Background Alcohol and marijuana are the two most abused substances in US colleges. However, research on the combined influence (cross sectional or longitudinal) of these substances on academic performance is currently scant. Methods Data were derived from the longitudinal 2-year Brain and Alcohol Research in College Students (BARCS) study including 1142 freshman students who completed monthly marijuana use and alcohol consumption surveys. Subjects were classified into data-driven groups based on their alcohol and marijuana consumption. A linear mixed-model (LMM) was employed using this grouping factor to predict grade point average (GPA), adjusted for a variety of socio-demographic and clinical factors. Results Three data-driven clusters emerged: 1) No/low users of both, 2) medium-high alcohol/no-low marijuana, and 3) medium-high users of both substances. Individual cluster derivations between consecutive semesters remained stable. No significant interaction between clusters and semester (time) was noted. Post-hoc analysis suggest that at the outset, compared to sober peers, students using moderate to high levels of alcohol and low marijuana demonstrate lower GPAs, but this difference becomes non-significant over time. In contrast, students consuming both substances at moderate-to-high levels score significantly lower at both the outset and across the 2-year investigation period. Our follow-up analysis also indicate that when students curtailed their substance use over time they had significantly higher academic GPA compared to those who remained stable in their substance use patterns over the two year period. Conclusions Overall, our study validates and extends the current literature by providing important implications of concurrent alcohol and marijuana use on academic achievement in college.


This contributed volume contains the selected and reviewed papers of the 2nd Interdisciplinary Conference on Production, Logistics and Traffic (ICPLT) 2015, Dortmund, Germany.The topical focus lies on economic, ecological and societal issues related to commercial transport. The authors are international experts and the paper collection presents the state-of-the-art in the field, thus making this book a valuable read for both practitioners and researchers


An enzyme maintains the asymmetrical distribution of a surface phospholipid during programmed cell death. Dead and dying cells expose a membrane lipid called phosphatidylserine (PS) on their cell surface as a sort of "eat me" signal. Segawa et al. identified the membrane enzyme responsible for flipping any PS that inadvertently makes its way from the inner to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane lipid bilayer. Without the enzyme, macrophages gobbled up healthy cells. K. Segawa, S. Kurata, Y. Yanagihashi, T. R. Brummelkamp, F. Matsuda, S. Nagata, Caspase-mediated cleavage of phospholipid flippase for apoptotic phosphatidylserine exposure. Science 344, 1164–1168 (2014). [Abstract] [Full Text]


• Devoted to the discussion of the two judicial opinions relating to the separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel: the judgment of the Israel High Court of Justice in the Beit Sourik Village Council v. the Government of Israel and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinians Territory. Vol. 38(1-2)2005 417 pages Price: US $40


GnpIS is a data repository for plant phenomics that stores whole field and greenhouse experimental data including environment measures. It allows long-term access to datasets following the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable, by using a flexible and original approach. It is based on a generic and ontology driven data model and an innovative software architecture that uncouples data integration, storage, and querying. It takes advantage of international standards including the Crop Ontology, MIAPPE, and the Breeding API. GnpIS allows handling data for a wide range of species and experiment types, including multiannual perennial plants experimental network or annual plant trials with either raw data, i.e., direct measures, or computed traits. It also ensures the integration and the interoperability among phenotyping datasets and with genotyping data. This is achieved through a careful curation and annotation of the key resources conducted in close collaboration with the communities providing data. Our repository follows the Open Science data publication principles by ensuring citability of each dataset. Finally, GnpIS compliance with international standards enables its interoperability with other data repositories hence allowing data links between phenotype and other data types. GnpIS can therefore contribute to emerging international federations of information systems.


The focus of this paper is on the system of aspectual coercion connected with durative adverbials (like for one day), time-span adverbials (like in ten minutes), and time-point adverbials (like at seven o'clock) as well as the progressive in English and its roots in the domain of eventualities. Aspectual coercions are regarded as operations which are executed in order to prevent a conflict between the aspects of a verbal expression and the aspectual requirements of the context. The meaning resulting from such an adjustment involves material which is not contributed by the constituents but originates from knowledge of eventualities. Thus, leading questions of the paper are what the overall structure of eventualities is and how this structure determines the aspectual meaning of expressions as well as the way in which it can be contextually shifted. Recurring to prior work in the field of research, several sorts of eventuality and general relations that exist between eventualities of different sorts are distinguished. On this basis, by examining a sample of data, the paper identifies a multitude of operations for systematically transforming the (e.g., iterative coercion, habitual coercion, inchoative coercion, additive coercion, and subtractive coercion). Finally, taking into account that the operations have basically the same formal structure and, therefore, give reason to generalization, a two-stage approach to aspectual coercion is presented. Its most notably features are that, first, the principle of semantic compositionality is entirely maintained in its validity and, second, adjusting by coercion is turned out to be ultimately a pragmatic phenomenon.


The aim of this article is to explore the idea of reconciliation, healing, rehabilitation and restitution in the everyday social praxis of white youths and their depiction in Zimbabwean and South African fiction. The question is: In the process of representing new narratives on everyday modes of communitarian reconciliation, healing, rehabilitation and restitution, how do we know that what the creative writers authorise as authentic discourses of reconciliation are embedded different forms of [in] justices? A potentially constructive way to approach this literary puzzle is to problematise the notions of reconciliation, justice and representation. Zimbabwe is gripped by a groundswell of narratives of healing, rehabilitation and reconciliation authorised by the state, church, youth, academics and creative writers all who speak in the name of the people and justice in light of the country's recent history recent history of political struggle for land justice. However, there is paucity of critical works that explore the white youth's experience of reconciliation and [in] justice in post-colonial Zimbabwe. The article explores one novel White Man Black War, and two white youth narrative stories from a collection of narratives entitled Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives (2010), and another novel Country of my Skull (1998) by a South African author. The article compares the literary models of reconciliation suggested in the novels and uses the equally profound but illusive theoretical insight by Derrida which is that "true forgiveness lies in the capacity to forgive the unforgivable" (2001: 1) in assessing the creative visions of the authors from two different African countries that experienced two different processes of transitional justices in the process of gaining independence from their former colonisers. The article argues that reconciliation without justice not realised in spiritual and material benefits to the aggrieved party is not only empty but also a pernicious apologia for forces of social domination.


This study describes and explains the paradox of related languages in contact that show signs of both linguistic divergence and convergence. Seventeen distinct languages are spoken in the northernmost islands of Vanuatu. These closely related Oceanic languages have evolved from an earlier dialect network, by progressive diversification. Innovations affecting word forms — mostly sound change and lexical replacement — have usually spread only short distances across the network; their accumulation over time has resulted in linguistic fragmentation, as each spatially-anchored community developed its own distinctive vocabulary. However, while languages follow a strong tendency to diverge in the form of their words, they also exhibit a high degree of isomorphism in their linguistic structures, and in the organization of their grammars and lexicons. This structural homogeneity, typically manifested by the perfect translatability of constructions across languages, reflects the traditions of mutual contact and multilingualism which these small communities have followed throughout their history. While word forms are perceived as emblematic of place and diffuse to smaller social circles, linguistic structures are left free to diffuse across much broader networks. Ultimately, the effects of divergence and convergence are the end result, over time, of these two distinct forms of horizontal diffusion.


Modern networks provide a variety of interrelated services including routing, traffic monitoring, load balancing, and access control. Unfortunately, the languages used to program today's networks lack modern features - they are usually defined at the low level of abstraction supplied by the underlying hardware and they fail to provide even rudimentary support for modular programming. As a result, network programs tend to be complicated, error-prone, and difficult to maintain. This paper presents Frenetic, a high-level language for programming distributed collections of network switches. Frenetic provides a declarative query language for classifying and aggregating network traffic as well as a functional reactive combinator library for describing high-level packet-forwarding policies. Unlike prior work in this domain, these constructs are - by design - fully compositional, which facilitates modular reasoning and enables code reuse. This important property is enabled by Frenetic's novel run-time system which manages all of the details related to installing, uninstalling, and querying low-level packet-processing rules on physical switches. Overall, this paper makes three main contributions: (1) We analyze the state-of-the art in languages for programming networks and identify the key limitations; (2) We present a language design that addresses these limitations, using a series of examples to motivate and validate our choices; (3) We describe an implementation of the language and evaluate its performance on several benchmarks.


Abstract In almost every college or university in today 's world, almost all faculty members are expected to be involved in some type of research activities in addition to teaching. Certainly the types of research differ among the various disciplines, and this probably holds true within colleges of business. The purpose of this paper is to determine if perceptions and performances of Management and MIS faculty differ with regard to certain questions relating to teaching, research, and demographic factors. The data were gathered by sending questionnaires to Management and MIS faculty throughout the United States. Respondents were relatively similar with respect to type of institution, AACSB accreditation status, or rank. With respect to teaching performance, there were also other similarities. Results also show similarities in research productivity. However, differences were noted with respect to reasons for remaining in academe, and with respect to the effect of research on teaching. These results should be of interest to all faculty and to administrators interested in determining where differences exist. University faculty are expected to teach, engage in scholarly activities to advance their fields of knowledge, and provide service to their university and public communities. These duties serve as the basis for evaluation of job performance in decisions of tenure, promotion, and salary levels. While such expectations are generally applicable to all faculty, the specifics of what they entail and how they are to be evaluated vary widely by discipline. On one end of the spectrum are the so-called hard sciences, which purportedly deal with objective and quantitative evidence. At the other end are the performing and fine arts, with presumably more subjective and broader interpretations of duties and performance. Most fields will fall somewhere between these, with some tendency toward objective measurability but still attempting to allow freedom and interpretation in the pursuit and expression of knowledge. Administrators at various levels in academe are faced with the challenge of trying to establish some reasonably homogeneous standards while still allowing for diversity of expression and thought. Faculty input is often utilized in these efforts, with perhaps some hope that recognition and appreciation of differences might foster a greater sense of unity and common purpose. Faculty still differ in their perceptions as to what should be emphasized most among job activities, and with regard to how their performance of these activities should be evaluated. While some faculty contend that research detracts time and other resources from teaching, others believe the two activities complement each other. Regardless of the level of resources provided in support of research, academic institutions encourage and often expect faculty to engage in such activities in addition to teaching. More importantly perhaps, many faculty perceive their institutions as requiring publishing for the granting of tenure (Boyer, 1990). Boyer also reported survey results indicating a mixture of faculty perceptions with respect to emphasis placed on research and the value of research in teaching. Demski and Zimmerman (2000) point out that faculty research activities involve consumption as well as production, but most studies and faculty view it from the perspective of production. A number of studies have examined various factors which appear to influence or relate to the level of faculty research production. Bakir, Vitell, and Rose (2000) determined that larger departments (based on number of faculty) tended to produce more journal articles consistently over time. Their study was limited to Marketing Departments and Marketing journals, but the relationship likely applies at other disciplines as well. Rachal, Brumfield-Day, and Gorman (2000) surveyed the Association of Colleges for Teacher Education to determine the five top journals in education and the top ten publishing institutions in education. …


Background General practice has been identified as the backbone of the NHS, yet it is under increasing pressure. One change occurring in general practice is the move towards larger organisations from smaller traditional practices. These new structures bring an emerging complexity regarding leadership. It is unknown how well leadership is being executed in super-partnerships. This is an important subject as there is evidence to show that good leadership in a system corresponds to better quality of care delivered. A key aspect that is being missed in current research is how the workforce feels about their leadership roles in these new super-partnerships compared to smaller traditional practices. Methodology Qualitative interviews with nine general practitioners in the west midlands were undertaken. Exclusion criteria: GPs working as locums or retired. Semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken following a topic guide and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted on the transcripts using Braun & Clarke's six-phase framework with the aid of the software NVivo. Findings Nine interviews were undertaken, and six main themes were formed: time spent on leadership, motivation, future, leadership style, current challenges and training to create change. Conclusion This research looks further in-depth at the views of general practitioners towards their leadership roles and challenges that present themselves currently and could do in the future. This research is important as understanding if good leadership is being implemented in these structures can have a positive knock-on effect to many other systems. This topic needs to be closely monitored as these structures develop.


Undoing Saddam tells the story of northern Iraq during the transition from U.S. occupation to local sovereignty. During 2004, U.S. and Iraqi government forces faced numerous challenges: insurrection, reconstruction, the creation of a new government, and how to portray the nation, its people, and the governments' actions accurately. Wayne H. Bowen was a U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs officer in charge of higher education and antiquities in the provinces of Nineveh, Dohuk, and Erbil, where he played a critical role in promoting peace and stability. He managed reconstruction projects, served as a key intermediary between Iraqi educational leaders and U.S. forces, and assisted in the search for weapons of mass destruction. Undoing Saddam goes beyond the attacks and violence to detail the day-to-day problems of rebuilding a nation, including constructing schools, digging wells, completing roads, and building new power plants. Bowen also examines functioning village, city, and provincial councils as they endeavor to practice democracy. Based on Bowen's diary, this book presents the daily fight to build a new Iraq despite terrorist attacks, ethnic conflict, and missteps by the Coalition Provisional Authority and U.S. forces. Undoing Saddam will be of interest to everyone interested in the Iraqi occupation and reconstruction efforts.


Frauen in Bewegung (Women in motion) is a joint endeavour of Ariadne, the Women's and Gender Documentation Centre at the Austrian National Library, and the Department of Contemporary History at Vienna University.1 For two and a half years (2006–2009) the project was fi nanced by the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenscha lichen Forschung (Austrian Science Fund). Under the leadership of Helga Hofmann-Weinberger (Austrian National Library) and in cooperation with Johanna Gehmacher (Department of Contemporary History, Vienna University) Frauen in Bewegung has been conducted as an interdisciplinary project. While Lydia Jammernegg was responsible for the documentary part of the project, Natascha Vi orelli dealt with the historiographical components. In doing so, the documentation and historiography of women's movements were closely interlinked. The following description focuses on the documentary part of the project and explains the aims, the structure and some of the results of the documentation and digitalisation work, which is presented on the web.


We present absorption variability results for 134 bona fide Mg ii broad absorption-line (BAL) quasars at 0.46 ≲ z ≲ 2.3 covering days to ∼10 yr in the rest frame. We use multiple-epoch spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which has delivered the largest such BAL variability sample ever studied. Mg ii-BAL identifications and related measurements are compiled and presented in a catalog. We find a remarkable time-dependent asymmetry in the equivalent width (EW) variation from the sample, such that weakening troughs outnumber strengthening troughs, the first report of such a phenomenon in BAL variability. Our investigations of the sample further reveal that (i) the frequency of BAL variability is significantly lower (typically by a factor of 2) than that in high-ionization BALQSO samples, (ii) Mg ii-BAL absorbers tend to have relatively high optical depths and small covering factors along our line of sight, (iii) there is no significant EW-variability correlation between Mg ii troughs at different velocities in the same quasar, and (iv) the EW-variability correlation between Mg ii and Al iii BALs is significantly stronger than that between Mg ii and C iv BALs at the same velocities. These observational results can be explained by a combined transverse-motion/ionization-change scenario, where transverse motions likely dominate the strengthening BALs while ionization changes and/or other mechanisms dominate the weakening BALs.


The Trump administration has used government information in more cynical ways than its predecessors. For example, it has removed certain information from the public domain, scrubbed certain terminology from government web sites, censored scientists, manipulated public data, and used "transparency" initiatives as a pretext for anti-regulatory policies, particularly environmental policy. This article attempts to tease out an emerging "information policy" for the Trump administration, explain how it departs from the information policies of predecessors, and evaluate the extent to which both legal and non-legal mechanisms might constrain executive discretion.


This article puts the world prison population into context and focuses on the management of offender growth as well as imprisonment and deterrence as a strategy to reduce crime. Issues such as benefits, costs and risk factors are considered important only if they have a direct impact on criminal activities and crime prevention. The time served in prison should also be examined to determine if the goals of sentencing can be achieved through shorter prison terms for selected offenders. The latter requires the need to address sentencing and parole policies with a multifaceted approach, incorporating an expanded use of alternatives to imprisonment for low-risk offenders, and a commitment to using imprisonment only if other interventions cannot meet the goals of public safety or justice. Parole boards should also be free to consider the use of parole or probation for long-term prisoners who no longer present a threat to public safety. Finally, the stabilisation or reduction of prison populations will only be possible if policymakers recognise that the size and composition of prison populations are a function of a variety of policy choices regarding sentencing, time served in prison and parole supervision practices.


Novel hybrid batteries are fabricated using an aluminum anode, a sodium intercalation cathode Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP), and a sodium/aluminum dual salt electrolyte based on NaAlCl4 and an eutectic mixture of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EMImC) and aluminum chloride. Cyclic voltammograms indicate that increasing the molar concentration of AlCl3 in the electrolyte is beneficial to high coulombic efficiency of aluminum deposition/stripping, which, unfortunately, results in lower coulombic efficiency of sodium extraction/insertion in the cathode. Therefore, EMImC–AlCl3 with a molar ratio of 1–1.1 is used for battery evaluation. The hybrid battery with 1.0 M NaAlCl4 exhibits a discharge voltage of 1.25 V and a cathodic capacity of 99 mA h g−1 at a current rate of C/10. In addition, the hybrid battery exhibits good rate performance and long-term cycling stability while maintaining a high coulombic efficiency of 98%. It is also demonstrated that increasing salt concentration can further enhance the cycling performance of the hybrid battery. X-ray diffraction analysis of the NVP electrodes under different conditions confirms that the main cathode reaction is indeed Na extraction/insertion. Based on all earth-abundant elements, the new Na–Al hybrid battery is very attractive for stationary and grid energy storage applications.


Abstract The mid–late Homerian Age of the Silurian Period was a time of intense changes in biota, oceanic chemistry, and sea level and is known as the lundgreni extinction (for the graptolite extinctions), the Mulde bioevent (for the conodont turnover event) or the Homerian carbon isotope excursion (CIE) probably related to glacially influenced climate perturbation. New information on this interval from the deep water sedimentary and graptolite succession of the Kielce Region (Holy Cross Mountains, Poland) of the northern margin of the Małopolska Block is presented here based on analysis of the Prągowiec Ravine section. The lundgreni–nilssoni graptolite biozones interval have been recognized there. This interval is composed by dark shales with very rare benthic fauna, which indicate the deep open-marine (pelagic) paleoenvironment. Ten samples were taken for the δ13Corg analysis from the lundgreni (2 samples), parvus (2 samples), praedeubeli (2 samples), praedeubeli–deubeli (1 sample), ludensis (2 samples) and nilssoni (1 sample) biozones. According to the δ13Corg results, the first positive δ13Corg excursion of the Mulde Bioevent is well recognized. The δ13Corg values rise from −30.7 – −30.1 ‰ in the lundgreni Biozone to −29.3 – −28.7 ‰ in the parvus Biozone and fall below −30 ‰ in the praedeubeli–deubeli interval. The second positive δ13Corg peak of the Mulde Event was not recognized in the Prągowiec Ravine. Based on the numerical comparisons using Raup-Crick metric of co-occurrences of graptolite species, the upper Homerian was characterized by significant between-biozone turnover of these taxa at the given locality.


We propose a long-run risk model with stochastic volatility, a time-varying mean reversion level of volatility, and jumps in the state variables. The special feature of our model is that the jump intensity is not affine in the conditional variance but driven by a separate process. We show that this separation of jump risk from volatility risk is needed to match the empirically weak link between the level and the slope of the implied volatility smile for S&P 500 options.


Cells require a constant influx of free fatty acids for lipid resynthesis and metabolic energy. Fatty acids also act as second messengers and modulate channel activities. In the pancreatic beta-cell, fatty acids have both acute and chronic effects on insulin secretion. We show that the addition of fatty acid to pancreatic beta-cells in vitro produces a persistent decrease in intracellular pH, which begins immediately after the addition of fatty acid and has an exponential time course with t1/2 approximately 60 s. The pH drop can be largely reversed by the addition of albumin. The observed pH effect can be explained by passive diffusion ("flip-flop") of un-ionized fatty acid across the plasma membrane. Acidification by a fatty acid dimer and alkalinization by an alkylamine also favor the flip-flop mechanism of transport rather than a protein-mediated mechanism. Our method provides for the first time a real-time measurement of fatty acid import into cells. The significant pH change may be important in mediating some of the regulatory effects of fatty acid, such as inhibition of glycolysis.


The catastrophic 2009 wildfires in the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria provided an opportunity to gain new insights into the responses to fire by various elements of the biota. Ongoing long-term monitoring at a large number of permanent field sites for up to 25 years prior to the fire, together with 10 years of post-fire monitoring, has provided an unparalleled series of datasets on mammal, bird, and plant responses on burned and unburned sites. The empirical studies briefly summarized in this paper show patterns of steep declines in large old trees and declines in site occupancy by arboreal marsupials and birds. These changes contrast markedly with the responses of the two most common species of small mammals (the Agile Antechinus [Antechinus agilis] and Bush Rat [Rattus fuscipes]), which recovered within two generations after the fire. Declines in arboreal marsupials, birds and large old trees have also occurred on unburned sites, indicating an ecosystem-wide trend. In general, logging had a greater impact than fire on the majority of groups of birds and plants, particularly post-fire salvage logging that occurred in some areas following the 2009 wildfires. Beyond interactions between fire and post-fire (salvage) logging and their effects on forest biota, we have uncovered evidence of other kinds of interactions in Mountain Ash forests. These include interactions between: (1) the severity of fires and logging history, (2) post-fire bird population recovery and long-term climate and short-term weather conditions, and (3) impacts on forest soils. The structure and landscape composition of the Mountain Ash ecosystem has been radically altered over the last century. This has resulted from the combined impact of several large fires, including the 2009 fires as well as widespread clearfell logging that has been conducted within state forests over the last 50 years. The ecosystem now supports old growth cover that is 1/30th to 1/60th of what it was estimated to have been prior to European settlement. The ongoing decline of key components of the Mountain Ash ecosystem has led to it being classified as Critically Endangered and at high risk of ecosystem collapse. We argue that current forest policy and practices need to better mitigate the effects of fire on this already highly disturbed forest and enhance the possible persistence of species in this ecosystem. Several key strategies are required to do this. First, there is a need to significantly expand the extent of old growth within the Mountain Ash forest estate. This is because fire severity is diminished in such areas. Spatial contagion across old-growth dominated landscapes also may be suppressed relative to landscapes composed primarily of young forest. Allied management strategies include the protection of more mesic parts of Mountain Ash landscapes as these are less likely to burn or at least burn at high severity. Such enhanced protection should include an expanded network of buffers around drainage lines and waterways as these are where fire severity is likely to be lowest and also where old growth elements like large old hollow-bearing trees are more abundant. In addition, all existing living and dead hollow-bearing trees need to be protected by buffers of unlogged forest within wood production forests to promote their standing life and better conserve cavity-dependent fauna such as the Critically Endangered Leadbeater's Possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) and other declining taxa like the Greater Glider (Petauroides volans).


The problems of defining long-term migration are discussed. Long-term migrants fall into different categories -- e.g. legal, asylum seekers, and illegal -- which are not centrally registered. Many countries define long-term migration differently. Thus, migration data collected by countries is often not comparable. An overview is given of the national definitions of long-term migration. Two international efforts are selected to collect national migration data -- by the UN/ECE and by Eurostat -- and their data from 1990 are evaluated.

It is often found that the measurement of any one flow by the immigrant country and by the emigrant country differs considerably. As a matter of fact, only about 20% of the flows are roughly equally measured by the sending and the receiving country. A list of countries in the order of relative overcount (having larger numbers than the country on the other end of the flow) shows that Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland have the largest relative overcount, while South and East Europe have the most relative undercount in the west.

The statistics indicate that there is a tendency in some West European countries to overcount immigration and undercount emigration.


Pyrenophora tritici-repentis is a necrotrophic fungus causal to the disease tan spot of wheat, whose contribution to crop loss has increased significantly during the last few decades. Pathogenicity by this fungus is attributed to the production of host-selective toxins (HST), which are recognized by their host in a genotype-specific manner. To better understand the mechanisms that have led to the increase in disease incidence related to this pathogen, we sequenced the genomes of three P. tritici-repentis isolates. A pathogenic isolate that produces two known HSTs was used to assemble a reference nuclear genome of approximately 40 Mb composed of 11 chromosomes that encode 12,141 predicted genes. Comparison of the reference genome with those of a pathogenic isolate that produces a third HST, and a nonpathogenic isolate, showed the nonpathogen genome to be more diverged than those of the two pathogens. Examination of gene-coding regions has provided candidate pathogen-specific proteins and revealed gene families that may play a role in a necrotrophic lifestyle. Analysis of transposable elements suggests that their presence in the genome of pathogenic isolates contributes to the creation of novel genes, effector diversification, possible horizontal gene transfer events, identified copy number variation, and the first example of transduplication by DNA transposable elements in fungi. Overall, comparative analysis of these genomes provides evidence that pathogenicity in this species arose through an influx of transposable elements, which created a genetically flexible landscape that can easily respond to environmental changes.


Sex is an important biological variable that impacts diverse physiological and pathological processes, including the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus and is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease. The endothelial nitric oxide synthase-deficient (eNOS-/-) db/db mouse is an appropriate and valuable model to study mechanisms in the development of diabetic nephropathy because of the similarities of the features of diabetic kidney disease in this model to those in humans. The aim of the present study was to determine whether there was a sex difference in renal injury in eNOS-/- db/db mice. Both male and female eNOS-/- db/db mice showed hyperglycemia, obesity, and renal hypertrophy. However, there was no significant difference in those variables between male and female mice. Furthermore, both male and female diabetic mice showed progressive albuminuria and significantly greater levels of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen compared with the same sex of wild-type mice (nondiabetic controls). Although all three variables in female eNOS-/- db/db mice had a tendency to be greater than those in male eNOS-/- db/db mice, those sex differences were not statistically significant. Moreover, both male and female eNOS-/- db/db mice showed significant mesangial expansion, higher glomerular injury scores, profound renal fibrosis, and substantial accumulation of fibronectin and collagen type IV proteins. However, sex differences in those structural changes were not observed. Similarly, survival rates of male and female eNOS-/- db/db mice were comparable. Taken together, the results from the present study suggest no sex difference in renal structural and functional damage in eNOS-/- db/db mice.


ABSTRACT Conductive polymer analysis, a type of electronic aroma detection technology, was evaluated for its efficacy in the detection, identification, and discrimination of plant-pathogenic microorganisms on standardized media and in diseased plant tissues. The method is based on the acquisition of a diagnostic electronic fingerprint derived from multisensor responses to distinct mixtures of volatile metabolites released into sampled headspace. Protocols were established to apply this technology specifically to plant disease diagnosis. This involved development of standardized cultural methods, new instrument architecture for sampling, sample preparation, prerun procedures, run parameters and schedules, recognition files and libraries, data manipulations, and validation protocols for interpretations of results. The collective output from a 32-sensor array produced unique electronic aroma signature patterns diagnostic of individual microbial species in culture and specific pathogen-host combinations associated with diseased plants. The level of discrimination applied in identifications of unknowns was regulated by confidence level and sensitivity settings during construction of application-specific reference libraries for each category of microbe or microbe-host combination identified. Applications of this technology were demonstrated for the diagnosis of specific disease systems, including bacterial and fungal diseases and decays of trees; for host identifications; and for determinations of levels of infection and relatedness between microbial species. Other potential applications to plant pathology are discussed with some advantages and limitations for each type of diagnostic application.


In male pseudohermaphrodites born with ambiguity of the external genitalia but with marked virilization at puberty, biochemical evaluation reveals a marked decrease in plasma dihydrotestosterone secondary to a decrease in steroid 5alpha-reductase activity. In utero the decrease in dihydrotestosterone results in incomplete masculinization of the external genitalia. Inheritance is autosomal recessive.


OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed at investigating the anthropometrics characteristics of male Brazilian junior volleyball players, organised into 3 sports requirement groups: high qualification (HQ) formed by the national team, middle qualification (MQ) formed by athletes playing in the Brazilian national championships and low qualification (LQ) formed by players at school level.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
101 athletes were observed, HQ (n=16), MQ (n=68) and LQ (n=17), aged 16.7 ± 0.5; 16.6 ± 0.5 and 16.2 ± 0.7 years, respectively. There following were evaluated: body mass, height, standing reach height, % body fat and Heath & Carter somatotype. The statistical analysis was descriptive and inferential, the Kruskal Wallis test being used for detecting differences between groups (p<0.05 significance) and Spearman correlation coefficient for establishing association between anthropometric characteristics and requirement levels, considering p<0,05 e p<0.01 to be significant and highly significant, respectively.

RESULTS
Significant differences (p<0.05) were detected between athlete groups for body mass, height, standing reach height and ectomorphy. A "strong" correlation for height and "regular" correlation for standing reach height, body mass and ectomorphy were observed, according to players' height or classification.

CONCLUSIONS
The results gave normative data for athletes which will allow coaches and physical instructors to use such information during training as a sports' selection instrument for young talented volleyball players.


Proteolytic cleavage of the receptor Robo is required for axonal repulsion in Drosophila. The ligand Slit and its receptor Robo regulate axon guidance in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the embryo of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, Slit secreted by midline glial cells signals through Robo to prevent axons from crossing the ventral midline. In a screen for mutations that dominantly enhanced the midline crossing defect of slit+/–, robo+/– double heterozygotes, Coleman et al. isolated multiple alleles of kuzbanian (kuz), which encodes a matrix metalloprotease homologous to vertebrate ADAM10 that regulates receptor signaling by several mechanisms involving proteolytic cleavage. Tissue-specific expression of kuz indicated that Kuz activity was required in neurons, rather than glia, to mediate midline repulsion. Although Slit is proteolytically processed in vivo, an engineered form that was not processed rescued the midline crossing defect, indicating that Slit was probably not the target of Kuz cleavage in this context. In cultured Drosophila S2 cells carrying a transgene that encodes an epitope-tagged Robo, the Robo ectodomain was released into the culture medium. The amount of Robo ectodomain shed from the cells increased when the cells also carried a kuz transgene, and reducing the amount of Kuz by treating the cells with kuz double-stranded RNA diminished the amount of the Robo ectodomain that was released. A mutant form of Robo that could not be cleaved but did properly localize to the cell membrane and bind to Slit in S2 cells failed to fully rescue the robo midline crossing phenotype in embryos. Thus, cleavage of Robo was important for its ability to mediate midline repulsion. The Ras-Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor Sos is required for Robo-mediated axonal repulsion in both flies and vertebrates. In HEK293T cells, human SLIT2 binding to human ROBO1 recruited endogenous Sos to the membrane and induced a change in cell shape. A dominant-negative form of ADAM10 prevented Sos translocation and cell shape change. These experiments suggest a model whereby Kuz-mediated cleavage of Robo is required for receptor activation, perhaps by inducing a conformational change that allows the downstream effector Sos to bind. H. A. Coleman, J.-P. Labrador, R. K. Chance, G. J. Bashaw, The Adam family metalloprotease Kuzbanian regulates the cleavage of the roundabout receptor to control axon repulsion at the midline. Development 137, 2417–2426 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Purpose: We examined patterns of care in a populationbased sample of 601 ovarian cancer patients diagnosed in 1991, and a sample of 566 women was selected in 1996 to examine trends in care. Patients and Methods: Patient cases were sampled from within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Medical records were reabstracted, and treatment data were verified with the treating physician. Results: Across these two time periods, the percentage of women with presumptive stage I, II, and IV disease who received lymph node dissection increased. However, a significant number still were not precisely staged. More than 65% of women with ovarian cancer were given cyclophosphamide in 1991 compared with about 14% in 1996. Paclitaxel increased from 1% to 62% during that time. After adjusting for age, race or ethnicity, registry, income, insurance status, Charlson score, residency training program, and marital status, women with early-stage disease were significantly more often given National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference guideline therapy in 1996 than in 1991. However, for women with stage III and IV disease, the use of guideline therapy did not significantly increase. Older women and minorities consistently received less guideline therapy, and the lack of private insurance was an impediment for both Hispanic and nonHispanic black women. Conclusion: Despite guidelines presented by several organizations, significant numbers of women with ovarian cancer are not being provided with appropriate care. This is particularly true for older and minority women, especially those without private insurance. Educational strategies must be devised to increase the number of women receiving guideline therapy and decrease disparities across population groups. J Clin Oncol 21:3488-3494. © 2003 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.


The current study empirically tested four models of type II diabetic patient adherence, including wellness, screening, medication, and treatment adherence. Four mediators were proposed patient understanding, agreement, trust, and motivation were tested for each model. The current study is grounded in patient-centered communication, responding to Street's (2013) call to model pathways between communication and patient health outcomes. Moreover, the study argues that adherence, for type II diabetic patients should be conceptualized as four distinct clusters of behavior (wellness, screening, medication, and treatment). A sample of (n=817) type II diabetes patients from the U.S. under the care of a medical provider and taking medication for their type II diabetes were surveyed. Findings from the present study indicate that the relationship between patient-centered communication and patient-health outcomes is mediated by proximal outcomes. The results contribute to our understanding or patient-centered communication, patient understanding, agreement, trust, and motivation, and adherence behaviors. Resulted indicated that while three of the four proposed hypotheses were supported, the most commonly studied type of adherence (medication), the relationship between patient-centered communication and medication adherence was not mediated. The current study ends with a discussion and implication of the findings as well as directions for future research


This paper attempts to comprehend the existent connections between culture and politics in the development of modern nation-states. My reflection is based on a long-term analysis of the relations between intellectuals and political elites during the period of state building and nation building in Brazil (1822–1970). In this article, I intend to analyze specifically the period from 1920 to 1950, trying to understand the significance of the Brazilian intellectual movement designated as modernism and its influences over the cultural and political scenario. My hypothesis is that the cultural ideals of the modernist intellectuals were directly linked to political issues of state-building. I also examine the case of the Brazilian modernist architecture and its relations with the Brazilian state, uncovering how the artistic utopia of this architecture was part of a political and social agenda.


An iterative method of restoring degraded images was developed by treating images, point spread functions, and degraded images as probability-frequency functions and by applying Bayes's theorem. The method functions effectively in the presence of noise and is adaptable to computer operation.


The survey was planned to examine how local authority residential care units were currently being used and to provide data relating to current issues in the use of residential child care. These issues were identified by Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) staff as they provided training and development work with agencies across Scotland, and others have been part of wider professional and political concerns. They include matters such as the increasing numbers of children being admitted to care because of parentaldrug misuse. There is also anecdotal evidence about increasing numbers of seriously disturbed younger children having to be admitted to residential care because their difficulties preclude them being cared for in a foster home placement, or who had experienced a number of foster placement breakdowns. SIRCC provides a 'Placement Information Service' and over the past few years there has been a steady stream of enquiries from social workers looking for a 'therapeutic placement' for a younger child. There were also reports of sibling groups still being regularly split up on admission due to lack of places and a general reporting of a shortage of places. Noteworthy also has been the continued high level of emergency placements. As there has been a gradual reduction in residential places over the past 10 to15 years and as residential care is perceived to be an expensive resource it is important to understand what kinds of admissions are putting such pressure on existing resources. The survey therefore requested information about a wide range of topics related to admission to residential care including: age at admission length of stay; previous placement; whether placement was planned or not;whether siblings groups were kept together or not; whether the child was in full-time education or not; the reasons for admission including parental drug misuse; whether the placement was the placement of choice of the socialworker or residential services manager. The survey also asked respondents to give a broad measure of the effectiveness of the placement. It was hoped that the data might supplement the Looked After Children (LAC) statistics that are published annually by the Scottish Executive (SE), based onreturns from local authorities.


What kind of poetry can promote meaningful social change? Can women rite such poetry? These are two of the questions Elizabeth Barrett Browning grappled with in her 1857 novel-poem Aurora Leigh. Romney Leigh is the voice of dissent in the poem. Early in the text, he informs Aurora that women are "weak for art" and only fitted for "life and duty." (1) According to Romney, this is a result of women's inability to generalize from individual cases of oppression to the larger social problems that cause that oppression: The human race To you means, such a child, or such a man, You saw one morning waiting in the cold, Beside that gate, perhaps. You gather up A few such cases, and, when strong, sometimes Will write of factories and of slaves, as if Your father were a negro, and your son A spinner in the mills. (2.189-196) Romney's accusation is drawn from actual debates over women's capabilities taking place in the Victorian press. (2) However, the examples he gives in the passage above are tailored specifically to fit Barrett Browning's own body of work. Just as Aurora proves Romney wrong about woman's capacity to create significant art, Barrett Browning in her own poetry demonstrates the importance of tempering generalization on social problems with the kind of individual approach that Romney deplored. In her anti-slavery poem "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" (one of the poems she was likely referencing in the passage above) and in Marian Erie's story of white urban poverty in Aurora Leigh, Barrett Browning employs the popular motif of infanticide in order to write tales of domestic suffering that attack the general hypocrisy and oppression surrounding single motherhood while not losing sight of the important differences that set the runaway slave and Marian Erie apart from one another. The infanticidal plot of "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" has inspired many articles. Scholars have written about the poem's relation to Barrett Browning's life and family history, its rhetorical connections to the Garrisonian abolitionist circle, its representations of infanticide, its textual history, and its thematic links to Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. (3) However, the important connections between the infanticide represented in this poem and Marian Erie's story in Aurora Leigh have yet to be fully explored. The intersections between these two poems demonstrate that Barrett Browning was aware of "the analogy between the middle-class marriage market and the slave trade" and that she viewed "slavery as a feminist issue" that was connected to the oppression of white British women. (4) However, these poems also show that she was sensitive to the differences between white female oppression and African slavery. A close examination of the infanticide narrative in each poem shows that Barrett Browning maintains the separate nature of the enslaved woman's experience from that of Marian Erie, despite the way their stories echo one another. When Barrett Browning chose to incorporate an act of infanticide into "The Runaway Slave" and allusions to infanticide into Aurora Leigh, she linked her texts with many other works by social reformers on both sides of the Atlantic who also used infanticide as a symbol of the catastrophic failure of various social systems. Infanticide played this important symbolic role on both sides of the Atlantic because of the commonly held assumption during the nineteenth century "that all women, whether biological mothers or not, had a maternal instinct." (5) This instinct was "credited ... with making women nurture their children" as a matter of nature, not choice. (6) Authors, working from this assumption, often used infanticide as an extreme example of how manmade systems subverted and/or destroyed the allegedly "natural" order of things. For this reason, infanticide was, as Laura Berry writes, "separated from a discourse of individual guilt and criminality and was invented instead as a widespread social problem. …


Biofuels currently appear to be one of the major controversies in the agriculture/ environment nexus, not unlike genetically modified organisms. While some countries (such as Brazil) have for quite some time supported successful large-scale programmes to improve the production and consumption of biofuels, policy-makers and research institutions in most developed and developing countries have only recently turned their attention to biofuels. Threat of climate change, new markets for agricultural output, reduced dependencies on OPEC countries and high fossil fuel prices are driving this development. But opposition to biofuels is growing, pointing at the various vulnerabilities ‐ not in the least for developing countries ‐ that come along with large-scale 'energy' plantations. Against this background this article analyses the sustainability and vulnerability of biofuels, from the perspective of a sociology of networks and flows. Current biofuel developments should be understood in terms of the emergence of a global integrated biofuel network, where environmental sustainabilities are more easily accommodated than vulnerabilities for marginal and peripheral groups and countries, irrespective of what policy-makers and biofuel advocates tell us.


Visakhapatnam steel plant (VSP) is one of the most modernized steel plants in the world. The plant is equipped with number of new technologies like large-scale industrial computerization and automation, latest instrumentation etc. It produces better profits, only if the plant is operated at international levels of efficiency and productivity. Earlier, the Air Separation Plant (ASP) at VSP is automated using relay logic system.Subsequently they are replaced with Programmable Relay Logic Controllers (PLC's). In industries where large machinery is used, engineers have found it very difficult to analyse the problems associated with the working of a nonlinear time invariant system which have huge time lags in the process and nonlinearity makes it difficult to analyse the system's controllability and stability. Hence, many of the new projects are carried out on the latest instrumentation technology to employ Distributed Control System (DCS). Advancements in the field of digital signal processing opens many other features for optimized process control. These digital systems are highly reliable and it takes low down time for maintenance or trouble shooting. So in today's environment there is a strong need to go to the DCS for all the industries to get the reliable information, effective control for the long uninterruptible, efficient operation of the equipment.Therefore to build a DCS, the system is to be Identified and modelled first. Hence the main objective of the work is to identify and model the distillation column of Air Separation Unit (ASU) in ASP. In this work an attempt is made to identify and model the ASU system using Box – Jenkins, ARMAX and Subspace Identification methods.


A distributed hash table (DHT) is a type of peer-to-peer (P2P) network that, like traditional hash tables, maps keys to values. Unlike traditional hash tables, however, the data is distributed across a network with each node being responsible for a particular range of keys. Numerous other DHTs have been presented and have become the cornerstone of wildly popular P2P file-sharing applications, such as BitTorrent. Each of these DHTs trades-off the number of pointers maintained per node with the overhead and lookup time; storing more pointers decreases the lookup time at the expense of increased overhead. A Grouped Hamming Network (GHN), the overlay network presented in this thesis, allows for the number of pointers per node to be any increasing function of n, P (n) = Ω (log n). The system presented assumes that nodes fail independently and uniformly at random with some probability q = 1 − p. Three different schemes for routing in a GHN are presented. For each routing scheme a theoretical estimate on the probability of failure is given and optimal configurations in terms of n and P (n) are given. Simulations of GHNs with various configurations indicate that the given estimates are indeed accurate for reasonable values of q and that the optimal configurations are accurate.


This study seeks to analyse the occurrence of code-switching in Malaysian advettising
industry by focussing on "Manglish" and "bahasa roja/f' phenomena. Code-switching
occurs when more than one language is used simultaneously, or when different
languages are mixed and switched during the same communication process.
Advertising as one form of marketing communication and newspaper as an influential
medium have been evolving due to various factors, thus code-switching in newspaper
advertisements appears to be inevitable. In this study, a content analysis over a period
of six months has been piloted on two leading newspapers in the country, namely The
Star and Harian Metro. Over three hundred advertisement samples containing over
one thousand code-switching incidences are analysed to accomplish the objectives of
the study. As Chinese New Year was celebrated amidst the analysis period, words
related to the festivity are commonly used in numerous advertisements. Additionally,
several other technical jargons and catchy texts that signify promotional campaigns
are prevalent too. The language types and locations of the code-switched incidences
on the other hand differ according to newspaper, although both newspapers share
similar code-switching categories. Consequently, this study also aims to identify the
common brand categories and brand origins, as well as target audiences of the
advertisements. The importance of language in conveying advertising messages
allows this study to be significant to industry practitioners and parties of interest in
realising that code-switching occurrence in advertising is an essential prospect of mass
communication landscape, particularly in a culturally diversified and fast-developing
nation like Malaysia.


This study examines the hydrodynamic behaviour of rowing oar blades using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). For initial validation of the modelling technique, the lift and drag coefficients of the Big Blade oar design and a flat rectangular oar were compared against previously published experimental data carried out on quarter-scale blades held stationary at a number of angles of attack to the oncoming flow. The CFD model was in agreement with the experimental data, predicting the lift and drag coefficients within 0.14 and 0.34 of the measured values respectively, although the degree of correlation was found to be sensitive to the particular turbulence model applied. The simulations provided predictions of the fluid—blade propulsive forces of lift and drag over the range of angles of attack used in rowing, and they characterized the features of hydrodynamic flow around the blade. To investigate the performance of currently available oar blades at full scale, a second series of simulations was carried out over a range of blade velocities commonly used in rowing. The CFD model provided much insight into the fluid dynamic behaviour of rowing oar blades and showed great potential as an aid to oar blade design.


BACKGROUND
Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE) is a programme developed in the USA to improve paediatric asthma outcomes.

AIMS
To examine translation of PACE to Australia.

METHODS
The RE-AIM framework was used to assess translation. Demographic characteristics and findings regarding clinical asthma outcomes from PACE randomised clinical trials in both countries were examined. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine fidelity to intervention components.

RESULTS
Both iterations of PACE reached similar target audiences (general practice physicians and paediatric patients with asthma); however, in the USA, more children with persistent disease were enrolled. In both countries, participation comprised approximately 10% of eligible physicians and 25% of patients. In both countries, PACE deployed well-known local physicians and behavioural scientists as facilitators. Sponsorship of the programme was provided by professional associations and government agencies. Fidelity to essential programme elements was observed, but PACE Australia workshops included additional components. Similar outcomes included improvements in clinician confidence in developing short-term and long-term care plans, prescribing inhaled corticosteroids, and providing written management instructions to patients. No additional time was spent in the patient visit compared with controls. US PACE realised reductions in symptoms and healthcare use, results that could not be confirmed in Australia because of limitations in follow-up time and sample sizes. US PACE is maintained through a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute website. Development of maintenance strategies for PACE Australia is underway.

CONCLUSIONS
Based on criteria of the RE-AIM framework, the US version of PACE has been successfully translated for use in Australia.


The aim of this department is to give the reader brief indications of the character, the content, and the value of new books in the various fields of Biology. In addition there will frequently appear one longer critical review of a book of special significance. Authors and publishers of biological books hould bear in mind that THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY can notice in this department only such books as come to the office of the editor. The absence of a book, therefore, from the following and subsequent lists only means that we have not received it. All material for notice in this department should be addressed to Mrs. Raymond Pearl, Editor of THE QUARTERLY RE-


Chrissie Wildwood is an international aromatherapy educator and best-selling author of fourteen books on aromatherapy, herbal medicine and other natural therapies. Here she has written a unique book to delight plant enthusiasts everywhere. Focussing on the less explored beneficial effects upon mood of common herbs and healing plants, it provides thoroughly researched up-to-date information previously unavailable in a single volume. And you don't have to be unwell to benefit from mood-enhancing plants. For herbs, fragrant flowers, plant essences and traditional incense can be used to enrich your daily life. Presents safe options to chemical anti-depressants and tranquillisers, including the mood-enhancing benefits of diet, healing music and contemplation of living plants. Gives a cornucopia of recipes and ideas for healing disharmonious states of being, preventing the development of stress- related illness and engendering an inner sense of wellbeing. Promotes the use of herb combinations tailored to individual need, with detailed instruction on preparing your own plant remedies, essential oil blends and inspirational incenses. Provides botanical, biochemical, pharmacological, and traditional data on around one hundred healing plants, including those used by indigenous peoples for sacramental purposes. Encourages the development of ecological awareness, the reawakening of our deep connection with the living Earth. With mood-enhancing plants, you can engender tranquility, revitalisation, mental clarity, romance, creative inspiration, contemplation and a sense of celebration!


The intracellular trafficking of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II molecules has evolved to support their function in peptide antigen presentation optimally. We have analyzed the intracellular trafficking of newly synthesized human CD1b, a lipid antigen‐presenting molecule, to understand how this relates to its antigen‐presenting function. Nascent CD1b was transported rapidly to the cell surface after leaving the Golgi, and then entered the endocytic system by internalization via AP‐2‐dependent sorting at the plasma membrane. A second sorting event, possibly involving AP‐3 complexes, led to prominent accumulation of CD1b in MHC class II compartments (MIICs). Functional studies demonstrated the importance of nascent CD1b for the efficient presentation of a foreign lipid antigen. Therefore, the intracellular trafficking of nascent CD1b via the cell surface to reach MIICs may allow the efficient sampling of lipid antigens present in endocytic compartments.


Background Abdominal ultrasound examinations (AUS) are commonly performed before advanced neurodiagnostics to screen for diseases that might affect diagnostic plans and prognosis. Objectives Describe the type and frequency of abnormalities found by AUS in dogs presenting with a neurological condition, identify risk factors associated with abnormalities, and evaluate treatment decisions based on findings. Animals Seven hundred and fifty‐nine hospitalized dogs. Methods Retrospective study. Medical records of dogs presented from 2007 to 2009 for neurologic disease were searched for signalment, neuroanatomic localization, and AUS findings. Whether dogs had advanced neurodiagnostics and treatment was analyzed. Results Fifty‐eight percent of dogs had abnormal findings on AUS. Probability of abnormalities increased with age (P < 0.001). Nondachshund breeds had higher probability of abnormal AUS than dachshunds (odds ratio [OR] = 1.87). Eleven percent of dogs did not have advanced neurodiagnostics and in 1.3%, this was because of abnormal AUS. Dogs with ultrasonographic abnormalities were less likely than dogs without to have advanced neurodiagnostics (OR = 0.3 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17, 0.52]), however, the probability of performing advanced diagnostics was high regardless of normal (OR = 0.95 [95% CI: 0.92, 0.97]) or abnormal (OR = 0.85 [95% CI: 0.81, 0.88]) AUS. Treatment was more often pursued in small dogs and less often in dogs with brain disease. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Findings from screening AUS had a small negative effect on the likelihood of pursuing advanced neurodiagnostics. Although it should be included in the extracranial diagnostic workup in dogs with significant history or physical examination abnormalities, AUS is considered a low‐yield diagnostic test in young dogs and dachshunds.


Until the late 1980s, textbooks portrayed economics as a nonexperimental science because it was thought that "Economists…cannot perform the controlled experiments of chemists or biologists.…Like astronomers or meteorologists, they generally must be content largely to observe" (1). Since then, economics has experienced an experimental revolution (2–6). However, there has been a debate on the extent to which insights from economic lab experiments can be generalized to field settings (7–11). On page 545 of this issue, Herbst and Mas (12) show that the results of a class of lab experiments can be generalized to the field because they provide quantitatively precise descriptions of productivity spillovers between workers.


With its unique emphasis on ethnic cooperation rather than discord, this work provides insights into how the international community can help to restrain ethnic conflict in the Twenty First century. By examining the construction of ethnic peace in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, Patrice McMahon accurately describes how the international community worked to quell growing tensions in the East. Key was a network of public and private organizations whose goal it was to work in overlapping ways to manage inter-ethnic relations, which in turn kept ethnically charged clashes far below levels forecast. Inspired by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), this network included Western governments, intergovernmental organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations. Although each actor had its own reason for involvement in this network, she highlights the shared principles and overlapping strategies actors used and how their interaction translated into a modern form of decentralized governance. This book addresses these issues by considering ethnic relations in Romania and Latvia. In so doing it brings to the fore important stories too long ignored by the West and academic research. Writing in a direct, readable fashion the author connects her subject to a larger review of changes in global governance.


The red imported fire ant, a pest newly introduced into California, threatens households, agriculture and wildlife. This study estimates the costs and benefits of a public program to eradicate the ants. The results show that almost all agricultural activities would be affected should the ants become established; however, households would incur the majority of costs. The total estimated cost if red imported fire ants become established would be between $387 million and $989 million per year in California. Given current funding levels for eradication of red imported fire ants, for the expected benefits to be at least as great as the expected costs, the probability of successfully eradicating the ants needs to be at least 0.65% if the annual costs of establishment are $989 million and 1.67% if they are $387 million.


The Long Fuse of Xinjiang While the struggles for liberation in Kosovo, East Timor, and Chechnya have taken turns capturing the world's attention, the Chinese province of Xinjiang is quietly continuing its own rebellion. This predominantly Muslim region has been chafing under Chinese authority for over 400 years, and it shows no signs of stopping. Sharing neither religion, language, nor ethnicity with the country's majority Han Chinese, the Uighurs of Xinjiang province are eager to assert their nationhood. Anti-government activity since the fall of the Soviet Union has been on the rise. Clashes between protesters and Chinese authorities are becoming increasingly violent and frequent, and executions for "counter-revolutionary activity" have become almost weekly occurrences, increasing foreign awareness of the human rights violations in the region. While the West prefers to bestow its sympathies upon neighboring Tibet, the international media has begun to open its eyes to the oppression of the Uighurs. China appears to have adopted a two-pronged approach to quell dissent; while quickly executing suspected Uighur nationalists, Beijing has also encouraged mass immigration of Han Chinese to the region to dilute the preponderance of the majority Uighur population. These tactics have brought mixed success. While Xinjiang remains under Chinese control, the Uighurs have grown increasingly resentful toward the government and the immigrant Han. A Turbulent History Known today as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China's largest province has long played a major role in the geopolitics of Central Asia. Its location in the northwestern corner of China, stretching from the Gobi Desert to the Himalayas, made it the historic meeting place of ancient Chinese, Persian, and Turkic empires. As a result, it has fallen under the yoke of many different rulers, each of whom affected the ethnic and cultural makeup of the region. It was through Xinjiang that the Chinese first established diplomatic and commercial ties with the empires of Persia. Chinese expansion into Central Asia in 102 BC created a buffer zone around the Han empire of China and provided a safe passage between China and Persia. Subsequently, the legendary Silk Road was established, initiating commercial trade between China and the West. However, control of the region constantly shifted among the rising and declining empires of China and Central Asia. The greatest challenge to Chinese domination came over the region came in 711 AD, when crusading Arab armies brought Islam to Xinjiang. At about the same time, the Uighurs, fleeing from Mongolia, moved into the region and adopted the new religion. It was not until the early 1700s, under the Manchu Qing dynasty, that China reestablished military control of what is now Xinjiang. It remained under Chinese control until the mid-19th century, when, weakened by frequent, albeit unsuccessful rebellions, parts of the region fell under Russian and British control. After enjoying a brief period of independence between 1864 and 1877, Eastern Turkestan (whose borders approximate today's Xinjiang), Xinjiang was retaken by China and declared an official Chinese province in 1884. Frequent rebellions remained unsuccessful until 1944, when the Uighurs took advantage of the turmoil generated by World War II to establish the East Turkestan Republic (ETR). At the time, lasting sovereignty seemed possible, as Mao Zedong had promised autonomy for China's minority groups in an effort to bolster support for his Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, most of the ETR leadership died in a mysterious plane crash en route to Beijing for negotiations with the CCP. After their vic tory in the Chinese civil war, Mao's troops moved into Xinjiang and brought the province under communist control. The years that followed were turbulent for the Uighurs. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), mosques were closed, the Qu'ran and other religious texts were burned, religious leaders were arrested, and thousands were sentenced to labor camps. …


Random compact testing uses random inputs to test digital circuits. Fault detection can be achieved by comparing some statistic of the circuit under test, e.g., the frequency of logic ones at an output, with the value of that statistic previously determined for the fault-free circuit. In this paper, we show that random compact testing can efficiently detect failures in both combinational and sequential circuits. Although this testing method cannot guarantee detection of all faults, it provides a simple way to detect the vast majority of failures in most circuits. The effects of failures inside combinational circuits are modeled in relation to the statistical property measured by the test and a general evaluation of the testing efficiency is obtained. The probability of detection is shown to increase with the test length and to be dependent upon test parameters such as the statistics of the input sequence. For sequential circuits, the uncertainty of the initial state necessitates an initialization step, which is a long sequence of random inputs. The length of such an initialization sequence is circuit dependent, but for most circuits, proper initialization can be achieved in a few seconds. Most failures inside the memory elements are easily detected, even with short tests. Random compact testing can also detect most of the failures inside the excitation logic and the output circuitry. There, as for combinational circuits, its efficiency is largely dependent upon the test length. Some of the requirements and tradeoffs to achieve efficient detection are presented.


The book is written for researchers interested in the study of Kerala's language, literature, history, and culture. It outlines the grammar of Malayalam in consideration of up-to-date theoretical linguistics alongside grammatical categories developed by Malayalam grammarians in the 19th century and based on Old Tamil and Sanskrit grammars. The book approaches Malayalam from a holistic perspective in referring to regional language variations, while describing the standardized linguistic register. The sample sentences demonstrating grammatical categories and rules are mostly drawn from actual speech samples. Reading practices draw upon Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's Pattuma's Goat and Sooranad Ravi's prose adaptation of The Story of Niliyamma's Apotheosis, aiming to expose the learners to various aspects of Kerala culture.
Additionally, the book includes three chapters on Old Malayalam morphology, demonstrated by verses from classical compositions such as the Uṇṇunīlisandeśam and the Kṛṣṇagātha, as well as regional literary traditions–a Teyyam song, Arabic- and Jewish-Malayalam verses, and Syriac Malayalam prose–for exposing the learners to the literary traditions in Malayalam dialects and religiolects. Ten indices follow with charts of kinship terms, verbal and nominal forms, a glossary, and bibliographical references. The book is thus an invitation for an in-depth engagement with the study of Kerala's lush linguistic landscape and diverse literary culture past and present.


This thesis purpose is to compare the effectiveness of collaborative learning against individual learning applied at the context of environment awareness. The game consists in a treasure hunt for wastes: the wastes are hidden all over the world; the task is to find them and recycle them correctly. To study the aforementioned situation, the game has two versions: a single player and a multiplayer mode. The latter based on collaboration as essential element to reach the goal. The project idea is to sensitize the player by placing him in a world, which is coherent with his own environment. The world is set up from official sources of what world's condition are in order to give an immersive sensation; this choice is due to the concept of situated learning for which the learning is set in an environment that is similar to where the learning material will be applied in future.


We present a new method of collision detection for models deformed by linear blend skinning. The linear blend skinning (also known as skeleton-subspace deformation, vertex-blending, or enveloping) is a popular method to animate believable organic models. We consider an exact collision detection based on a hierarchy of bounding spheres. The main problem with this approach is the update of bounding volumes – they must follow the current deformation of the model. We introduce a new fast method to refit the bounding spheres, which can be executed on spheres in any order. Thanks to this on-demand refitting operation we obtain a collision detection algorithm with speed comparable to the standard rigid body collision detection. The algorithm was tested on a variety of practical situations, including an animated crowd. According to these experiments, the proposed approach is considerably faster than the previous method.


Objective- To determine if the pain of the third phalanx due to sidebone fracture in horses can be attenuated by analgesia of the distal interphalangeal joint and palmar digital nerve block.
Design- Clinical study.
Animals- Seven horses with unilateral forelimb lameness associated with hoof pain due to sidebone fracture.
Procedures- Seven mix breed show jumping horses were selected from horses with unilateral forelimb lameness. Selection of the horses was based on the results of radiographic examination for fracture of the sidebone, response to the palmar digital nerve block and analgesia of the navicular bursa. Horses examined at walk and trot. Flexion tests and hoof tester examination of the lame forelimb were positive. Dorsopalmar radiograph examination revealed sidebone fracture. No abnormality was seen in other parts of the limb in lateral view radiographs. The horses did not shown any improvement 10 minutes after analgesia of the navicular bursa but the lameness  improved profoundly after palmar digital nerve block. The lameness score was graded by the scale described by American Association of Equine Practitioners.
Results- The lameness score was significantly reduced 5 minutes after palmar digital nerves block  in walk and trot (P 0.05), but significant difference was seen in lameness grading 15 minutes after distal interphalangeal joint analgesia both in walk and trot (P<0.05).
Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- It is concluded that pain arising from the third phalanx problem like sidebone fracture, should not be eliminated as a possible cause of lameness, when lameness is significantly reduced by diagnostic analgesia of distal interphalangeal joint or palmar digital nerves block.


The life data analysis is an important piece of the pie, but performing just the analysis is not enough to achieve reliable products. Rather, there are a variety of activities involved in an effective reliability program and in arriving at reliable products. In this paper two sets of photovoltaic modules were tested for the estimation of reliability. Whether either design meets the desired reliability goal. A comparison of sample averages using a student's t test reveals no statistical difference between the average cycles for Designs. But as a simple measure of central tendency, the sample average gives no information about the spread or shape of the distribution of failure times. Could the two designs' averages be the same, but their reliability be quite different? Reliability must be designed into products and processes using the best available science-based methods. Reliability practices must begin early in the design process and must be well integrated into the overall product development cycle. Design For Reliability (DFR) approach is suitable that describes the entire set of tools that support product and process design (typically from early in the concept stage all the way through to product obsolescence) to ensure that customer expectations for reliability are fully met throughout the life of the product. So a Scientific approach is adopted for comparing the reliability of the two designs. For this the Weibull analysis is performed. By performing a simple linear regression, parameter estimates can be o btained that will enable to make inferences about the two designs reliability.


The use of bacteria as bio insecticide is safe, effective, and selective in eradicating mosquito larvae, especially Aegypti mosquito larvae. Domestic waste (black water) contains high protein that can be nutrient for development of Bacillus thuringensis as biolarvacide. Nevertheless, the purpose of this study was in order to analyze the effectiveness of using domestic waste as culture media of Bacillus thuringensis for minimizing Aedes mosquito larvae population. Design of this research was experimental with posttest only control group design. The sample size of mosquito larvae that was used in this research was 160 larvae and each 20 larvae was in each dose of treatment and control. Suspension dose of liquid waste media of Bacillus thuringensis culture that was used in this treatment was 1 ml; 2 ml; 3 ml; 5 ml; 7 ml; 10 ml; 30 ml; and 50ml. Data analysis was by analyzing table and it was presented in narrative. The content of domestic waste that supported as nutrient for Bacillus thuringensis was carbohydrate (0.88%), protein (1.62%), and the state of waste pH (pH 7). Activity of Bacillus thuringensis was less optimal to develop in domestic liquid waste media. This was indicated by the absence of white sediment at the bottom of Erlenmeyer flask which showed the development of bacteria. Liquid waste media that was cultured by Bacillus thuringensis did not show any significant effectiveness to become biolarvacides because no doses which were applied could eradicate mosquito larvae. All in all, conclusion of this research was Bacillus thuringensis had not been optimally developed in domestic liquid waste media, hence, its pathogenicity could not be tested on mosquito larvae. Keywords— Domestic waste, Killing power of Bacillus thuringiensis spores, Mosquito Larvae.


Extracting 3D tree models based on terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds is a challenging task as trees are complex objects. Current TLS devices acquire high-density data that allow a detailed reconstruction of the tree topology. However, in dense forests a fully automatic reconstruction of trees is often limited by occlusion, wind influences and co-registration issues. In this paper, a semi-automatic method for extracting branching and stem structure based on equirectangular projections (range and intensity maps) is presented. The digitization of branches and stems is based on 2D maps, which enables simple navigation and raster processing. The modeling is performed for each viewpoint individually instead of using a registered point cloud. Previously reconstructed 2D-skeletons are transformed between the maps. Therefore, wind influences, orientation imperfections of scans and data gaps can be overcome. The method is applied to a TLS dataset acquired in a forest in Germany. In total 34 scans were carried out within a managed forest to measure approximately 90 spruce trees with minimal occlusions. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the presented approach to extract tree models with a high completeness and correctness and provide an excellent input for further modeling applications.


The effects of time, acid concentration, temperature and solid concentra-tion on dilute-acid hydrolysis of orange peels were investigated. A central composite rotatable experimental design (CCRD) was applied to study the individual effects of these hydrolysis factors and also their inter-dependence effects. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the peels by cellulase, β-glucosidase, and pectinase enzymes resulted in 72% dissolution of the peels, including 18.7% galacturonic acid and 53.3% of a total of glucose, fructose, galactose, and arabinose. Dilute-acid hydrolysis up to 210°C was not able to hydrolyze pectin to galacturonic acid. However, the sugar polymers were hydrolyzed at relatively low temperature. The optimum results were obtained at 116°C, 0.5% sulfuric acid concentration, 6% solid fraction, and 12.9 min retention time. Under these conditions, the total sugars obtained at 41.8% dry peels and 2.6% of total hexose sugars were further degraded to hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). No furfural was detected through these experiments from decomposition of pentoses.


Abstract. River deltas are sites of sediment accumulation along the
coastline that form critical biological habitats, host megacities, and
contain significant quantities of hydrocarbons. Despite their importance, we
do not know which factors most significantly promote sediment accumulation
and dominate delta formation. To investigate this issue, we present a global
dataset of 5399 coastal rivers and data on eight environmental variables.
Of these rivers, 40 % (n=2174) have geomorphic deltas defined either
by a protrusion from the regional shoreline, a distributary channel network,
or both. Globally, coastlines average one delta for
every ∼300 km of shoreline, but there are hotspots of delta formation, for example
in Southeast Asia where there is one delta per 100 km of shoreline. Our
analysis shows that the likelihood of a river to form a delta increases with
increasing water discharge, sediment discharge, and drainage basin area. On
the other hand, delta likelihood decreases with increasing wave height and
tidal range. Delta likelihood has a non-monotonic relationship with
receiving-basin slope: it decreases with steeper slopes, but for slopes >0.006 delta likelihood increases. This reflects different
controls on delta formation on active versus passive margins. Sediment
concentration and recent sea level change do not affect delta likelihood. A
logistic regression shows that water discharge, sediment discharge, wave
height, and tidal range are most important for delta formation. The logistic
regression correctly predicts delta formation 74 % of the time. Our global
analysis illustrates that delta formation and morphology represent a balance
between constructive and destructive forces, and this framework may help
predict tipping points at which deltas rapidly shift morphologies.


The influence of crowding on the diffusion of tagged particles in a dense medium is investigated in the framework of a mean-field model, derived in the continuum limit from a microscopic stochastic process with exclusion. The probability distribution function of the tagged particles obeys to a nonlinear Smoluchowski equation, where the force and diffusion terms are determined self-consistently by the concentration of crowders in the medium. Transient sub-diffusive or super-diffusive behaviors are observed, depending on the selected initial conditions, that bridge normal diffusion regimes characterized by different diffusion coefficients. These anomalous crossovers originate from the microscopic competition for space and reflect the peculiar form of the non-homogeneous force term in the governing equation. Our results strongly warn against the overly simplistic identification of crowding with anomalous transport tout court.


Independent retail pharmacy, representing a type of retail SME significantly influenced by its professional role, faces stark marketplace challenges today. Research has found that marketing in SMEs is strongly influenced by resource constraints and by the attitudes, skills and knowledge of the owner/manager.

'Innovative marketing' is a specific construct in the literature that models (APT- Assimilation, Prediction, Transformation) the characteristic marketing activities of SMEs. Utilising a qualitative research strategy and case study design, this research explores the marketing response of independent retail pharmacy in Ireland in 2014, contributing to our understanding of the marketing activities of this particular sector.

It finds that the professional role of the retail pharmacist has a multifaceted influence on the marketing response of independent retail pharmacies. While location/place and price centred strategies are evident, a marketing strategy, termed NATCALEX, that combines an emphasis on the local expert care of the owner/manager pharmacist within a national retail brand, is favoured by an increasing number of owners. The formation of strategic alliances (Assimilation) from 2007 has led to this strategy. From these groups Prediction based marketing activities led to the emergence of the NATCALEX marketing strategies. The most physically obvious marketing activities today are Transformative, utilising all elements of the marketing mix, most notably, branding.

For other owners, marketing activities have led to significant number of, career as opposed to market driven new openings; also demographic and price centred marketing strategies are evident.
While technically there is some alignment between the Core Competency Framework for Pharmacists and the entrepreneurial marketing competencies of SME owners, there is no explicit reference to marketing or entrepreneurship in the Framework; also some degree of equivocation appears to exist about the place of marketing or entrepreneurial competencies.


Morphing materials, also known as smart materials are attracting increasing attention as sensors, actuators and in soft robotic applications. In this work bilayered morphing composites were created by exploiting the thiol-ene photoclick reaction via maskless digital light processing (DLP). This technique allows for gradients and patterns of near infrared (nIR)-triggered materials to be efficiently crosslinked to substrates, with suitable interfacial adhesion to realise complex morphing. Photo-thermally responsive composites are produced by DLP patterning of reduced graphene oxide-filled chitosan-methacrylamide (rGO-chitosan-MA) on thiolated polydimethylsiloxane substrates via thiol-ene photoclick reaction. Morphing composites with parallel striped patterns and box-like hinges were printed via DLP to realise self-rolling and self-folding behaviours. Bilayered structures, with gradient rGO-chitosan-MA thicknesses (2-8 μm), were produced by controlling the light intensity from the DLP device. These gradient bilayered structures enable photothermal-triggered gradient bending and morphing exemplified here by a "walking worm" and a kirigami-inspired "opening flower". Thermo-mechanical calculations were performed to estimate bending angles, and finite element analysis applied to simulate self-folding and bending. The difference between simulation and measurements is in the range 0.4-7.6%, giving confidence to the assumptions and simplifications applied in design.


The study determined the relationship between physical activity (PA) and risk factors of obesity among primary school children (boys: mean age 11.17±1.29, n=678; girls: mean age 10.88±1.27, n=683) in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa. The children were classified according to age and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) categories (underweight: 0 30) and their blood pressure (BP) measurements. Health-related fitness was assessed with standardised test protocols. Using the International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ), the children's PA levels were judged as: Low (METs scores of less than 500); Moderate (METs scores from 500 to 1499) or High (METs >1500). The children were mostly underweight (74%) compared to other weight categories (normal weight: 23.7%; overweight: 1.0%; obese: 0.6%). Girls had non-significant elevated BP values (systolic: 112.94±11.28mmHg; diastolic: 79.40±12.80mmHg) than boys (systolic: 110.71±14.95mmHg; diastolic: 75.53±12.53mmHg) who had higher PA levels (METs = 1286.72±317.47) than girls (METs = 397.28±30.14) (p<0.01). The children's PA level correlated positively with BMI (.86) (p<0.01) but negatively with %BF (-.67); weight circumference (WC) (-.41); SUP (sit-up) (-.22); and predicted VO2max (-.17) (p<0.05). BMI positively associated with SBP (standing broad jump) (.06) and SAR (sit-and-reach) (.16) (p<01) whereas, it was negatively related with DBP (-.15); %BF (- .67); WC (-.26); SUP (-.21) and predicted VO2max (-.12) (p<0.05). Understanding the relationship between body composition, PA and non-communicable disease risk among children could provide a reliable basis for designing appropriate intervention programmes needed to optimise health outcomes.


This concise overview of digital signal generation will introduce you to powerful, flexible and practical digital waveform generation techniques. These techniques, based on phase-accumulation and phase-amplitude mapping, will enable you to generate sinusoidal and arbitrary real-time digital waveforms to fit your desired waveshape, frequency, phase offset and amplitude, and to design bespoke digital waveform generation systems from scratch. Including a review of key definitions, a brief explanatory introduction to classical analogue waveform generation and its basic conceptual and mathematical foundations, coverage of recursion, DDS, IDFT and dynamic waveshape and spectrum control, a chapter dedicated to detailed examples of hardware design, and accompanied by downloadable Mathcad models created to help you explore 'what if?' design scenarios, this is essential reading for practitioners in the digital signal processing community, and for students who want to understand and apply digital waveform synthesis techniques.


A sophisticated account of narratives in law must provide for the complex relationships between hearers and storytellers. In this paper, I consider the failures of imagination that are a necessary risk tied to the use of empathetic reasoning in legal proceedings. I will contend that toleration, as a form of restraint, may actually prevent a jurist from accepting narratives as truthful. This is not to say that identifying with a storyteller or sympathising with her situation are vices; on the contrary these can be desirable – even laudable – reactions, but like taking mercy or pitying, sympathy shares something with toleration in that these reactions on the part of the jurist may be uncomfortable for the storyteller. Thus rightly implied, empathetic reasoning must not be confused with toleration. I further develop a definition of narrative injustice – the use of socially-situated stereotypes to enact a deficit of credibility whereby a narrator may lack believability through no fault of her own. As a distinctly epistemological claim, my definition of narrative injustice pulls on critical and feminist theory to examine how the narratives of outsiders are often left out of legal proceedings.