® phytase had similar (P>0 .05)
performance as those receiving normal-aP diet but excreted less (P<0.05)
phosphorus.


Complexity, as emergent self-organization, is indicative of the end of a science which has always rooted its own aims, its own reasons, its own meaning in the most exalting project: making the uncertain certain, knowing order so to predict and control the future, what is unknown. Emergence, with its burden of surprise and unpredictability, and non-linearity meet at all levels, in physical, inorganic and material, systems as well as in living, human and mental systems. At this point, some question could be raised: if this is true, if everything is emergent, surprising, unpredictable, where does this acknowledgment lead us? What is the sense of Science? What are its objectives? Does Complexity 'promises' and 'permits' us to better understand nature and the real behaviour of systems, or are emergence, surprise, and unpredictability really sic et simpliciter only alibis to hide our scientific failures? Are we at the end of Science? Complexity, as "essential unpredictability" opens up problems which all Sciences must face. And certainly, puts to the test our ability to redefine the way of conceiving Science and its objectives, of viewing and doing Science. This paper faces this issue. Innovating in respect to the concept of classical science, the study of Complexity and Chaos, although it cannot articulate on forecasting purposes, revolves around the imperative of taking into account underlying mechanisms governing real phenomena and structuring and generating stability and emergence, by modelling deterministic non-linear interaction structure in physical and human systems. In Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Medicine, Neuroscience as well as in Sociology, Psychology and Psychotherapy, Economy, Politics and International Relationships, non-linear modelling can introduce a new way of conceiving predictability.


Increasing demand for clean fuels in Eurasia heightens the importance of assessing the prospects for available supplies of natural gas. Eurasia has proposed more than 60,000 kilometers of international gas transmission projects over the next 20 years. Accurately predicting the total costs of gas pipeline development is a challenge. Unfortunately, historical data on Eurasia that could inform an accurate cost assessment are limited. This paper assesses the impact of technological learning and other factors on the costs of gas pipeline development by drawing upon experience with pipeline development in the United States. Construction cost data on onshore pipeline development in the United States during the period 1985 to 1998 did not demonstrate that technological learning led to cost reduction. This was due to the relatively mature infrastructure and the bigger effects of other factors such as types of gas pipeline, economies of scale, and population density. For offshore pipelines, the learning rate was around 24 percent, which was related to the existence of the similar geographical features for offshore pipelines and the relatively immature infrastructure.

Findings in this paper suggest that, in Asia, where pipeline infrastructure is immature, significant technological learning effects can be expected if multiple pipelines are built in similar geological terrain. On the other hand, in Europe where pipeline infrastructure is relatively mature, similar to U.S. onshore pipeline development, learning effects are likely to be small. Other factors such as types of gas pipeline, economies of scale, and population density also will affect costs in both Asia and Europe.


FlexMix implements a general framework for fitting discrete mixtures of regression models in the R statistical computing environment: three variants of the EM algorithm can be used for parameter estimation, regressors and responses may be multivariate with arbitrary dimension, data may be grouped, e.g., to account for multiple observations per individual, the usual formula interface of the S language is used for convenient model specification, and a modular concept of driver functions allows to interface many different types of regression models. Existing drivers implement mixtures of standard linear models, generalized linear models and model-based clustering. FlexMix provides the E-step and all data handling, while the M-step can be supplied by the user to easily define new models.


This research study focuses on the development in media representation of the transaction – Volvo sold to China, from its conception up to finality. Rather than accepting the power of media in the dissemination of information, this study argues that the representation of China in Dagens Industri is deeply rooted in embedded core values, having it known that Volvo is the pride of Sweden. By analyzing the content of the twenty selected articles based on designed categories and their relevance to the period it falls, it is shown how it is possible for embedded core values of Sweden be reinforced by media and shape the representation of China. While the influence of media is perceptible, the analysis of the articles suggests the existence of reference points and the meaning of perceptible faculties only through comparison. Using the theoretical frameworks of orientalism and representation, it was made evident that the negative representation is higher when the dominant motives of media supports and reinforces the embedded Swedish core values.


Radical loss processes in RAFT-controlled emulsion polymerization are investigated using γ-initiated seeded emulsion polymerization of styrene in "relaxation mode", i.e.', following the rate of polymerization after removal from the radical source. This provides direct measurement of radical loss processes. A water-insoluble RAFT agent, 2-phenylprop-2-yl phenyldithioacetate, was transported to preformed seed particles using acetone, the acetone then removed, the particles swollen with monomer, and RAFT-mediated polymerization initiated by γ-irradiation. The systems show good control over the molecular weight of the products and a retardation dependent on the concentration of RAFT agent. Kinetic parameters are obtained from the γ-relaxation experiments, using pseudo-bulk kinetics as an approximation to fall compartmentalization/chain-length-dependent kinetics to describe the systems. The rate of radical loss was strongly affected by the presence of RAFT agent and was found to decrease with increasing length of the dormant chain. The interpretation of this observation is as follows. The termination rate coefficient depends on chain length; the dominant mode of termination is the reaction between chains of similar length in RAFT-mediated systems but between short and long chains in conventional systems. Radical entry into particles is assumed to be by chains of degree of polymerization z formed in the aqueous phase. Dormant z-meric chains in the particles are postulated to lead to an increase in the rate of radical exit from the particles, with the reactivation of these species generating a z-meric radical that is able to desorb from the particle surface in a RAFT-induced exit mechanism, leading to the rapid exchange of radicals between particles and hence radical loss. A simple model for the radical loss rate coefficient, expected to be valid for longer chain lengths, both reproduces much more computationally expensive Monte Carlo calculations and (when used with the scaling suggested by reptation theory) gives quantitative accord with the relaxation data.


Since the renewed interest in Baroque music in the twentieth century, no instrument has been more vexing for performers than the horn. The valveless Baroque horn, coupled with the anachronistic technique of clarino playing places hornists at a major disadvantage when faced with music of the Baroque Period. This study is an equipment guide that can be used as a starting point for conquering the upper-register, sound quality, and endurance challenges posed by Baroque horn writing. Chapter Two focuses on the options available to present-day period horn performers. Although it is not practical to perform on original Baroque horns, there are a number of craftsmen creating replicas of historical models that are available to today's performers. A discussion of performance techniques as well as different approaches to horn design is included with pictures of original instruments and historical replicas. Chapter Three is of interest to artists performing on the modern horn. It examines specialty instruments and interchangeable components and includes relevant images. Chapter Four is a list of recommended recordings that demonstrate the options offered by this essay. Chapter Five consists of the conclusions of the study.


In this introduction we reflect on two key questions that initiated this special issue on qualitative inquiry: What can qualitative researchers do to regain their post-paradigm-wars cache? How do we avoid distracting "science wars" in the future? We suggest that the strong tendency to narrow the research methods accepted as "scientific" – because they adopt quantitative perspectives and are presumed a priori to be more rigorous – has created an educationalese, a narrative of rigid categories that has not necessarily contributed to more effective or persuasive educational research. The article ends by suggesting that the use of "knowledge mobilization" strategies would help to strengthen qualitative research and educational research in general.


ABSTRACT The heavy mineralogy and texture of six sand layers from five cores taken on the lower continental rise off North Carolina were examined. Based upon megascopic criteria, two sand layer types were evident: relatively thick (> 10 cms), visibly graded sand layers and thinner, non-graded layers of fine sand or coarse silt. The former are assumed to be of turbidity current origin and the latter of bottom current origin. Turbidity coarse layers exhibit much greater vertical variability of both grain size and heavy mineralogy than bottom current sand layers. Plots of the percentages of stable versus unstable heavy minerals within sand fractions appear to be a particularly accurate means of determining coarse layer genesis. The results of this study indicate that megascopic criteria, which can be used in shipboard or laboratory core description, can be an adequate means of distinguishing the two types of layers. This should greatly facilitate study of the controversial problem of continental rise origin.


More than half of the 25 largest known porphyry copper deposits, defined in terms of contained copper
metal, formed during three time periods: the Paleocene to Eocene, Eocene to Oligocene, and middle Miocene
to Pliocene. These giant deposits are clustered within three provinces, central Chile, northern Chile, and
southwest Arizona-northern Mexico. Other giant deposits occur in Montana, Utah, Panama, Peru, Argentina,
Irian Jaya, Mongolia, and Iran. Compressive tectonic environments, thickened continental crust, and active uplift
and erosion were associated with the formation of many of these deposits. Calc-alkalic magmas are most favorable
for the formation of giant porphyry copper deposits, although several of the largest systems are associated
with high K calc-alkalic intrusions.
The 25 largest gold-rich porphyry deposits are concentrated in the southwest Pacific and South America,
with other occurrences in Eurasia, British Columbia, Alaska, and New South Wales. Many of the deposits
formed in the last 13 m.y. The largest of the deposits are associated with high K calc-alkalic intrusions. Many
calc-alkalic porphyritic intrusions have also produced giant gold-rich porphyries.
In the last 20 m.y., the formation of giant porphyry copper-molybdenum and copper-gold deposits in the circum-Pacific region has been closely associated with subduction of aseismic ridges, seamount chains, and
oceanic plateaus beneath oceanic island and continental arcs. In several examples, these tectonic perturbations
have promoted flat-slab subduction, crustal thickening, uplift and erosion, and adakitic magmatism coeval with
the formation of well-endowed porphyry and/or epithermal mineral provinces. Similar tectonic features are inferred
to be associated with the giant porphyry copper-molybdenum provinces of northern Chile (Eocene-Oligocene) and southwest United States (Cretaceous-Paleocene).
Topographic and thermal anomalies on the downgoing slab appear to act as tectonic triggers for porphyry
ore formation. Other factors, such as sutures in the overriding plate, permeability architecture of the upper
crust, efficient processes of ore transport and deposition, and, in some cases, formation and preservation of supergene
enrichment blankets are also vital for the development of high-grade giant ore deposits. A low-grade
geochemical anomaly may be the final product of mineralization, if ore-forming processes do not operate efficiently, even in the most favorable geodynamic settings.


Scrum provides a framework for managing agile development projects. It encourages transparency at all times, which helps reinforce the cycle of trust that must exist between development teams, management and the customer. Over the course of two years, our team had used Scrum to successfully deliver three revisions of our product with a degree of predictability that had been unattainable prior to adopting the agile method. When the projected schedule of our next project didn't align with the business needs of the organization, we found ourselves on the fast-track to conflict. And we had given them all the ammunition they needed to turn our gesture of trust into a weapon of unimaginable destruction.


The conventional sliced Wasserstein is defined between two probability measures that have realizations as vectors. When comparing two probability measures over images, practitioners first need to vectorize images and then project them to one-dimensional space by using matrix multiplication between the sample matrix and the projection matrix. After that, the sliced Wasserstein is evaluated by averaging the two corresponding one-dimensional projected probability measures. However, this approach has two limitations. The first limitation is that the spatial structure of images is not captured efficiently by the vectorization step; therefore, the later slicing process becomes harder to gather the discrepancy information. The second limitation is memory inefficiency since each slicing direction is a vector that has the same dimension as the images. To address these limitations, we propose novel slicing methods for sliced Wasserstein between probability measures over images that are based on the convolution operators. We derive convolution sliced Wasserstein (CSW) and its variants via incorporating stride, dilation, and non-linear activation function into the convolution operators. We investigate the metricity of CSW as well as its sample complexity, its computational complexity, and its connection to conventional sliced Wasserstein distances. Finally, we demonstrate the favorable performance of CSW over the conventional sliced Wasserstein in comparing probability measures over images and in training deep generative modeling on images.


Abstract Maintenance of aircraft is a complex process and therefore, in order to optimize the process, integrated information systems are increasingly used. Rapid development and wide availability of mobile devices equipped with powerful processors and with a wide range of modern communication connections suggests their high usability for enterprise IT systems. In the Department of Avionics and Air Armament of the Military University of Technology (WAT) an ERP-class (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, intended to support aircraft maintenance [4] has been designed and developed. The main concept of the system is to store the aircraft related and maintenance information in a central repository, i.e. in databases hosted on a central database server. This solution ensures concurrent availability of the data to a large group of authorized users. The key components of the system include the database server and client applications, which ensure access to centralized information resources, according to assigned user rights. The project involves development of client applications using three technologies: web, desktop and mobile one. Developed client applications have successfully passed integration tests perfomed using sample maintenance data. Currently works on user authorization security and wireless data security are under way.


A synthesis of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous collision-related metamorphic events in the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate clarifies its likely movement history during opening of the Amerasian and Canada basins. Comprehensive tectonic reconstructions of basin opening have been problematic, in part, because of the large size of the microplate, uncertainties in the location and kinematics of structures bounding the microplate, and lack of information on its internal deformation history. Many reconstructions have treated Arctic Alaska and Chukotka as a single crustal entity largely on the basis of similarities in their Mesozoic structural trends and similar late Proterozoic and early Paleozoic histories. Others have located Chukotka near Siberia during the Triassic and Jurassic, on the basis of detrital zircon age populations, and suggested that it was Arctic Alaska alone that rotated. The Mesozoic metamorphic histories of Arctic Alaska and Chukotka can be used to test the validity of these two approaches.

A synthesis of the distribution, character, and timing of metamorphic events reveals substantial differences in the histories of the southern margin of the microplate in Chukotka in comparison to Arctic Alaska and places specific limitations on tectonic reconstructions. During the Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous, the Arctic Alaska margin was subducted to the south, while the Chukotka margin was the upper plate of a north-dipping subduction zone or a zone of transpression. An early Aptian blueschist- and greenschist-facies belt records the most profound crustal thickening event in the evolution of the orogen. It may have resulted in thicknesses of 50–60 km and was likely the cause of flexural subsidence in the foredeep of the Brooks Range. This event involved northern Alaska and northeasternmost Chukotka; it did not involve central and western Chukotka. Arctic Alaska and Chukotka evolved separately until the Aptian thickening event, which was likely a result of the rotation of Arctic Alaska into central and western Chukotka. In northeastern Chukotka, the thickened rocks are separated from the relatively little thickened continental crust of the remainder of Chukotka by the oceanic rocks of the Kolyuchin-Mechigmen zone. The zone is a candidate for an Early Cretaceous suture that separated most of Chukotka from northeast Chukotka and Alaska. Albian patterns of magmatism, metamorphism, and deformation in Chukotka and the Seward Peninsula may represent an example of escape tectonics that developed in response to final amalgamation of Chukotka with Eurasia.


Informal learning of science occurs in places other than the classroom. Designated venues for informal science learning, known as designed settings, include such institutions as: aquariums, arboretums, botanical gardens, living historical museums, natural history museums, nature centers, planetariums, theme parks, and zoos (collectively referred to as "museums" in this literature review). Museums have undergone a radical transformation from insular institutions indifferent to the experiences of visitors to socially-minded institutions deeply committed to education. To promote learning, museums employ several major non-technology based approaches, including emphasizing relevance to the lives of the visitors and championing social causes, tailoring exhibits to appeal to multiple sensory modalities, carefully considering architectural design and exhibit arrangement, and holding special events that foster long-term memory formation. Museums have made great strides toward becoming inclusive environments that foster informal science learning; however, it is clear they will have to keep abreast of the latest social trends and pedagogical developments to avoid losing relevance.


Rater training and the maintenance of the consistency of ratings are critical to ensuring reliability of study measures and sensitivity to changes in the course of a clinical trial. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) has been widely used in clinical trials of schizophrenia and other disorders and is considered the "gold standard" for assessment of antipsychotic treatment efficacy. The various features associated with training and calibration of this scale are complex, reflecting the intricacy and heterogeneity of the disorders that the PANSS is used to evaluate. In this article, the authors review the methods for ensuring reliability of the PANSS as well as a proposed trajectory for its use in the future. An overview of the current principles, implementation, technologies, and strategies for the best use of the PANSS; tips for how to achieve consistency among raters; and optimal training practices of this instrument are presented.


Many signaling pathways which are classically understood for their roles in early development are also known to be involved in tissue maintenance and adult energy homeostasis. Furthermore, dysfunction of these signaling pathways results in human diseases such as cancer. An in depth understanding of how developmentally important signaling pathways function in the adult will provide mechanistic insights into disease and potential new therapeutic targets. Herein Chapter 1, the Wnt, fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathways are discussed and examples of their relevance in development, adult homeostasis, and disease are provided. Wnt signaling provides an example of this concept as it has well described roles during both development and adult metabolism. Work included in Chapter 2, investigates the regulation of adult energy homeostasis by a member of the endocrine FGF family, FGF19. The three endocrine FGFs, FGF19 (FGF15 in mice), FGF21, and FGF23 have well described roles in the regulation of metabolic processes in adults. While FGF23 is primarily involved in the regulation of phosphate and vitamin D homeostasis,FGF19 and FGF21 have shown similar pharmacological effects on whole body metabolism. Here, the importance of adaptive thermogenesis for the pharmacological action of FGF19 is explored. UsingUCP1KO animals we show that whole-body thermogenesis is dispensable for body weight loss following FGF19 treatment.Finally, the potential involvement of Hh signaling in mediating the hyperphagia driven obesity observed in certain ciliopathies is explored in Chapter 3. Emerging evidence suggests cilia play an important role in the regulation of feeding behavior. In mammals, the hedgehog pathway is dependent on the primary cilium as an organizing center and defects in hedgehog signaling share some clinical symptoms of ciliopathies. Here, we characterized the expression of core pathway components in the adult hypothalamus. We show that neurons within specific nuclei important for regulation of feeding behavior express Hh ligand and members of its signaling pathway. We also demonstrate that the Hh pathway is transcriptionally upregulated in response to an overnight fast. This work provides an important foundation for understanding the functional role of Hh signaling in regulation of energy homeostasis. In its entirety, this work highlights the emerging clinical relevance of developmentally critical pathways in diseases associated with dysfunction of adult tissue homeostasis, such as obesity.