Despite the media attention afforded to the recent family separation crisis at the southern border of the United States, there is a much more prevalent and common form of family separation: parental incarceration. The United States is the largest incarcerator worldwide, and the surge in the incarceration of women has meant a dramatic increase in the incarceration of parents who are primary caregivers. United States federal sentencing law allows for consideration of family support and caregiving, but such consideration is limited in scope and usage. In the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but are advisory for federal judges, Section 5H1.6 states that a defendant's "family ties and responsibilities are not ordinarily relevant" to a downward departure analysis. The current federal sentencing structure in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) allows for some consideration of a defendant's history and characteristics, but judges often employ an analysis similar to the "not ordinarily relevant" inquiry. Unclear parameters for evaluating a defendant's role as a family supporter and caregiver under these statutes, and inconsistent applications of the "not ordinarily relevant" test, have resulted in disparate outcomes across the country. While numerous solutions have been offered to create better policies, more uniform application, and less unnecessary incarceration of parents, many require too much work for implementation on a mass scale.

This Note advocates for a pattern already employed by several federal courts, in which a defendant's irreplaceability as a caretaker or provider is the primary factor in a family ties and responsibilities downward departure analysis. By solidifying a presumption that a defendant's status as an irreplaceable caretaker of dependent(s) is reasonable grounds for downward departure, courts can continue following a path of precedent that works to ensure parents will not be unnecessarily incarcerated, and their children and dependents will not be needlessly separated from their loved ones.


Nonparametric extensions of topic models such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation, including Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP), are often studied in natural language processing. Training these models generally requires use of serial algorithms, which limits scalability to large data sets and complicates acceleration via use of parallel and distributed systems. Most current approaches to scalable training of such models either don't converge to the correct target, or are not data-parallel. Moreover, these approaches generally do not utilize all available sources of sparsity found in natural language - an important way to make computation efficient. Based upon a representation of certain conditional distributions within an HDP, we propose a doubly sparse data-parallel sampler for the HDP topic model that addresses these issues. We benchmark our method on a well-known corpora (PubMed) with 8m documents and 768m tokens, using a single multi-core machine in under three days.


Thoroughly revised edition of an essential text, incorporating a wealth of new material on American foreign policy since 9/11. The second edition of this concise masterwork includes vast amounts of new material on American foreign policy in the post-9/11 era, including the war in Iraq. Holsti explores the poorly understood role of public opinion in international affairs, looking at Americans' capacity to make informed judgments about issues far removed from their personal experience. "Impressively comprehensive and current: an excellent revision of a book by the #1 authority on the topic. This new edition will remain at the forefront for consultation and textbook adoption on the topic for years to come."-Bruce Russett, Yale University "I thought the first edition was the best single treatment of the subject-so, apparently, did the student who 'borrowed' my copy-and this is a worthy successor. The new edition almost flawlessly accomplishes the goal Holsti sets for himself: an update of his landmark book in light of emerging research and the dramatically changed state of the world that confronts U.S. foreign policy."-Randy Siverson, University of California, Davis "For those who are curious about the impact of 9/11 on American public opinion, for serious students of the relationship between foreign policy and public opinion, for anyone who wants to understand contemporary American opinion about the United States' place in the world, and for citizens tired of conventional wisdom about a difficult and important subject, Holsti's study is not only interesting and topical, it is essential."-Maxine Isaacs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University "In an age of almost weekly polling on foreign policy, Holsti's insights are indispensable. He delivers double tour de force in this new edition, providing his own current and historical research along with a comprehensive synthesis of the existing literature. His analysis of the relationships between public opinion and foreign policy since 9/11 will prove particularly valuable for students and scholars alike."-Richard Eichenberg, Tufts University "Holsti combines a vast knowledge of political history and a mastery of the relevant scholarship with up-to-date empirical data to address the question of what role the general public can play in shaping foreign policy. This revised edition is a remarkable achievement."-Shoon Murray, School of International Service, American University


Linda Lainvoo: Sociopolitical Messages in Eastern Orthodox Church Buildings of the Era of Alexander II in Parnu County Keywords: Orthodox Church; Livonia, Russian Empire; conversion movement Summary In Estonian historiography, the topic of Orthodoxy and Orthodox churches has mostly been treated in connection to the Russian Empire and the Russification policy, rather than the local Estonian Orthodox Christians. Yet in the aftermath of the extensive religious conversions of the 1840s the number of Orthodox believers among Estonian peasantry in some regions rose to eighty percent or more of the population during the second half  of the nineteenth century. Because of the active religious conversion, building of churches accelerated in Livonia during the 1860s and 1870s, covering some regions with an extensive network of Orthodox churches. This article surveys the Orthodox churches that were built in Parnu county during the 1860s and 1870s, focussing on the iconostases of these churches, their iconographic setup, and sociopolitical significance. The construction of Orthodox churches was a clearly conceptualised process that on the one hand served the interests of the local Orthodox converts but on the other, new churches functioned as landmarks that called attention to the presence of the Orthodoxy in the region. Exceptionally telling and important messages were also conveyed by the iconostases installed in these churches, as well as their iconic programs. Frequently, a central feature of the sociopolitical situation was the antagonism between manors and Lutheran congregations. Correspondingly, the iconostases of the Orthodox churches clearly reflect the prevailing situation in the congregation during the church construction, adding to the written sources a viable and attractive supporting source that facilitates the study of the period. CV: Linda Lainvoo has graduated from the University of Tartu with degrees in art history and theology. In 2011, she defended her master's thesis titled The Iconostases of the Orthodox Churches in Parnu County in the 1860s and 1870s in the Institute of History at Tallinn University. Her main research field is Eastern Orthodoxy and Orthodox art in Estonia and Livonia during the 19th century. Lainvoo works as a programme manager at the Kadriorg Art Museum (a subdivision of the Art Museum of Estonia). She has participated in the exhibition working teams at the Art Museum of Estonia as well as curated exhibitions. Since 2013, she is a lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Tartu.


The museum is a powerful site of representation; "which" objects and "how" they are displayed engenders issues of ownership and carries a symbolism that has social and political consequences. This article will look at the changing relations between museums and the Indigenous communities of Taiwan and how these relationships are manifest in the museums' collections, exhibitions, and communication strategies. To provide historical context and trajectories of change, I examine how the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan were represented in museums and exhibitions in early twentieth-century colonial regimes. I then discuss changes in the representations of Indigenous peoples within post-war Taiwan and how these changes relate to the complex search for national identity, which invokes echoes of the Japanese colonial period and the dominance of Han Chinese heritage. I utilize James Clifford's idea of the museum as a contact zone to explore strategies of "culture-collecting" and the extent to which this can be seen as a response to particular political conditions, such as histories of dominance, hierarchy, and resistance. As contact zones, museums can help communities negotiate difficult cultural and political problems through dialogue and alliances. Furthermore, in order to identify some of the key themes that also relate to Taiwan, the article will draw upon cases of emerging partnerships and collaborations between Indigenous communities and museum sectors to examine how these assist in re-thinking issues around the representation of Indigenous peoples by asserting new political relationships through their material culture.


Cluster validation measures are designed to find the partitioning that best fits the underlying data. In this paper, we show that these well-known and scientifically proven validation measures can also be used in a different context, i.e., for filtering mislabeled instances or class outliers prior to training in super-vised learning problems. A technique, entitled CVI-based Outlier Filtering, is proposed in which mislabeled instances are identified and eliminated from the training set, and a classification hypothesis is then built from the set of remaining instances. The proposed approach assigns each instance several cluster validation scores representing its potential of being an outlier with respect to the clustering properties the used validation measures assess. We examine CVI-based Outlier Filtering and compare it against the LOF detection method on ten data sets from the UCI data repository using five well-known learning algorithms and three different cluster validation indices. In addition, we study two approaches for filtering mislabeled instances: local and global. Our results show that for most learning algorithms and data sets, the proposed CVI-based outlier filtering algorithm outperforms the baseline method (LOF). The greatest increase in classification accuracy has been achieved by combining at least two of the used cluster validation indices and global filtering of mislabeled instances.


BACKGROUND
A single nucleotide polymorphism (rs7914558) within the cyclin M2 (CNNM2) gene was recently identified as a common risk variant for schizophrenia. The mechanism by which CNNM2 confers risk is unknown.

AIMS
To determine the impact of the rs7914558 risk 'G' allele [corrected] on measures of neurocognition, social cognition and brain structure.

METHOD
Patients with schizophrenia (n = 400) and healthy controls (n = 160) completed measures of neuropsychological function and social cognition. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were also acquired from an overlapping sample of Irish healthy controls (n = 159) and an independent sample of Italian patients (n = 82) and healthy controls (n = 39).

RESULTS
No effects of genotype on neuropsychological test performance were observed. However, a dosage effect of the risk allele was found for an index of social cognition (i.e. attributional style), such that risk status was associated with reduced self-serving bias across groups (GG>AG>AA, P<0.05). Using voxel-based morphometry to investigate neuroanatomical regions putatively supporting social cognition, risk carriers had relatively increased grey matter volume in the right temporal pole and right anterior cingulate cortex (Pcorrected<0.05) in the Irish healthy controls sample; neuroanatomical associations between CNNM2 and grey matter volume in anterior cingulate cortex were also observed in the Italian schizophrenia and healthy controls samples.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the biological role of CNNM2 in schizophrenia remains unknown, these data suggest that this CNNM2 risk variant rs7914558 may have an impact on neural systems relevant to social cognition. How such effects may mediate the relationship between genotype and disease risk remains to be established.


Abstract Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of transient postprandial in vivo and prolonged experimental in vitro hyperlipidemia on human peripheral blood monocytes. Methods: Peripheral blood was collected from seven healthy subjects after an overnight fast and three hours after a standardized high-fat meal. Both fasting and postprandial samples were stained for surface markers CD14/CD11b and intracellular lipids using BODIPY493/503. Postprandial samples only were used for isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells that were further incubated overnight with postprandial hyperlipidemic autologous plasma, then stained as described above. All samples were analyzed on a FACSAria III flow cytometer. Results: Flow cytometric analysis revealed two monocyte populations (CD14+): CD14low and CD14high. In fasting, these populations show similar morphology (FSC/SSC), but different expressions of CD14, CD11b, and BODIPY493/503. At three hours postprandially, a moment of maximum hyperlipidemia, neither population suffered significant changes. After the 24-hour incubation, cell activation was observed in both populations: similar fold change increase in SSC, increase in FSC for CD14high cells only, similar foldchange increase in CD14, slightly higher foldchange increase in CD11b for CD14low monocytes, and significantly higher foldchange increase in lipid content for CD14high monocytes. CD14high monocytes appear to undergo a more intense activation than CD14low monocytes. Conclusions: We conclude that all monocytes react after prolonged in vitro exposure to plasma lipids, each subset having its own activation pattern. All monocyte types may play a role in inflammation and the development of plaques. Monocyte assays are a valuable tool for the investigation of atherosclerosis at the cellular level.


This document summarises the three deployments of the NOC Liverpool Teledyne Webb Research Slocum glider fitted with an external Rockland Scientific International micro-Rider turbulence probe during September 2011. The general aim of these glider deployments was to generate underwater turbulence and glider based CTD measurements for comparison with other sensor systems. This information will be used for evaluation of the performance of other measurement systems that are required for the Ocean Surface Mixing, Ocean Sub-mesoscale Interaction Study (OSMOSIS) research project. All of the measurement systems were deployed in close proximity to a series of moorings that had a nominal centre location of 55O 46.92"N, -5O 12.6"W. Turbulence measurements used for comparison with the glider were recorded using a ship based Rockland Scientific International (RSI) Vertical Microstructure Profiler (VMP) and a REMUS 600 AUV with a RSI turbulence measurement package installed. The survey work described in this document was designed to act as a test and rehearsal for the use of the sensor systems that will be required for a Celtic Sea shelf edge based research cruise for the OSMOSIS project. The shelf edge cruise is scheduled to take place during 2012.
An overview of the aims of each glider deployment and the subsequent glider performance is included. The glider deployments in Scotland culminated in co-located survey on Thursday 15th September 2011 that involved all of the OSMOSIS sensors, AUVs, moorings and ship based measurement systems operating in the same general location at the same time. This document concludes with a summary of the glider performance and recommendations are made regarding the scheduling and format for future scientific campaigns that require the use of the NOCL gliders


Effective employment of deep neural networks (DNNs) in mobile devices and embedded systems is hampered by requirements for memory and computational power. This paper presents a non-uniform quantization approach which allows for dynamic quantization of DNN parameters for different layers and within the same layer. A virtual bit shift (VBS) scheme is also proposed to improve the accuracy of the proposed scheme. Our method reduces the memory requirements, preserving the performance of the network. The performance of our method is validated in a speech enhancement application, where a fully connected DNN is used to predict the clean speech spectrum from the input noisy speech spectrum. A DNN is optimized and its memory footprint and performance are evaluated using the short-time objective intelligibility, STOI, metric. The application of the low-bit quantization allows a 50% reduction of the DNN memory footprint while the STOI performance drops only by 2.7%.


In this paper, we propose a constraint-based model for the combination of a course timetabling problem and a course allocation problem for secondary schools in Switzerland. Course timetabling has been widely studied for Universities, but for schools, solutions have only been proposed for specific countries or even for specific schools. In fact, timetabling problems presents the difficulty to be case-specific through specific constraints satisfaction. In addition, due to a recent reform of the education system in Switzerland, the timetabling problem is combined with a course allocation problem that has an important impact on timetables. Indeed, some topics are defined by a curriculum but each student may be assigned to up to five different options depending on past grades and students choices. Both problems, timetabling and allocation must be solved simultaneously and educational objectives are related to both composition of classes and timetables of students. A description of the problem and the educational objectives to consider are presented. Finally, a complete constraint-based model based on hard and soft constraints has been designed to solve the combined problem, both types of constraints are described in detail and a qualitative complexity analysis of this model is given.


As the United States entered the nineteenth century, the highly skilled artisans who had worked in their own homes to create customized items for individual patrons were replaced by largescale operations in which unskilled workers produced units in quantity and at lower cost By the mid-1820s, items such as clothing, furniture, carriages, barrels, cigars, and candy were all being produced in factories. At the same time, a growing supply of women, children, and recent immigrants depressed the wages being paid to workers, forcing them to toil longer hours. Only by pooling the earnings of husband, wife, and children could a family eke out even a bare subsistence; people who fell into debt would, like serfs from medieval times, be thrown into prison. The new system of production created class distinctions that were inconsistent with the democratic principles laid down by the Founding Fathers only a few decades earlier. For in stark contrast to the multitudes of common laborers, there emerged a new class of merchant capitalists to reap the rewards available to the first generation of Americans who earned their livelihoods not by making goods but by hiring and managing workers, by selling the products at whatever price the market would bear, and by investing those profits to accumulate still more wealth. American laborers, suddenly confronted by developments that seemed beyond their control and feeling powerless in the hands of their increasingly prosperous employers, formed the nation's first trade unions. America's mainstream newspapers had scant regard for the struggling new movement launched by the laborers, siding instead with the merchant capitalists and the growth and progress that they symbolized as harbingers of what promised to be a full-scale Industrial Revolution. Refused access to established papers, the leaders of the fledgling Labor Movement founded the labor press. During the late 1820s and early 1830s, some fifty labor weeklies appeared, most of them in the industrializing Northeast. The earliest and most important of the labor newspapers was the Mechanic's Free Press in Philadelphia, founded in the spring of 1828; although the paper survived only three years, ]it boasted a circulation of 2,000-no small feat during a time when even the largest New York daily claimed a circulation of only twice that figure.2 A second significant voice of labor was the Free Enquirer, a paper published in New York City from 1828 until 1835 to champion various types of reform initiatives. The most long-lasting of the earliest voices of American Labor was the Working Man's Advocate, published in New York City from 1829 until 1849.3 The common purpose of the publications was to ensure that American workers did not exist merely to enhance the power and abundance of the merchant capitalists. The dissident labor papers, recognizing that theirs would be a difficult struggle, spoke with strength and defiance. "The working class are the blood, bone, and sinew of the nation," the Mechanic's Free Press boldly stated, while the merchant capitalists were modem-day "money changers."4 The rise of a dissident press created by American laborers coincided with the democratic revolution credited to Andrew Jackson, the first self-made man to ascend to the presidency. In concert with the themes popularized by the rough-hewn Tennessean who was elected to the White House in 1828, the labor publications reflected the concerns of an awakened working class during a time of social, political, and economic turbulence. Newspapers that spoke on behalf of American laborers attracted a loyal following. Because many workers were illiterate, men and women with some education read the papers out loud on street comers and in churches, town halls, and other gathering places to crowds that often numbered 100 or more. Indeed, the fact that laborers came together to hear what the various editors had to say served to stimulate a sense of fraternity among the workers. …


We present a system to perform real-time background modeling and segmentation of video streams on a PC, in the context of video surveillance and multimedia applications. The images, captured with a fixed camera, are modeled as a fixed or slowly changing background, which may become occluded by mobile agents. The system learns a statistical color model of the background, which is used for detecting changes produced by occluding elements. We propose to operate in the Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV) color space, instead of the traditional RGB space, and show that it provides a better use of the color information, and naturally incorporates gray-level only processing. At each instant, the system maintains an updated background model, and a list of occluding regions that can then be tracked. Other applications are video compression, enhancement and modification, such as obstacle highlight or removal.


Sustainable or green chemistry has established firm ground providing essential design criteria for the development of efficient chemical syntheses of complex, high added value molecules. On the other hand, multicomponent reactions have only recently been recognized as major expansion of the synthetic chemist's toolbox. There is still little awareness, however, of the practical value of these type of reactions for meeting many of the criteria set by the green chemistry philosophy to guide organic chemists and process chemists in the design, synthesis and further development of truly sustainable manufacturing processes of medicines, food additives, catalysts or advanced materials. In this perspective we highlight the utility of multicomponent reactions as methods for green synthesis.


The clock strikes 7 and my brain turns back into a pumpkin. All of the stressors from my shift—held at bay for 12 hours by a sense of duty, a focus on the immediate—tumble from their hiding places. There's the coffee I spilled down my scrubs before the day began, a new admission that rolled into the unit without warning just as I arrived, the needle that refused to fi nd the tiny, throbbing hint of an artery in my patient's wrist. There's the unexpected computer system downtime, the family feud that erupted in the lobby, and the specialist who delivered his expertise in a curt, sarcastic package. By the end of the day, the pile of those small offenses feels like a mountain. And a handful of victories are forgotten gems buried in the mess. My relief arrives, fresh for the night shift and ready to start building her own mountain. I hand off the remnants of my work, pack up my stethoscope, and grab my coat. "See you tomorrow," my coworker says. After an exhausting day, the pleasantry feels like a cruel taunt. "Yeah," I say. "See ya." There are fewer than 12 hours before my next shift starts, and after accounting for time to travel, eat, and sleep, it might make more sense to pitch a tent in the cafeteria. I remember reading about a girl who quit her job in New York City to scoop ice cream in the Caribbean. Maybe she knows something the rest of us don't. Who doesn't love ice cream? My legs are on cruise control and I'm almost to the massive revolving doors guarding my path to freedom when a thought springs from my subconscious. My brain tells my feet to stop, and they are only too happy to comply. I turn 90 degrees to my right, away from the exit, and walk deeper into the hospital. Somewhere in my muddled mind is the image of a man with striking eyes: light brown speckled with bits of sky blue, like they were crafted by a delirious, indecisive genius. I only saw them for a moment as I pushed his stretcher into the OR. They had fl uttered open when his daughter whispered into his ear, fl ashed with a single moment of recognition, and closed again. Earlier today I left that man while his heart struggled in his chest, his fate no longer in my hands. Now, as night settles on the hospital and the drone of activity no longer echoes through the halls, I make my way back toward that same OR. But just before the restricted doors, I veer toward a room with soft light, padded chairs, and hushed voices. My eyes scan each of the hopeful faces that turn my way, searching for someone familiar. I fi nd her in the far corner. I pick my way through the waiting room, a campground of families starving for good news. I reach my patient's daughter before I have time to wonder why I am not halfway home, why I felt compelled to make this pilgrimage. But as I stand in front of her, she looks up and smiles. "You again," she says. "Yeah, me," I say. "How is he?" "They say he did well. He's not out of the woods. But he did well." Relief bubbles from my stomach and catches in my throat, that mountain I tried to carry out of the hospital forgotten for a moment. "I'm glad to hear that," I say. "Thank you," she says. "For everything you did for him." "You're welcome," I say, wondering if I have justifi ed my intrusion into this fragile place. "I, um, I just wanted to wish you luck. And say goodnight." She nods. "Goodnight." In a moment, I'll retrace my path back to the hospital atrium and my ever-diminishing reprieve from work. I'll rewind the day in my head as I cook dinner or, more likely, stop somewhere for take-out. I'll turn the TV to a random channel to fi ll the air with conversations that have nothing to do with medicine or disease. I'll consider scooping ice cream in the Caribbean. But there will be a sense of levity that didn't exist before, a buoyancy in my chest. For me, it was an accidental discovery, like penicillin or Silly Putty. But I have a tiny cure for the mountain that tries to follow me home: fi nd someone who carries an even heavier weight and has even further to go. Put away the stethoscope, look them in the eyes, and grip their hand. And say goodnight. JAAPA Harrison Reed practices critical care medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center's R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Md., and is associate editor of JAAPA. The author has disclosed no potential confl icts of interest, fi nancial or otherwise. Tanya Gregory, PhD, department editor


The use of ozone became a normal practice after the initial studies by Dr. H. H. Wolff (1979) in Germany. Today, in this Nation, is used by over 12.000 physicians but only after Bocci's study it is used very proficiently either in chronic inflammatory diseases or in orthopedics. It has been shown to be very effective and absolutely atoxic when used in dosages which induce only a well-tolerated oxidative stress either for autohaemotherapy or in orthopedics. It will be described what ozone is, how it can be proficiently used, what are its messengers, what will be their effects and what are the therapeutic effect.


Excerpt] The CWA's got some down-home organizing cooking down South. Unlike other organizing in the South where the workforce is either predominantly black or white, CWA's targeted workforce in the public sector is composed of black and white workers. The CWA is not new in the South: there are 160,000 CWA members in the region — nearly one quarter of the union's entire membership — 80% of whom are based in the private sector. How do you organize a local composed of black and white workers in the South? LRR Editor Lisa Oppenheim turned to Marilyn Haith, organizer for CWA's District 3 which is composed of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana.


In eastern North America, Phomopsis cane and leaf spot, caused by Phomopsis viticola, is a foliar disease of grape but, in the Mediterranean climate of western North America, P. viticola is primarily associated with wood cankers, along with other Diaporthe spp. To determine the identity of wood-infecting Diaporthe spp. in eastern North America, 65 isolates were cultured from 190 wood-canker samples from 23 vineyards with a history of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot. Identification of 29 representative isolates was based initially on morphology, followed by phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region, elongation factor subunit 1-α, and actin in comparison with those of type specimens. Three species were identified: P. viticola, P. fukushii, and Diaporthe eres. Inoculations onto woody stems of potted Vitis labruscana 'Concord' and V. vinifera 'Chardonnay' showed that D. eres and P. fukushii were pathogenic (mean lesion lengths of 7.4 and 7.1 mm, respectively, compared with 3.5 mm for noninoculated controls) but significantly less so than wood-canker and leaf-spot isolates of P. viticola (13.5 mm). All three species infected pruning wounds of Concord and Chardonnay in the field. Our finding of pathogenic, wood-infecting Diaporthe spp. in all 23 vineyards suggests a frequent co-occurrence of the foliar symptoms of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot and wood cankers, although the latter are not always due to P. viticola.


The Reformed tradition, following Zwingli and especially Calvin, excluded images from the churches. Calvin rejected the sacred images of his day as idolatrous on the grounds that they were treated as making God present, that the necessary distinction between God and God's material creation was not maintained, and because an image, which rightly was to be mimetic of visible reality, could not truthfully depict God. Calvin approved the Renaissance notion of visual art as mimetic and he understood that artists' abilities were gifts of God and were to be used rightly. He also had a very keenly developed visual aesthetic sense in relation to nature as the "mirror" of God's glory. However, the strong human tendency towards idolatry before images, he believed, meant that it was not expedient to place any pictures in the churches. Reinterpretation of key biblical passages, particularly the first and second commandments (Calvin's numbering), together with changes in the understanding of what constitutes visual art, of the relationships between words and visual images, and of the processes of interpretation and reception not only of texts but of all perceived reality, lead to a re-thinking of the issues. The biblical narrative with its theological insights can be interpreted into a visual language and used by the church as complementary to, but never replacing, biblical preaching and teaching in words. Attention to the visual aesthetic dimensions of the worship space is important to allow for this space to function as an invitation and call to worship. Its form, colour, light and adorning may give aesthetic delight, which leads to praise and thanksgiving, or it may provoke other response which helps people prepare to offer worship to God. The world and its people depicted in visual art/image may inform the praying of the church and the visual representation of the church (the saints) may provide congregations with an awareness of the breadth of the church at worship in heaven and on earth. In the present diversity of views about visual art and the work of the artist there is freedom for the artist to re-think the question of vocation and artists may find new opportunities for understanding and exercising their vocation not only in secular art establishments and the community but also in relation to the worship of the church.


e authors discuss the main characteristics of women as farm operators using national sample studies conducted in 1994, 1999 and 2007. A er an analysis of literature and various research results some hypotheses were formulated, i.e.: the better education of rural women than rural men, women as "unnatural" or "forced" farm operators due to various household circumstances, the "weaker" economic status of farms operated by women. Basic results of the studies carried out in 1994, 1999 and 2007 con rm the hypothesis about the weaker economic position of female operated farms. Moreover, women farm operators were slightly older and far better educated than their male counterparts. On the contrary, the males were more active o the farms in the public sphere. In addition, the circumstances of becoming farm operators did not di er signi cantly between males and females. Finally, there were no signi cant di erences between "male" and "female" styles of farming.


Excitation force of under-chassis active equipment of railway vehicles has a significant impact on the floor vibration of the car body. In order to improve the accuracy of the excitation force identification of active equipment in engineering practice, a new excitation force identification method was proposed by applying modified Sage-Husa adaptive Kalman filter (MSHAKF). First, the advantages of the MSHAKF over conventional Kalman filter (CKF) are introduced. Simulation shows that the MSHAKF has excellent exactness and robustness for active equipment excitation force identification. Finally, a test device for identifying excitation force was established. The infinite impulse response (IIR) low-pass filter is designed by using the bilinear transformation method to eliminate the identification error caused by the frequency multiplication components in the response signal. The experimental result shows that the proposed method is very effective in engineering practice without mastering the noise characteristics of the system.


Maintenance of soil physical health at its optimum
level is essential for sustainable crop production and
rational use of natural resources without jeopardizing
their quality. The ongoing conventional tillage practices
for crop production using intensive ploughing
and removal of crop residue from the field have
resulted in an increase in surface crusting, soil
compaction, soil erosion, decrease in water infiltration
and ultimately aggravation of the overall soil physical
health deterioration. In recent years, many agricultural
scientists across the world have recommended
conservation agriculture as a solution to overcome the
adverse effects of conventional tillage practices on soil
physical health. Conservation agriculture is mainly an
integration of three crop management practices, viz.
minimum or no-tillage, permanent retention of crop
residue and crop rotation. The present data indicates
that conservation agriculture can improve soil physical
properties and associated processes especially, soil
water infiltration and storage, soil aeration, soil structure
and soil porosity. It reduces soil erosion, soil
compaction and crusting, and optimizes the soil temperatures
for successful crop production. This article
reviews the role of conservation agriculture in
improving soil physical health and its associated processes.


IN WATCHING the flow of events over the past decade or so, it is hard to avoid the feeling that something very fundamental has happened in world history. The past year has seen a flood of articles commemorating the end of the Cold War, and the fact that "peace" seems to be breaking out in many regions of the world. Most of these analyses lack any larger conceptual framework for distinguishing between what is essential and what is contingent or accidental in world history, and are predictably superficial. If Mr. Gorbachev were ousted from the Kremlin or a new Ayatollah proclaimed the millennium from a desolate Middle Eastern capital, these same commentators would scramble to announce the rebirth of a new era of conflict.


By adopting the purview of Peace and Conflict Studies and the expository approach of historical archaeology of colonialism, this paper succeeds in enumerating the models the British used to establish and perpetuate colonial violence on the Indigenous Australians, and the traumatizing impacts the violence is exerting on them. The sole essence of the paper is not only to re-establish that the British colonization of Australia was deliberate, just as the heinous models they used. Most essentially, the paper identifies the following institutions: Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), the UN and challenges them to move from their current inert condemnation of colonial violence and adopt effective, concrete and practical frameworks that will "overthrow" the Australian colonial violence. Their sincere disposition and uncompromised commitment to this cause is important and imperative. In conclusion, the paper poses some pertinent questions to prove that colonialism is a dispensable evil.


The Eighth Amendment's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments" conveys different meanings in different contexts. When challenges are brought to prison conditions, a range of cases that encompasses claims such as overcrowding, excessive uses of force, and failure to provide adequate medical care, a prisoner must show that a particular prison official acted with a sufficiently culpable state of mind to deprive the prisoner of an objectively serious need. When challenges are brought to the proportionality of criminal sentences, the Court compares the severity of the sentence with the seriousness of the criminal offense of incarceration. In both sets of cases, although courts purport to review a "punishment" for its conformity with the Eighth Amendment, different standards contribute to the ultimate resolution. This paper questions whether these differences are justified and whether there are ways to bridge the gap between proportionality review and conditions of confinement review.In particular, I argue here that there are two ways in which elements of proportionality litigation could invigorate conditions of confinement review. First, I suggest that the focus on subjective state of mind in conditions of confinement litigation is called into doubt by proportionality jurisprudence. Second, I propose that the deference to legislators which is assumed in proportionality litigation is not as easily translated into conditions of confinement cases, where the delegation which such deference implies may not be present or appropriate. I conclude by examining three specific areas of conditions jurisprudence in which proportionality principles could be usefully applied.


Theories of gender justice in the twenty-first century must engage with global economic and social processes. Using concepts from economic analysis associated with global commodity chains and feminist ethics of care, Ann Stewart considers the way in which 'gender contracts' relating to work and care contribute to gender inequalities worldwide. She explores how economies in the global north stimulate desires and create deficits in care and belonging which are met through transnational movements and traces the way in which transnational economic processes, discourses of rights and care create relationships between global south and north. African women produce fruit and flowers for European consumption; body workers migrate to meet deficits in 'affect' through provision of care and sex; British-Asian families seek belonging through transnational marriages.


This paper improves the modeling of enhanced biological phosphate removal, by introducing the mechanistic description of a mixed culture of glycogen and phosphate accumulating organisms competing for acetate, and glycogen metabolism of the latter. A new process stoichiometry is defined for the mixed culture based upon previously developed metabolic concepts and models. The proposed model is tested with and used for the calibration of experimental data generated by a sequencing batch reactor operated with acetate feeding at a P/Ac ratio of 0.05 mgP mg(-1)COD. The calibration yielded acceptable numerical results for all the model coefficients tested and supported the validity of selected metabolic relationships for process stoichiometry. It also defined conditions that allow the system to sustain glycogen accumulating organisms with significant impact on process behaviour and performance.


BACKGROUND
In the early stages of COVID-19 pneumonia, hypoxemia has been described in absence of dyspnea ("silent" or "happy" hypoxemia). Our aim was to report its prevalence and outcome in a series of hypoxemic patients upon Emergency Department admission.

METHODS
In this retrospective observational cohort study we enrolled a study population consisting of 213 COVID-19 patients with PaO2/FiO2 ratio <300 mmHg at hospital admission. Two groups (silent and dyspneic hypoxemia) were defined. Symptoms, blood gas analysis, chest X-ray (CXR) severity, need for intensive care and outcome were recorded.

RESULTS
Silent hypoxemic patients (68-31.9%) compared to the dyspneic hypoxemic patients (145-68.1%) showed greater frequency of extra respiratory symptoms (myalgia, diarrhea and nausea) and lower plasmatic LDH. PaO2/FiO2 ratio was 225±68 mmHg and 192±78 mmHg in silent and dyspneic hypoxemia respectively (P=0.002). Eighteen percent of the patients with PaO2/FiO2 from 50 to 150 mmHg presented silent hypoxemia. Silent and dyspneic hypoxemic patients had similar PaCO2 (34.2±6.8 mmHg vs. 33.5±5.7 mmHg, P=0.47) but different respiratory rates (24.6±5.9 bpm vs. 28.6±11.3 bpm respectively, P=0.002). Even when CXR was severely abnormal, 25% of the population was silent hypoxemic. Twenty-six point five percent and 38.6% of silent and dyspneic patients were admitted to the ICU respectively (P=0.082). Mortality rate was 17.6% and 29.7% (log-rank P=0.083) in silent and dyspneic patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Silent hypoxemia is remarkably present in COVID-19. The presence of dyspnea is associated with a more severe clinical condition.


Background and purpose: Obesity is a global health problem and also a well-known risk for many diseases. Although some synthetic drugs have been marketed for the treatment of obesity, natural remedies may be considered as safe and cost-effective alternatives. Lac (Kerria lacca Kerr) is a product from animal origin and is sold as seedlac or shellac. This drug is very famous among Unani practitioners for its antiobesity effects. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antiobesity potential of lac in rats. Experimental approach: The effect of lac on rats fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) was investigated through determination of the changes in body weight, and serum levels of leptin. In addition, the effect of lac on total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) was studied. Male Wistar rats (170-220 g) were divided into eight groups; a control group with normal diet, the HFD group received a HFD, and the experimental groups received the HFD containing 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4% (w/w) of seedlac or 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4% (w/w) of shellac for 12 weeks. The body weight of each rat was measured once a week. At the end of the experiment, animals were sacrificed and serum concentrations of cholesterol, TG, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and leptin were determined. Results: The study showed that seedlac and shellac significantly prevented increasing body weight and the levels of serum leptin were decreased in treated groups compared with HFD group. Also, shellac decreased TG level and both shellac and seedlac exerted a significant increase in HDL-C concentration. Conclusion and implications: Lac had weight-reducing properties and could be a promising alternative for controlling obesity.


High panel exploitation of Hevea using five different
tapping systems was studied. Upward tapping on a quarterspiral
cut every third day for eight months, followed by base
panel tapping for four months gave a higher yield per tapper
but not in terms of total yield per hectare compared to
downward ladder tapping on half-spiral cut (control). However,
the dry rubber content of the latex was lower; the time taken
to tap per tree was less; and stimulant and bark consumption
were lower. The Jebong knife or CUT knife used for upward
tapping on on a quarter-spiral cut has no effects on the yield
of the latex, but it takes more time to tap a tree with the
Jebong knife when the tapping cut reached higher levels.
Spillage problem was reduced with a sharp tapping knife.
In upward tapping on a half-spiral cut, the yield per
tapper was similar to that of the quarter-spiral cut. However,
the yield per hectare was higher, and the dry rubber content of
the latex was lower. Also, it took a longer time to tap the
tree; bark consumption was greater; and the cost of
stimulation were higher compared to the quarter-spiral cut.
There was little difference in yield between micro-x and
ladder tapping. Micro-x tapping gave a higher dry rubber
content of latex and consumed much less bark, but the
stimulation cost was higher and it took a longer time to tap a
tree.
There were no differences in the late drip percentage
among the five tapping systems studied. Overall incidence of
dryness on high panel was low. The highest net revenue was
given by the half-spiral upward tapping system over the two
year period studied.


The German coalition government by the Social Democrats and the Greens is preparing to introduce a second crucial reform concerning the immigrant population. After the 1999 reform of the nationality law, Germany is taking another step towards modelling a comprehensive and long expected organised immigration policy, concluding for the first time officially that Germany is not only a country of immigration, but to state that further immigration is needed. Yet, while citizenship politics in Germany is departing from old ethnic conceptions with the possibility for immigrant children to acquire citizenship by birth and a reduction of the requirements for naturalisation, policies for (labour) migration still remain in an attitude known from the past: immigrants are only "wanted" if they fit to the structural needs of the labour market and the economy. Thus, the planned immigration law is in danger to repeat the failure of former guest-worker policies when treating immigrants just as workers. German immigration policy seems to remain a purely selective mechanism in the global contest for the best qualified labour migrants. PALABRAS CLAVES: Alemania, políticas migratorias, ciudadanía, mercado de trabajo


Geostatistical inversion is developed for constraining a 3D geostatistical realization of acoustic impedance using a 3D seismic block. The geostatistical realization is constructed using a sequential variogram-based approach in such a way that the convolutional response of the realization fits with the actual 3D seismic data. The method is illustrated with a 3D synthetic example. The initial acoustic impedance model is generated using an unconditional simulation of one million grid cells. Then, using five wells 'drilled' in this model and the synthetic seismic obtained by convolution, the geostatistical inversion method is applied to reconstruct the initial acoustic impedance model. The 3D synthetic seismic block is matched in a matter of half-an-hour CPU on a standard workstation. Analysis of the results shows that the input geostatistical model (variograms, means and standard deviations) controls the higher and lower frequencies that are not present in the seismic amplitudes. The use of a '3D earth modelling' tool allows efficient management of the '3D earth model' constructed by geostatistical inversion, and visualization of the various inputs and outputs.


Abstract. An open-source sea ice drift algorithm for Sentinel-1 SAR imagery is introduced based on the combination of feature tracking and pattern matching. Feature tracking produces an initial drift estimate and limits the search area for the consecutive pattern matching, which provides small- to medium-scale drift adjustments and normalised cross-correlation values. The algorithm is designed to combine the two approaches in order to benefit from the respective advantages. The considered feature-tracking method allows for an efficient computation of the drift field and the resulting vectors show a high degree of independence in terms of position, length, direction and rotation. The considered pattern-matching method, on the other hand, allows better control over vector positioning and resolution. The preprocessing of the Sentinel-1 data has been adjusted to retrieve a feature distribution that depends less on SAR backscatter peak values. Applying the algorithm with the recommended parameter setting, sea ice drift retrieval with a vector spacing of 4 km on Sentinel-1 images covering 400 km  ×  400 km, takes about 4 min on a standard 2.7 GHz processor with 8 GB memory. The corresponding recommended patch size for the pattern-matching step that defines the final resolution of each drift vector is 34  ×  34 pixels (2.7  ×  2.7 km). To assess the potential performance after finding suitable search restrictions, calculated drift results from 246 Sentinel-1 image pairs have been compared to buoy GPS data, collected in 2015 between 15 January and 22 April and covering an area from 80.5 to 83.5° N and 12 to 27° E. We found a logarithmic normal distribution of the displacement difference with a median at 352.9 m using HV polarisation and 535.7 m using HH polarisation. All software requirements necessary for applying the presented sea ice drift algorithm are open-source to ensure free implementation and easy distribution.


Minimal residual disease (MRD) as a marker of antileukemic drug efficacy is being used to assess risk status and, in some cases, to adjust the intensity of therapy. Within known prognostic categories, the determinants of MRD are not known. We measured MRD by flow cytometry at day 8 (in blood) and at day 28 (in bone marrow) of induction therapy in more than 1000 children enrolled in Pediatric Oncology Group therapy protocols 9904, 9905, and 9906. We classified patients as "best risk" if they had cleared MRD by day 8 of therapy and as "worst risk" if they had MRD remaining in bone marrow at day 28, and tested whether MRD was related to polymorphisms in 16 loci in genes hypothesized to influence response to therapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). After adjusting for known prognostic features such as presence of the TEL-AML1 rearrangement, National Cancer Institute (NCI) risk status, ploidy, and race, the G allele of a common polymorphism in chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) was associated with more favorable MRD status than the A allele (P = .009, logistic regression), when comparing "best" and "worst" risk groups. These data are consistent with growing evidence that both acquired and host genetics influence response to cancer therapy.


Regeneration in the central nervous system is impeded by inhibitory receptors that recognize myelin-embedded proteins. In mammals, a severed nerve in an arm or leg will eventually regrow and reestablish functional connections. A similar injury in the spinal cord or within the brain will not be repaired, resulting in permanent disability and paralysis. Poor regeneration in the central nervous system has been attributed to proteins embedded in brain myelin (the membranes that wrap each nerve axon), which interact with an inhibitory receptor on neurons called NgR. Two papers in this issue show that other inhibitory receptors recognize the myelin-embedded proteins (see the Perspective by Kim and Snider). Atwal et al. identified PirB, a mouse protein related to the immunoglobulins of the immune system, and if both PirB and NgR were blocked, regeneration resumed. Park et al. found that after injury to the optic nerve, the axons of the retinal ganglion cells in mice will regenerate if the growth-related signaling pathway mTOR is activated in these cells. When negative regulators of the mTOR pathway were deleted in the retinas of mice, within a few weeks the axons of retinal ganglion cells would regrow as far as the optic chiasm. Thus, to promote recovery from neural damage, a combination of therapeutic approaches is needed to remove inhibitory processes, as well as to stimulate the intrinsic growth pathways of the neurons. J. K. Atwal, J. Pinkston-Gosse, J. Syken, S. Stawicki, Y. Wu, C. Shatz, M. Tessier-Lavigne, PirB is a functional receptor for myelin inhibitors of axonal regeneration. Science 322, 967-970 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text] K. K. Park, K. Liu, Y. Hu, P. D. Smith, C. Wang, B. Cai, B. Xu, L. Connolly, I. Kramvis, M. Sahin, Z. He, Promoting axon regeneration in the adult CNS by modulation of the PTEN/mTOR pathway. Science 322, 963-966 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text] W.-Y. Kim, W. D. Snider, Overcoming inhibitions. Science 322, 869-872 (2008). [Summary] [Full Text]


The object of this study is to devise a method whereby the distribution of attitude of a group on a specified issue may be represented in the form of a frequency distribution. The base line represents ideally the whole range of opinions from those at one end who are most strongly in favor of the issue to those at the other end of the scale who are as strongly against it. Somewhere between the two extremes on the base line will be a neutral zone representing indifferent attitudes on the issue in question. The ordinates of the frequency distribution will represent the relative popularity of each attitude. This measurement problem has the limitation which is common to all measurement, namely, that one can measure only such attributes as can be represented on a linear continuum, such attributes as volume, price, length, area, excellence, beauty, and so on. For the present problem we are limited to those aspects of attitudes for which one can compare individuals by the "more and less" type of judgment. For example, we say understandingly that one man is more in favor of prohibition than another, more strongly in favor of the League of Nations than another, more militaristic than some other, more religious than another. The measurement is effected by the indorsement or rejection of statements of opinion. The opinions are allocated to different positions on the base line in accordance with the attitudes which they express. The ordinates of the frequency distribution are determined by the frequency with which each of the scaled opinions is indorsed. The center of the whole problem lies in the definition of a unit of measurement for the base line. The scale is so constructed that two opinions separated by a unit distance on the base line seem to differ as much in the attitude variable involved as any other two opinions on the scale which are also separated by a unit distance. This is the main idea of the present scale construction. The true allocation of an individual to a position on an attitude scale is an abstraction, just as the true length of a chalk line, or the true temperature of a room, or the true spelling ability of a child, is an abstraction. We estimate the true length of a line, the true temperature of a room, or the true spelling ability of a child, by means of various indices, and it is a commonplace in measurement that all indices do not agree exactly. In allocating an individual to a point on the attitude continuum we may use various indices, such as the opinions that he indores, his overt acts, and his past history, and it is to be expected that discrepancies will appear as the true attitude of the individual is estimated by different indices. The present study is concerned with the allocation of individuals along an attitude continuum based on the opinions that they accept or reject.


The multicast-based distribution of streaming media is conjectured to be an important component of future network services. Congestion control has emerged as a major hurdle in the large-scale deployment of such services. Heterogeneity in transmission media, end-systems, and traffic flows have significantly increased the complexity of the problem. Researchers have sought to address the problem through such mechanisms as layered encoding and TCPstyle formulae. The end-to-end paradigm has been the guiding principle for these approaches. In parallel, many tools are being developed that provide snapshots of network internals. Of interest to us are tools that accurately construct or estimate the topology of a multicast tree. In this paper, we explore whether these tools can assist in providing congestion control for real-time multicast. Through this exercise we find that the multicast tree topology, if available, can be used to regulate the flow of streams. In this paper, we seek to understand the additional benefits of using this information by focusing on the extreme case where the complete tree topology is known. We develop an algorithm which uses this information and layered streams to provide robust congestion control. We evaluate our algorithm using ns, the network simulator. Our results show that our algorithm is robust and converges to "fair" subscription levels for each receiver.


To effectively represent possibility arising from states and dynamics of a system, fuzzy discrete-event systems (DESs) as a generalization of conventional DESs have been introduced recently. Supervisory-control theory based on event feedback has been well established for such systems. Noting that the system state description, from the viewpoint of specification, seems more convenient, we investigate the state-based control of fuzzy DESs in this paper. An approach to finding all fuzzy states that are reachable by controlling the system is presented first. After introducing the notion of controllability for fuzzy states, a necessary and sufficient condition for a set of fuzzy states to be controllable is then provided. It was also found that event- and state-based controls are not equivalent, and the relationship between them was further discussed. Finally, we examine the possibility of driving a fuzzy DES under control from a given initial state to a prescribed set of fuzzy states and then keeping it there indefinitely


The survey of the possibilities for distinguishing between plain carbon and chromium-molybdenum steel tubing included the Herbert pendulum hardness, magnetic, sparks, and chemical tests. The Herbert pendulum test has the disadvantages of all hardness tests in being limited to factory use and being applicable only to scale-free, normalized material. The small difference in the range of hardness values between plain carbon and chromium-molybdenum steels is likewise a disadvantage. The Rockwell hardness test, at present used in the industry for this purpose, is much more reliable. It may be concluded on the basis of the experiments performed that of all methods surveyed, spark testing appears to be, at present, the most suitable for factory use from the standpoint of speed, accuracy, nondestructiveness and reliability. It is also applicable for field use.


In a model of vertical product differentiation we study the impact of liberalization on the choice of the product quality of a local monopolist. We show that under liberalization as one foreign firm enters with a superior quality, the local firm will reduce its quality level unless the foreign firm's product quality is sufficiently higher. As the efficiency of the local firm goes up, its quality choice responds more under liberalization than under protection. However, its market size in the protective regime is independent of its efficiency level.


The jet composition and energy dissipation mechanism of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and Blazars are fundamental questions which remain not fully understood. One plausible model is to interpret the $\gamma$-ray emission of GRBs and optical emission of blazars as synchrotron radiation of electrons accelerated from the collision-induced magnetic dissipation regions in Poynting-flux-dominated jets. The polarization observation is an important and independent information to test this model. Based on our recent 3D relativistic MHD simulations of collision-induced magnetic dissipation of magnetically dominated blobs, here we perform calculations of the polarization properties of the emission in the dissipation region and apply the results to model the polarization observational data of GRB prompt emission and blazar optical emission. We show that the same numerical model with different input parameters can reproduce well the observational data of both GRBs and blazars, especially the $90^{\circ}$ polarization angle (PA) change in GRB 100826A and the $180^{\circ}$ PA swing in Blazar 3C279. This supports a unified model for GRB and blazar jets, suggesting that collision-induced magnetic reconnection is a common physical mechanism to power the relativistic jet emission from events with very different black hole masses.


How do Buddhist pagodas and other Buddhist institutions, practices, and practitioners engage with the larger realm of society in Vietnam? Does the majority Mahayana Buddhist population enact this tradition's Boddhisatva ideal of helping all beings transcend suffering? What Buddhist teachings might provide a successful model for social engagement today? This paper addresses these questions in the context of the city of Hue, with an in depth case study at Tu Hieu pagoda that is situated within an investigation into the broader culture of Buddhism in this city. Using participant observation, interviews, and literature reviewed, I explore the vibrant presence of Buddhism in contemporary Hue society. I argue that the youth generation currently entering adulthood shows interest in maintaining Buddhism as a central component of their lives. Social service programs run by pagodas are widespread and receive substantial support from the lay community. There are well-established networks of communal support among the monastic and lay Buddhist communities. A close relationship between the state and religious institutions both regulates and facilitates social engagement. However, there remains a perceived schism between life in the pagoda and life in society that prevents Buddhist teachings from fully entering daily life in Hue. The two major Mahayana strains in Vietnam, Pure Land and Zen, both offer inspiration for the practice of social engagement, although both carry different philosophical limitations for this practice. The "engaged Buddhism" taught by Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers an alternative and innovative practice that integrates the transformation of the self and society. This humanistic tradition is currently practiced at Tu Hieu pagoda, but has only been recently reintroduced to Vietnam following Thich Nhat Hanh's 2005 return from a long exile in the West. This practice offers concrete tools for transforming personal suffering as well as working for positive change in society. If it is successfully re-adapted to Vietnamese culture, this tradition may help to develop a model of Buddhist social engagement that is effective for contemporary Hue society. This model will draw on the strong existing practices of Buddhist social engagement and integrate traditional beliefs with new advancements in mindfulness practice as a tool for confronting the personal and social issues of our time.


This report is intended to contribute to strengthening the work of the Government, the Strategic Forum and the Specialist Engineering Alliance in bringing about a more integrated and a more sustainable industry. Its aim is to examine the potential for improving the sustainability of the built environment through an integrated approach to procurement and delivery, in which the role of the specialist engineering sector is recognised for its vital ability to improve building performance. Based on wide ranging knowledge and expertise across the construction sector, it puts forward a vision for sustainable buildings and sets out the actions needed from Government, clients, consultants, contractors and manufacturers to ensure the vision is realised. The report complements the Strategy for Sustainable Construction published by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (June 2008).


Molecular abnormalities caused by the hybrid Bcr-Abl gene are causally associated with the development and progression of Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph(+)) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Imatinib mesylate (STI571), a specific Bcr-Abl tyrosine-kinase signal-transduction inhibitor, has shown encouraging activity in phase I and II studies of CML. Here, we describe the use of imatinib mesylate to treat 75 patients in blast-phase CML (median age, 53 years; 65 with nonlymphoid and 10 with lymphoid blasts), and compare the results with those of a historical control group treated with standard cytarabine-based therapy. Imatinib mesylate was given as oral doses at 300 to 1000 mg per day and was the first salvage therapy for 47 patients. The objective response rate was 52% (39 of 75 patients: 16 had complete and 3 had partial hematologic response; 12 had hematologic improvement; 7 returned to second chronic phase; and 1 had a complete response in extramedullary blastic disease). Response rates were not different between nonlymphoid and lymphoid groups. The cytogenetic response rate was 16% (12 patients: 5 complete, 3 partial [Ph(+) below 35%], and 4 minor [Ph(+), 34% to 90%]). The estimated median overall survival was 6.5 months; the estimated 1-year survival was 22%. Response to therapy (landmark analysis at 8 weeks) was associated with survival prolongation. Compared with standard cytarabine combinations, imatinib mesylate therapy was less toxic and produced a higher response rate (55% versus 29%, P =.001), longer median survival (7 versus 4 months, P =.04), and lower 4-week induction mortality (4% versus 15%, P =.07). Imatinib mesylate is currently being tested in combination with other drugs to improve the prognosis for blast-phase CML.


Molecular cytogenetics has played an important role in the rapid and precise characterisation of chromosome anomalies, which can serve as hallmarks of different types of cancer. The authors have considerably advanced their understanding of the molecular events involved in the initiation and progression of various cancers, with the aid of molecular cytogenetic technologies. Techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridisation, as well as recent high-throughput sequencing methods that give a comprehensive insight into cancer genomics, have helped in the early identification of at-risk individuals. These techniques also allow for an earlier detection of cancer, prognosis optimisation and the opportunity for a cure. This article highlights the application of molecular cytogenetics analysis in various cancers.

Key Concepts:

All cancers display at least one numerical or structural chromosome aberration.

Molecular cytogenetics enables a clinician to decide the best testing strategy for cancer patients.

Molecular cytogenetic techniques provide a snapshot of all the molecular activities in a tumour sample facilitating the discovery of totally novel and unexpected functional roles of genes.

Techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridisation is highly recommended for identifying key biomarkers in various cancers.

DNA microarray technology has led to identification of certain anomalies in cancer that were once thought to be non-traceable.

Next generation sequencing has enabled to catalogue the genomic landscape of thousands of cancer genomes across many disease types.

Molecular cytogenetic methods have subclassified tumours that are important in identifying or tailoring responsiveness to targeted therapies.

The high sensitivity and specificity of the molecular cytogenetic techniques make them useful adjuvants to conventional banding in the screening for all types of chromosomal aberration.

A new era of bridging molecular cytogenetics and personalised medicine has emerged that will help to monitor disease progression and molecularly guided therapies.

Keywords:

molecular cytogenetics;
genomics;
cancer;
fluorescence in situ hybridisation;
spectral karyotyping;
M-FISH;
CGH;
array-CGH;
next generation sequencing


Recent trend concerns about the best ways of using the deployable sources of energy in to useful work in order to reduce the rate of consumption of fossil fuel as well as pollution. There are different ways to recover the heat available with the waste or rejected heat from different sources. Out of all the available sources, Gamma type Stirling engine is be used to convert waste heat in to useful work. A single power piston, gamma-configuration, low-temperature differential Stirling engine is design, develop and tested with air by using a gas burner as a heat source. The engine testing is performed with four different heat input. Variations of engine torque, shaft power and brake thermal efficiency with engine speed and engine performance at various heat inputs are presented. The Beale number, obtained from the testing of the engine, is also investigated.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are performed to investigate the effects of stress on generalized stacking fault (GSF) energy of three fcc metals (Cu, Al, and Ni). The simulation model is deformed by uniaxial tension or compression in each of [111], [11-2], and [1-10] directions, respectively, before shifting the lattice to calculate the GSF curve. Simulation results show that the values of unstable stacking fault energy (γusf), stable stacking fault energy (γsf), and unstable twin fault energy (γutf) of the three elements can change with the preloaded tensile or compressive stress in different directions. The ratio of γsf/γusf, which is related to the energy barrier for full dislocation nucleation, and the ratio of γutf/γusf, which is related to the energy barrier for twinning formation are plotted each as a function of the preloading stress. The results of this study reveal that the stress state can change the energy barrier of defect nucleation in the crystal lattice, and thereby can play an important role in the deformation mechanism of nanocrystalline material.


The fall in circulating oestrogen (E2) after the menopause leads to an increased rate of bone remodelling, excessive osteoclast activity and a greater fracture risk. Until recently hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was prescribed to post-menopausal women to prevent bone loss, however HRT is associated with an elevated incidence of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer. These side-effects led to an interest in naturally occurring compounds with oestrogenic action such as phytoestrogens (PEs), which are non-steroidal-plant derived compounds. Human trials and animal studies suggest a beneficial effect of PEs on bone mass, although their ability to modify osteoclast formation in response to key inflammatory cytokines has not been examined. The aim of the following studies was to determine the effect of physiologically relevant concentrations of genistein, coumestrol and daidzein on TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation, osteoblasts differentiation and T cell activity. Genistein (10 -7 M), daidzein (10 -5 M), and coumestrol (10 -7 M) significantly reduced TNF-α-induced TRAP positive osteoclast formation and bone resorption, which was prevented by the E2 antagonist ICI 182,780. The suppressive action on osteoclast formation was associated with a significant reduction in TNF-α-induced c-fos and NFATc1 mRNA expression and NFATc1 nuclear translocation. Constitutive c-fos expression prevented the inhibitory action of PEs on osteoclast differentiation, resorption and NFATc1 expression. The effect of PEs, in the presence or absence of the anabolic nutritional factor zinc, on osteoblasts differentiation and bone nodule formation was examined in-vitro. v Coumestrol (10 -5 to 10 -7 M), daidzein (10 -5 to 10 -6 M) and genistein (10 -5 M) enhanced bone nodule formation and ALP activity in human osteoblasts, and this effect was significantly augmented in the presence of zinc (10 -5 M). Furthermore, PEs and zinc increased Runx2 mRNA expression and Zn 2+ augmented the inhibitory effect of PEs on RANKL/OPG ratio. This suggests that in addition to the direct inhibitory effect on osteoclast formation PEs also in-directly reduce the osteoblastsic stimulus for osteoclast formation and promote bone formation. E2 deficiency is thought to promote osteoclastogenesis by modifying Thelper1 (Th1) cell proliferation and inflammatory cytokine production in particular TNF-α. I therefore examined the effect of PEs on T cell proliferation and inflammatory cytokine production. All PEs prevented the augmentative effect of con A stimulated T cells on osteoclast formation in co-culture. However the mechanism of action varied, genistein reduced con A stimulated TNF-α, IL-1β and RANKL expression with little effect on viability, coumestrol decreased cell viability and TNF-α expression whereas the inhibitory effect of daidzein was mediated via suppression of viable T cell number. This study provides novel evidence that PEs have multiple effects on bone cell activity, directly inhibiting TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation, reducing the osteoblasts and T cell derived stimulus for osteoclast formation and augmenting osteoblasts differentiation and bone formation. Thus, PEs have a potential role in the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis and inflammatory skeletal disorders and that the beneficial effect noted in previous studies is mediated through multiple mechanisms.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of a school-based child oral hygiene program on oral heath after approximately 10 years of follow-up.

METHODS
A prospective cohort study was designed to include 120 schoolchildren aged 10-11 years with instructions on how to practice daily flossing and brushing under the supervision of school nurses for one semester (the intervention group) and to recruit a comparison group with no intervention from 120 classmates matched by gender (the nonintervention group). Both groups participated in a questionnaire survey and received dental examinations after long-term follow-up.

RESULTS
The mean value of overall plaque score in the intervention group (16.9%) was lower than that of the nonintervention group (32.6%); the adjusted relative risk (aRR) of having a plaque score for the intervention group versus the nonintervention group was 0.4 (95% CI: 0.3, 0.5). The percentage of pocketing (CPI ≧ 2) in the intervention group (75.0%) was lower than that of the nonintervention group (90.8%); the aRR of having calculus or pocketing (CPI ≧ 2) was 0.3 (95% CI: 0.1, 0.6). The intervention group had lower DMFT values and DMFS score than the nonintervention group (4.1 and 6.6 versus 6.2 and 11.0). Moreover, the intervention group had significantly better dental knowledge and habits and dental conditions than the nonintervention group.

CONCLUSIONS
This longitudinal follow-up study demonstrated that a highly targeted oral hygiene program can display positive long-term effectiveness.


To evaluate the association between high school leaving exam grade and achieved grades in the first medical state exam among medicine students in a major southern German medical school. An anonymous questionnaire-based cross sectional examination was performed among all medicine students of the 3rd to 5th year in a major medical school in the German federal state Bavaria. Associations between grades of the high school leaving exam and grades achieved in both written and oral parts of the first medical exam were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. 432 students answered the questionnaire. Spearman's rank correlation analysis showed that there is only a weak association between high school leaving exam and medical state exam grades. Our finding that high school leaving exam degrees and medical state exam grades are not strongly linked to each other support the trend seen in the past years in Germany that more and more medicine study places are distributed also considering other factors than high school leaving exam degrees.


When democracy can be hijacked, power corrupts and capitalism penetrates deeply into society, including into our schools, what prospects still exist for education for a more sustainable world? Democracy is painfully slow and open to manipulation: the question must be asked whether it is up to the task in the new global environment where action is through agreement of interest-based states. And yet in a post-truth world there are important issues that yoke science as empirical truth with democracy that we might christen ecological democracy which provides the warrant and justification for civil action, and demonstrates the new power of citizen science groups that can act autonomously in the interest of their local communities. In this paper, which is a short version of a more comprehensive chapter published in a book edited by Ariane Konig, titled "Sustainability Science: Key Issues" published by Routledge[1], we seek comfort, inspiration and support from emerging forms of ecological democracy, civic science and transgressive education. The latter invites conflict and disruption as mechanisms to break with stubborn, unsustainable routines, that encourage people to leave their comfort zone. The resulting discomfort can be generative when it invites people to explore other options, to build new alliances or to re-think what they always thought to be normal or true. Learning on the edge of one's comfort zones amidst a plurality of ideas, can help us interrogate and rethink the way we frame – or are made to frame – our experiences, as well as our cultural narratives and associated encultured and embodied ontological pre-dispositions.


We are engaged in a large NSF-funded study (#0634519) that seeks to understand and to address the problems of retention for women in doctoral programs in engineering and the physical sciences from the student viewpoint. We examine the women's experiences through the everyday encouragers and discouragers that they encounter in these programs. We are especially interested in the small discouragers that occur daily and accumulate to the point that a woman decides that pursuing the doctoral degree is no longer worth it. A unique component of the current research program is our attention to the special circumstances that apply to women in engineering and the physical sciences where their numbers are already low and the enrollment of international students is substantial. In addition to reviewing national findings, we have used focus groups at Arizona State University to enrich our understanding of the everyday experience of domestic women and international women in the target programs. This paper highlights issues that have emerged from the focus group discussions of domestic and international doctoral women in engineering and computer science. Our aim is to better understand the role of national and cultural influences on what women experience and how they respond. We describe some of the commonalities and differences between domestic and international women with respect to their perceptions of everyday encouragers and discouragers and how they cope with them. In a broader context, we consider how these experiences may contribute to their intentions to complete their doctoral programs. We also discuss possible interventions and support that can be given to help retain discouraged female doctoral students who consider leaving their programs. Finally, we suggest areas for additional research to help us better understand both the domestic and the international woman doctoral student in engineering and computer science.


The level of unemployment, poverty and inequality in South Africa is high in relation to the rest of the world. To overcome these three challenges, more and better jobs need to be created. A key source for these types of jobs can be found in the labour intensive manufacturing sector. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance of the South African manufacturing sector. We find that compared to other sectors of the economy, the manufacturing sector has performed poorly, both in terms of GDP growth and job creation. While all manufacturing sub-sectors showed GDP growth, that growth was marginal. Furthermore, although some manufacturing sub-sectors showed job growth, the rate of job losses in other manufacturing sub-sectors was far greater, resulting in overall job losses. We argue that the poor performance of the manufacturing sector can be attributed to increased competition from south-east Asia, and South Africa's skills shortage. This research was commissioned by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services SETA (merSETA). The authors wish to acknowledge merSETA's contribution as funder, to the research and work herein.


Ubiquitous and pervasive technologies such as RFID and smart computing promise a world of networked and interconnected devices. Everything from tires to toothbrushes could soon be in communications range, heralding the dawn of an era in which todays Internet of People gives way to tomorrows Internet of Things where billions of objects will have the ability to report their location, identity, and history over wireless connections. Connectivity and Communication Anything, Anywhere, and Anytime An examination of the exciting expansion period in this research, The Internet of Things: From RFID to the Next-Generation Pervasive Networked Systems provides comprehensive, technical, and practical deploying policy guidance that covers fundamentals and recent advances in pervasive networked systems. The book addresses the conceptual and technical issues that influence the technology roadmap and gives an in-depth introduction to the Internet of Things and its effect on businesses and individuals. Discussing case studies, experience reports, and best practice, it contains information on emerging technologies, market opportunities, and policy implications. Practical Guidance and Balanced Coverage The first book of its kind to address major new technological developments and define the Internet of Things, this text provides balanced coverage of theory and practical issues. Reflecting research trends and industry needs, itis a comprehensive technical and practical guide to recent advances in pervasive networked systems.


The reliability of any final differential synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry (DInSAR) product is directly related to the phase quality of the interferograms involved in the processing. Performing an appropriate selection of high-quality pixels is hence mandatory in order to avoid the inclusion of noisy data in the processing and thus obtain reliable deformation information within the area of study. In this framework, a new full-resolution pixel selection method based on exploiting the spectral properties of pointlike scatterers is presented. The method is developed from the concept of the so-called coherent scatterers, which are characterized by having a correlated spectrum in a single acquisition, but now involving the temporal axis in the detection. Using the spectral properties of scatterers to perform the DInSAR pixel selection step presents some advantages with respect to the well-known permanent scatterer (PS) approach. On the one hand, the radiometric calibration of data is not required since the detection is now not dependent on the amplitude behavior of scatterers. On the other hand, a reliable pixel selection can be performed even with a reduced number of images due to the nature of the estimator. In contrast, its main limitation relies on the loss of range resolution involved in the sublook generation process. The method is more suited for urban scenarios where the density of temporally stable pointlike scatterers is generally higher. In this context, the final deformation maps obtained using the new method presented are compared, in terms of density and phase quality, with the ones obtained with the well-known traditional PS approach, showing a similar performance. Finally, since both methods characterize pointlike scatterers from different points of view, the combination of both techniques is proposed leading to a significant increase in the pixels' density and giving place to a meaningful improvement in the final DInSAR results.


Fundamentals of supply chain management is based on the author's many years of teaching and research experience. It addresses the most fundamental concepts and best practices of contemporary supply chain management. It provides a structured description of all the most important components in the topic area, and supports it by many real-world leading edge company cases. The book is particularly suitable for those who want to make a firm grasp of the subject without spending a luxury of time. It is also a great companion for undergraduate and master degree students.


DOI: 10.14254/2071789X.2019/12-4/1 ABSTRACT. In this paper we investigate how economic growth and productivity, when adjusted for the influence of welfare state institutions, affects the redistribution of incomes for employed immigrants and natives in Finland. We used the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) cross-sectional data for the period from 2004 to 2016 selected for Finland. Based on multilevel modelling and an aggregate production function approach, we calculate the elasticity estimates for incomes as adjusted for the influence of education, occupation and industry and social benefits. The results indicate high differentiation of incomes between immigrants and natives, while showing lower incomes for immigrants. Social benefits slightly decrease incomes, while for immigrants this negative effect is even more pronounced than it is for natives. Economic growth and increase in productivity is associated with an increase in the incomes of both immigrants and natives with low and medium education and of clerical and manual labour occupations among immigrants. Despite the widespread perception that 'immigrant hordes' have an adverse effect on the employment opportunities of natives and their incomes, the research concludes that welfare state benefits in combination with the influence from macroeconomic regulators and productivity increase incomes for immigrants.


The standard setup for single-file diffusion is diffusing particles in one dimension which cannot overtake each other, where the dynamics of a tracer (tagged) particle is of main interest. In this article, we generalize this system and investigate first-passage properties of a tracer particle when flanked by identical crowder particles which may, besides diffuse, unbind (rebind) from (to) the one-dimensional lattice with rates k(off) (k(on)). The tracer particle is restricted to diffuse with rate k(D) on the lattice and the density of crowders is constant (on average). The unbinding rate k(off) is our key parameter and it allows us to systematically study the non-trivial transition between the completely Markovian case (k(off) ≫ k(D)) to the non-Markovian case (k(off) ≪ k(D)) governed by strong memory effects. This has relevance for several quasi one-dimensional systems. One example is gene regulation where regulatory proteins are searching for specific binding sites on a crowded DNA. We quantify the first-passage time distribution, f(t) (t is time), numerically using the Gillespie algorithm, and estimate f(t) analytically. In terms of k(off) (keeping k(D) fixed), we study the transition between the two known regimes: (i) when k(off) ≫ k(D) the particles may effectively pass each other and we recover the single particle result f(t) ∼ t(-3/2), with a reduced diffusion constant; (ii) when k(off) ≪ k(D) unbinding is rare and we obtain the single-file result f(t) ∼ t(-7/4). The intermediate region displays rich dynamics where both the characteristic f(t) - peak and the long-time power-law slope are sensitive to k(off).


The yield of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) grown in West African environments is often limited by high temperatures. We tested whether or not differences in the tolerance of groundnut genotypes to high temperature episodes are due to genotypic differences in the rates of dry matter partitioning to yield. A high temperature tolerant (HIT) and a high temperature sensitive (HTS) genotype were grown in a polyethylene-covered greenhouse (polytunnel) at 30/25°C (day/ night) until after the start of pegging (49 d after planting, DAP). Then, cohorts of each genotype were exposed for 6 d to four different constant day temperatures between 30 and 50°C before returning to the common environment until harvest maturity (98 DAP). Total plant biomass and seed yield at 98 DAP were reduced by the hottest temperature episodes and were less in the HTS compared with the HIT genotype. Proportional reduction in biomass and seed yield due to high temperature stress was greater in the HTS than the HTT genotype. The root/total biomass ratio declined more rapidly after flowering in the HTS compared with the HTT genotype. The start of seed-filling was delayed by progressively hotter temperature episodes and was 11.7 d later in the HTS than the HTT genotype. However, the rate of increase in seed harvest index during seed filling was 0.0068 d -1 for both genotypes and was not affected by high temperature stress. We conclude that genotypic differences in the response of groundnut yield to episodes of high temperature stress were due to differences in the timing of seed filling rather than to genotypic differences in the rate of dry matter partitioning to fruits.


In this contribution, we assess the application of methodology used in a novel in situ remote sampling platform, the environmental sample processor (ESP), for the identification and enumeration of a harmful algal species, the domoic acid‐producing diatom Pseudo‐nitzschia australis, using 2 molecular assays: a sandwich hybridization assay (SHA) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Both the SHA and FISH assays were initially designed as laboratory‐based methods that are now emulated in the ESP. Response of the SHA to a range of concentrations of P. australis using the laboratory (96‐well plate) and ESP (DNA probe array) formats showed that the two were highly correlated. Enumeration of cells filtered and archived for FISH using a manifold designed for laboratory applications agreed well with counts of cells filtered and archived in the ESP at ≥2.5 × 104 cells L−1. At lower concentrations, it becomes statistically unlikely to derive a reliable abundance estimate, suggesting that FISH is better suited for qualitative analyses unless the target organism is very abundant. We also assessed the suitability of an oligonucleotide as synthetic target sequence to act as a SHA reagent quality control and internal standard for the plate assay. This was successful, but the probe and/or associated reagents were stable for only ~60 days. Our results show that the ESP is capable of detecting P. australis in near real‐time and also supports whole‐cell archival samples, making it a potentially useful tool for future research and monitoring initiatives.


This paper studies the impact of global financial turmoil on the exchange rate policies in emerging countries. Many emerging countries have loosened the link of their currencies to the US dollar since the bursting of the subprime crisis in July 2007. Spillovers from advanced financial markets to currencies in emerging countries stem from the same causes documented in the literature on contagion, such as the drying-up of investors' liquidity, the rise in risk aversion, and the updating of their risk assessments. Consequently, interdependences across currencies are likely to be exacerbated during crisis periods. To test this hypothesis, we assess the exchange rate policies by their degree of flexibility, itself proxied by the exchange rate volatility, and investigate their relationship to a global financial stress indicator, measured by the volatility on global markets. We introduce the possibility of non-linearities by running smooth transition regressions (STR) over a sample of 21 emerging countries from January 1994 to September 2009. The results confirm that exchange rate flexibility does increase more than proportionally with the global financial stress, for most countries in the sample. We also evidence regional contagion effects spreading from one emerging currency to other currencies in the neighboring area.


For some time now, Americans have been coming to South Africa to celebrate with you the end of apartheid. That has been our great privilege, and it is mine, too. But we have new work to do. The victory of freedom has opened new challenges for your people. It has also opened an opportunity that our nations must grasp: the opportunity to act together to advance common interests in Africa and around the world. That is why today I want to speak about America's engagement on this continent and to explain why peace, democracy, and prosperity in Africa matter so much to the United States (US).


Coal seam gas (CSG) is an unconventional gas production process as global demand for cleaner energy. It is important to understand the inherent radionuclides in CSG and their enhancing mechanisms for better naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) management. The enrichment of such radionuclides is a potential risk to health and environmental exposure. This review endeavours to explore the sources of NORM, as well as potential technical enhancement routes for these radionuclides and their progenies in CSG production.


Title of dissertation: DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS Steven A. Borbash, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Professor Anthony Ephremides Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering We consider three problems in the design of wireless sensor networks: crosslayer optimization, neighbor discovery, and scheduling as a method of medium access control (MAC). Cross-layer optimization will be important for sensor networks, which typically have only one or two objectives to meet. We consider a sensor network which performs decentralized detection. We devise a method in which local observations by sensors are condensed into a single bit message and forwarded to a sink node which makes a final decision. The method involves unusual interactions between the application, the routing function, and the physical layer. Neighbor discovery is useful in sensor networks whose nodes are immobile, since routing and scheduling algorithms can make good use of neighbor information. We propose an asynchronous neighbor discovery algorithm. The algorithm is probabilistic: each node obtains a list of its neighbors which is possibly incomplete. Performance is analyzed and optimal parameter settings are obtained. Scheduling deserves consideration as a MAC in sensor networks, because MACs based on contention methods waste energy in re-transmissions. We state a natural centralized scheduling problem, in which link demands are to be satisfied under signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (SINR) constraints, and transmit powers may be varied. We show that solving this minimum length scheduling problem is at least as hard as another problem we define, MAX-SINR-MATCHING, in the sense that if there is no polynomial-time algorithm to solve the latter then there is no polynomialtime algorithm to solve the former. We give evidence that MAX-SINR-MATCHING is a difficult problem. We add several theorems on the SINR model which exploit algebraic structure. The theorems predict what sets of links could be simultaneously activated in a wireless network and depend only on the SINR requirements of the nodes and the worst propagation loss in a network. These theorems apply to all wireless networks which can be described by SINR requirements, not only to sensor networks. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS