By the end of the 21st century the concentration of greenhouse gases from human activity in Earth's atmosphere is expected to double from preindustrial values. Many believe this increase will cause a 2 to 5 degree Celsius (3.6 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in Earth's temperature. These projections are based largely on government-sponsored U.S. and foreign Global Computer Model simulations. These computer models use a number of complicated mathematical formulas to simulate the physical processes of the atmosphere and ocean circulation. They forecast future changes in the atmosphere and ocean by simultaneously solving an array of equations that are envisaged to represent the real physical processes of the Earth's climate system. There is some imprecision in the accuracy of these equations with regard to their ability to represent the real atmosphere. Time steps vary from about 15 minutes to an hour or so. They integrate this set of simultaneous equations for hundreds of thousands of time steps into the future. Separate calculations are made, which include and exclude the human-induced greenhouse gas inputs of carbon dioxide and methane. Though these models have become more sophisticated over the past few decades, the methodology appears to be compromised by two basic flaws. First, the models assume that more rainfall, resulting from the buildup of greenhouse gases, will lead to significant increases in atmospheric water vapor, especially in the upper atmosphere, and in cirrus cloudiness. These increases are presumed to significantly reduce the radiation energy sent back to space. To compensate for this assumed reduction in outgoing radiation to space, the globe must warm so that it can compensate for this reduced energy flux. Energy to space increases with global temperature. Observations and theoretical analysis by myself and others, however, suggest that reductions in outgoing radiation, due to increases in global rainfall, will be very small, and will not cause significant global warming. A second flaw in the Global Computer Model simulations is their inability to make realistic simulations of ocean circulation processes many decades into the future. Since about 70 percent of the atmosphere is in contact with the ocean surface, ocean circulation patterns are fundamental to climate variability. The primary greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, by far, is water vapor. It is the influence of the human-caused greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, on water vapor that is most in question. If the addition of human-induced greenhouse gases leads to an enhancement of water vapor's dominant influence (a positive feedback), then humans will, indeed, be responsible for significant warming. But it is more likely that the human-induced gases will act as a modulator (negative feedback) of water vapor's influence. If the human-induced greenhouse gases will act to slightly reduce water vapor's influence as a greenhouse gas, then little global warming will result. Most researchers agree that the Earth will rid itself of most of the positive energy gains from human-induced greenhouse gas by developing extra surface evaporation and compensating extra global rainfall, which has a cooling effect on the Earth's surface. The key question is how the atmosphere will respond to this expected increase in global evaporation rainfall. Will the expected increase in human-induced greenhouse gases cause a positive, a neutral, or a negative trend in net global outgoing radiation? The Global Computer Models are programmed to give large--and apparently unrealistic--reductions in outgoing radiation to space as global rainfall increases. As more-realistic computer simulations become available in the future, I believe we will learn that the runaway global warming scenarios predicted by current Global Computer Model technology grossly overestimate the actual threat, and that the small surface warming trends observed in global surface temperature during the last 25 to 100 years, which have been so highly touted in the press, are primarily of natural origin and not due to human influences. …


Subgroup analysis of treatment effects plays an important role in applications from medicine to public policy to recommender systems. It allows physicians (for example) to identify groups of patients for whom a given drug or treatment is likely to be effective and groups of patients for which it is not. Most of the current methods of subgroup analysis begin with a particular algorithm for estimating individualized treatment effects (ITE) and identify subgroups by maximizing the difference across subgroups of the average treatment effect in each subgroup. These approaches have several weaknesses: they rely on a particular algorithm for estimating ITE, they ignore (in)homogeneity within identified subgroups, and they do not produce good confidence estimates. This paper develops a new method for subgroup analysis, R2P, that addresses all these weaknesses. R2P uses an arbitrary, exogenously prescribed algorithm for estimating ITE and quantifies the uncertainty of the ITE estimation, using a construction that is more robust than other methods. Experiments using synthetic and semi-synthetic datasets (based on real data) demonstrate that R2P constructs partitions that are simultaneously more homogeneous within groups and more heterogeneous across groups than the partitions produced by other methods. Moreover, because R2P can employ any ITE estimator, it also produces much narrower confidence intervals with a prescribed coverage guarantee than other methods.


Wixom and Todd (2005) integrated the user satisfaction and the technology acceptance literatures to theorize about and account for the influence of the information technology artifact on usage. Based on Wixom and Todd's integrated model of technology usage, we propose the 3Q model by investigating the role of service quality (SQ), in addition to system quality (SysQ) and information quality (IQ), in website adoption. Attention to SQ is critical, as consumer websites have increasingly become the target of SQ assessment made by consumers, not just traditional SysQ and IQ evaluations. As part of our study, we further theorize and empirically test the relationships among these three types of quality constructs and hypothesize that perceived SysQ influences perceived IQ and perceived SQ, and perceived IQ influences perceived SQ. Our study extends the Wixom and Todd model in the e-service context and is the first of its kind to empirically examine the combined impact of perceived SQ, perceived SysQ, and perceived IQ on usage intention. Our study advances the theoretical understanding of SQ and the relationships among perceptions of SysQ, IQ, and SQ in the e-service context. The results also inform practitioners that high IQ and SysQ can directly or indirectly improve SQ in the e-service context.


Individual differences across subjects and nonstationary characteristic of electroencephalography (EEG) limit the generalization of affective brain-computer interfaces in real-world applications. On the other hand, it is very time consuming and expensive to acquire a large number of subject-specific labeled data for learning subject-specific models. In this paper, we propose to build personalized EEG-based affective models without labeled target data using transfer learning techniques. We mainly explore two types of subject-to-subject transfer approaches. One is to exploit shared structure underlying source domain (source subject) and target domain (target subject). The other is to train multiple individual classifiers on source subjects and transfer knowledge about classifier parameters to target subjects, and its aim is to learn a regression function that maps the relationship between feature distribution and classifier parameters. We compare the performance of five different approaches on an EEG dataset for constructing an affective model with three affective states: positive, neutral, and negative. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed subject transfer framework achieves the mean accuracy of 76.31% in comparison with a conventional generic classifier with 56.73% in average.


Regression results from a 30-year panel of the state-level data indicate that changes in alcohol-excise taxes cause a reduction in drinking and lower all-cause mortality in the short run. But those results do not fully capture the long-term mortality effects of a permanent change in drinking levels. In particular, since moderate drinking has a protective effect against heart disease in middle age, it is possible that a reduction in per capita drinking will result in some people drinking "too little" and dying sooner than they otherwise would. To explore that possibility, we simulate the effect of a one percent reduction in drinking on all-cause mortality for the age group 35-69, using several alternative assumptions about how the reduction is distributed across this population. We find that the long-term mortality effect of a one percent reduction in drinking is essentially nil.


Background: Currently, the incidence of disasters the biggest catastrophes that threaten people's livelihoods, health, and even lives has been increasing around the world. This situation provides the challenge for health care professionals, particularly public health nurses (PHNs), to be actively involved in disaster management. Purpose: The purposes of this study are to review PHNs' roles and competencies in disaster management in facing with natural disaster. Method: A relevant literature searched from databases: PubMed, CINAHL, the Cochrane and ProQuest Medical Library, and Science Direct were conducted. Key words used to retrieve included role and competency of PHNs or community nurses in disaster, disaster management, and disaster nursing. Searching was limited in English language, full text, and the year of publication starting from 2000. Results: Twenty-eight related studies were intensively reviewed. Several roles for PHNs in disaster management were identified. PHNs hold major roles in providing health management and assistance throughout the community and public healthcare system during all disaster phases including preparedness, response, and recovery phase. Moreover, determining PHNs' involvement in disaster management requires certain competencies to assure their contribution in disaster events. In addition, training and education, and the experience with disaster event can influence the PHNs' competency in responding to disaster occurrences. Conclusion: Literatures showed that PHNs play roles as one of the valuable resources and are actively involved in disaster management. PHNs' roles and competencies in disaster management is necessary because they are well-recognized and trusted in the community and frequently work closely with the disadvantaged and vulnerable group who often affected by disasters. Key words: disaster management, public health nurses, roles, competency.


Complex adaptive systems occur in all domains across all scales, from cells to societies. The question, however, of how the various forms of collective behavior can emerge from individual behavior and feedback to influence those individu-als remains open. Complex systems theory focuses on emerging patterns from deliberately simple individuals. Fields such as machine learning and cognitive science emphasize individual capabilities without considering the collective level much. To date, however, little work went into modeling the effects of changing and uncertain environments on emergent collective behavior from individu-ally self-learning agents. To this end, we derive and present deterministic memory mean-field temporal-difference reinforcement learning dynamics where the agents only partially observe the actual state of the environment. This paper aims to obtain an efficient mathematical description of the emergent behavior of biologically plausible and parsimonious learning agents for the typical case of environmental and perceptual uncertainty. We showcase the broad applicability of our dynamics across different classes of agent-environment systems, highlight emergent effects caused by partial observability and show how our method enables the application of dynamical systems theory to partially observable multi-agent learning. The pre-sented dynamics have the potential to become a formal yet practical, lightweight, and robust tool for researchers in biology, social science, and machine learning to systematically investigate the effects of interacting partially observant agents.


Gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies have been studied extensively in optical photometry and spectroscopy. Here we present the first mid-infrared spectrum of a GRB host, HG 031203. It is one of the nearest GRB hosts at z = 0.1055, allowing both low- and high-resolution spectroscopy with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS). Medium-resolution UV to K-band spectroscopy with the X-shooter spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope is also presented, along with Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry, as well as radio and submillimeter observations. These data allow us to construct a UV to radio spectral energy distribution with almost complete spectroscopic coverage from 0.3 to 35 μm of a GRB host galaxy for the first time, potentially valuable as a template for future model comparisons. The IRS spectra show strong, high-ionization fine structure line emission indicative of a hard radiation field in the galaxy—in particular the [S iv]/[S iii] and [Ne iii]/[Ne ii] ratios—suggestive of strong ongoing star formation and a very young stellar population. The absence of any polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission supports these conclusions, as does the probable hot peak dust temperature, making HG 031203 similar to the prototypical blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD), II Zw 40. The selection of HG 031203 via the presence of a GRB suggests that it might be a useful analog of very young star-forming galaxies in the early universe, and hints that local BCDs may be used as more reliable analogs of star formation in the early universe than typical local starbursts. We look at the current debate on the ages of the dominant stellar populations in z ∼ 7 and z ∼ 8 galaxies in this context. The nebular line emission is so strong in HG 031203 that at z ∼ 7, it can reproduce the spectral energy distributions of z-band dropout galaxies with elevated IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 μm fluxes without the need to invoke a 4000 Å break. Indeed, photometry of HG 031203 shows elevation of the broadband V-magnitude at a level similar to the IRAC elevation in stacked z-band dropouts, solely due to its strong [O iii] line emission.


The purpose of this paper is to provide information for both small businesses and CPAs concerning the importance and possible impact of sustainability reporting and practices on each group. The sustainability reporting process not only considers the economic bottom line, but also includes consideration of how a business impacts society and the environment. The challenges involved in establishing sustainable practices and reporting will be significant. The push for businesses to become more sustainable is a market-driven phenomenon in which consumers are increasingly shopping for products and services provided by companies that practice sustainability. Large multinational corporations are placing greater pressure on small business supply chain vendors to adopt sustainability practices. The sustainability movement creates both threats and opportunities for both LMCs and SMEs, and businesses that fail to develop sustainable strategies could be negatively impacted. CPAs have traditionally provided SMEs with financial, tax and audit services. As sustainability demands increase for SMEs, small and medium-sized CPA firms must develop the knowledge and skills necessary to provide these clients with sustainability services.


This thesis pursued three objectives: (1) to identify policies and practices which are
related to the retention of professionals and managers with critical skills; (2) to
document why and how these policies and practices have changed in relation to the
business strategy; and (3) to assess whether the organisation's skill supply patterns
constitute a strategy, that is, explicit, consistent and coordinated efforts supporting
the business strategy. Guided by a contextual theoretical framework and
methodology, the researcher undertook a pilot stuay of two Canadian high technology
firms, and followed with three case studies of large UK-based high technology
organisations with an R&D Division.
The findings indicated the importance of hard benefits (compensation) as a necessary
condition for recruitment and retention, and the complementary impact of twelve soft
benefits (job characteristics and other factors tied to the work, organisational and
social environments) with special relevance for retention. Lifetime employment as a
policy and as the dominant skills supply pattern proved to be resistant to change.
The HRM context (comprising the history of the organisation, managerial and
professional cultures, the personnel function, and workforce planning) was found to
inhibit skill initiatives, but certain features became less negative over time. In
particular, the cumulative effect of recruitment of new skills over several years
altered the internal labour market such that many employees supported new ways of
doing business.
Skills were found to be solidly embedded in the work and social organisation, and
high levels of energy were required to modify the organisation-wide skillbase. Both
single lever and multiple lever SKISSs were identified. b1iddle managers proved to be
potential key actors in obtaining skill advantages for the entire R&D Division. Top
management paid attention to skill issues under extreme circumstances such as a
shift from the public to private sector, and a change of mission. The thesis leads to a
number of policy recommendations and avenues for future research.


New elastographic techniques such as poroelastography and viscoelasticity imaging aim at imaging the temporal mechanical behavior of tissues. These techniques usually involve the use of curve fitting methods being applied to noisy data to estimate new elastographic parameters. As of today, however, current elastographic implementations of poroelastography and viscoelasticity imaging methods are in general too slow and not optimized for clinical applications. Furthermore, image quality performance of these new elastographic techniques is still largely unknown due to a paucity of data and the lack of systematic studies that analyze their performance limitations. In this paper, we propose a new elastographic time constant (TC) estimator, which is based on the use of the least square error (LSE) curve-fitting method and the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) optimization rule as applied to noisy elastographic data obtained from a material in a creep-type experiment. The algorithm is executed on a massively parallel general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) to achieve real-time performance. The estimator's performance is analyzed using simulations. Experimental results obtained from poroelastic phantoms are presented as a proof of principle of the new estimator's technical applicability on real experimental data. The results of this study demonstrate that the newly proposed elastographic estimator can produce highly accurate and sensitive elastographic TC estimates in real-time and at high signal-to-noise ratios.


This paper examines the fatigue short and long cracks behaviour in 2024 T 4 aluminum alloy under rotating bending loading and stress ratio R = -1. In the short cracks region, cracks grow initially at a fast rate but deceleration occurs quickly and, depending on the stress level, they either arrest or are temporarily halted at a critical length. This critical length is shown to conincide with the value of the microstructure parameter, grain size diameter, An empirical model which describes short and long cracks rates is developed and is seen in good agreement with the experimental observations in this alloy. Comparison of the empirical model lives results with cumulative fatigue results has shown encouraging experimentally agreement while liner rule gave a non – reasonable prediction.


Arabidopsis thaliana has a diverse but consistent root microbiome, recruited in part by the release of fixed carbon in root exudates. Here we focussed on the recruitment of Streptomyces bacteria, which are well established plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria and which have been proposed to be recruited to A. thaliana roots by the release of salicylic acid. We generated high quality genome sequences for eight Streptomyces endophyte strains and showed that although some strains do enhance plant growth, they are not attracted to, and do not feed on, salicyclic acid. We used 13CO2 DNA-stable isotope probing to determine which bacteria are fed by the plants in the rhizo- and endosphere and found that streptomycetes did not feed on root exudates in vivo, despite the fact that they can use exudate as sole carbon and nitrogen sources in vitro. We confirmed increased root colonisation by streptomycetes in plants that constitutively produce salicylic acid, but these plants exhibited a pleiotropic phenotype of early senescence and weak growth. We propose that streptomycetes are attracted to the rhizosphere by root exudates but can be outcompeted for this food source by more abundant proteobacteria and most likely feed off unlabelled complex organic matter.


Abstract:This essay reflects on Stanley Hoffmann's contributions as a scholar and public intellectual. We focus on Stanley Hoffmann's scholarly, intellectual and ethical legacy by highlighting two sets of contributions, where his work challenged much international relations scholarship in the second half of the 20th century. First, we identify the ways in which his research speaks to important policy concerns, whilst maintaining a certain detachment from the corridors of power. This is a distinctive approach to policy relevance that allowed Hoffmann to contribute to public debate and raise important challenges to prevailing policies at crucial moments. Second, we stress the importance of Hoffmann's arguments for a humanistic approach to the social sciences and international relations, a plea that remains relevant in an age of heightened scientific ambitions.


Brain mapping transforms the brain cortical surface to canonical planar domains, which plays a fundamental role in morphological study. Most existing brain mapping methods are based on angle preserving maps, which may introduce large area distortions. This work proposes an area preserving brain mapping method based on Monge-Brenier theory. The brain mapping is intrinsic to the Riemannian metric, unique, and diffeomorphic. The computation is equivalent to convex energy minimization and power Voronoi diagram construction. Comparing to the existing approaches based on Monge-Kantorovich theory, the proposed one greatly reduces the complexity (from n2 unknowns to n ), and improves the simplicity and efficiency. Experimental results on caudate nucleus surface mapping and cortical surface mapping demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed method. Conventional methods for caudate nucleus surface mapping may suffer from numerical instability, in contrast, current method produces diffeomorpic mappings stably. In the study of cortical surface classification for recognition of Alzheimer's Disease, the proposed method outperforms some other morphometry features.


Shear behaviour of rock joints subjected to cyclic loading was previously studied mostly under Constant Normal Load (CNL) conditions which does not accurately simulate the actual deformation behaviour of field rock joints. Natural joints are often filled with materials such as sand, clay or silt. The shear behaviour of rock joints is affected considerably by the presence of the infill within joints. This poses significant concern for excavations which are constructed in close proximity of jointed rock mass. None of the previous research investigated the shear behaviour of infilled rock joints under cyclic loading. This thesis studies the shear behaviour of rock joints under cyclic loading and Constant Normal Stiffness (CNS) conditions. Triangular joints asperities with initial angles of 9.5° (Type I), 18.5° (Type II) and 26.5° (Type III) to the shear movement, and replicas of a field rock joint surface cast using high strength Plaster of Paris were tested. Experiments were performed using the CNS cyclic direct shear apparatus updated for this study. The samples were sheared under initial normal stress levels ranging from 0.16 MPa to 2.5 MPa, representing the in-situ stress conditions as experienced in the field. Laboratory test results indicate that, the shear strength and the dilation component decrease with increase in the loading cycles. The asperity damage appeared to be a function of the external energy exerted on asperities during shearing. Thus, the asperity damage was higher for greater initial asperity angles and normal stresses. Furthermore, the effects of shear rate on shear behaviour of rock joints under cyclic loading were investigated. The strength decreased with increase in the shear rate. The shear behaviour of rock joints infilled with mixture of Clay and Sand at initial moisture content of 12.5% was studied under cyclic loading and various normal stresses ranging from 0.56 MPa to 2.4 MPa while a constant shear rate of 0.5 mm/min and a constant normal stiffness of 8 kN/mm were applied. Types I and II asperity surfaces were selected to prepare infilled joints with infill thickness to asperity height ratio of 0.3, 0.6 and 1. The shear strength of infilled joints was observed to decrease with increase in the number of shear cycles due to asperity damage and deformation of infill material. The variation of normal displacement with shear displacement was dominated by dilation and contraction, depending on the infill thickness to asperity height ratio and initial normal stress. An analytical model based on the energy balance theory was developed to predict the shear behaviour of clean (non-filled) rock joints under cyclic loading and CNS conditions. An empirical relationship was also proposed to account for the effect of shear rate on cyclic loading shear strength. The concept of Normalised Cyclic Strength Reduction of infilled joints (NCSRi) was introduced and incorporated in a mathematical model to replicate the reduction in the shear strength of infilled rock joints with increase…


It has long been known that comparing the partial discharge results obtained from a single machine is a valuable tool enabling companies to observe the gradual deterioration of a machine stator winding and thus plan appropriate maintenance for the machine [1]. In 1998, at the annual Iris Rotating Machines Conference (IRMC), a paper was presented that compared thousands of partial discharge (PD) test results to establish the criteria for comparing results from different machines and the expected PD levels [2]. At subsequent annual Iris conferences, using similar analytical procedures, papers were presented that supported and expanded upon the previous criteria [6 21].


This standard specifies the architecture and technical requirements for a common identification standard for Federal employees and contractors. The overall goal is to achieve appropriate security assurance for multiple applications by efficiently verifying the claimed identity of individuals seeking physical access to Federally controlled government facilities and electronic access to government information systems. The standard contains two major sections. Part one describes the minimum requirements for a Federal personal identity verification system that meets the control and security objectives of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, including personal identity proofing, registration, and issuance. Part two provides detailed specifications that will support technical interoperability among PIV systems of Federal departments and agencies. It describes the card elements, system interfaces, and security controls required to securely store, process, and retrieve identity credentials from the card. The physical card characteristics, storage media, and data elements that make up identity credentials are specified in this standard. The interfaces and card architecture for storing and retrieving identity credentials from a smart card are specified in Special Publication 800-73, Interfaces for Personal Identity Verification. Similarly, the interfaces and data formats of biometric information are specified in Special Publication 800-76, Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification. This standard does not specify access control policies or requirements for Federal departments and agencies.


This invited essay critically assesses a movement of which I consider myself to be part – the movement to "redemocratize" financial institutions in a manner that restores, to non-wealthy citizens, access to basic financial services comparable to those enjoyed by wealthy citizens. I argue that while financial redemocratization of this sort is necessary to the larger project from which it draws most of its meaning – viz that of redemocratizing access to the resources requisite to productive enterprise and meaningful citizenship more generally – it is far from sufficient to this task. We must therefore take special care not to permit our efforts on behalf of the one project to deflect our attentions from the other. There is an intimate link, I suggest, between how we configure and conduct our enterprise and how we configure and conduct our finance. We cannot fully describe what an optimally inclusive and sustainable financial system would look like without also specifying what an optimally participatory productive culture and attendant mode of capital accumulation will look like. The steps pursuant to which we lost sight of the first – the steps pursuant to which the nonwealthy got "cut out of banking" – were accordingly likewise the steps pursuant to which we lost sight of the second. Because there is also an intimate link, I further argue, between how we configure and conduct our productive lives and how we configure and conduct our political lives, these also were steps, in a sense, pursuant to which we lost sight of ourselves. The financial institutions that used to serve middle and working class Americans – thrifts, Morris Banks, even the U.S. Postal Savings System that we phased-out in 1966-67 – in this sense declined and fell for reasons far more fundamental than the usual suspects – financial excess and deregulation – alone. Indeed the latter developments themselves, along with financial disenfranchisement, are best understood as the products of but one "original sin." That is our having lost sight of what I call our "productive republican" vision – the vision that once both determined and animated our economic and political arrangements alike. The productive republican vision was resolutely opportunity-egalitarian in outlook and, just as importantly, understood opportunity in starkly material terms. Its aim was to ensure a broad distribution of the material resources, as well as a general inculcation of the capacities and dispositions, requisite to responsible agents' independent cooperative engagement in both productive enterprise and political self-government. It prompted our very founding as a fully autonomous, no-longer colonial political-economy, and was explicitly articulated in both formulating and advocating all of the most quintessentially American policy measures about which our children once learned in our schools. Since the late 1960s, I argue, we have gradually lost sight of the productive republican vision on which both our political economy and our financial system were founded. We will not again boast a broad franchise – or even mere functionality – where finance is concerned until we recover and once again act on our productive republican ideals. Restored yeoman finance pre-requires, even as it can help to rebuild, a restored yeomanry – a well-remunerated and resilient middle class that once again "owns" the economy and polity that remunerate and protect it. Postal savings, asset accumulation, and micro-lending plans will avail little until people have something to save, to accumulate, to micro-fund and to build, once again. To return to that state of grace, I suggest, will be not only to restore and to redemocratize functional finance, but to redeem and to rematerialize citizenship itself.


ABSTRACT.
 Because of their high dispersal abilities, birds are expected to manifest marked genetic structuring only at relatively large geographic scales. However, it is not well known how factors like nest site fidelity in a largely resident species could limit gene flow and increase genetic structuring in birds. In this study we use RAPD markers to estimate genetic structuring in a strongly sedentary species of the American tropics, the Russet crowned Motmot (Momotus mexicanus), within a tropical dry forest in central Mexico. Genetic structuring was assessed among 3 populations separated by a mean distance of only 25 km. We report that 12.9% of the total genetic variation is explained by differences among sites, which is quite high for a bird at this geographic scale. We propose that high nest site fidelity, brought on by a scarcity of suitable nest substrates, may be responsible for high genetic structuring in this species.


Inliers of Archaean to early Proterozoic Lewisian basement crop out within the Proterozoic Moine Succession of central and SE Sutherland. Both the Lewisian basement and the Moine cover have been affected by two major tectonic events. The earliest event probably occurred during the late Proterozoic and involved minor folding and upper greenschist to upper amphibolite facies metamorphism. Intense deformation largely obliterated the unconformable relationship between the Lewisian and Moine rocks, and imposed a planar banding on the basement lithologies. Subsequent reworking during the Caledonian orogeny (500–400 Ma) resulted in ductile thrusting and folding, and was associated with a widespread low- to mid-amphibolite facies metamorphic overprint. Within this context the Lewisian inliers of central and SE Sutherland occur in two distinct structural settings: (i) as allochthonous sheets which rest on major Caledonian ductile thrusts; (ii) in the cores of NW-verging intensely curvilinear sheath folds of Caledonian age.


Magnetized planets, such as Earth, are strongly influenced by the solar wind. The Sun is very dynamic, releasing varying amounts of energy, resulting in a fluctuating energy and momentum exchange between the solar wind and planetary magnetospheres. The efficiency of this coupling is thought to be controlled by magnetic reconnection occurring at the boundary between solar wind and planetary magnetic fields. One of the main tasks in space physics research is to increase the understanding of this coupling between the Sun and other solar system bodies. Perhaps the most important aspect regards the transfer of energy from the solar wind to the terrestrial magnetosphere as this is the main source for driving plasma processes in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. This may also have a direct practical influence on our life here on Earth as it is responsible for Space Weather effects. In this thesis I investigate both the global scale of the varying solar-terrestrial coupling and local phenomena in more detail. I use mainly the European Space Agency Cluster mission which provide unprecedented three-dimensional observations via its formation of four identical spacecraft. The Cluster data are complimented with observations from a broad range of instruments both onboard spacecraft and from groundbased magnetometers and radars.A period of very strong solar driving in late October 2003 is investigated. We show that some of the strongest substorms in the history of magnetic recordings were triggered by pressure pulses impacting a quasi-stable magnetosphere. We make for the first time direct estimates of the local energy flow into the magnetotail using Cluster measurements. Observational estimates suggest a good energy balance between the magnetosphere-ionosphere system while empirical proxies seem to suffer from over/under estimations during such extreme conditions.Another period of extreme interplanetary conditions give rise to accelerated flows along the magnetopause which could account for an enhanced energy coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. We discuss whether such conditions could explain the simultaneous observation of a large auroral spiral across the polar cap.Contrary to extreme conditions the energy conversion across the dayside magnetopause has been estimated during an extended period of steady interplanetary conditions. A new method to determine the rate at which reconnection occurs is described that utilizes the magnitude of the local energy conversion from Cluster. The observations show a varying reconnection rate which support the previous interpretation that reconnection is continuous but its rate is modulated.Finally, we compare local energy estimates from Cluster with a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation. The results show that the observations are reliably reproduced by the model and may be used to validate and scale global magnetohydrodynamic models.


The paper deals with diaspora Estonians' collective identity. Our research was based on interviews and Estonian exile literature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 48 respondents from Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia. The first, second and third generations were represented; ages ranged from 15 to 93. The respondents were also divided into "old" and "new" subgroups, based on whether they left Estonia before or after the 1990s. We analyzed the responses to the questions "How do you define an Estonian?" and "Do you consider yourself an Estonian, and if yes then why?" These questions were asked in order to examine the concepts of a "proper Estonian" and respondents' personal ways of being Estonian. An interest in Estonian culture and history as well as an attachment to Estonia and to the Estonian language were almost equally important for all the respondents. The image of a "proper Estonian" was similar across the generations in both the old and new subgroups. A "proper Estonian" is the reflection of traditions and values. In reality, people usually develop identities based on their personal life experiences. The responses to the question "Do you consider yourself an Estonian, and if yes then why?" varied much more, depending most of all on the generation: the first generation of both the old and new subgroups identified themselves 100% as Estonians; the second and third generations consisted mainly of individuals with a conscious double-identity. Some respondents stated that they had been raised to be Estonians. All the respondents agreed that identifying with several cultures was possible whereas the new subgroup showed the highest multicultural scores. The topic that served to unite the diaspora with Estonia and with Estonians elsewhere was the Republic of Estonia: questions evaluating pride in the Estonian state produced the most similar and equally positive responses from all respondents.


Background Anxiety is a common neuropsychiatric symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), yet the neural mechanisms have been scarcely investigated. Disturbances in dopaminergic and serotonergic signalling may play a role in its pathophysiology. 123I-N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane (123I-FP-CIT) is a single-photon emission CT radiotracer, and its binding in striatal and extrastriatal subcortical brain areas represents predominant binding to the presynaptic dopamine transporter (DAT) and the serotonin transporter (SERT), respectively. Availability of DAT and SERT may thus provide an in vivo measure for the integrity of both dopamine and serotonin neurons. Methods We studied the association between anxiety symptoms, measured with an affective subscale of the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and (extra)striatal 123I-FP-CIT binding in 127 non-demented patients with PD with a median disease duration of 2.55 (IQR 2.90) years. We conducted the analyses on patients currently on or not on dopamine replacement therapy (DRT). Results Severity of anxiety symptoms showed a significant negative association with 123I-FP-CIT binding ratios in the right thalamus (β=−0.203, p=0.019; ΔR2=0.040) (multiple testing pcorr <0.020). In the subgroup of patients not on DRT (n=81), we found a significant negative association between anxiety and thalamic 123I-FP-CIT binding ratios bilaterally (right: β=−0.349, p=0.001, ΔR2=0.119; left: β=−0.269, p=0.017, ΔR2=0.071) (pcorr <0.020). Conclusion This study shows that higher levels of anxiety in patients with PD are associated with lower thalamic 123I-FP-CIT binding, pointing towards a contribution of serotonergic degeneration to anxiety symptoms in PD.


PoW consensus largely depends on mining that mostly happens in the pools where Pay Per Share (PPS) and Pay Per Last N Shares (PPLNS) are the most common reward schemes that are offered to the affiliated miners by pool managers. In this report, we describe detection constraint for ``pool harvesting" attack that is harmful for honest miners. In order to profit from the attack on PPLNS pool malicious manager declares that a non-existent miner A joins that pool. She then collects the portion of reward that corresponds to the mining power of the proclaimed miner A. We discuss a number of statistical tests that may be used by honest miners in PPLNS pool to detect the attack.


Abstract Twelve lower secondary schoolteachers in mathematics and science were asked to teach a topic of their choice during a lesson that was video-recorded. We were able to analyse 10 of the cases and we found that all of them were similar in one respect: concepts and principles were introduced one at a time, each one followed by examples of the concept or principle in question, apparently to highlight its essential meaning. All the teachers participated in three modified lesson studies with three cycles in four different groups during three semesters. The modified lesson studies were built on a theoretical idea supported by a large number of recent studies. The theory states that new meanings (of concepts and principles, for instance) are learned through engaging with instances of contrasting concepts and principles. The core idea is that new meanings derive from differences, not from sameness. After the three modified lesson studies, the teachers were asked to once again teach the same topic as in the recorded lessons before the lesson studies. The new lessons were also recorded and the analysis showed that there was one thing in common in all cases: all of the 10 teachers dealt with the relevant concepts and principles in relation to each other (i.e. simultaneously) and not one at a time. By thus bringing out the differences between them, their meaning was made possible to grasp for the students. The study lends support to the conjecture that the modified lesson study is a powerful tool for enabling teachers to structure the content of their teaching in accordance with a principle that is more powerful in making learning possible, even if this contradicts their taken-for-granted practice.


Abstract
Background: Among adolescent girls aged 10-19 years who are living in West Gojam zone, Amhara region, poor school attendance, social isolation, early marriage and poor utilization of reproductive health (RH) services were observed before the launching of the Berhane Hewan project. To mitigate these problems, Behane Hewan was initiated as a multi-component intervention. After two years of implementation of the project, it was shown that marriage was delayed, school attendance and family planning use increased. However, it was difficult to ascertain which components exerted relatively greater influence in bringing about these behavior changes.
Objectives: To explore the contribution of different reproductive health (RH) and other interventions in delaying early marriage, increasing school attendance and FP utilization.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods in August and December 2009, respectively. The qualitative data were collected using nine in-depth interviews while the quantitative data was collected from 150 respondents among fathers; mothers and husbands of girls who were participants of the Berhane Hewan project.
Results: The husband's group was generally younger than parent respondents who ranged from 30-60 years of age.
The vast majority of male respondents were farmers, while females were housewives. The majority of respondents mentioned provision of school supplies as influential in keeping girls in school (88% of fathers, 92% of mothers and 60% of husbands). Among the intervention components that promoted delayed marriage, Community Conversations was mentioned most often by respondents (76% fathers, 66% mothers and 84% husbands). Group mobilization of girls was mentioned by 68% of fathers, 66% of mothers and 78% of husbands. Community conversation (85% fathers, 74% mothers and 76% husbands), group meetings by mentors (56% fathers, 52% mothers and 64% husbands), and house-to-house visits by mentors (48% fathers, 42% mothers and 44% husbands) were mentioned first, second and third, respectively as intervention components that brought about improvements in FP knowledge and practice among Berhane Hewan program participants. In-depth interviews resulted in giving community conversation, social mobilization and school incentives the same priority sequence.
Conclusion: Community conversation, social mobilization and school material support could be used as major intervention components to replicate the Berhane Hewan program. For those who want to delay marriage and improve RH/FP utilization among adolescent girls, the above interventions could be enough to bring about the desired improvements among adolescents. However, in order to avail opportunities for girls' education apart from the interventions detailed above, school material support is required as one of the interventions to achieve better results. Nevertheless, these preliminary findings have to be strengthened through a carefully monitored qualitative and quantitative study by using major intervention components/models detailed above to explore the critical components that influenced behavior change that would allow Programmers and policymakers to upscale Berhane Hewan in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.


Aim To determine whether the effect of habitat fragmentation and habitat heterogeneity on species richness at different spatial scales depends on the dispersal ability of the species assemblages and if this results in nested species assemblages. Location Agricultural landscapes distributed over seven temperate Europe countries covering a range from France to Estonia. Methods We sampled 16 local communities in each of 24 agricultural landscapes (16 km(2)) that differ in the amount and heterogeneity of semi-natural habitat patches. Carabid beetles were used as model organisms as dispersal ability can easily be assessed on morphological traits. The proximity and heterogeneity of semi-natural patches within the landscape were related to average local (alpha), between local (beta) and landscape (gamma) species richness and compared among four guilds that differ in dispersal ability. Results For species assemblages with low dispersal ability, local diversity increased as the proximity of semi-natural habitat increased, while mobile species showed an opposite trend. Beta diversity decreased equally for all dispersal classes in relation to proximity, suggesting a homogenizing effect of increased patch isolation. In contrast, habitat diversity of the semi-natural patches affected beta diversity positively only for less mobile species, probably due to the low dispersal ability of specialist species. Species with low mobility that persisted in highly fragmented landscapes were consistently present in less fragmented ones, resulting in nested assemblages for this mobility class only. Main conclusions The incorporation of dispersal ability reveals that only local species assemblages with low dispersal ability show a decrease of richness as a result of fragmentation. This local species loss is compensated at least in part by an increase in species with high dispersal ability, which obscures the effect of fragmentation when investigated across dispersal groups. Conversely, fragmentation homogenizes the landscape fauna for all dispersal groups, which indicates the invasion of non-crop habitats by similar good dispersers across the whole landscape. Given that recolonization of low dispersers is unlikely, depletion of these species in modern agricultural landscapes appears temporally pervasive.


Titanium dioxide aerogel (TiAP) powders were prepared by lyophilization of peroxo-polytitanic gels followed by annealing at 800 °C to obtain an anatase structure. The surface modification of TiAP was performed for the first time by low amounts of Ce ions (in the range of 0.0025 to 0.025 wt%) using a wet impregnation method. The photocatalytic activity of the aerogel samples was investigated for the removal of different organic pollutants (i.e., Rhodamine B, phenol and caffeine) and the results were compared with the reference P25. Both TiAP and Ce ion surface-modified TiAP (Ce/TiAP) have exhibited better degradation efficiencies for the removal of pollutants than P25, especially for Ce/TiAP with an enhancement in the degradation efficiencies of +18% and +37% for the removal of caffeine and Rhodamine B, respectively. These results have been partly explained by the high active surface area of Ce/TiAP compared to TiAP as well as its better photoelectrochemical properties which have shown, for instance, ∼10% increased incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency at 360 nm. Interestingly, the energetic position of the valence band maximum of Ce/TiAP is shifted from 3.2 eV to 2.8 eV (compared to TiAP), thus improving the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially hydroxyl radicals. Indeed, the presence of HO˙ is confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance, and fluorescence spectroscopy and their photoinduced generation are enhanced in the case of Ce/TiAP. Finally, the surface modification of TiAP by cerium ions led not only to better photoinduced properties, thus limiting the electron–hole pair recombination, but also to the improvement of ROS generation via different plausible mechanisms.


Phylogenomics refers to the inference of historical relationships among species using genome-scale sequence data and to the use of phylogenetic analysis to infer protein function in multigene families. With rapidly decreasing sequencing costs, phylogenomics is becoming synonymous with evolutionary analysis of genome-scale and taxonomically densely sampled data sets. In phylogenetic inference applications, this translates into very large data sets that yield evolutionary and functional inferences with extremely small variances and high statistical confidence (P value). However, reports of highly significant P values are increasing even for contrasting phylogenetic hypotheses depending on the evolutionary model and inference method used, making it difficult to establish true relationships. We argue that the assessment of the robustness of results to biological factors, that may systematically mislead (bias) the outcomes of statistical estimation, will be a key to avoiding incorrect phylogenomic inferences. In fact, there is a need for increased emphasis on the magnitude of differences (effect sizes) in addition to the P values of the statistical test of the null hypothesis. On the other hand, the amount of sequence data available will likely always remain inadequate for some phylogenomic applications, for example, those involving episodic positive selection at individual codon positions and in specific lineages. Again, a focus on effect size and biological relevance, rather than the P value, may be warranted. Here, we present a theoretical overview and discuss practical aspects of the interplay between effect sizes, bias, and P values as it relates to the statistical inference of evolutionary truth in phylogenomics.


Antibacterial drugs used in animal might result in deposition of residues in meat, milk and eggs. The presence of antimicrobial residues in animal-originated food is critical problem in many countries over the years. Because, drug residues might result in various health hazards, both actual incidence of reactions and potential hazards perceived by the public, the most countries assess residue occurrences in food to provide a safe food supply and forbid importation of unwholesome foods from exporting countries. Stability of antibacterial drug residues under cooking conditions is an important research field, which provides valuable information related to health safety aspects and is very important from a safety and toxicological point of view. It has been stated that drug residues in animal based foods may be decreased due to cooking. Stability of antibacterial residues during heating is different. In this article, the changes of antibacterial drug residues during different cooking procedures are reviewed. Ordinary cooking procedures degrade a number of antibacterial drug residues, depending on the amount of heat treatment involved. Cooking time and temperature are two main factors which affect on antibiotic residues. In some cooking procedures, sufficient heating temperature and time can reduce several antibacterial drug residues although it does not generally provide an additional margin of safety for consumers.


Since introduced by Peplau in the 1950's the psychotherapeutic relationship has been a defining element of psychiatric mental health (PMH) nursing practice. While the components of the therapeutic relationship have been detailed over the decades, PMH nurses appear to be faltering in particular aspects of the relationship process. Individuals hospitalized on inpatient psychiatric units have reported that nurses often failed to engage. Nursing leaders believe that the specialty has not articulated what PMH nurses do within the relationship that helps clients lead a more meaningful life. We suggest what remains ambiguous is not what nurses do within the relationship but the language to depict the mental processes involved in relationship building particularly in the engagement phase. Using the language of interpersonal neuroscience three key engagement processes are detailed, i.e., resonance, attunement and mentalizing. The healing elements of the relationship are explored particularly how attention to individuals' narratives of experiences supports their movement towards integration and coherence.


Researchers sought the views of the British public on the acceptability of the use of personal medical data for the purposes of public health research and surveillance without individual consent. A cross sectional study was performed by the Office for National Statistics. A survey was constructed to ascertain the acceptability of the use of identifiable information for public health purposes in the context of the National Cancer Registry. The participants were recruited using multistage sampling of adults in the UK during March and April 2015. The multistage sampling consisted of three stages. At the first stage a sample of postal districts in the UK was selected at random, with the probability of selection proportional to size. Within each district, a random sample of private households was selected. In households with more than one adult, one person was selected at random. Face to face interviews were carried out with 2872 adults.1

Of the 2872 respondents, 72% (95% confidence interval 70% to 74%) did not consider any of the following to be an invasion of their privacy by the National Cancer Registry: inclusion of postcode, inclusion of name and address, or the receipt of a letter inviting them to a research study on the basis of inclusion in the registry. It was concluded that most of the British public does not …


The HIV epidemic continues to pose a significant burden on the healthcare system. Although the incidence of annual new infections is decreasing, health disparities persist and most new infections remain concentrated into different racial, ethnic, and minority groups. Pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which involves those at high risk of acquiring HIV to take chronic medications to prevent acquisition of the virus, is key to preventing new HIV infections. The purpose of this article is to review medication therapies for PrEP and examine their role in personalizing PrEP in different patient populations. Additionally, new medications currently under development for PrEP are reviewed, as well as treatment as prevention (TasP) and post‐exposure prophylaxis (PEP). There are currently four medications available for PrEP: the oral options of co‐formulated emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) or emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (FTC/TAF); injectable long‐acting cabotegravir (CAB‐LA); and the vaginal ring dapivirine (DPV‐VR). FTC/TAF is not currently indicated for persons at risk for HIV through vaginal sex due to lack of studies, but trials are currently ongoing. DPV‐VR is available in Zimbabwe and South Africa and has been endorsed by the World Health Organization but is not currently available in the United States. Several agents are also in development for use in PrEP: the novel long‐acting injectable lenacapavir, a first‐in‐class capsid inhibitor, which has no cross‐resistance to any existing HIV drug class; the subdermal implant islatravir, a first‐in‐class translocation inhibitor; and VRC01, a broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) which has been evaluated in proof‐of‐concept studies that may lead to the development of more potent bnAbs. Overall, PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV infection in high‐risk populations. Identifying optimal PrEP regimens in different patient populations is complex and must consider patient‐specific factors and medication cost and access considerations. Lastly, providers should consider individual patient preferences with regard to prevention to improve access, retention in care, and adherence.


Romanian financial legislation establishes the main budgetary rules regarding local public resources. These resources are based on taxes collected and transferred by central fiscal authorities to local budgets. The rules of transferring and the exact amounts are established by laws and decisions taken at the central level. Using an evaluative L&E approach, we propose to analyze the criteria used by central legislative and executive bodies in distributing amounts for local authorities (separately for each local revenue type) and to compare the central and local resource ratios. The conclusions will present the vulnerabilities of the Local Public Finance Law, the annual State Budget Laws and Government Decisions' repartition criteria of the public fund between central and local administrations in Romania.


Abstract Five tabular-grain AgBr emulsions of varying grain thickness were studied. Two were chemically sensitized in the presence of a blue spectral sensitizing dye, whereas the other three were chemically sensitized in the presence of a green spectral sensitizing dye. A companion set of emulsions chemically sensitized in the absence of dye was also prepared. Internal image development of the unsensitized emulsions showed substantial internal image in one emulsion, but minor amounts in the other emulsions. After chemical sensitization, there was no detectable internal image in any of the emulsions. Reciprocity failure data from 10−4 to 103 s showed that the emulsions sensitized in the presence of dye had little if any high-irradiance reciprocity failure, suggesting the minimum developable size of the latent image was three atoms for the development conditions used. Low-irradiance reciprocity failure commenced at 0.1–1 s. Long wavelength sensitivity studies showed that the chemical sensitization generally enhanced the sensitivity of three spectral regions in the emulsions sensitized in the absence of dye—550, 650 and 750 nm. These spectral regions are suggested to coincide with three distinct states of the sensitizer centres. Data for the emulsions chemically sensitized in the presence of dye were limited owing to the interference by dye absorption. The temperature dependence of the long wavelength sensitivity showed the activation energy for this process increased as the wavelength increased. Quantum sensitivity measurements were also made at the midpoint of the D−logE curve using 0.1 s exposures. Neglecting the polydisperse nature of these emulsions, values were 10–19 absorbed photons/grain for 400-nm exposures and 13–27 absorbed photons/grain for spectral exposures. An energy-level diagram was constructed for the emulsions sensitized in the absence of dye using their measured activation energies and the photon energies of the three spectral regions. The 550 centre is most likely a single-sulphide or single-selenide centre, with an unknown gold content and provides a shallow electron trap (0.1 eV maximum depth). The compositions of the 650 and 750 centres are most likely multiple sulphide or selenide or sulphide–selenide with unknown gold content. They provide deeper electron traps of depth 0.225–0.425 eV (650 centre) and 0.45–0.65 (750 centre), with the 650 centre probably the dominant of the two in terms of concentration.


Purpose: The scope of this study is to implement an accurate Cyberknife model on a web‐based tool (WebTPS), which uses the EGSnrc Monte Carlo dose calculation engine. WebTPS will be mostly used as a reference to evaluate clinical treatment plans in highly heterogeneous phantoms. Methods: The WebTPS dose calculation module is linked to the user code DOSxyznrc. WebTPS automatically converts CyberKnife clinical plans to DOSxyznrc input files. Phantoms are created using a tissue segmentation method from HU‐ED calibrated curves and materials are assigned based on CT data and contours performed by radiation oncologists. Parallel computation is run on a high‐performance cluster (Compute Canada) to achieve reasonable simulation time. The CyberKnife model is built on the BEAMnrc system using manufacturer's specifications. Simulated and experimental data are compared to estimate the optimal electron beam parameters. The beam energy estimation is based on percent depth dose (PDD) data comparison, while the spot size is validated using output factor (OF) and off‐axis ratio (OAR) data. An egs_chamber model of a PTW60012 diode is used to simulate OF experimental measurements for different collimator sizes. Results: A preliminary linac model optimization yields a 0.5% agreement between experimental and simulation PDD data; a 0.5% or 1 mm agreement for OAR data and a 2% agreement for OF data. Full treatment plan simulations are achieved with the CyberKnife model using patient heterogeneous phantoms. Uncertainties under 1% are achieved for less than 2 hours of CPU time. Conclusion: This work aims to develop a suitable model for reference plan dose calculation. WebTPS will be used in several clinical and research applications where the CyberKnife embedded ray‐tracing algorithm show significant limitations. Further improvements are yet to be achieved to match experimental data to a level of 1%.


Since the era of one-party rule, Malawi´s relationship with the donor community has proved erratic and contentious. During the second term of Malawi´s current president, Bingu wa Mutharika, this trend has continued apace, with important implications for the consolidation of the country´s nascent democracy. Donors providing democracy aid have assisted with the conduct of elections and improved the technical capacity of parliamentarians. However, inconsistency across programme cycles, the concentration of funding around elections, and a reluctance to support political parties hinders the size of democracy aid´s long-term impact. Development aid, particularly general budget support, has tended to further sideline the role of parliament and indirectly has provided the incumbent party with an electoral advantage through support for the country´s fertilizer input subsidy programme. To prevent an erosion of democracy caused by violations of civil liberties, donors often have threatened to withhold aid to Malawi. Yet, they frequently only proceed with these threats when concurrent concerns exist over economic governance, including corruption and management of the exchange rate.


ABSTRACT In 2013, Aleppo province was engulfed in violence. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and affiliated Shi'a militias executed a campaign of massacres in the rural areas located on the eastern fringes of the province. The violence caused an exodus from this region, eventually dissipating local rural communities entirely. What can explain such extreme and brutal political violence perpetrated at a local level in the east Aleppo countryside throughout 2013? To find an answer, I analyse the personal accounts of those who witnessed the violence and YouTube videos. Taken together, these sources provide a visceral description of the massacres—in particular the summary executions in the village of Rasm al-Nafl, as a case study of extreme violence in one of the poorest rural areas of Syria. Problematizing mono-causal sectarian explanations, I argue that a deeper non-sectarian complex of rurality and a process of subaltern othering in combination with opportunism, governmental retribution, and strategic military concern for territorial control in order to secure alternative supply routes to Aleppo, ultimately led to the eradication of life and cultural genocide in these rural areas.


In this paper, we present an unsupervised method for mining activities in videos. From unlabeled video sequences of a scene, our method can automatically recover what are the recurrent temporal activity patterns (or motifs) and when they occur. Using non parametric Bayesian methods, we are able to automatically find both the underlying number of motifs and the number of motif occurrences in each document. The model's robustness is first validated on synthetic data. It is then applied on a large set of video data from state-of-the-art papers. We show that it can effectively recover temporal activities with high semantics for humans and strong temporal information. The model is also used for prediction where it is shown to be as efficient as other approaches. Although illustrated on video sequences, this model can be directly applied to various kinds of time series where multiple activities occur simultaneously.


With the development of the world of economy, economic reports in journals, magazines or news websites have become an essential part of daily life. Economic news demonstrates rigid and abstract concepts and meanings. It is a truism that clarity is as important as accuracy. However, writers of such news should not stick only to formal language. Their words would sound boring. To keep the audience interested, figurative language is manipulated. One rhetorical device frequently used in this genre is metaphor. It sheds some colorings on the rigid language of finance and economics. Thus, it deserves an investigatory research work. This paper sets itself the task of exploring one particular kind of metaphor, i.e. ontological metaphor. It aims at pragmatically exploring its kinds that can be possibly utilized in economic news reports. This involves specifying the most prevalent kind of ontological metaphor. It is hypothesized that in such a kind of news, ontological metaphorical uses show different manifestations like metonymy, personification or hyperbole. However, it is assumed that metonymy is the most prevailing one. The data chosen for the analysis are randomly taken from different economic websites and are analyzed by means of a model developed by this study. The analysis is quantitatively supported by a statistical analysis conducted via the percentage equation. The most significant findings of the analyses vindicate the two hypotheses set above. This paper is hoped to be valuable to pragmaticians and economic news writers or journalists who should be aware of such rhetorical devices to make use of them.


We present an open-source software platform that transforms the emotions expressed by speech signals using audio effects like pitch shifting, inflection, vibrato, and filtering. The emotional transformations can be applied to any audio file, but can also run in real-time (with less than 20-millisecond latency), using live input from a microphone. We anticipate that this tool will be useful for the study of emotions in psychology and neuroscience, because it enables a high level of control over the acoustical and emotional content of experimental stimuli in a variety of laboratory situations, including real-time social situations. We present here results of a series of validation experiments showing that transformed emotions are recognized at above-chance levels in the French, English, Swedish and Japanese languages, with a naturalness comparable to natural speech. Then, we provide a list of twenty-five experimental ideas applying this new tool to important topics in the behavioral sciences.


Predictive control technique is a dominant technique to design a controller which is robust in nature. Predictive control techniques evolved from the dynamic matrix control concepts. The overshoot with the Process Variable (PV)
around the set point has been observed as the limitation of Dynamic Matrix Control (DMC) algorithm. To overcome this drawback, few modifications were made in the dynamic matrix
control algorithm by adding an extension. The extension is in the form of weighting matrix which will be used in the final control law. The results obtained with the extended DMC shows a significant difference in time domain analysis
for both the primitive dynamic matrix control and the extended dynamic matrix control. The control algorithms developed were implemented on the First Order Plus Dead Time (FOPDT) model in Simulink platform with MATLAB
2015 environment


In Hegel's Philosophy of Right we can find an understanding of production that expresses itself in Hegel's understanding of the relation of the individual to the family, and of his or her overcoming of self-interest through the production of the "capital resources" of children. What emerges in the Philosophy of Right is an account of production grounded in reproduction. Although there has been some contemporary discussion of this account, it has mainly touched on the question of production in modern political and economic life. The paper shows that Hegel's account is entirely dependent on his dialectical view of life, presented in his Science of Logic. The paper seeks to show (1) how Hegel's understanding of the historical forms which the dialectical process of life as production is itself a critique of contemporary accounts of political economy (exemplified by Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments); and, (2) that his account of the material forms of political economy is misunderstood by his sharpest critics, especially the one who most appears to advance an understanding of production, Karl Marx.  The paper concludes by asking about what light Hegel's account, both in the Philosophy of Right and the Science of Logic, throws on his account of the relationship of production to the state, suggesting that the sheer materialistic force of Hegel's argument needs to be better understood.


The standard plus/minus model for rating NBA players combines the offensive and defensive capabilities of each player into a single metric. While this is convenient for the sake of summary, it makes it difficult to isolate the particular contributions that a player makes to either effort. Although adjusted plus/minus and other methods are proposed to address this, given a relatively large number of players against the number of events observed in one season, estimates are subjected to high variance. To correct for this, we construct a penalized regression model that identifies the specific offensive and defensive contributions of each player on each possession, and tune the model using L2-regularization method to optimize its predictive power. It overcomes the limitations of simple and adjusted plus/minus by incorporating offensive and defensive effects separately, and the shrinkage term controls for high variance of the estimates. Furthermore, our model captures net home court advantage on offense, and estimate players' contributions in offense and defense. Finally, we demonstrate application of our method by simulating unseen matches to correctly predict their outcomes.


Recently, all over the world, crime against children is increasing at higher rates and it is high time to offer safety support system for the children going to schools. This paper focuses on implementing children tracking system for every child attending school. However the existing systems are not powerful enough to prevent the crime against children since these systems give information about the children group and not about each child resulting in low assurance about their child safety to parents and also does not concentrate on sensing the cry of the child and intimating the same to its parents. The proposed system includes a child module and two receiver modules for getting the information about the missed child on periodical basis. The child module includes ARM7 microcontroller (lpc 2378), Global positioning system (GPS), Global system for mobile communication (GSM), Voice playback circuit and the receiver module includes Android mobile device in parent's hand and the other as monitoring database in control room of the school. Finally, implementation results for the proposed system are provided in this paper.


References http://genome.cshlp.org/content/22/8/1383.full.html#ref-list-1 This article cites 159 articles, 57 of which can be accessed free at: License Commons Creative . http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ described at as a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License), ). After six months, it is available under http://genome.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press


This paper estimates the direct and indirect socio-economic impacts of the 2000 flood that took place in the Po river basin (Italy) using a combination of Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and Spatial and Multi-Criteria Analysis. A risk map for the whole basin is generated as a function of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. The indirect economic losses are assessed using the CGE model, whereas the direct social and economic impacts are estimated with spatial analysis tools combined with Multi-Criteria Analysis. The social impact is expressed as a function of physical characteristics of the extreme event, social vulnerability and adaptive capacity. The results indicate that the highest risk areas are located in the mountainous and in the most populated portions of the basin, which are consistent with the high values of hazard and vulnerability. Considerably economic damages occurred to the critical infrastructure of all the sectors with the industry/commercial sector having the biggest impact. A negative variation in the country and industry Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was also reported. Our study is of great interest to those who are interested in estimating the economic impact of flood events. It can also assist decision makers in pinpointing factors that threaten the sustainability and stability of a risk-prone area and more specifically, to help them understand how to reduce social vulnerability to flood events.


Background Emergency departments (EDs) have become entry points for treating behavioural health (BH) conditions, thereby rendering the evaluation of their utilisation necessary. Objectives This study estimated behavioural-related hospital-based ED visits and outcomes of leaving against medical advice as well as the incurred charges within the primarily rural State of Nebraska. Also, the study correlated behavioural workforce distribution and location of EDs with ED utilisation. Methods Nebraska State Emergency Department Database provided information on utilisation of services, charges, diagnoses and demographic. Health Professional Tracking Services survey provided the distribution of EDs and BH workforce by region. To examine the effect of patient characteristics on discharge against medical advice, multivariable logistic regression modelling was used. Findings US$96.4 million were ED charges for 52 035 visits for BH disorders over 3 years. Of these, 35% and 50% were between 25 and 44-years old and privately insured, respectively. The uninsured (OR:1.53, p=0.0047) and 45–64 years old (OR:2.31, p<0.001) had higher odds of leaving against medical advice. The findings from this study identified ED outcomes among high-risk cohort. Conclusions There were high ED rates among the limited number EDs facilities in rural Nebraska. Rural regions of Nebraska faced workforce shortages and had high numbers of ED visits at relatively few accessible EDs. Clinical implications Customised rural-centric public health programmes, which are based in clinical settings, can encourage patients to adhere to ED-treatment. Also, increasing the availability of BH workforce (either via telehealth or part-time presence) in rural areas can alleviate the problem and reduce ED revisits.


Abstract The ability of a scientific discipline to build cumulative knowledge depends on its predominant method of data analysis. A steady accumulation of knowledge requires approaches which allow researchers to consider results from comparable prior research. Bayesian statistics is especially relevant for establishing a cumulative scientific discipline, because the incorporation of background (or prior) knowledge is fundamentally anchored in its basic principles. The aim of the current systematic review is to provide insights into the current state of methodological affairs in educational research, with a focus on Bayesian statistics and the use of prior information. An analysis of publication histories of the 224 educational journals currently listed in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Report 2015 indicates that Bayesian statistics is primarily used to solve methodological problems, rather than used to build cumulative knowledge based on a combination of study results with comparable prior research. The utilisation of Bayesian statistics is motivated by its flexibility: models are estimated which would not be estimable with frequentist approaches, thus expanding the methodological repertoire of educational researchers and producing knowledge which otherwise would not have been available. Lastly, the predominant use of noninformative prior distributions indicates that one of the biggest advantages of Bayesian statistics, namely the combination of study results with comparable prior research, remains underutilised in educational research. Practical implications of these findings for educational research are illustrated and discussed.


The products of mining are everywhere if it wasnt grown, it was mined or drilled. But the mining industry has a chequered past. Pollution, human rights abuses, and corruption have tarnished the reputation of the industry across the globe. Over a decade ago the major mining companies embraced the concept of sustainable and equitable development and embarked on an explicit process of reform but has the industry actually changed? This book explores the dynamics of change-making for sustainable development in the resources sector, specifically the mining of mineral and energy resources. The author recounts the stories and insights of over forty change-makers both inside and outside the industry, from anti-mining activists to the professionals charged with the task of reform, introducing the people who are moving an industry that moves mountains. The book takes stock of what has worked and what has not, analyzing the relative influence and dynamics of the key corporate, civil society and government actors with a view to developing new approaches for improving environmental and social outcomes from mineral and energy development. Illustrated with case studies from Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Romania, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and The United States of America, and brimming with the backstories to the major sustainability initiatives, Mountain Movers reveals where progress has been made and where reform is still needed towards a more sustainable and equitable mining industry.


Steric sea level (SSL) computed from hydrographic observations in the Mediterranean Sea is compared against altimetric sea level anomalies (SLA) at seasonal and inter-annual time scales for the period 1993-2008. SSL (referenced to 300 m) is computed using two data sets: in situ profiles and gridded products obtained from interpolated observations. The impact of expendable/mechanical bathythermograph (XBT/MBT) biases affecting some of the in situ profiles is investigated by comparing both corrected and uncorrected data. For the period 2003-2008 the mass component is estimated from GRACE observations and subtracted from SLA. The analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of profiles shows that the number of profiles with data below 300 m is a small percentage of the total and that their spatial coverage of the Mediterranean basin is very limited. This is an important handicap for regions where the contribution of the deep layers to SSL is significant. Overall, SSL and SLA are shown to be consistent in the Mediterranean at seasonal time scales, although the annual amplitude of the SSL from in situ profiles and interpolated data is considerably smaller than that of the SLA. The agreement at inter-annual time scales is less good. At some particular locations SSL computed from individual profiles is more correlated with SLA than the gridded products. At basin and sub-basin scales, however, interpolated and in situ observations provide similar results in terms of their correlation with observed SLA. The XBT/MBT bias corrections have little effect on the SSL at the time scales considered in this study.


In this paper, we explore the conditions under which clearance rates improve by looking at the experience across New York City. Using one agency provides a control on the administrative differences that appear across other jurisdictions that have been studied, usually through cross-national analysis. Our analysis uses Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) to identify environmental features that relate to closed versus open homicide cases using two years of New York City Police Department (NYPD) data. This analysis is supplemented with an investigation of precinct-wide social structure variables to examine how context matters in influencing closure rates.


Carbon Storage Regulator A (CsrA) is a well-characterized post-transcriptional global regulator that plays a critical role in response to environmental changes in many bacteria. CsrA has been reported to regulate several metabolic pathways, motility, biofilm formation, and virulence-associated genes. The role of csrA in Leptospira spp., which are able to survive in different environmental niches and infect a wide variety of reservoir hosts, has not been characterized. To investigate the role of csrA as a gene regulator in Leptospira, we generated a L. biflexa csrA deletion mutant (ΔcsrA) and csrA overexpressing Leptospira strains. The ΔcsrA L. biflexa displayed poor growth under starvation conditions. RNA sequencing revealed that in rich medium only a few genes, including the gene encoding the flagellar filament protein FlaB3, were differentially expressed in the ΔcsrA mutant. In contrast, 575 transcripts were differentially expressed when csrA was overexpressed in L. biflexa. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) confirmed the RNA-seq data in the ΔcsrA mutant, showing direct binding of recombinant CsrA to flaB3 mRNA. In the pathogen L. interrogans, we were not able to generate a csrA mutant. We therefore decided to overexpress csrA in L. interrogans. In contrast to the overexpressing strain of L. biflexa, the overexpressing L. interrogans strain had poor motility on soft agar. The overexpressing strain of L. interrogans also showed significant upregulation of the flagellin flaB1, flaB2, and flaB4. The interaction of L. interrogans rCsrA and flaB4 was confirmed by EMSA. Our results demonstrated that CsrA may function as a global regulator in Leptospira spp. under certain conditions that cause csrA overexpression. Interestingly, the mechanisms of action and gene targets of CsrA may be different between non-pathogenic and pathogenic Leptospira strains.


There is no paucity of books on high pressure. Beginning with P. W. Bridgman's The Physics of High Pressure, books of general interest include the two-volume Physics and Chemistry of High Pressure, edited by R. S. Bradley, and the series, Advances in High Pressure Research, as well as the report on the Lake George Conference in 1960. Solid state physics is well represented by Solids Under Pressure, edited by Paul and Warschauer, by Physics of Solids at High Pressure, edited by Tomizuka and Emrick, and by Properties Physiques des Solides sous Pression, edited by Bloch, as well as by chapters in Volumes 6, 13, 17, and 19 of Solid State Physics, edited by Seitz, Turnbull, and Ehrenreich. Chemistry in gases and liquids is covered in Weale's Chemical Reactions at High Pressure, and Hamann's Physico-chemical Effects of Pressure. In addition to the coverage of techniques and calibrations in the above volumes, Modern Very High Pressure Techniques, edited by Wentorf, High Pressure Methods in Solid State Research, by C. C. Bradley, The Accurate Characterization of the High Pressure Environment, edited by E. C. Lloyd, and a chapter in Volume 11 of Solid State Physics are devoted entirely to this facet of high pressure research. It is not our plan either to supersede or extend these approaches. It is our purpose here to discuss the effect of high pressure on the electronic properties of solids.


The Daqing field, discovered in 1959, is the largest oil field in the People's Republic of China, with original oil in place exceeding two billion tons. The heterogeneity of the reservoirs and the viscosity of the oil have resulted in a moderate displacement efficiency and in a high water-cut in the production. In order to increase the recovery, polymer injection was tested in two pilots between 1987 and 1992 after laboratory and reservoir studies. Both pilots proved highly successful and led to the decision to extend polymer injection to the whole field. This article presents the whole history of the Daqing Polymerflooding Project, from the preliminary studies to the extension.


The Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite exhibits a unique compositional heterogeneity that may be attributed to varying degrees of aqueous alteration within the parent body asteroid. Previous analyses of soluble organic compounds from four Tagish Lake meteorite specimens (TL5b, TL11h, TL11i, TL11v) identified distinct distributions and isotopic compositions that appeared to be linked to their degree of parent body processing (Herd et al. 2011; Glavin et al. 2012; Hilts et al. 2014). In the present study, we build upon these initial observations and evaluate the molecular distribution of amino acids, aldehydes and ketones, monocarboxylic acids, and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, including compound‐specific δ13C compositions, for three additional Tagish Lake specimens: TL1, TL4, and TL10a. TL1 contains relatively high abundances of soluble organics and appears to be a moderately altered specimen, similar to the previously analyzed TL5b and TL11h lithologies. In contrast, specimens TL4 and TL10a both contain relatively low abundances of all of the soluble organic compound classes measured, similar to TL11i and TL11v. The organic‐depleted composition of TL4 appears to have resulted from a relatively low degree of parent body aqueous alteration. In the case of TL10a, some unusual properties (e.g., the lack of detection of intrinsic monocarboxylic acids and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons) suggest that it has experienced extensive alteration and/or a distinct organic‐depleted alteration history. Collectively, these varying compositions provide valuable new insights into the relationships between asteroidal aqueous alteration and the synthesis and preservation of soluble organic compounds.


In this editorial for issue two of volume four of the Journal of Professional Communication, the author discusses how public relations is has become a central strategic discipline within management, both from and internal and external relations perspective. He challenges the fact that public relations has focused on communication as its central goal in many industrial applications. The author makes the case that the emerging consensus is that public relations is actually centrally concerned with managing relationships, and that communication is really only one aspect of relationship management. ©Journal of Professional Communication, all rights reserved.


Health at birth is an important indicator of human capital development over the life course. This paper uses longitudinal data from the Young Lives survey and employs instrumental variable regression models to estimate the effect of birth weight on cognitive development during childhood in India. We find that a 10 percent increase in birth weight increases cognitive test score by 8.1 percent or 0.11 standard deviations at ages 5-8 years. Low birth weight infants experienced a lower test score compared with normal birth weight infants. The positive effect of birth weight on a cognitive test score is larger for boys, children from rural or poor households, and those with less-educated mothers. Our findings suggest that health policies designed to improve birth weight could improve human capital in resource-poor settings.


Numerical predictions of the forced vibration of a disk assembly including frictional effects between the shrouds are presented concerning engineering needs for the blade design process. Assuming a tuned disk assembly, numerical static, free, and then forced vibration analyses of a shrouded turbine blade measured in the spin pit are performed systematically. For the excitation forces of an air jet evaluated from the fairly linear behavior of the experimental blade resonance peaks, the reliability of the proposed approach is validated through the very close agreement of the computed and measured resonant peaks. These resonant peaks demonstrate either a fairly linear behavior or a nonlinear one like the jump effect of blade resonance amplitudes, or elastic impacts between the shrouds. Also, the damping performance for different contact configurations between the shrouds is numerically analyzed. These numerical results indicate that the shrouds generate higher frictional damping for small angles (0-30 deg) between the circumferential direction and the normal vector to the contact surface.


Frustrated Lewis Pairs: From Dihydrogen Activation to Asymmetric Catalysis, by Dianjun Chen, Jurgen Klankermayer.- Coexistence of Lewis Acid and Base Functions: A Generalized View of the Frustrated Lewis Pair Concept with Novel Implications for Reactivity, by Heinz Berke, Yanfeng Jiang, Xianghua Yang, Chunfang Jiang, Subrata Chakraborty, Anne Landwehr.- New Organoboranes in "Frustrated Lewis Pair" Chemistry, by Zhenpin Lu, Hongyan Ye, Huadong Wang.- Paracyclophane Derivatives in Frustrated Lewis Pair Chemistry, by Lutz Greb, Jan Paradies .- Novel Al-Based FLP Systems, by Werner Uhl, Ernst-Ulrich Wurthwein.- N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in FLP Chemistry, by Eugene L. Kolychev, Eileen Theuergarten, Matthias Tamm.- Carbon-Based Frustrated Lewis Pairs, by Shabana Khan, Manuel Alcarazo.- Selective C-H Activations Using Frustrated Lewis Pairs. Applications in Organic Synthesis, by Paul Knochel, Konstantin Karaghiosoff, Sophia Manolikakes.- FLP-Mediated Activations and Reductions of CO2 and CO, by Andrew E. Ashley, Dermot O'Hare.- Radical Frustrated Lewis Pairs, by Timothy H. Warren and Gerhard Erker.- Polymerization by Classical and Frustrated Lewis Pairs, by Eugene Y.- X. Chen.- Frustrated Lewis Pairs Beyond the Main Group: Transition Metal-Containing Systems, by D. Wass.- Reactions of Phosphine-Boranes and Related Frustrated Lewis Pairs with Transition Metal Complexes, by Abderrahmane Amgoune, Ghenwa Bouhadir, Didier Bourissou.


Biosimilars will enter the US market soon, potentially lowering costs and increasing patient access to important oncology biologics. Biosimilars are highly similar, but not identical, to their reference product. Subtle variations arise due to their inherent complexity and differences in manufacturing. Biosimilars are not generic drugs. They will be approved through a separate US regulatory pathway—distinct from conventional biologics license applications—based on analytic and clinical studies demonstrating no clinically meaningful differences from the reference product. As policies on US biosimilars evolve, it is important that advanced practitioners receive comprehensive, ongoing education on them, particularly regarding differences from small-molecule drugs; their approval pathways vs. conventional regulatory pathways; evaluation of quality, safety, and efficacy; safety monitoring; and product identification to facilitate accurate safety reporting. Advanced practitioners will play a key role in educating nurses and patients on biosimilars. Nurse education should highlight any differences from the reference product (e.g., approved indications and delivery devices) and should emphasize assessment of substitutions, monitoring for adverse events (e.g., immune reactions), and the need for precise documentation for safety reports. Patient education should address differences between the biosimilar and reference product in administration, handling and storage, and self-monitoring for adverse events.


Although the main transmitters of rabies in Brazil are dogs and vampire bats, the role of other species such as insectivorous and frugivorous bats deserves special attention, as the rabies virus has been isolated from 36 bat species. This study describes the first isolation of the rabies virus from the insectivorous bat Eumops perotis. The infected animal was found in the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. The virus was identified by immunofluorescence antibody test (FAT) in central nervous system (CNS) samples, and the isolation was carried out in N2A cell culture and adult mice. The sample was submitted to antigenic typing using a panel of monoclonal antibodies (CDC/Atlanta/USA). The DNA sequence of the nucleoprotein gene located between nucleotides 102 and 1385 was aligned with homologous sequences from GenBank using the CLUSTAL/W method, and the alignment was used to build a neighbor-joining distance-based phylogenetic tree with the K-2-P model. CNS was negative by FAT, and only one mouse died after inoculation with a suspension from the bat's CNS. Antigenic typing gave a result that was not compatible with the patterns defined by the panel. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the virus isolated segregated into the same cluster related to other viruses isolated from insectivorous bats belonging to genus Nyctinomops ssp. (98.8% nucleotide identity with each other).


Benefits of stimulating the flow of chi are well known in the Eastern hemisphere. For the first time ever, established chi kung expert Lam Kam Chuen reveals advanced movements and positions previously unpublished in the Western world. Through clear illustrations and detailed instruction, you'll learn how to improve energy, decrease stress, fight illness, and increase your overall fitness through techniques designed to stimulate the internal flow of chi.In addition to richly illustrated, full-color drawings that demonstrate each position and movement, "Chi Kung: Way of Power" offers methods for improving your focus, breathing, and creativity based on the Five Energies System of Chinese philosophy. Whether you're a student of tai chi, chi kung, or other oriental healing arts, you'll gain new insights based on this approach, which emphasizes the connection between the mind and body and the energy of the environment.Learn how to move and align your body properly for the enhanced and uninhibited flow of blood and chi. Discover new breathing techniques to promote the intake of energy-powered oxygen and release toxic carbon dioxide. "Chi Kung" even covers mental focus techniques for improving creativity, reducing stress, and developing positive thoughts and emotions that lead to a peaceful mental state.As a master of tai chi, chi kung, and feng shui, Lam Kam Chuen brings a unique perspective to his latest work. Clear, comprehensive, and concise, "Chi Kung: Way of Power" provides unsurpassed instruction from one of the leading teachers of the art today.


Mucocele is a common lesion of the oral mucosa that results from an alteration of minor salivary glands due to a mucous accumulation. Mucocele involves mucin accumulation causing limited swelling. Two histological types exist - extravasation and retention. Mucoceles can appear at any site of the oral mucosa where minor salivary glands are present. Diagnosis is principally clinical; therefore, the anamnesis should be carried out correctly, looking for previous trauma. The most common location of the extravasation mucocele is the lower lip, while retention mucoceles can be found at any other site. Mucoceles can affect the general population, but most commonly young patients (20-30 years old). Clinically they consist of a soft, bluish and transparent cystic swelling which normally resolves spontaneously. Treatment frequently involves surgical removal. Never-theless micro marsupialization, cryosurgery, steroid injections and CO2 laser are also described. Mucocele is a common lesion and affects the general population. For this reason we felt it would be interesting review the clinical characteristics of mucoceles, and their treatment and evolution in order to aid decision-making in daily clinical practice.