Irreversible logic circuits dissipate heat for every bit of information that is lost. Information is lost when the input vector cannot be recovered from its corresponding output vector. Reversible logic circuit naturally takes care of heating because it implements only the functions that have one-to-one mapping between its input and output vectors. Therefore reversible logic design becomes one of the promising research directions in low power dissipating circuit design in the past few years and has found its application in low power CMOS design, digital signal processing and nanotechnology. This paper presents the efficient approaches for designing reversible fast adders that implement carry look-ahead and carry-skip logic. The proposed 16-bit high speed reversible adder will include IG gates for the realization of its basic building block. The IG gate is universal in the sense that it can be used to synthesize any arbitrary Boolean-functions. The IG gate is parity preserving, that is, the parity of the inputs matches the parity of the outputs. It allows any fault that affects no more than a single signal readily detectable at the circuit's primary outputs. Therefore, the proposed high speed adders will have the inherent opportunity of detecting errors in its output side. It has also been demonstrated that the proposed design offers less hardware complexity and is efficient in terms of gate count, garbage outputs and constant inputs than the existing counterparts.


We propose a new phase-modulation-combination system for the generation of arbitrarily shaped repetition rate pulses. In this system, the pulses from two electro-optic switches are modulated and interferentially combined, thereby improving the shaping resolution and narrowing the pulse width. This method allows the arbitrary tuning of pulse width, repetition rate, and temporal profile in an all-fiber configuration. The system is compatible with and can be easily embedded in other systems to achieve higher pulse energy and higher pulse repetition rate.


We consider the rate control problem with the objective of maximizing the total user utility. It takes into account the possible differences in user requirements, and also provides a framework for achieving a wide range of fairness objectives. We propose a simple algorithm for achieving the optimal rates for this problem. The algorithm can be implemented in a distributed way and does not require the network to know the user utility functions. In our algorithm, the network communicates to the user the number of congested links on the user's path, and the user (end-host) adjusts its rate accordingly, taking into account its utility function and the network congestion feedback. We show through analysis and experimentation that our algorithm converges to the optimum rates.


[1] Infrared (11 μm) radiances from GOES-8 and local radiosonde profiles, collected during the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) in July 2002, are used to assess the vertical distribution of Florida-area deep convective cloud-top height and test predictions as to its variation based on parcel theory. The highest infrared tops (Z11) reached approximately to the cold point at 15.4 km, though these are uncertain by about 1 km due to unknown cloud-environment temperature differences. Since lidar shows that visible "tops" are generally 1 km or more above Z11, visible cloud tops frequently penetrated the lapse-rate tropopause (∼15 km). Further, since tropospheric ice concentrations were typically present up to ∼1 km above the visible tops, lofting of moisture through the mean cold point was probably common. Morning clouds, and those near Key West, rarely penetrated the tropopause. As in previous studies, nonentraining parcel theory fails to explain either of these results, though it does show promise in explaining day-to-day variations over the peninsula. Moisture variations above the boundary layer account for much of the day-to-day Z11 variability, especially over the oceans. In all locations a 20% increase in mean mixing ratio between 750 and 500 hPa was associated with about 1 km deeper maximum cloud penetration, other things being equal. This sensitivity is too large to explain by simple dilution of parcel buoyancy through mixing, implying microphysical or dynamical feedbacks on cloud development. The evident influence of midtropospheric humidity on the depth of the tropical troposphere suggests an interesting climate feedback possibility for stabilizing midtropospheric relative humidity.


Effort and size estimation for legacy products under maintenance phase is very challenging as most of legacy products were developed several years ago when software estimation techniques were not mature; these projects were often estimated using the rule of thumb. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective model to estimate size and effort for maintenance of a legacy product based on Function Points, which are calculated from the Lines of Code (LOC) using a reverse engineering technique. Subsequently these Function Points are calibrated in order to accommodate factors such as product/domain knowledge and learning curve characteristics. The proposed model builds on the fact that the maintenance effort for a domain knowledge intensive project is substantially different than the maintenance effort for normal projects. It also takes into account the fact that descend on learning curve is steeper in the case of domain intensive projects. We validate outcome of the analytical model with measurements from a real-world maintenance project of a legacy product that heavily depends on domain knowledge and learning curve characteristics. The validation shows that the results from this analytical model and the real world data are in close synergy, which emphasizes the effectiveness of the model.


Abstract. Tropospheric NO2 plays a variety of significant roles in atmospheric chemistry. In the troposphere it is one of the most significant precursors of photochemical ozone (O3) production and nitric acid (HNO3). In this study tropospheric NO2 columns were calculated by the fully coupled chemistry-climate model ECHAM4.L39(DLR)/CHEM. These have been compared with tropospheric NO2 columns, retrieved using the tropospheric excess method from measurements by the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) of up-welling earthshine radiance and the extraterrestrial irradiance. GOME is part of the core payload of the second European Research Satellite (ERS-2). For this study the first five years of GOME measurements have been used. The period of five years of observational data is sufficiently long to facilitate for the first time a comparison based on climatological averages with global coverage, focussing on the geographical distribution of the tropospheric NO2. A new approach of analysing regional differences (i.e. on continental scales) by calculating individual averages for different environments provides more detailed information about specific NOx sources and of their seasonal variations. The results obtained enable the validity of the model NO2 source distribution and the assumptions used to separate tropospheric and stratospheric parts of the NO2 column amount from the satellite measurements to be investigated.


Interleukin-27 (IL-27) has a pleiotropic role either as a pro-inflammatory or antiinflammatory cytokine in inflammatory related diseases. The role and involvement of IL-27 during malaria was investigated and the effects of modulating its release on the production of major inflammatory cytokines and the histopathological consequences in major affected organs during the infection were evaluated. Results showed that IL-27 concentration was significantly elevated throughout the infection but no positive correlation with the parasitaemia development observed. Augmentation of IL-27 significantly elevated the release of anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 whereas antagonising and neutralising IL-27 produced the opposite. A significant elevation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-6) was also observed, both during augmentation and inhibition of IL-27. Thus, it is suggested that IL-27 exerts an anti-inflammatory activity in the Th1 type response by signalling the production of IL-10 during malaria. Histopathological examination showed sequestration of PRBC in the microvasculature of major organs in malarial mice. Other significant histopathological changes include hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the Kupffer cells in the liver, hyaline membrane formation in lung tissue, enlargement of the white and red pulp followed by the disappearance of germinal centre of the spleen, and tubular vacuolation of the kidney tissues. In conclusion, it is suggested that IL-27 may possibly acts as an antiinflammatory cytokine during the infection. Modulation of its release produced a positive impact on inflammatory cytokine production during the infection, suggesting its potential in malaria immunotherapy, in which the host may benefit from its inhibition. Keyword: Interleukin-27; Anti-inflammatory activity; Plasmodium berghei; Mice infection; Mice


Jack Lewis was born and educated in Lancashire. He rose rapidly to become a highly renowned chemist who helped to pioneer the development of modern inorganic chemistry. He was one of the small group of scientists who led the expansion of inorganic chemistry from its renaissance, inspired by Professor Ron Nyholm in the mid 1950s, through the syntheses and study of new transition-metal and organometallic complexes. Their characterization was accomplished through the perceptive application of the newly available physical techniques of spectroscopy (electronic, vibrational and nuclear magnetic resonance), magnetism, mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Jack completed his PhD at the University of Nottingham in 1952, and then held academic appointments in close succession at the University of Sheffield, Imperial College, London, and University College London (UCL) before being appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Manchester in early 1962. He returned to UCL as Professor of Chemistry for the period 1967–70 before being appointed the 1970 Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, a position that he held until 1995, when he was granted emeritus status. His dedication to the study and furtherance of inorganic chemistry was profound and his research achievements were made all the more remarkable when one considers his substantial additional high-profile responsibilities. In 1975 Jack became the first Warden of the newly established Robinson College in Cambridge, where he shaped and guided a progressive academic community until his retirement in 2001. Furthermore, his skill as a highly effective debater also took him, in 1989, to the House of Lords, where as a Life Peer he represented science with great enthusiasm and distinction until a few months before his death. He was a most effective chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 1985 to 1992.


A common explanation offered for PRC companies' listing overseas is that they receive a price premium because listing overseas demonstrates a willingness to submit to the more shareholder-protective regulatory regime of the foreign jurisdiction and stock market. This explanation is commonly known as the bonding hypothesis. There is some empirical support for the proposition that listing overseas does indeed bring a price premium, although issues of causality are difficult to sort out. If it is true that investors view an overseas listing of a Chinese firm as something worth paying a premium for, the question remains, however, as to whether that view is well founded. Investors in overseas markets may find themselves left out in the cold when things go wrong, and indeed the Risk Factors section of PRC firms' IPO prospectuses routinely caution investors that successfully suing the company or its management will be difficult or impossible. This paper will examine the degree to which Chinese listed companies and their management do in fact, in a practical and realistic way, bind themselves to overseas state and market norms when such companies list abroad. It will argue that the actual binding effect of an overseas listing is small and that investors are mistaken to pay a premium for it. This conclusion, if correct, has at least two important implications beyond China. First, it casts into doubt the semi-strong form of the efficient capital markets hypothesis, because it means that there is publicly available information that does not seem to be adequately incorporated into stock prices. Second, it suggests that the bonding hypothesis needs to be examined on an empirical, country-by-country basis to see whether the bonding is in fact anything more than an illusion.


In recent years, judicial elections have changed dramatically. The elections themselves have become increasingly partisan, interest group involvement in judicial races has escalated, recent court decisions have freed judicial candidates to speak more openly than ever before about their judicial ideologies, and the tenor of judicial campaigns has departed significantly from what were once low-key, sleepy affairs. This book examines the evolution of the new rough-and-tumble politics of judicial elections by focusing on Texas, a bellwether for the new judicial selection politics in America. The Texas experience illustrates what can -- and usually will -- go wrong when judges are elected, and lays and path for meaningful reforms to stem the tide of the new politics of judicial elections.


Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition characterized by intrusion, avoidance, hyperarousal symptoms after exposure to traumatic events. Since polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been implicated, we examined the possible association of PTSD with plasma PUFA level and dietary fish intake in 563 women who was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The impact event scale-revised (IES-R) was used to assess PTSD symptoms. Dietary intake was estimated by a self-report questionnaire. Multivariate analysis controlling for age, body mass index, and stress revealed that PTSD status (IES-R ≥ 25) was associated with plasma eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) level ( P = 0.039). In the high-stress group, there were significantly inverse correlations of plasma EPA with IES-R total (r = − 0.389, P = 0.031), intrusion (r = − 0.370, P = 0.04), and hyperarousal scores (r = − 0.480, P = 0.006), although such correlations were not found in the moderate-stress group. Fish intake that increased plasma EPA showed similar correlations with IES-R scores in the severely stressed group. Our results suggest that higher plasma EPA level and EPA-increasing fish intake are associated with a lower risk for PTSD in individuals who have suffered severe stress in a natural disaster.


Case studies of media artworks and collections in the Arab world focus on two factors that arise from uneven access to media technology. First, the informal media economy relies on retrofitting, bootlegging, and creative making do. The beauty of many media artworks arising from this economy lies not in an isolated perfection, but in the material and energetic connectivity of perceptible human tinkering and laboriously human-built archives. Second, most media images in circulation are low resolution, glitchy, or otherwise "poor." This audiovisual poverty draws attention to the patterns of circulation and invites a critique of the ideologies implicit in media compression. These artworks and archival practices draw attention to the agency of individuals, artists' organizations, and archival materials themselves. At the same time, many organizations go to great lengths to respect the rights of the artists whose work they manage, putting "propriety rights" above property rights.


In this paper, we technically propose an enriched prior guided framework, called Dual-constrained Deep Semi-Supervised Coupled Factorization Network (DS2CF-Net), for discovering hierarchical coupled data representation. To extract hidden deep features, DS2CF-Net is formulated as a partial-label and geometrical structure-constrained framework. Specifically, DS2CF-Net designs a deep factorization architecture using multilayers of linear transformations, which can coupled update both the basis vectors and new representations in each layer. To enable learned deep representations and coefficients to be discriminative, we also consider enriching the supervised prior by joint deep coefficients-based label prediction and then incorporate the enriched prior information as additional label and structure constraints. The label constraint can enable the intra-class samples to have same coordinate in feature space, and the structure constraint forces the coefficients in each layer to be block-diagonal so that the enriched prior using the self-expressive label propagation are more accurate. Our network also integrates the adaptive dual-graph learning to retain the local structures of both data and feature manifolds in each layer. Extensive experiments on image datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of DS2CF-Net for representation learning and clustering.


Athalya Brenner presents fictionalized autobiographies of a dozen women and women groups in the Hebrew Bible, and also lets them share a conversation session. This allows her to include how these women have been interpreted - not only in the Bible itself, but also in Jewish and Christian traditions and by modern commentators. The result is a thoroughly engaging and insightful look at women, from a leading biblical interpreter who has a very creative edge to all her work.


Spain has the highest unemployment rate (22.2%) of any European Union country, Portugal one of the lowest (7.3%). Superficially, these countries share many labor market features: the toughest job security rules in the OECD, an apparently similar architecture of wage bargaining, and comparable generosity of their unemployment insurance systems, at least since 1989. We address the puzzle by examining Portuguese and Spanish labor market institutions, in particular job security, unemployment benefits and the system of wage bargaining. We then conduct empirical analysis of Spanish and Portuguese unemployment outflows and wage distributions, using micro data. We find differences in unemployment benefits (non-existent in Portugal until 1985, and less generous nowadays), differences in wage flexibility (wage floors by category established by collective agreements are set at a lower relative level in Portugal), and, in practice, higher firing costs in Spain. A key explanation of the difference in Portuguese and Spanish unemployment rates is the wage adjustment process. Generous benefit levels may have been necessary for the path Spanish unions took, but this was not the sole explanation of different wage setting in Spain and Portugal.


The representation of polynyas in viscous-plastic dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice models is studied in a simplified test domain, in order to give recommendations about parametrisation choices. Bjornsson et al.(2001) validated their dynamic-thermodynamic model against a polynya flux model in a similar setup and we expand on that work here, testing more sea-ice rheologies and new-ice thickness formulations. The two additional rheologies tested give nearly identical results whereas the two new-ice thickness parametrisations tested give widely different results. Based on our results we argue for using the new-ice thickness parametrisation of Hibler (1979). We also implement a new parametrisation for the parameter h0 from Hibler's scheme, based on ideas from a collection depth parametrisation for flux polynya models.


In this interdisciplinary book, Livia examines a broad corpus of written texts in English and French, concentrating on those texts which problematize the traditional functioning of the linguistic gender system. They range from novels and prose poems to film scripts and personal testimonies, and in time from the nineteenth century to the present. Her goal is to show that rather than being a case of misguided envy, battles over gendered language are central to feminist concerns. This fresh and exciting scholarship will appeal to linguists and scholars in literary and gender studies.


Under the concept of using software testing, the problems are preparing the smallest size of the selected test cases, fixing bugs, predicting the estimated testing time and numbers of the tester. The traditional methods are developed to solve these issues. Unfortunately, they cannot be applied for all reasons. Therefore, the filtering test case selection model is proposed to solve these problems and to increase the efficiency of the regression testing. It prepares the methods of filtering, classifying, and selecting the appropriate test cases. Accordingly, it gives the smaller size of the selected test cases than the traditional selections as 0.23–3.96%. When consider the fault rate measured by the developed technique is also less than those methods equivalent to 13–69%. Furthermore, the testing time and the amount of testers are also less than the comparative studies as about 2–71%, and 13–69% respectively.


The asymptotic speed problem of front solutions to hyperbolic reaction-diffusion (HRD) equations is studied in detail. We perform linear and variational analyses to obtain bounds for the speed. In contrast to what has been done in previous work, here we derive upper bounds in addition to lower ones in such a way that we can obtain improved bounds. For some functions it is possible to determine the speed without any uncertainty. This is also achieved for some systems of HRD (i.e., time-delayed Lotka-Volterra) equations that take into account the interaction among different species. An analytical analysis is performed for several systems of biological interest, and we find good agreement with the results of numerical simulations as well as with available observations for a system discussed recently.


The Hellenistic Age, the three extraordinary centuries from the death of Alexander in 323 B. C. to Octavian's final defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, has offered a rich and variegated field of exploration for historians, philosophers, economists, and literary critics. Yet few scholars have attempted the daunting task of seeing the period whole, of refracting its achievements and reception through the lens of a single critical mind. Alexander to Actium was conceived and written to fill that gap. In this monumental work, Peter Green--noted scholar, writer, and critic--breaks with the traditional practice of dividing the Hellenistic world into discrete, repetitious studies of Seleucids, Ptolemies, Antigonids, and Attalids. He instead treats these successor kingdoms as a single, evolving, interrelated continuum. The result clarifies the political picture as never before. With the help of over 200 illustrations, Green surveys every significant aspect of Hellenistic cultural development, from mathematics to medicine, from philosophy to religion, from literature to the visual arts. Green offers a particularly trenchant analysis of what has been seen as the conscious dissemination in the East of Hellenistic culture, and finds it largely a myth fueled by Victorian scholars seeking justification for a no longer morally respectable imperialism. His work leaves us with a final impression of the Hellenistic Age as a world with haunting and disturbing resemblances to our own. This lively, personal survey of a period as colorful as it is complex will fascinate the general reader no less than students and scholars.


ABSTRACT Public protest events are now both social media and news media events. They are deeply entangled, with news media actors – such as journalists or news organisations – directly participating in the protest by tweeting about the event using the protest hashtag; and social media actors sharing news items published online by professional news agencies. Protesters have always deployed tactics to engage the media and use news media agencies' resources to amplify their reach, with the dual aim of mobilising new supporters and adding their voice to public, mediatised debate. When protest moves between a physical space and a virtual space, the interactions between protesters and media stop being asynchronous or post hoc and turn instantaneous. In this new media-protest ecosystem, traditional media are still relevant sources of information and legitimacy, yet this dynamic is increasingly underpinned by a hybrid interdependency between traditional news and social media sources. In this paper we focus on an anti-austerity government movement that arose in Australia in early 2014 and was mobilised as a series of social media driven, connective action protest events. We show that there is a complex symbiotic interdependency between the movement and the traditional media for recognition and amplification of initial protest events, but that over time as media interest wanes, the movements' network becomes disconnected and momentum is lost. This suggests that the active role traditional media play in protest events is being underestimated in the current research agenda on connective action.


Since the 1970s, we have witnessed astonishing scientific and technical progress in the field of organ transplantation. Patients who suffer organ failure can now often have their lives greatly improved both in terms of quality and quantity of years. The success of transplantation techniques has created an enormous demand for donor organs. Unfortunately, donor organs are in short supply, relative to the number of patients who could greatly benefit from them. Therefore, donor organs are a scarce and valuable resource that must be thoughtfully and fairly allocated among waiting patients. Not surprisingly, this situation raises many pressing ethical questions, each requiring careful consideration. This volume presents a systematic and balanced treatment of some of the most pressing ethical questions including: what is our ethical obligation to become organ donors and who should be allowed to donate?; to what extent can markets facilitate the fair allocation of organs and how should we most fairly determine who should be recipients?; how do we determine death when the donor is not brain dead?; should non-human donor organs be used to save human lives and should we use organs from anencephalic infants and tissue from embryos? ; and what is the role of the news media in covering stories about organ transplantation? Many of the leading authorities in medical ethics come together in this volume to develop extensive analyses and arguments. The reader is provided with a sound understanding of the ethical, as well as many of the broader issues in organ donation and transplantation.


Crop models require detailed knowledge of weather relationships for estimating and predicting yields. Objectives of this research were to develop a weather-yield function (WYF) for winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that had stable coefficients and minimal bias over a wide range of climates. The WYF was derived by regressing 966 location-years of plot yields, adjusted for genetic gain, on candidate sets of weather-related variables, applied N, location-related variables and time. Applied N, location, and time variables were included to reduce bias in coefficients of weather-related variables. The portion of the regression function that included only weather-related variables became the WYF. Observations used for regression came from a wide range of climates with high interannual variance. Values of WYF ranged from 546 to 2765 kg ha/sup /minus/1/; they reflected deleterious effects of high and low temperatures and of inadequate and excessive moisture during the crop yield. Besides estimating the impact of weather on yields, the WYF can be applied to identifying yield-limiting factors and managing wheat for increased productivity. 24 refs., 4 tabs.


The inclusion of information and communication technologies in Healthcare and Medical Education is a fact nowadays. Furthermore numerous virtual learning environments have been established in order to host both educational material and learners online activities. Online modules in a VLE can be designed in very different ways being part of different types of courses, while different models can be used to design the course based on what the creator aims to achieve. Thus, the types and the importance of the different elements of the online course may vary a lot. At the same time the need of a global approach to gather big educational data in order to provide valid meaning to the data through learning analytics and educational data mining is urgent. In order this to be achievable we propose a Learner Activity Taxonomy in which the different elements of the learners activity data can be categorised and a Learner Engagement Framework in which the importance of the different elements is vital in order for an analysis of the big educational data to provide a meaningful result. The initial application to practice of the Taxonomy and the Framework are presented based on data from 3 modules at 2 Universities, while the impact of them along with its limitations are discussed.


The mammalian kidney is composed of thousands of individual epithelial tubules known as nephrons. Deficits in nephron number are associated with myriad diseases ranging from complete organ failure to congenital hypertension. A balance between differentiation and maintenance of a mesenchymal progenitor cell population determines the final number of nephrons. How this balance is struck is poorly understood. Previous studies have suggested that Wnt9b/β-catenin signaling induced differentiation (mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition) in a subset of the progenitors but needed to be repressed in the remaining progenitors to keep them in the undifferentiated state. Here, we report that Wnt9b/β-catenin signaling is active in the progenitors and is required for their renewal/proliferation. Using a combination of approaches, we have revealed a mechanism through which cells receiving the same Wnt9b/β-catenin signal can respond in distinct ways (proliferate versus differentiate) depending on the cellular environment in which the signal is received. Interpretation of the signal is dependent, at least in part, on the activity of the transcription factor Six2. Six2-positive cells that receive the Wnt9b signal are maintained as progenitors whereas cells with reduced levels of Six2 are induced to differentiate by Wnt9b. Using this simple mechanism, the kidney is able to balance progenitor cell expansion and differentiation insuring proper nephron endowment. These findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms that regulate progenitor cell differentiation during normal and pathological conditions.


The horizontal painting consists of two grid patterns angled toward each other. Across the surface of the canvas is a large lime green area of thick paint that runs toward the bottom edge of the canvas. A pink wedge runs across the lower right.


This first major critical biography of Vladimir Nabokov, one of the greatest of 20th-century writers, finally allows us full access to the dramatic details of his life and the depths of his art. An intensely private man, Nabokov was uprooted first by the Russian Revolution and then by World War II. Transformed into a permanent wanderer, he did not achieve fame until late in life, with the success of "Lolita." In this first of two volumes, Brian Boyd vividly describes the liberal milieu of the aristocratic Nabokovs, their escape from Russia, Nabokov's education at Cambridge, and the murder of his father in Berlin. Boyd then turns to the years that Nabokov spent, impoverished, in Germany and France, until the coming of Hitler forced him to flee, with wife and son, to the U.S.This volume stands on its own as a fascinating exploration of Nabokov's Russian years and Russian worlds, pre-revolutionary and emigre. In the course of his 10 years' work on the biography, Boyd traveled along Nabokov's trail everywhere from Yalta to Palo Alto. The only scholar to have had free access to the Nabokov archives in Montreux and the Library of Congress, he also interviewed at length Nabokov's family and scores of his friends and associates.For the general reader, Boyd offers an introduction to Nabokov the man, his works, and his world. For the specialist, he provides a basis for all future research on Nabokov's life and art, as he dates and describes the composition of all Nabokov's works, published and unpublished. Boyd investigates Nabokov's relation to and his independence from his time, examines the special structures of his mind and thought, and explains the relations between his philosophy andhis innovations of literary strategy and style. At the same time he provides succinct introductions to all the fiction, dramas, memoirs, and major verse; presents detailed analyses of the major books that break new ground for the scholar, while providing easy paths into the works for other readers; and shows the relationship between Nabokov's life and the themes and subjects of his art.


Under the coordination of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Legionnaires' disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) conducts surveillance of Legionnaires' disease (LD) in Europe. Between 2011 and 2015, 29 countries reported 30,532 LD cases to ECDC (28,188 (92.3%) confirmed and 2,344 (7.7%) probable). Four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) accounted for 70.3% of all reported cases, although their combined populations represented only 49.9% of the study population. The age-standardised rate of all cases increased from 0.97 cases/100,000 population in 2011 to 1.30 cases/100,000 population in 2015, corresponding to an annual average increase of 0.09 cases/100,000 population (95%CI 0.02–0.14; p = 0.02). Demographics and infection setting remained unchanged with ca 70% of cases being community-acquired and 80% occurring in people aged 50 years and older. Clinical outcome was known for 23,164 cases, of whom 2,161 (9.3%) died. The overall case fatality ratio decreased steadily from 10.5% in 2011 to 8.1% in 2015, probably reflecting improved reporting completeness. Five countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Norway) had increasing age-standardised LD notification rates over the 2011−15 period, but there was no increase in notification rates in countries where the 2011 rate was below 0.5/100,000 population.


The GM debate has been ongoing for over a decade, yet it has been contained in the scientific world and presented in technical terms. Eco Crime and Genetically Modified Food brings the debates about GM food into the social and criminological arena.
Eco Crime and Genetically Modified Food highlights the criminal and harmful actions of state and corporate officials. It concludes that corporate and political corruption, uncertain science, bitter public opposition, growing farmer concern and bankruptcy, irreversible damage to biodervisty, corporate monopolies and exploitation, disregard for social and cultural practices, devastation of small scale and local agricultural economies, imminent threats to organics, weak regulation, and widespread political and biotech mistrust – do not provide the bases for advancing and progressing GM foods into the next decade. Yet, with the backing of the WTO, the US and UK Governments march on – but at what cost to future generations?


Forecasting global precipitation patterns and, in particular, extreme precipitation events is of critical importance to preparing for and adapting to climate change. Making accurate high-resolution precipitation forecasts using traditional physical models remains a major challenge in operational weather forecasting as they incur substantial computational costs and struggle to achieve sufficient forecast skill. Recently, deep-learning-based models have shown great promise in closing the gap with numerical weather prediction (NWP) models in terms of precipitation forecast skill, opening up exciting new avenues for precipitation modeling. However, it is challenging for these deep learning models to fully resolve the fine-scale structures of precipitation phenomena and adequately characterize the extremes of the long-tailed precipitation distribution. In this work, we present several improvements to the architecture and training process of a current state-of-the art deep learning precipitation model (FourCastNet) using a novel generative adversarial network (GAN) to better capture fine scales and extremes. Our improvements achieve superior performance in capturing the extreme percentiles of global precipitation, while comparable to state-of-the-art NWP models in terms of forecast skill at 1--2 day lead times. Together, these improvements set a new state-of-the-art in global precipitation forecasting.


The Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Grants Program presents an important opportunity for states and localities to provide employment services to noncustodial parents. This study examines the strategies that 11 purposively selected WtW grantees used to design and operate programs serving this population. It also summarizes lessons that can be learned from these efforts—lessons that are applicable to the larger community of workforce development and social services agencies which would like to be more proactive in serving low-income noncustodial parents. Specifically, the report examines program design and characteristics, recruitment and outreach strategies, incentives for participation, and program services (including employment, post-employment, and parenting services).


Coherent plane-wave compounding is the coherent summation of several successive plane waves incident at different angles. This thesis presents results from simulations and in vitro and in vivo measurements of stationary and moving objects, with focus on loss of resolution and contrast due to object motion. Resolution and contrast results for several angle selections, angle sequences and object velocities with and without motion correction have been compared. It is shown that using a subset of plane-wave tilt angles by decimating the optimal selection introduces grating lobes which degrades the image contrast, while imaging with a lower maximum tilt angle degrades the lateral resolution. The contrast loss for decimation factor 2 was more significant for simulations than for in vitro measurements. While the contrast went from -40 to -30 dB for the simulations, a decimation factor of 4 was needed to degrade the contrast significantly for the measurements. Decimating the angle selection by a factor of 2 doubles the achievable frame rate. A reduction in maximum angle from 13.7 to 8.2 deg., which corresponds to an increase in transmit F-number from 2.1 to 3.5, gives less than 0.3 mm degradation of lateral resolution. The lateral resolution is of the order of 1 mm. This reduction in maximum angle increases the frame rate by a factor of 1.2. Axial point scatterer velocity leads to considerably worse image quality than for stationary scatterers, while the effect of lateral scatterer velocities is limited. The degree of contrast and resolution loss due to object motion is dependent on the selection of plane waves which constitute a frame, and the sequence in which the plane waves are transmitted. Using a subset of the optimal angle selection leads to improvement in image quality for an axial velocity of 10.0 cm/s for decimation factor 4, but not for decimation factor 2, even though the total scatterer movement per frame is reduced by the reduction of transmitted plane-waves. The loss of quality due to motion was less for fewer tilt angles, but the total image quality was still worse for many of these sets of angles due to grating lobes. The unwanted effects of motion for in vivo-measurements were not seen to the same extent as for simulated point scatterers, and working with the coherent plane-wave compound seems promising for moving objects.


Background : Carcinoma is the most common tumor in nasopharynx. Endoscopy is used to determine the presence of lesions suspected of malignancy. Narrow Band Imaging is an endoscopic technique that uses narrow–band spectrum as a filter to determine any mucosal vascular changes in carcinoma. Narrow Band Imaging can early detect superficial mucosal lesions that are difficult to detect with conventional endoscopy, so that diagnosing is more accurate and occurrence of unnecessary biopsies can be reduced. This study aimed to determine diagnostic value of Narrow Band Imaging in diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods : This diagnostic test study was conducted at Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital, Bandung from September to October 2014. Twenty four patients with clinical signs and symptoms of nasopharyngeal carcinoma that fulfilled the study criteria were assigned using consecutive sampling to examine with Narrow Band Imaging and histopathology examination. The data were then analyzed with 2x2 table to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy. Results : In this study, the results of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy in diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma using Narrow Band Imaging were 93.75%, 62.5%, 83.3%, 83.3%, and 83.3%, respectively. Conclusions : Sensitivity of Narrow Band Imaging is 93.75%. [AMJ.2017;4(1):133–7] DOI : 10.15850/amj.v4n1.1034


Children in care are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society and senior managers should be committed towards improving their well-being. Empowerment through participation can contribute to this. This study considered the extent to which young people in care were encouraged to participate in decision making, particularly in their review meetings. The paper explores the views of seven senior managers in one local authority in this regard. It formed part of a wider study in which social workers, independent reviewing officers and young people in care were also interviewed. Findings indicate a disconnect between senior managers' views and other participants. Senior managers were unaware of the challenges that the social workers and independent reviewing officers said they faced. Their understanding of meaningful participation appeared to be limited, their curiosity subdued and their willingness to challenge limited. Senior managers informed that care plans were not up-to-date or considered at the review and were unsure about what opportunities children had to participate and how management could support this. Senior managers reflected that little seemed to have changed in relation to children's participation in their reviews over the last twenty-five years.


Conservation BiologyOver the past decade, biologists working in Ecuador's Yasuni National Park and the adjoining Waorani Ethnic Reserve, a 17,000-kilometer section of the Amazon Basin that was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1989, have documented Yasuni's remarkable biodiversity, providing evidence that its forest has the highest number of species on the planet, including an unprecedented core where there are overlapping world richness records for amphibians, reptiles, bats, and trees. Through a group called Scientists Concerned for Yasuni, these researchers have waged an international campaign to protect the location, which happens to sit atop Ecuador's second largest reserve of crude oil. This unabashed science-based advocacy has had an impact. In 2007, Ecuador President Rafael Correa offered a proposal in which his country would, in exchange for several billion dollars, keep the oil permanently under ground. The innovative initiative took a significant step toward reality this summer when the United Nations agreed to oversee a trust fund paid to Ecuador for the project. If all goes according to plan, the initiative may serve as a model for preserving intact biodiversity in other oil-rich portions of the western Amazon. But that's a big "if": President Correa has vowed to allow drilling if the international community fails to compensate Ecuador sufficiently.

* Eric Marx is a freelance writer based in Berlin.


There is significant interest in combining carbon nanotubes with semiconducting polymers for photovoltaic applications because of potential advantages from smaller exciton transport lengths and enhanced charge separation. However, to date, bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices have demonstrated relatively poor efficiencies, and little is understood about the polymer/nanotube junction. To investigate this interface, we fabricate a planar nano-heterojunction comprising well-isolated millimeter-long single-walled carbon nanotubes underneath a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) layer. The resulting junctions display photovoltaic efficiencies per nanotube ranging from 3% to 3.82%, which exceed those of polymer/nanotube BHJs by a factor of 50-100. The increase is attributed to the absence of aggregate formation in this planar device geometry. It is shown that the polymer/nanotube interface itself is responsible for exciton dissociation. Typical open-circuit voltages are near 0.5 V with fill factors of 0.25-0.3, which are largely invariant with the number of nanotubes per device and P3HT thickness. A maximum efficiency is obtained for a 60 nm-thick P3HT layer, which is predicted by a Monte Carlo simulation that takes into account exciton generation, transport, recombination, and dissociation. This platform is promising for further understanding the potential role of polymer/nanotube interfaces for photovoltaic applications.


Introduction: Sleeping is generally considered a period for rest and recovery, however some people wake with spinal symptoms not present on going to sleep and seek treatment. It has been clinically postulated that some sleeping postures, especially those involving sustained end range rotation or extension, can provoke pain sensitive spinal tissues. While sleep research generally has blossomed, little attention has been paid to the physical effects of nocturnal posture on waking spinal symptoms. Furthermore, sleep research is generally conducted in high technology sleep laboratories that are expensive to operate and usually only accessible in metropolitan centers limiting availability to a broader population. We aimed to develop a recording protocol that was low cost, unobtrusive and portable, enabling sleep posture assessment to occur in a person's habitual environment.
Method: Fifteen participants were recruited by word of mouth. Participants completed a Pre-Sleep Questionnaire. Two infrared cameras (placed overhead and foot end of bed) plus associated recording equipment were installed in their habitual sleeping area. One camera recorded continuously, the other camera was activated by motion detection. Recordings occurred over two consecutive nights, commencing automatically at 2000hrs and stopping at 0800hrs. Four sleeping postures were defined; supine, prone, supported sidelying, where the spine is neutral and ¾ sidelying, where the spine is rotated and extended. Recordings were viewed, posture classified and the time spent in each posture calculated. Time spent in each posture for night one and night two was analyzed to determine the presence of a first night effect.
Results: The protocol was effective in capturing good quality video data. Utilising motion detection reduced analysis time by 50%. The classification system had high intra-rater reliability for all four postures (ICC > 0.91). No first night effect was detected. Participants' self-report was accurate for the proportion of the night spent in supine (ICC = 0.7 95% CI 0.32 to 0.89) but not for the other three postures (ICC < 0.32 p ≤ 0.17). However when combining the two sidelying postures, self-report was accurate (ICC = 0.57; 95%CI 0.10 to 0.83; p = 0.01). There were no significant relationships found between the four postures and morning spinal symptoms.
Conclusion: The protocol tested provided a low cost, reliable, unobtrusive and portable method to assess sleep posture in the habitual environment that should be suitable for clinical and research purposes.


As an early pioneer of market-led institutional reforms and New Public Management policies, New Zealand arguably has one of the most 'neoliberalised' tertiary education sectors in the world. This article reports on a recent academic dispute concerning the attempt by management to introduce a new category of casualised academic employee within one of the country's largest research universities. It is based on a fieldwork study, including document analysis, interviews and the participation of both authors in union and activist activities arising from the dispute. Whilst some academics may collude in the new regimes of governance that these reforms have created, we suggest that 'collusion' and 'resistance' are inadequate terms for explaining how academic behaviour and subjectivities are being reshaped in the modern neoliberal university. We argue for a more theoretically nuanced and situational account that acknowledges the wider legal and systemic constraints that these reforms have created. To do this, we problematise the concept of collusion and reframe it according to three different categories: 'conscious complicity', 'unwitting complicity' and 'coercive complicity'. We ask, what happens when one must 'collude' in order to resist, or when certain forms of opposition are rendered impossible by the terms of one's employment contract? We conclude by reflecting on ways in which academics understand and engage with the policies of university managers in contexts where changes to the framework governing employment relations have rendered conventional forms of resistance increasingly problematic, if not illegal.


Chiral scaffolds of 2-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane and 2-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octane were used for the construction of new modular catalysts containing complexing moieties pyridine, 2,2′-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline appended by an imine linkage. The coordination abilities of the new ligands towards Zn(II) were investigated using NMR and UV spectroscopy. The plausible structures of the [ZnL2]2+ and [ZnLXn](2−n)+ complexes formed were established by comparison of the experimental and DFT-calculated NMR spectra. The catalytic application of the [ZnLXn](2−n)+-type complexes in the asymmetric aldol reaction of ketones with aromatic aldehydes produced an excess of the respective syn-aldols in up to >98% ee.


The ranging error of WSN (wireless sensor network) is usually large in complex environments. We find that the elements of the coordinate inner product matrix may fluctuate in a certain range with the changing ranging error. Therefore, we present a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) location algorithm based on the coordinate inner product matrix for determining the relative locations of sensor nodes in complex environments with large ranging error. Based on the global topological structure and the connectivity of WSNs, the geodesic distance between each node and the coordinate inner product matrix are obtained. Using the maximum likelihood estimator for a coordinate inner product matrix, we can finally estimate the sensor node coordinates by finding the global optimal solution. The experimental results show that the algorithm has good noise resistance for ranging noise; therefore, it is suitable for WSN node locating with large range noise. When the node distance error is large, it can also achieve high location accuracy.


Foreword.-Preface.-Acknowledgments.-Mathematical Family Tree of Lawrence W. Baggett.-Publications of Lawrence W. Baggett.-Co-Workers of Lawrence W. Baggett.-Titles of All Talks.-Part I. Classical and Abstract Harmonic Analysis.- Some Riemann Sums are Better than Others by V.W. Guillemin and D.W. Stroock.-Gelfand Pairs Associated with Finite Heisenberg Groups by C. Benson and G. Ratcliff.-Groups with Atomic Regular Representation by K.F. Taylor.-Wavelet Transforms and Admissible Group Representations by E. Weber.-Part II: Frames and Multiresolution Structures.-The Density Theorem and the Homogeneous Approximation Property for Gabor Frames by C. Heil.-Recent Developments on Dual Wavelet Frames by B. Han.-Characteristic Wavelet Equations and Generalizations of the Spectral Function by V. Furst.-Baggett's Problem for Frame Wavelets by M. Bownik.-Part III: Wavelet Sets.-Simple Wavelet Sets for Scalar Dilations in R2 by K.D. Merrill.-Interpolation Maps and Congruence Domains for Wavelet Sets by X. Zhang and D.R. Larson.-Part IV: Applications to Dynamical Systems and C*-Algebras.-Orthogonal Exponentials for Bernoulli Iterated Function Systems by P.E.T. Jorgensen, K. Kornelson, and K. Shuman.-A Survey of Projective Multiresolution Analyses and a Projective Multiresolution Analysis Corresponding to the Quincunx Lattice by J.A. Packer.-Part V: Signal and Image Processing.-Sampling and Time-Frequency Localization of Bandlimited and Multiband Signals by J.A. Hogan and J.D. Lakey.-Entropy Encoding in Wavelet Image Compression by M.-S. Song.-Symbols.-Index.


Schelling (1969, 1971a,b, 1978) considered a simple model with individual agents who only care about the types of people living in their own local neighborhood. The spatial structure was represented by a oneor two-dimensional lattice. Schelling showed that an integrated society will generally unravel into a rather segregated one even though no individual agent strictly prefers this. We make a first step to generalize the spatial proximity model to a proximity model of segregation. That is, we examine models with individual agents who interact 'locally' in a range of network structures with topological properties that are different from those of regular lattices. Assuming mild preferences about with whom they interact, we study best-response dynamics in random and regular non-directed graphs as well as in small-world and scale-free networks. Our main result is that the system attains levels of segregation that are in line with those reached in the lattice-based spatial proximity model. In other words, mild proximity preferences can explain segregation not just in regular spatial networks but also in more general social networks. Furthermore, segregation levels do not dramatically vary across different network structures. That is, Schelling's original results seem to be robust also to the structural properties of the network.


A four-week single subject (A-B) research design examined the effects of gum chewing on classroom performance in two 2 nd grade boys with a diagnosis of ADHD. This study focused on three variables: on-task behaviors, task completion, and quality of work. Data, using visual analogue scales, on these three variables were collected during 12 writing periods. The researcher observed and documented the participants' on-task behaviors, and the teacher scored the participants' quality and amount of work completed on writing assignments. Visual analysis and 2-standard deviation band methods were used to compare the participants' performance when gum was not chewed to the participants' performance when gum was chewed. The findings are inconclusive due to multiple limitations of the study. However, emerging secondary findings suggest that the child's needs, environment, and task demands may be important components to take into account when implementing gum as a sensory-based intervention strategy. Future research on the use of gum chewing for children diagnosed with ADHD in classroom settings is needed.


An optical communication channel is analyzed, in which a light beam is amplitude modulated at the source by a filter of continuously variable transmittance, and the detector counts the received photons. Such a communication channel has intrinsic noise limitations because there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the modulated beam power and the number of counts registered. The information rates achievable with single-mode and multimode lasers are evaluated as functions of the mean number N of detected photons per symbol, for several different input statistics. For large N the information rate increases logarithmically with N. It is shown that, when the symbol length is short, there is a minimum number of independent modes for which the multimode laser gives a greater information rate than the single-mode laser, if the laser power is equally divided among all the modes, and the power per mode is regarded as constant. However, for even moderate numbers of detected photons per symbol, this minimum number of modes is so great that the single-mode laser is to be preferred. When the light beam is derived from a thermal source, the information rate in the channel is, in effect, governed by the same equations as those for the single-mode laser, so long as the detector area is limited to a coherence area.


Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are commonly used molecules in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Among clinicians, fluoxetine is an antidepressant that is considered safe and preferred in major depressive disor-der. Many short-term and long-term effects of fluoxetine have been reported. Nausea, insomnia, headache, tre-mor, anxiety, dizziness, dry mouth, sweating, constipation, diarrhea are common and possible side effects during fluoxetine treatment. It is suggested that these side effects usually occur at the beginning of treatment and disap-pear spontaneously in the future. Hypothermia due to the use of fluoxetine has been demonstrated in animal ex-periments studies. In experimental studies, the effects of other pharmacological molecules on thermoregulation and the effect of fluoxetine on these molecules, increasing or decreasing body temperature are prominent. Clinical applications of fluoxetine for thermoregulation are directed to the treatment of female patients who develop post-menopausal fever flashes. No study reported hypothermia as a side effect after fluoxetine use in any psychiatric disorder. In this case, we present a patient who developed hypothermia following long-term use of fluoxetine.


Environmentally friendly waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) are copolymerized with (3-(2-aminoethyl)aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (AATS) and terminated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (ATS). The ATS content was kept constant and the effects of AATS on the structures and properties were investigated in terms of crystallinity, thermal stability, mechanical properties, dynamic thermo-mechanical properties and surface behavior. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis confirmed the existence of a hydrogen bonding interaction at the interface between the polyurethane and siloxane moieties. As the AATS content increased, the crystallinity decreased slightly as revealed using wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), the surface of the waterborne polyurethanes became much smoother as observed through a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the Si element content on the surface was enriched as confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the microphase separation was enhanced as shown using dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA). The incorporation of AATS led to an increase in hydrophobicity, tensile strength, Young's modulus, as well as thermal stability but a decrease in the elongation at break of the WPU films.


Although CEO bonus plans traditionally use net income as the standard performance measure, there is an increasing trend that CEOs influence directors to adopt alternative non-GAAP performance metrics in setting bonuses. In this study, we analyze the managerial consequences of this alternative bonus contract design in the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) industry. REITs provide a unique setting since most firms have been using FFO, an industry-specific non-GAAP performance measure, rather than net income, to determine CEO bonuses. Essentially, FFO consists of two components: net income, which is a GAAP measure, and a nonGAAP component that includes adjustments from net income made by firms. We examine to what extent CEO bonus arises as the result of manipulating these components. We also examine whether regulatory standards related to non-GAAP reporting and bonus disclosures are effective in mitigating such manipulation. Lastly, we analyze if good corporate governance constrains managerial opportunistic behavior. Our findings show, when given a choice to manipulate a GAAP versus a non-GAAP component, firms primarily choose to manage the non-GAAP component to increase bonuses. We further show that regulatory compensation disclosure standards and good governance mechanisms are important in reducing such manipulation. In additional analysis, we find that firms report less manipulation for bonus purposes in the post-financial crisis period, and CEO bonuses are higher at firms that report positive manipulations. Moreover, we do not find any association between FFO manipulation and other forms of compensation that are not directly linked to the FFO measure in compensation contract design. Finally, we show that capital market participants penalize firms' manipulative activities on FFO, especially when such activities are accompanied by large CEO bonuses.


George Psychoundakis was a young shepherd boy who knew the island of Crete intimately when the Nazis invaded by air in 1941. He immediately joined the resistance and took on the crucial job of war-time runner. It was not only the toughest but the most dangerous job of all. It involved immense journeys carrying vital messages, smuggling arms and explosives and guiding Allied soldiers, agents and commandos through heavily garrisoned territory. And George did not escape capture and torture on his many forays. This brilliant account of George's activities across mountainous terrain, come blazing summer or freezing winter, is a gripping story of bravery against impossible odds.


Abstract. Concurrent measurement of aerosols, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and cloud droplet activation were carried out as a part of the third Pallas Cloud Experiment (PaCE-3) which took place at a ground based site located on northern Finland during the autumn of 2009. In this study, we investigate relationships between the aerosol properties, CCN and size resolved cloud droplet activation. During the investigated cloudy periods, the inferred number of cloud droplets (CDNC) varied typically between 50 and 150 cm −3 and displayed a linear correlation both with the number of particles having sizes over 100 nm and with the CCN concentrations at 0.4% supersaturation. Furthermore, the diameter corresponding to the 50% activation fraction, D 50 , was generally in the range of 80 to 120 nm. The measured CCN concentrations were compared with predictions of a numerical model which used the measured size distribution and size resolved hygroscopicity as input. Assuming that the droplet surface tension is equal to that of water, the measured and predicted CCN concentrations were generally within 30%. We also simulated size dependent cloud droplet activation with a previously developed air parcel model. By forcing the model to reproduce the experimental values of CDNC, adiabatic estimates for the updraft velocity and the maximum supersaturation reached in the clouds were derived. Performed sensitivity studies showed further that the observed variability in CDNC was driven mainly by changes in the particle size distribution while the variations in the updraft velocity and hygroscopicity contributed to a lesser extent. The results of the study corroborate conclusions of previous studies according to which the number of cloud droplets formed in clean air masses close to the Arctic is determined mainly by the number of available CCN.


As sampling is taking place, the most active regions of the spectrum can be identified (i.e. the vicinity of spectral peaks). By selectively increasing the spectral density within those regions improves the quality of the total spectral representation reducing at the same time the global number of samples, and therefore, the total calculation time. The Blumer index is useful for adapting the sampling density of a calculated or measured spectrum.


As diversity is the strength for economic growth quality domestic institutions and good governance are some of the essential factors to achieve sustainable growth and maintain social stability and harmony. Therefore, necessary social, economic, political and institutional dynamics contribute to higher growth prospects and mitigate conflict in a multi-cultural society. Since the 1987 military coups some of the issues that have confronted the people of Fiji, and others, co-integrate with ethnicity, political instability, conflict and governance. This article links these issues and evaluates the characteristics and factors associated with the dimensions of conflict. In particular, the study highlights the nature and impact of conflict on the civil society and growth. With several crises and instabilities in Fiji, the outcomes of strategic ethnic and distributive conflicts have created new opportunities in inequality in power and resources. The absence of land rights itself is central to the problem where the livelihood of communities are threatened and conflict arises with insecurity. What role can foreign aid play to achieve stability and avoid ethnic conflict for growth? The paper highlights these global issues and a need for a system-wide approach to address conflict and peace. The paper further discusses the use of aid for conflict settlement, growth and development, and the policy implications for Fiji.


Major sources of variability in net farm income on New York dairy farms over the past 10 years are identified using variance decomposition methods. The most important source of income variability is the fluctuation in milk prices, followed closely by year-to-year variation in the quantity of purchased feeds. The degree of success in engaging in activities that increase diversification and lead to variance reductions in farm income are higher for older farmers and for those that utilize milking parlors, use recombinant bovine somatotropin, have greater assets per cow, and have engaged in activities to earn income from off-farm sources.


The Trafficking Victims Protection Act, ground-breaking legislation designed to punish traffickers and protect victims, is not reaching its full potential as a powerful tool against international human trafficking. A principal component of the Act - the availability of special T visas for trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement officials against their traffickers - is failing to reach its intended beneficiaries. According to U.S. government statistics, less than one percent of individuals trafficked into the United States have received protection in the form of a T visa. This article identifies weaknesses in the T visa system and proposes reforms designed to make the T visa system responsive to the unique circumstances of trafficking victims. Drawing from lessons learned from another U.S. protection regime - that which is in place for victims of persecution seeking asylum in the United States - this article offers practical, victim-centered solutions for identifying, assisting and protecting victims of international human trafficking. It also proposes a cooperation waiver for those victims whose family members abroad face severe retaliation by their traffickers. Overall, this article emphasizes the need for appropriate treatment of trafficking victims and the establishment of a comprehensive, collaborative system designed to empower, rather than further alienate, victims of international human trafficking.


The interest in human genetic diversity for understanding disease etiology, toxicology, and response to therapy has grown in recent years into an active field of research. For example, in cancer epidemiology, and especially in the field of molecular epidemiology, a great deal of attention has been paid to the role of common population polymorphisms in genes controlling carcinogen metabolism. These genes have low penetrance with respect to cancer risk, and their precise role with respect to interactions with environmental agents is under intensive investigation. An international collaborative project on Genetic Susceptibility to Environmental Carcinogens (1) has been established to address many of the questions related to these polymorphisms by pooling data from different studies conducted in the field. Among the effects of the most recent technological advances in molecular biology had been a tremendous simplification in techniques of analysis of specific gene sequence polymorphisms. High-throughput PCR methods now allow for rapid and low-cost detection of known sequence variants, as well as for the discovery of unknown variants such as the large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms that are known to exist throughout the human genome. As research into the function of metabolic gene polymorphisms began to expand over the past 3–5 years, it became clear that the lack of a common nomenclature for these allelic variants could become a major stumbling block for future progress. New polymorphisms were given names by their discoverers in a fairly random fashion, and it became quite common for a single allele to be called by different names in different publications. Attempts to clarify genotype designations were even more awkward. In 1995 and 1996, two papers were published in Pharmacogenetics that were critically important in beginning to resolve these problems. Each paper was authored by a group of molecular geneticists who had specialized in the genes concerned, N-acetyltransferase 1 and 2 (2) and CYP2D6 (3). In 1996, a similar proposal was published for CYP1A1 nomenclature (4). A recent paper has summarized the importance of a logical nomenclature strategy for human gene alleles (5). In 1999, a systematic review on metabolic cancer susceptibility genes (6) was published, which represented an important contribution to define the epidemiological and public health aspects of these genetic risk factors on human cancer and other diseases. This book included a proposal on nomenclature for many of the genes discussed in the book (7). This chapter uses the nomenclature systems previously published for NAT1, NAT2, CYP2D6 (2, 3), and with some modifications, CYP1A1 (4). For other genes such as CYP2E1, no viable nomenclature system had yet been proposed at the time of the preparation of the chapter. As might have been expected, during the interval between completion and review of this chapter and its final publication in the fall of 1999, other groups, particularly in the field of human genetics, were also struggling to bring some order to the nomenclature of allelic variants of metabolic genes. One such group, composed of leaders in the field of human CYP genetics, published a proposal for a nomenclature system for most of the human CYP gene alleles (8). At the same time, this group initiated a Web site (http://www.imm.ki.se/CYPalleles), which is described in a recent letter (9) and in the accompanying letter in this issue (10), wherein the current name for each CYP allele may be found. The advantages of using a Web-based format, as opposed to a publication format, for nomenclature systems are clear. New alleles may be added quickly and names assigned unambiguously. Simultaneous publication by different authors using different designations for the same allele are easily avoided, and any investigator may be certain of using the most up to date, standardized, and universally accepted name for whatever alleles are used in his/her research. Other Web sites currently exist for the NAT genes (http://www.louisville.edu/medschool/ pharmacology/NAT.html) and other genes. Unfortunately, there are some points of difference between the allele designations in the CYP Web site (9) and those of the proposal published in the book Metabolic Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Cancer (7). The differences concern particular nomenclature for CYP1A1 and CYP2E1. The reasons for these differences are partially related to differences in perspective between the fields of molecular epidemiology and molecular genetics, and to a lesser extent because of differences in interpretation of the frequencies of certain alleles. However, these differences are neither substantive nor important, especially when compared with the very disturbing possibility of the existence of two noncompatible nomenclature systems for CYP alleles. For example, a recent review lists the two different nomenclatures for CYP1A1 in a table (11). As the author of the 1999 nomenclature chapter (7) in the book Metabolic Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Cancer, as well as senior editors of that book, we believe, as do our colleagues on the CYP Web site nomenclature committee, that universal acceptance and usage of one single system for all metabolic gene alleles is a critically important goal for the present and future success of this area of research. We therefore urge all researchers in the field, including epidemiologists and others who may have found the book nomenclature chapter to be useful in comparison to the previous chaotic situation, to hence forward follow the Web-based nomenclature systems for all CYP, NAT, and other genes. Although there is presently no single Web site that gives Received 12/20/00; accepted 1/19/01. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. 1305 Vol. 10, 1305–1306, December 2001 Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention


Conventional lung cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy; however, these treatments are often poorly tolerated by patients. Cannabinoids have been studied for use as a primary cancer treatment. Cannabinoids, which are chemically similar to our own body's endocannabinoids, can interact with signalling pathways to control the fate of cells, including cancer cells. We present a patient who declined conventional lung cancer treatment. Without the knowledge of her clinicians, she chose to self-administer 'cannabidiol (CBD) oil' orally 2–3 times daily. Serial imaging shows that her cancer reduced in size progressively from 41 mm to 10 mm over a period of 2.5 years. Previous studies have failed to agree on the usefulness of cannabinoids as a cancer treatment. This case appears to demonstrate a possible benefit of 'CBD oil' intake that may have resulted in the observed tumour regression. The use of cannabinoids as a potential cancer treatment justifies further research.


One strategy advocated to meet the current physical activity guidelines is to accumulate activity in short bouts throughout the day. The efficacy of this approach has been demonstrated experimentally using 10-minute bouts of activity; however, it remains unclear whether accumulating very short bouts of exercise lasting approximately 2 minutes can also confer health benefits. PURPOSE: To investigate the training effects of eight weeks of stairclimbing on VO2max, blood lipids and homocysteine in sedentary, but otherwise healthy young women. METHODS: Fifteen women, aged 18.8 ± 0.7 yrs (mean ± SD), were randomly assigned to control (n = 7) or stairclimbing (n = 8) groups. Stairclimbing was progressively increased from one ascent per day in week 1 to five ascents per day in weeks 7 and 8. Training took place 5 d wk-1, on a public access staircase (199 steps), at a stepping rate of 90 steps min-1. Each ascent took approximately 2 minutes to complete. Subjects agreed not to change their diet or lifestyle over the experimental period. RESULTS: Relative to controls, the stairclimbing group displayed an increase in VO2max (+4.5 ± 3.7 mL·kg·min-1, p < 0.05) and a reduction in LDL-C (-0.17 ± 0.27 mmol·L-1, p < 0.05) over the training period. No change occurred in total cholesterol, HDL-C, triglycerides or homocysteine. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that accumulating short bouts of stairclimbing activity throughout the day can favourably alter important cardiovascular risk factors in previously sedentary young women.


Using the optical-optical double resonance (OODR) technique, we have studied the collisional broadening of some 2^1Delta_g<--B^1Pi_u lines in Na2 molecules. A single line Ar+ laser is used to pump the sodium dimers from thermally populated ground state X^1Sigma+_g level to the intermediate B^1Pi_u state. Then, a single-mode diode laser is used to probe the doubly excited 2^1Delta_g state. The broadening rate coefficient is determined from the slope of the total linewidth versus Ne density curve. We obtain the average value k_(br)=(1.1+-0.5)*10^(-8) cm3/s. The collisional excitation transfer between rotational levels of the B^1Pi_u state (i.e., B^1Pi_u(2,83/84)<--B^1Pi_u(2,82)) is also investigated. The rates can be determined from the relative intensities of the main peak and satellite lines, combined with a rate equation model. The rates of 1.25*10^(6) and 1.07*10^(6) /s are obtained, respectively.


In this thesis, we present the optical to X-ray scaling relations from the XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) and the red-sequence Matched-filter Probabilistic Percolation cluster finding algorithm (redMaPPer) cluster catalogs. XCS finds galaxy clusters in the XMM-Newton public archive and redMaPPer uses optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey eighth data release (SDSS-DR8) and the Dark Energy Survey first year data release (DES Y1). redMaPPer catalogs provide reliable photometric redshift estimations that have been calibrated with spectroscopic redshifts. The XCS temperature and luminosity pipelines need redshift information to calculate the X-ray observables. We introduced third generation of the XCS Post Processing Pipeline (XCS3P). A description of the previous versions is given, highlighting the modifications made for XCS3P-v3. This methodology was validated by comparing the LX - TX relation obtained from XCS3Pv1, XCS3P-v2 and the current version, the results are similar to XCS3P-v2 finding a self similar evolution. Samples of clusters are defined after several control filters, each cluster has optical and X-ray follow up, the sample has 327 unique clusters that span a redshift range of 0:08 < z < 0:8. Optical to X-ray scaling relations are obtained for the samples XCS-RM (SDSS DR8), XCS-RM (DES Y1) and XCS-RM (SDSS+DES Y1). Obtaining as a result, the most comprehensive examination of the TX - λ and LX - λ relations up to date, showing a clear correlation between the observables. This work confirms that it is possible to relate optical properties with the underlying mass. Cluster observables like the X-ray temperature, X-ray luminosity and the optical richness are well known mass tracers. The XCS3P-v3 methodology and the process followed to obtain the scaling relations are validated using four non-redMaPPer cluster catalogs, two from the optical (CAMIRA and GMBCG) and two from the millimiter (SPT and Planck). The results show a clear correlation between X-ray and optical and millimeter observables. This analysis is not a robust as for redMaPPer, thus further work is needed to present this results to the scientific community.


In this study, the author uses survey data on inflationary expectations to obtain information about the credibility of Canada's monetary policy. By comparing the differences between the forecasts made by survey participants with the targets set by the Bank of Canada for the 1992-1996 period (the period covered by the study), it was possible to determine empirically whether the targets were credible. Likewise, analyzing the forecasting errors by participants made it possible to check whether setting these targets contributed to making inflation more predictable. The empirical results stemming from the analysis of the differences between the forecasts and the targets suggest that the targets were credible for the period under consideration. Indeed, for a one-year horizon, forecasters predicted a rate of inflation that was very close to the median of the target range. Analysis of the actual forecasting errors suggest also that the setting of targets contributed to reducing forecasting errors relative to the reference index and that Canadian monetary policy became more effective after the targets were implemented.


The properties that make plastic of direct interest to designers and engineers are its good strength to weight ratio, low manufacturing installation costs, and high durability. The strength of polymers is known to be sensitive to temperature and this generally limits their use under service temperatures. The present work addresses the effect of temperatures ranging from 0 to 70 on the shear properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials. The results show that Yield stress increase with temperature by (15.4%) for HDPE and the temperature has no effect on yield stresses of PVC. The modulus of elasticity varied in each temperature for both materials selected and the maximum shear strength, however, showed a slight increase in this temperature range by (1.4%) for HDPE but slightly decrease by (2%) for PVC. Shear rupture and elongation reduced by (0.02%) with increasing temperature by (1 °C) for both materials .Ductile fracture is observed to be the controlling failure mechanism at all temperatures of interest for both material and no data were recorded at 70 due to distortion of all specimens in this temperature selected.


Two species of parasitoid wasps, Apanteles carpatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Baryscapus tineivorus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), are known to successfully parasitize larvae of tineid moths. We have evaluated each species potential impact on suppressing the pest Tineola bisselliella (Lepidoptera: Tineidae). Both parasitoids have shown high potential for biological control of webbing clothes moth larvae when tested on different host instars in the laboratory and field. Preferences for parasitizing older and larger host larval instars for egg largely overlap in both species. Apanteles carpatus is a solitary koinobiont and parthenogen, while B. tineivorus is a gregarious koinobiont, with a sex ratio of approximately 1:5 (male:female). Solitary reproduction in A. carpatus markedly suppressed the pest population early on but lagged large numbers of progeny in the F(-generation. Gregarious reproduction resulted in a faster build-up of the F1generation but lagged the immediate control effect. Combining the release of both parasitoid species for pest control seemed to be the logical conclusion. We tested the reproductive success of both species when experimentally forced into intensive intraguild competition. For this, parasitoids had either to compete simultaneously or slightly time shifted on the same preferred host resource. Reproductive success of A. carpatus was not significantly influenced by the presence of B. tineivorus. B. tineivorus reproductive output was significantly reduced in the presence of A. carpatus. Overall Suppression of host development was not significantly enhanced with both parasitoid species co-occurring when compared to their exclusive access to hosts. B. tineivorus does not significantly improve the control of webbing clothes moth hosts when occurring together with and having to compete against A. carpatus, at least in restricted laboratory conditions. Results show that B. tineivorus should be released with a temporal advantage of at least several days.
For inundative release, reproduction strategies and even competition between parasitoids is negligible, and a deferred release strategy would not be required.


This paper sets out to investigate relative wages and wage dispersion for formal sector workers in the private and public sectors. The paper explicitly measures the size of the public sector wage premium and offers some reasons for its existence. It also attempts to document the changing pattern of wage differentials between public and private sector employees between 1995 and 2000. Three sources of differences in the public and private sector wage distributions are considered. These are: differences in the distributions of worker characteristics in the two sectors; differences in the returns to various worker characteristics in the two sectors; and differences in the distributions of unexplained wage residuals across sectors (Juhn, Murphy and Pierce, 1993).


Urban amenities comprise the infrastructure, goods and services that are collectively needed for the urban society. These are central to urban society without which urban society cannot emerge and sustain. There is uneven distribution of the different urban amenities particularly in the developing countries. Srinagar city also shows significant unevenness in the provision of urban amenities. The analysis of the data reveals that there is complete disparity in the distribution of health care institutions and ration depots in different wards (Municipal units) of the city. Twenty six wards of the city out of sixty eight (38 percent) have absence of any Health Institution, while as seven wards (10 percent) have deficiency in the establishment of Health Institutions, six wards (9 Percent) have self sufficiency and the rest twenty nine wards (43 percent) posses above normal concentration. Similarly, in case of ration stores, thirty six wards out of sixty eight (53 percent) have above normal concentration, while as the rest thirty two wards (47 percent) have deficiency in the arrangement of provision of ration stores. Even six wards in the city have absence of the ration stores. Ward wise wazirbagh leads the hierarchy as having highest concentration of both Ration stores and Health Institutions. The amenities generally decrease from the core of the city to its peripheries. Therefore it becomes imperative to find a sustainable solution for the provision of adequate and balanced urban amenities and their optimum


With vast amount of data available electronically, there has been an ever increasing need to readily sort out and extract only the chief and pertinent sections from the data sources to present to the user. Time and space being critical constraints in this electronic era, it is indispensable to provide a mechanism to locate and browse required information quickly to avoid information overload. Automatic multi-document text summarization fulfills this need by presenting user with desired information in the form of a quick summary. Given a collection of documents related to same topic, the goal of multi document summarization system is to generate a short and concise summary that can be read in lieu of the original document collection. In multi-document summarization, sentence extraction is a critical phase in the formation of useful summaries. where the task is to pick a subset of sentences from the document cluster to form the summary giving an overall sense of the document's content. Developing a principled sentence extraction mechanism that also performs empirically well is a big challenge in itself. This thesis presents a new sentence extractive summarization framework based on Information Loss. We treat summarization as a decision making problem. Given a set of documents, either to a human or system, the selection of few sentences as a representative to whole document set is a critical decision making problem. As per decision theory we derive a general extraction mechanism for picking sentences based on an ascending order of the expected risk of information loss. We propose to use an intrinsic loss function to compute this information loss and to make a decision on picking a sentence as a part of summary. Sentences and documents are considered as different text units and are represented by probabilistic language models to estimate their distributions. In this inferential setting we use entropy based intrinsic loss function (relative entropy) to measure the discrepancy between the sentence and document model. Relative entropy loss function measures how bad a sentence distribution is in modeling the documents distribution. By doing this we are able to capture the amount of information loss in picking a sentence to represent the whole document cluster. The selection of a sentence in summary is not by a set of features but only the measure of loss. A large document set is divided into smaller text units (sentences), each of which tries to approximate the document set variationally, yielding an overall variational approximation. Sentences which are the candidates of summary act as a surrogate for document set in a larger inference process. This decomposition strategy leads us directly to a new sentence extraction algorithm. With a simple redundancy identification and text reformulation mechanism, we come up with a lightweight summarizer to generate more informative summaries. The proposed algorithm generates the extracts on the fly without extensive computation or training which seem to be used in various state of the art algorithms. Furthermore, we consider different information theoretic divergence measures and loss functions to estimate loss between sentence and document distribution, and analyze their performance. In order to evaluate the performance of our approach, we have used DUC (Document Understanding Conference) and MSE (Multi-Lingual Summarization Evaluation) dataset that have been widely used in recent document summarization evaluations. We have applied ROUGE (RecallOriented Understudy for Gisting Evaluation) as the automatic summary evaluation metric which is the standard way of evaluation of summaries. It essentially calculates n-gram overlaps between automatically generated summaries and previously-written human summaries. A high level of overlap indicates a high level of shared concepts between the two summaries. Our overall results are the best reported on the DUC-2004 summarization task for all three metrics ROUGE-1 ROUGE-2 and ROUGE-SU4, and are the best, but not statistically significantly different from the best system in MSE-2005. Results on DUC-2007 dataset supports our results on DUC-2004 and MSE-2005. Our system is also substantially simpler than the previous best systems.


This project began as an investigation of the way children are depicted, characterized, and represented in adult literature, or in fiction that is not meant for children. In this sort of literature, child characters are typically very complicated. And the ways in which they are complicated say a great deal about the author's assumptions about children and childhood, and about the dominant assumptions of children and childhood that characterize the author's historical period. In order to speak to the ideas which characterize the Romantic period, this project concentrates critical attention on two texts by Mary Shelley, and two of the stranger child-like characters from her historical period. This thesis works through what it means to understand the knowledge of kids in terms of what I call the "extracurricular." "Extracurricular" signals this thesis' particular concern with questions relating to the remainders of education and knowledge. Deborah Britzman's work on queer pedagogy provided the language necessary for examining the theoretical and political implications of child knowledge in Shelley. Britzman's discussion of what she terms "difficult knowledge" provided critical traction for talking about the types of education Shelley theorizes, more specifically, in Frankenstein and Matilda, but was not sufficient for a full analysis of the problems that arise in these texts, and within the critical contexts in which the texts are taken up. Instead of simply applying the concept of difficult knowledge to Shelley, this thesis works to translate the Shelleyean concept of "dangerous knowledge" into a model for understanding the relationship of the political to the pedagogical as it pertains to kids. This thesis, in other words, takes place at the intersection of Shelley's discussions of dangerous knowledge and Britzman's discussion of difficult knowledge. The implications that Shelley's work has for the value of public education, and a less privatized society than the one she witnessed and responded to in her fiction, are still urgent today. While our education system is, ofcourse, profoundly different than the system Shelley was writing about, her demands for a public space (as well as a happy domestic sphere), and a system of public education that is healthy, democratic and keyed towards respecting the knowledge of children represent a politics ofhope in which education is taken seriously because it is understood to have a critical place in the formation of subjectivity.


Abundance is a key parameter in microbial ecology, and important to estimates of potential metabolite flux, impacts of dispersal, and sensitivity of samples to technical biases such as laboratory contamination. However, modern amplicon-based sequencing techniques by themselves typically provide no information about the absolute abundance of microbes. Here, we use fluorescence microscopy and quantitative PCR as independent estimates of microbial abundance to test the hypothesis that microbial symbionts have enabled ants to dominate tropical rainforest canopies by facilitating herbivorous diets, and compare these methods to microbial diversity profiles from 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Through a systematic survey of ants from a lowland tropical forest, we show that the density of gut microbiota varies across several orders of magnitude among ant lineages, with median individuals from many genera only marginally above detection limits. Supporting the hypothesis that microbial symbiosis is important to dominance in the canopy, we find that the abundance of gut bacteria is positively correlated with stable isotope proxies of herbivory among canopy-dwelling ants, but not among ground-dwelling ants. Notably, these broad findings are much more evident in the quantitative data than in the 16S rRNA sequencing data. Our results help to resolve a longstanding question in tropical rainforest ecology, and have broad implications for the interpretation of sequence-based surveys of microbial diversity.


Purpose –Alignment of corporate real estate to a corporation's business strategy is a long-standing issue. In the past multiple models have been developed to support this process, but research shows that they fall short on certain parts of the CRE alignment activity, often lack transparency and fail to choose the real estate strategy that delivers most value to the organisation. The Preference-based Accommodation Strategy (PAS) procedure has been proposed as a solution to these issues and results in two pilots are positive. However, to optimise the results, a brute force approach should be implemented in the procedure. This paper reports on a pilot study wherein this PAS procedure 3.0 was tested and evaluated. Design/methodology/approach –A literature study is conducted to develop a theoretical basis for the implementation of a brute force approach in the PAS procedure. This procedure is implemented in a pilot study by building a mathematical model. During the pilot the users improved the reflection of their preferences in the model, in an iterative process of manually designing portfolio alternatives. A brute force approach is applied to the final model to yield the optimum portfolio alternative. The implementation of the brute force approach is evaluated and it is determined if the approach yields a higher preference rating than the stakeholders can achieve by manual design. Findings –The pilot study shows that the brute force approach is able to improve the results over the manual design and yields a 7% increase in the real estate alignment compared to the current portfolio. The evaluation results reveal that the implementation process results in acceptance of- and trust in the model. Moreover, the users are very positive about the PAS and indicate that the model better reflects their preferences than their current process. They even indicate that they want to incorporate the tool in their daily decision-making process. force pilot study has shown that the PAS procedure 3.0 is able to improve the corporate real estate (CRE) decision-making process and hereby improve the corporate real estate (CRE) alignment. This will result in more added value of real estate to the businesses in which the tool is used.


Social scientists are commonly advised to deduce and test all observable implications of their theories. We describe a principled framework for testing such "elaborate" theories: nonparametric combination. Nonparametric combination (NPC) assesses the joint probability of observing the theoretically predicted pattern of results under the sharp null of no effects. NPC accounts for the dependence among the component tests without relying on modeling assumptions or asymptotic approximations. Multiple-testing corrections are also easily implemented with NPC. As we demonstrate with four applications, NPC leverages theoretical knowledge into greater statistical power, which is particularly valuable for studies with strong research designs but small sample sizes. We implement these methods in a new R package, NPC.


The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of Sapindus rarak extract (SRE) with or without garlic extract (GE) on in vitro ruminal fementation. This research was conducted experimentally with a randomized block design, with 7 treatments and 5 blocks. The treatments were: R0:  dairy cow feed; R1: R0 + 1.5 ppm Cr + 0.3 ppm Se + 40 ppm Zn; R2: R1 + 1.8 g/kg methanol extract of lerak fruit  meal (SRE); R3: R2 + 0.25 ppm of garlic extract (GE); R4: R2 + 0.50 ppm of GE; R5: R2 + 0.75 ppm of GE; R6: R2 +1.0 ppm of GE. The results showed that the supplementation of SRE alone or without GE did not affect the pH, however, it decreased crude fiber digestibility. The supplementations of SRE and GE, decreased crude fibre digestibility as much as 13.01% up to 16.6%. The supplementation of 1.8 g/kg SRE + 0.25 ppm GE in the dairy cattle diet was able to decrease ace-tate, protozoal population and increase propionate. The supplementation of 1.8 g/kg SRE and 0.25 ppm garlic represents the best combination for dairy cattle feed in improving ruminal fermentation based on feed digestibility, fermentation products, and rumen bacterial population.