The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is considered the gold standard in evaluative medical research for drawing causal inferences about the effects of the intervention under study. For several reasons, in occupational health research, an RCT is neither always the best study design nor the most feasible option. Alternative study designs are increasingly being used in situations of complex interventions, whereby multiple stakeholders are involved in a varying context (1). These designs, which mimic natural experiments, support innovative research in occupational health as they offer a new platform to examine the effectiveness of interventions combining an individual approach with workplace adjustment (2).

A typical example is the area of return to work (RTW). A recent review on interventions to manage musculoskeletal-related sickness absence showed that various behavioral interventions have been evaluated in RCT. In general, person-oriented intervention studies can easily be randomized. For workplace-oriented interventions, this is less straightforward. It is not surprising, therefore, that considerably less RCT have been able to include workplace adjustments as workplace interventions (3). Typically, those RCT have small study populations and are limited to a few work organizations. The balance between the rigorousness of an RCT and a large-scale observational study has been nicely illustrated by studies on the effects of partial sickness absence in Finland. The RCT consisted of subjects with musculoskeletal disorders from six enterprises comparing 31 workers in the intervention group with 31 workers in the usual-care group (4). The observational study on register information with propensity score matching compared over 1000 subjects in the intervention group to >25 000 subjects in the usual-care group (5). Although the latter study has higher risk of bias, the RCT was so small that generalizability may be questioned. Thus, there is a clear need to make better use of existing possibilities of routinely collected data for evaluating the effects of particular interventions.
In this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Bethge (6) presents an elegant example of how register-based information can be utilized to determine the effects of graded RTW (GRTW). In Germany, this program is offered to patients who are unable to return to work at full capacity in their regular job immediately after clinical rehabilitation has finished. Several factors contributed to the decision that a randomized study was not possible. First, this GRTW service was introduced and implemented nationwide before proper scientific evaluation on its effectiveness was conducted. As researchers, we have the choice to either gnash our teeth about such developments and rue missed opportunities for evidence-based policies or try to take advantage of the large-scale implementation by studying effects in an observational study under routine conditions. Second, the GRTW service requires agreement and consent from the patient, the employer, the general practitioner, and the occupational physician. This inevitable procedure will remove one of the key advantages of an RCT, ie, blinding of the patient and all persons involved in treatment. Third, a related problem is that it will be hard to convince everyone that, after consent has been given by all parties involved, the randomization procedure will determine who will get the GRTW service and who will not get this therapeutic work resumption. The author turned the disadvantage of not being able to conduct an RCT into the advantage of carrying out a large observational study with multiple outcome measures over a prolonged follow-up period through linkage of different registers.

The Bethge study presents some important results. In the GRTW intervention group, there was less sickness absence (>50 days difference compared to usual care) during the 3-year follow-up period. In addition, the risk of a disability benefit decreased by 40%. Through the linkage with other registered-based information, it was also shown that the GRTW group had a €4000 per year higher income, an important observation not often reported in occupational health studies. Through the large study population of 1875 persons in the intervention group, sufficient statistical power was available for several subgroup analyses. There were no differences across diagnostic group, suggesting that a graded RTW approach may be similarly beneficial for workers with musculoskeletal disorders, mental disorders, and cancer. The relevance of this finding cannot be underestimated, since it would have been virtually impossible for any intervention to conduct a sufficiently large RCT, or alternatively four RCT in different patient groups.

Bethge stated that GRTW is "a therapeutic measure that aims to test and practice work capacity at the workplace" (6, p1). The effects of GRTW have been studied more often, using a range of different terms for more or less the same intervention: partial or part-time sick leave, adaptation in working hours, graded work exposure, and partial or therapeutic work resumption. A cohort study in six countries demonstrated that GRTW was the most commonly applied intervention among workers who were sick-listed due to low-back pain (7). Almost half of all cohort participants (46%) were offered GRTW. A study evaluating the effects of GRTW using an instrumental variable method indicated that it improved the probability of recovery to full work capacity among workers on sickness absence due to musculoskeletal disorders (8). Another study, applying econometric models to analyze combined survey and register data, also showed this beneficial effect for GRTW on return to regular working hours, irrespective of the cause of sickness absence (9). For employees sick-listed due to mental disorders, however, econometric models revealed that GRTW was not effective in promoting return to regular working hours (10) or that GRTW was only effective after >60 days of sickness absence (11). These findings correspond to a Cochrane review on workplace interventions to prevent work disability among workers on sick leave, which also showed better effects for workers with musculoskeletal disorders than for those with sickness absence due to mental disorders or cancer (12). From this perspective, the results of Bethge were more hopeful in that, with the exception of persons with cardiovascular disorders, GRTW was found to be beneficial for those with musculoskeletal disorders, mental and behavioral disorders as well as cancer (6).

In conclusion, Bethge's observational study presents evidence that (i) gradual RTW is a method to be used across most chronic diseases and (ii) timely attachment to one's job will support workers to remain productive in their regular job and have a higher income. The latter is certainly an uplifting message for the reader of this journal. Often our studies focus on the adverse effects of work on health. The study demonstrates that for many workers with health problems, being at work promotes health and wealth!


ABSTRACT Feminist scholars have critically demonstrated the links between the global political economy, social reproduction and gender-based violence. This article builds on this scholarship by investigating restrictions to reproductive freedom and their connection to the depletion of women's bodies in the global political economy. Specifically, I use the Depletion through Social Reproduction (DSR) framework to reveal how the work of social reproduction is harnessed to service economic activity at the cost of rights to bodily integrity with the aid of religious fundamentalist ideologies that (re)inscribe discourses of female altruism such as the "self-sacrificing mother" ideal. Drawing on the case of the Philippines, I argue that the control of women's bodies is integral to the Philippines' economic strategy of exporting care workers in a competitive global political economy. This strategy is abetted by local Catholic religious fundamentalists who challenge reproductive rights reform at various levels of policy-making and legitimize the lack of investment to sustain social reproduction in the household, community and country as a whole. This article suggests that the neoliberal global economy is increasingly reproduced through women's labor at the cost of their bodily integrity and reproductive freedoms.


Abstract : Career management and progression of Supply Corps officers is performed by PERS-4412, considering such factors of interest as number of accessions to make and tour lengths. To study the effect of policy choices on the underlying system, this thesis focused on model building using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and experimentation using Design of Experiments (DOE). We derived five metamodels to identify the most important factors that describe the personnel system response (model outputs) as functions of the policy choices (simulation inputs). Multiple regressions and the resultant profiler allowed fine-tuning of the inputs to arrive at personnel policy recommendations in which all but one of the system objectives were met.


BACKGROUND
the burden associated with osteoporotic fractures has commonly been reported in terms of utilisation of acute care. However, individuals with fractures suffer lasting deficits in quality of life and the burden of care extends well beyond the initial acute care period. The burden of fractures related to post-acute heath care utilisation, and informal care giving, has not been sufficiently addressed. We examine the use of formal and informal post-acute care in men and women 50 years and older who sustained fractures.

METHODS
the study sample consisted of 1,116 men and women from the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) who sustained a fracture. We assessed utilisation of post-acute care including rehabilitative and home care services, as well as informal care in persons with a hip, vertebral, or non-hip-non-vertebral fractures.

RESULTS
use of rehabilitative and home care services was reported by 37.1% and 18.2% of men and women, respectively. Persons with hip fracture were more likely to report use of these services compared with persons with non-hip-non-vertebral fractures; those with vertebral fracture were less likely to report using these services. Use of informal care was reported by 47.2% of participants. Individuals with multiple fractures made more extensive use of post-acute resources compared with those with single fractures.

CONCLUSIONS
use of post-acute care in individuals with fracture is extensive and the contribution of use of these resources to the overall burden of fractures cannot be ignored. Our findings have implications for future economic analyses and policy-making related to care of osteoporotic fractures.


Symbiotic radio (SR) has recently emerged as a promising technology to boost spectrum efficiency of wireless communications by allowing reflective communications underlying the active RF communications. In this paper, we leverage SR to boost physical layer security by using an array of passive reflecting elements constituting the intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), which is reconfigurable to induce diverse RF radiation patterns. In particular, by switching the IRS's phase shifting matrices, we can proactively create dynamic channel conditions, which can be exploited by the transceivers to extract common channel features and thus used to generate secret keys for encrypted data transmissions. As such, we firstly present the design principles for IRS-assisted key generation and verify a performance improvement in terms of the secret key generation rate (KGR). Our analysis reveals that the IRS's random phase shifting may result in a non-uniform channel distribution that limits the KGR. Therefore, to maximize the KGR, we propose both a heuristic scheme and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to control the switching of the IRS's phase shifting matrices. Simulation results show that the DRL approach for IRS-assisted key generation can significantly improve the KGR.


The justification for doing the work presented in this paper lies in the recent and disturbing rumours regarding the reflectivity of the current SCIAMACHY Level 1b product. The reflectivity was claimed to show an overall 20-percent loss in magnitude compared to GOME. We will show that the reported discrepancy in the reflectivity is indeed not a fictional one, but that it is certainly not caused by the failing polarisation correction. We also concentrate on the polarisation correction itself. Unfortunately, the current version of the polarisation correction algorithm is not reliable, and shows severe errors in the applied correction. 1 POLARISATION CORRECTION OF RADIANCES Light can be described by means of Stokes vectors


This article analyses the disunity among African states in terms of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform, and attributes it to the contest between South Africa and Nigeria. These two countries have been locked in a hegemonic contest for continental domination. To this end, the article notes that African unity, not in terms of protocol but on the basis of principles and cooperation, is sacrosanct in order for the African Union to make a significant contribution to the reform of the UNSC. It is asserted that the contest between South Africa and Nigeria has been symbolised by the continental leadership aspirations of the heads of state of both countries, and recommends that it be tamed through forging diplomatic and strategic partnerships between the ruling parties of these two countries. The influence of external actors on the African countries, particularly that of France, is underscored as a contributing factor in stalling the debate on the UNSC reform. It recommends that South Africa use its strategic partnership within the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), particularly Russia and China as permanent members of the UNSC, to influence the realisation of the reform debate.


Lane estimation for autonomous driving can be formulated as a curve estimation problem, where local sensor data provides partial and noisy observations of spatial curves. The number of curves to estimate may be initially unknown and many of the observations may be outliers or false detections (due e.g. to to tree shadows or lens flare). The challenges lie in detecting lanes when and where they exist, and updating lane estimates as new observations are made. This paper describes an efficient probabilistic lane estimation algorithm based on a novel curve representation. The key advance is a principled mechanism to describe many similar curves as variations of a single basis curve. Locally observed road paint and curb features are then fused to detect and estimate all nearby travel lanes. The system handles roads with complex geometries and makes no assumptions about the position and orientation of the vehicle with respect to the roadway. We evaluate our algorithm with a ground truth dataset containing manually-labeled, fine-grained lane geometries for vehicle travel in two large and diverse datasets that include more than 300,000 images and 44 km of roadway. The results illustrate the capabilities of our algorithm for robust lane estimation in the face of challenging conditions and unknown roadways.


This paper discusses the elections which took place in 2005 after the US-led invasion of Iraq. Specifically, it focuses on the policy choices made by foreign and foreign-chosen actors regarding those elections. After offering a background of the post-invasion setting, the electoral system for these elections was described. Lastly, offered are four critiques. First, that the January 2005 election to create a body to write a new constitution should have resulted in a much more representative body given the importance of constitution writing. Next, the de-Ba'athification process itself served to undermine the legitimacy of the transitional elections. Moreover, a truth commission for state-sponsored injustice and the use of amnesty would have proven to be a better model for transitional justice than de-Ba'athification. Lastly, foreign influences in Iraq were a primary hindrance which rendered the transitional process largely unsuccessful. This paper argues that the chief problem with democracy at gunpoint is that as a process it is not chosen democratically, and as such bequeaths upon the resultant systems an original sin of external imposition. The paper suggests that such foreign actors in the future should consider more fully the ramifications of imposed democracy.


The formation of a diurnal thermocline at few meters depth is difficult to document because of the mixing induced by research platforms. We built a free‐rising CTD‐platform, including sensors for chlorophyll fluorescence, turbidity, and light, that profiles to ~0.4 m below the surface with better than 0.03 m resolution and at sufficient distance from the research platform to measure an undisturbed water column. The profiler, with a practical maximum depth of 100 m is controlled mechanically using sacrificial weights and a safety tether that assures easy recovery of the instrument. The design concept is easily adapted to many commercial CTD models. Off Baja California, most profiles showed temperature stratification near the surface and some profiles showed near surface chlorophyll fluorescence thin layers; these features would be difficult to observe with normal CTD profilers.


Background: Cariogenic microorganisms are the most important cause for occurrence of dental caries. Dentifrices and mouthwashes containing antimicrobial substances are proven to be effective in the eradication of these pathogens from the oral cavity. Aim: To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of fluoride, chlorhexidine (CHX), herbal, and xylitol containing toothpastes and mouthwashes against Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and Lactobacillus (LB) in subjects within the age group of 18 to 22 years at time intervals of 1, 3, and 6 months. Materials and methods: One hundred subjects were randomly divided into four groups. Group I: fluoride, group II: chlorhexidine, group III: herbal, group IV: xylitol and instructed to use toothpastes and mouthwashes containing the specific agents. Salivary samples were collected to evaluate the levels of S. mutans and LB at baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months. Bacterial levels were evaluated using caries risk test (CRT) kit. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and post hoc test. Results: During intragroup comparison, S. mutans levels in group I showed statistically significant difference among the four time intervals. On intergroup comparison, S. mutans levels after 6 months for groups I, II, III, and IV were 1.12, 1.16, 1.28, and 1.4 respectively. Conclusion: It can be concluded that fluoride, CHX, and xylitol showed a significant reduction in S. mutans and LB count after a time period of 6 months while herbal group did not show a significant reduction in S. mutans and LB count at any intervals.


Corporate Responsibility (CR) is today an essential component of corporate global strategy. CR can bolster the institutional context for market expansion fill institutional voids or facilitate market entry as a component of non-market strategy. Yet, in fulfilling these functions, CR may need to be highly sensitive to local contexts. How can transnational firms organize CR so as to maximize efficiencies from globalization and to minimize the fragmentation of corporate organizational cultures? provide a framework for analyzing the way that corporations coordinate global and local functions. We build on this framework in a case study of Novo Nordisk and its approach to determining global and local CR policies and procedures with regard to its China and US subsidiaries. Our findings suggest that it is important for companies to define a common set of organizational norms. In addition, CR need to be sensitive to local institutional contexts, but learning from subsidiary experience is important and lends itself to standardization and replication of initiatives across market contexts.


Cryptographic protocols are an essential component of network communications. Despite their relatively small size compared to other distributed algorithms, they are known to be error-prone. This is due to the obligation to behave robustly in the context of unknown hostile attackers who might want to act against the security objectives of the jointly interacting entities. The need for techniques to verify the correctness of cryptographic protocols has stimulated the development of new frameworks and tools during the last decades. Among the various models is the spi calculus: a process calculus which is an extension of the pi calculus that incorporates cryptographic primitives. Process calculi such as the spi calculus offer the possibility to describe in a precise and concise way distributed algorithms such as cryptographic protocols. Moreover, spi calculus offers an elegant way to formalise some security properties of cryptographic protocols via behavioural equivalences. At the time this thesis began, this approach lacked tool support. Inspired by the situation in the pi calculus, we propose a new notion of behavioural equivalence for the spi calculus that is close to an algorithm. Besides, we propose a "coq" formalisation of our results that not only validates our theoretical developments but also will eventually be the basis of a certified tool that would automate equivalence checking of spi calculus terms. To complete the toolchain, we propose a formal semantics for an informal notation to describe cryptographic protocols, so called protocol narrations. We give a rigorous procedure to translate protocol narrations into spi calculus terms; this constitutes the foundations of our automatic translation tool "spyer".


Rosen's Rule states that rendaku is predictable when at least one element in a compound is three moras or longer. The rule is of importance for two reasons. Firstly, it adds further to the evidence affirming the role of the foot in Japanese. Secondly, the application of Rosen's Rule allows us to flag a given morpheme for rendaku immunity (never undergoing rendaku) or its opposite, rendaku submission (always undergoing rendaku). However, recent work on Rosen's Rule has shown that its psychological reality is unproven and, due to inconsistent definitions in Rosen's work, scholarly interpretation of the Rule has not yet reached a consensus. Harnessing the Rendaku Database, the Rule is subjected to a thoroughgoing analysis, the outcome of which is that Rosen's Rule is judged to be highly robust, with an accuracy level in the area of 90%.


Semiz et al. discovered that insulin treatment increased the frequency of movement along microtubules of the glucose transporter protein GLUT4 independently of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Insulin enhances glucose transport in muscle cells and adipocytes by stimulating the translocation and fusion to the plasma membrane of intracellular vesicles containing GLUT4; at least some steps in this process involve the type of PI3K with p85 and p110 subunits. Although evidence suggests that elements of the cytoskeleton are involved in vesicle translocation, the details have remained controversial. The authors used time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to visualize GLUT4-containing vesicles moving along complex networks of microtubules in 3R3-L1 adipocytes expressing yellow fluorescent protein-labeled GLUT4 (GLUT4-YFP) and cyan fluorescent protein-labeled tubulin (tubulin-CFP). Vesicles moved to and from the perinuclear region over distances as long as 20 μm. Insulin increased the frequency--but not the velocity--of long-range GLUT4-YFP movement, but not that of short-range movement. The effect on outward movement was greater than that on inward movement. Pharmacological analysis with the PI3K inhibitor wortmannin indicated that insulin's effect on GLUT4 translocation along microtubules was independent of PI3K. Wortmannin did, however, inhibit insulin-stimulated appearance of GLUT4 in the plasma membrane. Genomic screening in combination with Western analysis, mass spectrometry of immunoprecipitates, and expression of dominant-negative mutant proteins indicated that conventional kinesin KIF5B mediated GLUT4-containg vesicle transport along microtubules. Thus, the PI3K-dependent step appears to occur late in the GLUT4 trafficking pathway, with regulation of KIF5B occurring through a distinct signaling pathway. S. Semiz, J. G. Park, S. M. C. Nicoloro, P. Furcinitti, C. Zhang, A. Chawla, J. Leszek, M. P. Czech, Conventional kinesin KIF5B mediates insulin-stimulated GLUT4 movements on microtubules. EMBO J. 22, 2387-2399 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


1. The basic principle in Mendel's discoveries is that of the purity of t. he germcells; in accordance with this a cross-bred animal or plant produces germ-cells bearing only one of each pair of characters in which its parents differ. From it follows the occurrence in the second and later hybrid generations of a definite number of forms in definite numerical proportions. 2. Mendel's principle of dominance is realized in the heredity of a considerable number of characters among both animals and plants. In accordance with this principle, hybrid offspring have visibly the character of only one parent or the other, though they transmit those of both parents. 3. In other cases the hybrid has a distinctive character of its own. This may approximate more or less closely the character of one parent or the other, or it may be entirely different from both. Frequently the distinctive hybrid character resembles a lost ancestral character. In some cases of this sort, as in coat-color of mammals, the hybrid character probably results from a recomibination of the characters seen in one or both parents, with certain Other characters latent (that is, recessive) in one parent or the other. 4. There have been observed the following exceptions to the principle of dominance, or to the principle of purity of the germ-cells, or to both: (a) Mosaic inheritance, in which a pair of characters ordinarily related as dominant and recessive occur in a balanced relationship, side by side in the hybrid individual and frequently in its germ-cells also. This balanced condition, once obtained, is usually stable under close breeding, but is readily disturbed by cross-breeding, giving place then to the normal dominance. (b) Stable (self-perpetuating) hybrid forms result from certain crosses. These constitute an exception to both the law of dominance and to that of purity of the germ-cells. For the hybrid is like neither parent, but the characters of both parents exist in a stable union in the mature germcells produced by the hybrid. (c) Coupling, i. e., complete correlation may exist between two or more characters, so that they form a compound unit not separable in heredity, at least in certain crosses. (d) Disintegration of characters apparently simple may take place in consequence of cross-breeding. (e) Departures from the expected ratios of dominants to recessives may be explained in some cases as due to inferior vigor, and so greater mortality, on the part of dominants or recessives respectively. (f) Cases of apparent reversal of dominance may arise from 'false hybridization' (induced lparthenogenesis). Possibly in other cases the determination of dominance rests with circumstances as yet unknown. 5. Mendel's principles strengthen the view that species arise by discontinuous variation. They explain why new types are especially variable, how one variation causes others, and why certain variations are so persistent in their Occurrence


Every student takes tests, whether they're in 1st grade or graduate school. Many of those students will experience some degree of test anxiety, which can negatively affect their grades, promotions, graduation, and post-secondary opportunities (Salend, 2011a). Even though educators are the ones responsible for testing students--and probably creating much of that anxiety--they can also be the ones who help alleviate student test anxiety if they are armed with information and knowledge about useful strategies. During testing, students experiencing test anxiety encounter extreme levels of stress, nervousness, and apprehension that drastically hinders their ability to perform well and negatively affects their social-emotional and behavioral development and feelings about themselves and school (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Huberty, 2009). Students may have generalized anxiety disorders, but anxiousness over tests is different (Huberty, 2009). Students with generalized anxiety disorders are distinguished by a "trait anxiety," which results in experiencing high levels of stress across a wide range of situations (Cassady, 2010; Cizek & Burg, 2006). Conversely, students experiencing test anxiety have a "state anxiety," which results in high levels of nervousness specific to testing. A variety of interrelated variables associated with individualized student characteristics, family and peer interactions, and school and classroom practices can lead to test anxiety (Salend, 2011a). These factors include: * Anxiety, attention, or obsessive compulsive disorders; * Perfectionist tendencies and unrealistic expectations; * Negative self-esteem, self-statements, and criticism; * Poor motivation, lack of confidence, and procrastination; * Stereotype threat; * Inadequate study and test-taking skills; * Poor prior testing performance; * Pressure from peers, family, and teachers; * Unfavorable testing environments; * Invalid, flawed, and timed tests; and * Ineffective teaching (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Huberty, 2009; Osborne, Tillman, & Holland, 2010). These factors often interact to create a cycle that results in heightened levels of test anxiety (Cassady, 2010). For example, a student may initially do badly on a test due to inadequate study habits or a poorly developed test, and then experience family pressures and negative self-statements, which collectively increase the probability that the student will experience high levels of anxiety that interfere with subsequent test performance. Experiencing some anxiety related to testing is normal, and reasonable amounts of stress can even enhance test performance (Cizek & Burg, 2006). However, students experiencing detrimental levels of stress during testing usually exhibit a variety of physical, behavioral, and affective warning signs. (See Table 1.) Educators can assess whether students evidence the warning signs by observing them during testing and interviewing them and their families about their behavior and feelings while preparing and taking tests. Educators, students, and family members also can respond to questionnaires assessing the degree to which the warning signs of test anxiety are present (Cizek & Burg, 2006; Salend, 2011a). TABLE 1. Possible symptoms associated with test anxiety PHYSICAL BEHAVIORAL AFFECTIVE SYMPTOMS SYMPTOMS SYMPTOMS Excessive Difficulties Making perspiration with negative concentration, self-statements attention, and memory that interfere with: Sweaty palms * Reading and Having understanding pessimistic test directions expectations and items (e. …


The energy sector dominates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and consists of various assets - electricity, oil and natural gas - that are geographically dispersed and connected by systems and networks. The protection of these systems and assets within the energy sector, especially the safeguarding of the oil and gas infrastructure from any internal and external threats, should become a top priority in the UAE. Threats to geopolitical and economic stability that need to be considered and prepared for include tectonic activity, climate change, nuclear energy, terrorism and war. The aim of this research is to develop a framework to enhance the resilience of the UAE's critical energy infrastructure facilities through a strategic disaster mitigation plan.
The philosophy of this research is interpretivism. The research approach is inductive, whilst the research strategy is case study. The secondary data was taken from various academic and professional sources whilst the primary data collection included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Three facilities were selected for this research and they were electricity generating plants using gas - one in Abu Dhabi, one in Dubai and one in Sharjah. In total 100 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 42 were answered by energy sector workers (20 from Abu Dhabi, 15 from Dubai and 7 from Sharjah). Respondents of the questionnaire discussed issues such as energy sector preparedness, vulnerability and barriers to be overcome. Respondents believed that while the energy sector is best prepared for terrorism, extreme heat, and health and safety related accidents, it is ill prepared when it comes to facing natural hazards. The risk of terrorism was thought to be the greatest vulnerability. In addition, a total of 9 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Emirati energy sector managers who discussed the questionnaire responses and proposed further solutions to the concerns raised.
This thesis provides important practical knowledge and makes a contribution to the provision of advice and methodological steps, derived from fieldwork, when it comes to developing a strategic mitigation plan and communicating it to the energy sector. It provides key information that could be used to improve the design and structure of current educational and professional programmes undertaken by individuals in the
2
disaster sector. The thesis provides tools for qualitatively evaluating the various threats and vulnerabilities faced by the UAE and acts as a platform for change.
In terms of theoretical contributions, this research represents the first of its kind that engages both workers and managers in the Emirati energy sector. This gives academics and professionals unique insights into some of the significant problems that have become latent and perhaps would have continued unnoticed but require more comprehensive investigation. The study has specific implications for policy and practices within energy organisations operating in such settings, not to mention the way disaster is viewed.


Evidence for intrinsic modularity in the mammalian neocortex is difficult to reconcile in a
single coherent scheme of organisation. Instead, it appears that certain characteristics of
neuronal morphology and interconnection produce a cortex with an intrinsic columnar
bias, formed and regionally differentiated under the influence of subcortical afferents, and
that the cortex as a whole is more homogeneous than may have been expected. Against
this background, a growing set of characteristic biochemical markers expressed by
individual neurons has emerged as an important prospect for recognising the mix of
neuronal subgroups in individual regions, and several studies have made progress in
associating these "chemical phenotypes" with the morphologies, connectional
preferences, distributions and electrophysiological qualities of the neurons exhibiting
them. Most chemical phenotypes are expressed by subgroups of GABAergic neurons.
Immunohistochemical labelling of the neurofilament triplet (NF) intermediate
filament proteins allows subpopulations of the largest neuronal group, the pyramidal
cells, to be identified throughout the brain. Characterisation of the properties associated
with cellular expression of NFs would permit phenotypic groupings of most cortical
neurons, enabling the evaluation of neuronal populations in wide regions of the brain
using simple techniques. This thesis comprises studies of NF-associated properties in the
context of several key chemical phenotypes.
The overall distribution of immunolabelling produced by SMI32, an antibody
recognising perikaryal neurofilament, was examined and characterised in the rat cortex.
Retrograde tracing studies evaluated the possibility that the presence of NF enables
longer projections in corticocortical neurons. Ultrastructural examination of cortical
axons was used to examine the relationship between axonal neurofilaments, myelination
and axon calibre in the rat cortex. The developmental emergence of SMI32 labelling was
examined, and comparisons with the appearance of key GABAergic phenotypes was used
to correlate NF expression with the changing environment of developing cortex. Finally,
the usefulness of cultured embryonic rat neurons for studying the development and
intracellular distribution of NFs and GABAergic phenotypes was examined using several
timepoints during a three week development in vitro. SMI32-labelled NFs were found in around 10% of neurons in several regions;
characteristic laminar patterns of labelling were observed in the cortex as a whole,
consistently appearing in particular cortical areas. SMI32 labelling in retrogradely
labelled cells was found not to correlate with estimates of the projection distances
involved, although some evidence for regionally specific differences in NF proportions of
projection neurons was observed. Presumed NFs in cortical axons of the corpus callosum
exhibited a strong correlation with axon calibre and myelination, while differences
observed in regional NF distribution were found to correlate with obvious ultrastructural
differences in the cortex. The emergence of SMI32 labelling correlated with changes in
the expression of other chemical markers in vivo, whereas the environmental differences
of in vitro culture produced significant alterations in the observable chemical phenotypes,
notably the early absence of NFs recognised by the SMI32 antibody.
The role played by neurofilaments in the cells which express them remains
mysterious, but it is clear that there are major variations in their regional and intracellular
expression and modification. They remain a strong prospect for subtyping pyramidal
cells, since they are probably expressed by neurons whose axons are myelinated.


Commercial buildings comprise of 25% office blocks, largest proportion in commercial sector with highest energy consumption in Shanghai. Nevertheless, the demand for office space is still rising, driven by state-owned enterprises. Unfortunately, these existing buildings are energy inefficient as they barely adapt to present varying climate conditions of the province. Owing to aggravated climate change and rising urbanization rate of Shanghai, attention should be directed towards upgrade of office buildings to meet set sustainable building standards. 3-dimensional spatial characterization using vector topographic mapping posits low-rise buildings account for more than 50% of total buildings in Shanghai. Hence, retrofitting existing low-rise office buildings will significantly contribute to building sustainability. Subsequently, a retrofit package guideline suitable for sporadic energy use mode in rapidly expanding cities like Shanghai should be established. This nascent study postulates an updated correlation between climate change and building energy consumption in Shanghai. Based on the postulation, it is recommended that the best energy conserving building retrofit package is that which can mitigate the impact of both societal factors (like urbanization rate) and climate change to building energy consumption. In general, this study defines a foundation framework for building researchers and decision-makers to effectively evaluate retrofit measures for existing buildings become sustainability in Shanghai.


Seed germination of four Litchi chinensis Sonn. cultivars ('Deshi', 'Kasba', 'Purbi', and 'Early Bedana') was studied under various conditions, viz. in soil beds exposed to sunlight or in shade, in sand beds exposed to sunlight or in shade, and on moist filter paper. Among all, shaded, humid sand at 35 ± 2C gave the highest germination. Delaying sowing seeds after removal from the fruit significantly reduced germination. Litchi seeds held in polyethylene bags up to 4 days at 37 ± 2C at 90% relative humidity delayed loss of seed viability. Germination was improved by ethephon in 'Deshi' and 'Early Bedana', by IBA in 'Deshi' and 'Purbi', and by 100 mM GA 3 in all litchi cultivars. Cultivars responded differently to growth regulators, with 'Deshi' responding significantly better than 'Purbi', 'Kasba', or 'Early Bedana'. These studies point to the recalcitrant nature of litchi seeds. Chemical names used: gibberellic acid (GA 3 ); indole butyric acid (IBA); 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (ethephon).


"Reading the Shape of Nature" vividly recounts the turbulent early history of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard and the contrasting careers of its founder Louis Agassiz and his son Alexander. Through the story of this institution and the individuals who formed it, Mary P. Winsor explores the conflicting forces that shaped systematics in the second half of the nineteenth century. Debates over the philosophical foundations of classification, details of taxonomic research, the young institution's financial struggles, and the personalities of the men most deeply involved are all brought to life. In 1859, Louis Agassiz established the Museum of Comparative Zoology to house research on the ideal types that he believed were embodied in all living forms. Agassiz's vision arose from his insistence that the order inherent in the diversity of life reflected divine creation, not organic evolution. But the mortar of the new museum had scarcely dried when Darwin's "Origin" was published. By Louis Agassiz's death in 1873, even his former students, including his son Alexander, had defected to the evolutionist camp. Alexander, a self-made millionaire, succeeded his father as director and introduced a significantly different agenda for the museum. To trace Louis and Alexander's arguments and the style of science they established at the museum, Winsor uses many fascinating examples that even zoologists may find unfamiliar. The locus of all this activity, the museum building itself, tells its own story through a wonderful series of archival photographs.


It is argued that most previous proposals for distributed deadlock detection are incorrect because they have used informal/intuitive arguments to prove the correctness of their algorithms. Informal and intuitive arguments are prone to errors because of the highly complex nature of distributed deadlock detection/resolution algorithms. The priority-based probe algorithm for distributed deadlock detection and resolution of A.L. Choudhary et al. (1989) is corrected, and it is formally proven that the modified algorithm is correct (i.e., that it does detect all deadlocks and does not report phantom deadlocks). The proof technique is novel in that the authors first abstract the properties of the deadlock detection and resolution algorithm by invariants, and then show that the invariants imply the desired correctness of the algorithm. >


Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe, highly effective, and rapidly acting treatment for certain major psychiatric illnesses, most notably severe mood disorders. Disturbances in mood and behavior as symptoms of delirium may complicate recovery from traumatic brain injury, but virtually no data exist on the role of ECT as a treatment modality in such clinical situations. We describe a patient with severe, unremitting, agitated behavior following a severe closed head injury from a motor vehicle accident. The initial Glasgow Coma Scale score was 3, with computed tomographic evidence of bilateral frontal and left thalamic contusions. After awakening from a 21-day coma, the patient failed to improve beyond a Ranchos Los Amigos level 4 recovery stage. He exhibited persistent severe agitation with vocal outbursts and failed to assist in performing activities of daily living. His difficulties proved unresponsive to combined behavioral therapy and multiple trials of various psychopharmacologic agents. As an intervention of "last resort," he then received six brief-pulse, bilateral ECT treatments that resulted in marked lessening of his agitation and improvement in his ability to express his needs and participate in his self-care. Also, following the ECT, he showed a markedly enhanced response to psychopharmacologic agents. These findings may have important clinical implications for treatment of prolonged delirium after traumatic brain injury.


In the 1980's, from an analysis of satellite images, Russian scientists reported on a short-term thermal infrared radiation enhancement that occurred before some medium-to-large earthquakes in central Asia [Gorny et al. 1988]. Since then, many researchers have been studying earthquake thermal anomalies with satellite remote sensing data [Qiang et al. 1991, Tronin 1996, Tramutoli et al. 2001, Ouzounov and Freund 2004, Saraf and Choudhury 2004, Aliano et al. 2008, Blackett et al. 2011]. Recently, abnormal surface latent heat flux [Dey and Singh 2003, Cervone et al. 2005, Qin et al. 2009, Qin et al. 2011, Qin et al. 2012], outgoing long-wave radiation [Ouzounov et al. 2007] and microwave radiation [Takashi and Tadashi 2010] have also been shown to precede earthquakes. To investigate the possible physical mechanisms of such satellite thermal anomalies, some studies conducted a series of detecting experiments on rock loaded to fracturing [Wu et al. 2000, Freund 2002, Wu et al. 2002, Wu et al. 2006a, Wu et al. 2006b, Freund et al. 2007], and some hypotheses have been proposed. These have included: leaking of pore-gas, and hence the resulting greenhouse effect [Qiang et al. 1995]; activating and recombining of p-holes during rock deformation [Freund 2002]; release of latent heat due to near-surface air ionization [Pulinets et al. 2006], and stress-induced thermal effects due to friction and fluids [Wu and Liu 2009]. […] In this study, the long-term temperature data from both satellite and ground (with greater emphasis on the satellite data) have been used to determine whether there were thermal anomalies associated with this Emilia 2012 seismic sequence. In particular, the next section will be dedicated to describing both the data and the method of analysis. In Section 3, we provide the more significant results, which we discuss in Section 4, together with the main conclusions. […]


The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) instrument observed the plasma environment at Titan during the Cassini orbiter's TA encounter on October 26, 2004. Titan was in Saturn's magnetosphere during the Voyager 1 flyby and also during the TA encounter. CAPS measurements from this encounter are compared with measurements made by the Voyager 1 Plasma Science Instrument (PLS). The comparisons focus on the composition and nature of ambient and pickup ions. They lead to: A) the major ion components of Saturn's magnetosphere in the vicinity of Titan are H+, H2+ and O+/CH4+ ions; B) finite gyroradius effects are apparent in ambient O+ ions as the result of their absorption by Titan's extended atmosphere; C) the principal pickup ions are composed of H+, H2+, N+/CH2+, CH4+, and N2+; D) the pickup ions are in narrow energy ranges; and E) there is clear evidence of the slowing down of background ions due to pickup ion mass loading.


Existing simulators designed for the evaluation of distributed graph algorithms tend to be based on a threaded model of concurrency. This leads to scaling issues when simulating particularly large graphs such as Internet-like graphs or poor utilisation of resources when using large multiprocessor machines. Here, I present a simulator that uses actor-model concurrency to directly model the interactions between nodes in a graph during the simulation of a distributed algorithm. While more closely modelling the behaviour of an abstract network, the actor model brings performance advantages.


Although the roguelike video game genre has a large community of fans (both players and developers) and the graphic aspect of these games is usually given little relevance (ASCII-based graphics are not rare even today), their accessibility for blind players and other visually-impaired users remains a pending issue. In this document, we describe an initiative for the development of roguelikes adapted to visually-impaired players by using Natural Language Processing techniques, together with the first completed games resulting from it. These games were developed as Bachelor's and Master's theses. Our approach consists in integrating a multilingual module that, apart from the classic ASCII-based graphical interface, automatically generates text descriptions of what is happening within the game. The visually-impaired user can then read such descriptions by means of a screen reader. In these projects we seek expressivity and variety in the descriptions, so we can offer the users a fun roguelike experience that does not sacrifice any of the key characteristics that define the genre. Moreover, we intend to make these projects easy to extend to other languages, thus avoiding costly and complex solutions. KEYWORDS: Natural Language Generation, roguelikes, visually-impaired users


Digital phantoms are vital for various biomedical researches. Traditional phantoms include theoretical models and voxel models reconstructed from medical images. It has been demonstrated that the homogeneous phantom filled with uniform tissue is accurate enough for wearable antenna design, body-centric channel modeling, etc. Therefore, it is interesting and necessary to investigate the novel approach of generating digital phantoms using an optical noncontact measurement system. In this letter, the point cloud data are first obtained; then, they are simplified via principal component analysis; finally, by applying surface reconstruction and mesh simplification techniques, a digital Chinese phantom is established. To verify the usability of the phantom, numerical calculation is performed to check E-fields at different positions on the body. Results sufficiently prove the feasibility of the train of thought presented in this letter.


Recent European Legislation on immigration has revealed a particular paradox on migration policies. On the one hand, the trend of recent legislation points to the increasing closure of frontiers (OECD 1999, 2001,2004), also by using immigration quotas. On the other hand, there is an increase of regularization, i.e., European policies are becoming less tight. Our aim here is to study these counterbalanced and opposite policies in European immigration legislation in a unified framework . To do this, we have used a real option approach to migration choice that assumes that the decision to migrate can be described as an irreversible investment decision where quotas represent an upper bound limit. Our results show that the paradox of counterbalancing immigration policies is not odd but it could be in line with an optimal policy to control migration inflow. In particular, we show that if the government controls the information related to the immigration quota system it could delay the mass entry of immigrants maintaining, in the long run, the required immigration stock and controlling the flows in the short-run.


Exothermic packed bed catalytic reactors are usually characterised by a low diameter-aspect ratio to facilitate heat transfer. In operation, these reactors often exhibit localized regions with much higher temperatures referred to as hot spots. A new model based on a 2-D network-of voids (NoV) has been devised to explore wall heat transfer behaviour for such low aspect ratio packed tubes. Random placement of (packing) particles is used to provide a simple NoV framework for implicitly creating the tortuous fluid flows amongst the resulting randomized inter-connecting voids. This is a computationally tractable strategy for exploring the haphazard appearance of individual tube pin-hole burn-outs amongst the typically thousands, or tens of thousands, of tubes within high temperature industrial multi-tubular configurations. Although presently limited to 2-D, the model captures many natural features of the flow and heat transfer of randomly packed tubes, especially huge variations in wall and cross flows and consequently massive variations in local wall heat transfer coefficients along the length of individual tubes. The model is potentially superior to those based upon averaged properties, which do not properly distinguish the solid and fluid phases. The network-of-voids concept is readily extended to 3-D, in order to achieve geometric congruence of the model and assemblies of individual particles.


This paper examines the consequences of the collapse of the national bargaining structure in the American meat industry during the 1980s. It argues the driving force behind the collapse was the substitution of chicken for beef in the American diet. The relatively high price of beef was no longer sustainable when it came into competition with poultry products that were less costly, healthier, more convenient, and more malleable to further processing. The substitution of chicken for beef, put wages back into competition as consumers redefined market boundaries. Poultry processors were nonunion, paying low wages, and had developed a high productivity growth production system, known as the broiler complex. They were located in the union hostile rural South and had grown their businesses using African American labor in the Southern Black Belt.


Introduction Sexual aggression is a pervasive problem on college campuses. For example, in a large national study, Fisher, Cullen, and Turner (2000) reported that approximately 15-20 percent of college women have experienced forced intercourse. Most research has examined college men's sexual aggression toward women (e.g., Carr & VanDeusen, 2004; Romero, 2004). Sexually aggressive men have been described as being hypermasculine, angry, desiring power, and having negative relationship experiences (Browning, Kessler, Hatfield, & Choo, 1999; Christopher, Owens, & Stecker, 1993; Hogben, Byrne, & Hamburger, 1996). In contrast, the notion of women's sexual aggression challenges long held theories about human sexual behavior (see Anderson & Struckman--Johnson, 1998). Several factors have been related to women's heterosexual aggression including: sexual behavior history and adolescent telephone calling patterns (Anderson, Kontos, Tanigoshi, & Struckman-Johnson 2005); hostility toward the other gender (Christopher, Madura, & Weaver, 1998); and a belief in non-traditional roles for women (Craig-Shea, 1998). Researchers (Anderson, Kontos, Tanigoshi, & Struckman-Johnson 2005; Anderson & Melson, 2002) have reported that more than 90 percent of college women used sexual persuasion to obtain sex from a man. The same study reported that 40-50 percent of women used non-physical coercion, and 1-9 percent used physical force. However, previous research has not considered the underlying psychological factors supporting college women's sexual aggression. Linking aspects of measurable psychological factors to sexual aggression in women may help us predict and prevent its occurrence. Therefore, the present study was designed to provide an initial exploration of the relationships between measures of women's psychosexual tendencies and their use of sexually aggressive behaviors. One self-report measure of psychological tendencies related to human sexuality is the Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ: (Snell, Fisher, & Walters, 1993). The MSQ contains 12 factors related to sexuality: preoccupation, motivation, anxiety, assertiveness, depression, monitoring, self-esteem, internal control, external control, consciousness, satisfaction, and fear. The MSQ has demonstrated good concurrent, discriminant, and convergent validity (Snell, Fisher, & Walters, 1993). The MSQ was tested with three separate samples of heterosexual college students from three different types of universities, two located in the Midwest and one in the Southeast (n = 234 males and 423 females, M age of samples = 24.1, 20.4, and 21 years). Men, in general, reported higher scores on sexual e Esteem, preoccupation, motivation, assertiveness, and external sexual control. Women, in general, reported higher scores on fear of sexual relations. Correlations were computed for MSQ scores and reports of sexual behaviors on two separate instruments, the Cowart-Steckler Scale of Sexual Experience (Cowart-Steckler & Pollack, 1988) and the Human Sexuality Questionnaire (Zuckerman, 1988). For both men and women, past sexual activity was positively related to their level of sexual esteem, motivation, and satisfaction and negatively related to their sexual anxiety, depression, and external control. Fear was negatively related, and assertiveness was positively related to the two measures of sexual behavior for women, but not for men. Correlations between the MSQ and sexual attitudes revealed that respondents with higher scores on preoccupation believed more strongly in casual, guilt free sex and manipulative self-centered sex (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1987). Those subjects who had higher scores on motivation mirrored those who scored high on preoccupation and also believed in responsible and nonjudgmental sex and idealized sex (e.g., the merging of two souls). External control was related to casual guilt-free and manipulative self-centered sex and internal control was related to responsible nonjudgmental sex. …


Background : Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is defined as any degree of glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy. It is an important dimension of the syndrome of Diabetes Mellitus. Similar to other members of the Asian race, Bangladeshi women are also considered to be at a high risk for developing gestational diabetes. Materials and Methods : In order to better understand whether this heightened risk attributed to race really exists even in primi gravida of Bangladesh, what is the percentage of the disease among them and whether there is any association of classical risk factors of the disease, a hospital based observational study was performed and the glycemic status of the primi gravida women presenting to Chittagong Medical College Hospital were assessed. Results : A total of 117 primi gravida women, 39 in each of the three trimesters of pregnancy were selected as study subjects during the study period on the basis of set criteria and a 2 h, 75 g OGTT was performed over them. The mean age of the subjects enrolled was 21.1 ± 2.29 years, mean BMI was 21.6 ± 2.72 kg/m 2 , the mean fasting serum glucose values in mmol/l were 4.5 ± 0.63, 4.6 ± 0.62 and 4.7 ± 0.56 in 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters and the 2 h post 75 g glucose load serum glucose values in mmol/l were found 6.1 ± 1.08, 6.6 ± 1.76 and 7.0 ± 1.42 respectively. Using the cut-off value mentioned in the operational definition of GDM, 13.7% of the subjects were found to have the disease. Among them, 12.5% were in first trimester, 31.2% were in second trimester and 56.3 % were in third trimester of pregnancy. Maternal obesity/over-weight and a family history of diabetes, not the maternal older age, have shown statistically significant association with GDM. Prevalence of GDM has been noted in clinically non-risk group of subjects also. Conclusion : From the above study, the inference could be drawn that, screening for GDM should be done as early as possible during pregnancy, even at first trimester, irrespective of presence or absence of established risk factors. But larger trials are needed to truly assess the disease burden of gestational diabetes among primi gravida women.


1 The pharmacological potencies of the resins from three different samples of Brazilian marihuana (A, B and C) were determined through corneal areflexia in rabbits, decrease of spontaneous motor activity and induction of catatonia in mice, and decrease of rope climbing performance of rats. 2 The Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9 THC) content of the marihuanas, measured by gas chromatography, was 0.82, 2.02 and 0.52%, respectively, for samples A, B and C. Approximately 2% cannabinol was present in samples A and B whereas the content of cannabidiol was approximately 0.1%. 3 The petroleum ether extraction of the samples A, B and C yielded, respectively, 12.06, 14.56 and 4.26% of resin. 4 In all animal tests resin B was nearly twice as active as resin A, whereas C was the weakest. 5 The smoke of the marihuana samples was inhaled by 33 human subjects, under a double‐blind standardized procedure. Pulse rate, a time production task and an evaluation of psychological effects were recorded. 6 The smoke of 250 mg of sample B provoked disruption of the time production task, increased pulse rate, and induced strong psychological reactions in four of the six subjects who received it. Similar effects, although slightly smaller, were obtained with 500 mg of sample A. On the other hand, 500 mg of sample C did not differ from placebo. 7 It is suggested that it is possible by means of animal tests to predict the potency of a marihuana sample in man. 8 In parallel experiments, Δ9‐THC was administered to other human subjects and to laboratory animals in a manner similar to that in which the marihuana samples were administered. 9 Comparison of the results between the marihuanas and Δ9‐THC showed that in man and in the laboratory animals marihuanas A and B induced effects two to four times greater than expected from their Δ9‐THC content. 10 It is suggested that there may be potentiation of the effects of Δ9‐THC by other substances present in these marihuana samples.


This report attempts to identify the involvement in road crashes and the impact that they have on low income families in Bangladesh and India (Bangalore District). Information was obtained by means of home interview surveys conducted in the two regions with additional information on persons killed and seriously injured in road traffic accidents obtained from police and hospital records. Households were classified as 'poor' or 'non-poor' using income levels defined by government agencies in the two countries. The study examines the incidence of road crashes in poor and non-poor households in order to determine whether or not low income communities were at greater risk. Information collected was also used to highlight the high degree of under-reporting of accidents when official accident statistics are compared with results from the study. The report also examines the impact that fatal and serious crashes have on low-income households. This shows that poor families spend a much greater proportion of their incomes on funeral and medical costs and that they frequently incur debt by borrowing money in order to cope. Consequences for the poor also include reduced household income and food consumption, and even a significant proportion of non-poor families appearing to be pushed into poverty as a direct result of the crash. (A)


The impact of increasing leverage in the economy produces hyperreaction of market participants to variations of their revenues. If the income of banks decreases, they mass-reduce their lendings; if corporations sales drop, and they cannot adjust their liquidities by further borrowing due to existing debt, then they must immediately reduce their expenses, lay off staff, and cancel investments. This hyperreaction produces a bifurcation mechanism, and eventually a strong dynamical instability in capital markets that is commonly called systemic risk. In this article, we show that this instability can be monitored by measuring the highest eigenvalue of a matrix of elasticities. These elasticities measure the reaction of each sector of the economy to a drop in its revenues from another sector. This highest eigenvalue—the spectral radius—of the elasticity matrix can be used as an early indicator of market instability and potential crisis. Grandmont and subsequent research showed the possibility that the 'invisible hand' of markets becomes chaotic, opening the door to uncontrolled swings. Our contribution is to provide an actual way of measuring how close to chaos the market is. Estimating elasticities and actually generating the indicators of instability will be the topic of forthcoming research.


Every major religion exalts certain individuals who occupy a dual role. On the one hand they serve as exemplars of virtue to be imitated, and on the other hand they stand removed from other mortals, privileged and unique. Christianity knows them as saints, and in the study of religion the term has been taken over and applied to similar figures in other traditions. The essays in this volume analyze the role of the saint in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, providing both a comparative and an interpretive view of sainthood. The notion of sainthood is problematic in two ways. First, can the category be usefully applied to individuals in religious traditions other than Christianity? How has it manifested itself, and what differences are there in the various manifestations of sainthood? Second, where individuals are considered to have risen above the norms in these different traditions, how is it possible to resolve the tension between the saint's imitability and his or her otherness, between imitating and venerating the saint? The authors consider these questions in relation to a wide range of individuals in all the major traditions.


The six coordinated Ruthenium complex of formula [Ru(phen)2(dmso)Cl]+Cl- (cis-chlorodimethylsulphoxide-Sbis( 1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium (II) chloride) has been prepared, and characterized structure on the basis of spectroscopic data, such as FT-IR, 1H NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The molecular structure of the complex determined by X-ray diffraction studies is found to be octahedral. Also the bond lengths, bond angles and dihedral angles are found complementary to octahedral structure. Further studies on the binding of this complex with Calf Thymus DNA (CT-DNA) have been carried out by using UV-visible spectroscopy, electrochemical and gel electrophoresis studies. The evidences of CT-DNA binding with this complex have been indicated from these studies. The anticancer activity of this compound against Dalton's lymphoma (in vitro and in vivo) is found promising.


Empirical legal scholars have traditionally modeled trial court judicial opinion writing by assuming that judges act rationally, seeking to maximize their influence by writing opinions in politically important cases. Support for this hypothesis has reviewed published trial court opinions, finding that civil rights and other "hot" topics are more likely to be explained than purportedly ordinary legal problems involved in resolving social security and commercial law cases. This orthodoxy comforts consumers of legal opinions, because it suggests that they are largely representative of judicial work. To test such views, we collected data from a thousand cases in four different jurisdictions. We recorded information about every judicial action over each case's life, ranging the demographic characteristics, workload, and experience of the writing judge; to information about the case, including its jurisdictional basis, complexity, attorney characteristics, and motivating legal theory; to information about the individual orders themselves, including the relevant procedural posture and the winning party. This approach permits a significantly more fine-grained look at how courts give meaning to legal rights than had been previously available. Descriptively, we find that opinions are rare events in the litigation process: only 3% of all orders are explained in opinions, and only 17% of orders applying facts to law are similarly reasoned. Using a hierarchical linear model, we find that judges do not write opinions to curry favor with the public or with powerful audiences, nor do they write more when they are less experienced, seeking to advance their careers, or in more interesting case types. Instead, opinion writing is significantly affected by procedure: we predict that judges are three times more likely to write an opinion on a summary judgment motion than a discovery motion, all else held equal. Judges similarly write more in cases that are later appealed, and in commercial cases. Finally, jurisdictional culture is very important. These findings challenge conventional views of trial court opinion writing, and suggest the need for further research to test a behavioral model for judges' behavior.


A system of impulsive ordinary differential equations is used to model the growth of microorganisms in a self-cycling fermentor. The mi- croorganisms are being used to remove a non-reproducing contaminant that is limiting to growth at both high and low concentrations. Hence it is the concentration of the contaminant that triggers the emptying and refilling pro- cess. This model predicts that either the process fails or the process cycles indefinitely with one impulse per cycle. Success or failure can depend on the choice of microorganisms, the initial concentration of the microorganisms and contaminant, as well as the choice for the emptying/refilling fraction. Either there is no choice of this fraction that works or there is an interval of possible choices with an optimal choice within the interval. If more than one strain is available, it does not seem to be the strains that have the highest specific growth rate over the largest range of the concentrations of the contaminant, but rather the ones that have the highest specific growth rate over very low concentrations of the contaminant, just above the threshold that initiates re- cycling that appear to be the most efficient, i.e., processingthe highest volume of medium over a specified time period.


With almost 2 million people in confinement, the United States locks up more people per capita than any other nation. Understanding the reasons and then forging a path to reduce mass incarceration in America will require better research and analyses of the government policies and spending that sustain the US carceral system.


We apply the dynamic decomposition of Poincare plots, which is a computationally intensive, visual method of analysing physiological time series, to the analysis of the interbeat interval variability, systolic blood pressure, stroke volume and total peripheral resistance which were simultaneously recorded from a patient with pheochromocytoma and rapid, repetitive haemodynamic changes over 6 hours. The resulting animation is analysed and interpreted. It is found that changes in total peripheral resistance usually precede those of other variables, and the magnitude of changes is greatest for this variable. It is demonstrated that the decomposition of Poincare plots of multivariate signals can visualise both the order and the extent of ongoing instant changes.


We discuss the phase space structure for the collinear hydrogen exchange system crosses an energy barrier. Above the reaction threshold, the system must pass through a Symmetric Stretch Periodic Orbit (SSPO) where the dynamics are structuring a Dividing Surface (DS) that separates reactants and products. At low energy, the SSPO can serve as a dividing surface that satisfies the no-recrossing assumption of Transition State Theory (TST). As the energy increases, saddle-node bifurcations occur on both sides of the SSPO. Above the bifurcation energy, trajectories appear that recross the central DS. The region of recrossing trajectories is bounded by the stable manifolds of the additional Unstable Periodic Orbits (UPOs). We investigate the fractal structure of the TST is violating islands of the DS and how it is determined by the invariant manifolds of the additional periodic orbits. We demonstrate that the various layers are all bounded by the same stable manifold. The second part is devoted to the study of the phase space structure in a region where the stable manifold initiated. It appears that some of the ensemble trajectories do not cross the DS. We demonstrate the area of those trajectories validating the boundary of various layers from those trajectories that do not. Following this, we make use of the symmetry and demonstrate that these various layers appeared on all versions of the DS and are bounded by the symmetric invariant manifolds belonging to the UPOs, which existed on both sides of the SSPO. Finally, we demonstrate those invariant manifolds intersecting each other, before intersecting the DS, which leads to more complicated behaviour.


The institutional analysis and development framework developed by Ostrom is adapted to the issue of tenure security. Findings from the literature are used to study the interaction between the biophysical and institutional environment, the characteristics of the studied community and of the different actors and to examine how the resulting 'patterns of interaction' influence tenure security. This framework is then applied to an empirical study of the consequences of the lease of customary lands to an oil palm company on the tenure security of the local Iban communities, at the community and the individual level, in four villages in the Kapuas Hulu region of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Eightyeight semi-structured interviews with randomly selected family heads, their spouses and several key informants showed that the promise of the company to give back 20% of their harvest to the villagers convinced most villagers to hand over part of their lands in 2008 and 2009. Only one village refused the arrangement and was in conflict with the oil palm company. The decision-making process to allow the company to use customary lands was based on consensus and involved the participation of all household heads, although the community leaders probably played an important role by their strong influence on the other villagers. Women appeared not to have been consulted. While most villagers had a perception of high tenure security, their land rights could be threatened by the incomplete recognition of customary institutions by the government, unclear regulations and the concentration of information and key documents by the local elite.


This thesis establishes a stochastic framework for tracking curves in vi sual clutter using a Bayesian random sampling algorithm The approach is rooted in ideas from statistics control theory and computer vision The problem is to track outlines and features of foreground objects modelled as curves as they move in substantial clutter and to do it at or close to video frame rate The algorithm named Condensation for Conditional density propagation has recently been derived independently by several researchers and is generating signi cant interest in the statistics and sig nal processing communities This thesis contributes to the literature on Condensation like lters by presenting some novel applications of and ex tensions to the basic algorithm and contributes to the visual motion estima tion literature by demonstrating high tracking performance in cluttered envi ronments Despite its power the Condensation algorithm has a remarkably simple form and this allows the use of non linear motion models which com bine characteristics of discrete Hidden Markov Models with the continuous Auto Regressive Process motion models traditionally used in Kalman lters These mixed discrete continuous models have promising applications to the emerging eld of perception of action This thesis also implements two al gorithms to smooth the output of the Condensation lter which improves the accuracy of motion estimation in a batch mode procedure after tracking is complete


Ceramics are one of the most important archaeological materials to help in the reconstruction of past civilizations. Information about complex ceramic objects is composed of textual, numerical and multimedia data, which induce several research challenges addressed in this thesis. From a technical perspective, ceramic databases have different file formats, access protocols and query languages. From a data perspective, ceramic data are heterogeneous and experts have differentways of representing and storing data. There is no standardized content and terminology, especially in terms of description of ceramics. Moreover, data navigation and observation are difficult. Data integration is also difficult due to the presence of various dimensions from distant databases, which describe the same categories of objects in different ways.Therefore, the research project presented in this thesis aims to provide archaeologists and archaeological scientists with tools for enriching their knowledge by combining different information on ceramics. We divide our work into two complementary parts: (1) Modeling of Complex Archaeological Data and (2) Clustering Analysis of Complex Archaeological Data. The first part of this thesis is dedicated to the design of a complex archaeological database model for the storage of ceramic data. This database is also used to source a data warehouse for doing online analytical processing (OLAP). The second part of the thesis is dedicated to an in-depth clustering (categorization) analysis of ceramic objects. To do this, we propose a fuzzy approach, where ceramic objects may belong to more than one cluster (category). Such a fuzzy approach is well suited for collaborating with experts, by opening new discussions based on clustering results.We contribute to fuzzy clustering in three sub-tasks: (i) a novel fuzzy clustering initialization method that keeps the fuzzy approach linear; (ii) an innovative quality index that allows finding the optimal number of clusters; and (iii) the Multiple Clustering Analysis approach that builds smart links between visual, textual and numerical data, which assists in combining all types ofceramic information. Moreover, the methods we propose could also be adapted to other application domains such as economy or medicine.


Illiquidity discounts for restricted stocks depend on the contractual length of the restriction period. The author provides a methodology for extending the application of restricted stock discount models to situations where trading restrictions are stochastic or perpetual. By viewing a private equity investment as a portfolio of restricted equity strips representing claims on the future cash flows in perpetuity, the author obtains a converging upper bound for the illiquidity discount of an unlisted equity security with a random or indefinite liquidity horizon. The model introduces a simple and robust approach for quantifying illiquidity discounts for private equity investments, which is of practical importance to valuation consultants, regulators, and risk managers. TOPICS: Security Analysis and Valuation, private equity, quantitative methods Key Findings ▪ Illiquidity discounts depend on the length of the trading restriction period. Existing theoretical restricted stock discount models are adapted to situations in which the trading restriction period has a well-defined fixed length. ▪ In many scenarios, the private equity investor faces a liquidity horizon that may be random or indefinite rather than of known fixed length. ▪ The investment's equity duration provides the missing link that allows us to extend the use of restricted stock discount models to scenarios in which the trading restriction period is stochastically distributed or perpetual.


We are concerned with the discovery of hierarchical relationships from large-scale unstructured similarity scores. For this purpose, we study different models of hyperbolic space and find that learning embeddings in the Lorentz model is substantially more efficient than in the Poincar\'e-ball model. We show that the proposed approach allows us to learn high-quality embeddings of large taxonomies which yield improvements over Poincar\'e embeddings, especially in low dimensions. Lastly, we apply our model to discover hierarchies in two real-world datasets: we show that an embedding in hyperbolic space can reveal important aspects of a company's organizational structure as well as reveal historical relationships between language families.


Summary.  This retrospective, open‐label, non‐comparative study evaluated continuous infusion of recombinant factor VIII (ReFacto®), B‐domain deleted recombinant FVIII (BDDrFVIII), in patients with haemophilia A undergoing surgery and requiring >5 consecutive days of treatment. Sixteen patients from eight centres underwent a total of 20 procedures. Haemostatic outcome was assessed as 'excellent' or 'good' in 75% of procedures, and target FVIII:C levels were maintained throughout the continuous infusion period. The reported volume of blood loss during surgery was also within the normal range for non‐haemophilic patients for the type of surgery performed. Red blood cell transfusions were required to balance excessive blood loss during BDDrFVIII continuous infusion in eight (40%) procedures (seven patients), five with bleeding or requiring volume replacement and three to treat anaemia secondary to blood loss. Non‐serious adverse events considered by investigators as possibly or probably related to BDDrFVIII continuous infusion were infrequent (n = 5) considering the duration of treatment (n =239 cumulative days of continuous infusion), and all of these were mild‐to‐moderate in severity. No thromboembolic complications were reported except for one case of thrombophlebitis occurring at the infusion site. Only two patients (four events) experienced serious adverse bleeding; BDDrFVIII was otherwise well‐tolerated. These data show that continuous infusion of BDDrFVIII provides reliable haemostasis and is an effective and well‐tolerated regimen for patients with haemophilia A undergoing surgery.


A heterozygous mutation in the Wolfram syndrome type 1 gene (WFS1) causes autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hereditary hearing loss, DFNA6/14/38, or Wolfram-like syndrome. To date, more than 40 different mutations have been reported to be responsible for DFNA6/14/38. In the present study, WFS1 variants were screened in a large series of Japanese hearing loss (HL) patients to clarify the prevalence and clinical characteristics of DFNA6/14/38 and Wolfram-like syndrome. Massively parallel DNA sequencing of 68 target genes was performed in 2,549 unrelated Japanese HL patients to identify genomic variations responsible for HL. The detailed clinical features in patients with WFS1 variants were collected from medical charts and analyzed. We successfully identified 13 WFS1 variants in 19 probands: eight of the 13 variants were previously reported mutations, including three mutations (p.A684V, p.K836N, and p.E864K) known to cause Wolfram-like syndrome, and five were novel mutations. Variants were detected in 15 probands (2.5%) in 602 families with presumably autosomal dominant or mitochondrial HL, and in four probands (0.7%) in 559 sporadic cases; however, no variants were detected in the other 1,388 probands with autosomal recessive or unknown family history. Among the 30 individuals possessing variants, marked variations were observed in the onset of HL as well as in the presence of progressive HL and tinnitus. Vestibular symptoms, which had been rarely reported, were present in 7 out of 30 (23%) of the affected individuals. The most prevalent audiometric configuration was low-frequency type; however, some individuals had high-frequency HL. Haplotype analysis in three mutations (p.A716T, p.K836T, and p.E864K) suggested that the mutations occurred at these mutation hot spots. The present study provided new insights into the audiovestibular phenotypes in patients with WFS1 mutations.


Data visualizations can reveal trends and patterns that are not otherwise obvious from the raw data or summary statistics. While visualizing low-dimensional data is relatively straightforward (for example, plotting the change in a variable over time as (x,y) coordinates on a graph), it is not always obvious how to visualize high-dimensional datasets in a similarly intuitive way. Here we present HypeTools, a Python toolbox for visualizing and manipulating large, high-dimensional datasets. Our primary approach is to use dimensionality reduction techniques (Pearson, 1901; Tipping & Bishop, 1999) to embed high-dimensional datasets in a lower-dimensional space, and plot the data using a simple (yet powerful) API with many options for data manipulation [e.g. hyperalignment (Haxby et al., 2011), clustering, normalizing, etc.] and plot styling. The toolbox is designed around the notion of data trajectories and point clouds. Just as the position of an object moving through space can be visualized as a 3D trajectory, HyperTools uses dimensionality reduction algorithms to create similar 2D and 3D trajectories for time series of high-dimensional observations. The trajectories may be plotted as interactive static plots or visualized as animations. These same dimensionality reduction and alignment algorithms can also reveal structure in static datasets (e.g. collections of observations or attributes). We present several examples showcasing how using our toolbox to explore data through trajectories and low-dimensional embeddings can reveal deep insights into datasets across a wide variety of domains.


In humans, activation of the olivocochlear bundle (OCB) can have a suppression or enhancement effect on cochlear processes. This phenomenon was studied via OCB activation effects on otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). However, it has been suggested that cochlear microphonics (CMs) can provide better, more detailed information regarding OCB function. In the present study, 22 normal hearing female subjects between the ages of 18-30 were recruited and the OCB was examined via the recording of CMs under changes in three conditions: OCB activating noise, stimulus polarity and stimulus frequency. Specifically, the present study examines the effects of activating wideband noise and narrowband noise centered at 1 and 0.5 kHz, presented contralaterally. CMs were elicited using 0.5 and 1 kHz tone bursts. Stimuli were presented using both condensation and rarefaction polarity. CM response amplitude for each condition was collected. Data analysis using repeated measures ANOVA revealed that OCB activation did not cause a significant change in the CM response. These results indicate that the recorded response may not have reflected activity from the apical end of the cochlea.


Improving flood management is of fundamental importance to reduce human vulnerability to natural hazards, yet, policy reforms have been slow in many countries. To overcome inertia in our societies, the adaptive governance literature prescribes learning and collaboration. In this article, we examine how national institutions have influenced initiatives to improve flood policies in Scotland between the 1950s and 2000s. We use thematic analysis and historical process tracing to explore these relationships in parliamentary debates, policy documents and 16 interviews with national policy actors. Results suggest that the creation of an inclusive and deliberative national policy venue supported policy learning. The locus, nature and success of policy learning were highly dependent on rules regarding the allocation of resources within and between policy venues and political venues. Rules governing political venues have a significant influence on policy learning by allocating resources for policy learning and by opening or closing access to powerful decision-making processes such as the development of statutes. Therefore, improving policy learning and the adaptability of flood policies, requires attention to be given to the characteristics of policy venues, but also of political venues and to the relationship between policy and political venues.


Human sound localization helps to pay attention to spatially separated speakers using interaural level and time differences as well as angle-dependent monaural spectral cues. In a monophonic teleconference, for instance, it is much more difficult to distinguish between different speakers due to missing binaural cues. Spatial positioning of the speakers by means of binaural reproduction methods using head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) enhances speech comprehension. These HRTFs are influenced by the torso, head and ear geometry as they describe the propagation path of the sound from a source to the ear canal entrance. Through this geometry-dependency, the HRTF is directional and subject-dependent. To enable a sufficient reproduction, individual HRTFs should be used. However, it is tremendously difficult to measure these HRTFs. For this reason this thesis proposes approaches to adapt the HRTFs applying individual anthropometric dimensions of a user. Since localization at low frequencies is mainly influenced by the interaural time difference, two models to adapt this difference are developed and compared with existing models. Furthermore, two approaches to adapt the spectral cues at higher frequencies are studied, improved and compared. Although the localization performance with individualized HRTFs is slightly worse than with individual HRTFs, it is nevertheless still better than with non-individual HRTFs, taking into account the measurement effort.


Enterprise architecture (EA) model analysis can be defined as the application of property assessment criteria to EA models. Ontologies can be used to represent conceptual models, allowing the application of computational inference to derive logical conclusions from the facts present in the models. As the actual common EA modelling languages are conceptual, advantage can be taken of representing such conceptual models using ontologies. Several techniques for this purpose are widely available as part of the semantic web standards and frameworks. This paper explores the use of the aforementioned techniques in the analysis of enterprise architecture models. Namely, two techniques are used to this end: computational inference and the use of SPARQL. The aim is to demonstrate the possibilities brought by the use of these techniques in EA model analysis.


The journal publishes basic and clinical studies on the therapeutic and diagnostic use of lasers in all the surgical and medical specialties. Contributions regarding clinical trials, new therapeutic techniques or instrumentation, laser biophysics and bioengineering, photobiology and photochemistry, outcomes research, cost-effectiveness, and other aspects of biomedicine are included. Using a process of rigorous yet rapid review of submitted manuscripts, findings of high scientific and medical interest are published with a minimum delay.


Until recently, the study of drawings by old masters has been confined to the art history conservation field. More specifically, scientific investigations of Leonardo's drawings are still very few, possibly due to the latter's extreme fragility and artistic value. However, analytical data are crucial to develop a solid knowledge base of the drawing materials and techniques used by artists in the past. In this work, we report on the application of non-invasive optical techniques on a double-sided drawing by Leonardo belonging to the Uffizi Gallery (8P). We used multispectral reflectography in the visible (Vis) and near-infrared (NIR) regions to obtain a spectral mapping of the drawing materials, to be subsequently integrated with technical information provided by art historians and conservators. Morphological analysis by microprofilometry allowed for the identification of the typical wave-like texture impressed in the paper during the sheet's manufacture, as well as of further paper-impressed traits attributable to the drawing transfer method used by Leonardo. Optical coherence tomography revealed a set of micrometric engraved details in the blank background, which lack any trace of colored material, nor display any apparent relation to the drawn landscape. The disclosure of hidden technical features allowed us to offer new insights into Leonardo's still under-investigated graphic practices.


In our article, we discuss the quality of two tests of writing proficiency at university level; the two tests represent two realistic tasks at this level: summary, and short, informative text.We investigated the practicability of the tests, and the reliability of rating procedures empirically. Different groups of 30 university students wrote summaries of two texts, and short, informative texts on three subjects. The writing of one such summary took 40 minutes, the writing of a short, informative text 90 minutes; the length of a summary had to be about 100 words, the length of the short, informative text about 300 words.Each summary, or text, i.e. the writings of one group of 30 students, was rated by two raters, who worked independently; they rated, separately with an interval of some days, a-correctness of language, and b-content and organisation. In order to improve the reliability of rating, correctness of language was rated per paragraph: raters divided each summary in three, each informative text in four paragraphs of approximately equal length, and scored each paragraph separately; while rating the content and organisation, raters had to discern two, or four different aspects among which the complete-ness of the content, and the organisation (of paragraphs and) of text.Raters didn't have to analyse texts thoroughly: for each rating they read a text once or twice. In this way, a summary can be rated in 2+3= 5 minutes, an informative text in 3+5= 8 minutes. Correlations between ratings of correctness of language and of content and organisation of the same rater were not very high; they were lowest for the informative text; this suggests the well-foundedness of the separate rating of these two aspects. Rater-reliability was higher for correctness of language than for content and organisation.To ensure satisfactory reliability, two ratings are necessary, but even then two raters disagree in about 30% of the cases: these should be reconsidered.In our opinion, it is possible to reduce rating time: our fin-dings show that if rater A only rates correctness of language, and if rater does rate the same texts for content and organisation, they will agree in about 60% of the cases. Each of them should then rate the other aspect for the 40% of students whose work is to be reconsidered. The time left can, finally, be spent to reconsider the most difficult cases they don't yet agree about. This reduction of rating time is of particular interest if students are asked to write, for the sake of reliability, two (or more) texts.


Phospholipase D (PLD) catalyzes the production of phosphatidic acid (PA) from phosphatidylcholine. Proteins with specific motifs recognize PA and may be recruited to the site of its production. In addition, PA may be further hydrolyzed to produce diacylglycerol (DAG), another lipid to which proteins may interact. Two reports find that PLD and PA are involved in the activation of Ras at the plasma membrane (see Hancock for discussion). Although SOS (son of sevenless), the protein that activates Ras in response to receptor tyrosine kinase activation, binds to the receptor-associated Grb2, this interaction is not required for recruitment of SOS to the membrane. Instead, Zhao et al. found that the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of SOS bound specifically to PA with high affinity in vitro. Disruption of this interaction and the interaction with Grb2 in the same SOS construct (SosΔCHR/EE) eliminated the recruitment of the transfected SOS to the membrane in response to the addition of PA or serum (to stimulate receptor tyrosine kinases). Furthermore, in response to epidermal growth factor (EGF), Ras activation occurred in cells expressing the Grb2-binding mutant SosΔC but did not occur if both the Grb2 and PA interactions were abolished. When PLD2, which interacts with EGF receptor-Grb2 complexes, was knocked down by RNA interference techniques, EGF-stimulated activation of Ras was blocked. Thus, Zhao et al. suggest that the interaction of SOS with PLD-produced PA is the critical step in recruiting SOS to the membrane to activate Ras and that Grb2 serves to recruit PLD2 to the activated receptors. Activation of the T cell receptor (TCR) alone or with its co-receptor activates Ras only at the Golgi, and this Ras activation involves the DAG- and calcium-regulated guanine nucleotide releasing protein RasGRP1. Mor et al. show that coactivation of the TCR and the integrin LFA-1 (lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1, also known as αLβ2) results in activation of Ras at the plasma membrane and Golgi and implicate PLD2 in the plasma membrane response. Live-cell imaging was performed with Jurkat T cells expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged probes for activated Ras or DAG along with tagged versions of the three isoforms of Ras (N- and H-Ras, which cycle between the Golgi and plasma membrane, and K-Ras, which is recruited only to the plasma membrane). Only when both the TCR and LFA-1 were engaged was Ras activated at the plasma membrane. Endogenous K-Ras was only activated when both the TCR and LFA-1 were engaged. Cells deficient in phospholipase Cγ1 blocked Ras activation at the Golgi but did not inhibit Ras activation at the plasma membrane in response to dual TCR and LFA-1 engagement. In contrast, inhibition of PLD with low concentrations of n-butanol blocked recruitment of RasGRP1 to the plasma membrane and Ras activation at the plasma membrane; higher concentrations of n-butanol blocked Ras activation at the Golgi as well. Inhibition of phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP), which is the enzyme responsible for producing DAG from PA, also blocked Ras activation at the plasma membrane. A DAG fluorescent reporter showed that DAG concentrations increased at the plasma membrane in response to TCR and LFA-1 engagement. These results suggest that PLD may shape the pattern of the T cell response. C. Zhao, G. Du, K. Skowronek, M. A. Frohman, D. Bar-Sagi, Phospholipase D2-generated phosphatidic acid couples EGFR stimulation to Ras activation by Sos. Nat. Cell Biol. 9, 706-712 (2007). [PubMed] A. Mor, G. Campi, G. Du, Y. Zheng, D. A. Foster, M. L. Dustin, M. R. Philips, The lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 receptor costimulates plasma membrane Ras via phospholipase D2. Nat. Cell Biol. 9, 713 -719 (2007). [PubMed] J. F. Hancock, PA promoted to manager. Nat. Cell Biol. 9, 615 -617 (2007). [PubMed]


We have asked how the human cytomegalovirus major immediate-early 1 (IE1) and 2 (IE2) proteins act to transactivate heterologous cellular and viral promoters. Here we show that transactivation of the human immunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat and the 70,000-molecular-weight heat shock protein (hsp70) promoter by IE1 is TATA box independent and that the IE1 protein does not interact directly with the TATA box-binding factor TFIID. Conversely, transactivation of these promoters by IE2 is TATA box dependent and a direct interaction between IE2 and TFIID occurs, suggesting that IE2 transactivation is mediated through interaction with TFIID.