In this report are presented the results of wind-tunnel tests of retractable spoilers on the upper surface of a Clark Y wing, which have been made as part of an investigation of lateral control devices being conducted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Spoilers with chords up to 15.0 percent of the wing chord were tested in several locations on a plain rectangular wing and in two locations on the same wing equipped with a 20.0 percent chord split flap down 60 degrees. Charts are given for four representative angles of attack from which values of rolling- and yawing-moment coefficients may be obtained for spoilers up to 15.0 percent chord located on the upper surface of a Clark Y wing. The tests showed that at low angles of attack practically the same rolling moments can be obtained with a given spoiler at any location back of 30.0 percent of the wing chord, while at high angles of attack there is a definite advantage in locating the spoiler at least as far forward as 30.0 percent of the chord. The yawing moments accompanying a given rolling moment increase positively as the spoiler location is moved forward from the trailing edge of the wing. It is concluded that the 30.0 percent chord location is probably the optimum provided that instantaneous response of the airplane to a control movement can be obtained.


The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Ca : total(t) P ratio, vitamin C and microbial phytase on broiler performance and cadmium retention of broiler. In experiment, 288 day-old male broiler chicks (Cobb) were randomly assigned to 12 treatment groups, 3 replicates of 8 chicks each. The study was carried out for 42 days. The basal diet supplemented calcium, phosphorus, cadmium (0.5 and 5 mg/kg), zinc (20 mg/kg), vitamin C (0 and 1 g/kg) and microbial phytase (0 and 600 PU/kg feed). Differences among diets fed to individual experimental groups affect either body weight gain or feed intake and conversion a�er the 3 weeks and at the end of the experiment (P < 0.05). Cadmium and microbial phytase supplement to diet caused a significant increase of cadmium concentration in the tissues examined. There were significant differences in tissues concentrations of cadmium (P < 0.05) among the groups fed diets supplemented. In conclusion, addition of 600 PU feed of phytase per kg of diet compensates this effect and lowers the cadmium burden by up to 60%.


Introduction: Despite the widespread use of opioids in pain management, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of postoperative pain with opioids. Although other surgical specialties have begun researching their pain prescribing patterns, there has yet to be an investigation to unravel opioid prescribing patterns among plastic surgeons. Methods: Survey Monkey was used to sample the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) members regarding their opioid prescribing practice patterns. The survey was sent randomly to 50% of ASPS members. Respondents were randomized to 1 of 3 different common elective procedures in plastic surgery: breast augmentation, breast reduction, and abdominoplasty. Results: Of the 5,770 overall active ASPS members, 298 responses (12% response rate) were received with the following procedure randomization results: 106 for breast augmentation, 99 for breast reduction, and 95 for abdominoplasty. Overall, 80% (N = 240) of respondents used nonnarcotic adjuncts to manage postoperative pain, with 75.4% (N = 181) using nonnarcotics adjuncts >75% of the time. The most commonly prescribed narcotics were Hydrocodone with Acetaminophen (Lortab, Norco) and Oxycodone with Acetaminophen (Percocet, Oxycocet) at 42.5% (N = 116) and 38.1% (N = 104), respectively. The most common dosage was 5 mg (80.4%; N = 176), with 48.9% (N = 107) mostly dispensing 20–30 tablets, and the majority did not give refills (94.5%; N = 207). Conclusions: Overall, plastic surgeons seem to be in compliance with proposed American College of Surgeon's opioid prescription guidelines. However, there remains a lack of evidence regarding appropriate opioid prescribing patterns for plastic surgeons.


Many studies with different settings have confirmed that there is a performance difference in spatial skills between men and women, especially in the domain of mental rotation. The mental rotation performance is influenced by many different factors, such as training, sexual orientation, age, hormonal level or psychological influence. Video game usage positively affects the performance on mental rotation tasks and as this special form of training is favored by men, this training gap could possibly be identified as main influencing factor. Question is whether the digital divide in video game usage widens or slowly disappears. Currently men are better trained because of their choice of video games and the amount of time invested in training. As the performance gap is not perceivable when the mental rotation test deploys real 3-dimensional figures instead of 2-dimensional representations of 3dimensional figures. It might be possible that the advent of 3D presentations evens out the MR performance gap. Statistics are showing that the amount of game playing females has risen over the years. The creation of appealing game titles for women, which are exercising spatial skills, could balance this training difference and along with it the stability of different performance levels in mental rotation tasks between men and women.


Telomeres are the physical ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. They protect chromosome ends from DNA degradation, recombination, and DNA end fusions, and they are important for nuclear architecture. Telomeres provide a mechanism for their replication by semiconservative DNA replication and length maintenance by telomerase. Through telomerase repression and induced telomere shortening, telomeres provide the means to regulate cellular life span. In this review, we introduce the current knowledge on telomere composition and structure. We then discuss in depth the current understanding of how telomere components mediate their function during semiconservative DNA replication and how telomerase is regulated at the end of the chromosome. We focus our discussion on the telomeres from mammals and the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.


Background: The cause of chronic leg ulcer (CLU) in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) is unknown; it has been attributed to hypercoagulability associated with the disease. Recently, it has been suggested that a subset of SCA patients may be prone to developing CLU and that hemolysis may be an underlying factor in the development of CLU. The lupus anticoagulant (LA) is an antiphospholipid antibody (aPLa), these antibodies have been described in patients with SCA. Aims: This study was designed to determine the frequency of LA in SCA patients with CLU compared with those without CLU. Materials and Methods: Study design is a descriptive, cross-sectional one. Thirty-three SCA patients with CLU and 33 patients without CLU were screened for the presence of LA using the Kaolin clotting time (KCT), which is an important assay, and Kaolin clotting time index was calculated. Means were compared using the students' t test, proportions were compared using the chi-square test, level of significance was set at 0.05, odds ratio was calculated. Results: About 18.18% of patients with CLU had LA, compared with 6.06% among controls (P < 0.05); odds ratio was 3.44 (95% CI 0.64 – 18.51). Conclusions: We conclude that SCA patients with CLU may be more likely to develop LA, and this may be related to the degree of hemolysis. Further studies are required to find out if CLU and LA are a result of hemolysis or if LA is responsible for the higher incidence of hemolysis and CLU found among these patients.


ABSTRACT Although spores from most macrofungi are wind- or water-dispersed, dispersal may also occur via biotic vectors. The Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a facultative mycovore that may play an important role in fungal spore dispersal although, to date, no information exists on fungi occurring in fecal samples of box turtles or on the ecological significance of box turtles as spore dispersal vectors. Consequently, a study of the potential for Eastern box turtles to act as vectors for spore dispersal was initiated by capturing wild turtles and collecting fecal samples. Serial dilutions from fecal samples were made to enumerate spores, quantify the number of spores per gram of fecal material and to isolate and identify fungi. Fungal spores were found to be extremely abundant throughout all samples. Fecal samples from 36 turtles yielded a total of 23 different fungal taxa in the Zygomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Two yeasts that were isolated, Cryptococcus albidus and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, are reported to naturally occur on Trifolium seeds found in fecal samples. A mold previously unreported from fecal material, Aspergillus wentii, was also found in fecal samples. Data collected suggests Eastern box turtles influence fungal spore dispersal by browsing on plant materials and defecating large numbers of fungal spores within their home ranges.


Community square body-building activities are the basic motivation of sports spreading in the whole country and an important part of gymnastic industry. With lots of sports fans being there, community squares are very convenient and the first choice of sporting activities for people. Meanwhile, the spreading of community square body-building activities also contributes to the dissemination of sports among people. This text has made the game analysis and improvement study in community square body-building activities through the angle of people groups involved in community square body-building activities and begins the paper by analyzing several common community activities. First, the Discriminant Analysis Method is used to analyze the degree of participation and satisfaction of people in different age groups in football, basketball, badminton, rope skipping, shuttlecock kicking, social dance, square dance and tai chi chuan. It also raises that teenagers have passion for the community square body-building activities like football, basketball, badminton, rope skipping and shuttlecock kicking, etc. Second, the Analytic Hierarchy is taken to study the square sporting activities that are suitable for teenagers and middle-aged people through comparing priorities. Then, the conclusion is: in order to raise teenagers' enthusiasm for sports and encourage more middle-aged and elderly people to do sports, sporting facilities should be improved. We also should build small football courts, basketball courts and put some new activities like rope skipping, shuttlecock kicking, etc. into the ranks of sports.


Creatio ex nihilo marked a major redefinition of the material cosmos by the Christian apologists of the late second century, Tatian and Theophilus of Antioch. Other scholars have properly assigned the origin of creatio ex nihilo to these thinkers, notably Gerhard May and David Winston, but the reasons for the teaching' s appearance remained unexplained. By examining the Classical philosophical views of matter, the challenge that Greek views of matter raised for the Christian message become evident. For Stoic, Platonist, and Peripatetic alike matter imposed the natural necessity of corruption upon the body. The moral limitations imposed by matter made a bodily resurrection seem offensive. Christian hopes for a resurrection seemed misguided both intellectually and morally. The Christian apologists of the late second century struck back by redefining matter as a creature of God, which he directed to his purpose. The religious claims of the Christian apologists signalled a major philosophical change. Within a century, Plotinus developed a rigorous monistic system of emanation within the Greek philosophical tradition. In his system, even matter was derived from the One. Nevertheless, because it was wholly indefinite, matter remained evil and the sage eschewed it. Augustine gave creatio ex nihilo its first careful philosophical consideration in the Christian tradition. Turning the valences of the Classical world on their heads, he argued that as something capable of being formed into good things, matter itself was good and a creature of the good God. The next major philosophical consideration of creatio ex nihilo in the Christian tradition came at the hands of Aquinas, who taught that creatio ex nihilo meant that nothing was presupposed to God's creative act, not matter, forms, natures, essences, ideas, laws of nature, or a hierarchy of being. The creature depended entirely on God's creative act. Despite the great dependence of the creature upon God, Aquinas taught that the creature still bore a genuine likeness to God, in his highly developed teaching of participation. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Religious Studies First Advisor James F. Ross


We review the evidence that artificial intelligence (AI) is having a large effect on the economy. Across a variety of statistics—including robotics shipments, AI start-ups, and patent counts—there is evidence of a large increase in AI-related activity. We also review recent research in this area that suggests that AI and robotics have the potential to increase productivity growth but may have mixed effects on labor, particularly in the short run. In particular, some occupations and industries may do well while others experience labor market upheaval. We then consider current and potential policies around AI that may help to boost productivity growth while also mitigating any labor market downsides, including evaluating the pros and cons of an AI specific regulator, expanded antitrust enforcement, and alternative strategies for dealing with the labor market impacts of AI, including universal basic income and guaranteed employment.


Abstract. The submodel PSC of the ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry model (EMAC) has been developed to simulate the main types of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC). The parameterisation of the supercooled ternary solutions (STS, type 1b PSC) in the submodel is based on Carslaw et al. (1995b), the thermodynamic approach to simulate ice particles (type 2 PSC) on Marti and Mauersberger (1993). For the formation of nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) particles (type 1a PSC) two different parameterisations exist. The first is based on an instantaneous thermodynamic approach from Hanson and Mauersberger (1988), the second is new implemented and considers the growth of the NAT particles with the aid of a surface growth factor based on Carslaw et al. (2002). It is possible to choose one of this NAT parameterisation in the submodel. This publication explains the background of the submodel PSC and the use of the submodel with the goal of simulating realistic PSC in EMAC.


Punjabi society is most globalised, while its economy is least globalised. It has a relatively developed agriculture without much direct linkages with the industrial development. During sixties, India's agriculture experienced a spectacular increase in production, especially, in that of wheat and rice. It was mainly through an increase in productivity per hectares of these crops. The jump in the rate of increase in productivity of these crops was so sudden and conspicuous that some economists termed the new change as 'Green Revolution' The main benefits of green revolution were: Increase in food grain output, increase in market surplus, generation of more employment opportunities in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, having such great benefits green revolution was not a blessing for the farmers in Punjab. It added lots of problems in the lives of the farmers and made their life full of misery. Punjab has produced a number of paradoxes. The thrust of the paper is to suggest agricultural reforms for future course of growth and development for agriculture sector and ways and means to improve sustainability of agriculture production.


Canister desorption is a widely used technique to measure the gas content of coal. The gas content data, when normalized to volume/weight and multiplied by coal seam mass, is used to estimate the gas in place in an area around the cored hole. However, the gas content and the percentage of each constituent are likely to be influenced by trapped air in the canister at the time of the coal enclosure and subsequent sealing. Freshly-cored coal samples were collected from three mines, mining coal from Bulli seam, Sydney Basin. The studied underground mines were Appin West, West Cliff, and Tahmoor. The research programme, spanning for a period of four years, focused only on the influence of the trapped air in the canister on the coal gas percentage of each constituent. It was found that the percentage of each coal gas constituent was influenced by the trapped air in the canister space. The effect of trapped air was extended to the component percentage of the gases in the crushed coal samples, normally used for the estimation of Q3.


High‐altitude lakes are exposed to high fluence rates of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR; 29–400 nm) and contain low concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). While in most lowland lakes, DOC can be used to predict UV transparency with sufficient accuracy, current models fail to estimate UVR in clear alpine lakes. In these lakes, phytoplankton may contribute significantly to the UV attenuation either as particles or as a source of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) with distinctive properties. We investigated a series of 26 lakes in the Alps and Pyrenees, situated at elevations ranging from 422 to 2,799 m above sea level and having DOC concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 3.5 mg L−1. CDOM, as measured by the absorptivity of filtered lake water, explained most of the variability in the attenuation of underwater UVR among lakes (r2 = 0.94, P < 0.001). However, within‐lake variation in the UV attenuation revealed a significant contribution from phytoplankton in deeper waters (UV attenuation increasing with chlorophyll a concentration; r2 = 0.97, P = 0.002), only apparent when DOC concentrations were low (∼0.3 mg L−1). The DOC‐specific absorptivity (ag*) was also important for characterizing the optical conditions in this series of lakes. Epilimnetic values of ag* were significantly lower in lakes located at high elevations (with low allochthonous CDOM inputs from the catchment), compared to lakes surrounded by trees and meadows. Moreover, ag* was generally lower in surface waters than in deeper water layers, suggesting the influence of photobleaching on UV transparency. The slope S of the exponential regression between CDOM absorptivity and wavelength did not show clear patterns, such as found in marine systems, and often presented lower values in the epilimnetic waters (in association with lower ag*). Collectively, our results suggest that in transparent alpine lakes, the dynamics of the CDOM pool and phytoplankton production will have a strong effect on temporal changes in UV underwater attenuation.


Evidence of chronic hepatitis was found on histological examination in nine out of 15 patients positive for hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) who had either chronic renal failure or a functioning renal transplant. Cirrhosis had already developed in three of the patients, who deteriorated rapidly and died. Liver biopsies from the remaining 12 patients showed the features of chronic aggressive hepatitis in two, chronic persistent hepatitis in four, and minor histological lesions in six. The persistence of HBsAg in patients with renal failure or in those receiving immunosuppressive drugs after a transplant must indicate some impairment of the normal immune response to hepatitis-B viral antigens. Nevertheless, cellular or humoral immunity to HBsAg was detected in all eight patients with chronic hepatitis tested compared with only one out of five with minimal liver lesions, which suggests that the severity of the liver damage may be directly related to the degree of immunocompetence.


The number of online citizen science projects has increased significantly over the past decade, yet some aspects of participation are poorly understood as is the motivation behind the involvement of the scientists who set up these projects, and the citizen scientists who take part.

This thesis explores three different online citizen science projects (Foldit, Folding@home and Planet Hunters) using a case study approach and data collected through online surveys, interviews and participant observation. It explores the motivations that initiate and sustain participation, and it examines the various ways individuals can contribute to these projects. It also investigates how participants (both professional scientists and citizen scientists) interact online. A number of theoretical models of motivation and participation are considered.

While many individuals register to take part in these projects, only a small proportion become active participants. These active citizen scientist volunteers are motivated to participate because they want to make a contribution to science or have a background interest in science. Scientists set up these projects in order to get help analysing large volumes of data, particularly those that require human pattern recognition or problem-solving skills. The complexity of the project task and the presence of certain technological features can affect how participants interact with each other, and how they contribute. Tasks that are complex are more likely to present opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, and may foster the development of online communities of practice.

The findings of this research suggest that online citizen science projects have been important in making scientific research more open for a number of distributed volunteers. These individuals have responded to the challenges presented by these projects, increasing their scientific and technical understanding, and self-organising into various roles and teams in order to produce new knowledge.


In 2005, the publisher Hubert Burda and the investor Yossi Vardi initiated the Digital Lifestyle Day to connect key players of media-related enterprises with founders of new and hot companies, bringing together technology with arts and design. The first event was a success and Burda and Vardi have helped evolve the conference into one of the hottest and most prestigious new media events of the year in Europe, with a visibility that now reaches other continents. In a familiar atmosphere, business suits meet t-shirts and sneakers to discuss the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow's digital lifestyle. In 2007, DLD became Digital, Life, Design (see http://www.dld-conference.com/) but maintained its goal to provide a small but very nice event for connecting with others and having intense discussions, all in an inspiring atmosphere. This year, the experts met under the slogan "Uploading the 21st Century." The participants discussed the challenges, consequences, and opportunities of the increasing digitization in our daily life. This article presents insights formed from DLD 2008. A separate article—see this issue's Visions and Views, "Digital Lifestyle 2020"—provides a snapshot of views and opinions from other presenters and participants.


Background: Symptomatic primary infection with the human γ-herpesvirus Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and elevated immune responses to EBV are associated with the development and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). Interferon-beta (IFNβ), first-line treatment for relapse-onset MS, exhibits complex immunoregulatory and antiviral activities. Objective: To determine EBV-specific immune responses in patients with MS during IFNβ therapy. Methods: We evaluated cellular and humoral immune responses to EBV- and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)-encoded antigens in patients with MS before and 1 year after IFNβ treatment by ELISA and flow cytometry. Twenty-eight patients with MS who showed a clinical response to IFNβ as defined by the absence of relapses and lack of progression on the Expanded Disability Status Scale score during the first 2 years of treatment were included. Results: Clinically effective IFNβ-therapy was associated with a downregulation of proliferative T cell responses to the latent EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA1). EBNA1-specific IgG responses as well as cellular and humoral immune responses to MHC class I restricted EBV antigens expressed during lytic replication and viral B cell transformation were similar before and after IFNβ therapy. Although HCMV-specific IgG levels slightly decreased, proliferative T-cell responses towards HCMV antigens remained unchanged during IFNβ therapy. Conclusion: Clinically effective IFNβ therapy is associated with a reduction of proliferative T-cell responses to EBNA1.


An analysis of 1516 radiocarbon dates demonstrates that the development of the current circumarctic peatlands began ∼16.5 thousand years ago (ka) and expanded explosively between 12 and 8 ka in concert with high summer insolation and increasing temperatures. Their rapid development contributed to the sustained peak in CH4 and modest decline of CO2 during the early Holocene and likely contributed to CH4 and CO2 fluctuations during earlier interglacial and interstadial transitions. Given the decreased tempo of peatland initiation in the late Holocene and the transition of many from fens (which generated high levels of CH4) to ombrotrophic bogs, a neoglacial expansion of northern peatlands cannot explain the increase in atmospheric CH4 that occurred after 6 ka.


There is significant discord among circuit courts over whether a broad or narrow construction of the Clean Water Act's jurisdictional provisions is appropriate in determining when circuit courts should have direct jurisdiction to review petitions challenging regulations. The broad interpretation of these provisions emphasizes the practicality of direct circuit court review of a wider range of regulations, whereas the narrow interpretation uses the plain language. In Friends of the Everglades v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit addressed this issue as applied to petitions for review of the "water transfer rule." Adopting the plain language approach, the court held it did not have jurisdiction to review the petition because the challenged regulation was not within the jurisdictional provisions. The Supreme Court denied certiorari. This Comment notes that both approaches can benefit the environment but argues that the long-term implications of the plain language approach could be detrimental due to judicial inefficiency and a lack of consistent application of the law across districts.


Abstract. To understand and project future ozone recovery, understanding of mechanisms related to polar ozone destruction is crucial. For polar stratospheric ozone destruction, chlorine species play an important role, but detailed temporal evolution of chlorine species in the Antarctic winter is not well understood. We retrieved lower stratospheric vertical profiles of O3, HNO3, and HCl from solar spectra taken with a ground-based Fourier-Transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) installed at Syowa Station, Antarctica (69.0º S, 39.6º E) from March to December 2007 and September to November 2011. We analyzed temporal variation of these species combined with ClO, HCl, and HNO3 data taken with the Aura/MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) satellite sensor, and ClONO2 data taken with the Envisat/MIPAS (The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) satellite sensor at 18 and 22 km over Syowa Station. When the stratospheric temperature over Syowa Station fell below polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) saturation temperature in early winter, PSCs started to form and heterogeneous reaction on PSCs convert chlorine reservoirs into reactive chemical species. HCl and ClONO2 decrease occurred at both 18 and 22 km, and soon ClONO2 was almost depleted in early winter. When the sun returned to Antarctica in spring, enhancement of ClO and gradual O3 destruction were observed. During the ClO enhanced period, negative correlation between ClO and ClONO2 was observed in the time-series of the data at Syowa Station. This negative correlation was associated with the distance between Syowa Station and the inner edge of the polar vortex. Temporal variation of chlorine species over Syowa Station was affected by both heterogeneous chemistry related to PSC occurrence deep inside the polar vortex, and transport of an NONOx-rich airmass from lower latitudinal polar vortex boundary region which can produce additional ClONO2 by reaction between ClO and NO2. We used MIROC3.2 Chemistry-Climate Model (CCM) results to see the comprehensive behavior of chlorine and related species inside the polar vortex and the edge region in more detail. Rapid conversion of chlorine reservoir species (HCl and ClONO2) into Cl2, gradual conversion of Cl2 into Cl2O2, increase of ClO when sunlight became available, and conversion of ClO into HCl, was successfully reproduced by the CCM. HCl decrease in the winter polar vortex core continued to occur due to the transport of ClONO2 from the subpolar region (55–65º S) to higher latitudes (65–75º S), providing a flux of ClONO2 from more sunlit latitudes into the polar vortex. The deactivation pathways from active ClO into reservoir species (HCl and/or ClONO2) were found to be highly dependent on the availability of ambient O3 and NOx. At an altitude where most ozone was depleted in Antarctica, most ClO was converted to HCl. However, when there were some O3 and NOx available, super-recovery of ClONO2 can occur, similar to the case in the Arctic.


Overtraining has been one of the most popular topics in meetings and journals dealing with toplevel sports. The problem has been well known for 70 years, but many specifics concerning overtraining are still very unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the acute and chronic effects of a competitive basketball season on its respective players competing at the Division I level, and to determine if there were any global changes in performance, physiological or psychological variables which indicated some type of overtraining syndrome. Twenty female subjects were recruited for this study. Ten subjects were recruited from the Alzahra University Basketball team (BB) (21.2 ± 1.4 yrs), the other ten from the general student population (GEN) (21.0 ± 1.2 yrs). Participants were measured at preseason and 3 time points throughout the 12-week season to assess changes in performance, physiological and performance variables. Statistical analyses were performed by utilizing an ANOVA with repeated measures (level of significance was set at p < 0.05). Results indicated that many of the physiological, performance, and psychological variables examined during the duration of the study did not exhibit any significant changes. Relative peak power was the only performance variable in this study which elicited a significant group x time interaction (p < 0.05). However, observed changes in this variable indicated an increase across the season. A number of physiological variables demonstrated significant group x time interactions: lean body mass (p < 0.05), extra-cellular fluid (p < 0.05) and creatine kinase (p < 0.05). Psychometric testing revealed significant time effects discovered in feelings of fatigue (p< 0.05), feelings of being overtrained (p < 0.05), overwhelmed (p < 0.05) as well as feelings of being tired of university (p < 0.001) and never being able to get caught up (p <0.05). Our findings indicate that the stresses placed upon collegiate basketball players from a combination of their academic and athletic responsibilities indicate some perturbations in select variables which are indicative of overtraining syndrome (OTS). While OTS occurs in three phases (psychological, physiological, performance), negative changes in performance were not indicated. Physiologically, changes were elicited in a few variables, yet these variations remained within normal clinical ranges for this population.


Background: The aim of the present study on the occurrence of Henoch–Schönlein Purpura (HSP) in Dutch children is to give some insight into the epidemiology of HSP in the Netherlands, to record the diagnostic criteria used by Dutch paediatricians and to evaluate the accuracy of the latter using the presence of IgA in the skin when biopsies are available. Methods: Each month in 2004, all Dutch paediatricians received an electronic card asking them to mention new diagnosed HSP. Paediatricians reporting one or more new patients with HSP were sent a list of questions concerning various parameters. Results: 232 patients from 0 to 18 years of age (6.1/105) were reported as having contracted HSP in 2004. 29% presented renal symptoms. In accordance with the classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology, 80% of paediatricians consider that isolated purpura (without haematological abnormalities) is sufficient to allow the diagnosis of HSP in children. From the 17 skin biopsies performed, only 9 (53%) presented IgA deposits. The follow-up duration, considered as necessary, was longer in case of renal symptoms at presentation. However, 45% of patients without renal symptoms would be followed for more than 1 year. Conclusion: Considering the recent (2006) EULAR/PReS endorsed consensus criteria for the classification of childhood vasculitides, HSP should have been diagnosed in only 160 of the 179 patients of our study. The use of isolated non-thrombocytopenic purpura as the only criterion to diagnose HSP in children might therefore lead to over diagnosis and unnecessary follow-up.


Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential cultivation of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) with domestic wastewater effluents with different levels of treatment from a compact WWTP in Brazil. Vegetables were grown in five treatments: nutrient solution (control), secondary effluent diluted 50%, secondary effluent not diluted, tertiary effluent UV irradiated, and UASB effluent. Microbiological analyses from leaves showed low levels of contamination with E. coli, thermotolerant coliforms and total coliforms. Salmonella spp. and helminth eggs were not detected. However, roots showed hardly any concentration of these microorganisms. These results shows that it is possible to cultivate leafy vegetables in a hydroponic system with treated effluents, taking care at the moment of harvesting vegetables.


Taking a text-led approach, with the emphasis on more recent popular films, Studying French Cinema is directed at non-specialists such as students of French, film studies, and the general reader with an interest in post-war French cinema. Each of the chapters focuses on one or more key films from the ground-breaking films of the nouvelle vague (Les 400 coups, 1959) to contemporary documentary (Etre et avoir, 2002) and puts them into their relevant contexts. Depending on the individual film, these include explorations of childhood, adolescence and coming of age (Les 400 coups, L'Argent de poche); auteur ideology and individual style (the films of Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda); the representation of recent French history (Lacombe Lucien and Au revoir les enfants); transnational production practices (Le Pacte des loups); and popular cinema, comedy and gender issues (e.g. Le Diner de cons). Each film is embedded in its cultural and political context. Together, the historical discussions provide an overview of post-war French history to the present. Useful suggestions are made as to studies of related films, both those discussed within the book and outside.


Develop mobile enterprise applications in a language you already know!With employees, rather than the IT department, now driving the decision of which devices to use on the job, many companies are scrambling to integrate enterprise applications. Fortunately, enterprise developers can now create apps for all major mobile devices using C#/.NET and Mono, languages most already know. A team of authors draws on their vast experiences to teach you how to create cross-platform mobile applications, while delivering the same functionality to PC's, laptops and the web from a single technology platform and code-base. Rather than reinventing the wheel with each app, this book provides you with the tools you need for cross-platform development--no new languages needed!Presents an overview of the sea change occurring with the use of enterprise mobile applications and what it means for developersShares the criteria for evaluating and selecting the best option for application architectureReviews tools and techniques for setting up a cross-platform development environmentOffers an introduction to the MonoCross open-source project and pattern for cross-platform developmentPacked with specific software design patterns, development best practices, code examples and sample applications, this must-have book gets you started developing cross-platform mobile apps today.


An enhanced method of spectral mixture analysis is investigated for hyperspectral imagery of moderate-to-high scene complexity, where either a large set of fundamental materials may exist throughout, or where some of the fundamental members have spectra that are similar to each other. For a complex scene, the use of one large set of fundamental materials as the set of "endmembers" for performing spectral unmixing can cause unreliable estimates of material compositions at sites within the scene. In such cases, partitioning this large set of endmembers into a number of smaller sets is appropriate, where the smaller sets are associated with certain regions in a scene. Herein, a Gibbs-based algorithm is developed to partition hyperspectral imagery into regions of similarity. This partitioning algorithm provides an estimator of an underlying and unobserved process called a "partition process" that coexists with other underlying (and unobserved) processes, one of which is called a "spectral mixing process." The algorithm exploits the properties of a Markov random field (MRF) and the associated Gibbs equivalence theorem, using a suitably defined graph structure and a Gibbs distribution to model the partition process. Consequently, spatial consistency is imposed on the spectral content of sites in each partition. The enhanced spectral mixing process is then computed as a linear mixture model that is conditioned on the partition process. Experiments are performed using scenes of HYDICE imagery to validate the algorithm, where spectral mixture analysis is performed with and without conditioning on the partitioning process.


Cardiac fibroblasts influence cardiomyocyte structure and function through direct physical interaction and/or by the secretion of soluble factors. A role for cardiac fibroblasts in cardiomyopathies has been proposed but clear mechanisms are still lacking. This in vitro study set out to characterise the influence of cardiac fibroblasts from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy on cardiomyocyte Ca2+ cycling, a fundamental mechanism of cardiac function universally altered in cardiac disease.

Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPS-CMs) were cultured with human DCM ventricular fibroblasts at a ratio of 2:1 (120,000 fibroblasts to 60,000 iPS-CMs) for 24 hours in three groups: iPS-CMs with fibroblast conditioned medium, co-cultured in transwells to allow bi-directional paracrine communication but prevent physical contact, and iPS-CMs in direct contact with fibroblasts. iPS-CMs alone were used as a baseline. iPS-CMs were field-stimulated at 1Hz and calcium transients were recorded optically. TGF-β, a cytokine previously shown to be important in fibroblast-myocyte interaction, was measured in culture supernate using an ELISA assay.

Versus iPS-CMs alone, Ca2+ transient amplitude was reduced in the conditioned medium group but increased in co-culture (p<0.001, F/F0= 4.02±0.07, 3.01±0.03, 4.50±0.07, n= 264, 344 and 306 cells respectively). Time to peak was increased in conditioned medium vs. baseline (p<0.001, 296±5 ms vs. 255.6±3 ms) while reduced in co-culture and further reduced in direct contact (226±3 ms and 195±2 ms respectively, p<0.001). Conditioned medium and co-culture had no effect on time to 80% decay, but direct contact was significantly reduced (p<0.001 vs. baseline, 408±3 ms and 322±2 ms respectively). TGF- β concentration was higher in co-culture supernatant than conditioned medium (210.2 pg/ml vs. 183.7 pg/ml) and reduced in direct contact (137.7 pg/ml).

Ventricular fibroblasts from cardiomyopathy patients influence iPS-CM calcium handling properties and the context of this interaction is important in determining the end effects. Effects of soluble mediators are prevented/reversed by culturing fibroblasts in direct contact with cardiac myocytes. Changes in concentration of TGF-β in culture supernates suggest interaction between these cell populations modulates their paracrine activity. Whether this interaction is mediated through physical intercellular connections, mechanical stretch or other paracrine factors is unclear. Further work is needed to identify possible mechanisms and explore the consequences of this interaction in vivo.


This book argues that mainstream social scientists have failed to be useful because of misguided efforts to use objectivist methods employed in the natural sciences — of treating humans as "things". It argues that the attempt to imitate the objectivism of natural scientists has caused social scientists to both neglect human collective goals and to overlook a virtual gold mine of empirical data which exists because humans can communicate their feelings, beliefs, and personal histories. This wealth of data exists because of the extraordinary amount of information humans possess due to their ability to interpret and remember their own experiences. Part 1 of the book discusses the ways in which objectivism has led to the undue neglect of human social goals across the social sciences. Part 2 deals with objectivist failures by using models where motivation depends equally upon all important social goals. Cooperative efforts are suggested, perhaps by using alternative organizational and institutional arrangements where universities would reorganize the social sciences into single divisions of human sciences.


The microenvironment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is responsible for the modulation in MSC commitment. Nanocomposites with an inorganic and an organic component have been investigated, and osteogenesis of MSCs has been attributed to inorganic phases such as calcium phosphate under several conditions. Here, electrospun meshes and two-dimensional films of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) or nanocomposites of PLGA and amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles (PLGA/aCaP) seeded with human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) were analyzed for the expression of selected marker genes. In a two-week in vitro experiment, osteogenic commitment was not found to be favored on PLGA/aCaP compared to pure PLGA. Analysis of the medium revealed a significant reduction of the Ca2+ concentration when incubated with PLGA/aCaP, caused by chemical precipitation of hydroxyapatite (HAp) on aCaP seeds of PLGA/aCaP. Upon offering a constant Ca2+ concentration, however, the previously observed anti-osteogenic effect was reversed: alkaline phosphatase, an early osteogenic marker gene, was upregulated on PLGA/aCaP compared to pristine PLGA. Hence, in addition to the cell–material interaction, the material–medium interaction was also important for the stem cell commitment here, affecting the cell–medium interaction. Complex in vitro models should therefore consider all factors, as coupled impacts might emerge.


Title of Document: MULTI-LEVEL AUDIO-VISUAL INTERACTIONS IN SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PERCEPTION Ariane E Rhone, Ph.D., 2011 Directed By: Professor William J. Idsardi, Linguistics That we perceive our environment as a unified scene rather than individual streams of auditory, visual, and other sensory information has recently provided motivation to move past the long-held tradition of studying these systems separately. Although they are each unique in their transduction organs, neural pathways, and cortical primary areas, the senses are ultimately merged in a meaningful way which allows us to navigate the multisensory world. Investigating how the senses are merged has become an increasingly wide field of research in recent decades, with the introduction and increased availability of neuroimaging techniques. Areas of study range from multisensory object perception to cross-modal attention, multisensory interactions, and integration. This thesis focuses on audio-visual speech perception, with special focus on facilitatory effects of visual information on auditory processing. When visual information is concordant with auditory information, it provides an advantage that is measurable in behavioral response times and evoked auditory fields (Chapter 3) and in increased entrainment to multisensory periodic stimuli reflected by steadystate responses (Chapter 4). When the audio-visual information is incongruent, the combination can often, but not always, combine to form a third, non-physically present percept (known as the McGurk effect). This effect is investigated (Chapter 5) using real word stimuli. McGurk percepts were not robustly elicited for a majority of stimulus types, but patterns of responses suggest that the physical and lexical properties of the auditory and visual stimulus may affect the likelihood of obtaining the illusion. Together, these experiments add to the growing body of knowledge that suggests that audio-visual interactions occur at multiple stages of processing. MULTI-LEVEL AUDIO-VISUAL INTERACTIONS IN SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PERCEPTION


Naturally occurring suppressor cells of the in vitro mixed leukocyte culture reaction and of in vivo graft-vs.-host disease have been identified in the spleens of neonatal mice (1) and of adult mice recovering from total lymphoid irradiation (2), whole-body irradiation (3), and syngeneic marrow transplantation (4), or cyclophosphamide therapy (5). Using both positive and negative selection procedures, the suppressors were reported to be null lymphocytes that did not express mature macrophage surface markers, nor differentiate into mature macrophages in vitro, nor demonstrate natural killer (NK) activity (1). Subsequently, cloned lines of these natural suppressor (NS) cells were derived from either adult mice given total lymphoid irradiation (TLI) (2) or from neonates (6). The cloned NS cell lines expressed a surface phenotype (2, 6) similar to that reported previously for cloned NK cells (Thy-1(+), asialo-GM1(+), Ig(-), Lyt-1(-), Lyt-2(-), Ia(-), MAC-1(-)) (7-9). However, the NS cells did not show NK activity in the standard assay with YAC-1 target cells. The cloned NS lines suppressed the proliferation of responder cells and the generation of cytolytic cells in the mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR), and suppressed lethal graft-vs.-host disease in vivo (10, 11). In view of the unusual function and surface phenotype of the cells, the lineage of these cells remained unclear. To determine the lineage of the cloned NS cells, we searched for expression and rearrangement of the α and β chain genes of the T cell antigen receptor, as well as that of the γ chain gene. Studies of the phenotypically similar NK cell yielded conflicting results. Thus, cloned lines of murine NK cells were reported to have rearrangements of the β chain genes, and to express mRNA for all three chains (12). In contrast, freshly purified rat or human large granular lymphocytes (LGL) were shown to express only the 1.0 kb mRNA species of the β chain gene (13), indicative of D-J joining (14). Thus, some but not all cells with NK function express the T cell receptor and are members of the T cell lineage. The current report shows that the NS lines express full-length mRNA transcripts for the a and β chain of the T cell receptor, as well as the γ chain gene.


During several balloon flights inside the Arctic polar vortex in early 2003, unusual trace gas distributions were observed, which indicate a strong influence of mesospheric air in the stratosphere. The tuneable diode laser (TDL) instrument SPIRALE (Spectroscopie InFrarouge par Absorption de Lasers Embarques) measured unusually high CO values (up to 600 ppb) on 27 January at about 30 km altitude. The cryosampler BONBON sampled air masses with very high molecular Hydrogen, extremely low SF6 and enhanced CO values on 6 March at about 25 km altitude. Finally, the MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer showed NOy values which are significantly higher than NOy* (the NOy derived from a correlation between N2O and NOy under undisturbed conditions), on 21 and 22 March in a layer centred at 22 km altitude. Thus, the mesospheric air seems to have been present in a layer descending from about 30 km in late January to 25 km altitude in early March and about 22 km altitude on 20 March. We present corroborating evidence from a model study using the KASIMA (KArlsruhe Simulation model of the Middle Atmosphere) model that also shows a layer of mesospheric air, which descended into the stratosphere in November and early December 2002, before the minor warming which occurred in late December 2002 lead to a descent of upper stratospheric air, cutting of a layer in which mesospheric air is present. This layer then descended inside the vortex over the course of the winter. The same feature is found in trajectory calculations, based on a large number of trajectories started in the vicinity of the observations on 6 March. Based on the difference between the mean age derived from SF6 (which has an irreversible mesospheric loss) and from CO2 (whose mesospheric loss is much smaller and reversible) we estimate that the fraction of mesospheric air in the layer observed on 6 March, must have been somewhere between 35% and 100%.


Interferometric systems consisting of two tandem interferometers with white light have been used as the basis of remote-sensing systems. Generally, no regard has been given to the change in the state of polarization of light in the fiber linking two interferometers. It is shown theoretically that both the phase and the amplitude of the output signal are significantly affected by externally induced birefringence in the fiber link, and in some cases this may cause total fading of the interference signal. This effect is also investigated experimentally.


1. Perfusion of the human jejunum with low concentrations of glycine-conjugated bile acids in physiological solutions induced net fluid flow that varied between absorption and secretion, with only slight variation of the luminal osmotic and ionic milieu. 2. Transmucosal net flux rates for water and the principal ions were calculated. Regression analysis of the flux data was consistent with the concept of a 'net transported fluid' which was iso-osmotic with respect to the lumen, with a superimposed fixed net anion exchange unaffected by the rate or direction of bulk flow. 3. Recalculation of earlier data from comparable studies of the human colon showed similar relationships consistent with varying iso-osmotic bulk flow and fixed ion exchange, the latter differing from that found in the proximal bowel. 4. Studies were performed also in the human ileum. Variable iso-osmotic bulk flow was again encountered, but ion exchange was of a lower magnitude than in the jejunum or colon. Qualitatively, ion exchange in the ileum was intermediate between the jejunum and colon. 5. These analyses suggest that transmucosal bulk flow and ion exchange may be quantitatively and spatially independent processes. They provide support for the hypothesis that bulk flow may be intercellular (and hence extracellular), while ion exchange may take place across the luminal face of the mucosal cell. 6. Secretory agents, such as the dihydroxy bile acids, provide a useful means of analysing solutesolvent flow relationships in greatly differing bulk flow conditions with relatively stable physicochemical parameters.


Urban regeneration is a comprehensive plan preparing the ground for sustainable improvement in economic, physical, social, and environmental condition in a city. Locating urban regeneration projects is one of the most important steps of the plan. The result of the negligence is failure in the implementation of projects or the imposition of financial, social, and cultural damages to cities. The current study intends to verify the hypothesis that following complex, multi-dimensions, and particularly presented models in this paper are considerably more effective on locating projects through presenting an exact locating model and measuring its accuracy in the case study. 13 criteria and 32 sub-criteria of economic, social, physical, environmental, and administrative information have been simultaneously used in locating process in the proposed model. Compatibility Coefficient for the importance of options in AHP model has been calculated and verified by utilizing GIS instrument. Data were collected from the case study by field method to locate the projects. The results show that there is a direct and significant relation between the place of projects and socio- economic variables in the environment.


This study's purpose was to discover whether the seductive detail effect and the isolation effect function similarly in regard to retention of target material. It was hypothesized that seductive detail statements would be better recalled than control statements. It was also hypothesized that the information before and after the seductive detail would be forgotten. The study was conducted online where participants (n = 53) read passages about prominent psychologists. Each passage contained one fabricated seductive detail. After each passage, there was a quiz to test retention. Multivariate, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed enhanced recall of the seductive detail, as compared to the control items, F (2, 84) = 5.45; supporting the first hypothesis. ANOVA analyses also showed that the surrounding material in the seductive detail paragraph was better recalled than the same material in the control paragraph, F (1, 84) = 23.9. Paired samples t-tests did not yield significant differences in comparing the before and after seductive detail sentences to the before and after control sentences. Thus, not supporting the second hypothesis; the anticipated interference effects were not produced. Instead, the results support the implementation of seductive details as an aid for retention of surrounding instructional material.


We consider entanglement extraction into two two-level Unruh-DeWitt detectors from a vacuum of a neutral massless quantum scalar field in a four-dimensional spacetime, where the general monopole coupling to the scalar field is assumed. Based on the reduced density matrix of the two detectors derived within the perturbation theory, we show that the single copy of the entangled pair of the detectors can be utilized in quantum teleportation even when the detectors are separated acausally, while we observe no violation of the Bell-CHSH inequality. In the case of the Minkowski vacuum, in particular, we find that entanglement usable in quantum teleportation is extracted due to the special relativistic effect when the detectors are in a relative inertial motion, while it is not when they are comoving inertially and the switching of the detectors is executed adiabatically at infinite past and future.


As with most things in South Africa, the fields of O&G ultrasound in general and fetal medicine in particular are characterized by a typical mix of first and third world services. Although centres of excellence exist in both the private and public health care sector, the main feature of O&G ultrasound in this country is a surprising inequity in access to high quality services. This is unfortunately true for both public and private sectors, albeit for different reasons.

Lack of good equipment is no longer responsible for this because even in public health care facilities, major progress has been made in the last decade and many large and small O&G departments now have ultrasound equipment of reasonable quality. In the private sector on the other hand, virtually all practices provide ultrasound examinations and an increasing proportion of obstetricians currently have equipment at the top-end of the performance spectrum.

Barriers to ultrasound services in the public sector are mainly related to lack of human resources. Posts in ultrasound units are filled with well-trained staff but posts are few and often concentrated in the main urban centres, significantly limiting accessibility for patients living further away. Innovative approaches can however address this geographic inequity, as shown in the Western Cape rural areas of the West Coast, Boland, Overberg and Winelands districts, where traveling qualified sonographers with portable equipment visit remote areas with a frequency determined by the number of obstetric cases in that region. They offer high quality assessments to large numbers of patients and this has resulted in a significant increase in the number of appropriate referrals to the regional tertiary centre. An additional barrier to equitable access is the potential overuse of ultrasound examinations for dubious indications and strict referral protocols therefore need to be in place to ensure that maximal benefit is obtained from the scarce resource of skilled ultrasound staff. In areas where formal ultrasound services are lacking, most O&G scanning in the public sector is unfortunately performed at random by practitioners (doctors, radiographers or nurses) who have had no (adequate) training in ultrasound and whose skills are questionable. One way to improve on this is to identify key individuals with an interest and potential for ultrasound scanning in every region rather than to allow any untrained staff member to perform examinations that may lead to false or missed diagnoses. Secondary and tertiary centres should get actively involved in outreach programs to identify and train such individuals in a stepwise fashion. Training can initially be aimed primarily at a basic obstetric evaluation and the assessment of early pregnancy complications since this is the greatest need, but can potentially be expanded to the level of a full fetal anatomical survey.

The situation is very different in the private sector, where virtually all women have access to O&G ultrasound, ultrasound examinations are often performed with almost every antenatal visit and remuneration for several ultrasound examinations during pregnancy is generally not a problem. Several fetal medicine centres have been developed in recent years, but these are limited to metropole areas and a few large towns. They only have capacity to manage a small fraction of pregnant women in the private sector and the case selection is currently not so much based on indication but rather on issues like obstetrician's or patients' preference. The majority of women in the private sector do not access these high quality services and the skill to perform an anatomical survey of the fetus is no longer implied in the HPCSA registration (O&G) since it has been excluded from the requirements to pass the FCOG exams in this country. This has allowed ultrasound skills to be highly variable amongst private obstetricians and this is reflected in litigation cases for missed diagnoses of gross and overt fetal anomalies and the low prenatal detection rates of even the most lethal chromosomal abnormalities in SA. Inadequate skill is an even bigger issue for general practitioners providing antenatal care since they have had even less (or hardly any) exposure to O&G ultrasound during their training and the same argument applies to many radiologists performing O&G examinations. Problematic is also the discrepancy in the interpretation of the responsibilities of the operator as far as diagnostic accuracy is concerned: parents are under the impression that the development of their fetus is being assessed in detail and insurers' remuneration is based on that premise, while professionals may assume this level of expertise is not required of them. To clarify this issue, SASUOG has in the past defined the content of different levels of obstetric scanning to avoid misunderstandings between patients and practitioners (www.sasuog.org.za). To improve transparency and to protect patients, multiple parties in SA (incl. the HPCSA, several medical schemes as well as professional indemnity societies) have expressed a clear interest in compulsory accreditation for O&G ultrasound performance.

As good and caring practitioners, it should be our ultimate goal to improve access for all pregnant women to the high quality ultrasound investigations they expect. Although ultrasound is generally regarded as a (biologically) safe investigation, the misdiagnoses (positive and negative) due to technical errors are responsible for most of the harm caused by O&G ultrasound examinations. For this reason we must continue to improve ultrasound skills levels in South Africa on a large scale. SASUOG will certainly continue its' mission to provide training and education in this area, aiming to serve both patients and practitioners alike, but formal accreditation courses will need to be developed to ensure that the demand for future compulsory accreditation can be met without delay. Inclusion of the detailed fetal survey into the FCOG curriculum would ensure that obstetricians' ultrasound accreditation is implied in their HPCSA registration and the incorporation of qualified sonographers in O&G ultrasound services, both in the public and private health care sector, could increase the availability of high quality ultrasound examinations considerably.

The superb image quality of modern ultrasound equipment will not be sufficient to improve diagnostic accuracy for the majority of women in our rainbow nation. It is only the skilled use of this technology that will ultimately be of benefit.


The design of modified oligonucleotides that combine in one molecule several therapeutically beneficial properties still poses a major challenge. Recently a new type of modified mesyl phosphoramidate (or µ-) oligonucleotide was described that demonstrates high affinity to RNA, exceptional nuclease resistance, efficient recruitment of RNase H, and potent inhibition of key carcinogenesis processes in vitro. Herein, using a xenograft mouse tumor model, it was demonstrated that microRNA miR-21-targeted µ-oligonucleotides administered in complex with folate-containing liposomes dramatically inhibit primary tumor growth via long-term down-regulation of miR-21 in tumors and increase in biosynthesis of miR-21-regulated tumor suppressor proteins. This antitumoral effect is superior to the effect of the corresponding phosphorothioate. Peritumoral administration of µ-oligonucleotide results in its rapid distribution and efficient accumulation in the tumor. Blood biochemistry and morphometric studies of internal organs revealed no pronounced toxicity of µ-oligonucleotides. This new oligonucleotide class provides a powerful tool for antisense technology.


UNLABELLED
Body contouring by means of minimally invasive procedures is a growing trend. Current approaches to body contouring often involve a combination of surgical techniques (eg, laser-assisted liposuction) and a series of noninvasive device-based treatments aimed at accelerating recovery and improving aesthetic outcomes. In this case study, we describe a 38-year-old woman who presented with an abdominal-wall mass that resembled a tumor when assessed with magnetic resonance imaging. Twenty-six months before presenting to our office, the patient had undergone laser lipolysis and a series of treatments with a device that delivered dual-wavelength laser energy and vacuum-assisted massage. To address the patient's concerns, we removed the mass and performed abdominal dermolipectomy. No postoperative complications occurred, and the patient was highly satisfied with the aesthetic outcome. The results of histologic studies indicated that the mass was pseudocystic and fluid-filled, surrounded by a fibrous capsule, and characterized as a foreign-body granuloma. Further analysis is warranted regarding the safety of laser lipolysis without aspiration combined with a device delivering dual-wavelength laser energy and vacuum-assisted massage.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
5 Risk.


Over the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of software to create great 3D- models of archaeological sites and objects, and there has been plenty of thought and discussion on data models for finds. The results of those exertions have been made public through institutional websites and specific portals, but now, a further step is necessary: the cultural heritage data and (meta)data need to be taken into the semantic web. The "Heritage Online Visualisation Engine" (further: HeronVE) was born to do this. It provides tools for documenting, visualising and disseminating the semantic relations between sites, objects, documentation and narratives. Heron VE is scalable: it can be used to tell the story of a particular archaeological complex, but it can also illustrate relations between sites and objects which are widely separated in both time and space. With Heron VE, dissemination of (meta)data can take many different forms: Heron VE contains modules for presenting and reporting on data, but it can also be used to provide data only, for example in several XML-formats or in N-triples. The designer of Heron VE has 25 years of experience with cultural heritage data in the field of archaeology, in museums and in libraries. During those 25 years, he has also been working on the structured dissemination of cultural heritage data, first in the semantic web and now within the framework of linked data. The paper will illustrate the journey towards Heron VE, including considerations regarding the adoption, adaptation or rejection of existing data models and ontologies. It will also contain examples. These will mainly be based on data regarding (sites of former) castles and stately homes in the Netherlands, but it will become very clear that the Heron VE can be applied to many different culture heritage datasets, including those regarding ancient urban areas.


In consideration that it is impossible to effectively transmit and promptly analyze the monitored data under variable environment in remote areas, this paper designed a remote stress monitoring system based on GPRS and ZigBee. The lower position machine of system consists of optical fiber sensor module and ZigBee module. The lower position machine will pack monitored the data of stress that optical fiber sensor measured through cascade transmission by ZigBee module. Then, the packed data will be sent by GPRS module of coordinator node to a remote server. The software on the upper computer are written in C# language, on which users can check the monitored data of stress when the client connected with the server. In this way, they can handle the alarms in time and set the alarm threshold of ZigBee through the client for remote wireless stress monitoring of steel on a real-time basis. Stable and economical for transmitting data at a fast speed, this system can completely monitor the stress in variable environment on a real-time basis.


Teaching for understanding is a traditional goal in education that is enhanced through what curriculum theorists Wiggins and McTighe (1998) called "uncovering." In this article the authors describe the ways that interactive computer technology--hypertext--facilitates this act of "uncovering" as students try out ideas, formulate questions, and rethink previous knowledge to reveal personal connections and associations among complex, abstract, and counterintuitive ideas. Using examples from high school and university graduate and undergraduate art education classes, the authors reveal ways that hypertextual uncovering transforms the traditional "hands-on" practice of teaching and learning in art to a "minds-on" approach that involves explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. ********** "Understanding" through such hands-on activities as artmaking and critique has been a traditional goal in art education for many years. Teachers demonstrate and teach artmaking techniques or media following a discussion of a work of art and the artist responsible for its creation. Students then try out this newly acquired information by making something with their hands and the materials available to them. Aesthetics, criticism, and art history--the other aspects of the art world--are taught through research and course readings that are then discussed and "tried-out" through practical "hands-on" activities. Such activities may include formal class discussion, critique, and individual and group work. The goal of these "hands-on" activities is student understanding attained through practical application. The hope is that as students practically apply new knowledge and information they will try out possible solutions, formulate questions, and rethink previous knowledge to reveal personal connections and associations among complex, abstract, and counterintuitive ideas. Assessing, evaluating, and/or charting this process is a constant and continual challenge for art educators. Our students learn in idiosyncratic ways and no matter how many choices of hands-on activities are presented or are available in the classroom, not everyone will respond or understand in authentic ways. Not everyone will make personal connections and associations through hands-on projects. And even if they do, how do we know? How do our students know? How can we more directly involve our students in understanding beyond the art curriculum that which they begin to know in the art classroom? UNCOVERING IN ART EDUCATION Education curriculum theorists Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (1998) pointed to the aforementioned understanding process as "uncovering." It could be said that such uncovering is at the heart of the study and making of art. Aesthetician Arthur Danto (1992) looked at art history as a series of erasures of the rules of what could be art, rather than viewing the field as a series of advances or responses to past movements. "And that means that to understand [a work of art] requires reconstruction of the historical and critical perception which motivated it" (p. 47). The context in which the art was made and the context in which we view it affect our artistic interpretation. Such contextual recognition requires us to move past superficial and/or first impressions toward a more sophisticated process of research and thinking through active uncovering. The idea of uncovering also refers to archeology and the notion that meaning is hidden, buried, and overlooked. That is, researchers and critics uncover meaning embedded within artifacts, material and visual culture, and works of art. Further, some theorists use the metaphor of "layers of meaning," to describe the relative complexity and density of information related to a particular work of art. Artists also consider layered meaning and the act of uncovering content in and through the works of art they produce. For example, contemporary artist Flo Oy Wong's The Baby Jack Rice Story (1993-1996) documents the story of her husband, Ed Wong, and his childhood experiences living and growing up in the segregated South. …


Abstract Artificial intelligence is increasingly penetrating industrial applications as well as areas that affect our daily lives. As a consequence, there is a need for criteria to validate whether the quality of AI applications is sufficient for their intended use. Both in the academic community and societal debate, an agreement has emerged under the term "trustworthiness" as the set of essential quality requirements that should be placed on an AI application. At the same time, the question of how these quality requirements can be operationalized is to a large extent still open. In this paper, we consider trustworthy AI from two perspectives: the product and organizational perspective. For the former, we present an AI-specific risk analysis and outline how verifiable arguments for the trustworthiness of an AI application can be developed. For the second perspective, we explore how an AI management system can be employed to assure the trustworthiness of an organization with respect to its handling of AI. Finally, we argue that in order to achieve AI trustworthiness, coordinated measures from both product and organizational perspectives are required.


Most economists would agree that the positive externalities caused by prevention of infectious disease create a prima facie case for subsidies. However, little is known about the appropriate magnitude of these subsidies, or about whether the level of such subsidies should vary across diseases. We integrate a standard epidemiological model with an economic model of consumer and producer behavior to address these questions. Across a continuum of market structures, we find that the equilibrium steady-state marginal externality is non-monotonic in disease transmissiblity, peaking when the disease is just transmissible enough to survive in steady-state. This pattern implies that marginal externalities-and, as we show, optimal subsidies-are higher for serious but rare diseases relative to diseases with lower individual burden but higher disease prevalence. Crude calibrations suggest that optimal subsidies for technologies such as vaccines, condoms, and mosquito nets, which prevent infectious diseases, may be very large relative to current levels.


We present a sketch-based interface for parameter control of rule-based models. It allows intuitive specification and creation of plant structures with L-systems. Construction lines inspired by concept sketches are employed as a way to define and manipulate global-to-local characteristics of L-system models. The overall structure, posture and proportions of the plant are initially sketched by the user as construction line arrangements. They are automatically encoded as a set of positional functions controlling internode lengths, branching angles, organ sizes, and stem shape. These positional functions are then used to parameterize pre-defined L-system templates representing phyllotactic patterns for positioning lateral organ surfaces such as leaves and petals. Results are presented for single monopodial plant structures, all generated from simple input construction line sketches.


Electronic portal imaging devices are valuable for analyzingpatient treatment data for geometric errors. The analysis can be more robust if an absolute reference position such as the isocentre (collimator axis of rotation) is used, allowing discrimination between setup errors and Jaw/MLC calibration errors. Conventionally, investigators have extracted field edges through global thresholding, and compared the treated to the planned field placement using techniques such as the method of moments and normalized cross‐correlation. The accuracy of these methods depends on the accuracy and consistency of the MLC and Jaw calibration as well as on EPID performance such as intensity uniformity. In this work we describe how the MLC inter‐leaf radiation leakage, hidden in the background of portal images, can be extracted and analyzed to find the field isocentre. The peak locations of inter‐leaf radiation leakage in a portal image are extracted providing a very precise and accurate determination of the isocentre location in the direction perpendicular to the MLC leaf travel. Clearly orthogonal portal images can provide a very accurate determination of beam isocentre in both directions. The orientation of the interleaf leakage can also be used to determine mechanical inconsistencies in the EPID structure as a function of gantry angle. The image analysis of the inter‐leaf radiation leakage for determining imager translation and orientation is described.


This paper presents a real-time face recognition system. For the system to be real time, no external time-consuming feature extraction method is used, rather the gray-level values of the raw pixels that make up the face pattern are fed directly to the recognizer. In order to absorb the resulting high dimensionality of the input space, support vector machines (SVMs), which are known to work well even in high-dimensional space, are used as the face recognizer. Furthermore, a modified form of polynomial kernel (local correlation kernel) is utilized to take account of prior knowledge about facial structures and is used as the alternative feature extractor. Since SVMs were originally developed for two-class classification, their basic scheme is extended for multiface recognition by adopting one-per-class decomposition. In order to make a final classification from several one-per-class SVM outputs, a neural network (NN) is used as the arbitrator. Experiments with ORL database show a recognition rate of 97.9% and speed of 0.22 seconds per face with 40 classes.


The shift toward sustainable electricity systems is one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. Decentralized production from renewable sources, electric mobility, and related advances are at odds with traditional power systems where central, large-scale generation of electricity follows inelastic consumer demand. Information systems innovations can enable new forms of dynamic electricity trading that leverage real-time consumption information and that use price signals to incentivize sustainable consumption behaviors. However, the best designs for these innovations, and the societal implications of different design choices, are largely unclear. We are addressing these challenges through the Power Trading Agent Competition (Power TAC), a competitive gaming platform on which numerous research groups now jointly devise, benchmark, and improve IS-based solutions to the sustainable electricity challenge. Based on the Power TAC community's results, we give preliminary empirical evidence for the efficacy of competitive gaming platforms, and for the community's contributions toward resolving the sustainable electricity challenge.


In this paper a stratigraphic scheme is proposed for the Neoproterozoic Rosh Pinah Formation in southwestern Namibia. The formation forms part of the Port Nolloth Zone in the Pan-African Gariep Belt and has become famous for hosting two major economic base metal deposits at Rosh Pinah and Skorpion. It is characterised by the presence of volcanic rocks in an otherwise clastic-dominated sediment succession. Genetically, it is related to progressive opening of a failed intracratonic rift graben in the east (Rosh Pinah Graben) that was separated by a basement horst from a half graben to the west, which developed into the Adamastor Ocean. During early rifting, sedimentation started along the western flank of an actively rising fault scarp as alluvial fans, alluvial plains and fan deltas. The main rock types are arkose, dolomitised limestone, calcarenite, siltstone, mudstone and a variety of volcanic and pyroclastic rocks related to bimodal, predominantly felsic ~750 Ma magmatism. Sedimentation of the Rosh Pinah Formation began during a glacial period that is correlated with the global 720 to 750 Ma Sturtian glaciation.

The Rosh Pinah Formation displays repetitive sedimentary cycles that reflect rapid deposition with intervening quiescent periods related to reactivation on basin bounding faults with subsequent thermal and mechanical subsidence. Sedimentary facies play an important role in the localization of sedimentary-exhalative and hydrothermal replacement mineral deposits as fine-grained anoxic sediments. While deposition of the Rosh Pinah Formation volcano-sedimentary successions was sustained in the more active parts of the basin, background sedimentation to the west is reflected by more distal deposits, ranging from planar laminated allodapic limestone to mudstone, followed by platform carbonates. In proximal positions, tilting of the rift shoulders led to partial erosion of the Rosh Pinah Formation and thus to intraformational breccias and olistostromes.

The Rosh Pinah Formation is overlain by a regressive, siliciclastic succession, which has been interpreted as reflecting eustatic seawater fall in preparation of a major, probably syn-Marinoan (~580 Ma) glaciation. Finally the original geometry of the Rosh Pinah Formation depository was largely overprinted by intense ductile deformation during the Gariepian orogeny, which started ~580 Ma and reached its peak at ~545 Ma.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) promise to greatly enhance and simplify the collection of sensor data in many applications. Individually, nodes are relatively limited, with minimalist computational power, communication bandwidth and energy. Lots of effort continues to be made to manage these limitations whilst providing a powerful overall system. Unfortunately, these limitations and solutions introduce new security challenges that must be solved. This work enhances authentication in WSNs for high security scenarios. A review of available security solutions for wireless sensor networks found an over-emphasis on link-layer security. This is insufficient as attackers can easily imitate any node if a single key in the network is compromised. End-to-end security offers an improvement by allowing the sink to authenticate the source of a message as well as its integrity. The impracticality of using public key cryptography for all communication requires that different symmetric keys are shared between the sink and individual nodes. This can cause significant communication overhead in the network, unbalanced energy use and network lifetime reduction. The first contribution addresses this problem with the concept of Broadcast Key Establishment (BKE). BKE allows the sink to distribute key material using a broadcast that is used to securely generate different keys on each node. The evaluation shows that this method significantly reduces overheads, extends the life of the network and causes less disruption. The combination of wireless communication and exposed resources on nodes has resulted in new attack threats. For example, attackers can inject arbitrary messages and waste computational resources via cryptographic algorithms. The second contribution, Distance-Based Message Authentication, focuses on physical layer security to reject messages, based on distance measurement, as early as possible. Practical experiments evaluate ranging accuracy and optimisations. This work therefore improves WSN authentication by efficiently distributing keys, for end-to-end authentication, and protects resources against depletion attack.


Sarcoidosis (Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease) is a multisystem disease of unknown etiology with various cutaneous presentations. It is characterized by the presence of non-caseating 'naked' granulomas in the affected tissue. We report a case of polymorphic cutaneous sarcoid in a 39-year-old immunocompetent male. He was visited at our outpatient department with multiple asymptomatic red colored raised lesions on different parts of the body. His history was significant for smoking and diabetes mellitus of varying duration. Cutaneous examination revealed multiple well-defined erythematous plaques of various shapes and sizes with minimal scaling. His blood investigations were normal except for raised serum angiotensin converting enzyme levels. Radiological investigations showed reticulonodular, fibrotic changes and hilar adenopathy on the chest film. We report this case to apprise clinicians of the fact that cutaneous sarcoid is a great mimicker due to lesional polymorphism and could be mistaken for a common dermatosis like psoriasis in our case.


In a SFC, sometimes some SFs are provided by several DC networks,
which means these SFs my locates in different DC network . How to
establish such SFC that is across several DCs is what the draft wants
to present. In this document, a hierarchical SFC method is proposed.
It covers data plane, control plane to archieve such hierarchical SFC.
And it includes requirements of the SFC Gateway for every DC network
that provide SF for SFC.


Abstract Ontogenetic sequence reconstruction is challenging particularly for extinct taxa because of when, where, and how fossils preserve. Different methods of reconstruction exist, but the effects of preservational bias, the applicability of size-independent methods, and the prevalence of sequence polymorphism (intraspecific variation) remain unexplored for paleontological data. Here I compare five different methods of ontogenetic sequence reconstruction and their effects on the detection of sequence polymorphism, using a large collection of the extinct vertebrates Microbrachis pelikani and Hyloplesion longicostatum. The postcranial ossification sequences presented here for those taxa are the first examples known for extinct lepospondyls. Sequences were reconstructed according to skull length, trunk length, increasing number of ontogenetic events, majority-rule consensus, and Ontogenetic Sequence Analysis (OSA). Results generally were in agreement, demonstrating that paleontological data may be used to robustly reconstruct developmental patterns. When reconstructing sequences based on fossils, size-based methods and OSA are more objective and less dependent on preservational bias than other techniques. Apart from the other methods, OSA also allows for statistical analysis of observed and predicted polymorphism. However, OSA requires a large sample size to yield meaningful results, and size-based methods are justified in paleontological studies when sample size is limited by poor preservation. Different methods of reconstruction detected different patterns of sequence polymorphism, although across all methods the magnitude of sequence variation for M. pelikani and H. longicostatum (1.3−3.4%) was within the lower range of values reported for extant vertebrates. Compared with other extinct and extant tetrapods, all sequence reconstruction methods consistently showed that M. pelikani and H. longicostatum exhibit advanced ossification of the pubis and delayed ossification of the scapula. However, the postcranial ossification sequences of these two taxa largely are congruent with those of other tetrapods, suggesting an underlying conservative ancestral pattern that evolved early in tetrapod history.


We study how external versus internal innovations promote economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework with multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and entry/exit. Firms invest in external R&D to acquire new product lines and in internal R&D to improve their existing product lines. A baseline model derives the theoretical implications of weaker scaling for external R&D versus internal R&D, and the resulting predictions align with observed empirical regularities for innovative firms. Quantifying a generalized model for the recent U.S. economy using matched Census Bureau and patent data, we observe a modest departure for external R&D from perfect scaling frameworks.


Experimental studies of ultrafast beam shaping have come about from the need to compensate diffraction-induced dispersive effects in femtosecond laser beams. From a theoretical point of view, chromatic matching of diffracted spherical waves in the vicinity of the geometrical focus is attained by applying conveniently dispersive boundary conditions in the far-field zone, a subject thoroughly analyzed in the paraxial regime. For applications demanding high spatial resolution, however, high-numerical-aperture microscope objectives may be employed instead and would lead to nonparaxiality of the focal wavefields. These circumstances have motivated our investigation. Concretely we report on prerequisites for spectral invariance extended to wide-angle geometries, which provides stabilization of the spatiotemporal response in the Fourier plane. In this context, general boundary conditions are given in the frame of the Debye representation of wavefields. Features of this sort of dynamic apodization (spatial filtering) leading to perfect achromatization are described in detail.


Referencing the transnational migratory flows most closely associated with globalizing modernity, this chapter treats the origins and development of New Religious Movements in Brazil. Two principal questions are addressed: first, where do the NRMs populating the religious landscape of Brazil come from? And, second, why are there so many NRMs currently in existence? By way of answering these questions, the chapter opens by delineating the kind of NRMs present in Brazil and then addresses the question of origins by using concrete examples to identify and engage the most important originary dynamics responsible for the arrival and formation of NRMs. The chapter then engages the question of proliferation by examining various structural processes which combine to catalyze the aforementioned originary dynamics in a manner which engenders the contemporary burgeoning of NRMs across Brazilian society. A concluding section explicates the most important socio-cultural implications associated with the contemporary proliferation of NRMs.


Many cities are experiencing mature urban water economies, characterised by limited opportunities for future water impoundments, rising incremental supply and infrastructure costs, intensified competition and increased interdependencies between diverse water uses. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is currently promoted as one option to augment existing supplies and in many jurisdictions is assuming increasing importance in the portfolio of urban water management strategies. Consistent with trends in international water policy development, Australian water reform has emphasised institutional and governance approaches promoting voluntary transfers of water through market exchange. The reform process has made substantial advances in addressing the constraints and tensions associated with mature rural water economies, with limited influence in urban water systems. What remains unclear is the degree of alignment of new water management technologies such as ASR operations with explicit water reform directives of market development and the capacity of subsequent urban water legislation to provide consistent and coherent ASR guidelines. The paper describes a systematic approach to align the hydrological characteristics of an aquifer with economic and policy interpretations central to the development and management of ASR. The paper introduces a schema to identify the elements of the urban terrestrial water cycle specific to ASR, the development of a typology to characterise the aquifer potential for ASR, and identify and determine the nature of property rights for each system element according to the principles of robust separation of water rights.


Executive summary. On 31 March 2010 the ten Member States of Western European Union (WEU) announced that the last organs, staffs and activities of that institution would be laid to rest by 30 June 2011. Having resiled from the Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT) of 1954 which created WEU as a successor to the Western Union of 1948, these nations are now working to dispose of the staff, premises and archives at WEU's Brussels offices and its Parliamentary Assembly in Paris. Little public interest has been shown in these moves, perhaps because WEU's operational and political work had already been taken over by the European Union (EU), in the frame of its new European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), at the end of 1999.

Why get rid of WEU's last vestiges precisely now? This study addresses the question, and seeks to assess WEU's achievements and legacies by reviewing its 57-year career from cradle to grave. Modest though WEU's own role may have been, it has been intimately linked with one of the great policy challenges of the post-war world: the search for a distinct and effective form of 'European defence'.

The original Brussels Treaty of 1948, creating a permanent guaranteed defence relationship between the UK, France and the Benelux countries, was a vital step towards the realization of the North Atlantic Alliance. When the attempt to create an even more deeply integrated European Defence Community including Germany broke down in 1954, WEU was created as a self-confessed pis aller. Its treaty, the MBT, still contained absolute mutual guarantees but from the start WEU left the operative work of defence to NATO. It fulfilled useful tasks in cementing the post-war order, but then sank into slumber until the mid-1980s. When first reawakened, it became a talking-shop for a core group of West Europeans, helping them cope with the trans-Atlantic strains of the time and developing some sense of Europe's shared and distinct security interests.

During the 1990s, WEU had to reinvent itself in face of demands for post-Cold War enlargement and new-style crisis management operations. It was further steered by the evolving needs of the EU and NATO, for whom it came to serve as intermediary. Its low profile and flexibility let it bring the enlargement candidates and European non-Allies, as well as non-EU members of NATO, closely into its work from an early date. It invented a definition ('Petersberg formula') for crisis management tasks that could realistically be carried out by Europeans alone; and it built intricate partnerships with both NATO and the EU that in theory allowed NATO's military assets to be borrowed for missions under an EU political lead. However, the only operations actually launched under a WEU flag were loosely coordinated naval ones, and police and other civilian actions. WEU never enjoyed the political status or trust in capitals to be seriously considered for more demanding military tasks, even when European coalitions were in the lead.

Frustration with this situation, and with the weak show made by European capabilities under a NATO flag, drove Britain and France in 1998 to propose giving the EU its own military arm. The formula adopted for this in Helsinki at end-1999 limited EU actions to the 'Petersberg' crisis management and humanitarian spectrum, thus avoiding a direct clash with NATO and allowing the EU's non-Allied members to participate fully. The non-EU European Allies, however, lost status compared with WEU and this led to Turkish blocking tactics for the first years of ESDP, delaying the first ESDP operations (in Former Yugoslavia) to 2003. Nevertheless the bulk of WEU's functions were transferred to EU equivalents, leaving a residual secretariat to guard the MBT. The WEU Institute for Security Studies and Satellite Centre became EU agencies and a few years later, the two WEU-linked armament cooperation bodies WEAG and WEAO were superseded by the EU's European Defence Agency.

Economy-minded nations were pondering a final close-down of WEU as early as 2004, but the decisive move came in February 2010 following entry into force of the EU's Lisbon Treaty. This text contains (Article 42.7) a pledge by all 27 EU members to assist each other against military attack, but – contrasting with the MBT's clarity – the language is heavily qualified by references to NATO's primacy and respect for the non-Allies' status. Prompted by the UK with arguments for cost-saving, the WEU powers nevertheless agreed in March 2010 that this development made the MBT redundant. Behind their decision seems to lie an acceptance that the European defence idea can be pushed no further in the EU framework, at least for the foreseeable future. NATO still plays the beau role in 'hard' peace missions as well as territorial defence, and commands more attention even from the French military than a European Union handicapped by German (and other) misgivings. The Franco-British defence treaty of November 2010 signals a certain impatience with all institutional constraints, as well as the severity of post-2008 budget pressures.

An initial post mortem on WEU's achievements could give credit for its role in early post-war consolidation; for its political services both to a European security identity and to trans-Atlantic harmony from the 80s onwards; and its help in cementing common approaches especially to crisis management missions across the wider Europe. Its 'Petersberg' formula has stood the test of time and remains at the heart of EU Treaty provisions on practical defence cooperation. The WEU Institute and Satcen have discovered wider horizons under EU ownership, while WEAO in particular showed a way forward in the still problematic field of defence industrial collaboration. In the military and operational sphere WEU's acquis was drawn upon extensively and usefully, where appropriate, during ESDP's formative period, though for obvious reasons this was not highlighted at the time. This acquis included planning in the operational, logistic, command and control, communications and force generation fields; the construction of intelligence and situational awareness capabilities; the design of crisis management, exercise and training procedures; and the experience of mounting the first (modest) Petersberg-style operation – MAPE in Albania.

The EU has proved unable to absorb, let alone improve upon, three things from WEU's legacy: the true collective defence guarantees of the MBT, the openness to Turkey and other non-EU Allies, and the maintenance of a specialized parliamentary assembly for defence and security (which will be replaced, at best, by a much weaker inter-parliamentary network). In all other respects European defence and security cooperation has clearly fared much better under the EU's wing than it ever could in WEU, producing more than 20 actual crisis operations for a start. If the EU now finds itself unable to move further, there are at least two possible hopeful readings of the post-WEU situation. One is that the EU and its members will be spurred to greater and more integrated defence efforts by some future set of challenges, distinct from 20th-century territorial warfare. The other reading is that the EU's nature, values, longer-term survival and true security potential are better served without a 'hard' military personality. The kind of European defence that WEU and its Treaty stood for has proved elusive after nearly 60 years of effort: could it also be, in the final analysis, unnecessary and undesirable?