Bruce Boudreau is living a hockey Cinderella story. After more than three decades in the minor leagues as a player and coach, he was promoted to head coach of the Washington Capitals in 2007. Boudreau revived the Caps, written off as dead, to a division championship and received the Jack Adams award as the National Hockey League's Coach of the Year in June 2008. His story is an entertaining odyssey of triumph, disappointment, and perseverance, stretching from Toronto to Washington. As a pro rookie, Boudreau had a cameo appearance in Slap Shot with star Paul Newman. Today Boudreau coaches superstar Alexander Ovechkin and a young Washington club poised to become an elite NHL team vying for the Stanley Cup. Boudreau stole the limelight at the 2008 NHL Awards Show with his self-deprecating and folksy manner, which has made him a popular personality at every stop he's made. Hockey fans know there's only one Boudreau.


Neural activity during cognitive tasks exhibits complex dynamics that flexibly encode task-relevant variables. Recurrent neural networks operating in the near-chaotic regime, which spontaneously generate rich dynamics, have been proposed as a model of cortical computation during cognitive tasks. However, existing methods for training these networks are either biologically implausible, and/or require a continuous, real-time error signal to guide the learning process. The lack of a biological learning method currently restricts the plausibility of recurrent networks as models of cortical computation. Here we show that a biologically plausible learning rule can train such recurrent networks, guided solely by delayed, phasic rewards at the end of each trial, for nontrivial tasks. We use this method to learn various tasks from the experimental literature, showing that this learning rule can successfully implement flexible associations, memory maintenance, nonlinear mixed selectivities, and coordination among multiple outputs. We show that the resulting networks exhibit complex dynamics previously observed in animal cortex, such as dynamic encoding and maintenance of task features, switching from stimulus-specific to response-specific representations, and selective integration of relevant input streams. We conclude that recurrent neural networks offer a plausible model of cortical dynamics during both learning and performance of flexible behavior.


OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the literature on external cephalic version–related complications and to assess if the outcome of a version attempt is related to complications. DATA SOURCES: In March 2007 we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION: Studies reporting on complications from an external cephalic version attempt for singleton breech pregnancies after 36 weeks of pregnancy were selected. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) from studies that reported both on complications as well as on the position of the fetus immediately after the procedure. TABULATION, INTEGRATION, AND RESULTS: We found 84 studies, reporting on 12,955 version attempts that reported on external cephalic version–related complications. The pooled complication rate was 6.1% (95% CI 4.7–7.8), 0.24% for serious complications (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.17–0.34) and 0.35% for emergency cesarean deliveries (95% CI 0.26–0.47). Complications were not related to external cephalic version outcome (OR 1.2 (95% CI 0.93–1.7). CONCLUSION: External cephalic version is a safe procedure. Complications are not related to the fetal position after external cephalic version.


Basketball has so many great stories, so many interesting anecdotes-about college and pro teams, players from all levels, announcers, and even owners-that one book just isn't enough to hold it all. That's why Potomac Books, Inc. is introducing Basketball's Most Wanted II: The Top 10 Book of More Hotshot Hoopsters, Double Dribbles, and Roundball Oddities. With even more fun tales and interesting facts from the world of hoops, there's something in here for all fans of basketball. Which NBA team attempted to draft a player straight out of high school in 1969-a female player from the Iowa six-on-six league? What standard features in today's NBA were originally introduced in the renegade American Basketball Association? Who are the best three-point shooters in both the pros and college? Which high school team had an amazing four future NBA players on its roster? With which team did Wilt Chamberlain begin his professional career? (Hint: It wasn't an NBA team.) You'll find the answers to all those questions and so much more in Basketball's Most Wanted* II, including the best and worst basketball movies, the most shocking NCAA tournament upsets, top names from basketball's "Asian invasion," and even guys who played one game-and only one game-in the NBA. So join David L. Hudson, Jr. as he looks at the amazing and the amusing, the wacky and the wonderful, the best and worst of everything basketball has to offer. It's a slam dunk!


The quality of life index as oral impact on daily performance (OIDP) is very significant indicator for people teeth loss or oral health problem in specific socio-cultural community where generalized for assessment. The research is aimed to investigate dental health status and their OIDP for the elderly. This cross-sectional descriptive study was comprised of seven provinces by randomized selected in Northeastern region of Thailand, with 2,939 elderly. All those elderly were dental health examined and interviewed by using standardized questionnair e included dental health behavior, psychological health and OIDP form. This results showed that the OIDP scoring 5 level, first 3 of 5 level ranking is the most severity level magnitude such as eating food (52.2%), speaking (51.9%), embarrassed by teeth appearance (51.9%), which affected daily life performances. The statistical analysis showed that subjects perceived their irritation in oral cavity [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=2.11; 95%CI=1.62-4.31], xerostomia [AOR=1.89; 95%CI=1.02-3.13], restricted their sugar consumption [AOR=2.38; 95%CI=1.22-3.80], low frequency of cleaning teeth [AOR=1.96; 95%CI=1.09-3.03], visited a dentist during the past three years or more [AOR=2.89; 95%CI=1.20-4.15]. In conclusions, the high prevalence of oral hygienic problem with OIDP also still high magnitude level. Thus community oral health education programs and dental skill training need to be improved and fulfilled. Keyword: Oral impact on daily performance (OIDP), elderly, oral health


Foodborne listeriosis outbreaks, which occurred in the past 10 years, have raised new questions in listeriosis epidemiology. The renewed interest in listeriosis and Listeria monocytogenes has resulted in various efforts, which enormously enriched the knowledge about his relatively rare, but because of the high mortality rate, important infectious disease as well as about its causative agent. New data concerning epidemiology and therapy of human listeriosis as well as new experience with Listeria monocytogenes regarding virulence, typing, isolation, identification, occurrence in food and environment, behaviour towards disinfectants etc. have changed the view of human listeriosis prevention. The new aspects are summarized in this review.


Effluents are main source of direct and often continuous input of pollutants in to aquatic ecosystem with long term implications on ecosystem functioning. In present study, an investigation has been made to ascertain the effect of tannery effluents (untreated and treated) on quality Ganga river water near Jajmau area at Kanpur city, India. The effluents were mixed with Ganga river water at concentration of 5%, 15%, 25%, 50% and 75% v/v and analyzed for physicochemical parameters like pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in laboratory condition. The results of the study indicate that incorporation of tanneries effluents make highly adverse effect on river Ganga. So the result obtained shows that tannery wastewater is added continuously in river water, few years from now, serious water quality deterioration could take place, which will serious threat to aquatic and human life. Keyword: Tannery effluents, River water, Modulatory effect


This article discusses the character of mineral resource governance at the margins of the state in Tanzania and the way artisanal gold miners are incorporated into mineral sector transformation. The landscape of mineral resource exploitation has changed dramatically over the past 20 years: processes of economic liberalisation have heralded massive foreign investment in large-scale gold mining, while also stimulating artisanal activities. Against this background, the article shows how artisanal gold miners are affected by contradictory processes: some have become integrated with state institutions and legal processes, while others, the large majority, are either further excluded or incorporated in ways that exacerbate insecurity and exploitation, underpinned by socio-economic inequalities. These processes are compounded by the actions of large-scale and medium-scale gold mining companies and by poor local governance. It is open to debate whether this will bring improved integration and welfare for artisanal mining communities or new forms of exclusion, although evidence suggests the latter.


India's urban transition is salient to the growing emphasis on city responses to climate change. While projected to experience the largest global urban transition with significant infrastructure investment in the next few decades, the welfare of Indian cities remains poor, which complicates the implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This paper traces, synthesizes and characterizes the emerging literature on Indian urban climate debates. It discusses the arc of urban climate efforts, from an initial emphasis on climate vulnerabilities and risks, broadening over time to include climate mitigation. The paper examines the governance forms and political motivations with which such actions are pursued in cities and finds three overarching characteristics: the use of local development priorities as an entry point to climate mitigation and adaptation; the role of nonstate actors in promoting climate‐relevant outcomes; and the proclivity for discrete project‐based activities. The paper suggests that while a range of Indian cities are beginning to consider climate concerns, a larger strategic understanding of the interaction between climate and development priorities, across policy and governance levels, is yet to be developed. The future trajectory of urban India's responses to climate change will be shaped by the institutional prioritising, linking and integrating of urgent local development and mitigation and adaptation goals.


Methods to quantify hydrothermal alteration are used to: document alteration halos; to comprehend hydrothermal processes; and to prospect for mineralisation formed by such processes. The chemical methods available are numerous and each has specific advantages, limitations and fields of application. This study focuses on the hydrothermal process at Beattie, a Neoarchean gold deposit hosted by the Beattie Syenite within the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Superior Province, Canada. To quantify alteration, it was necessary to use the following chemical methods: (1) mass-balance calculations; (2) normative minerals and related alteration indices; and (3) Pearce Element Ratios (PER) diagrams. In the study area, silicification and carbonatisation are satisfactorily quantified by alteration indices, while alkali metasomatism was best estimated by mass-balance calculations and PER diagrams. Combining these methods, the following alteration types have been documented: K-feldspar alteration, silicification, and Na-Ca-leaching are intense and proximal to gold mineralisation; carbonatisation is widespread and intense; and sericitisation and chloritisation are minor to absent. It is proposed that, at the Beattie Syenite, the formation of white mica and chlorite and the mobilisation of alkali and silica are consequences of the predominant process related to carbonatisation.


Lobbying is both an essential part of our democratic process and a source of some of our greatest fears about dangers to that process. Yet when Congress, the public, and scholars consider loosening or, as is more often the case, tightening the restrictions on lobbying, they usually assume that everyone knows what activities are in fact lobbying. They therefore overlook the fact that multiple definitions of lobbying currently exist in the various federal laws addressing lobbying. This Article seeks to fill this gap by answering the question of how lobbying should be defined for purposes of the existing federal laws relating to lobbying. The Article first explores the three sets of applicable laws, which tax lobbying, disclose lobbying, and restrict lobbyists. This exploration reveals that all three sets of laws arise out of a common concern regarding the influence of interest groups on government actions. Drawing on the extensive research regarding how interest groups wield such influence, the Article then determines that this research strongly suggests that the vulnerability to interest group methods that raise the greatest concerns varies depending on the type of government actor that an interest group seeks to influence. The Article therefore proposes the adoption of single definition of lobbying that covers all direct attempts to influence government officials and employees in Congress and at the very highest levels of the Executive Branch, while excluding attempts to influence other types of government actors and to influence the public.


In the last few years, the assessment of non-horizontal mergers in the European Union ("EU") has evolved considerably. There is now a consistent body of jurisprudence and administrative decisions on the assessment of vertical and conglomerate concentrations. The goal pursued is consumer welfare; the potential benefits of non-horizontal mergers are recognized and sound economic thinking is relied upon in identifying those instances where such mergers could lead to anti-competitive effects. Several developments have significantly contributed to this evolution. Two judgments of the European Courts have necessarily to be mentioned first: in 2004 the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") established general principles on the assessment of non-horizontal mergers in the Commission v. Tetra Laval BV ("Tetra/Sidel") judgment, which were completed and made operational by the Court of First Instance ("CFI") one year later in its judgment in General Electric Co. v. Commission ("GE/Honeywell"). Second, an amended Merger Regulation entered into force in May 2004. This introduction of a new test, which no longer requires proof that a merger will lead to dominance before allowing intervention to prevent consumer harm, is particularly relevant for non-horizontal mergers. Third, the European Commission ("the Commission"), in November 2007, adopted guidelines on the assessment on non-horizontal mergers which, within the legal framework set up by the Courts, attempt to develop an economically sound approach for the analysis of vertical and conglomerate concentrations. Finally, during this period, the Commission has dealt with several vertical and conglomerate mergers in its enforcement decisions, which have allowed it to already apply and refine its policy in a number of individual situations. This Article describes in detail and comments on all of these developments, both from a legal and from a policy perspective. NON-HORIZONTAL MERGERS: A EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE Carles Esteva Mosso*


With the development of integrated circuits, the structure of chips becomes more and more complex, and the processing cost increases accordingly. To improve the productivity of lithography, the acceleration of the reticle stage should be increased to reduce the positioning time. However, the increase of acceleration will cause the relative slip between the reticle and the vacuum chuck, which seriously affects the accuracy and the product yield of lithography. To suppress the slippage, the friction mechanism and the characteristics between the reticle and the chuck are studied in this article. First, based on the Kogut–Etsion contact model and the Majumdar–Bhushan (MB) fractal contact model, the maximum static friction coefficient model between nano-scale surfaces was established. Then, the surface morphology parameters of reticle and chuck adsorption surface were obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM) scanning. Finally, the maximum static friction force experiments show that the MB model is more suitable for the study of friction mechanism between reticle and vacuum chuck, and the model is more instructive for the suppression of reticle slip.


Functional encryption is a powerful primitive: given an encryption Enc(x) of a value x and a secret key skf corresponding to a circuit f , it enables efficient computation of f(x) without revealing any additional information about x. Constructing functional encryption schemes with succinct ciphertexts that guarantee security for even a single secret key (for a general function f ) is an important open problem with far reaching applications, which this paper addresses. Our main result is a functional encryption scheme for any general function f of depth d, with succinct ciphertexts whose size grows with the depth d rather than the size of the circuit for f . We prove the security of our construction based on the intractability of the learning with error (LWE) problem. More generally, we show how to construct a functional encryption scheme from any public-index predicate encryption scheme and fully homomorphic encryption scheme. Previously, the only known constructions of functional encryption were either for specific inner product predicates, or for a weak form of functional encryption where the ciphertext size grows with the size of the circuit for f . We demonstrate the power of this result, by using it to construct a reusable circuit garbling scheme with input and circuit privacy: an open problem that was studied extensively by the cryptographic community during the past 30 years since Yao's introduction of a one-time circuit garbling method in the mid 80's. Our scheme also leads to a new paradigm for general function obfuscation which we call token-based obfuscation. Furthermore, we show applications of our scheme to homomorphic encryption for Turing machines where the evaluation runs in input-specific time rather than worst case time, and to publicly verifiable and secret delegation.


A B S TRACT. Persons of faith are now seeking religious exemptions from laws concerning sex, reproduction, and marriage on the ground that the law makes the objector complicit in the assertedly sinful conduct of others. We term claims of this kind, which were at issue in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, complicity-based conscience claims. Complicity-based conscience claims differ in form and in social logic from the claims featured in the free exercise cases that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) invokes. The distinctive features of complicity-based conscience claims matter, not because they make the claim for religious exemption any less authentic or sincere, but rather because accommodating claims of this kind has the potential to inflict material and dignitary harms on other citizens. Complicity claims focus on the conduct of others outside the faith community. Their accommodation therefore has potential to harm those whom the claimants view as sinning. Today complicity claims are asserted by growing numbers of Americans about contentious "culture war" issues. This dynamic amplifies the effects of accommodation. Faith claims that concern questions in democratic contest will escalate in number, and accommodation of the claims will be fraught with significance, not only for the claimants, but also for those whose conduct the claimants condemn. Some urge accommodation in the hopes of peaceful settlement, yet, as we show, complicity claims can provide an avenue to extend, rather than settle, conflict. We highlight the distinctive form and social logic of complicity-based conscience claims so that those debating accommodation do so with the impact on third parties fully in view. We show how concern about the third-party impact of accommodation structured the Court's decision in Hobby Lobby and demonstrate how this concern is an integral part of RFRA's compelling interest and narrow tailoring inquiries. At issue is not only whether but how complicity claims are accommodated.


Five years after the Federal Reserve and Treasury allowed the investment bank Lehman Brothers to fail, while rescuing Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, their actions (or inaction) remain a focus of debate. Cline and Gagnon present evidence that federal officials, at least in hindsight, appear to have followed the dictum of Walter Bagehot that lending should be granted only to solvent entities. Lehman was insolvent—probably deeply so—whereas the other institutions arguably were solvent. The other institutions had abundant collateral to pledge, whereas what little collateral Lehman had to pledge was of questionable quality and scattered across many affiliated entities. While the Fed and Treasury had a sound reason to let Lehman fail, the shock to financial markets that ensued from its collapse sent the financial crisis into a new, more acute phase and may have contributed to the severity of the Great Recession. Therefore the lesson from Lehman is not only that Bagehot-type lender-of-last-resort action is as important as ever but also that it is critical to ensure an orderly resolution for a systemically important financial institution going bankrupt.


This study describes a salmonella infection in a chinchilla farm of 40 families in the Yalova region. Twenty-four families were affected in a 10-day period after the outbreak of the disease and the clinical signs were apathy, anorexia, diarrhoea with or without hemorrhage, tremors, local paralysis, mucopurulent or hemorrhagic vaginal secretion in some females, abortions in 1 to 2 month-pregnant animals and death. The newborn and pregnant animals were affected more severely. Two live chinchillas with clinical signs were euthanized and gross pathological, histopathological and microbiological examinations were performed. In the gross and microscopical examinations, the most severe lesions were due to enteritis together with findings suggestive of septicemia. Inflammation of the uterus with slightly hemorrhagic, mucopurulent exudate was also seen. Isolation and identification of Salmonella enteritidis and S. typhimurium were carried out during the microbiological examination of the sampled tissues. The isolated Salmonella strains were found to be sensitive to enrofloxacin, amoxycillin and gentamicin, and resistant to erythromycin and ampicillin.


Ontologies have moved beyond the domains of library science, philosophy, and knowledge representation. They are now the concerns of marketing departments, CEOs, and mainstream business. Research analyst companies such as Forrester Research report on the critical roles of ontologies in support of browsing and search for e-commerce and in support of interoperability for facilitation of knowledge management and configuration. One now sees ontologies used as central controlled vocabularies that are integrated into catalogues, databases, web publications, knowledge management applications, etc. Large ontologies are essential components in many online applications including search (such as Yahoo and Lycos), ecommerce (such as Amazon and eBay), configuration (such as Dell and PC-Order), etc. One also sees ontologies that have long life spans, sometimes in multiple projects (such as UMLS, SIC codes, etc.). Such diverse usage generates many implications for ontology environments. In this paper, we will discuss ontologies and requirements in their current instantiations on the web today. We will describe some desirable properties of ontologies. We will also discuss how both simple and complex ontologies are being and may be used to support varied applications. We will conclude with a discussion of emerging trends in ontologies and their environments and briefly mention our evolving ontology evolution environment.


In 2011, leading comedy scholars singled-out two shortcomings in stand-up comedy research. The first shortcoming suggests a theoretical void: that although "a number of different disciplines take comedy as their subject matter, the opportunities afforded to the inter-disciplinary study of comedy are rarely, if ever, capitalized on."¹ The second indicates a methodological void: there is a "lack of literature on 'how' to analyse stand-up comedy."² This research project examines the relationship between political consciousness and satirical humour in stand-up comedy and attempts to redress these two shortcomings. It offers a new theoretical model and a new set of longitudinal data: the political content of American stand-up comedy over the course of the decade from 1990-1999. It capitalizes on the interdisciplinary study of comedy, which scholars describe as a "huge cultural phenomenon,"3 by offering a plausible context for the manifestation of satirical stand-up comedy content. The development of the context proceeds in logical steps integrating insights from five realms of inquiry – language science, political economy, propaganda studies, mass media effects and humour theory – into a consistent theoretical framework. The interdisciplinary effort
offers a new method to analyse stand-up comedy, captured by the symbolic formula SC2={OGB,CERP}, whereby the satirical content of stand-up comedy (SC2) manifests itself in the association of two sets of statements: operative group beliefs (OGBs) and contrary empirical rational propositions (CERPs).

As a whole, this research project falls within the conflict theory tradition of sociological research.¹ It argues that structurally, the aggregate demand for stand-up satire is stimulated by the dominion exerted by mass media over mass opinions. Given that elite "control of society, while certainly manifest in material modes of production, is culturally embedded and naturalized in the minds of the people via its hegemony over discourse,"² the content of stand-up satire cannot be properly examined unless the political economic repercussions of mass communication are taken into account. Mass propaganda and satire are inextricably entwined. This dissertation hypothesizes that the former fuels the general uncritical consensus while the latter acts as the artillery of critique.

1 Lockyer et al., 2011:99. 2
1 Klaehn et al., 2010:10. 2
Theobald, 2006:26. iv


Visualization systems with multiple views are often used to represent data from different perspectives. There are many advantages in doing so, such as providing a way for users to understand a dataset by revealing its various attributes in separate views and offering additional information that could be more useful than if it was just one graph. However, this can often make data seem complicated and overwhelming as each view remains independent. We present a visualization that utilizes multiple views as a means for interaction and unifying the different data dimensions of a multi-view system. This creates a cohesive visualization that displays different aspects of the data, in this case, hierarchical text data and numerical data. With this personal data visualization, we offer a potential solution for relating additional data structures through interaction while maintaining different data types shown and linking multiple views to form a larger connected graph.


As teachers are the educational experts, if we want to produce software that is both directly relevant to their needs and can be successfully integrated into the classroom, we need to facilitate a strong co-operative working partnership between the teacher and the software developer. This paper looks at a case study where we create such a partnership and study the consequences. The overall aim was to enable the cooperative teacher to play a central role in the co-designing of a mathematical educational computer program. The study focused on exploring the issues surroundings the role of the teacher and the software developer in the co-designing process, with special emphasis on the expectations of both parties. Some of these issues include: • techniques for facilitating the sharing of ideas between the teacher and software developer; • identifying techniques and problems when trying to express the task/aims of the software; • identifying miss-understanding of vocabulary between the teacher and software developer; • contrasting formal with informal lists of criteria about expected outcomes of the software; • exploring the use of interface screen shots in ideas development; • understanding the consequences of assumptions about equipment; • evaluation techniques. After preliminary discussions the cooperative teacher selected the general area of how to convert between metric units of measurement as the teaching focus of the proposed software. The responses of the co-operating teacher, other teachers, parents and students was recorded and analysed, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both the resulting software and the development process.


Names such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been emerging in the world's eye over the past decade as exotic hotspots, wealthy from oil production and advanced in the means of technology. However, at the same time, the Arab Gulf States have managed to maintain their traditional culture, adapting it to modern life. With complete coverage on Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, Culture and Customs of the Arab Gulf States is a must-have for every high school and public library shelf. Clear and vivid descriptions of contemporary life in the Arab Gulf help students discover how traditions of the past have evolved into customs today. This exhaustive volume covers topics such as religion, festivals, cuisine, fashion, family life, literature, the media, and music, among many others. Up-to-date and comprehensive, this volume offers a unique and contemporary depiction of culture in some of the world's wealthiest, up-and-coming nations.


Communications and personal information that are posted online are usually accessible to a vast number of people. Yet when personal data exist online, they may be searched, reproduced and mined by advertisers, merchants, service providers or even stalkers. Many users know what may happen to their information, while at the same time they act as though their data are private or intimate. They expect their privacy will not be infringed while they willingly share personal information with the world via social network sites, blogs, and in online communities.The chapters collected by Trepte and Reinecke address questions arising from this disparity that has often been referred to as the privacy paradox. Works by renowned researchers from various disciplines including psychology, communication, sociology, and information science, offer new theoretical models on the functioning of online intimacy and public accessibility, and propose novel ideas on the how and why of online privacy. The contributing authors offer intriguing solutions for some of the most pressing issues and problems in the field of online privacy. They investigate how users abandon privacy to enhance social capital and to generate different kinds of benefits. They argue that trust and authenticity characterize the uses of social network sites. They explore how privacy needs affect users virtual identities. Ethical issues of privacy online are discussed as well as its gratifications and users concerns. The contributors of this volume focus on the privacy needs and behaviors of a variety of different groups of social media users such as young adults, older users, and genders. They also examine privacy in the context of particular online services such as social network sites, mobile internet access, online journalism, blogs, and micro-blogs.In sum, this book offers researchers and students working on issues related to internet communication not only a thorough and up-to-date treatment of online privacy and the social web. It also presents a glimpse of the future by exploring emergent issues concerning new technological applications and by suggesting theory-based research agendas that can guide inquiry beyond the current forms of social technologies.


The Great Famine of 1845-52 was the most decisive event in the history of modern Ireland. In a country of eight million people, the Famine caused the death of approximately one million, while a similar number were forced to emigrate. The Irish population fell to just over four million by the beginning of the twentieth century. Christine Kinealy's survey is long established as the most complete, scholarly survey of the Great Famine yet produced. The unravelling of fact from opinion, the interpretation of motives behind the London governments' responses, and the confrontation of stereotypes are at the heart of this extensive work. "This Great Calamity" is an exceptional book, now available for the first time in pocket format. 'This book is mandatory reading for anyone who wishes to be informed about Irish history' - "Irish Post". 'This is not the last word on the Famine, but it is the best so far' - "Irish Independent".


Multicentric disappearing bone disease, or Gorham disease, is a rare entity. A middle age woman, presented to us with left sided antalgic gait and severe bony deformity of her left knee. Radiograph revealed massive bone defect of the medial condyle of the left tibia with subluxation of the knee joint. She was scheduled for knee replacement in six months. However, she developed another lesion over the right hip that typically mimicked the disease progression of disappearing bone disease. The right femoral head vanished progressively within three months without significant history of infection or trauma. Subsequent bone biopsy of the right femoral head and left tibia condyle confirmed the diagnosis. Total knee replacement was carried out for her left knee. She remained pain free on her left knee. A year later, after confirming by sequential radiographs that the osteolysis had stopped, total right hip replacement was performed. Five years later, she remained pain free and both the arthroplasties were stable.


The environmental movement is plagued by pessimism. And that's not unreasonable: with so many complicated, seemingly intractable problems facing the planet, coupled with a need to convince people of the dangers we face, it's hard not to focus on the negative. But that paints an unbalanced - and overly disheartening - picture of what's going on with environmental stewardship today. There are success stories, and Our Once and Future Planet delivers a fascinating account of one of the most impressive areas of current environmental experimentation and innovation: ecological restoration. Veteran investigative reporter Paddy Woodworth has spent years traveling the globe and talking with people - scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens - who are working on the front lines of the battle against environmental degradation. At sites ranging from Mexico to New Zealand and Chicago to Cape Town, Woodworth shows us the striking successes (and a few humbling failures) of groups that are attempting to use cutting-edge science to restore blighted, polluted, and otherwise troubled landscapes to states of ecological health-and, in some of the most controversial cases, to particular moments in historical time, before widespread human intervention. His firsthand field reports and interviews with participants reveal the promise, power, and limitations of restoration. Ecological restoration alone won't solve the myriad problems facing our environment. But Our Once and Future Planet demonstrates the role it can play, and the hope, inspiration, and new knowledge that can come from saving even one small patch of earth.


BACKGROUND
Cancer is increasingly common among persons with HIV.

OBJECTIVE
To examine calendar trends in cumulative cancer incidence and hazard rate by HIV status.

DESIGN
Cohort study.

SETTING
North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design during 1996 to 2009.

PARTICIPANTS
86 620 persons with HIV and 196 987 uninfected adults.

MEASUREMENTS
Cancer type-specific cumulative incidence by age 75 years and calendar trends in cumulative incidence and hazard rates, each by HIV status.

RESULTS
Cumulative incidences of cancer by age 75 years for persons with and without HIV, respectively, were as follows: Kaposi sarcoma, 4.4% and 0.01%; non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 4.5% and 0.7%; lung cancer, 3.4% and 2.8%; anal cancer, 1.5% and 0.05%; colorectal cancer, 1.0% and 1.5%; liver cancer, 1.1% and 0.4%; Hodgkin lymphoma, 0.9% and 0.09%; melanoma, 0.5% and 0.6%; and oral cavity/pharyngeal cancer, 0.8% and 0.8%. Among persons with HIV, calendar trends in cumulative incidence and hazard rate decreased for Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For anal, colorectal, and liver cancer, increasing cumulative incidence, but not hazard rate trends, were due to the decreasing mortality rate trend (-9% per year), allowing greater opportunity to be diagnosed. Despite decreasing hazard rate trends for lung cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, and melanoma, cumulative incidence trends were not seen because of the compensating effect of the declining mortality rate.

LIMITATION
Secular trends in screening, smoking, and viral co-infections were not evaluated.

CONCLUSION
Cumulative cancer incidence by age 75 years, approximating lifetime risk in persons with HIV, may have clinical utility in this population. The high cumulative incidences by age 75 years for Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and lung cancer support early and sustained antiretroviral therapy and smoking cessation.


The German cytologist Theodor Boveri proposed about 100 years ago that cancer is caused by an abnormal distribution of microscopic bodies called chromosomes. At that time, researchers had no idea of the cellular component for inheritance and challenged his hypothesis. Meanwhile, genomic instability is viewed as a hallmark of cancer1 and an alternative model for cancer formation was put forward that proposed acquisition of a 'mutator' phenotype as the initiating event. Although supported by the vast plasticity of sequence changes and chromosomal aberrations in individual cells of single tumours, these observations did not solve the issue whether the 'mutator' phenotype is a precondition or a consequence of tumourigenesis.

The 'mutator' phenotype is causative for genomic instability, an umbrella term for small DNA structure variations, microsatellite instability and chromosomal instability (CIN).2 The latter affects chromosome number and structure and is a characteristic feature of many cancer types including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).3 It is also associated with the formation of extranuclear bodies that contain damaged chromosome fragments or whole chromosomes. Such micronuclei were identified in regenerative and dysplastic nodules of the liver indicating that CIN can be acquired already in early stage hepatocarcinogenesis.3 Apparently, CIN is linked to certain cancer genotypes because HCC has been originally divided into two major subclasses: one displaying a stable cancer genome and activating β-catenin mutations, and the other with extensive CIN, p53 and Axin …


When it comes to integratability, the zero-intermediate frequency (IF) receiver is an alternative for the heterodyne or IF receiver. In recent years, the zero-IF receiver has been introduced in several applications, but its performance cannot be compared to that of the IF receiver yet. This lower performance is closely related to its baseband operation, resulting in filter saturation and distortion, both caused by DC-offsets and self-mixing at the inputs of the mixers. The low-IF receiver has a topology which is closely related to the zero-IF receiver, but it does not operate in the baseband, only near the baseband. The consequences are that, as for the zero-IF receiver, the implementation of a low-IF receiver can be done with a high degree of integration, however, its performance can be better. In this paper, the fundamental principles of the low-IF receiver topology are introduced. Different low-IF receiver topologies are synthesized and fully analyzed in this paper. This is done by applying the complex signal technique-a technique used in digital applications to the study of analog receiver front ends.


Introduction: Ketorolac is used to treat eye pain and to relieve the itchiness and burning of seasonal allergies. Fluorometholone is a synthetic glucocorticoid used for treating eye inflammatory diseases. A simultaneous and new RP-HPLC method was developed for the estimation of Ketorolac tromethamine and Fluorometholone in ophthalmic solutions using Hydrochlorothiazide as an internal standard. Materials and Methods: Shimadzu Model CBM-20A/20 Alite with phenomenex C8 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm particle size) was used for the chromatographic study. 0.1 % acetic acid and methanol (20: 80, v/v) mixture was used as mobile phase with flow rate 0.7 ml/min and UV detection at 241 nm. Results and Discussion: Linearity was observed over the concentration range 1-100 μg/ml with regression equation y = 0.1047x + 0.0006 and correlation coefficient 0.9993 and the method was validated as per ICH guidelines. Conclusions: The method is more precise and accurate and suitable for the quality control analysis of combined formulations of Fluorometholone and Ketorolac tromethamine.


The possibility to directly modulate widely tunable lasers up to several gigahertz is desirable in telecom applications. We discuss the dynamic properties of the recently proposed widely tunable twin-guide laser concept. It has promising prospects with a maximum theoretical bandwidth above 20 GHz and the 3-dB bandwidth at 250 mA indicates that an actual bandwidth of 12 GHz should be possible. The current lasers were not designed for high-speed modulation, so only 1-GHz modulation can be reached at the moment


Laurenson, C. H., Dobby, H., McLay, H. A., and Leslie, B. 2008. Biological features of the Lophius piscatorius catch in Scottish waters. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1281-1290.Here, data on 50 265 Lophius piscatorius sampled between 1998 and 2006 on board commercial fishing vessels during observer trips and chartered surveys at Shetland, west of Scotland, and Rockall are analysed. In each area, length differed significantly with depth (p < 0.001), there was an increase in modal size with increasing depth down to 450 m, and large fish dominated hauls in deeper water. The sex ratio of all data combined was 0.88 females:1 male, but it varied by area, depth, and season, with males greatly outnumbering females in deep water west of Scotland during the first quarter of the year. The proportion at length that were female differed significantly with depth, and the highest proportions of mature fish were in deep water at Rockall and west of Scotland. L 50% maturities, for all data combined, were 102.4 cm for females and 58.3 cm for males.


Protein phosphorylation has been exploited by Nature in profound ways to control various aspects of cell proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, survival, motility and gene transcription. Cellular signal transduction pathways involve protein kinases, protein phosphatases, and phosphoprotein-interacting domain (e.g., SH2, PTB, WW, FHA, 14-3-3) containing cellular proteins to provide multidimensional, dynamic and reversible regulation of many biological activities. Knowledge of cellular signal transduction pathways has led to the identification of promising therapeutic targets amongst these superfamilies of enzymes and adapter proteins which have been linked to various cancers as well as inflammatory, immune, metabolic and bone diseases. This review focuses on protein kinase, protein phosphatase and phosphoprotein-interacting cellular protein therapeutic targets with an emphasis on small-molecule drug discovery from a chemistry perspective. Noteworthy studies related to molecular genetics, signal transduction pathways, structural biology, and drug design for several of these therapeutic targets are highlighted. Some exemplary proof-of-concept lead compounds, clinical candidates and/or breakthrough medicines are further detailed to illustrate achievements as well as challenges in the generation, optimization and development of small-molecule inhibitors of protein kinases, protein phosphatases or phosphoprotein-interacting domain containing cellular proteins.


Results from a search for supersymmetry in events with four or more charged leptons (electrons, muons and taus) are presented. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Four-lepton signal regions with up to two hadronically decaying taus are designed to target a range of supersymmetric scenarios that can be either enriched in or depleted of events involving the production and decay of a $Z$ boson. Data yields are consistent with Standard Model expectations and results are used to set upper limits on the event yields from processes beyond the Standard Model. Exclusion limits are set at the 95% confidence level in simplified models of General Gauge Mediated supersymmetry, where higgsino masses are excluded up to 295 GeV. In $R$-parity-violating simplified models with decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle to charged leptons, lower limits of 1.46 TeV, 1.06 TeV, and 2.25 TeV are placed on wino, slepton and gluino masses, respectively.


We describe a deterministic anytime method for calculating filtered and smoothed distributions in large variable-based continuous time Markov processes. Prior non-random algorithms do not converge to the true distribution in the limit of infinite computation time. Sampling algorithms give different results each time run, which can lead to instability when used inside expectation-maximization or other algorithms. Our method combines the anytime convergent properties of sampling with the non-random nature of variational approaches. It is built upon a sum of time-ordered products, an expansion of the matrix exponential. We demonstrate that our method performs as well as or better than the current best sampling approaches on benchmark problems.


Background The titer of influenza vaccine-induced antibodies declines over time, and younger children have lower immunogenicity and shorter duration of immunity. This study aimed to compare persistence of antibody at 6 months after influenza vaccination according to influenza virus strains, vaccine type, antigen dose, and primed status in children aged 6 to 35 months. Methods A total 124 healthy children aged 6 to 35 months were enrolled from September to December 2016 at 10 hospitals in Korea and randomly assigned to either a full dose of quadrivalent influenza vaccine or a half dose of trivalent influenza vaccine with Victoria B strain group. Hemagglutination inhibition antibody titers (that measure the seroprotection rates) were assessed for the recommended influenza strains at 6 months post vaccination. Results The seroprotection rates at 6 months for strains A (H1N1), A (H3N2), B/Yamagata, and B/Victoria were 88.7%, 97.4%, 36.6%, and 27.6%, respectively. The seroprotection rates for A (H1N1), A (H3N2) and B (Victoria) were 91.4%, 98.7% and 27.5% in a full dose of quadrivalent vaccine vs. 83.7%, 94.6% and 27.9% in a half dose trivalent vaccine, respectively. The seroprotection rate for the B (Yamagata) strain was 23.8% in the quadrivalent group and 14.0% in the trivalent group. Conclusion Persistence of antibodies at 6 months was more favorable against the influenza A strains than against the B strains. Persistence of antibodies to additional B strain at 6 months was superior in the quadrivalent vaccine group. The immunity of primed children with different B strains was not superior to that of the unprimed group with another B strain.


In Queensland, the majority of rural hospitals and some regional hospitals lack paediatricians or paediatric sub-specialists. Many specialist referrals result in a transfer to a tertiary paediatric hospital in Brisbane--up to 3000 km away. Travel is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, especially from rural and remote areas in Queensland. The telepaediatric service managed by the Centre for Online Health (COH) at the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) in Brisbane, delivers general and specialist paediatric support directly into selected neonatal and paediatric wards in a convenient and child-friendly manner. We conducted a review of telepaediatric service records to determine which clinical and educational services had been delivered through the mobile videoconference systems. Telepaediatric service activity records for all consultations conducted between January 2005 and July 2010 were summarised.Since 2005, seven mobile telepaediatric systems have been established in selected regional hospitals throughout Queensland. For some hospitals, the service was used mainly for consultations with specialists based at the RCH or at The Townsville Hospital (TTH) in north Queensland. During a 67 month period, a total of 966 consultations were conducted during 465 videoconference sessions, totaling about 228 hours of activity. In addition, 39 education sessions were delivered to regional staff through the mobile robot systems by specialists based at the RCH in Brisbane. The telepaediatric robots have proven useful for general paediatric support for hospitals without a local paediatrician; sub-specialist paediatric support and professional education and support for regional clinicians. Our service model provided a streamlined method of delivering specialist health services to children and families living in rural and remote regions of Queensland.


Background: Caco-2 cells monolayer is one of in vitro models to evaluate the translocation capacity of Lactobacillus spp probiotic strains. The translocation is influenced by mucosa permeability of enterocytes as shown by increasing transepithelial resistance (TER) and formation of tight junction proteins. The pore size of the supported permeable membrane used in in vitro assay was one of the crucial factors in performing bacterial translocation assay. Almost no study has been conducted using Caco-2 cells monolayer grown on 8-μm pore size polycarbonate membrane for evaluating probiotics translocation. Therefore this study aimed to determine whether the Caco-2 cells monolayer model was suitable as an in vitro translocation model. Methods: Caco-2 cells monolayer was seeded onto 8-μm collagencoated polycarbonate membrane insert Transwell®. Differentiation of Caco-2 cells was detected by measuring the TER, while the ZO-1 protein (the tight junction proteins) was detected by immunofluorescence. H2O2 was used as a tight junction disruptive agent. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 software to compare the mean of TER measurement between untreated and H2O2-treated Caco-2 cells monolayer. Results: The result showed that the TER of Caco-2 cells monolayer was gradually increasing until day 14, reaching more than 800 ohm.cm2. Furthermore, the ZO-1 protein was successfully detected, indicated the tight junction formation. TER value of H2O2-treated cells showed significantly lower than that of untreated cells (P<0.05), indicating a disturbance of cells monolayer integrity. Lactobacillus rhamnosus FBB81 was used for validating the translocation. There was no translocation observed; however, translocation was observed in H2O2treated cells. Conclusion: Altogether suggests that Caco-2 cells grown on 8 μmpore size permeable filters could be considered as a suitable in vitro model for probiotics strains translocation.


The Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God , 1645, acknowledged by Presbyterian Churches throughout the English-speaking world, emerged at a time of political controversy, when an attempt was made to achieve liturgical uniformity in England and Scotland, and therefore must be understood not only in terms of the theology which it embodies, but also in terms of the social and political revolution of which it was a kind of liturgical manifesto. The immediate context was that of a national struggle for freedom, a revolt from all forms of 'catholic' authoritarianism (Charles I, Archbishop Laud, divine right of kings, the papacy, Erastianism, etc.) and a rising suspicion of anything that savoured of imposed form and ritual.


The article presents analysis of the criminal responsibility of juveniles according to the Criminal Law of Lithuania. The Criminal Code of 2000 foresees special provisions regarding criminal responsibility for juvenile offenders. These provisions present new direction of doctrine of Criminal Law. The provisions are based on theoretical analysis and in some extent were the result of implementation of international legal acts. While some of the provisions a totally new, other are known to the theory of Criminal Law. As these provisions present a new model of criminal responsibility within the system of Criminal Code various problems related to implementation of legal regulations seem to occur. The author points out various problems and analyzes the genesis of them and tries to present scientifically based explanation. The limit of age of criminal responsibility is the first topic discussed in the theory of Criminal Law. The Criminal Code of Lithuania establishes two general limits of age of the suspect: 16 years of age (general rule) and 14 years of age (grave crimes). The problematic aspect is related to underage young suspects who commit serious crimes before reaching 14 years of age. While such occasions are not very common, current legal regulations contradict in definitions of how the underage suspects should be treated. The special Law on the Protection of Interests of Child lists measures of nurture and educational nature. However no other legal act clearly specifies the procedure of how these measures are to be implemented and what bodies should implement them. While the law foresees various privileges for the juvenile offenders it makes no contradiction within existing regulations to establish underage subjects as a recidivist. However the term recidivist regularly polarizes the court to the punishment related only to imprisonment. As a result the preferences of juvenile responsibility are about liquidated. The author presents various suggestions on how to explain the will of the lawmaker as well as how to improve the existing regulations. The author also discusses measures of nurture and educational nature, presents analysis of criminal cases and actual convictions. A scientific approach is used to uncover problems related to punishments, implementation of them.


Bus priority at traffic signals is a growing area of cooperative transport system applications. Interest in bus priority continues to grow as the cities pay more attention to the needs of buses to provide fast, frequent, and reliable services, thus contributing to a sustainable transport system. Bus priority at traffic signals is particularly favored at places where road space is limited and traffic signal density is high. With increasing the use of automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems, it is now possible to provide "differential" priority, where different levels of priority can be awarded to buses at traffic signals according to chosen criteria (e.g., to improve regularity). At present, common strategies are based on the comparison of the time headway of a bus with the scheduled headway. However, this paper shows that greater regularity benefits could be achieved through a strategy where priority for a bus is based not only on its own headway but also the headway of the bus behind (the following bus). This paper demonstrates the benefits of this on a theoretical basis and quantifies the benefits from simulation modeling of a high-frequency bus route. Such a strategy provides an opportunity to exploit the more detailed location information available from the growing number of AVL-based systems for buses being implemented around the world.


Animal sacrifice can be productively theorized as a practice of kindred intimacy between human and nonhuman animal. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in India's Central Himalayas, I trace how the ritual sacrifice of goats in the region's mountain villages acquires power and meaning through its anchoring in a realm of interspecies kinship. This kinship between humans and animals is created and sustained through everyday practices of intercorporeal engagement and care. I contend, in fact, that animal sacrifice is itself constitutive of interspecies kin relations. The spectacular act of violence at the heart of sacrifice—the beheading of the sacrificial animal—is crucial to the constitution of kin solidarity between human sacrificer and animal victim. From this perspective, animal sacrifice creates a world rich with the possibility of mutual response and recognition between different beings entangled in intimate and complex ways. [sacrifice, human–animal, interspecies kinship, South Asia, relations of care, religion, Himalayas]


TCP and UDP are the most popular transport protocols used for end-end data transmission. The rapid growth of internet leads to development of many innovative applications in the current environment. Depending on the functionality of these applications, requirements of transport protocols are changing. TCP is known for its problems with Head Of Line blocking (HOL) and SYN attacks which gives reduced performance, and also doesn't support Multi-Homing. SCTP is another transport layer protocol similar to TCP which provides end-end communication. It has some unique features like support for Multi-homing and multi-streaming. It also protects better from SYN attacks by using four-way hand shake mechanism during association establishment. As an extension to SCTP, CMT-SCTP was proposed to take full advantage of a multi-homed host by doing load sharing over multiple paths. SCTP is believed to be a next generation transport protocol. This thesis gives an overview of the SCTP protocol and its features focusing on analysing and testing of failover mechanisms provided by SCTP in multi-homed host, evaluating the transmission performance of SCTP vs TCP in a real network environment. This report also gives a theoretical analysis on how SCTP can mitigate SYN attacks by using four-way handshake mechanism and the state of art of CMT-SCTP.


This paper explores the nature and extent of financial exclusion of Muslim community in Australia. Adopting a survey questionnaire method primary data has been used, and Queensland is the selected state for this exploratory case study. While nearly 3 billion people in the world face difficulties in accessing formal financial services and products, in Australian alone, approximately 3.1 million of the adult population are identified as being financially excluded. There is still a lack of information about financial exclusion according to ethnicity or religious group in Australia. The Muslims communities are financial excluded mainly due to their faith and religious beliefs, because Islam prohibits Riba(interest) which is widely practiced in conventional banking and finance operations. The level of awareness about the Islamic finance products and services in Australia is still limited. Also the lack of Islamic financial products and services is a contributory factor of financial exclusion. The introduction and wide spread offer of Shariah-compliant financial products and services by Islamic and conventional financial institutions can increase nationwide financial inclusion.


Childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) comprises >200 rare respiratory disorders, with no currently approved therapies and variable prognosis. Nintedanib reduces the rate of forced vital capacity (FVC) decline in adults with progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). We present the design of a multicentre, prospective, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial of nintedanib in patients with fibrosing chILD (1199-0337 or InPedILD; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04093024). Male or female children and adolescents aged 6–17 years (≥30; including ≥20 adolescents aged 12–17 years) with clinically significant fibrosing ILD will be randomised 2:1 to receive oral nintedanib or placebo on top of standard of care for 24 weeks (double-blind), followed by variable-duration nintedanib (open-label). Nintedanib dosing will be based on body weight-dependent allometric scaling, with single-step dose reductions permitted to manage adverse events. Eligible patients will have evidence of fibrosis on high-resolution computed tomography (within 12 months of their first screening visit), FVC ≥25% predicted, and clinically significant disease (Fan score of ≥3 or evidence of clinical progression over time). Patients with underlying chronic liver disease, significant pulmonary arterial hypertension, cardiovascular disease, or increased bleeding risk are ineligible. The primary endpoints are pharmacokinetics and the proportion of patients with treatment-emergent adverse events at week 24. Secondary endpoints include change in FVC% predicted from baseline, Pediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire, oxygen saturation, and 6-min walk distance at weeks 24 and 52. Additional efficacy and safety endpoints will be collected to explore long-term effects. We describe the design of #InPedILD, a study of 24 weeks' nintedanib or placebo on top of standard of care, followed by variable-duration open-label nintedanib in children with interstitial lung disease (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04093024) #PedILD https://bit.ly/3tC1a7P


United Nations (UN) Member States agreed to start negotiations towards a universal sustainable development agenda. A major challenge is to design goals that guide future action at the national and international levels. These "Goals" usually refer to global development priorities at the highest aggregated level. "Targets" are subcomponents of goals that are needed to achieve the overarching goal. "Indicators" help to monitor progress towards the targets. At the national level, countries prefer to set their own targets and indicators based on their own circumstances and needs. At the international level, setting global minimum standards for all citizens, or agreeing on global environmental ceilings, can ensure better development outcomes for all countries. International development goals can foster coherence in aggregating national actions in addressing global challenges. They can create accountability across countries and ensure comparability on development progress. Combining national development targets and international development goals within one unified agenda, however, is challenging in at least two ways.First, a balance has to be found between flexibility at the local level and a strong basis for accountability at the global level. National level target-setting takes account of local development conditions and allows room for flexibility in addressing complex development challenges. Goal-setting at the global level will, however, prescribe goals to be met by all countries, which may be more or less consistent with the targets set at the national level. Second, it is difficult to define ambitious goals that are meaningful in a heterogeneous world. Countries differ regarding income, poverty, equality and geography, for instance. Global standards and rules need to be ambitious, yet they have to be fair towards all countries. Designing a universal development agenda has to address the differentiation of countries and integrate national- and international-level development goals within one agenda. This paper examines three approaches for designing the post-2015 agenda: 1) the Millennium Development Goals approach (top-down negotiation), 2) the inductive approach (bottom-up) and 3) the two-tier-list approach (a hybrid of the two).Each approach is characterised by different advantages and disadvantages that decision-makers negotiating the post-2015 agenda need to consider carefully. This paper proposes five key questions for judging the merits of each approach: How are global and national development goals linked? How does the approach influence negotiations? Are sectorspecific and cross-cutting goals included? How does the approach foster accountability? How communicable will the future agenda be? In light of these considerations, the two-tier-list approach would allow for combining a list of global goals to foster global collective action with nationally set targets and indicators. The two-tier-list approach offers the greatest potential for designing an ambitious, communicable, accountable and relevant future development agenda.


This is a theoretical analysis that aims to disassemble the connection between nutritional education and lifestyle. Literature used in this theoretical analysis is various reports of the World Health Organization and different national and international sources. Nutritional education can be defined as any combination of teaching methods designed to facilitate the adoption of voluntary food choices and other types of food with the addition that this includes appropriate behavior meals that are important for the health and welfare of the individual, community or even a certain population. Social influences on food intake refer to the impact that one or more persons have on the eating behavior of others, either direct or indirect, either conscious or subconscious. Even when eating alone, food choice is influenced by social factors because attitudes and habits develop through the interaction with others. As the need for nutrition education, change is the most important. Food preferences pose a problem with the people in the selection of food. Most people do not have conditions to ensure healthy food which suits meal-times. Some others see nutritious instructions as boring, unpleasant and inappropriate. Lack of time, often does not to dedicate relevance of food choices, especially among the educated young people. Practical aspects such as cost, preparation and poor availability of time due to work are common barriers to the recommended changes. Lack of knowledge about the importance of healthy eating is not perceived by consumers as the main barrier to changing diets, although it is quite important.


Seventy-seven pre-service teachers enrolled in an introductory special education course completed a questionnaire on their beliefs about learning, teaching, and disability, before and after completing one of two randomly assigned training modules on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Module A presented UDL as a strategy for meeting the specific needs of students with disabilities in a general education setting. Module B presented UDL as a framework to support all learners in the general education classroom through the creation of communities of learners. The Beliefs About Learning, Teaching, and Disability Questionnaire (BLTDQ) was administered with five subscales rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale that measure pre-service teachers' beliefs about learning and teaching, as representative of their epistemological beliefs, beliefs about disability (from pathognomonic to interventionist) and the role of the teacher in the general education classroom. Analyses of these results suggest that a significant change toward interventionist beliefs about learning, teaching, and disability occurred for participants who completed either module on UDL. Additionally, a small to moderate, positive relationship was identified between pre-service teachers' beliefs about disability and their epistemological beliefs, with the strength of this relationship increasing following their training in UDL. These findings suggest that training in UDL can have a powerful and positive impact on pre-service teachers' interventionist epistemological beliefs and beliefs about disability. Shifts toward interventionist beliefs are more likely to result in teaching practices that are more supportive of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Implications for teacher preparation and study limitations are also discussed.


This paper presents the DataBuzz Project. DataBuzz is a high-tech, mobile educational lab, which is housed in a 13-meter electric bus. Its specific goal is to increase the data literacy of different segments of society in the Brussels region through inclusive and participatory games and workshops. In this paper, we will explore how to carry out practical data literacy initiatives geared to the general public. We discuss the different interactive workshops, which have been specifically developed for DataBuzz. We highlight the background, design choices, and execution of this large-scale data literacy initiative. We describe the factors that need to be taken into account to reach successful execution for such an ambitious project and the actions undertaken to become a long-term, sustainable solution. Throughout the article, we use the Data Literacy Competence Model as an analytical lens to analyse individual projects on data literacy and DataBuzz as an integrated project.


This guide to good consultancy practice is unusual in two respects: its focus is consultancy work in the international development sector; and it describes the process from the perspectives of both clients and consultants, helping each side to understand what the other does. Using detailed checklists, the authors explain the stages of a typical consultancy, paying close attention to the practical, ethical, financial, and legal aspects of the process. Drawing on their own extensive experience and a wide-ranging survey of international NGOs and freelance consultants, they discuss how to develop more effective working relationships with all the relevant stakeholders, including donors, partners, programme managers, local staff, and local communities. They also show how development agencies can manage particular consultancies in order to promote long-term learning and thus improve the general quality of their programmes. As both managers and freelance consultants, John Rowley and Frances Rubin have worked for national and international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies, and commercial companies in the UK, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.


Thin-film wavelets are further analyzed for the design of dichroic mirrors for ultrafast solid-state lasers that provide both high reflectance on the lasing wavelength range and high transmittance of the pump light. Discrete quarter-wave-thick dielectric thin-film structures of homogeneous refractive indices following a quintic-wavelet envelope are considered. Relations for the reflectance on the lasing wavelength range are given. Adding several index-matching quarter-wave layers to both sides of the discrete wavelet optimizes the transmittance of the pump light. The design is further optimized to get minimum phase distortion on the lasing wavelength range.


Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) wetlands are widespread, forested landscape features in the western Great Lakes region. However, the future of these ecosystems is threatened due to impending spread of the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB), which results in tree mortality, decreased transpiration, and potential shifts to wetter, non‐forested conditions. The vulnerability to such ecohydrologic shifts likely varies according to local hydrologic regimes controlled by landscape settings, but this site‐dependent vulnerability and our ability to predict it is unknown. Here, we assessed vulnerability potential as a function of site hydrology in 15 undisturbed black ash wetlands from their three most common hydrogeomorphic settings in northern Minnesota: lowland, depression, and transition. Further, we used high‐resolution (1‐cm) surface elevation models to assess spatial variability of water levels at a subset of 10 sites. Although we observed similar ET and groundwater exchange rates among settings, lowland sites were generally drier because of elevated landscape position and greater water level drawdowns (via lower specific yield). We predict that such drier sites will exhibit greater water level increases following EAB‐induced ash mortality, compared to wetter sites where open water evaporation and shallow‐rooted understory transpiration will offset losses in tree transpiration. Moreover, compared to wetter sites, drier sites exhibited minimal microtopographic variation, limiting the number of elevated microsites for tree establishment and eventual canopy recovery after ash loss. These results suggest that site wetness is a simple and effective predictor of black ash wetland vulnerability to hydrologic regime change. To that end, we assessed the ability of common terrain metrics to predict site wetness, providing a potential tool to target vulnerable areas for active management efforts.


The invasive ambrosia beetle species polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea sp., PSHB) and its ambrosial fungal associates have been studied extensively since the beetle's discovery in the Los Angeles County in 2012. Another closely related ambrosia beetle species has been discovered in San Diego County (Kuroshio shot hole borer, KSHB), and the ambrosial fungal associates of this beetle species have been found to be distinct from the related fungal associates of PSHB, Fusarium euwallaceae and Graphium euwallaceae. The KSHB-associated Fusarium kuroshium sp. nov. and Graphium kuroshium sp. nov. have been found to be genetically distinct from F. euwallaceae and G. euwallaceae in multilocus phylogenetic analyses using ITS, EF1α, RPB1 and RPB2 sequences. F. kuroshium was also found to differ in morphology and symptom severity compared to F. euwallaceae, while G. kuroshium was not found to differ from G. euwallaceae in morphology or symptom severity. The results of this study suggest that the KSHB-associated F. kuroshium and G. kuroshium are novel fungal associates of KSHB. A method to inhibit the Fusarium ambrosial fungi of PSHB and KSHB using plant-endophytic bacteria was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Endophytic bacterial isolates were obtained from the wood tissues of avocado (Persea americana) and California sycamore (Platanus racemosa), and were identified using molecular identification methods. These bacteria were simultaneously cultured with F. euwallaceae in order to screen for endophytic bacteria with the ability to inhibit the Fusarium ambrosial fungi. 15 bacterial isolates were found to inhibit F. euwallaceae during the screen. Inhibition efficacies of the bacterial endophytes were calculated for both Fusarium associates of PSHB and KSHB as percent inhibition, and 4 Bacterial isolates that showed the highest percent inhibition were chosen to be used as injection treatments in the greenhouse in vivo study. In greenhouse, stems of avocado and California sycamore were bacterized using the endophytic bacteria then challenged with F. euwallaceae or F. kuroshium. The sizes of fungal lesions resulting from the Fusarium infection were measured then compared. The results showed that the endophytic bacteria had significant effects in the sizes of lesions, and bacteria were only recovered from bacterized plants.


This study introduces a novel kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulation package which models H-ZSM-5 crystals across experimentally relevant time and length scales to understand the role of transport during arene interconversion reactions (~100 reactions). This small subset of the methanol-to-hydrocarbon (MTH) network was previously modeled using periodic, dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT) to determine activation barriers and reaction energies for these KMC methods. Transport of arene molecules through the straight and sinusoidal channels of MFI was modeled as site-hopping and the DFT-calculated barriers are incorporated into the KMC model to account for mass-transport limitations. Barriers of different arene molecules trend well with their effective radii, and species with a smaller effective radii diffusive more readily. A previously published maximum rate analysis of arene interconversion pathways—previously validated by experimental data—is compared to a diffusion-free KMC model to confirm the accuracy of this KMC package. The temperature and pressure dependencies of rates obtained from KMC agree well with those of maximum rate analysis on the diffusion-free model, demonstrating that KMC effectively predicts rates as well as maximum rate analysis methods commonly used in kinetic applications of DFT. Arene interconversion pathways were also analyzed on KMC models incorporating diffusion to and from interior crystal sites. These simulations suggest that large species, such as hexamethylbenzene, become trapped at 10–20% of sites, thus causing site deactivation by limiting diffusion through MFI channels and lowering overall rates of product formation. Benzene diffusion barriers are artificially varied from 20–200 kJ mol−1 and rates of benzene methylation decrease by 4-fold with diffusion barriers greater than 80 kJ mol−1; this suggests that species with diffusion barriers greater than 80 kJ mol−1 (such as penta- and hexamethylbenzene) will likely become trapped at interior sites and ultimately cause catalyst deactivation. This study serves as a proof-of-concept for a novel KMC package that expedites kinetic analysis of complex reaction pathways and introduces mass-transport limitations which are not commonly accounted for in kinetic DFT studies. This KMC package can predict the behavior of diffusion-limited species, such as penta- and hexamethylbenzene, and the mechanisms by which they are formed and eventually lead to catalyst deactivation.


Background and Purpose:
 Thrombolysis-related hemorrhagic transformation (HT) subtypes may have different prognostic implications. We aimed to analyze the impact of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) burden on HT subtypes and outcome after intravenous thrombolysis.

 Methods:
 We retrospectively examined clinical and radiological data from 300 consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients who underwent gradient-recalled echo (GRE) T2*-weighted MRI before intravenous thrombolysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of CMBs on HT subtypes and neurological outcome.

 Results:
 Of the included patients, 101 (33.7%) were women, with a median age of 67 years (mean 66.12 ± 13.26 years, range 23-94 years). We observed 596 CMBs in 119 (39.7%) patients on initial GRE scans. HT occurred in 88 (29.3%) patients, among which 62 were hemorrhagic infarction and 26 were parenchymal hemorrhage (PH). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the presence of extensive (≥3) CMBs was independently associated with PH (odds ratio 6.704; 95% CI: 2.054 to 21.883; p = 0.002) and poor clinical outcome (odds ratio 2.281; 95% CI: 1.022 to 5.093; p = 0.044).

 Conclusions:
 The presence of extensive (≥3) CMBs increased the risk of PH 24 hours after intravenous thrombolysis, and predicted poor clinical outcome independently.


What happens "when a woman becomes Chandika?" This essay contributes to an on-going discussion of the theme of "avenging women" in popular Indian cinema, with particular focus on the transformation of a woman into a fierce Goddess who avenges oppression and re-establishes justice. Analysis of the story line and selected song sequences from the Hindi language film Anjaam ("Outcome," 1994) in light of themes from the Hindu Sanskrit text, the Devi-Mahatmya ("Greatness of the Goddess," 5thc. C.E.) shows how traditional religious images and values are adapted and transformed in a modern context.


Few judges are as self-conscious of, or as open about, their view of statutory interpretation as Frank Easterbrook. He is a leading proponent of the view that judges should apply statutes in accordance with their terms, without giving in to the temptation to surreptitiously amend those statutes to better accord with their alleged "purpose."1 Such "boosting the level of generality—switching from rules to results," he contends, oversteps the bounds of the judicial role.2 This theory of statutory interpretation stems in part from Judge Easterbrook's belief that it is impossible to discern the "intent" of a collective body such as a legislature,3 and in part from his conviction that most legislation results from compromises, and "compromises lack purposes."4 Thus, he exalts the Supreme Court's decision in Guidry v Sheet Metal Workers National Pension Fund,5 finding that the antialienation clause of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 19746 (ERISA) protected the pension rights of a pension fund trustee against monetary claims made by victims of his embezzlement.7 And indeed, many of his opinions resound with the rhetoric of "textualism." Yet, determined as Judge Easterbrook is to make his decisions seem so straightforward as to be beneath him, they sometimes depend more than he is willing to admit on nontextual "purposive" analysis. A case in point is his opinion in Cooper v IBM Personal Pension Plan,8


Two cultivars of balansa clover (Trifolium michelianum Savi.) were sown on eight occasions from 14 October 2005 to 5 February 2007 in Canterbury, New Zealand, which gave a range of photoperiod at emergence between 8.6 and 15.7 h. The duration from emergence to flowering was related to the length and direction of change in photoperiod at the time of emergence. Thermal time (Tt) from emergence to flowering was constant at ~620 degree-days for 'Bolta' and ~365 degree-days for 'Frontier' balansa clover plants, provided they emerged into increasing photoperiods. For plants that emerged into decreasing photoperiods, Tt from emergence to flowering decreased from ~1500 to ~630 degree-days for 'Bolta' but was constant at ~690 degree-days for 'Frontier'. Models are presented to predict the Tt requirement from emergence to flowering for 'Bolta', 'Frontier' and, based on reanalysed data, CPI45856 balansa clovers in relation to daylength at emergence. These results are discussed in relation to farm sowing and management practices.


Despite extensive research, multiple sclerosis (MS) remains a disease that lacks a definitive prognostic test to predict imminent disease relapses. Thus, patients may undergo years of unnecessary treatments. Additionally, current treatments for MS vary significantly in efficacy between individual patients, and thus there is a critical need to develop biomarkers for treatment efficacy and resistance. To address these issues, we recently developed a high-throughput quantitative proteomics method to measure changes in proteome expression over the course of the preclinical experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model. Interestingly, using the EAE model we revealed characteristic CNS-specific protein expression waves prior to the onset of clinical symptoms. Moreover, we have identified key proteins with altered expression that correlated with the therapeutic efficacy of glucocorticoid treatment. Bioinformatics analysis revealed candidate protein biomarkers to predict treatment efficacy and clinical disease course. Importantly, these proteins could be detected in serum and expression trajectories analysis identified a strong correlation of the CNS proteome to their levels in serum. Prospective studies in the EAE model using these candidate protein biomarkers showed their effectiveness in predicting clinical disease and treatment responses. Our studies suggest the utility for establishing homologous protein biomarkers in human MS patients. Finally, our work investigating the CNS proteome over the course of EAE may provide novel insights and molecular targets for disease mechanisms and treatments of MS.


In many parts of the world, we witness an increase of anti-Semitic expression and violence, fuelled by the international context. In France, the country with the largest Jewish community in Europe, the resurgence of anti-Semitism has been particularly acute and reached its peak in October 2000 with the beginning of the Second Intifada. This paper proposes to study this phenomenon throughout: A description of the nature and the dimension of the resurgence of anti-Semitism; an examination of the national, regional and international response to anti-Semitism; and an assessment of its efficiency. This study shows that while the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France is tightly linked to the international context, the situation is also a reflection of some deep-rooted problems within French Society. It concludes that while the legal machinery has been successful in establishing a moral rejection of anti-Semitism, in the case of France, social change is also required.


During the establishment of social relationships, many animals use displays to communicate about fighting ability or territory holding capacity. Typically, scincid lizards are cryptically coloured, and thought to have rudimentary social behaviour not involving contests or territoriality. Male jewel skinks (Carlia jarnoldae), however, exhibit bright colouration, use relatively complex social displays, and appear to be territorial. I examined the social and physical contexts of displays used during the establishment of dominance between pairs of males in experimental enclosures. I also determined whether body size, the colour (i.e., hue, value, chroma) of three colour patches (green-blue throat, blue dorso-lateral spots and orange flanks), or the size of the orange flank patch were associated with dominance, and tested the prediction of "sequential assessment game" theory that contests should be more escalated when opponents are most similar in body size or colour area. In my experimental enclosures, the lizards almost always (26/33) formed dominant-subordinate relationships within the first 48 hours of contact. Head bobbing and tail waving appear to be important means of opponent assessment in this species, as lizards spent more time engaging in these displays when they first interacted than a day later. Dominants displayed significantly more than subordinates on both observation days. The lizards displayed most in environmental contexts that maximised their conspicuousness, i.e., head bobs and tail waves both occurred more often on a raised platform, in the centre of the enclosure, and in the sun, whereas tail waving, which is the most conspicuous behaviour, also occurred frequently on the flat sandy substrate of the enclosures. Displaying on raised surfaces, in central locations, and in the sun probably enhances the efficiency of communication of specific displays. found that body size was a very strong predictor of dominance in C. jarnoldae, but that the colours of the three patches were not. A trend for dominants to have larger orange patches relative to their body size than did subordinates approached significance, suggesting that colour patch size may also influence the outcome of dominance relationships. Orange patch size may be more important in nature, acting as a long-distance visual cue to territory ownership and fighting ability, allowing individuals to avoid escalated conflicts by assessing each other from afar. Contrary to the predictions of the sequential assessment game, escalation increased rather than decreased with the difference between opponents in body mass, and did not decrease over time, suggesting that dominant male jewel skinks will not tolerate intruders within their territory, and continue to escalate contests even with repeated intrusions by the same individual. In general, male Carlia jarnoldae use displays to communicate with conspecifics, and form social relationships that give the dominant individual priority of access to shelter and display sites. Body size is an important determinant of the outcome of contests, and orange colour patch size may be a cue allowing assessment of body size in this species. Dominant individuals do not tolerate intruders, suggesting that these species are territorial in nature. Thus, Carlia jarnoldae do not fit the typical pattern for skinks, but are more similar to other taxa of lizards that are highly social and territorial.


Globally, an estimated one-million new tuberculosis (TB) cases occurred in children in 2014. For a long time, research of TB in children has been neglected. Most research and surveillance of TB is performed in adults, and the resulting lack of evidence in children is a major barrier for implementation of rational control strategies for children, including diagnosis. More research on TB in children is of importance as children are more susceptible to developing severe extrapulmonary TB, children require different approaches to both diagnosis and treatment and paediatric TB reflects the ongoing transmission of TB in the population. This research gap on the epidemiology of tuberculosis in children, especially in high burden countries, should be addressed in order to better understand the dynamics of TB transmission in both adults and children. Accurate data are the basis for establishment of effective control strategies. This thesis aims to assess the diagnostic role of microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) and mycobacterial blood culture for diagnosis of TB in children as well as to present the epidemiological characteristics of paediatric TB in northern Vietnam with regard to drug resistance and genotypes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the causative agent of TB, isolated from them.

MODS is a low cost non-commercial liquid culture assay to detect MTB by microscopy. MODS was compared with conventional assays including Ziehl-Neelsen smear (ZN) and Lowenstein-Jensen culture (LJ) in a study conducted from 2009 to 2010 at the National Hospital for Paediatrics, a general paediatric hospital, in Hanoi, Vietnam. In suspected paediatric TB cases, the MODS test was shown to be significantly more sensitive than both smear (46.0% vs. 8.8%) and LJ (46.0% vs. 38.9%), and significantly faster than LJ with a median time difference of 28 days in favour of MODS (7 days vs. 35 days). The findings suggest that MODS is a rapid low-cost diagnostic tool for TB diagnosis in the paediatric population.

The additional yield of mycobacterial blood culture was assessed in comparison to routine detection methods for TB diagnosis in children in two hospitals in Vietnam. The findings show that mycobacterial blood culture detected an additional six TB cases of which 5 cases were negative with other tests and in the remaining case no other tests were done. All six cases were susceptible to rifampicin and isoniazid. The overall performance of TB blood culture was poor as compared to routine culture with regard to detection rate (2.9%, 16/554 vs. 16.6%, 92/554) and turnaround time (26 days vs. 14 days). The incremental cost for adding one additional TB case is substantial. Therefore, addition of mycobacterial blood culture into routine diagnostics has limited utility in resource limited settings.

To assess the molecular epidemiology of paediatric TB in northern Vietnam, a collection of 125 MTB isolates from children with TB admitted to NHP during 2009 to 2013 was analysed. Drug susceptibility testing results from 121 isolates and genotypes from 120 isolates were generated. The phenotypic drug susceptibility testing showed that 20.7% was resistant to isoniazid (25/121), 3.3% resistant to rifampicin (4/121), 28.1% resistant to streptomycin (34/121) and 2.5% resistant to ethambutol (1/121). There were 4 cases with multidrug resistant TB. The high frequency of resistance to isoniazid and streptomycin are consistent with data from adults in Vietnam, suggesting the ongoing transmission of drug resistant MTB in the community. MIRU typing patterns showed that the Beijing genotype was predominant in this population (63.3%, 76/120), which is in agreement with various prior studies in adults in Vietnam. These findings provide more evidence to support the hypothesis of the epidemic spread of the Beijing genotype in Vietnam. In this study, an association between Beijing genotype and drug resistance to streptomycin and isoniazid was observed. The number of MDR isolates was too small to draw conclusions regarding association of MDR and Beijing genotype.

Collectively, these results demonstrate that liquid culture can improve the yield of TB diagnosis in Vietnam and mycobacterial blood culture should not be routinely performed for paediatric cases. The molecular epidemiology study also showed that the Beijing genotype is the predominant lineage among actively transmitted strains in Vietnam and that it is associated with both isoniazid and streptomycin resistance. Paediatric TB remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Vietnamese children and sustained political and social commitment from all stakeholders, including governments, funders, academics and the medical community will be needed to improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention of TB in children globally.


This paper uses panel cointegration with a corresponding vector error correction model (VECM) to investigate the changes in the value relevance of accounting information before and after the mandatory adoption of IFRS in Germany and the UK under three different valuation models. First, a basic Ohlson model, where our results indicate that despite the value relevance of the book values of equity has declined, it has been replaced by the increasing prominence of earnings in both Germany and the UK after the switch to the IFRS. Second, a modified model, which shows that the incremental value relevance of both earnings and book values are considerably higher in the long term for firms in the UK than in Germany. Third, a simultaneous addition of accounting and macroeconomic variables in an extended model, which indicates a significant rise in the relative predictive power of the book value of equity in the UK compared with the more noticeable impact on the value relevance of earnings in Germany. Collectively, the results of these models indicate that: (i) the explanatory power of linear equity valuation models is higher in UK than in the Germany, (ii) a longrun Granger-causal relationship exists between accounting variables and share prices in common law countries like the UK. Nevertheless, the implications of our findings lie in the knowledge that the potential costs of switching to the IFRS is completely nullified within three years by the benefits arising from a reduction in information asymmetry and earning mismanagement among firms which are listed on the stock exchanges of both common law and code law-based EU countries. © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


The concept of governance is generally understood to be the creation of a structure or an order that results from the interaction of a multiplicity of governing mechanisms and actors influencing each other. The notion is increasingly criticized mainly because governance perspective often applies a simplifying lens to a complex reality. The post 2015 Agenda, in particular two of the five big transformative shifts "Put Sustainable Development at the Core" and "Build Peace and Effective, Open and Accountable Institutions for All", calls for a renewal of the concept from a more scientific approach rather than as a sole tool for political transformation. The Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) driven hypothesis states that using a clarified, non-normative governance perspective can contribute to a better understanding of political processes ranging from institutional to informal, small to large and vertical to horizontal. As well as being realistic, interdisciplinary, comparative and operational, the GAF should also take into account the scientist's standpoint. It should furthermore be replicable in similar contexts. Consisting of five coherently linked analytical tools, the methodology focuses on problems, social norms, actors, nodal points, and processes. This paper presents the application of the GAF to the cases of medium-sized Haitian cities hit by the 2010 earthquake. The objective is to analyze the evolution of the urban governance of said cities in the wake of this huge asymmetric shock and examine the extent to which local governance, urban planning and ongoing decentralization are effective or not, in order to determine the feasibility of improvement.


Gelatin is extensively used as a biomaterial for diverse pharmaceutical and medical applications due to its excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability. Here we present bio-inspired tissue-adhesive gelatin hydrogels prepared by the enzyme-mediated synthesis of l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) and Fe3+ ion crosslinking. Gelatin of human origin was obtained through two major steps, extracellular matrix (ECM) extraction from human adipose tissue and gelatin isolation from the ECM. The tyrosine residues in human gelatin were converted into DOPA by enzymatic reaction with tyrosinase. Upon the addition of Fe3+ ions, the DOPA-modified gelatin formed a sticky hydrogel within seconds through complexation between the DOPA molecules and Fe3+ ions. The final DOPA-modified, Fe3+ ion-crosslinked gelatin hydrogels retained their hydrogel stability well at body temperature in an aqueous environment and exhibited appropriate mechanical properties. The hemostatic ability of the DOPA-Fe3+ gelatin hydrogels was explored using a hemorrhaging liver rat model. Shortly after the injection of the DOPA-Fe3+ gelatin hydrogel, the bleeding was arrested in the hemorrhaging site of the liver. Overall results suggest that the DOPA-Fe3+ gelatin hydrogel, with its good elastic and hemostatic properties, is a promising tissue adhesive for use in a wide variety of surgical operations.