Glutathione has been regarded as a significant signal for distinguishing between tumor and normal tissue. Recently, reactive oxygen species have attracted much attention for their close connection with many diseases. Taking advantage of the physiological signals, redox-responsive polymeric drug carriers constitute a significant research area in the various stimuli-responsive polymers for biomedical applications. During the rapid development of redox-responsive polymers, molecular design and related synthetic methodology plays a crucial role. In this review, we discuss the reduction- and oxidation-responsive polymeric drug carriers from the view of functional groups, as well as their applications in controlled release.


Recurrent large fiscal deficits and accumulating public debt frequently ring alarm bells around the world on the sustainability of U.S. federal fiscal policy. The present-value borrowing constraint, which states that, for the fiscal policy to be sustainable the current debt stock should match the discounted sum of expected future primary surpluses, provides a framework for analysing fiscal sustainability. Incorporating rational expectations we extend the methodology developed by Hamilton and Flavin (1986) to test the sustainability hypothesis in a cointegrating framework that can accommodate both stationary and non-stationary variables. Our model predicts dynamically diverse episodes of the debt series extremely well. Our results support the hypothesis that the U.S. government is solvent despite the large increase in the debt stock in recent years.


In the last third of the 20th century, psychiatry boldly shook off a 120-year-long philosophical funk and rushed to catch up in the thrilling march of medicine. The biopsychosocial model that once sounded trendy now seems to be an indispensable approach. The pioneers of psychopharmacology who once labored at the margins have now been joined by thousands of bright young doctors who treat patients with depression, psychosis and impulsive aggression and realize that a troubled soul is often expressing the cries of a troubled brain. This issue of Psychiatric Times celebrates the stirring giant that is 21st-century neuropsychiatry--a discipline that derives its immense power and scope from the glad embrace of the twin Enlightenment ideals of humanism and the scientific method.


This thesis is organized in two parts, both concerned with local synaptic interactions within the dendritic tree. The first part is focused on how specific synaptic arrangements that can be used to compute direct ion selectivity can be learned in an unsupervised manner. The second part consists of a double synaptic veto model that can account for the observed reverse-phi selectivity of direction-selective cells. We propose an activity-based, local learning model that may account for the direction selectivity in neurons in the visual cortex based on the local veto operation among excitation and inhibition. We implement the learning rule with local calcium concentration changes and a BCM type learning curve (Bienenstock, Cooper and Munro, 1982). Our biophysical simulations suggest that a model cell implementing our learning algorithm develops direction selectivity organically after unsupervised training. The learning rule is also applicable to cells with multiple direction-selective subunits on dendrites and is stable under a number of starting conditions. Reverse-phi motion is the illusory reversal of perceived direction of movement when the stimulus contrast is reversed in successive frames. Livingstone (2000) showed that direction-selective cells in striate cortex of the alert macaque monkey showed reversed excitatory and inhibitory regions when two different contrast bars were flashed sequentially during a two-bar interaction analysis. We carry out detailed biophysical simulations of a direction-selective cell model implementing a synaptic shunting scheme. Our results suggest that a simple synaptic-veto mechanism with strong direction selectivity for normal motion cannot account for the observed reverse phi-motion effect. A direct interaction between the ON and OFF pathway, missing in the original shunting-inhibition model, is essential to account for the reversal of response. We propose a double synaptic-veto mechanism in which ON excitatory synapses are gated by both delayed ON inhibition at their null side and by delayed OFF inhibition at their preferred side. The converse applies to OFF excitatory synapses. Mapping this scheme onto the dendrites of a direction-selective neuron permits the model to respond best to normal motion in its preferred direction and to reverse-phi motion in its null direction.


Studies show that the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) serve as hydrogen diffusion channels, when used with magnesium hydride. The hydrogen sorption study, of a MgH2 and 5wt% of multiwalled carbon nanotubes mixture, was the main purpose of this work. The samples were analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and also studied in a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The carbon nanotubes, that were ball milled during 20 min to the MgH2, were observed in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The mixture of MgH2-CNT turned out to enhance the hydrogen sorption when compared to pure MgH2 and in 5 min it desorbed around 5 wt% of hydrogen, at 350 oC and 0.1 bar.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To compare the effects of partner-delivered foot reflexology and usual care plus attention on patients' perceived pain and anxiety.

DESIGN
The experimental pretest/post-test design included patient-partner dyads randomly assigned to an experimental or control group.

SETTING
Four hospitals in the southeastern United States.

SAMPLE
42 experimental and 44 control subjects comprised 86 dyads of patients with metastatic cancer and their partners, representing 16 different types of cancer; 23% of patients had lung cancer, followed by breast, colorectal, and head and neck cancer and lymphoma. The subjects had a mean age of 58.3 years, 51% were female, 66% had a high school education or less, and 58% were Caucasian, 40% were African American, and 1% were Filipino.

METHODS
The intervention included a 15- to 30-minute teaching session on foot reflexology to the partner by a certified reflexologist, an optional 15- to 30-minute foot reflexology session for the partner, and a 30-minute, partner-delivered foot reflexology intervention for the patient. The control group received a 30-minute reading session from their partners.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Pain and anxiety.

FINDINGS
Following the initial partner-delivered foot reflexology, patients experienced a significant decrease in pain intensity and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS
A nurse reflexologist taught partners how to perform reflexology on patients with metastatic cancer pain in the hospital, resulting in an immediate decrease in pain intensity and anxiety; minimal changes were seen in the control group, who received usual care plus attention.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Hospitals could have qualified professionals offer reflexology as a complementary therapy and teach interested partners the modality.


The rationale behind the current research and development of interface standards for the public transit industry is explored. Recent efforts to define an information systems architecture for public transit have not sufficiently discussed the underlying need for information system standards and what impacts these standards might have on the transit industry as well as on vendors. Both advantages and disadvantages to the development of these standards are identified. For public transit agencies, there appears to be a well-reasoned yet unsupported belief that interface standards will be beneficial for systems integration. To explore the impacts for vendors, a survey was developed and fielded to learn about the characteristics of products and vendor attitudes toward interface standards. The results, though not conclusive, suggest that vendors are willing to consider standards; however, needed product customization and more comprehensive systems are important factors weighing against open interface standards. Also reported are three case studies of recent technology applications in the San Francisco Bay Area in which experiences with technical system design and systems integration are described. These case studies strongly suggest that key factors such as market timing, vendor-agency communication, and "learning by doing" affect the development of interface requirements and standards for the transit industry.


CONTEXT
Hearing impairment is prevalent among the elderly population but commonly underdiagnosed.

OBJECTIVE
To review the accuracy and precision of bedside clinical maneuvers for diagnosing hearing impairment.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE and EMBASE databases (1966 to April 2005) were searched for English-language articles related to screening for hearing impairment.

STUDY SELECTION
Original studies on the accuracy or precision of screening questions and tests were included. Articles that used unaccepted reference standards or contained insufficient data were excluded. Medical Subject Headings or keywords used in the search included hearing loss, hearing handicap, hearing tests, tuning fork, deafness, physical examination, sensitivity, specificity, audiometry, tuning fork tests, Rinne, Weber, audioscope, Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly-Screening version, whispered voice test, sensorineural, and conductive.

DATA EXTRACTION
One author screened all potential articles and 2 authors independently abstracted data. Differences were resolved by consensus. Each included study (n = 24) was assigned a methodological grade.

DATA SYNTHESIS
A yes response when asking individuals whether they have hearing impairment has a summary likelihood ratio (LR) of 2.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.7-3.6); a no response has an LR of 0.13 (95% CI, 0.09-0.19). A score of 8 or greater on the screening version of the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE-S) has an LR of 3.8 (95% CI, 3.0-4.8); a score less than 8 has an LR of 0.38 (95% CI, 0.29-0.51). An abnormal Weber tuning fork test response has an LR of 1.6 (95% CI, 1.0-2.3); a normal response has an LR of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.48-1.0). An abnormal Rinne tuning fork test response has LRs ranging from 2.7 to 62; a normal response has LRs from 0.01 to 0.85. Inability to perceive a whispered voice has an LR of 6.1 (95% CI, 4.5-8.4); normal perception has an LR of 0.03 (95% CI, 0-0.24). Not passing the audioscope test has an LR of 2.4 (95% CI, 1.4-4.1); passing has an LR of 0.07 (95% CI, 0.03-0.17).

CONCLUSIONS
Elderly individuals who acknowledge they have hearing impairment require audiometry, while those who reply no should be screened with the whispered-voice test. Individuals who perceive the whispered voice require no further testing, while those unable to perceive the voice require audiometry. The Weber and Rinne tests should not be used for general screening.


Protecting consumer choice remains essential to the enforcement of European competition law. This article provides an overview of ordoliberalism as a theory of political economy and its relation to a consumer choice paradigm for competition policy, before turning to a critical discussion of ordoliberalism's theoretical priors and practical standards for determining anticompetitive behavior. While an important chapter in the history of economic thought, the ordoliberal standard of consumer choice embodies a highly controversial and outmoded comprehensive worldview inapposite to the respective economic and political realities of dynamic and evolving markets as well as the importance of international convergence amidst the increasing number of competition regimes and views about the proper role of competition policy.


Background: Trigger finger is a common problem encountered in rheumatologic practice that causes a triggering or locking that may produce an uncomfortable sensation. There are various methods of treatment ranging from conservative management to surgical release. Aim: To determine effectiveness of corticosteroid injection and percutaneous release in terms of symptomatic relief, patient satisfaction and complications. Materials and Methods: At this prospective study, 50 patients who presented with trigger finger Grade 2 and 3 were randomized into 2 groups. One group received corticosteroid injection and in the other group, percutaneous release was done. These patients were then assessed weekly over a period of 6 weeks and their progress noted. Results: Thirty cases (60%) were females and 20 (40%) were males. The age of patients at this study was 40-65 years (mean: 48). Twenty-three (46%) were manual workers, 17 (34%) were semi-professionals and 10 (20%) were housewives. Most of the patients had involvement of dominant hand (62%); non-dominant hand was involved in 38% of the cases. The most common presenting symptom was pain with triggering. In both groups, significant improvement in pain and triggering occurs in the first 2 weeks but there was improvement in pain and triggering in the corticosteroid group after 2 weeks. In terms of swelling of the digits, no difference was noted during the course of the treatment in the two groups. The corticosteroid group of patients had a complication rate of 6% while the percutaneous group had 18% complication rate. A total of 12 patients had recurrence (recurrence rate: 24%); 5 (41.6%) cases in the first or corticosteroid group and 7 (58.3%) cases in the surgery group. Conclusion: The group of patients treated with corticosteroid had better relief from pain and triggering and had a lower complication rate. Recurrence was equal in both the groups.


Multidisciplinary research and philosophical discourse have long explored the complex relationship between the objective environment and subjective human perception. No two humans perceive, experience, and form attitudes about the same phenomenon in exactly the same way. Individual demographics (sex, age) and group identity (culture, religion, ethnicity, political ideology) have been shown to have a profound effect on perception of phenomena; research has also focused on the effect of the physical environment itself. Differences in perception, experience, and resulting behavior have great implications for governance, particularly in regards to planning and development. Recognizing these differences, modern urban planning increasingly seeks to include varying degrees of public participation in the planning process, in order to promote inclusiveness and citizen empowerment. The inclusion of measurement and analysis tools, such as survey questionnaires and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), enable policymakers, planners, and researchers to support their findings and formulate planning strategy by utilizing objective, quantitative data. While previous research has explored perception differences between the sexes, between residents of different cities, and within specific religious groups, there has been little exploration or quantitative measurement of differences in environmental perceptions and attitudes among the diverse, multicultural residents of Jerusalem, a divided city with myriad planning, development, and equality issues. In the summer of 2012, 225 Jerusalemites of varying religious, demographic, and social backgrounds completed a questionnaire survey that was designed to quantify their individual environmental perceptions, opinions of the city's growth, and priorities for urban development. While the results indicated great differences between the urban experiences and perceptions of Israeli and Palestinian Jerusalemites, it was also found that these populations—commonly characterized as enemies by popular media and their respective political establishments—shared many issues in their day-to-day lives, particularly transportation accessibility, utility provision, unemployment, and housing availability. The majority of respondents indicated that cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians is necessary to solve such issues. These shared issues, experienced in spaces that are segregated as a result of past and ongoing governmental action and cultural divisions, may act as the foundation for cooperative solutions that seek to improve the lives and urban experiences of all Jerusalem residents.


We describe an optimized setup for two-dimensional (2D) IR spectroscopy, which can be implemented at low additional cost and with standard optics in any laboratory equipped for femtosecond mid-IR spectroscopy. An interferometer produces a pair of intense pump pulses, whose interferogram is simultaneously recorded and directly yields the relative phase needed for the calculation of absorptive 2D spectra. We analyze different sampling methods based on a realistic noise model and introduce fast population time modulation as an alternative to the use of choppers in the suppression of scatter. Signal levels are compared to those of a photon-echo setup.


A study has been made of the application of N-benzoyl-N-phenylhydroxylamine (NBPHA) to separations of a number of transition and main group elements by liquid-liquid extraction methods. In general the partition of each element from aqueous hydrochloric or perchloric acid has been examined as a function of acidity, reagent concentration in chloroform (the second phase), rate of extraction and range of metal ion concentration. Where extraction occurred only at low hydrogen ion concentrations an aqueous acetate buffer was employed. Back-extraction into aqueous phases of various compositions was also investigated. Niobium is thus separated from zirconium; niobium, tantalum, protactinium from each other; protactinium from uranium, thorium and its fission products and gallium, indium, thallium, germanium, tin and lead from each other, A comparative study of KBPHA and the ammonium salt of N-nitroso-phenylhydroxylamine (cupferron) in the extraction of tin, antimony, arsenic and bismuth has also been carried out and potential separations with NBPHA noted. Depending on the valency state of tin, cupferron gives two distinct products, while NBPHA gives only a single product in which the valency state of the tin has previously been in some doubt. Partition studies have been devised to examine the dependence of extraction on reagent, chloride ion (a constituent of the product precipitated from hydrochloric acid) and hydrogen ion concentrations. The results in combination with those from infra-red and nuclear magnetic resonance examinations of the product of precipitation show that the substance extracted from 1 M hydrochloric acid is the same as that obtained by precipitation under similar conditions. It is Sn(C(_13)H(_10)O(_2)N)(_2)Cl(_2) which contains tin-(IV). Decomposition products of cupferron were examined using vapour phase chromatographic methods. Some polarographic work on the behaviour of tin and antimony in the presence of KBPHA has been carried out. Methods for the determination of these two elements in mixtures are presented using NBPHA.


Abstract. The global warming and atmospheric nitrogen deposition problem has become more and more serious under the influence of human activities, and it has become one of the hot issues in this field, which will have far-reaching impact on all kinds of vegetation, thus the functioning of the ecosystem will be changed, which will be reflected in climate warming process. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is mainly composed of desert grasslands, so the development and protection of vegetation has considerable significance on the region. However, in the current environment of global warming, few studies have been carried out on desert grassland plants. In this paper, an in-depth study was carried out on the impact of warming and nitrogen addition on soil temperature, vegetation reproductive phenology and vegetation community seed rain under natural conditions during five-year period from 2011 to 2015. During the experimental period, we found that soil temperature and soil moisture decreased with the increase of soil layer, and warming obviously shortened the time of budding, flowering and fruiting of vegetation. However, no significant effect was found on nitrogen addition. Meanwhile, the impact of interaction effect of warming and nitrogen addition on seed rain was not obvious, but the year difference of all relevant indicators was significant.


Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are defined as a self-renewing and self-protecting subpopulation of tumour cells that can differentiate into all other tumour cell types found within a tumour. They can be prospectively identified and purified, either on the basis of specific cell surface marker expression, or by virtue of their biological properties; their self-protection has been harnessed to develop several purification strategies, for example, side population or Aldefluor assays. Other prominent biological properties of CSCs include their exclusive clonogenicity and tumourigenicity. Many of these basic biological characteristics are shared between normal and CSCs, as are multiple signalling pathways regulating self-renewal and differentiation. Unlike normal stem cells, CSCs often seem to be distinctly less stable, dynamically modulating their stemness and differentiation according to various environmental signals and/or genetic and epigenetic changes accumulated during the carcinogenic process. This plasticity of CSCs might underlie the prominent biological characteristics of malignant tumours, especially their propensity to metastasise.

Key Concepts:

Stem cells are long-lived and protect their genome.

Existence of long-lived, undifferentiated and self-protecting cells could be indirectly inferred in tumours.

Cancer stem cells express specific cell surface markers and are amenable to differential staining procedures.

Cancer stem cells frequently exploit similar signalling pathways as embryonic stem cells and normal adult stem cells.

Hypoxia activates a multifaceted stem cell programme in tumours.

Cancer stem cell phenotype can be unstable, with repeated or even ongoing differentiation and dedifferentiation.

Keywords:

cancer stem cells;
cancer stem cell markers;
stem cell self-renewal and differentiation;
cancer stem cell plasticity


In this paper, the effective use of multiple quadrotor drones as an aerial antenna array that provides wireless service to ground users is investigated. In particular, under the goal of minimizing the airborne service time needed for communicating with ground users, a novel framework for deploying and operating a drone-based antenna array system whose elements are single-antenna drones is proposed. In the considered model, the service time is minimized by minimizing the wireless transmission time as well as the control time that is needed for movement and stabilization of the drones. To minimize the transmission time, first, the antenna array gain is maximized by optimizing the drone spacing within the array. In this case, using perturbation techniques, the drone spacing optimization problem is addressed by solving successive, perturbed convex optimization problems. Then, according to the location of each ground user, the optimal locations of the drones around the array's center are derived such that the transmission time for the user is minimized. Given the determined optimal locations of drones, the drones must spend a control time to adjust their positions dynamically so as to serve multiple users. To minimize this control time of the quadrotor drones, the speed of rotors is optimally adjusted based on both the destinations of the drones and external forces (e.g., wind and gravity). In particular, using bang–bang control theory, the optimal rotors' speeds as well as the minimum control time are derived in closed-form. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can significantly reduce the service time to ground users compared with a fixed-array case in which the same number of drones form a fixed uniform antenna array. The results also show that, in comparison with the fixed-array case, the network's spectral efficiency can be improved by 32% while leveraging the drone antenna array system. Finally, the results reveal an inherent tradeoff between the control time and transmission time while varying the number of drones in the array.


This article provides a brief description of the conceptual framework of some specific areas of research carried out either collaboratively or independently in the Emergency Department in an effort to positively impact on health issues in an era of evidence-based medicine. The paper focusses on epidemiological studies of infectious diseases, chronic non-communicable diseases, and a recent update on trauma patterns. Conduction of clinical trials is also highlighted. The role of collaboration in Emergency medicine is also discussed. Research must be developed deliberately to facilitate the primary goal of improved patient care and outcomes. Further recommendations are suggested.


The discovery of alpha-synuclein (a-syn) as the main component of Lewy Bodies (LBs), the pathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD), and the identification of mutations in the gene coding for a-syn in familial form of PD have reinforced the central role of a-syn in the etiology of PD. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms by which a-syn is involved in neurodegeneration are still not fully understood. Many studies have raised the potential role of post-translational modifications (PTMs) in regulating a-syn physiological properties but also its pathogenicity in PD development. However, a-syn can be modified simultaneously by several PTMs making it extremely challenging to understand which of those PTMs is responsible in regulating the cellular properties of a-syn. Therefore, our laboratory developed a strategy to study the role of individual PTMs using semi-synthesis, enabling the generation of site-specifically modified a-syn. However, in the absence of an efficient system to internalize these semi-synthetic proteins in cells, those proteins have been limited to biophysical and structural studies. Therefore, we proposed to use cell penetrating peptides (CPPs) to deliver site-specifically modified a-syn inside cells. In a first step, we compared CPPs to deliver a-syn inside the cells. Strikingly, only N-terminal CPP fusions were efficient in delivering it to primary cortical neurons. In order to explain the differences, we performed biophysical assays and established that C-terminal CPPs formed a hairpin with the C-terminus of a-syn, preventing penetration of the plasma membrane. N-terminal fusions displayed a more transient interaction that allowed uptake. In addition, we showed that the CPPs were enhancing the aggregation of a-syn. Among the CPPs tested, TAT fused at the N-terminus was one of the most efficient. Therefore, we evaluated its capacity to deliver a-syn in different cellular models, its subcellular localization and its stability in the cells. We started by evaluating the uptake and molecular properties of TAT- a-syn in HeLa cells and in primary cortical neurons. We found that it was rapidly and efficiently internalized and distributed in the cytosol as punctuated structures. Once internalized, TAT-a-syn was cleared from the cells through autophagy and the proteasome without promoting any cellular toxicity. Finally, TAT-a-syn phosphorylated on Serine 129 or fibrillar TAT-a-syn were also successfully delivered to cells thereby showing that our tool could be used to deliver modified a-syn in cells. However, our data suggested that TAT could influence the properties of a-syn. Thus, we aimed at improving our delivery tool by developing two reversible approaches to relieve a-syn from the influence of TAT after its uptake: 1) a photocleavable linker to release a-syn from TAT upon UV irradiation or 2) a disulfide bond which can be cleaved once in the cell. Both approaches were successful in delivering a-syn to neurons. While the photocleavable version did not allow full release, TAT-S-S-a-syn was efficiently reduced and efficient in delivering pS129 a-syn. In summary, our study allowed developing a versatile tool capable of carrying a-syn inside the cells and allowing its study in the absence of constraints originating from the presence of the CPP sequence in fusion with a-syn. We believe that this tool will be useful for the study of a-syn's PTMs, interactions and cross-talk between modifications.


We apply total-variation (TV) regularization methods to Abel inversion tomography. Inversions are performed using the fixed-point iteration method and the regularization parameter is chosen such that the resulting data fidelity approximates the known or estimated statistical character of the noisy data. Five one-dimensional (1D) examples illustrate the favorable characteristics of TV-regularized solutions: noise suppression and density discontinuity preservation. Experimental and simulated examples from X-ray radiography also illustrate limitations due to a linear projection approximation. TV-regularized inversions are shown to be superior to squared gradient (Tikhonov) regularized inversions for objects with density discontinuities. We also introduce an adaptive TV method that utilizes a modified discrete gradient operator acting only apart from data-determined density discontinuities. This method provides improved density level preservation relative to the basic TV method.


Until recently, Norway remained immovable on its conservative policy that illegal drug use is a crime. In 2018, the Health Minister appointed an inquiry commission to design a less restrictive drug policy, which included two "drug user representatives." But the Minister's choices for these posts met massive dissatisfaction from some drug users who contended that the representatives "are not real drug users" and do not "speak for" nor "act on the behalf" of their experiences and opinions. They mobilized to establish an alternative organization, the Shadow Committee, to propose a drug policy reform shaped by "the user voices" and "not polluted by political compromises." Yet, while performing a labor of difference, this committee, too, became caught in conflicting landscapes of representation with some members contesting strategic solidarity. Based on this case, and an ethnographic fieldwork among the protesters, this article investigates the concept of representation as understood, contested and applied by "drug users." Exploring how they relate to "user voices" and question the authenticity of some of "user representatives," I highlight how changing political landscapes affect understandings of representation and shape political, individual and collective forms of involvement. I draw on Pitkin's political philosophy and apply the classical categorization of political representation to suggest reconsidering the governing assumptions regarding "user representatives" that increasingly inform drug and treatment policies in Norway. I ask if the concept of representation itself may be a barrier to meaningful involvement.


The continuous spread of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as combined heating and power (CHP), diesel generators, boilers and renewable energy sources provide an effective solution to energy related problems to serve the power and heat demands with minimum cost. Moreover, the DERs may play a significant role for supplying power and heat in rural areas, where grid electricity is not available. Also, some dry areas may face water scarcity and salinity problems. So, one important solution is the use of DERs to drive desalination units in order to solve water scarcity and salinity problems. In this study, the optimal scheduling of DERs and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination unit that feed the required electric, thermal and potable water demands are determined. The present paper describes the operation constraints and cost function of components of the system in detail. Operation constraints of generation units as well as feasible region of operation CHP in dual dependency characteristic are taken into account. To confirm the performance of the proposed model the approach is tested on a realistic remote area over a 24-h period. The results show that the economical scheduling of DERs and desalination units can be obtained using proposed methodology by implementing the proposed formulation.


Non-native speakers of English struggle to master the conventions and expectations of U.S. legal writing. To help, legal writing pedagogy for international graduate students increasingly uses contrastive analysis of rhetorical preferences and organizational patterns. Nevertheless, many of these students continue to produce English legal writing that appears to lack coherence. This phenomenon may be partly attributable to the difficulty of learning to use cohesive devices in English (the language features that reflect or restrict relationships between clauses) and the resulting interruption and interference with perceptions of logical flow. I posit that legal writing professors can extend to cohesive devices the contrastive analysis they already use for teaching organizational schemas, as cohesive devices also vary in meaning and use across languages and cultures. These discussions should compare not only the meaning of those devices, but also the assumptions that guide when or whether writers use them. Drawing from the fields of linguistics and second language acquisition, I suggest incorporating a contrastive approach into productive exercises and peer review that will help international students learn to use cohesive devices in context.


We consider the problem of local graph clustering where the aim is to discover the local cluster corresponding to a point of interest. The most popular algorithms to solve this problem start a random walk at the point of interest and let it run until some stopping criterion is met. The vertices visited are then considered the local cluster. We suggest a more powerful alternative, the multi-agent random walk. It consists of several ``agents'' connected by a fixed rope of length l. All agents move independently like a standard random walk on the graph, but they are constrained to have distance at most l from each other. The main insight is that for several agents it is harder to simultaneously travel over the bottleneck of a graph than for just one agent. Hence, the multi-agent random walk has less tendency to mistakenly merge two different clusters than the original random walk. In our paper we analyze the multi-agent random walk theoretically and compare it experimentally to the major local graph clustering algorithms from the literature. We find that our multi-agent random walk consistently outperforms these algorithms.


A 45-years-old female patient with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and severe hyper tryglyceridemia has presented to endocrinology OPD. Pioglitazones were started as a part of her treatment. Patient complained of progressive weight gain and fat accumulation in the lower limbs due to which she has difficulty in walking. In subsequent visit, body composition analysis was ordered which revealed acquired partial lipodystrophy. Compensatory lipohypertrophy in lower body was noted. Change in treatment along with low calorie diet helped in controlling her blood sugar. This case emphasizes the importance of BCA with DXA in arriving at etiological diagnosis in patients with suspected lipodystrophies.


Dupuytren's disease is a palmar fascia pathology characterised by flexion contracture of the involved fingers in late stages. It has been described a higher prevalence in northern populations, especially in men in the fifth or sixth decade of life.1 Alcohol consumption, liver disease, diabetes mellitus, epilepsy and some of its treatments, tobacco smokers or hand workers are only a example of the different aetiologies proposed. There are a group of patients presenting with more aggressive clinical manifestation named Dupuytren's diathesis. This subtype could frequently present a positive family history, ectopic fibromatosis and bilateral hand affectation. The authors present a 24-year-old woman referred to the Plastic Surgery Department because severe fingers contracture with an associated aggressive plantar fibromatosis. She referred familial history in her first degree relatives (mother and three of seven brothers and sisters). The first clinical manifestations in her hand began when she was 7 years old.


This study presents transient stability assessment of electrical power system using Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) and principle component analysis. Transient stability of a power system is first determined based on the generator relative rotor angles obtained from time domain simulation outputs. Simulations were carried out on the IEEE 9-bus test system considering three phase faults on the system. The data collected from the time domain simulations are then used as inputs to the PNN in which PNN is used as a classifier to determine whether the power system is stable or unstable. Principle component analysis is applied to extract useful input features to the PNN so that training time of the PNN can be reduced. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed PNN method, it is compared with the multi layer perceptron neural network. Results show that the PNN gives faster and more accurate transient stability assessment compared to the multi layer perceptron neural network in terms of classification results.


Background: Both psychiatric symptoms and the side effects of medication significantly affect patients with schizophrenia. These effects frequently result in a sedentary lifestyle and weight gain, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. Purpose: This study developed an aerobic dance program for patients with schizophrenia and then evaluated the effect of this program on health-related fitness outcomes. Methods: An experimental research design was used. Sixty patients with schizophrenia were recruited from a daycare ward and rehabilitation center at a psychiatric hospital in Taiwan. Paticipants were assigned randomly into an experimental group, which received the 8-week aerobic dance program intervention, and a control group, which received no intervention. All of the participants were assessed in terms of the outcome variables, which included bodyweight, body mass index, muscular endurance, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory endurance. These variables were measured before the intervention (pretest) as well as at 8 weeks (posttest) and 12 weeks (follow-up) after the intervention. This study used a generalized linear model with a generalized estimating equation method to account for the dependence of repeated measurements and to explore the effects of the intervention on health-related fitness outcomes. Results: Twenty-six participants were in the experimental group, and 28 were in the control group. Significant between-group differences were observed at posttest and in the follow-up for all of the health-related fitness outcomes with the exception of muscular endurance. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: This study suggests that an 8-week aerobic dance program may be an effective intervention in patients with schizophrenia in terms of improving bodyweight, body mass index, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory endurance for a period of at least 4 months. Furthermore, although muscular endurance was postively affected during the short-term period, the benefits did not extend into the follow-up examination. On the basis of these findings, aerobic dance is recommended as a nonpharmacological intervention for patients with schizophrenia who are in daycare or rehabilitation settings.


The 2013 budget proposed by President Barack Obama last week would give the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not a penny more than it received this year. But the Administration found a way to give special attention to one disease: Alzheimer's, which will receive $80 million in new research funding from a source outside NIH's budget. This month, the Administration also announced, to the surprise of many at NIH, that the agency will reprogram $50 million in its current budget for the disease. Alzheimer's research advocates credit the new focus to several years of organized lobbying.


This is a terminal evaluation of a UNEP project implemented between 2008 and 2012.The overall project objective was to make a credible economic case for policy-makers, businesses, and consumers to conserve, sustainably use and invest in biodiversity and ecosystems; with the expected result that policy-makers, local administrators, business executives, consumers and local communities' representatives would support conserving, sustainably using, and investing in biodiversity and ecosystems. It also assesses project performance and the implementation of planned activities and outputs. The process is designed to assist UNEP in establishing: whether the project accomplished what it set out to do, and deployed the resources provided appropriately; and whether it has attributably made the intended net difference to global environmental conditions beyond what would have happened in its absence.


Context. Chromospheres and coronae are common phenomena on solar-type stars. Understanding the energy transfer to these heated atmospheric layers requires direct access to the relevant empirical data. Study of these structures has, by and large, been limited to the Sun thus far. Aims. The region of the temperature reversal can be directly observed only in the far infrared and submillimetre spectral regime. We aim at determining the characteristics of the atmosphere in the region of the temperature minimum of the solar sister star αCen A. As a bonus this will also provide a detailed mapping of the spectral energy distribution, i.e. knowledge that is crucial when searching for faint, Kuiper belt-like dust emission around other stars. Methods. For the nearby binary system αCen, stellar parameters are known with high accuracy from measurements. For the basic model parameters Teff , log g and [Fe/H], we interpolate stellar model atmospheres in the grid of Gaia/PHOENIX and compute the corresponding model for the G2 V star αCen A. Comparison with photometric measurements shows excellent agreement between observed photospheric data in the optical and infrared. For longer wavelengths, the modelled spectral energy distribution is compared to Spitzer-MIPS, Herschel-PACS, Herschel-SPIRE, and APEX-LABOCA photometry. A specifically tailored Uppsala model based on the MARCS code and extending further in wavelength is used to gauge the emission characteristics of αCen A in the far infared. Results. Similar to the Sun, the far infrared (FIR) emission of αCen A originates in the minimum temperature region above the stellar photosphere in the visible. However, in comparison with the solar case, the FIR photosphere of αCen A appears marginally cooler, Tmin ∼ T160 μm = 3920±375 K. Beyond the minimum near 160 μm, the brightness temperatures increase, and this radiation very likely originates in warmer regions of the chromosphere of αCen A. Conclusions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a temperature minimum has been directly measured on a mainsequence star other than the Sun.


In todays technological age, computer literacy is important for everyone, and now learning the basics is easier than ever. A Computer Concepts Text Focused on Todays Student! Technology in Action engages students by combining a unique teaching approach with rich companion media. The seventh edition has been updated to reflect the latest developments in computer technology. New interactive learning tools have also been added to enhance student engagement. Student CD is included with every text, containing: Sound Bytes: Multimedia lessons that demystify computer concepts with audio and video presentations. Sound Byte Podcasts: The Sound Bytes are now also available as podcasts. Active Helpdesk Calls: Highly interactive, engaging, almost game-like media that places the student in the role of a helpdesk staffer answering computer technology questions from callers. Why Computers Matter to You: Becoming Computer Literate; The History of the PC; Looking at Computers: Understanding the Parts; Using the Internet; Ethics; Application Software: Programs That Let You Work and Play; Using System Software: The Operating System, Utility Programs, and File Management; Understanding and Assessing Hardware; Networking and Security: Hackers and Viruses; Protecting Your Computer and Backing Up Your Data; Mobile Computing; Digital Entertainment;System Hardware With an array of fun and engaging learning tools, Technology in Action teaches students computer fundamentals, from learning Microsoft Office to setting up their own home network.


Abstract Structural colors result from an interaction between light and the fine-scale physical structure of a surface, and are often extremely bright, chromatic, and iridescent. Given that these visual features depend upon the aggregate abundance and architectural precision of photonic structures, structurally colored sexual ornaments seem well placed to indicate a range of mate quality characteristics. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the signaling potential of structural coloration in the sexually dimorphic butterfly Colias eurytheme. Males of this species display iridescent ultraviolet (UV) markings (arising from multilayer thin films) that overlay a broad area of yellowish-orange pigmentation on their dorsal wing surface. Only the structural UV has demonstrated function as a sexual signal; hence we predicted that it should contain more reliable phenotypic and/or genetic quality information, which would be indicated by phenotypic and/or genetically mediated condition dependence. In two split-family breeding experiments we manipulated condition by exposing full siblings to different stressors at two different juvenile life-history stages: (1) reduced larval host-plant quality and (2) transient heat/cold shocks during metamorphosis. Both stressors had profound effects on key developmental and life-history traits. Each stressor also significantly affected male dorsal coloration; thus, the expression of both structural and pigmentary coloration is phenotypically condition dependent. As predicted, the strongest condition dependence was evident in the brightness and angular visibility (i.e., iridescence) of the UV. Characteristics of both the iridescent UV and pigmentary orange also exhibited moderate-high and significant heritability (H2~h2~ 0.4–0.9). However, genetic and residual variances did not increase under stress; thus, the observed condition dependence was not genetically mediated as predicted if wing color trait signals "good" genes for the ability to either withstand or circumvent developmental stress. The heightened stress sensitivity of the iridescent UV suggests that it offers an informative lifetime indicator of juvenile environments and, henceforth, adult male phenotypic condition, which may be salient to females seeking a highly fertile and/or nutritious male ejaculate.


An increasingly important class of software-based systems is platforms that permit integration of third-party components, services, and tools. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is one such platform that has been successful in providing integration and distribution in the business domain, and could be effective in other domains (e.g., scientific computing, healthcare, and complex decision making). In this paper, we discuss our application of SOA to provide an integration platform for socio-cultural analysis, a domain that, through models, tries to understand, analyze and predict relationships in large complex social systems. In developing this platform, called SORASCS, we had to overcome issues we believe are generally applicable to any application of SOA within a domain that involves technically naïve users and seeks to establish a sustainable software ecosystem based on a common integration platform. We discuss these issues, the lessons learned about the kinds of problems that occur, and pathways toward a solution.


-In Tunisia, the extension of irrigated area is justified by its important role in the development and diversification of agricultural production. Nevertheless, the strong intensification of the agricultural activities may lead to the pollution of underground water resources due to an excess use of fertilisers and other chemical products. In fact, the high nitrate concentrations observed in some Tunisian irrigated areas, are related to the excessive use of nitrate fertilizers in intensive agriculture. The objective of the present study is to implement decision-making methods allowing a better combination of factors production by optimization of an economic objective and an environmental objective. This research is based on multi-criteria modelling through the optimization of two conflict objectives: an economic objective as settled by farmer in the short or medium-run (Gross margin), and an environmental objective (nitrate pollution reduction) as a long-run objective of the decision maker in order to ensure the continuity of agriculture activities and ecosystems sustainability. Data were collected through a survey conducted in the irrigated area of Kalaât El Andalous in Tunisia with a sample containing 57 farms. Efficient solutions were obtained and compared through the "constraints", "NISE" and "compromises" methods. Main results obtained indicate a significant degree of conflict between these two objectives. Indeed the maximization of the total gross margin involves an increase in the degrees of nitrate pollution and conversely. Finally, some policy implications are presented. Keywords--Nitrate pollution, environmental impact, multicriteria analysis


As over 20,000 combat-ready U.S. troops landed in the Dominican Republic in late April and early May of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson explained in a televised broadcast that "the American nations cannot, must not, and will not permit the establishment of another Communist government in the Western Hemisphere." (1) In his May 2, 1965 address to the nation, the president pronounced his Johnson Doctrine--the United States would act to block a Communist takeover of a Latin American republic. President Johnson had seemingly established a new and sweeping principle of U.S. foreign policy. The containment and defeat of the international Communist movement mattered more than adhering to the legal niceties of hemispheric affairs. Although Johnson emphasized the multilateral nature of the concern about communism in the Dominican Republic, the invasion was a unilateral action. The United States justified its decision to the Organization of American States (OAS) after military action had begun. The military intervention violated Article 15 of the charter of the OAS (1948), which prohibited any state from intervening "directly, or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other state." The invasion also violated the nonintervention pledge that had been the fundamental component of the Good Neighbor policy of Franklin D. Roosevelt. And the invasion undermined the hemispheric partnership envisioned in President John F. Kennedy's socioeconomic development program, the Alliance for Progress (Rabe 1985, 95). Although the 1965 intervention in the Dominican Republic represented the first overt U.S. military intervention in a Latin American nation in over thirty years, neither the intervention nor the pronouncement of the Johnson Doctrine marked a signal departure in the history of inter-American relations. Since the late nineteenth century, the United States has maintained a sphere of influence within the Western Hemisphere, for it has exercised predominant influence in the region and limited the freedom of action of Latin American nations. The United States has tried to maintain peace and order, exclude foreign (European) influences, expand U.S. trade and investment, and shape Latin America's development. The Johnson Doctrine easily falls within the parameters of those traditional regional objectives. Modern U.S. policy toward Latin America can be divided into five distinct periods. From 1895 to 1901, the United States established its supremacy or hegemony in the Western Hemisphere. From 1901 to 1933, under the aegis of the Platt Amendment (1901) and the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904), the United States repeatedly intervened militarily in the affairs of Mexico and Caribbean and Central American nations. From 1933 to 1945, with its Good Neighbor policy, the United States renounced the right of intervention in Latin America but expected Latin Americans to accept U.S. leadership. After World War II, the United States interpreted its relations with its southern neighbors through the prism of the Cold War and the U.S. confrontation with the Soviet Union. Since 1989-1991, in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. policy makers have worried less about foreign influences in the Western Hemisphere and focused on issues such as trade, immigration, and the illegal narcotics trade. Historians point to the Venezuelan Boundary Crisis of 1895 as the beginning of the modern history of U.S. relations with Latin America. The United States demanded that the United Kingdom, the world's preeminent power, submit to binding arbitration the disputed boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana. The resolution of the long-standing boundary dispute gave Venezuela control over the mouth of the Orinoco River. But the Grover Cleveland administration did not act on behalf of Venezuela. The United States, now a dynamic industrial power, wanted to force the United Kingdom to accept U. …


Adobe Flash can be used to run complex psychological experiments over the web. We examine the reliability of using Flash to measure reaction times (RTs), using a simple binary choice task, implemented both in Flash and using a Linux-based system known to record RTs with millisecond accuracy. Twenty-four participants were tested in the laboratory using both implementations; they also completed the Flash version on their own computer. RTs from Flash on users' own computers were ~20ms slower than those using Flash in the lab, which were in turn ~10ms slower than baseline. RT standard deviations were similar in all conditions, suggesting that although Flash may overestimate RTs slightly, it does not appear to add significant noise to the data recorded.


Prospects for future innovation to reduce the carbon intensity of everyday consumer products rest significantly on the path dependent processes that have caused current products with their associated modes of provision and practices of consumption to be as they are. We use the history of orange juice to examine the dynamics of innovation sequences that have emerged to solve a series of 'problems' associated with the production and consumption of orange juice, the latest being the carbon problem. In particular, we focus on the interdependencies between consumer expectations of what constitutes 'good orange juice', changes in the product itself and in the system through which it is provisioned. We conclude with a discussion of how historical, path dependent processes lead to alternative framings of the new problem to be solved and different strategies for pursuing innovative solutions.


This book contains a collection of the best papers presented at the VII International Conference on Interaccin Persona-Ordenador (IPO), Human-Computer Interaction in Spanish, which took place in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) on November 13th-17th, 2006. In its seventh edition this conference has become a multidisciplinary forum for the discussion and dissemination of novelty research in Human-Computer Interaction. The main goal of Interaccin 2006 was to expand the conference scope with internationally recognised invited speakers. Other goals such as enriching the relationship between industry and academia, and incorporating workshops and tutorials of quality to the conference structure were also achieved. This book is organised according to the main areas of both basic and applied research that were presented at the conference. These areas were: Ergonomics and Human Factors, Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence, User-Centred Design, Usability and Accessibility, Systems and Models for Collaboration, Interaction in Teaching and Learning, Design and Development of User Interfaces, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Interaction and People with Special Needs. This work is suitable for all scientists interested in HCI research.


Free-air gravity data from satellite altimetry and ship- track derived bathymetry data are used to calculate a residual Bouguer gravity anomaly map for the mid-Norwegian Margin. The anomalies were corrected for a density difference between basin sediments and water of 1400 kg m-3 and fil tered for wavelengths between 10 and 190 km. A comparison of seismic and magnetic information about the crustal structure corroborates previ ously identified structural elements and reveals some additional complexity in the margin structure. The strongest negative anomalies relate to the Hel Graben and the Ras Basin indicating that these synclines are deep sedimentary basins. The strongest positive anomali es occur on the Sandflesa High, and the Utgard High and on two segments of the Gjallar Ridge. They relate to metamorphic core complexes and/or basement highs. The gravity anomalies show two regional strike directions, which are presumably associated with Tertiary extension and older weakness zones in the basement. Within the investigated wavelength, residual Bouguer gravity anomaly maps derived from satellite altimetry and ship-track bathyme try are as suitable for investigating regional trends as maps derived from ship-track gravity measurements. Thus, these residual gravity maps pro vide a powerful aid for seismic interpretation of deep crustal structures.


Effects of Alar, Ancymidol, and Cycocel on the rooting characteristics were studied on cuttings of Gardenia jasminoides, Duranta rep ens, and Bougainville glabra.
Alar and Ancymidol produced a greater number ofadventitious roots in gardenia but not in duranta cuttings. The most significant results were obtained with Alar Imd Ancymidol at 2500 ppm and 200 ppm respectively. The roots of Ancymidol-treated gardenia cuttings were observed to be more fibrous and thinner whilst those of bougainville cuttings were larger in size. Cucocel at 2500 ppm seems to have a inhibitory effect on root formation in gardenia cuttings. Root growth and rooting percentage of the three
species studied were not affected by the growth retardants.


The World Wide Web has evolved into an interactive information network, allowing web users to collaborate and share information on a massive scale. A large amount of information now available on the World Wide Web is personal information, which has either been disseminated voluntarily (i.e. a personal web page, profile page) or involuntarily (i.e. telephone directory, electoral register). The sensitive nature of personal information and its widespread visibility has lead to a rise in malevolent web practices such as lateral surveillance and identity theft. In order to avoid falling victim to these practices, web users are forced to find web resources (web pages, data feeds) which may contain their personal information and then decide which of those web resources do. This decision process disambiguates web resources which are identity web references} for a given person, however performing this process manually is time consuming and costly. Furthermore, as more information is published on a regular basis, the process must be repeated constantly and handle an ever increasing information load. In order to overcome the need for the manual discovery of identity web references automated techniques are a necessity. To function effectively such techniques require seed data - background knowledge describing the identity of a given person (i.e. their biographical information, their social network) - however producing this seed data manually is expensive and restricted by access to resources: one of the hard problems within the machine learning community. In this paper we explain how the Social Web can be utilised as a source for this seed data. In recent years Social Web platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have provided environments in which web users can construct bespoke digital identity representations. Profile pages are a common feature of such platforms together with the social networks compiled by users. We investigate the hypothesis that users of Social Web platforms construct identity representations which mirror their real-world equivalents. We explore this line of thinking through a detailed user study which quantifies the overlap between digital and real-world identity information. The presentation and discussion of the results from this study provide empirical evidence to support our hypothesis and also support the theoretical discussions made in similar sociological studies, which explore the relationship between real-world identities and digital identity representations which are constructed on Social Web platforms. Automating the process of disambiguation attempts to replicate the cognitive practice of decision making given prior knowledge about an individual. In the case of disambiguating identity web references automated techniques use the provided seed data - leveraged from the Social Web - to accurately detect a web resource as citing a given individual. In this paper we present an overview of two distinct disambiguation techniques and explain the science behind such approaches. Our first technique constructs a rule-base from the provided seed data, the rules are then applied to web resources in order to infer a given web resource as being an identity web reference. The use of rules allows a logical deduction to be made via inferencing over available information, this process mimics the approach by which humans decide whether a web resource cites them: i.e. If a web resource contains my name and my email address then it refers to me. The digital identity representation gathered from the Social Web provides the necessary background knowledge to facilitate such decisions - by associating information present within a web resource with known information about an individual. Our second technique uses a machine learning strategy known as self-training which first trains a classifier using background knowledge about a given person, and applies the classifier to a set of web resources. The classifier is then retrained on the strongest classifications, and the process is repeated thus self-training. Unlike the use of rules, this technique allows features of web resources to be reused for future disambiguation decisions. For instance if a web resource contains information about a person's work colleagues, then the technique can learn from this information and therefore enhance future disambiguation decisions. By conducting an extensive evaluation of our automated disambiguation techniques we have found that accuracy levels can be achieved that surpass human processing. Web users have web presence levels which vary greatly depending on their visibility and propensity to disseminate their personal information. From our results we discuss the implications of web presence levels on automated disambiguation techniques compared to humans performing the same task. The findings indicate that automated techniques significantly outperform humans when disambiguating identity web references for individuals who have a low web presence levels, whilst accuracy levels over individuals with high levels of web presence are similar. We believe that such results empirically show the reliability of automated techniques to spot sparse identity web references and their suitability to application over large information spaces.


Larry Wolff. Venice and the Slavs. The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. 408 pp. Bibliography. Index. $49.50, cloth. This study provides a multi-faceted approach to what the Venetian Empire saw as its civilizing mission towards its Slavic neighbours and subjects in the maritime province of Dalmatia. The Discovery of Dalmatia is largely a literary journey. Images of Dalmatia as presented in eighteenth-century literature are first examined in the introduction and initial chapters. Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire had introduced one of the themes of this history-the barbaric East versus the civilized West. Public conceptions of Dalmatia as formed by Goldoni's play La Dalmatina and by Carlo Gozzi's memoirs, are cogently analyzed in Chapter One. More detailed attention is given to Travels in Dalmatia by the Abbe Alberto Fortis of Padua, which also appeared in English, French and German (Chapter Two). Fortis's principal vocation was natural history, but his wide-ranging interests allow Wolff to acquaint his reader with the history, architecture and geology of the region. Dalmatia had been a province of the Serene Republic since the early fifteenth century, but Venetian interest in Dalmatia increased in the eighteenth century after the interior areas were added to its territory; in fact Wolff describes Dalmatia as Venice's America (p. 5). He devotes later chapters (three and four) to the Morlacchi, pastoral Orthodox Slavs, living in the interior, the more italianized cities of the coast being the areas where a greater number of Catholics resided. Wolff examines Fortis's defence of the social customs of the Morlacchi as "the innocent and natural liberty of the pastoral centuries" (p. 170). He first demonstrates how Fortis' portrayal of the Morlacchi character as different from the lazy, but ferocious savages of other accounts, caused them to be eulogized by Goethe, Madame de Stael, Merimee and other European authors. However, the greatest impression from Viaggia in Dalmazia was made on the Venetian reading public. Wolff shows how this led to increased knowledge about Dalmatia in Venice, causing an awakening of interest in the reform of its administration of the Morlacchi and also a general recognition of Slavic culture and ethnographic relations. The literary works examined by Wolff highlight the relations between the Venetian Empire and its Dalmatian subjects. Replete with meticulously annotated factual information, the book also contains colourful illustrations of Catholic-Orthodox, empire-colony and Slavic-Italian relations and a wealth of spirited anecdotes. …


"Rock n Roll" is an electrifying collision of the romantic and the revolutionary. It is 1968 and the world is ablaze with rebellion, accompanied by a sound track of the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. Clutching his prized collection of rock albums, Jan, a Cambridge graduate student, returns to his homeland of Czechoslovakia just as Soviet tanks roll into Prague. When security forces tighten their grip on artistic expression, Jan is inexorably drawn toward a dangerous act of dissent. Back in England, Jan s volcanic mentor, Max, faces a war of his own as his free-spirited daughter and his cancer-stricken wife attempt to break through his walls of academic and emotional obstinacy. Over the next twenty years of love, espionage, chance, and loss, the extraordinary lives of Jan and Max spin and intersect until an unexpected reunion forces them to see what is truly worth the fight."


Over the last few years, the transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership theory has attracted the attention of many researchers (Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Lowe and Gardner, 2000, Yammarino et al., 2005). Furthermore, numerous studies (Bycio, Hackett and Allen, 1995; Dumdum, Lowe and Avolio, 2002; Rafferty and Griffin, 2004; Yammarino, Spangler and Dubinsky, 1998) have shown that these three forms of leadership have a significant impact on several employee attitudes and behaviours, including affective organizational commitment, which is characterized by an individual's emotional attachment to his company (Meyer and Allen, 1997). Nevertheless, there are still very few researchers taking an interest in the processes through which leaders can produce such effects (Bass and Riggio, 2006; Bono and Judge, 2003; Yukl, 2006). Only a few authors have tackled this problem, particularly by identifying empowerment (Avolio et al., 2004) and fairness (Pillai, Schriesheim and Williams, 1999) as mechanisms explaining the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' affective commitment. We intend to build on these recent results in improving the understanding of this dynamic.Based on the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), this research is aimed at exploring how supervisors can strengthen their employees' affective commitment. More specifically, we will assess the extent to which support and trust can account for the influence of each of the dimensions associated with transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership has on commitment. These dimensions are: charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, contingent reward, active management by exception, and passive avoidance.One of the primary contributions of this article resides in the fact that currently, there are still very few empirical research projects that have focussed on the effects of these dimensions on other variables, and that such research has only concentrated on the influence of global forms of leadership, and almost exclusively on the transformational form. However, recent works have indeed highlighted the importance of using specific dimensions rather than these three major forms of leadership since the later provide an imperfect and oversimplified image of all the leaders' behaviours and potential (Antonakis, Avolio and Sivasubramaniam, 2003). In addition to filling a gap at this level, the second significant contribution of this project lies in the fact that, to our knowledge, no study has as yet validated the role of support as an intermediate mechanism lying between leadership and affective commitment.In concrete terms, we are first proposing that the charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration and contingent reward dimensions are positively related to employees' perceived supervisor support and trust in their supervisor, whereas the active management by exception and passive avoidance dimensions are negatively related to those same two variables. Secondly, we are proposing that employees' perceived organizational support and trust in their organization act as mediating variables between perceived supervisor support and trust in their supervisor and affective commitment, respectively.This research, which was conducted in the spring of 2004 among all the employees (excluding physicians) of a Quebec hospital center, allowed the collection of 568 questionnaires, representing a 46% response rate; 80% of the subjects in the sample were women, whose average age was 43, and who had been working in the organization for 12 years, on average. To test our hypotheses, confirmatory factorial analyses and structural equations were conducted, while controlling for gender and employment status (full time vs. part time).The results of the study indicate that only the charisma dimension seems to lead employees to trust their supervisor. This observation is particularly interesting for researchers with an interest in interpersonal trust since other studies have arrived at similar conclusions (Gillespie and Mann, 2004). However, our results indicate that charisma and contingent reward are positively related to perceived supervisor support whereas active management by exception is negatively associated to it. This observation is particularly important in that it provides responses to the theoretical arguments which were paving the way for such a possibility (Yammarino and Bass, 1990; Jung and Avolio, 2000). Lastly, this research shows that the constructs of perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational support constitute an important explanatory mechanism in the relationship between leadership and affective commitment. Trust in the organization also contributes to explaining the dynamic existing between leadership and commitment; however, it is not significantly influenced by trust in the supervisor.Our results open up several avenues of further research. Although our analyses have identified support and trust as intermediate mechanisms between leadership and commitment, other mediators could still account for this relationship. In addition to exploring this avenue, future research could simultaneously analyze the intermediate variables that have been identified to date in the literature (e.g., support, trust, fairness, empowerment) with respect to commitment, but also to other consequences which are often related to transformational and transactional leadership (e.g., satisfaction, mobilization, performance), in order to better understand their relative importance. Finally, this study has certain limitations, including the difficulty in generalizing results (sample composed of a single organization), the possible inflation of the strength of certain relationships (common variance bias) and the impossibility of inferring the causality of the observed relationships (cross-sectional design).


Fe-Mn-Si-Cr-Ni composite powders are utilized to form a functional shape memory alloy cladding layer (SMACL) using a laser cladding method. The microstructure, microhardness, and phase composition of the SMACL are measured, and the extent of deformation of the laser cladding samples is determined. The SMACL is composed of planar, cellular, and dendritic crystals, equiaxed grains, and oxides with increasing distance from the substrate surface. The SMACL is further composed of \varepsilon -martensite and \gamma -austenite phases, while the tempered SMACL consists mainly of \gamma -austenite. Extensive deformation occurs in AISI 304 stainless steel laser cladding samples. By contrast, limited deformation is observed in the SMACL samples.


An investigation of the dispersion and attenuation characteristics of cylindrical structures supporting guided electromagnetic waves with low attenuation is described. The object of the investigation is to understand how the cross-sectional shape and the nature of the boundary conditions affects the propagation characteristics. Attention is directed towards structures supporting the least number of propagating modes under the conditions which yield low attenuation over a reasonable bandwidth. Elliptical waveguides with both smooth-walls and corrugated walls are studied in detail. This reveals errors in previous-theories which are corrected. Some aspects of corrugated rectangular and circular waveguides are considered. Potential low attenuation waveguides such as the dielectric lined and dielectric waveguides are evaluated.


Much of the spring landscape of arctic regions is dominated by a patchy snow cover with implications for both spring melt runoff and atmospheric fluxes. In addition to a variable end-of-winter snowpack, spatial differences in snowmelt energy terms play an important role in the development of this patchy snow cover. This paper focuses specifically on the influence of solar radiation on snowmelt by using a model to simulate the small-scale variability of solar radiation incident on the ground surface due to topographic influences over a small arctic catchment. The model only requires a digital elevation model (DEM) and measured global radiation. Despite the relatively low relief (average slope 3°) of the study area, the results showed solar radiation differences of up to 10% of the area-wide mean over the melt period. This would result in differences in snowmelt amounts of up to 50 mm, a value similar in magnitude to the overall mean end-of-winter snow water equivalent in the study region. An analysis of the effects of changing model scale showed that the simulated variability decreased substantially for larger grid sizes. The results show that the small-scale variability of solar radiation contributes greatly to the mosaic patterns in melting snow covers of arctic regions, affects the timing and amount of meltwater release and influences the surface energy balance of these areas considerably.


Hox genes have been implicated in specifying positional values along the anteroposterior axis of the caudal central nervous system, but their nested and overlapping expression has complicated the understanding of how they confer specific neural identity. We have employed a direct gain-of-function approach using retroviral vectors to misexpress Hoxa2 and Hoxb1 outside of the normal Hox expression domains, thereby avoiding complications resulting from possible interactions with endogenous Hox genes. Misexpression of either Hoxa2 or Hoxb1 in the anteriormost hindbrain (rhombomere1, r1) leads to the generation of motor neurons in this territory, even though it is normally devoid of this cell type. These ectopic neurons have the specific identity of branchiomotor neurons and, in the case of Hoxb1-induced cells, their axons leave the hindbrain either by fasciculating with the resident cranial motor axons at isthmic (trochlear) or r2 (trigeminal) levels of the axis or via novel ectopic exit points in r1. Next, we have attempted to identify the precise branchiomotor subtypes that are generated after misexpression and our results suggest that the ectopic motor neurons generated following Hoxa2 misexpression are trigeminal-like, while those generated following Hoxb1 misexpression are facial-like. Our data demonstrate, therefore, that at least to a certain extent and for certain cell types, the singular activities of individual Hox genes (compared to a combinatorial mode of action, for example) are sufficient to impose on neuronal precursor cells the competence to generate distinctly specified cell types. Moreover, as these particular motor neuron subtypes are normally generated in the most anterior domains of Hoxa2 and Hoxb1 expression, respectively, our data support the idea that the main site of individual Hox gene action is in the anteriormost subdomain of their expression, consistent with the phenomenon of posterior dominance.


Coding theory, system theory, and symbolic dynamics have much in common. Among the central themes in each of these subjects are the construction of state space representations, understanding of fundamental structural properties of sequence spaces, construction of input/output systems, and understanding the special role played by algebraic structure. A major new theme in this area of research is that of codes and systems based on graphical models. This volume contains survey and research articles from leading researchers at the interface of these subjects.


Morphine is one of the more ancient medicines known, yet the global access to this opioid is still severely limited. In spite of the fact that strong networks for national, regional and global care have been emerging, the overall situation of pain management, in general, and in cancer patients in specific, remains of great concern; when we examine the availability of pain relief drugs in Middle Eastern countries. The data presented in this abstract rely on the INCB annual reports. Consumption of Morphine. In the USA the consumption is on the rise and has reached over 76 mg/capita in the year 2007 (the global mean is 5.57 mg/capita). In Israel the consumption of morphine in 2007 is similar to that in 2004, a little above 3.0 mg/capita. In Cyprus during the year 2004-2007 the consumption was at about 2.8 mg/capita. In Jordan, morphine consumption has been on the rise since 2006 and is at about 2.0 mg/capita. In Lebanon, morphine consumption has been at a steady state (1.0 mg/capita) for the period 2004-2007. In Turkey, the consumption of morphine has been fluctuating at doses about 0.1 mg/capita fort the period 2004-2007. In Saudi Arabia, the consumption of morphine has been at very low doses of about 0.05 mg/capita for the same time period. In Egypt, the doss of consumption were fluctuating between 0.01-0.14 mg/capita during the years 2004-2007. When comparing the quantities of consumption in the various Middle Eastern countries with that in the United States (in year 2007), it became apparent that in the USA the consumption of morphine is: 10 times that in Israel; 27 times that in Cyprus; 38 times that in Jordan; 69 times that in Lebanon; 150 times that in Saudi Arabia; 447 times that in Turkey; 633 times that in Egypt. It is nowadays clear that the medial use of opioid drugs is indispensable for the relief of pain and suffering; and most developing countries use very small amounts of morphine.


Maternal morbidity is physical ill health related
to
pregnancy and
childbirth or
any
maternal complication during pregnancy,
labour
and
puerperium.
Severe
maternal
morbidity is a life-threatening obstetric complication.
The importance
of severe
maternal morbidity is that it precedes maternal
mortality
and
is therefore
critical
in the
understanding of the factors that influence maternal
mortality.
The overall aim of the study was to investigate
risk
factors
associated
with
severe
maternal morbidity and progression to maternal mortality
in
Mulago
hospital,
Kampala,
Uganda. The study had two stages:
Stage
1
was
an unmatched
case-control study
of
severe maternal morbidity and Stage
2
was
a
follow-up
of all cases
from
Stage 1 to
discharge or death.
A total of 499 cases of severe maternal morbidity and
500
controls
(women
with normal
deliveries and no severe maternal morbidity)
were studied.
Both the
cases and controls
were interviewed to obtain information on socio
demographic factors,
previous
obstetric
outcomes and present obstetric performance.
Information
on obstetric
management was
extracted from clinical notes. All cases and controls were
tested for
HIV,
syphilis and
haemoglobin level. A total of 39 of the
499
severe maternal
morbidity
cases
died.
The causes of SMM were severe pre eclampsia
(25%),
severe
dystocia
(31%)
Post
partum haemorrhage (19%), ante partum
haemorrhage
(14%)
puerperal sepsis
(5%)
and
medical diseases (6%). The main risk
factors for
severe maternal
morbidity
were
low
socio economic class, long distance from home to
Mulago
hospital,
having
specific
medical conditions, having to request permission
to
attend
health
unit,
having
a
long
interval since the last birth, HIV positive status
and poor
quality
of care
during
antenatal
and delivery. Further details, plus separate analyses of
specific
causes
of
SMM
(eclampsia, post partum haemorrhage, severe
dystocia
and ante
partum
haemorrhage)
are presented. Determinants of progression to
maternal
death included low
socio
economic class, factors associated with management
of
labour,
and
HIV/AIDS.
The main conclusion from this work
is that improvements in the
social
and
economic
status of women, the level of HIV in
the
community,
and the
quality
of
care
offered
2 during pregnancy will reduce the burden of severe maternal
morbidity
and mortality
in
Kampala, Uganda. It is likely that these results
can
be
generalised to
other areas
of sub-Saharan Africa and usefully integrated into
Safe-Motherhood Programs there.


The consideration of biological processes in hydro- and morphodynamic models is an important challenge for numerical simulation in coastal engineering. Eco-hydraulic aspects will play a major role in engineering tools and planning processes for the design of coastal works. Vegetation greatly affects the hydro- and morphodynamic models in coastal zones. Most hydrodynamic numerical models do not consider influences by ecological factors. This paper focuses on the presentation of an object-oriented holistic framework for eco-hydraulic simulation. The numerical approximation is performed by a stabilized finite element method for hydro- and morphodynamic processes, to solve the related partial differential equations, and by a cell-oriented model for the simulation of ecological processes, which is based on a fuzzy rule system. The fundamental differences between these model paradigms require special transfer and coupling methods. Case studies on seagrass prediction in the North Sea around the island of Sylt show the main effects and influences on changed hydro- and morphodynamic processes and demonstrate the applicability of the coupled finite element fuzzy cell-based approach in eco-hydraulic modeling.


This Essay discusses two significant Alien Tort Statute (ATS) cases in the 11th Circuit involving the doctrine of superior responsibility: Ford v. Garcia and Romagoza v. Garcia. Both cases were brought in the same courtroom against two former Ministers of Defense of El Salvador. Together, the Romagoza and Ford cases are significant as the first modern command responsibility cases in which a defendant testified in his own defense and was judged by a lay jury, as opposed to by a professional judge or military officers staffing a military tribunal. These are also the first cases in which a domestic tribunal closely considered the modern doctrine of command responsibility as articulated and clarified by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia through the vehicle of jury instructions. Furthermore, the Romagoza case is the first case in which civil plaintiffs proved liability under the doctrine of command responsibility in an adversarial setting under federal rules of evidence and procedure. As such, the Romagoza proceedings themselves deserve close attention for what they can teach about the application of the doctrine of superior responsibility and the strategic and evidentiary challenges it presents. Accordingly, this Essay deconstructs the formulation of the doctrine of command responsibility in the jury instructions employed in the two Salvadoran cases. It then discusses the challenges the doctrine poses with reference to the legal and evidentiary strategies employed by the Romagoza plaintiffs to prove command responsibility under the applicable rules of procedure and evidence. In particular, the Essay focuses on the element of "effective command" established by the 11th Circuit as a predicate for the application of the doctrine.


This report presents the results of the desk study on the evaluation of risks to (personal) data protection as considered in the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for Infrastructures and their service providers that leverage federated identity management (FIM) to connect research and collaboration users. Specifically, it considers personal data collected as a result of using the infrastructure (not any risks relating to the research data itself, which is a community responsibility) and provides guidance to the Infrastructures concerning Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) in the FIM context. The authors present recommendations to Research Communities for determining the necessity of formal DPIA and guidelines for its execution.
This document does not constitute legal advice in any specific jurisdiction


Background Frameshift mutations in microsatellite instability high (MSI-High) colorectal cancers are a potential source of targetable neo-antigens. Many nonsense transcripts are subject to rapid degradation due to nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), but nonsense transcripts with a cMS in the last exon or near the last exon-exon junction have intrinsic resistance to nonsense-mediated decay (NMD). NMD-resistant transcripts are therefore a likely source of expressed mutant proteins in MSI-High tumours. Methods Using antibodies to the conserved N-termini of predicted mutant proteins, we analysed MSI-High colorectal cancer cell lines for examples of naturally expressed mutant proteins arising from frameshift mutations in coding microsatellites (cMS) by immunoprecipitation and Western Blot experiments. Detected mutant protein bands from NMD-resistant transcripts were further validated by gene-specific short-interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown. A genome-wide search was performed to identify cMS-containing genes likely to generate NMD-resistant transcripts that could encode for antigenic expressed mutant proteins in MSI-High colon cancers. These genes were screened for cMS mutations in the MSI-High colon cancer cell lines. Results Mutant protein bands of expected molecular weight were detected in mutated MSI-High cell lines for NMD-resistant transcripts (CREBBP, EP300, TTK), but not NMD-sensitive transcripts (BAX, CASP5, MSH3). Expression of the mutant CREBBP and EP300 proteins was confirmed by siRNA knockdown. Five cMS-bearing genes identified from the genome-wide search and without existing mutation data (SFRS12IP1, MED8, ASXL1, FBXL3 and RGS12) were found to be mutated in at least 5 of 11 (45%) of the MSI-High cell lines tested. Conclusion NMD-resistant transcripts can give rise to expressed mutant proteins in MSI-High colon cancer cells. If commonly expressed in primary MSI-High colon cancers, MSI-derived mutant proteins could be useful as cancer specific immunological targets in a vaccine targeting MSI-High colonic tumours.


An emerging direction of quantum computing is to establish meaningful quantum applications in various fields of artificial intelligence, including natural language processing (NLP). Although some efforts based on syntactic analysis have opened the door to research in Quantum NLP (QNLP), limitations such as heavy syntactic preprocessing and syntax-dependent network architecture make them impracticable on larger and real-world data sets. In this paper, we propose a new simple network architecture, called the quantum self-attention neural network (QSANN), which can compensate for these limitations. Specifically, we introduce the self-attention mechanism into quantum neural networks and then utilize a Gaussian projected quantum self-attention serving as a sensible quantum version of self-attention. As a result, QSANN is effective and scalable on larger data sets and has the desirable property of being implementable on near-term quantum devices. In particular, our QSANN outperforms the best existing QNLP model based on syntactic analysis as well as a simple classical self-attention neural network in numerical experiments of text classification tasks on public data sets. We further show that our method exhibits robustness to low-level quantum noises and showcases resilience to quantum neural network architectures.


Gaze target detection aims to infer where each person in a scene is looking. Existing works focus on 2D gaze and 2D saliency, but fail to exploit 3D contexts. In this work, we propose a three-stage method to simulate the human gaze inference behavior in 3D space. In the first stage, we introduce a coarse-to-fine strategy to robustly estimate a 3D gaze orientation from the head. The predicted gaze is decomposed into a planar gaze on the image plane and a depth-channel gaze. In the second stage, we develop a Dual Attention Module (DAM), which takes the planar gaze to produce the filed of view and masks interfering objects regulated by depth information according to the depth-channel gaze. In the third stage, we use the generated dual attention as guidance to perform two sub-tasks: (1) identifying whether the gaze target is inside or out of the image; (2) locating the target if inside. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods on GazeFollow and VideoAttentionTarget datasets.


The high computational and parameter complexity of neural networks makes their training very slow and difficult to deploy on energy and storage-constrained computing systems. Many network complexity reduction techniques have been proposed including fixed-point implementation. However, a systematic approach for designing full fixed-point training and inference of deep neural networks remains elusive. We describe a precision assignment methodology for neural network training in which all network parameters, i.e., activations and weights in the feedforward path, gradients and weight accumulators in the feedback path, are assigned close to minimal precision. The precision assignment is derived analytically and enables tracking the convergence behavior of the full precision training, known to converge a priori. Thus, our work leads to a systematic methodology of determining suitable precision for fixed-point training. The near optimality (minimality) of the resulting precision assignment is validated empirically for four networks on the CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and SVHN datasets. The complexity reduction arising from our approach is compared with other fixed-point neural network designs.


Theropod nesting localities suggest some dinosaurs incubated eggs in a manner similar to modern birds; however, taphonomic studies of modern nesting localities are limited. Here, I document Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and Caribbean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) nesting sites at Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay, MD, and Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington D.C., respectively. Sterna hirundo construct scrape nests with loose vegetation and produce 2-3 eggs; P. ruber build mud mounds containing one egg. Both species exhibit biparental care. Nests were surveyed on multiple occasions. Documentation included nest composition, density, and distribution, as well as eggshell concentration and orientation. Of 80 tern nests with 193 eggs, 12 nests hatched, 7 were predated, 31failed, and 30 were of unknown fates. Thirty-two flamingo nests averaged 32 x 31 cm, with mean nearest neighbor distance of 63.8 cm. Both species displayed abundant eggshell at nest centers. Concave-up eggshell characterized hatched and predated nests, whereas trampled areas favored concave-down. Wind or colony members likely transported random eggshell present on the colony. Eggs buried in nest and soil indicated adult abandonment. The results of this study may help determine nest fate for modern birds and provide paleontologists with physical characteristics to consider when excavating fossil sites.


3661 The induction of apoptotic pathways in cancer cells offers a novel and potentially useful approach to improve patient responses to conventional chemotherapy. Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a protease inhibitor that is abundant in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and highly expressed in non-invasive cells, but absent or undetectable in highly invasive human glioblastoma cells. Using a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector carrying human TFPI-2 cDNA (rAAV-TFPI-2), we stably expressed TFPI-2 in U-251 cells, a highly invasive human glioblastoma cell line. Our previous studies demonstrated that restoration of TFPI-2 in glioblastomas effectively prevents cell proliferation, angiogenesis and tumor invasion. In the present study, we determined whether TFPI-2 restoration could induce apoptosis through the caspase mediated signaling pathway. The results of caspase 9 and caspase 3 activity assays showed increased activity, which indicates enhanced apoptosis. Immunofluorescence for cleaved caspase 9 and 3 depicted increased expression and co-localization of both molecules. Western blot analysis demonstrated increased transcriptional activities of FasL, TNF-α, BAX, FADD and TRADD, as well as elevated levels of cleaved caspases and PARP. Semiquantitative RT-PCR depicted increased expression of TNF-α and FasL and the related death domains, TRADD and FADD. Taken together, these results demonstrate that restoration of TFPI-2 activates both intrinsic and extrinsic caspase-mediated, pro-apoptotic signaling pathways and induces apoptosis in U-251 cells. Furthermore, our study suggests that rAAV-mediated gene expression offers a novel and potential tool for cancer gene therapy.


Various analytical theories of consolidation for soils with vertical drains have been proposed in the past. Most conventional theories are based on a cylindrical unit cell that contains only a single vertical drain. This paper described a new analytical model where a vertical drain located at the centre (the 'inner vertical drain') and is surrounded by two or three vertical drains (the 'outer vertical drains'), the number of which depends on whether the configuration is triangular or rectangular. Both types of drains are combined into a cylindrical unit cell, and the water is assumed to flow both inwards to the inner vertical drain and outwards to the outer vertical drains distributed around the circumference. The outer radial boundary of the unit cell is regarded as a permeable boundary, with a drainage capacity of two or three separate vertical drains for triangular and rectangular configurations, respectively. The smear effects and the drainage resistances for both the inner and outer vertical drains are considered in the analysis as well. In this way, the equations governing the consolidation process with multiple vertical drains are derived, and the corresponding analytical solutions are obtained for instantaneously loading, ramp loading and multi‐stage of instantaneously loading and multi‐stage of ramp loading. The present solutions are finally compared with several conventional solutions for a single vertical drain in the literature. The results show that the present model predicts the same average degree of consolidation as conventional models do, which verifies the correctness of this new model. Finally, the settlement predicted by the present solution is compared with the measured settlement from a field test at the Port of Brisbane, Australia, which shows a good agreement between them. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A new tissue-specific pathway for the synthesis of proinflammatory prostaglandins is described. Prostaglandins play a major role in many physiological and pathological processes, often as proinflammatory mediators. The proinflammatory effects of prostaglandins may be beneficial when fighting an infection; however, when produced chronically, they can lead to irreparable damage. Prostaglandins are synthesized from arachidonic acid by cyclooxygenase enzymes. The major source of arachidonic acid is thought to be its synthesis by the enzyme phospholipase A2. Nomura et al. (see the Perspective by Stella) now demonstrate an alternative pathway for the production of arachidonic acid: the hydrolysis of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol by monoacylglycerol lipase. D. K. Nomura, B. E. Morrison, J. L. Blankman, J. Z. Long, S. G. Kinsey, M. C. G. Marcondes, A. M. Ward, Y. K. Hahn, A. H. Lichtman, B. Conti, B. F. Cravatt, Endocannabinoid hydrolysis generates brain prostaglandins that promote neuroinflammation. Science 334, 809–813 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text] N. Stella, Anatomy of prostaglandin signals. Science 334, 768–769 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]