This paper employs the provisions of international human rights law in order to analyse whether and how liberal states should regulate Haredi educational practices, which sanctify the exclusive focus on religious studies in schools for boys. It conceptualises the conflict between the right to acceptable education and the right to adaptable education in international human rights law, and analyses four case studies of Haredi education that exemplify different socio-legal approaches towards this conflict. The case studies show how education laws are transformed along the cogwheels of education policy, in which there are plural normative orders and many agents who implement them. Based on the case studies, I suggest that policies providing financial incentives for implementing educational standards may facilitate the realisation of the right to acceptable education in Haredi schools more than policies devised to enforce this right. I also suggest stipulations for effective conditional-funding policies.


When Al Fresco Amusement Park opened its gates in the spring of 1905, the city of Peoria and the surrounding communities had never seen anything like it. Peoria had grown into a city, and just like many of the urban areas across the country at the beginning of the twentieth century, an amusement park took root. Peorians came together at Al Fresco and entered an exotic and amazing world inside of its gates. Al Fresco exposed Peorians to the exotic in the form of live entertainment, thrill rides, and its commercialized restructuring of natural settings surrounding the park. All of these forms of amusement detached visitors from the reality of their everyday surroundings. Al Fresco was similar to places like Coney Island in New York or Chicago's White City Amusement Park. In fact, White City inspired Al Fresco's design. While the origins of Al Fresco may be tied to its big city counterparts, its place in the civic life of Peoria differed radically from the roles that amusement parks played in larger metropolises. Studying the Peoria park highlights how early-twentieth-century amusement parks impacted smaller cities.1 At the beginning of the twentieth-century Peoria witnessed the opening of its own amusement park. Chicago developer, and manager, Vemon Seaver, a businessman, officially opened the park on June 10, 1905. Al Fresco opened with great promise, "to the booming of the cannon and the screech of the steamboat whistles...."2 Like Coney Island in New York, Al Fresco was connected to an urban mass transit system. Peoria's Central City Streetcar Company invested in the park and provided a link between the park and the city. Additionally, two steamboats launched from downtown Peoria and transported park guests to Al Fresco.3 From the first week the park was in full operation, it brought in live entertainment that was exotic and extraordinary to Peorians. High wire acts, the "slide for life," high divers, high-wire bicycle acts, aerial whirlwinds, and a revolving ladder feat were all scheduled to perform at the park free of charge.4 The "slide for life" was probably similar to the "Heiter Skelter" at Luna Park on Coney Island, where riders would slide down a twisted slide landing in a body of water or cushioned mats. The slide at Al Fresco was part of an act done by one performer.5 As John F. Kasson suggests in his book, Amusing the Millions, such sideshows billed themselves as exceptional because they defied the rules of urban life. Watching the shows liberated the crowds and allowed them to temporarily forget the monotony of Peoria life and city living in general.6 In fact, people were so interested in the park's potential that hundreds visited the site before it was officially opened.7 The immediate success of the park indicates that people in Peoria were excited and intrigued by the exotic forms of entertainment it offered. Live entertainment came in many additional forms. Some of it consisted of free musical concerts and vaudeville performances. Al Fresco also had photo galleries, an Electric Theatre, the Fun Factory, and an Exhibit of Wonders.8 Although it is difficult to determine the exact content of these exhibits, the titles themselves offer clues that they drew in crowds with promises of exotic entertainment. For people in Peoria this wide range of leisure activity in one location had never been offered. All of this came at the price of ten cents for every adult and five cents for children. This price included the trolley ride to the park.9 The thrill rides that the park offered were also new to Peoria. Guests could enjoy the carrousel, the Little Railroad, the Observation Wheel, the Flying Air Ships, and the Figure Eight roller coaster. As John Masson argues, visitors were attracted to these types of rides for two reasons. First, thrill rides connected the park patron to new industrial-era technology like railroads in novel ways. Hopping on a roller coaster gave a sense of danger as entertainment. …


Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film is the most exhaustive and up-to-date reference book on Canadian film and filmmakers, combining 700 reviews and biographical listings with a detailed chronology of major events in Canadian film and television history. Compiled by Wyndham Wise, the editor and publisher of Take One, Canada's most respected film magazine, with a foreword by Canadian director Patricia Rozema, this is the only reference book of its kind published in English. Each film title is listed with credits, a mini review, and significant awards. Biographical listings of directors, producers, actors, writers, animators, cinematographers, distributors, exhibitors, and independent filmmakers are accompanied by date and place of birth, date of death if applicable, a brief career overview, and a filmography. Wise celebrates Canadian achievement on both a national and an international scale, and juxtaposes the distinctly Canadian with Canada's exports to Hollywood: Maury Chaykin and Jim Carrey, John Candy and William Shatner, Mon Oncle Antoine and Porky's, Highway 61 and Meatballs, The Red Violin and The Art of War. From great early Hollywood stars like Walter Huston, Fay Wray, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, and Marie Dressler, to our current crop of star directors - including Patricia Rozema, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Peter Mettler, Guy Maddin, and Robert Lepage - Canadians have made an important but largely unrecorded contribution to the history of world cinema. Impressive for its breadth of coverage, refreshing in its opinionated informality, this comprehensive and lively look at Canadian film culture at the start of the twenty-first century admirably fills the gap.


Abstract Context. Research has shown many negative effects of roads and traffic on wildlife and other biodiversity. The direct and indirect mechanisms through which roads and traffic harm animal populations vary across taxa, making mitigation of road effects a great challenge for conservation. As such, a large toolkit of species-specific management techniques may be needed to mitigate the negative effects of roads for wildlife and other biodiversity. The dunes sagebrush lizard, Sceloporus arenicolus, is a psammophilic (sand-loving) habitat specialist endemic to the Mescalero–Monahans Sandhills ecosystem of New Mexico and Texas. Within this ecosystem, roads fragment shinnery oak sand-dune landforms occupied by the species. Aims. In the present study, we conducted behaviour trials in experimental enclosures to test whether the smallest roads restrict movements of the dunes sagebrush lizard. In addition, we also conducted trials to evaluate whether a sand-filled wildlife-crossing feature could facilitate road crossing. Methods. We conducted behavioural trials on 24 dunes sagebrush lizards in our control enclosure and 22 lizards in our road and sand-filled wildlife-crossing enclosure. Movements were recorded for 15 min. The final locations at the end of each trial were analysed using circular statistics to determine whether movements in the road or the sand-filled wildlife-crossing enclosures were different from the control. Key results. Our results supported the hypotheses that dunes sagebrush lizards avoid roads and do so according to a surface-avoidance mechanism. We also found that the wildlife crossing-feature design tested here had no effect on the movements or road-crossing frequency of dunes sagebrush lizard. Conclusions. Surface-avoidance behaviour indicated that roads will persistently affect the movements of dunes sagebrush lizard, even when traffic is not present. Also, more research into an effective wildlife crossing is needed to increase connectivity of fragmented populations. Implications. These findings help evaluate the impact of roads in creating isolated populations that experience increased demographic stochasticity and, in some instances, localised extirpation in this species. Our study can guide conservation plans for the dunes sagebrush lizard, and contribute to our understanding of road effects on biodiversity in general.


There is currently great intellectual ferment over the proper antitrust liability standard governing allegedly exclusionary conduct under Section 2. This article (which is forthcoming in the Antitrust Law Journal) focuses on the two main competing liability standards: the profit-sacrifice standard (and the no economic sense variant of the test) and the consumer welfare effect standard. The central thesis of this article is that the use of the profit-sacrifice test as the sole liability standard for exclusionary conduct, or as a required prong of a multi-pronged liability standard is fundamentally flawed. The profit-sacrifice test may be useful, for example, as one type of evidence of anticompetitive purpose. In unilateral refusal to deal cases, it can be useful in determining the non-exclusionary benchmark. However, the test is not generally a reliable indicator of the impact of allegedly exclusionary conduct on consumer welfare - the primary focus of the antitrust laws. The profit-sacrifice test also is prone to several significant pitfalls and often would be complex and subjective to implement in practice. As a result, relying on the profit-sacrifice test as the legal standard would lead to significant legal errors. Instead, a better standard to govern exclusionary conduct is the consumer welfare effect test which is focused directly on the anticompetitive effect of exclusionary conduct on price and consumer welfare. This standard can be described in various ways: for example, as conduct that is "unreasonably exclusionary" or "unnecessarily restrictive", or simply as conduct that causes "consumer harm on balance". This can be implemented without causing excessive false positives that might lead to over-deterrence or a welfare-reducing diminution in innovation incentives. Many of the criticisms of the consumer welfare standard are based on a misunderstanding of the workings of the standard relative to the profit-sacrifice test. In fact, the consumer welfare standard exhibits fewer potential over-deterrence and under-deterrence errors in implementation.


Biogenic CaCO3 and opal abundances were measured in two piston cores (PC313 and PC5101) collected, respectively, along the equator in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The age model for core PC313, which extends to about 750 ka, was developed by comparing the oxygen isotope stratigraphy of planktonic foraminifera (N. dutetrei) to the SPECMAP stack. The age model for core PC5101, which extends to about 600 ka, was developed by stratigraphic correlation of CaCO3 contents to those in the well-dated core RC11-210 (Chuey et al. 1987). Both cores distinctly exhibited a series of CaCO3 and opal variations, which are mainly controlled by the orbital eccentricity cycle of about 100-kyr. The orbital-scale cyclic variations of CaCO3 and opal contents appear to be contrasting in both cores such that high CaCO3 and low opal contents occurred during the glacial periods. In contrast, during the interglacial periods, low CaCO3 and high opal contents occurred. Mostly remarkable is the distinct occurrence of a mid-Bruhnes event (MBE) at around 350 ka. The CaCO3 content was higher in core PC5101 than in core PC313 before the MBE, whereas biogenic opal abundance became higher in core PC5101 after the MBE. Such a characteristic discrepancy of biogenic (CaCO3 and opal) production, i.e., a succession of primary producers from coccolithophore to diatom, between cores PC313 and PC5101 may be attributed to the prevailing dominant hydrographic conditions (i.e., the South Equatorial Current), in the path of which both cores are located. The intensity of westward propagation might have been an important factor in contrasting biogenic production centering around the MBE.


Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a quantitative investigation of the organizational factors predicting the attrition of doctoral students' experience of meaning and how meaningful experience and meaningless work affect doctoral students' mental health and achievements.

Background: Today's academic environment subsumes neoliberal principles of individualism, instrumentality, and competition. Such an environment can harm doctoral students' meaningful experience. Universities' market-driven practices, indeed, can lower doctoral students' motivation and affect their mental health.

Methodology: In this paper, we referred to empirical knowledge to identify the ways through which today's academia erodes doctoral students' meaningful experiences. We hypothesized that environmental sources of meaning (e.g., coherence, significance, purpose, and belonging) become subsumed under neoliberal principles of individualism, instrumentality, and competition. Lower levels of sources of meaning directly predict the experience of meaningless work, which is linked to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and intention to quit among doctoral students. We conducted a cross-sectional study on a sample of N = 204 doctoral students who volunteered to participate by completing a survey with self-reported measures. We analyzed data collected via structural equation modelling to test the associations among the variables.

Contribution: The present paper represents one an attempt attempts to investigate doctoral students' experience as subsumed to market-driven principles of the neoliberal ideology.

Findings: Results of structural equation modelling show that higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms and intention to quit are associated with the lack of external supporting factors (i.e., PhD support), the perception of broad-based managerial practices as meaningless and instrumental, and a general sense of emptiness at work (i.e., meaningless work). Ultimately, doctoral students may strive to have a meaningful experience in today's academic environment. The experience of meaningless work leads to the risk of mental illness symptoms and quitting intention.

Recommendations for Practitioners: This study suggests to practitioners to improve doctoral students' well-being with multilevel interventions approach as well as including academic stakeholders to have broader practical implications.

Recommendation for Researchers: For researchers, it is suggested to focus on the managerial and organizational conditions of the academic environment that influence the basis of doctoral students' experience of doing a PhD.

Impact on Society: This study affords society the importance of prioritizing the academic environment by looking at the meaning in work through the intersection of meaningful experience and meaningless work for doctoral students' mental health and achievement.

Future Research: Future research can consider the role of factors contributing to doctoral students' meaningful experience by probing doctoral programs to understand students' mental health and achievement.


AIM
To examine the actual competencies of public health nurses (PHNs) working in public organizations in Japan in order to clarify the relationship between the level of competency and the number of years of experience and the place of work.

METHODS
The subjects were 1799 full-time PHNs working at 135 prefectural public health centers and 115 municipal health centers, which were randomly selected. Each subject received a questionnaire in the mail, requesting basic personal information and a self-evaluation of six levels of achievement in 11 topics in five categories of competencies.

RESULTS
The number of respondents was 1261 (70.1%), with a total of 1184 valid responses (65.8%). In terms of the level of competency, the average score was >3 for all items and the number of PHNs who achieved Ladders 5 and 6 was low, with very few achieving Ladder 6, despite having more years of experience. Furthermore, the level of achievement depended on the workplace, position, and academic background.

CONCLUSION
The tasks regarding the education of PHNs in Japan are to establish achievement goals clearly and incrementally and to develop methods and systems that consistently and systematically increase competencies, not only in basic undergraduate education, but also for employed PHNs, through specialized education. In particular, educational methods that lead to high-quality experiences need to be selected in order to develop competencies.


While there is increasing interest in evaluating the impact of business on well-being, there is not yet a standardized approach to measure this impact. Governmental organizations and the private sector are offering different approaches to measure well-being. As a result of the lack of standardization, the performance of businesses in areas of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability, as well as other dimensions of well-being, remain hard to examine and learn from, and many business leaders are still trying to figure out what this means for their companies. The consequence is that most firms are still far from being engaged with measuring well-being. In this paper, we identify the two main logics that prevail in the frameworks proposed to measure the business impact on well-being, and stress their convergent vision but also important differences. Drawing on the academic literature on goal settings, we propose a dual approach to enhance convergence between states' policies regarding SDGs and firms' strategies associated with ESGs and well-being indicators. This approach can help firms develop material well-being goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (s.m.a.r.t). We emphasize that this approach need to be guided and supported by both intergovernmental organizations, rating experts and the research community.


Since October 2014, the Government of India has worked towards a goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 through the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). In June 2014, we reported the results of a survey of rural sanitation behaviour in north India. Here, we report results from a late 2018 survey that revisited households from the 2014 survey in four states: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Although rural latrine ownership increased considerably over this period, open defecation remains very common in these four states. There is substantial heterogeneity across states in what the SBM did and how. Many survey respondents report that the SBM attempted to coerce latrine construction, including by withholding or threatening to withhold government benefits. ST and SC households were especially likely to face coercion. Variation in SBM coercion is correlated with variation in sanitation outcomes: in villages where more people report coercive SBM activities, more people also reported switching to latrine use. These outcomes suggest the need for transparent, fact-based public dialogue about the SBM: its costs and benefits, its accomplishments and means.


Since I wrote my proposal in Canada two years ago, there has been
a focussing of my work in certain areas, while other concerns have
assumed a lesser significance in the body of the work. I had
anticipated this when writing the proposal, aware that I must
allow a flexibility to accommodate the changes I thought would
accompany my introduction to a new culture.
What was to be a maJor concern during the course, and something
that my work had been dealing with before I left Canada, was the
notion of man as creator and destroyer in a decaying environment.
However I found that I could not continue to work as I had in
Canada, as it seemed my new environment called for a
reassessment of my working process, and only after such a
reassessment have I been able to return to this theme.
What I have been dealing with significantly in my work is how, as
an artist, I have responded to a new environment with its many
dimensions. My work has dealt with my adaptation to a familiar
yet unfamiliar culture. I felt compelled to communicate my
feelings of 'displacement' through the use of symbols that I
believe have a universal significance. This was developed in work
that uses the images of the tower, the head, and the storm tossed
boat. The latter two in particular acted as vehicles for expressing
the experience of the journey, whether it be the journey of an
individual to anew land, or the universal journey through life. I
would say that at the time I wrote the proposal I, to a degree,
underestimated (although I had anticipated) the impact of a new
environment, and the subsequent adaptations to it, on my work.
The final series of paintings completed during the course has
grown out of the exploration of the notion of the journey,
departure and arrival, confrontation with a new culture or the
unknown.
The final series of drawings was born of my concern with man as
destroyer and creator, reformulated, often through the symbol of
the flame (fire symbolizes both destruction and the renewal that is
made possible through this), and reborn in a new context. The
Journey to a new place frequently brings with it the need to
destroy much of what has constituted the past -- the things that
applied in another place and time but are no longer relevant. In
my own experience it has been necessary to destroy much m
order to create anew.


Immigration is a global phenomenon, yet comparatively few psychological investigations of anti-immigrant prejudice have been conducted in East Asia, a region of high economic growth that is set to become a leading destination for international migrants. Over two studies, we examined Singaporean attitudes towards four prominent immigrant groups: Chinese, Filipino, South Asian, and Western immigrants. Each immigrant group was found to be associated with a unique attitudinal profile. Chinese immigrants, who are culturally the most closely related to most Singaporeans, were viewed the most negatively in terms of prejudice, stereotyped warmth, and realistic and symbolic threat. Westerners were viewed the most positively despite higher ratings of perceived competence, possibly due to Western cultural influence, whereas South Asians and Filipinos were viewed as being relatively unthreatening, possibly due to their occupation of undesirable social roles. Perceived threat—both realistic and symbolic—proved to be stronger predictors of anti-immigrant prejudice than stereotypes. Implications for immigration policy in the region are discussed.


So far, the distributed computing community has either assumed that all the processes of a distributed system have distinct identifiers or, more rarely, that the processes are anonymous and have no identifiers. These are two extremes of the same general model: namely, n processes use l different authenticated identifiers, where 1 <= l <=n. In this paper, we ask how many identifiers are actually needed to reach agreement in a distributed system with $t$ Byzantine processes. We show that having 3t+1 identifiers is necessary and sufficient for agreement in the synchronous case but, more surprisingly, the number of identifiers must be greater than (n+3t)/2 in the partially synchronous case. This demonstrates two differences from the classical model (which has l=n):there are situations where relaxing synchrony to partial synchrony renders agreement impossible; and, in the partially synchronous case, increasing the number of correct processes can actually make it harder to reach agreement. The impossibility proofs use the fact that a Byzantine process can send multiple messages to the same recipient in a round. We show that removing this ability makes agreement easier: then, identifiers are sufficient for agreement, even in the partially synchronous model.


Despite being one of France's most enduring and popular philosophers, Branches is the first English translation of what has been identified as Michel Serres' key text on humanism.
 In attempting to reconcile humanity and nature, Serres examines how human history 'branches' off from its origin story. Using the metaphor of a branch springing from the stem and arguing that the branch's originality derives its format, Serres identifies dogmatic philosophy as the stem, while philosophy as the branch represents its inventive, shape-shifting, or interdisciplinary elements. In Branches, Serres provides a unique reading of the history of thought and removes the barriers between science, culture, art and religion. His fluency and this fluidity of subject matter combine here to make a book suitable for students of Continental philosophy, post-humanism, the medical humanities and philosophical science, while providing any reader with a wider understanding of the world in which they find themselves.


OBJECTIVE
Alkaptonuria is a genetic disorder of tyrosine metabolism, resulting in elevated circulating concentrations of homogentisic acid. Homogentisic acid is deposited as a polymer, termed ochronotic pigment, in collagenous tissues, especially cartilages of weight-bearing joints, leading to a severe osteoarthropathy. We undertook this study to investigate the initiation and progression of ochronosis from the earliest detection of pigment through complete joint failure.

METHODS
Nine joint samples with varying severities of ochronosis were obtained from alkaptonuria patients undergoing surgery and compared to joint samples obtained from osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Samples were analyzed by light and fluorescence microscopy, 3-dimensional scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the quantitative backscattered electron mode of SEM. Cartilage samples were mechanically tested by compression to determine Young's modulus of pigmented, nonpigmented, and OA cartilage samples.

RESULTS
In alkaptonuria samples with the least advanced ochronosis, pigment was observed intracellularly and in the territorial matrix of individual chondrocytes at the boundary of the subchondral bone and calcified cartilage. In more advanced ochronosis, pigmentation was widespread throughout the hyaline cartilage in either granular composition or as blanket pigmentation in which there is complete and homogenous pigmentation of cartilage matrix. Once hyaline cartilage was extensively pigmented, there was aggressive osteoclastic resorption of the subchondral plate. Pigmented cartilage became impacted on less highly mineralized trabeculae and embedded in the marrow space. Pigmented cartilage samples were much stiffer than nonpigmented or OA cartilage as revealed by a significant difference in Young's modulus.

CONCLUSION
Using alkaptonuria cartilage specimens with a wide spectrum of pigmentation, we have characterized the progression of ochronosis. Intact cartilage appears to be resistant to pigmentation but becomes susceptible following focal changes in calcified cartilage. Ochronosis spreads throughout the cartilage, altering the mechanical properties. In advanced ochronosis, there is aggressive resorption of the underlying calcified cartilage leading to an extraordinary phenotype in which there is complete loss of the subchondral plate. These findings should contribute to better understanding of cartilage-subchondral interactions in arthropathies.


Multimedia educational products are gaining widespread consumer acceptance. At the same time, many of these products lack a sound theoretical background or instructional quality, and empirical data supporting their educational value are frequently missing. The present experiment with N = 64 participants examined the usefulness of multimedia applications in art education by constructing four different presentations of 12 representational paintings. Various visual effects, such as motion, fading, zooming, and dissolving, as well as spoken text were used to modify the viewers' mode of understanding. The experimental conditions were varied on two dimensions: (a) The adequacy of the visual effects and (b) the additional presentation of verbal information. The findings support the notion that sophisticated multimedia applications assist the viewer in adopting a more elaborate mode of understanding. Few effects on viewers' aesthetic interest in art or quality of aesthetic experience were found. In contrast to the so phisticated use of multimedia, the use of "flashy" multimedia elements did not have any instructional value. Educators and researchers alike are always looking for more efficient ways of teaching and learning. Among the possible contributions to improved teaching, the potential role of instructional media has been of major interest ever since instructional illustrations, films, video applications, and computer programs became widely available (Clark & Salomon, 1986; Hasebrook, 1998). With the onset of the age of multimedia, it was claimed that this educational tool could contribute to make education more efficient and interesting (Stoney & Oliver, 1998; Clark & Salomon, 1986). Multimedia applications are currently being used in a variety of areas, for instance in second language acquisition (Cardillo, 1997; Plass, Chun, Mayer, & Leutner, 1998), math and science education (Crosby & Stelovsky, 1995; Keyvan, Pickard, & Song, 1997; Zech, Vye, Bransford, Goldman, Barron, Schwartz, Kisst-Hackett, & Mayfield-Stewart, 1998), and instruction for future medical doctors (Kolasa, Jobe, Miller, & Clay, 1999; McGee, Neill, Goldman, & Casey, 1998). While there are psychological theories describing the positive effects of multimedia (Mayer, 1997; Hasebrook, 1998), the educational value of current applications is often questioned. For instance, in his critical review, Lookatch (1997) stated that "today's instructional designer vitas highlight multimedia experience and quasi-experiences and little, if any, instructional design accomplishments" (p. 112). Not surprisingly, perhaps, psychological research indicates that multimedia products sometimes fail to show any advantage over classical learning environments and that they may even prevent students from learning (Hailey & Hailey, 1998; Schnotz, Boeckheler, Grzondziel, Gartner, & Wachter, 1998). In the authors' view, the sometimes disappointing results found in studies of multimedia applications can in part be attributed to the weak theoretical underpinning of multimedia programs. The theoretical basis should consist of a flexible interplay of two aspects: On the one hand, clear educational strategies in a given domain are necessary for the development of successful learning environments (Lookatch, 1997). Domain-specific instructional goals have to be considered. For instance, while the desired outcome in some domains is an increase of knowledge or enhanced problem solving capacities (Plass, Chun, Mayer, & Leutner, 1998; Mayer, 1997), educational goals in other domains might be the changing of attitudes or fostering of interest. While there is a multitude of possible goals, mere "acceptance" of a multimedia application by users (Teichman & Richards, 1999) does not seem to be a particularly ambitious goal in most instances. Second, having identified a suitable instructional goal, educational strategies which may or may not include the use of multimedia should be developed. …


Fraternity as an ideological concept finds its birth in the French Revolution, as well as an express mention in the Preamble to the Indian Constitution. Despite this clear constitutional space, little has been said or done in its furtherance. This paper seeks to account for the development of fraternity from both a historical and judicial perspective. In looking towards the history of the French Revolution and the Supreme Court's treatment of the same, we intend to provide some clarity as to the true purpose and meaning of fraternity. In analyzing the history of the Preamble and its legal status, the authors seek to understand how courts employ the Preamble as a mechanism to interpret the Constitution. This paper concludes that the decision of the Supreme Court in Nandini Sundar v. State of Chhattisgarh,1 is a remarkable improvement in the judicial use of fraternity, and presents certain compelling prospects for the use of the Preamble in the process of constitutional adjudication.


Music in Chopin's Warsaw examines the rich musical environment of Fryderyk Chopin's youth-largely unknown to the English-speaking world-and places Chopin's early works in the context of this milieu. Halina Goldberg provides a historiographic perspective that allows a new and better understanding of Poland's cultural and musical circumstances. Chopin's Warsaw emerges as a vibrant European city that was home to an opera house, various smaller theaters, one of the earliest modern conservatories in Europe, several societies which organized concerts, musically active churches, spirited salon life, music publishers and bookstores, instrument builders, and for a short time even a weekly paper devoted to music. Warsaw was aware of and in tune with the most recent European styles and fashions in music, but it was also the cradle of a vernacular musical language that was initiated by the generation of Polish composers before Chopin and which found its full realization in his work. Significantly, this period of cultural revival in the Polish capital coincided with the duration of Chopin's stay there-from his infancy in 1810 to his final departure from his homeland in 1830. An uncanny convergence of political, economic, social, and cultural circumstances generated the dynamic musical, artistic, and intellectual environment that nurtured the developing genius. Had Chopin been born a decade earlier or a decade later, Goldberg argues, the capital-devastated by warfare and stripped of all cultural institutions-could not have provided support for his talent. The young composer would have been compelled to seek musical education abroad and thus would have been deprived of the specifically Polish experience so central to his musical style. A rigorously-researched and fascinating look at the Warsaw in which Chopin grew up, this book will appeal to students and scholars of nineteenth century music, as well as music lovers and performers.


Abstract Nearly two decades after its inception as a workshop at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) exists as an established international conference significantly distinct from its precursor. Although this origin story is often noted, the implications of NIME's history as emerging from a field predominantly dealing with human–computer interaction (HCI) have rarely been discussed. In this paper we highlight many of the recent—and some not so recent—challenges that have been brought upon the NIME community as it attempts to maintain and expand its identity as a platform for multidisciplinary research into HCI, interface design, and electronic and computer music. We discuss the relationship between the market demands of the neoliberal university—which have underpinned academia's drive for innovation—and the quantification and economization of research performance that have facilitated certain disciplinary and social frictions to emerge within NIME-related research and practice. Drawing on work that engages with feminist theory and cultural studies, we suggest that critical reflection and, moreover, mediation is necessary to address burgeoning concerns that have been raised within the NIME discourse in relation to methodological approaches, "equity, diversity, and inclusion," "accessibility," and the fostering of "rigorous" interdisciplinary research.


The importance of maintaining high reliability and operational availability of equipment is becoming of great importance for the oil industry. This occurs due to the constant need for resource optimization and business survival regarding the aspects of competitiveness in the current economic and social context. Thus, this work presents a case study using the methodology for Maintenance management called Reliability Centered Maintenance - RCM. This aims to ensure the provision of information necessary to define a better strategy to develop plans for preventive and predictive maintenance for equipment belonging to the Storage Terrestrial Terminals and Oil and Byproduct Transport Pipelines. The RCM, although arising from and duly widespread in the aviation industry, has been adapted by other industries and this work suggests its adaptation for the oil industry. In order to assist the analysis of this context, a wide reference review was set as a basis, in order to allow a better understanding of its application in the Industrial Maintenance.


The fundamental premise of social entrepreneurship is to use business knowledge to solve critical economic, social and environmental dilemmas facing a society. Social entrepreneurship is an emerging theme of inquiry in contemporary business, entrepreneurship, marketing and ethics literature. In effect, social entrepreneurs are concerned with making a "mission-related impact" which becomes their central concern. To date, there has been little attention given to the notion of social entrepreneurship in the discipline of tourism. Despite the lack of attention in tourism research there have been a number of significant social entrepreneurial contributions made to various communities in South Africa. Such contributions demonstrate the significance of change makers in the context of rural South Africa signifying progress in the country's new democracy. This paper is a consequence of two phases of field work in South Africa over a 10- month period. The paper discusses the motivational behaviour of six Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) entrepreneurs who have developed businesses with the intention of giving back to their South African communities. However, the study employed critical discourse analysis and in so doing it recognizes some of the inherent contradictions in informants' discourses based on their white privilege experienced during apartheid. Two aims focused on this exploration: 1) to seek information regarding entrepreneurial stimuli for involvement in social action, through FTTSA membership, and 2) to investigate FTTSA members' micro and macro discourses that inform their actions and behaviours.


Analysis of seismic reflection data reveals that the Seattle basin (Washington) is markedly asymmetric and consists of ∼9-10 km of Eocene and younger deposits. The basin began as a discrete geologic element in the late Eocene (∼40 Ma), the result of a reorganization in regional fault geometry and kinematics. In this reorganization, dextral offset on the Puget fault south- east of Seattle stepped eastward, and the Seattle fault began as a restraining transfer zone. North-vergent reverse or thrust faulting on the Seattle fault forced flexural subsidence in the Seattle basin to the north. Offset on the Seattle fault and subsidence of the Seattle basin have continued to the present.


The best hiring practices help professional firms attract successful employees, equip newcomers with critical support networks, increase the firm's diversity and enhance its reputation. This Note delineates how leading firms manage these multiple objectives throughout the entire process of forecasting, sourcing and onboarding top talent. It also expands on potential misalignments that can arise and tradeoffs firms face in building and executing an integrated hiring strategy.


Calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystals are microscopic mineralized particles found in over 215 plant families of plants. In this study, the occurrence and variation of CaOx crystals in 15 different species of commonly used medicinal plants were investigated. Information on the type and other characteristics of CaOx crystals present in medicinal plants is important considering the potential health risks posed by these crystals to humans and other animals, aside from the fact that crystal characteristics are also valuable in the taxonomic identification of plant taxa. Results showed that eight of the 15 species, namely; Abelmoschus esculentus, Acalypha indica, Amaranthus viridis, Basella alba, Bixa orellana, Codiaeum variegatum, Ipomoea batatas, and Jatropha podagrica produced druses. Only four species formed raphides and these were Bougainvillea spectabilis, Cordyline fruticosa, Impatiens balsamina, and Rhoeo spathacea, although styloids were also observed in Cordyline fruticosa. Prismatic crystals and crystal sands were the least common, the former produced only in Chorchorus olitorius and Senna alata, and the latter only in Solanum melongena. The raphides of B. spectabilis were the longest at 175.81µm while the druses of B. orellana were the smallest having a mean diameter of 16.72µm. In terms of density, C. olitorius and S. alata had the highest number of crystals per unit leaf area.


Abstract. The Danube, connecting ten countries with large cities, national parks and other smaller destinations is a branded as integrated destination system of Europe. This paper examines the behaviour of visitors along the river by analysing the spatio-temporal distribution of geotagged photos shared on Flickr. The authors downloaded the metadata of more than 2 million geotagged photos along the river, and created a weighed movement graph based on the short time-interval user movements. The network analysis of the graph revealed the central integrating effect of the large capital cities on the entire system. Modularity analysis indicated 18 regional tourism clusters, which are connected into three major separated destination systems which have little relation between them and the isolated clusters of Lower Danube.This paper discusses the method of data aggregation as well as the tools used and created for visualising and analysing the data.


PURPOSE
To compare the safety and tolerability of 1.0% azithromycin in a polymeric mucoadhesive delivery system with 0.3% tobramycin ophthalmic solution for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis.

METHODS
This study was a prospective, randomized, active-controlled, double-masked, phase 3 trial conducted from August 6, 2004, to October 6, 2005, at 47 sites. Subjects with a clinical diagnosis of bacterial conjunctivitis were randomly assigned to receive either 1% azithromycin in DuraSite (AzaSite; InSite Vision, Alameda, CA) (n = 365) or 0.3% tobramycin (n = 378). Both groups received masked medication four times daily for 5 days, but participants received an active dose of 1% azithromycin in DuraSite only twice a day on days 1 and 2 and daily on days 3 to 5. Conjunctival cultures were taken, and ocular signs and symptoms were evaluated at baseline and at two follow-up visits.

RESULTS
A total of 743 patients were randomized, and 710 (96%) completed the trial. Both study medications were well tolerated. The most frequently observed ocular adverse events in the azithromycin group were eye irritation (1.9%), conjunctival hyperemia (1.1%), and worsening bacterial conjunctivitis (1.1%). These rates compared favorably with those obtained with tobramycin. Rates of microbial eradication (an efficacy parameter) and bacterial infection recurrence (a safety parameter) were the same in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report of the safety and tolerability of a commercially manufactured preparation of azithromycin for ophthalmic use. Azithromycin 1% in DuraSite is safe and can be administered in a regimen of less frequent doses than can tobramycin, while producing an equivalent clinical outcome. The formulation is well tolerated in patients over the age of 1 year for the eradication of bacteria commonly associated with conjunctivitis. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00105469.).


Abstract Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer related to asbestos exposure. We recently showed that pleural effusions (PE) from mesothelioma patients contained high levels of the CCL2 inflammatory chemokine. In the present work, we studied the effect of CCL2 contained in mesothelioma samples particularly on monocyte recruitment. Then, we studied the fate of these monocytes in MPM PE and their impact on tumor cell properties. The implication of CCL2 in monocyte recruitment was evaluated using transmigration assays and a CCL2 blocking antibody. The phenotype of macrophages was determined by flow cytometry and ELISA. Immunohistochemistry was used to support the results. Co-cultures of macrophages with mesothelioma cells were performed to study cancer cell proliferation and resistance to treatment. We showed that CCL2 is a major factor of monocyte recruitment induced by MPM samples. Macrophages obtained in MPM samples were M2 macrophages (High CD14, high CD163 and IL-10 secretion following activation). CSF-1R/M-CSF pathway is implicated in M2 polarization and high levels of M-CSF were measured in MPM samples compared to benign PE (4.17 ± 2.75 ng/ml and 1.94 ± 1.47 ng/ml, respectively). Immunohistochemistry analysis confirmed the presence of M2 macrophages in pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. Finally, we showed that M2 macrophages increased mesothelioma cell proliferation and resistance to treatment. These results demonstrate the implication of CCL2 in MPM pathogenesis and designate M-CSF as a new potential biomarker of MPM. This study also identifies CCL2 and CSF1-R/M-CSF as interesting new targets to modulate pro-tumorigenic properties of the tumor microenvironment.


The four meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) adaptive optics (AO) system will require at least twenty-four times the real time processing power as the Dunn Solar Telescope AO system. An FPGA solution for ATST AO real time processing is being pursued instead of the parallel DSP approach used for the Dunn AO76 system. An analysis shows FPGAs will have lower latency and lower hardware cost than an equivalent DSP solution. Interfacing to the proposed high speed camera and the deformable mirror will be simpler and have lower latency than with DSPs. This paper will discuss the current design and progress toward implementing the FPGA solution.


CC(A/T)6GG-dependent (CArG-dependent) and serum response factor-dependent (SRF-dependent) mechanisms are required for gene expression in smooth muscle cells (SMCs). However, an unusual feature of many SMC-selective promoter CArG elements is that they contain a conserved single G or C substitution in their central A/T-rich region, which reduces binding affinity for ubiquitously expressed SRF. We hypothesized that this CArG degeneracy contributes to cell-specific expression of smooth muscle alpha-actin in vivo, since substitution of c-fos consensus CArGs for the degenerate CArGs resulted in relaxed specificity in cultured cells. Surprisingly, our present results show that these substitutions have no effect on smooth muscle-specific transgene expression during normal development and maturation in transgenic mice. However, these substitutions significantly attenuated injury-induced downregulation of the mutant transgene under conditions where SRF expression was increased but expression of myocardin, a smooth muscle-selective SRF coactivator, was decreased. Finally, chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses, together with cell culture studies, suggested that myocardin selectively enhanced SRF binding to degenerate versus consensus CArG elements. Our results indicate that reductions in myocardin expression and the degeneracy of CArG elements within smooth muscle promoters play a key role in phenotypic switching of smooth muscle cells in vivo, as well as in mediating responses of CArG-dependent smooth muscle genes and growth regulatory genes under conditions in which these 2 classes of genes are differentially expressed.


The use of medicinal plants for the treatment of illnesses is widely known. However, there are not many scientific reports about the properties of these plants and their side effects. In this study, the effect of the aqueous extract of Origanum vulgare on the preimplantational mouse embryo development was investigated. The oregano aqueous extract was given ad libitum to four separated groups (n= 10) of pregnant mice: O, 9, 18 y 36 mg/mL respectively. When the embryos were evaluated, a slight delay in the embryo development was observed, but only with the highest dose. With respect to embryo quality, an increase of degenerated embryos was observed but this was not significant. These results showed that the aqueous extract of O. vulgare does not have a toxic effect on preimplantational mouse embryo, and it only produces a slight delay in embryo development.


What makes a house beautiful? Is it serious to spend your time thinking about home decoration? Why do people disagree about taste? And can buildings make us happy? In "The Architecture of Happiness", Alain de Botton tackles a relationship central to our lives. Our buildings - and the objects we fill them with - affect us more profoundly than we might think. To take architecture seriously is to accept that we are, for better and for worse, different people in different places. De Botton suggests that it is architecture's task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be. Turning the spotlight from the humble terraced house to some of the world's most renowned buildings, de Botton considers how our private homes and public edifices - from those of Christopher Wren to those of Le Corbusier and Norman Foster - influence how we feel, as well as how we could learn to build in ways that would increase our chances of happiness. "The Architecture of Happiness" amounts to a beguiling tour through the philosophy and psychology of architecture.


Lake sediments are frequently used as archives of climate and environmental change. Minerogenic sediment variability in alpine lakes is often used to reconstruct past glacier and slope process activity. Alpine lake sediments can however have many different origins, which may induce errors in paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The aim of this project was to enhance the understanding of minerogenic lake sedimentation in alpine lakes and improve their use as environmental archives.Catchment geomorphology and Holocene sediment sequences were analysed for five alpine lakes. Several minerogenic sediment sources were detected in catchments and sediment sequences. Slope-, fluvial-, periglacial-, nival- and aeolian sediment transportation processes contribute to create complex lake sediment patterns. Large variations in sedimentation rates were discovered within and between lakes, which has implications for sampling strategies and age-model constructions. Similar fine-grained minerogenic laminations were found in four of the investigated lakes, despite large differences in setting. The demonstrated similarity between glacial and non-glacial lakes may complicate interpretations of glaciolacustrine sediment signals.The main conclusion is that lake sedimentation in alpine environments is highly dependent on several geomorphological factors. All lakes should therefore be viewed as unique and the geomorphology should be thoroughly investigated before environmental reconstructions are based on lake sediment proxies. This study has confirmed the multi-source origin of alpine lake sediment, which also opens possibilities of more multi-faceted paleoenvironmental studies. Different process-proxies could potentially be used to separate different climate signals, e.g. precipitation, temperature and wind, in lake sediments. Analysis of grain-size distribution, detailed mineralogy and magnetic mineralogy in combination with X-ray radiography are suggested methods for such reconstructions.


In order to evaluate the post-operative result after correction of intracardiac and pulmonary shunts, dye dilution curves were recorded pre- and immediately post-operatively in 28 patients. A total of 56 shunts were recorded. Factors influencing the calculation are discussed In the cases where calculation was not possible, the morphology of the dilution curves was found to be clearly indicative of whether closure of the defect was established or whether a residual shunt had to be taken into consideration in the post-operative treatment. Pre-operative shunt calculation or shunt estimation by dye dilution agreed well with shunt calculation by oxymetry, thus indicating the usefulness of dye dilution during anaestesia. Shunt calculation by dye dilution correlated well with oxygen saturation before and after intracardiac repair, just as post-operative dye dilution curves were in agreement with autopsy findings and known residual shunts.


We are investigating techniques for developing distributed and adaptive collections of information agents that coordinate to retrieve, filter and fuse information relevant to the user, task and situation. In our system of agents, information gathering is seamlessly integrated with decision support. In this paper we present the distributed system architecture, agent collaboration interactions, and a reusable set of software components for structuring agents. The system has three types of agents: Interface agents interact with the user receiving user specifications and delivering results. They acquire, model, and utilize user preferences to guide system coordination in support of the user's tasks. Task agents help users perform tasks by formulating problem solving plans and carrying out these plans through querying and exchanging information with other software agents. Information agents provide intelligent access to a heterogeneous collection of information sources. We have implemented this system framework and are developing collaborating agents in diverse complex real world tasks, such as organizational decision making, and financial portfolio management.


We present a differential theory to describe the optical response of multilayer bigrating structures. The formalism is based on an extension of the coordinate transformation method used by Chandezon et al. [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A72, 839 ( 1982)] and is a rigorous differential theory capable of modeling highly modulated multilayer bigratings. The method is used to model experimental reflectivity data taken from bigratings and shows good agreement.


This thesis considers two tnain topics in the field of applied geochemistry, namely: a.) The application of Direct-reading optical spectrometers to the analysis of geochemical samples, and b) The use of computer aided numerical analysis in the interpretation of univariate and multi-variate geochemical data. For the purposes of this exercise, the Pirejman area of SE Turkey was chosen as a study area. This district contained known lead-zinc mineralization, and was also potentially chromite bearing since a large serpentinite body cropped out in the western portion of the area. As a result of this study, a number of chromite and magnetite pods were found. The study of spectrometric analysis draws attention to the importance of the composition of the buffer mixture, ignition temperature and grain size of samples prior to analysis. It is demonstrated that the special background channel used in the ARL 29000B Direct-reading Spectrometer is unsuitable as a base upon which to adopt a correction procedure to eliminate matrix effects. The spectrometer is found to suffer from serious matrix effects, and it is shown that an effective correction procedure must therefore rely on the relationships that exist between variations in the major element contents and the induced interference in trace element readings. A computerized correction and conversion procedure is developed. The limitations, requirements and means of data storage and selective retrieval of geochemical data are investigated. A review of computer-orientated data processing techniques suitable for application to geochemical exploration data is presented. A new approach to the problem of the selection of optimum trend surface is proposed, involving a critical consideration of the components which make the deviations from a given trend surface. The üse of Discriminant analysis as a final classification technique for results obtained by both Cluster and Principal Component analysis is discussed. In order to obviate the possibility of misclassifying an unknown sample by Discriminant analysis, it is proposed that a quantity (in standard deviation units), called the "standardised discriminant score distance", is calculated with respect to each of the groups between which the discriminant score of the unknown individual lies. The geology and mineralization of the Pirejman area is described. Primary dispersion patterns adjacent to known mineralization are investigated. Various data processing techniques are applied to regional rock and drainage sediment data obtained from the Pirejman area. Using a number of control features, the resolving capability of these computer-orientatedj techniques is evaluated. The power of Discriminant analysis as a means of testing a geochemical model, and predicting other areas of interest is demonstrated.


The starting point for this research is the importance of narrative in our life. Many scholars regard it as the organising principle by which people organise their experience in, knowledge about, and transaction in the social world. Indeed, authoring and co-authoring narratives have been cited as among the most important communicative actions in an organisation. This study adapts Fisher's (1987) narrative paradigm to explore how organisational members view their reality. Human beings in this view are seen as homo narrans --- both as storytellers and objects of storytelling. Narratives act as vehicles through which organisational members can offer definitions and explanations of their work life. They act as a metacode transmitting shared meaning. As a consequence, members establish definitional boundaries through which they judge and understand the situation at hand. Recognising the limitations of this paradigm, the analysis in this research study adds Pacanowsky's (1983) application of Geertz's (1973) cultural insights to organisational life. To Pacanowsky, organisational culture is the residue of employees' performances. To Geertz, such performances are an ensemble of texts.In summary, the following main perspectives informed this research: a) Human beings are storytellers b) Culture is the root metaphor of organisational life c) Organisational culture is a text d) A text must be read and interpreted in the meaning-making process.To reflect this theoretical perspective, hermeneutics was used as the method of inquiry. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted over time to gather data on the use and content of narratives within a Malaysian organisation, Palmyra.During a period of change, stories and narratives are often 'emotional' in nature. This is understandable as change brings a new arrangement of reality. At Palmyra, an organisation that deals primarily with language and literature, the narratives and stories revolved around what was called the 're-inventing programme'. Besides repositioning staff and offices, management aimed to 'bring religion back to the workplace' and this became an important agenda in the whole planned change. This approach to organisational change views change as a matter of body, mind and soul. The stability of nafs (the inner self) is regarded as important, and organisation is seen as a moral problem. This research shows how this approach can be understood in the light of the tawhidic paradigm. The implementation of the change programme brought many important undercurrents (shadows) to the fore, and these were reflected in the narratives, which emerged. Tribalism or parochialism was one of them. The organisation members who felt displaced responded through various means. Among others, they utilised the power of literature and hidden transcripts. Many ancient and classicaltexts were given new interpretations. Various forms of halus (refined and indirect) were identified as ways of communicating their unhappiness. While sharing many of the themes, which can be identified in European and American research on organisational change, these forms of resistance used methods and symbols, which were distinctively Malaysian. This research study makes a number of important contributions to organisational communication studies. In particular:1. It adds new knowledge to an understudied area in organisational communication, namely the analysis and significance of stories in the workplace.2. It also contributes to another underrepresented area of study, namely the religious aspects of organisational communication culture.3. It demonstrates the value of qualitative research methods in organisational communication studies in Malaysia, where previously quantitative methods have been dominant.


Software engineers organize source code into a dominant hierarchy of components and modules that may emphasize various characteristics over runtime behavior. In this way, runtime features may involve cross-cutting aspects of code from multiple components, and some of these features may be emergent in nature, rather than designed. Although source-code modularization assists software engineers to organize and find components, identifying such cross-cutting feature sets can be more difficult. This work presents a visualization that includes a static (i.e., compile-time) representation of source code that gives prominence to clusters of cooperating source-code instructions to identify dynamic (i.e., runtime) features and constituent behaviors within executions of the software. In addition, the visualization animates software executions to reveal which feature clusters are executed and in what order. The result has revealed the principal behaviors of software executions, and those behaviors were revealed to be (in some cases) cohesive, modular source-code structures and (in other cases) cross-cutting, emergent behaviors that involve multiple modules. In this paper, we describe our system (CEREBRO), envisage the uses to which it can be put, and evaluate its ability to reveal emergent runtime features and internal constituent behaviors of execution. We found that: (1) the visualization revealed emergent and commonly occuring functionalities that cross-cut the structural decomposition of the system; (2) four independent judges generally agreed in their interpretations of the code clusters, especially when informed only by our visualization; and (3) interacting with the external interface of an application while simultaneously observing the internal execution facilitated localization of code that implements the features and functionality evoked externally.


This paper seeks to characterize the nonlinear effects of exogenous factors on wholesale electricity price formation. Using a special type of regime-switching, the logistic smooth transition regression model, we capture the mean-reverting and spiky characteristics of spot prices, and at the same time, estimate their rather complex relationships to fundamentals. We show that for different trading periods within the day, prices can be a function of fundamentally different drivers. In addition to including the usual fuel price, demand and reserve margin drivers, this analysis tests whether a market concentration variable is as significant in the high-frequency context as it is known to be over the longer term. The analysis is also innovative in testing the nonlinear influence of carbon emission trading.


This photograph of Brighton Beath Baths shows John Marshall and Wendy Byrne standing on the boardwalk. Alan Trickey on the stairs and Kerry Lemon with one foot on stairs and one on boardwalk. John Marshall was a champion swimmer who later married Wendy Byrne. Alan Trickey was the son of Councillor Trickey one time Mayor of Brighton. The photographer Edward Hayes appears to have been commissioned by Brighton Council in 1954 to take a series of photos of flood damage etc.


A centroid node in a tree is a node for which the sum of the distances to all other nodes attains its minimum, or equivalently a node with the property that none of its branches contains more than half of the other nodes. We generalise some known results regarding the behaviour of centroid nodes in random recursive trees (due to Moon) to the class of very simple increasing trees, which also includes the families of plane-oriented and $d$-ary increasing trees. In particular, we derive limits of distributions and moments for the depth and label of the centroid node nearest to the root, as well as for the size of the subtree rooted at this node.


Large format picture books form a major part of school and public library reference collections and are often a child's first introduction to science (Rawson & McCool, 2014). These books are designed to be visually stimulating as well as informative and brightly coloured images of molecular models are an important device in illustrating subjects such as genetics and medicine for young children. Both textual and visual discourse articulate and embed social and cultural practices and this study explores the messages about science that are conveyed in children's science books when using images of molecular models. A number of themes occur in the way these images are utilised to illustrate science. Firstly, pictures of molecular models are used to illustrate the discovery narrative of science (see Latour & Woolgar, 1986), exemplified by the frequent use of the photograph of Watson and Crick next to their model of the double helix. Secondly, the 'constructivist' narrative of science, where mankind can build solutions to problems (see Meinel, 2004), is often illustrated by the use of pictures of brightly coloured plastic models of small 'useful' molecules such as paracetamol. Interestingly, images of molecular models, often computer generated, are also used to illustrate challenges to science, such as unethical practices or commodification. In science picture books for young children, images of molecular models are rarely used to explain scientific concepts but are more often utilised to illustrate social and cultural messages about science.


1. The pressure-perfusion myograph. permeabilisation techniques and also
intracellular membrane potential recordings were used to examine the
regulation of myogenic tone in cerebral and mesenteric resistance
arteries by metabolic agents and second messenger systems.
2. After pressurisation to 60 mmHg, rat isolated mesenteric and cerebral
resistance arteries developed spontaneous myogenic tone, resulting in a
26 ± 1% (n = 42) and 30 ± 2% (n = 14) reduction in diameter
respectively.
3. The metabolic vasodilator adenosine and the KATI' channel opener
cromakalim each produced a dose-dependent dilatation of pressurised
mesenteric arteries. The cromakalim-evoked dilatation was inhibited by
glibenc1amide (l J.lM), demonstrating the presence of the KATI' channel
in the mesenteric artery and their activation as the mechanism for
cromakalim-evoked dilatation. In contrast neither adenosine nor
cromakalim produced a dilatation of pressurised cerebral arteries.
4. Adenosine-evoked dilatation of mesenteric arteries was unaffected by
the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NAME (100 IlM). antagonists of
the KATI' channel (gJibenclamide; 1 J.lM), the small conductance Ca2'
activated K+ channel (apamin; 0.3 J.lM) and the large conductance, Ca2!
activated K+ channel (TEA; 1 mM). Further to this, cromakalim (10
IlM) but not adenosine (100 J.lM) produced a hyperpolarisation of the
pressurised mesenteric artery. This suggests that neither nitric oxide
synthesis nor K+ channel activation contributed to the adenosine-evoked
dilatation.
5. Adenosine evoked adose-dependent dilatation of p-escin permeabilised
mesenteric arteries; where the intracellular Ca" concentration was clamped to ~600 nM. The mechanism of adenosine-evoked dilatation
may involve a decreased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity.
6. An increase in extracellular potassium ion concentration ([K+lo) may
link increased neuronal activity and regional cerebral blood flow.
Elevation of [K+Jofrom 4.7 to 10 mM evoked a sustained dilatation of
isolated pressurised thalamo-perforating cerebral arterioles.
7. The K+-evoked dilatation was inhibited by the inward rectifier K+
channel (K1R) inhibitor Ba2+ (50J.lM), and the K+ channel inhibitor
cesium (20mM) but was not blocked by inhibitors of the ATP-sensitive
(KATP)and the Ca2
+ -activated K+ channel (KcJ, glibenclamide (l J.lM)
and TEA (lmM) respectively. Nor was the dilatation altered with the
neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX, 0.3 J.lM). The K+--evoked dilatation was
associated with a membrane hyperpolarisation to -58 ± I mV (n = 5),
from a control value of -42 ± 1 mV (n = 10).
8. It is proposed that increased [K+Jo evokes a dilatation of thalamoperforating
cerebral arteries via an activation of KIR channels and
smooth muscle cell hyperpolarisation.
9. An increase in [Ca2+]o to approximately 700 nM evoked a 30 ± 3 % (n =
28) constriction of isolated ~-escin permeabilised cerebral resistance
arteries.
10. Under [Ca2+1 clamped conditions the putative PKC activator indolactam
evoked a 20 ± 2% constriction of the artery. The PKC inhibitor (PKC(19_
36); I IlM) produced a near maximal (85 ± 4 %) reversal of the
indolactam-evoked constriction of the artery, while PKC(19_36) (1 IlM)
produced only a minor (12 ± 3 %) reversal of the Ca2+-induced
constriction, thus confirming that the indolactam-evoked constriction
was due to an activation ofPKC.

11. The MLCK antagonist SM-l (100 JlM) reversed both the Ca2+_ and the
indolactam-evoked constriction of the artery. The calmodulin antagonist
RS-20 (0.1 - 100 JlM) dose-dependently reversed the Ca2
+ -evoked
constriction but, even up to a concentration of 300 JlM, did not reverse
the indolactam evoked-constriction of the artery.
12. It is proposed that MLCK but not calmodulin plays a role in the PKCevoked
smooth muscle contraction.


Although there are adequate DNA sequence differences among plant-associated and plant-pathogenic bacteria to facilitate molecular approaches for their identification, identification at a taxonomic level that is predictive of their phenotype is a challenge. The problem is the absence of a taxonomy that describes genetic variation at a biologically relevant resolution and of a database containing reference strains for comparison. Moreover, molecular evolution, population genetics, ecology, and epidemiology of many plant-pathogenic and plant-associated bacteria are still poorly understood. To address these challenges, a database with web interface was specifically designed for plant-associated and plant-pathogenic microorganisms. The Plant-Associated Microbes Database (PAMDB) comprises, thus far, data from multilocus sequence typing and analysis (MLST/MLSA) studies of Acidovorax citrulli, Pseudomonas syringae, Ralstonia solanacearum, and Xanthomonas spp. Using data deposited in PAMDB, a robust phylogeny of Xanthomonas axonopodis and related bacteria has been inferred, and the diversity existing in the Xanthomonas genus and in described Xanthomonas spp. has been compared with the diversity in P. syringae and R. solanacearum. Moreover, we show how PAMDB makes it easy to distinguish between different pathogens that cause almost identical diseases. The scalable design of PAMDB will make it easy to add more plant pathogens in the future.


ABSTRACT Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death in the world. Several risk factors for CVD, such as lipid disorders, hypertension and diabetes mellitus, are influenced by food. It is well known that fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants and it adequate consumption reduces cardiovascular risk. However, its antithrombotic effect (antiplatelet agent, anticoagulant and fibrinolytic) is little known. This review briefly describes these effects, both in vivo and in vitro, and the possible mechanisms that could explain this effect. Fruits such as black grape, pineapple, strawberry and kiwi show this effect. Among the vegetables that have antiaggregatory effect are garlic, onions, welsh onions, tomatoes and melons. On the other hand the anticoagulant effect has only been found in fruits like pineapple, and among the vegetables in garlic and onions. The fibrinolytic effect has been described in fruits like kiwi and pineapple, an in vegetables such as garlic, onions and soybeans. Some fruits (pineapple and kiwi) and vegetables (onion and garlic) have more than one antithrombotic effect so their regular consumption certainly protects from CVD. We have begun the study, initially in vitro of the potential antithrombotic effect of fruits and vegetables in the Maule Region. It is necessary to increase our domestic consumption and export of fruits and vegetables, both to improve the health of the population and the economy. The reasons above stated describe the importance of the contribution of knowledge due to the fact that antioxidant effects are less known. Keywords: Fruits, vegetables, antiaggregant, anticoagulant, fibrinolytic.


Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the causative agent of caseous lymphadenitis in sheep and goats and is characterized by the development of pyogranulomas in the lymph nodes and organs. This study was designed to measure the concentration of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β & IL-6) in experimental non-pregnant Boer does inoculated with Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis through various routes. Little is known about the concentration of IL-1β and IL-6 in different routes of infection caused by the organism. A total of twenty healthy non-pregnant Boer does were divided into 4 groups (A-D) of 5 does per groups. Three groups (A-C) were inoculated with 107cfu/1ml of live Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis through intradermal, intranasal and oral routes respectively, while group D was kept unexposed. Following infection, blood samples were collected from the jugular vein between three days interval period for the analysis of IL-1β and IL-6. A significant increase (P<0.05) in IL-1β was observed through intranasal, intradermal and oral route compared to the control group. Significant increase in IL-1β and IL-6 was observed through intranasal route compared to other routes. This study, therefore, highlights the effects of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β andIL-6) in caseous lymphadenitis infection.


Helicobacter felis is a bacterium that infects the gastrointestinal systems of small animals (most commonly cats), causing stomach gastritis with symptoms of vomiting, dehydration, poor appetite, pain and weakness. The goal of this study was to determine which antibiotics would be most effective at eradicating H. felis, therefore promoting healing in afflicted animals. It was hypothesized that, in a 24-hour period, a combination of high-performing antibiotics would be more effective in combating infection than monotherapy with a high-performing antibiotic. In the current study, we gathered various antibiotics that have been proven to successfully fight bacterial infections, including ampicillin, gentamicin, streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and oxacillin. We also created a combination of gentamicin and streptomycin, the two most effective monotherapy antibiotics, in addition to a combination of ampicillin and tetracycline, the two most ineffective monotherapy antibiotics. The H. felis was grown on tryptic soy and subjected to the Kirby‑Bauer antibiotic test with eight different antibiotic treatments. After 24 hours of incubation, we measured the inhibition zones of the stand-alone monotherapy antibiotics (i.e., how effective they were against the H. felis). The treatment that proved an overall most effective average eradication rate was the monotherapy with streptomycin. The combination of gentamicin and streptomycin, while second most effective in comparison to the monotherapy, proved to be less effective. This research suggests that it would be best to use a monotherapy in treating animals infected with H. felis.


"This paper is devoted to better understanding of the Brazilian agricultural national policies towards domestic support and implications related to WTO rules. Domestic support has taken central stage in the last years and in light of a global economic crisis will play an even greater role in international trade politics. The paper focuses on Brazil and lays out the different domestic support policies used by the government. It is divided into five distinct parts for better comprehension. These parts are as follow: a synopsis of policies and recent studies; replication of official WTO support notifications; construction of consistent shadow notification; comparison and discussion of shadow notifications in relation to the WTO rules; and projected notifications through 2018. Also ethanol policies and the WTO rules were carefully analysed in order to better understand the Brazilian domestic support. Through this paper the reader will be able to have a better understanding of Brazilian agricultural domestic support policies with respect to WTO rules—a topic not well evaluated in the academic arena up to this time. A lot of scientific work has been done in the field of domestic support, but little has been done to better understand domestic support policies of specific countries in light of the WTO legal system." from authors' abstract


Abstract. Episodes of thick cloud and diamond dust/ice fog were observed during 15 March to 8 April 2011 and 4 to 5 March 2013 in the atmosphere above Dome C (Concordia station, Antarctica; 75°06′ S, 123°21′ E; 3233 m a.m.s.l.). The objectives of the paper are mainly to investigate the processes that cause these episodes based on observations and to verify whether operational models can evaluate them. The measurements were obtained from the following instruments: (1) a ground-based microwave radiometer (HAMSTRAD, H2O Antarctica Microwave Stratospheric and Tropospheric Radiometers) installed at Dome C that provided vertical profiles of tropospheric temperature and absolute humidity every 7 min; (2) daily radiosoundings launched at 12:00 UTC at Dome C; (3) a tropospheric aerosol lidar that provides aerosol depolarization ratio along the vertical at Dome C; (4) down- and upward short- and long-wave radiations as provided by the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) facilities; (5) an ICE-CAMERA to detect at an hourly rate the size of the ice crystal grains deposited at the surface of the camera; and (6) space-borne aerosol depolarization ratio from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) lidar aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) platform along orbits close to the Dome C station. The time evolution of the atmosphere has also been evaluated by considering the outputs from the mesoscale AROME and the global-scale ARPEGE meteorological models. Thick clouds are detected during the warm and wet periods (24–26 March 2011 and 4 March 2013) with high depolarization ratios (greater than 30 %) from the surface to 5–7 km above the ground associated with precipitation of ice particles and the presence of a supercooled liquid water (depolarization less than 10 %) clouds. Diamond dust and/or ice fog are detected during the cold and dry periods (5 April 2011 and 5 March 2013) with high depolarization ratios (greater than 30 %) in the planetary boundary layer to a maximum altitude of 100–300 m above the ground with little trace of precipitation. Considering 5-day back trajectories, we show that the thick cloud episodes are attributed to air masses with an oceanic origin whilst the diamond dust/ice fog episodes are attributed to air masses with continental origins. Although operational models can reproduce thick cloud episodes in the free troposphere, they cannot evaluate the diamond dust/ice fog episodes in the planetary boundary layer because they require to use more sophisticated cloud and aerosol microphysics schemes.


Purpose: The aim of this study is to change one of the primary impairments associated with multiple sclerosis, i.e. ataxia, in which there is insufficient postural control. Materials and Methods: The current randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of aquatic exercise on postural control in MS ataxic patients. Thirty-two patients with multiple sclerosis with a degree of ataxia indications were selected and divided into two groups: exercise group (n=17, age, 39.12 ± 8.54) and control group (n=15, age, 33.4±15.16). The exercise group performed the exercise for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week with 55% to 75% of maximum heart rate. Posture control by the force platform was measured before and after 24 sessions of aquatic exercises. Measurements of the center of pressure displacement included the anterior-posterior, medial-lateral directions, and sway velocity. Results: Comparing the pre-test whit the post-test,significant differences in patients' posture control (P = .001) was seen. There was no significant differences between the pre-test and the post-test in the control group, except for AP direction (P = .012). Conclusion: The findings suggest that postural control in ataxic patients with multiple sclerosis can be affected by aquatic exercises. Further studies with a larger sample size are required to confirm these encouraging preliminary results; clinicians are recommended to consider aquatic exercises as a viable rehabilitation program for multiple sclerosis patients.


Introduction In the United States, a criminal defendant can show himself to be not guilty of the crime of which he is accused by showing that he was "entrapped" by agents of the government. Entrapment is not merely a mitigating factor to be considered in sentencing a defendant who is acknowledged to be guilty of a crime; it is not treated in the law in the way, for instance, a defendant's poverty is often treated, as providing reason to give a guilty defendant a lighter sentence than an equally guilty but rich defendant, who also stole for money. Rather, entrapment constitutes a complete defense: An entrapped defendant is simply not guilty of violating the law under which he is being prosecuted. Those who think that there would be something wrong with a legal system that did not allow the entrapment defense have, in the background of their thoughts, a particular picture of the conditions under which it is appropriate to hold a person legally responsible for his behavior, conditions that are absent when that person has given in to certain temptations supplied by the government. They accept, that is, however implicitly, a theory of legal responsibility under which certain people who, under certain circumstances, give in to a temptation issued by the government are thereby, and on those grounds alone, rightly excused from legal responsibility. This paper describes some of the features of such a theory, a theory from which it follows that the entrapment defense is an essential element in a just legal system. In the very first case in which a U.S. court considered the entrapment defense, Board of Commissioners v. Backus (29 How. Pr. 33, 42 (1864)), a New York court rejected it on the grounds that God refused to excuse Eve when she opined, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." (1) If the excuse of "beguilement" wasn't good enough for God, why should it be good enough for the court? (2) In offering this justification for its action, the court chose to interpret the defense as claiming, generally, that "beguiled" defendants are not guilty, a claim it took to be false. In fact, however, defendants who offer the defense are claiming not just to have been beguiled, but also to have been beguiled by the government. The court assumed that this aspect of the defense was irrelevant. They assumed, that is, that government beguilement is no more an excuse than serpent. Call this "the problem of private entrapment": A justification of the entrapment defense must explain why it is that, had a defendant who successfully employs the entrapment defense been tempted by a private party, instead of the government, he would not have been excused from legal responsibility. (3) In this first entrapment case, then, the court assumed that there could be no solution to the problem of private entrapment, and so rejected the defendant's argument. (4) With the goal of describing part of the theory of legal responsibility underlying the entrapment defense, this paper aims to solve the problem of private entrapment. (5) Imagine a pair of defendants who act precisely the same way in response to a temptation offered by another person whom each believed to be a private party, not working for the government. Perhaps both defendants are approached by someone who claims to be able to provide security codes for a facility holding something worth stealing to someone willing to steal it, and imagine that both defendants, neither of whom has done, or contemplated doing, anything like this before, give in to the temptation and are arrested on leaving the facility with the stolen goods in hand. It will be argued that they differ in responsibility if one of them was tempted by a private party while the other, unbeknownst to him, was tempted by an agent of the government acting with the aim of prosecuting the defendant should he give in to the temptation. (6) The paper is structured as follows. Section 1 defines various concepts useful for thinking about entrapment and situates the problem of private entrapment within the conceptual framework described. …


OBJECTIVES
When potentially hazardous agents have multiple environmental sources, failure to include all exposure sources can constitute a type of measurement error. In addition, the effects of exposure from one source can also be confounded by exposure to other sources of the same agent. In this study clarification of these concepts is sought, and the direction and magnitude of the resulting bias in epidemiologic measures of association are examined.

METHODS
The bias in dose-response functions when the exposure data omit some sources of the agent was estimated with linear and log-linear models to compute risk differences and risk ratios under different assumptions about the magnitude and correlation of exposures from measured and unmeasured sources.

RESULTS
With unmeasured exposure of constant magnitude, there is no bias when a measure of association of the appropriate form (difference measures for additive dose-response processes, ratios for multiplicative ones) is selected. When the magnitude of unmeasured exposure varies, the results is nondifferential measurement error that can bias observed dose-response relations upward or downward, depending on the pattern of measurement error and the measure of association.

CONCLUSIONS
Failure to measure all sources of exposure to an agent and account for them in the analysis can bias the results of epidemiologic studies. When it is not feasible to measure all exposure sources, the magnitude of bias can be predicted by estimating the distribution of omitted exposures from external data or substudies. Sensitivity analyses are particularly useful for estimating the direction and magnitude of potential bias from incomplete exposure assessment.


The absence of comprehensive measured kinetic values and the observed inconsistency in the available in vitro kinetic data has hindered the formulation of network-scale kinetic models of biochemical reaction networks. To meet this challenge we present an approach to construct a convex space, termed the k-cone, which contains all the allowable numerical values of the kinetic constants in large-scale biochemical networks. The definition of the k-cone relies on the incorporation of in vivo concentration data and a simplified approach to represent enzyme kinetics within an established constraint-based modeling approach. The k-cone approach was implemented to define the allowable combination of numerical values for a full kinetic model of human red blood cell metabolism and to study its correlated kinetic parameters. The k-cone approach can be used to determine consistency between in vitro measured kinetic values and in vivo concentration and flux measurements when used in a network-scale kinetic model. k-Cone analysis was successful in determining whether in vitro measured kinetic values used in the reconstruction of a kinetic-based model of Saccharomyces cerevisiae central metabolism could reproduce in vivo measurements. Further, the k-cone can be used to determine which numerical values of in vitro measured parameters are required to be changed in a kinetic model if in vivo measured values are not reproduced. k-Cone analysis could identify what minimum number of in vitro determined kinetic parameters needed to be adjusted in the S. cerevisiae model to be consistent with the in vivo data. Applying the k-cone analysis a priori to kinetic model development may reduce the time and effort involved in model building and parameter adjustment. With the recent developments in high-throughput profiling of metabolite concentrations at a whole-cell scale and advances in metabolomics technologies, the k-cone approach presented here may hold the promise for kinetic characterization of metabolic networks as well as other biological functions at a whole-cell level.


Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to analyse the crude protein content of dried and milled samples of wheat and to discriminate samples according to their stage of growth. A calibration set of 72 samples from three growth stages of wheat (tillering, heading and harvest) and a validation set of 28 samples was collected for this purpose. Principal components analysis (PCA) of the calibration set discriminated groups of samples according to the growth stage of the wheat. Based on these differences, a classification procedure (SIMCA) showed a very accurate classification of the validation set samples: all of them were successfully classified in each group using this procedure when both the residual and the leverage were used in the classification criteria. Looking only at the residuals all the samples were also correctly classified except one of tillering stage that was assigned to both tillering and heading stages. Finally, the determination of the crude protein content of these samples was considered in two ways: building up a global model for all the growth stages, and building up local models for each stage, separately. The best prediction results for crude protein were obtained using a global model for samples in the two first growth stages (tillering and heading), and using a local model for the harvest stage samples.


There is conflicting evidence as to whether or not child temperament influences the manner in which couples coparent their children. The mixed results suggest that families with certain characteristics may be at risk for exhibiting low quality coparenting when they have a child who displays more negative affect. The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between child negative affect and coparenting in a sample of mothers of preschoolers. Drawing from family systems theory and Crockenberg's proposition of multiple risk, both main and interactive effects of child negative affect on mothers' perceptions of coparenting were examined. Child effortful control, maternal depressive symptoms, home chaos, and child sex was examined as moderators. A secondary goal was to examine the psychometric properties of the Coparenting Questionnaire which was designed to measure multiple dimensions of coparenting (i.e., coparenting solidarity, coparenting support, shared parenting, and undermining coparenting). Results of an exploratory factor analysis suggested that the Coparenting Questionnaire consisted of two dimensions of coparenting (i.e., positive and negative coparenting). The primary results demonstrated that child negative affect was negatively associated with mothers' perceptions of positive coparenting and positively associated with mothers' perceptions of negative coparenting. Child effortful control was positively associated with positive coparenting and negatively associated with negative coparenting. There was a negative relationship between child negative affect and positive coparenting when maternal depressive symptoms were high, but not when depressive symptoms were low. Child effortful control, home chaos, and child sex did not moderate the relationship between child negative affect and mothers' perceptions of positive coparenting. No moderation effects were found for mothers' perceptions of negative coparenting. For negative coparenting only, home chaos was positively associated with negative coparenting.


Music by Georg Christoph Bach, Johann Ernst Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Christian Bach, and Johann Bernhard Bach, performed by period instrument ensemble Florilegium with Catherine Bott (soprano).

The Bach family has for a long time been the focus of genealogical research. No other musical family of German origin has spanned so many generations and produced such highly talented performers as well as composers of the highest order. From very early on, the family seems to have adopted the position of propagators of musical tradition. LS. Bach's reference to his children as 'born musici' illustrates the strength of this tradition. The reasons for such an unusual concentration of musical talent are perhaps rooted in sound musical education, passed down through the various family members, especially the males. These members took the responsibility of training others in the immediate circle, as well as distant relatives, and this tradition remained strong in later generations. The Bach solidarity was probably achieved by several factors: self-sufficiency, extreme professionalism, guild-like regulation, intermarriage and strict religious observance, creating very close unity in the family, and thereby cementing social status and a self-propagating musical lineage. The members of the Bach family selected for this recording are represented in the simplified family tree. (page 2) Undoubtedly, the most famous among them was Johann Sebastian; however, this disc concerns itself with the five composers in italics in order to illustrate the incredible worth of his lesser-known relatives. Three out of seven generations are represented with some wonderfully rare and unusual compositions which are seldom performed and even more rarely recorded.


"The Dictatorship of Sex" explores the attempts to define and control sexual behavior in the years following the Russian Revolution. It is the first book to examine Soviet "sexual enlightenment," a program of popular health and lifestyle advice intended to establish a model of sexual conduct for the men and women who would build socialism. Leftist social theorists and political activists had long envisioned an egalitarian utopia, and after 1917, the medical profession took the leading role in solving the sex question (while at the same time carving out a niche for itself among post-revolutionary social institutions). Frances Bernstein reveals the tension between the doctors' advocacy for relatively liberal social policy and the generally proscriptive nature of their advice, as well as their lack of interest in questions of personal pleasure, fulfillment, and sexual expression. While supporting the goals of the Soviet state, the enlighteners appealed to 'irrefutable' biological truths that ultimately supported a very traditional gender regime. "The Dictatorship of Sex" offers a unique lens through which to contemplate a central conundrum of Russian history: the relationship between the supposedly 'liberated' 1920s and 'repressive' 1930s. Although most of the proponents of sexual enlightenment in the 1920s would suffer greatly during Stalin's purges, their writings facilitated the Stalinist approach to sexuality and the family. Bernstein's book will interest historians of Russia, gender, sexuality, and medicine, as well as anyone curious about social and ideological experiments in a revolutionary culture.


Plants act as a major source of medicines and are used to formulate various pharmaceutical preparations. Apart from this, they act as excellent pharmaceutical aids as well as excipients.

 An effort has been made for the complete study of plants under different categories of plant-based thickeners, emulsifiers, suspenders, binders, etc.

 The herbs were differentiated on the basis of their role as flavoring, sweetening, colouring, gelling, thickening, emulsifying, suspending and binding agents.

 The use of natural excipients to impart the goodness of natural bioactive agents has been hampered by synthetic materials. However, advantages offered by these natural excipients are enormous as being non-toxic, affordable and easily available. The activity of the excipients partly determines the quality of medicines.

 The herbal excipients act better in many ways when compared to their synthetic substitutes.


Abstract The world is witnessing a geopolitical shift from the North Atlantic to the Indo–Pacific region. US power is in relative decline with a steady build-up of Chinese power, wealth and influence. The last 15–20 years have also seen the rise of India. Against this backdrop, Australia's reconceptualisation of its strategic frame as the Indo–Pacific widens its geopolitical canvas and elevates India's importance for multiple Australian interests and objectives. We analyse India's growing role, with the potential to change the geopolitical map of the Indo–Pacific, in four plots significant to Australia's future in a multiplex regional order.


Plasma discharge was used to modify the ETFE surface properties. The changes induced by various plasma power and exposure time were determined by goniometry, gravimetric analysis and atomic force microscopy. It was found that a significant decrease of contact angle after plasma exposure is connected with the surface oxygen increase. Plasma treatment also induced a significant ablation of ETFE and fragmentation of its lamellar structure. The disruption of the lamellar structure was more pronounced for higher plasma power. It was found that by varying plasma power and exposure time it is possible to induce selective surface changes which can subsequently be used for various tissue engineering applications.