A survey of South Texas Special Education teachers was conducted to determine how they perceived their behavior management skills in the classroom and what effect, if any, this had on their job satisfaction. The majority of teachers were confident in their ability to accomplish the management demands of the classroom. The teachers who showed the least confidence were the novice teachers. Most teachers had a variety of disabilities in their classroom during the same class period. No one disability appeared to affect behavior management, but grades two through seven appeared to be the most difficult to manage. Since novice teachers seemed to have the least confidence in their ability to manage the class, the recommendation was that mentors and/or extra training during the school year might help these teachers build their skills and confidence. ********** One of the most important goals of the Bush Administration has been to support State and local communities in creating and maintaining a system of public education where no child is left behind. Under Section 3, Duties and Commission Report, the Order continues to state that an analysis of, and recommendations regarding, how the Federal Government can help State and local education agencies provide a high-quality education to students with disabilities, including the recruitment and retention of qualified personnel and the inclusion of children with disabilities in performance and accountability systems. With reflections of this Order, Texas A&M University-Kingsville initiated a study to evaluate the retention of special educators in South Texas. A survey was distributed to school districts throughout Educational Service Center Region 11 to poll teachers in the field of Special Education concerning teacher satisfaction. These criteria may provide insight on factors affecting teacher retention and a possible means to promote teacher longevity. Statement of the Problem School districts need to determine why their teachers are leaving if they hope to improve teacher retention. Teacher job satisfaction has been shown to be a predictor of teacher retention, determinant of teacher commitment, and, in turn, a contributor of school effectiveness (Shann, 1998). Moreover, special education attrition is considered to be the most troublesome issue facing the field of special education today. Special educators leave the classroom at about twice the rate of their regular education colleagues and some areas report attrition rates as high as 50% yearly. Reasons for attrition among special educators vary but some citings include (White, 1999): * Support of teachers * Classroom management * Behavior management of students According to the Texas Board for Educator Certification (2000, November), Texas is facing a serious teacher shortage because of increasing student enrollment coupled with decreasing rates of teacher retention. In the 1998-99 school year, Texas school districts had to fill over 63,000 teaching positions. No organization should be satisfied with losing its best personnel at anytime, and yet evidence suggests that education is indeed losing many of its most talented people. Over the past 8 years, professionals in special education have contributed a growing body of research to this knowledge base, examining factors related to decisions of special educators to remain or leave the field and describe the exact nature of special education teacher attrition. A national survey of over 1,000 special educators recently conducted by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) concluded: Poor teacher working conditions contribute to the high rate of special educators leaving the field, teacher burnout, and substandard quality of education for students for special needs (Gersten, 2001). A review of research conducted on the relationship of behavior management and teacher outcomes by Paul Barton (2001) led him to conclude that discipline does make a difference in teachers leaving. …


This chapter focuses on the use of newer sequence-based methods for discovering novel microbial pathogens and some of the questions raised concerning interpretation of experimental findings. A remarkable degree of microbial diversity has recently emerged from surveys of natural environments that rely on direct acquisition and analysis of microbial gene sequences. Specialization and adaptation to an animal host are believed to involve acquisition of blocks of genes that encode virulence-associated attributes. The use of host markers to measure and predict host inflammation is not new. Two strategies are invoked by those who seek to identify novel or unrecognized microbial pathogens. The first is based on the straightforward notion that these pathogens will be found where there is unexplained disease, and in particular, disease that bears traditional features of infection. The second strategy is based on the observation that pathogens are often found within environmental niches that provide access to more privileged anatomic sites within a host. In addition to the distribution of microbial sequences and other signatures within the human body, the issue of kinetics must be confronted. With increasing experience comes appreciation of subtlety. This holds especially true for the use of microbial sequence-based detection methods. Broad-range ribosomal DNA (rDNA) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) frequently reveals bacterial sequences that are similar to but do not perfectly match any sequence in the available databases.


The feasibility of using adaptive acquisition techniques to reduce the overall testing time in spherical near-field (SNF) antenna measurements is investigated. The adaptive approach is based on the premise that near-field to far-field (NF-FF) transformation time is small compared to data acquisition time, so that such computations can be done repeatedly while data is being acquired. This allows us to use the transformed FF data to continuously compute and monitor pre-defined decision functions (formed from the antenna specifications most important to the particular AUT) while data is being acquired. We do not proceed with a complete scan of the measurement sphere but effectively allow the probe to follow a directed path under control of an acquisition rule, so that the sampled NF datapoints constitute an acquisition map on the sphere (the geographical allusion being purposeful). SNF data acquisition can be terminated based on decision function values, allowing the smallest amount of data needed to ensure accurate determination of the AUT performance measures. We demonstrate the approach using actual NF data for several decision functions and acquisition rules.


Geospatial modelling revolves around the structures of data and the semantics of these structures. This is enough in simple cases, but becomes insufficient when the best structure and semantics is hard to find or the solution is too heterogeneous to fix and reuse. Field-based and objects-based geospatial models often share common GIS data structures interchangeably, but their all possible meanings are too many to define in an immutable manner. Less studied approach to geospatial modelling is using mutable structural properties and their semantic interpretation. This work shows that the functional aspect of geospatial models is just as important as the structural and semantic aspects. It also shows that semantic and even structural properties may change when functionality is integral part of the data model, and not exclusively separated at software implementation level. The paper uses this modelling paradigm to address the divide caused by field-based and object-based data models, and other challenges regarding synergy of geospatial systems that need to use both types of data models.


Building on a newly created policy indicator database, this paper provides a first systematic comparison of the governance of public research policy across 35 OECD countries from 2005 to 2017. The database was obtained following a three-year process that involved the development of an ontology of the governance of public research policy as well as data collection and validation by national authorities. The data show diverse institutions and mechanisms of policy action regarding higher education institutions (HEIs) and public research institutes (PRIs) are in place across the 35 OECD countries. The data also shows an increasing use of project funding, performance contracts and performance evaluations for HEIs and PRIs. In many countries, HEIs and PRIs are autonomous regarding their relations with industry, budget allocation but less frequently regarding salaries. Recent reforms have strengthened external stakeholders' participation in their governance. The database is publicly available on the following webpage: https://stip.oecd.org/resgov.


Problem. The Seventh-day Adventist Church was established in malawi at the turn of the century (1902). Since then, stalwart Malawian workers have made immeasurable contributions to the development, growth, and expansion of the church in Malawi and the neighboring countries of Zambia, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Rwanda, and South Africa. James Malinki was probably the most outstanding early cross-cultural worker in the Adventist Church in Central Africa. As yet there has been no significant written account of his life and ministry. Topic. This study examined the life and work of James Malinki of Malawi (1893-1982), whose ministry of nearly half a century in Nyasaland (Malawi), Congo (Zaire), and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) significantly contributed to the early development of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Africa. His ministry provided not only an example of skillful cross-cultural service, but in itself is an inspiration to workers. Sources. The study followed an analytical, biographical documentary research approach, examining written sources such as books, journal articles, and denominational minutes. Substantial information was gathered through personal interviews with Malinki's family in Zambia and Malawi and with other friends and colleagues of Malinki. Conclusions. The sources consulted confirmed that Malinki's measure of success as a cross-cultural worker was the result of his personal dedication to God. His success in the mastery of languages helped him bridge cultural differences in varied contexts of his work. Above all, he was sensitive to the needs of the people. Malinki's leadership exhibited an attitude that was devoid of animosity and bigotry in the working relationships between nationals and overseas missionaries. His father, Kalinde Morrison Malinki, had tasted of the savagery of slavery and both father and son experienced the 1915 uprising of John Chilembwe; yet Malinki's attitude towards people of other tribes and races was unmarred by prejudice. The church and its workers will benefit from Malinki's example and life. Malinki is one of the many unsung heroes of Africa who, with African nobility of character, worked side by side as an equal with overseas missionaries. Such a trust and partnership will ever be needed in the mission of the church of God.


The stability of the morphology of bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells employing a novel low-bandgap polymer as donor is studied. The polymer is based on a poly(thieno[3,4-b]thiophene-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene) (PTB) backbone with tetrahydropyranyl (THP) terminated side chains that are cleaved upon thermal treatment, which leads to stable performance of the photovoltaic properties during an accelerated aging process achieved by thermal annealing. The morphology of films made from blends of the polymer with PCBM is investigated before (PTB(THP):PCBM) and after (dPTB:PCBM) cleaving at micro and nanoscale using optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering. Results are compared to films made from blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT:PCBM) and the version of the PTB series whose structure is closest to that of PTB(THP), PTB4 (PTB4:PCBM). All three techniques demonstrate that phase separation is suppressed at micro and nanoscale in the dPTB:PCBM films, while large micron-sized PCBM aggregates develop during thermal annealing in P3HT:PCBM, PTB4:PCBM and PTB(THP):PCBM films. Our studies show that the removal of THP on the side chains can lead to stable morphology, and result in stable performance of photovoltaic cells. While we have focused on comparison to PTB4 blends, our results should be transferable to other polymers in the PTB series.


Changes in rainfall regime during the last five decades over the West African Sahel have significantly modified the hydrological regime of many rivers with a significant impact on water resources. In this study, the main hydrological processes on the Nakanbe watershed in Burkina Faso are described with two hydrological models: GR2M (lumped and monthly model) and ORCHIDEE (ORganising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms) (distributed and half hourly model). Both models were calibrated on the watershed from observed runoff data at Wayen outlet (area of 22,000 km2) for the 1978–1999 period. The mean annual hydrological balance components on the watershed over this period are composed of about 4% of runoff, 10% of groundwater recharge and 86% of actual evapotranspiration for both models. An assessment of the hydrological impacts of the changes in rainfall regime simulated by five regional climate models shows some discrepancies. The hydrological simulations show that the hydrological impacts on the water balance of the watershed come mainly from the changes in rainfall field with regard to the frequency and the intensity of rain events. Compared to the decrease in frequency, it appears that the decrease in the intensity of rain events is much more prejudicial to runoff and groundwater recharge.


Title of dissertation: TOPICS IN MARKET DESIGN Thayer Morrill, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Dissertation directed by: Professor Lawrence Ausubel Department of Economics My dissertation consists of two papers covering distinct topics within Microeconomic Theory. The first chapter is drawn from Matching Theory. One of the oldest but least understood matching problems is Gale and Shapley's (1962) "roommates problem": is there a stable way to assign 2N students into N roommate pairs? Unlike the classic marriage problem or college admissions problem, there need not exist a stable solution to the roommates problem. However, the traditional notion of stability ignores the key physical constraint that roommates require a room, and it is therefore too restrictive. Recognition of the scarcity of rooms motivates replacing stability with Pareto optimality as the relevant solution concept. This paper proves that a Pareto optimal assignment always exists in the roommates problem, and it provides an efficient algorithm for finding a Pareto improvement starting from any status quo. In this way, the paper reframes a classic matching problem, which previously had no general solution, to become both solvable and economically more meaningful. The second chapter focuses on the role networks play in market and social organization. In network theory, externalities play a critical role in determining which networks are optimal. Adding links can create positive externalities, as they potentially make distant vertices closer. On the other hand, links can result in negative externalities if they increase congestion or add competition. This paper will completely characterize the set of optimal and equilibrium networks for a natural class of negative externalities models where an agent's payoff is a function of the degree of her neighbors. These results are in sharp contrast to the optimal and equilibrium networks for the standard class of positive externalities models where payoff is a function of the distance two agents are apart. This highlights the role externalities play in optimal and equilibrium network structure. TOPICS IN MARKET DESIGN


Introduction Domiciliary NIV is being increasingly used to treat chronic ventilatory failure, particularly due to obesity and neuromuscular conditions. In the course of evolution of an NIV unit within an acute hospital, most domiciliary NIVs are set up at the end of an acute episode of admission with hypercapnic acidotic respiratory failure to start with, but overtime, as more at-risk patients come under surveillance for respiratory failure, we hypothesized that a unit supervising domiciliary NIV/Home Mechanical Ventilation is expected to do more elective set-ups. Methods Comparison of the volume of new domiciliary NIV set-ups and the elective NIV set-up rate over two 12-month periods: Apr 2005-Mar 2006 (period 1) and Apr 2011-Mar 2012 (period 2) in a dedicated 11-bedded ward-based NIV unit (established: Aug 2004) in a 1000-bedded central England teaching hospital trust, providing domiciliary NIV support to over 200 patients with over 350 under surveillance for respiratory failure. Results The volume more than doubled from 19 new domiciliary NIV set-ups in period 1 to 39 new domiciliary NIV set-ups in period 2; the elective domiciliary NIV set-up rate increased from 7/19 (36.8%) to 19/39 (48.7%) between periods 1 and 2. Discussion Over time, both the volume and the elective set-uprate for new domiciliary NIV have gone up. This probably indicates that a larger proportion of people at risk of respiratory failure treatable with NIV are coming under the unit's surveillance and has clearly been associated with the expansion and maturation of the NIV service in our experience. The 'elective domiciliary NIV set-up rate' can therefore be tested as a metric for comparison of centres supervising domiciliary NIV/Home Mechanical Ventilation in this rapidly evolving field.


Credit default swaps (CDS) which constitute up to 98% of credit derivatives have had a unique, endemic and pernicious role to play in the current financial crisis. However, there are few in depth empirical studies of the financial network interconnections among banks and between banks and nonbanks involved as CDS protection buyers and protection sellers. The ongoing problems related to technical insolvency of US commercial banks is not just confined to the so called legacy/toxic RMBS assets on balance sheets but also because of their credit risk exposures from SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicles) and the CDS markets. The dominance of a few big players in the chains of insurance and reinsurance for CDS credit risk mitigation for banks' assets has led to the idea of "too interconnected to fail" resulting, as in the case of AIG, of having to maintain the fiction of non-failure in order to avert a credit event that can bring down the CDS pyramid and the financial system. This paper also includes a brief discussion of the complex system Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) approach to financial network modeling for systemic risk assessment. Quantitative analysis is confined to the empirical reconstruction of the US CDS network based on the FDIC Q4 2008 data in order to conduct a series of stress tests that investigate the consequences of the fact that top 5 US banks account for 92% of the US bank activity in the $34 tn global gross notional value of CDS for Q4 2008 (see, BIS and DTCC). The May-Wigner stability condition for networks is considered for the hub like dominance of a few financial entities in the US CDS structures to understand the lack of robustness. We provide a Systemic Risk Ratio and an implementation of concentration risk in CDS settlement for major US banks in terms of the loss of aggregate core capital. We also compare our stress test results with those provided by SCAP (Supervisory Capital Assessment Program). Finally, in the context of the Basel II credit risk transfer and synthetic securitization framework, there is little evidence that the CDS market predicated on a system of offsets to minimize final settlement can provide the credit risk mitigation sought by banks for reference assets in the case of a significant credit event. The large negative externalities that arise from a lack of robustness of the CDS financial network from the demise of a big CDS seller undermines the justification in Basel II that banks be permitted to reduce capital on assets that have CDS guarantees. We recommend that the Basel II provision for capital reduction on bank assets that have CDS cover should be discontinued.


For humanity to be able to meet its needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own, we must create a sustainable and customised service economy. For all the people of the world to be able to share in this goal, including both marginal operators in economically developed countries and most farmers in currently less economically developed countries, we need to increase resource productivity by a factor of 10. This paper describes a conceptual design process in which the designer is looking to achieve this factor 10 improvement at a system design level. Order of magnitude upgrading, on the performance of existing products, calls for an innovative approach to the design process. We outline a methodology, "Trend-Morph-PDS", and show in a case study how it has been applied to the development of a ground-water pumping system. This type of system is in demand in geographically remote areas, where low well yield rates are typical, and rather complicated wind or solar pumps are commonly used for these "low-yield-well pumps ". The large number of products on the market demonstrates a wide and often conflicting range of trends in terms of design/development: long life/short life; high efficiency/low efficiency; problematic maintenance; absence of product range rationalisation. There is, however, a general trend towards replacement of mechanical with electrical-electronic systems. We argue that it would be possible to replace the currently dominant types of electrically driven submersible pump with a well designed mechanical system that has approximately twice the efficiency of its competitors and five times the design life. We recognise the commercial importance of the initial system cost, and we see no reason why our system should cost more than those of our existing competitors. Our case study indicates that factor 10 improvement in resource productivity is achievable in this application.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


Objective: The aim of this study was to compare open esophagectomy (OE) with minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) in a population-based setting. Background: Randomized controlled trials and cohort studies have shown that MIE is associated with reduced pulmonary complications and shorter hospital stay as compared to OE. Methods: Patients who underwent transthoracic esophagectomy for cancer between 2011 and 2015 were selected from the national Dutch Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Audit. Hybrid, transhiatal, and emergency procedures were excluded. Patients who underwent OE were compared with those treated by MIE. Propensity score matching was used to correct for differences in baseline characteristics. The primary endpoint was postoperative pulmonary complications; secondary endpoints were morbidity, mortality, convalescence, and pathology. Results: Some 1727 patients were included. After propensity score matching the percentage of patients with 1 or more complications was 62.6% after OE (N = 433) and 60.2% after MIE (N = 433) (P = 0.468). Pulmonary complication rate did not differ between groups: 34.2% (OE) versus 35.6% (MIE) (P = 0.669). Anastomotic leak (15.5% vs 21.2%, P = 0.028) and reintervention rates (21.1% vs 28.2%, P = 0.017) were higher after MIE. Mortality was 3.0% in the OE group and 4.7% in the MIE group (P = 0.209). Median hospital stay was shorter after MIE (14 vs 13 days, P = 0.001). Percentages of R0 resections (93%) did not differ between groups. The median (range) lymph node count was 18 (2–53) (OE) versus 20 (2–52) (MIE) (P < 0.001). Conclusions: This population-based study showed that mortality and pulmonary complications were similar for OE and MIE. Anastomotic leaks and reinterventions were more frequently observed after MIE. MIE was associated with a shorter hospital stay.


The monthly mean wind stress climatology of Hellerman and Rosenstein (HR) is compared with the climatology of Isemer and Hasse (IH), which represents a version of the Bunker atlas (BU) for the North Atlantic based on revised parameterizations. The drag coefficients adopted by IH are 21% smaller than the values of BU and HR, and the calculation of wind speed from marine estimates of Beaufort force (Bft) is based on a revised Beaufort equivalent scale similar to the scientific scale recommended by WMO. The latter choice significantly increases wind speed below Bft 8, and effectively counteracts the reduction of the drag coefficients.

Comparing the IH stresses with HR reveals substantially enhanced magnitudes in the trade wind region throughout the year. At 15°N the mean easterly stress increases from about 0.9 (HR) to about 1.2 dyn cm−1 (IH). Annual mean differences are smaller in the region of the westerlies. In winter, the effect due to the reduced drag coefficient dominates and leads to smaller stress values in IH; during summer season the revision of the Beaufort equivalents is more effective and leads to increased stresses.

Implications of the different wind stress climatologies for forcing the large-scale ocean circulation are discussed by means of the Sverdrup transport streamfunction (ψs): Throughout the subtropical gyre a significant intensification of ψs takes place with IH. At 27°N, differences of more than 10 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) are found near the western boundary. Differences in the seasonality of ψs are more pronounced in near-equatorial regions where IH increase the amplitude of the annual cycle by about 50%. An eddy-resolving model of the North Atlantic circulation is used to examine the effect of the different wind stresses on the seasonal cycle of the Florida Current. The transport predicted by the numerical model is in much better agreement with observations when the circulation is forced by IH than by HR, regarding both the annual mean (29.1 Sv vs 23.2 Sv) and the seasonal range (6.3 Sv vs 3.4 Sv).


Law 46/1999 incorporated formal water markets into the Spanish legal and regulatory framework, allowing spot water markets and the creation of water banks. The implementation of water markets in Spain aimed at improving the efficiency of water use by reallocating water towards uses with higher added value. However, the performance of water markets in Spain has been rather disappointing, since they have been operative only during drought periods, and even under these extreme scarcity situations, trading activity counted for less than 5.0% of total water use. The narrowness of the market suggests that there are some barriers hampering their effective functioning. This paper examines the evolution and performance of water markets in Spain, relying on a transaction costs analysis framework. This analysis allows the identification of the main factors impeding water markets from operating effectively as a water reallocation tool. This analysis also provides some guidelines on how to overcome these obstacles and, thus, how to improve the efficiency of water use.


There is growing evidence that stress contributes to cardiovascular disease. Chronic stress contributes to the atherosclerotic process through increased allostatic load, which is mediated by the neuroendocrine and immune systems (sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamus-pituitary adrenal axis) and related chronic risk factors (insulin resistance syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia). In addition, acute stress can trigger cardiovascular events predominantly through sympathetic nervous activation and potentiation of acute risk factors (blood pressure increase, endothelial cell dysfunction, increased blood viscosity, and platelet and hemostatic activation). Earthquakes provide a good example of naturally occurring acute and chronic stress, and in this review we focus mainly on the effects of the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake on the cardiovascular system. The Hanshin-Awaji earthquake resulted in a 3-fold increase of myocardial infarctions in people living close to the epicenter, particularly in women, with most of the increase occurring in nighttime-onset events. There was also a near doubling in the frequency of strokes. These effects may be mediated by changes in hemostatic factors, as demonstrated by an increase of D-dimer, von Willebrand factor, and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) antigen. Blood pressure also increased after the earthquake, and was prolonged for several weeks in patients with microalbuminuria.


Abstract Objectives: The objectives were to investigate the relationship between the serum adiponectin level and the metabolic syndrome (MS) phenotype in children, and to examine the independent association between the serum adiponectin level and the individual components of MS. Design: A cross-sectional design was used. Subjects: Fifty-six obese children with a body mass index ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex, and 50 normal-weight children matched for age and sex with the obese children, were used as controls. Outcome measures: The main outcome measure was the serum adiponectin level. Results: The serum adiponectin level was significantly lower in obese children, than in the normal-weight controls (7.35 ± 3.1 µg/dl vs. 10.64 ± 3.04 µg/dl). Obese children with MS have a significantly lower serum adiponectin level compared to obese children without MS (5.92 ± 1.9µg/dl vs. 8.57 ± 2.1 µg/dl). There was a significant negative correlation between the serum adiponectin level and waist circumference, triglyceride levels, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose. The serum adiponectin level correlated positively with the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. After controlling for the confounding effect of age, sex and visceral fat, the adiponectin level remained a significant predictor of the MS [odds ratio (OR): 0.76, 95% CI: 0.63–0.91]. Conclusion: Adiponectin demonstrated a consistent relationship to each MS component. Adiponectin may be a comprehensive marker of the MS condition.


America's decentralized system of public school governance is premised on the assumption that the interests of voters who elect school boards will be aligned with the educational needs of students. We explore the plausibility of this assumption by comparing the demographic characteristics of voters and students across four states. Using official voter turnout records and rich microtargeting data, we document considerable demographic differences between voters who participate in school board elections and the students attending the schools that boards oversee, suggesting that the assumption is unlikely to describe reality in many settings. For example, we show that most majoritynonwhite districts in our sample have a majority-white electorate and that these electoral disparities are associated with racial achievement gaps. Our novel analysis provides important political context for considering the electoral incentives facing school boards and how these incentives shape the quality of public education.


Background. Spleen as a lymphoid tissue is specialized for monitoring blood and mounting immunity against blood-borne antigens. Antigen-presenting cells present in spleen commonly develop from bone marrow-derived precursors that enter blood circulation. However, a distinct splenic myeloid antigen-presenting cell subset described in this laboratory, namely "dendritic-like cells" (L-DC), has been hypothesized not to share a bone marrow origin. Methods. In this study, the presence of endogenous hematopoietic progenitors in spleen was investigated by transplanting intact spleen into allotype-distinct recipients and monitoring development of progeny cells in grafted tissues. Results. Successful engraftment of donor spleens was achieved for up to 4 weeks. After 2 weeks, donor-type myeloid cells, dendritic cells (DC) and few B cells were observed in spleen grafts indicative of spleen-endogenous hematopoiesis. An influx of host-type hematopoietic stem cell, as well as host-type lymphoid and myeloid cells, was also observed. Conclusion. Evidence for the maintenance of donor-type myeloid cells after 2 to 4 weeks reflected development from hematopoietic progenitors endogenous to spleen. L-DC were also detected in spleen grafts; however, within the graft microenvironment they were one of the several DC and myeloid subsets, including activated DC, resembling L-DC. Overall, this study adds further evidence that spleen can support endogenous myelopoiesis.


It is generally understood that forthcoming 5G communication technologies such as full duplex (FD), massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) aim at the maximal use of communication spectrum to provide a new experience of service for users. FD provides simultaneous signal transmission and reception over the same frequency band. Massive MIMO uses massive numbers of antennas to provide high throughput connectivity for users. NOMA improves network throughput by allowing some users to access information intended for other users. SWIPT provides simultaneous information and power transfer. However, it is still very challenging to utilize these spectrum exploitation technologies to secure the needed quality of service for users in the age of the Internet of Things. In FD, the signal transmission interference to signal reception, even after analog and digital self-interference cancellation, is considerable, which downgrades both transmission and reception throughput. To maintain the favored channel characteristics, massive MIMO means to serve a few users per time unit only. In NOMA, the users' throughput is improved by compromising communication privacy. Information and power transmissions head to conflicting targets that are difficult to achieve simultaneously with SWIPT. This article introduces a new technique, called the fractional-time approach, which ensures guaranteed and better transmission and reception throughput without the need for complex FD, enables serving a massive number of users in a massive MIMO system, provides guaranteed users' throughput without security compromise as in NOMA, and delivers high volumes of both information and power transfer within a time unit.


The gamma-ray energy spectra of bright blazars of the LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS) are investigated using Fermi-LAT data. Spectral properties (hardness, curvature, and variability) established using a data set accumulated over 6 months of operation are presented and discussed for different blazar classes and subclasses: flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), low-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (LSP-BLLacs), intermediate-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (ISP-BLLacs), and high-synchrotron peaked BLLacs (HSP-BLLacs). The distribution of photon index (Γ, obtained from a power-law fit above 100 MeV) is found to correlate strongly with blazar subclass. The change in spectral index from that averaged over the 6 months observing period is < 0.2–0.3 when the flux varies by about an order of magnitude, with a tendency toward harder spectra when the flux is brighter for FSRQs and LSP-BLLacs. A strong departure from a single power-law spectrum appears to be a common feature for FSRQs. This feature is also present for some high-luminosity LSP-BLLacs, and a small number of ISP-BLLacs. It is absent in all LBAS HSP-BLLacs. For 3C 454.3 and AO 0235+164, the two brightest FSRQ source and LSP-BLLac source, respectively, a broken power law (BPL) gives the most acceptable of power law, BPL, and curved forms. The consequences of these findings are discussed.


Seeds of Vicia faba (L) become fully mature in about 130 days from the fertilization of the ovule. After an initial phase of cell division, storage protein is synthesised in the cotyledons. During the stage of storage protein synthesis, rRNA synthesis occurs concomitant with synthesis of ER, suggesting that storage protein synthesis is mediated on membrane bound ribosomes by mRNA(s). Analysis of the nucleic acids during cotyledon development did not lead to the identification of any non-ribosomal RM species. A fourth rRNA was identified, which had a molecular weight of 52,000 daltons and was hydrogen bonded to the 25S rRNA species. Attempts to identify rRMA precursor molecules in cotyledons and roots were unsuccessful, though in the latter the bacterial precursor molecule to the 163 rRNA was identified. Isolated polyribosomes, from cotyledons at various stages of development, had similar profiles and their constituent nucleic acids were degraded, indicating that they were cleavage products of larger in vivo units. The rRNA cleavage products arising during polyribosome isolation were characterised by their molecular weights. The properties of diethylpyrocarbonate as a nuclease inhibitor were reinvestigated and it was found to be incapable of effectively inhibiting high concentrations of nucleases. The extraction of polyribosomes in the presence of diethylpyrocarbonate effectively protected the polyribosome against HNase during the later stages of the extraction procedure, but not during the initial stages resulting in marked rRNA cleavage and the formation of ribosomal subunits. The use of antllegumin as a method in the identification of a mRNA is discussed.


The modern sperm whales Kogia and Physeter (superfamily Physeteroidea) represent highly disparate, relict members of a group of odontocetes that peaked in diversity during the middle to late Miocene. Based on a highly informative specimen (including the cranium with ear bones, mandibles, teeth and some postcranial elements) from the lower Miocene (early Burdigalian, 19–18 Ma) of the Chilcatay Formation (Pisco Basin, Peru), we describe here a new genus and species of physeteroid, Rhaphicetus valenciae gen. et sp. nov. The latter is one of the geologically oldest physeteroids. This medium-sized species (estimated body length between 4.7 and 5.7 m) differs from all other physeteroids by the following, probably autapomorphic, features: a narrow, cylindrical rostrum comprising nearly 75% of the condylobasal length; the two main dorsal infraorbital foramina located posterior to the antorbital notch; an upper tooth count of at least 36 teeth per quadrant; and anterior-most upper alveoli filled by thick bony pads. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers R. valenciae as one of the earliest branching stem physeteroids. The highly unusual filling of the anterior upper alveoli by bony pads is interpreted as part of a mechanism leading to the loss of apical and subapical upper teeth. By comparison with other odontocetes displaying some degree of anterior reduction of the dentition, this condition may have corresponded to the rostrum being anteriorly longer than the mandible. The elongated rostrum with a circular cross-section, the long temporal fossa, and the high number of slender, pointed upper and lower teeth all suggest that R. valenciae used its dentition to grasp relatively small prey, possibly via rapid movements of the head. On the one hand, this new Peruvian record increases our knowledge of the morphological disparity of sperm whales during the Miocene. On the other hand, it may provide clues to the ancestral morphotype for all physeteroids. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3E1CEFC8-0F23-416E-9C02-03750D7199BA


Introduction Color-flow duplex ultrasound is effective in the detection and quantification of carotid artery disease; however, diameter reduction estimates are most commonly derived by Doppler velocity measurements. In addition, direct visualization of the vessel lumen is only possible through the use of more expensive potentially invasive imaging procedures, such as computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance angiography, and conventional angiography. Described here is a method to determine vessel diameter of the internal carotid artery (ICA) by the use of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of b-mode data to generate luminal diameter estimates. Materials and Methods A prospective review of 40 consecutive cerebrovascular duplex studies was performed. Testing protocols required transverse sweeps of the common carotid artery (CCA) and ICA in b-mode. Motion files were analyzed using software, which segmented the vessel lumen as the area of interest. The software created a 3D rendering of the lumen of the CCA and ICA. Vessel diameter reduction estimated by Doppler-derived velocities was then compared with the 3D rendering of the vessel lumen diameters. Results There was a 99% (n = 79, ρ = < 0.001) correlation between velocity estimates and 3D visualization for estimating diameter reduction. Correlation for cases with less than 50% diameter reduction by duplex was 100% (n = 66, ρ = < 0.004), whereas correlation for cases with 50% or greater diameter reduction by duplex was 92% (n = 13, ρ = < 0.03). Conclusion 3D reconstruction of the vessel lumen shows a statistically significant correlation with velocity-derived diameter reduction measurements. Although more investigation with a larger group of patients is necessary, 3D reconstruction may be a valuable adjunct and may enhance the diagnostic capabilities of color-flow duplex ultrasound.


Wnts are secreted morphogens that play pivotal roles in embryonic development, stem cell biology and a number of disease states including cancer. Most Wnts signal through a pathway that results in the stabilisation of an intracellular signalling molecule called β-catenin. In melanoma cells, Wnt/β-catenin signalling has been implicated as a key regulator of cellular invasion and metastasis.
Using both transient and stable enhancement of Wnt/β-catenin signalling, I have found that mutation–based dysregulation of PI3K signalling dictates the invasive capacity of melanoma cell lines in response to Wnt3a stimulation. I demonstrate by confocal imaging that WNT3A facilitates perinuclear localisation of mitochondria with higher levels of mitochondrial networking and they show significant changes in the proteins of mitochondrial dynamics. Observed changes in mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins including MFN1, MFN2, OPA1 and DNM1L suggest that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling can increase mitochondrial fusion and decrease mitochondrial fission in melanoma cells. Cellular metabolic analysis using the Seahorse Bioscience XFe96 Analyzer suggests that Wnt/β-catenin mediated mitochondrial fusion may cause a global down-regulation of cellular energy metabolism in melanoma cells. This is supported by biochemical analysis of citrate synthase and lactate dehydrogenase activity.
Knockout of -catenin removes the mitochondrial fusion effect in these cells and reverses any Wnt driven reduction in migration and metabolism suggesting that -catenin is able to control mitochondrial function and dynamics. We show that -catenin binds to the mitochondrial regulatory protein PARK2 in melanoma cells and subsequently blocks the autophagy dependency of melanoma cells.
In summary, we demonstrate that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling in melanoma cells can lead to reduced cellular metabolism coupled with highly altered mitochondrial dynamics. This novel finding, controlled by -catenin, has potentially wide implications for understanding how certain context-dependent effects of Wnt/β-catenin signalling may be secondary to the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics and global cellular metabolism.


By employing G75 gel-filtration chromotography, it has been demonstrated that human plasma gallium speciation (and by implication, Al speciation) is bimodal. Normally, gallium was predominantly bound to a high molecular weight fraction which was presumably transferrin. Literature reviews and experimental work throughout this thesis provided evidence to support this idea. An aluminium-transferrin species was assumed to be relatively non-toxic and a protective function for this complex has been suggested. A second, low molecular weight species of gallium was observed and its identity has been suggested to be citrate. The results of this thesis support the concept citrate was a gallium binding ligand present in the plasma, but there was another species (tentatively identified as phosphate) which bound gallium to a much greater degree than did citrate in the majority of samples studied. The consequence of a low molecular weight species of aluminium is the possibility that this leads to a more rapid, uncontrolled deposition of the metal in the brain compared to a transferrin mediated mechanism. Plasma speciation studies in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Down's syndrome, and neonates has revealed an altered ratio of the two gallium species found in control subjects. In all groups there was an increase in the potentially more neurotoxic low molecular weight species. These observations have led to a suggested mechanism of accumulation of metals in the brain, which is known to occur in the first three groups. Possible pathogenic mechanisms are described. The results can also offer an explanation to the reported increased sensitivity to the toxic effects of aluminium in the neonate. Speciation studies on normal plasma has shown the balance between high and low molecular weight species of gallium to be influenced by many physiological factors. There appears to be a fine equilibrium between both species which can be altered without any great difficulty. Therefore, in the diseased groups studied, it is possible that there are subtle biochemical changes within the circulatory system to affect the equilibrium which results in an increased low molecular weight species of aluminium. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that there is a group of normal controls with no clinical signs of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease which have reduced transferrin binding. This indicates there is a population of healthy people who are at risk to the development of either disease.


The 1930's debates between Taiwanese Confucianism and Mohism were important in the traditional academic community during the Japanese colonial period. Between April to September of 1930, almost fifty articles were issued in Taiwan's newspapers in six months. The authors included Huang Chun-Qing (黃純青), Lien Ya-Tang (連雅堂), Chang Chun-Pu (張純甫), Yan Hu-Shan (顏笏山). There are three primary significances in the debates between Taiwanese Confucianism and Mohism for the history of thought in Taiwan. First, an investigation into the history of Mohism in Taiwan reveals that the general mood of Chinese and Japanese learning had a very important influence on the development of Mohism in Taiwan. The development of Mohism in Taiwan was based on the comparison between Western learning and Mohism in Chinese, as well as the impersonal attitude of academic research in Japan. Second, advocates of Mohism had a key motivation and goal for initiating the debates, which was to give rise to public administrative matters and demonstrate the collective interest in Mohism. To achieve this goal, they had to dispel the prejudices regarding the conflict between Mohism and Confucian ethics, which was the major controversy in these debates. However, the "debates on Mohism practice" and the "subject of textual research" were minor matters in the debates between Taiwanese Confucianism and Mohism. Third, the "colonial situation" was the catalyst for the debates between Taiwanese Confucianism and Mohism. At the time, most Taiwanese traditional scholars were concerned that Confucian morals were going to wither away in the colonial system, and so they were very sensitive to any discourses which were weakening Confucian morals. As such, this constituted an important reason for participation in the debates.


The method of geodesic deviations has been applied to derive accurate analytic approximations to geodesics in Schwarzschild spacetime. The results are used to construct analytic expressions for the source terms in the Regge–Wheeler and Zerilli–Moncrief equations, which describe the propagation of gravitational waves emitted by a compact massive object moving in the Schwarzschild background spacetime. The wave equations are solved numerically to provide the asymptotic form of the wave at large distances for a series of non-circular bound orbits with periastron distances up to the ISCO radius, and the power emitted in gravitational waves by the extreme mass-ratio binary system is computed. The results compare well with those of purely numerical approaches.


A molecular chaperone both buffers and potentiates the adaptive nature of genetic variation in yeast. Molecular chaperones help newly synthesized proteins fold, protecting the macromolecular machinery of the cell from various stresses; for example, the highly conserved heat shock proteins (Hsps) protect against elevated temperature. Hsp90 has also been suggested both to buffer against and to potentiate existing genetic variation in a population. To investigate the generality of these claims, Jarosz and Lindquist screened 96 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains from various ecological niches—soil, fruit, sake, beer, and infected humans—as well as assessed their adaptive value under different growth conditions. Hsp90 determined the adaptive value of ~20% of the genetic variation in baker's yeast, with half of the traits being buffered and half potentiated by Hsp90. D. F. Jarosz, S. Lindquist, Hsp90 and environmental stress transform the adaptive value of natural genetic variation. Science 330, 1820–1824 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The Drosophila peptidoglycan recognition protein SA (PGRP-SA) is critically involved in sensing bacterial infection and activating the Toll signaling pathway, which induces the expression of specific antimicrobial peptide genes. We have determined the crystal structure of PGRP-SA to 2.2-Å resolution and analyzed its peptidoglycan (PG) recognition and signaling activities. We found an extended surface groove in the structure of PGRP-SA, lined with residues that are highly diverse among different PGRPs. Mutational analysis identified it as a PG docking groove required for Toll signaling and showed that residue Ser158 is essential for both PG binding and Toll activation. Contrary to the general belief that PGRP-SA has lost enzyme function and serves primarily for PG sensing, we found that it possesses an intrinsic L,D-carboxypeptidase activity for diaminopimelic acid-type tetrapeptide PG fragments but not lysine-type PG fragments, and that Ser158 and His42 may participate in the hydrolytic activity. As L,D-configured peptide bonds exist only in prokaryotes, this work reveals a rare enzymatic activity in a eukaryotic protein known for sensing bacteria and provides a possible explanation of how PGRP-SA mediates Toll activation specifically in response to lysine-type PG.


Abstract. Spectral radiance measurements by a digital single-lens reflex camera were used to derive the directional reflectivity of clouds and different surfaces in the Arctic. The camera has been calibrated radiometrically and spectrally to provide accurate radiance measurements with high angular resolution. A comparison with spectral radiance measurements with the Spectral Modular Airborne Radiation measurement sysTem (SMART-Albedometer) showed an agreement within the uncertainties of both instruments (6% for both). The directional reflectivity in terms of the hemispherical directional reflectance factor (HDRF) was obtained for sea ice, ice-free ocean and clouds. The sea ice, with an albedo of ρ = 0.96 (at 530 nm wavelength), showed an almost isotropic HDRF, while sun glint was observed for the ocean HDRF (ρ = 0.12). For the cloud observations with ρ = 0.62, the cloudbow – a backscatter feature typically for scattering by liquid water droplets – was covered by the camera. For measurements above heterogeneous stratocumulus clouds, the required number of images to obtain a mean HDRF that clearly exhibits the cloudbow has been estimated at about 50 images (10 min flight time). A representation of the HDRF as a function of the scattering angle only reduces the image number to about 10 (2 min flight time). The measured cloud and ocean HDRF have been compared to radiative transfer simulations. The ocean HDRF simulated with the observed surface wind speed of 9 m s −1 agreed best with the measurements. For the cloud HDRF, the best agreement was obtained by a broad and weak cloudbow simulated with a cloud droplet effective radius of R eff = 4 μm. This value agrees with the particle sizes derived from in situ measurements and retrieved from the spectral radiance of the SMART-Albedometer.


Switzerland is exceptionally subjected to landslides; indeed, about 10% of its area is considered as unstable. Making this observation, its Department of the Environment (BAFU) introduces in 1997 a method to realize landslide hazard maps. It is routinely used but, like most of the methods applied in Europe to map unstable areas, it is mainly based on the signs of previous or current phenomena (geomorphologic mapping, archive consultation, etc.) even though instabilities can appear where there is nothing to show that they existed earlier. Furthermore, the transcription from the geomorphologic map to the hazard map can vary according to the geologist or the geographer who realizes it: this method is affected by a certain lack of transparency. The aim of this project is to introduce the bedrock of a new method for landslide hazard mapping; based on instability predisposition assessment, it involves the designation of main factors for landslide susceptibility, their integration in a GIS to calculate a landslide predisposition index and the implementation of new methods to evaluate these factors; to be competitive, these processes have to be both cheap and quick. To identify the most important parameters to consider for assessing slope stability, we chose a large panel of topographic, geomechanic and hydraulic parameters and tested their importance by calculating safety factors on theoretical landslides using Geostudio 2007®; thus, we could determine that slope, cohesion, hydraulic conductivity and saturation play an important role in soil stability. After showing that cohesion and hydraulic conductivity of loose materials are strongly linked to their granulometry and plasticity index, we implemented two new field tests, one based on teledetection and one coupled sedimentometric and blue methylen test to evaluate these parameters. From these data, we could deduce approximated values of maximum cohesion and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The hydraulic conductivity of fractured rocks was obtained from the analysis of their geometrical properties (fractures density, aperture size and orientation). The other factors were extracted from DEM and hydrologic mapping. Then, we merged these parameters into three groups corresponding to three families of factors (gravitational, hydrodynamic I based on hydraulic conductivity contrast between superficial loose material and hard rock substratum and hydrodynamic II related to susceptibility to suffosion). We added a fourth factor related to the predisposition of the geotype (new classification for geologic formations, based on genetic standards for loose material and on lithologic standards for hard rock) to slope instability processes: the latter enabled us to integrate attributes proper to each geotypes (over-consolidation for ground moraines, stratifications for glaciolacustrine deposits, etc...) and which would be long and complex to integrate to a GIS. Afterward, we implemented an ArcGis® toolbox allowing to obtain automatically cohesion, hydraulic conductivity, saturation and slope from field parameters (granulometry, plasticity, fracturation, geomorphology and drainage) and DEM and to calculate geotype, gravitational, hydrodynamic I and hydrodynamic II factors; combining them, we led to a landslide susceptibility index. To know the relative importance of these four factors, we tried different weightings on four areas in different geologic contexts of Switzerland (flysch, molasse, crystallin) and of different sizes (from 0.1 to 2.5 km2). Finally, we applied this methodology (from field survey to GIS operations) to five other sites in Switzerland to check its validity: in flysch and molassic contexts, more than 90% of actual landslides were classified as "very susceptible to slope instability". In Triassic area, more than 50% of the actual unstable areas were classified as "stable", which is not satisfying:in this case, it should be necessary to integrate another layer of data to take into account dissolution and plasticity of Triassic formations. The main assets of this new method are that the integration of field measurements in GIS provides for a good transparency in the landslide susceptibility index attribution and that the use of geotypes classification enables to use this method in most of European contexts.


Abstract This work proposes a software environment implementing a methodology for acquiring and exploiting the collective perception (CP) of Points of Interests (POIs) in a Smart City, which is meant to support decision makers in urban planning and management. This environment relies upon semantic knowledge discovery techniques and fuzzy computational approaches, including natural language processing, sentiment analysis, POI signatures and Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, turning them into a cohesive architectural blend in order to effectively gather the realistic perception of a user community towards given areas and attractions of a Smart City. The environment has been put to the test via a thorough experimentation against a massive user base of an online community with respect to a large metropolitan city (the City of Naples). Such an experimentation yielded consistent results, useful for providing decision makers with a clear awareness of the positive as well as critical aspects of urban areas, and thus helping them shape the measures to be taken for an improved city management and development.


During 1 year, the association between microbiological and pathological findings in 72 lungs from calves submitted to the Danish Veterinary Laboratory for diagnostic purposes was studied. All cases were evaluated pathologically and bacteriologically, whereas only 68 cases were examined for the presence of bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), parainfluenza‐3 virus (PI‐3 virus) and bovine coronavirus, 62 cases for bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVD), 45 cases for bovine adenovirus and 51 cases for mycoplasmas. Based on histopathological examination, the cases were diagnosed as fibrinous and/or necrotizing bronchopneumonia, suppurative bronchopneumonia, embolic pneumonia and others. The diagnoses were based on the dominating and most severe lesions in each lung. Haemophilus somnus, Pasteurella multocida, Actinomyces pyogenes, P. haemolytica and BRSV were the most commonly found bacterial and viral lung pathogens, respectively. Pasteurella spp. and H. somnus were often associated with the more severe fibrino‐necrotizing type of bronchopneumonia, whereas BRSV was primarily detected in cases of suppurative bronchopneumonia. Mycoplasma bovis was isolated from one case only, whereas M. dispar, M. bovirhinis and Ureaplasma diversum were present, often concomitantly, in the majority of cases. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from one case.


This booklet presents a popular sience summary of research conducted in six villages in Northern Burkina Faso 2011-2012 within the research project "Adapting to changing climate in drylands: The re-greening in Sahel as a potential success case". The booklet is intended for the participants in the research and local administrations in Burkina Faso, and has been distributed and presented there in January 2016. The booklet presents the landscape units - social-ecological patches - identified in the villages, and the set of ecosystem services generated in each social-ecological patch. It also presents the benefits people obtain from the different ecosystem services. The booklet further presents mapping of the social-ecological patches at provincial scale, as well as on-going mapping of how the distribution of patches have changed over time (since 1950) in the villages. The second part of the booklet presents results from a vegetation inventory and soil sampling in four of the villages.


The broadening use of multimedia documents and the need to apply them to the field of higher education increase the demands a multimedia document SYSTEM has to be tailored to. Simplifying the production and presentation of multimedia documents in a user-friendly way is a precondition for the advancement of multimedia in higher education. Further requirements to a multimedia SYSTEM should be reusability and retrievability of documents, platform independence and an extensibility which allows to adapt the SYSTEM to application specific needs. Particularly in the field of education multimedia documents should be more than view-only animations and allow an active appropriation of knowledge by offering interactive functionality. Another property useful for an application of multimedia documents in higher education is database connectivity. The multimedial document SYSTEM MAVA ("Multimedia Document Versatile Architecture") meets these demands by using an accordant meta-document model as well as highly compatible internet standards like Java and XML. A MAVA user does not need programming knowledge at all since the SYSTEM contains an editor which allows editing a document by means of a graphic user interface. MAVA documents can be displayed with minimal requirements at any time. Required media items are loaded dynamically prior to the presentation. Due to open interfaces the MAVA SYSTEM can be extended by additionally required application specific components. MAVA was implemented and tested in a project conducted by the Institute of Parallel and Distributed High-Performance Systems (IPVR) of the University of Stuttgart in co-operation with the Library of the University of Stuttgart. The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has a successor project which aims to design and implement new extensions and to integrate MAVA into the libraries fulltext SYSTEM OPUS (Online Publications of the University of Stuttgart).


[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The IRS may question taxpayers regarding whether an activity is a business or a hobby. If the activity is not engaged in for profit, it is subject to the hobby loss rules in Sec. 183, and its deductible expenses are limited to the amount of income it generates, further subject to a threshold of 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. Regs. Sec. 1.183-2(b) lists nine factors for determining whether a taxpayer engages in an activity for profit: 1. How the taxpayer carries on the activity. A tax preparer would first want to look for how the taxpayer handles the entity, ensuring that he or she is conducting all activities in a businesslike manner. The taxpayer can establish this by maintaining separate personal and business bank accounts, keeping records and books, and acting like similar profitable, operational entities. 2. The taxpayer's expertise. A business operator should have extensive knowledge of his or her profession or activity, showing that he or she has studied accepted business methods and sought advice from experts. 3. The taxpayer's time and effort in carrying out the activity. Example. J manages a janitorial service, and his prime contract is with a fast-food chato. J also teaches three days a week at a local university and can clean the restaurants only late in the evening after closing or early in the morning before opening. This causes him to devote much of his personal time and effort to cleaning, which could indicate that he entered into and continued it with the actual and honest objective of making a profit. 4. An expectation that assets used in an activity, such as land, may appreciate in value. Regs. Sec. 1.183-2(b)(4) says such appreciation may be considered in lieu of current profits. 5. The taxpayer's success in other activities. Even if the taxpayer's activity is currently unprofitable, it may be for-profit if the taxpayer has been able to convert other activities from unprofitable to profitable in the past, especially ones similar to the current activity 6. The taxpayer's history of income or losses from the activity. The economy plays a big role in how much business J, the hypothetical janitor, can generate and keep. Since J's main contract is with a fast-food chain whose budget fluctuates with the economy, he sometimes incurs losses, which alone are not conclusive. However, a long series of losses warrants consideration, and sustained earnings indicate a for-profit activity. …


BACKGROUND
Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Cohort analysis has suggested that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for suicide in Japan. However, this relationship has not been observed at the population level when a measure of per capita total alcohol consumption has been analysed. The present study employed a time-series analysis to examine whether these contradictory findings may be due to the existence of beverage-specific effects on suicide.

METHODS
An autoregressive integrated moving average model was used to assess the relationship between the consumption of different types of alcohol and suicide rates from 1963 to 2007. The data comprised age-adjusted suicide rates for the ages 15-69, and information on beverage-specific alcohol consumption per capita (15+). The unemployment rate was included as a control variable.

RESULTS
During 1963-2007, male suicide rates increased substantially whereas female rates decreased slightly. Consumption of distilled spirits was significantly related to male suicide rates (but not in women) with a 1L increase in consumption associated with a 21.4% (95% confidence interval: 3.2-42.9) increase in male suicide rates. There was no statistically significant relationship between suicide and any other form of alcohol consumption (beer, wine, other alcohol).

CONCLUSION
This is the first study that has shown an association between spirits consumption and male suicide in Japan. Potentially beneficial policy changes include increasing spirits prices through taxation, reducing the physical availability of alcohol and discouraging the practice of heavy drinking.


A distributed embedded system (DES) is made up of a set of computing nodes interconnected by a network. If we want the DES to continue to operate even if a subset of its network elements fail, the network must be fault-tolerant. In particular, this requires that the architecture of the network provides redundant paths between nodes and that any elements critical for the operation of the network are replicated. In the context of DES that must not only be highly reliable, but also provide sufficient flexibility to adapt to unpredictable requirement changes, the Flexible Time-Triggered Replicated Star for Ethernet (FTTRS) has been proposed. One of the core features of FTTRS is precisely its fault-tolerant network architecture. In this paper we present a proof-of-concept prototype of FTTRS and a series of fault-injection experiments. These experiments show that FTTRS can tolerate the crash of any single network element, as well as the crash of various combinations of multiple network elements. A variety of omission failures affecting the most critical FTTRS message (called the trigger message) are also tolerated.


Social media is creating new ways of communication in the academic environment. More and more scholars read, share and discuss topics using "non traditional" modes of communication (blogs, social networks, twitter). We find this useful and very engaging because an author can publish interesting research results in article and discuss his findings in e.g. a blog, so other can see his post, look up the article and cite it. This can increase the impact of the article by being cited by other authors and thus increase the IF of the journal. To monitor and rate the progress of science, the Croatian academic community has been using bibliometrics. Some of the criteria for evaluating academic achievement (with minor variations in different fields of science) are: a) publishing in journals which are indexed in Current Contents, Science Citation Index, SCI – Expanded; b) publishing in journals included in other relevant databases ; c) publishing in journals with an IF > 1, etc. By analyzing the basic services provided in academic libraries, which are directly incorporated in the academic environment, and the criteria set forth in the Regulations for academic advancement in Croatia (applied from 1 January, 2006), this poster will try to answer: In which way could altmetrics contribute in tracking citations of Croatian authors via social networks? Our goal with this poster is to contribute to the raising of the awareness of the academic community about the value of new methods as a preface for more research in the future. Libraries and institutions should be looking for new and more relevant ways of measuring the authors' impact, and the impact of their work in the scientific community. Keywords : bibliometrics, altmetrics, croatian academic libraries


The long-ranging Early to Middle Triassic coniform conodont form-genus Cornudina Hirschmann occurs  abundantly in the Anisian of NW Turkey, Northern Tethys. Although suggested to represent the P1 element of an apparatus of the Order Ozarkodinida Dzik, questions concerning the apparatus of Cornudina remain. A description of the probable phylogenetic trends in the P1 elements of Cornudina is attempted and the role of the form-genera Ketinella Gedik and Kamuellerella Gedik, as the alternative ramiform skeletal elements in the Cornudina multi-element apparatus, is investigated. The newly described, Gedikella quadrata gen. nov., sp. nov., is an S element, Kamuellerella rectangularis sp. nov., is either an S3 or an S4 element, and Ketinella goermueshi sp. nov., is an M element.


Organizational commitment is one of the most widely researched topics in the field of organizational behavior. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of organizational commitment on individual interactions which was conducted in Municipality of Karaj. To achieve this objective, the data was collected using the Standard questionnaires applying descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods within the population consisted of 400 employees of Karaj municipality. The present research is a descriptive and co relational study and is of applied type. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between the dimensions of employees' individual interaction and organizational commitment in Karaj Municipality. Besides, correlation with other variables of individual engagement and commitment were not verified. At the end, it is suggested to Karaj Municipality that regarding human force as human capital and before recruiting and employment and maintenance, make attempt to identify internal and personality features of them to design required plans in the promotion of organization commitment and drive tomore exploitation.


Author(s): Michelogiannakis, George; Shalf, John; Donofrio, David; Bachan, John | Abstract: The approaching end of traditional CMOS technology scaling that up until now followed Moore's law is coming to an end in the next decade. However, the DOE has come to depend on the rapid, predictable, and cheap scaling of computing performance to meet mission needs for scientific theory, large scale experiments, and national security. Moving forward, performance scaling of digital computing will need to originate from energy and cost reductions that are a result of novel architectures, devices, manufacturing technologies, and programming models. The deeper issue presented by these changes is the threat to DOE's mission and to the future economic growth of the U.S. computing industry and to society as a whole. With the impending end of Moore's law, it is imperative for the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) to develop a balanced research agenda to assess the viability of novel semiconductor technologies and navigate the ensuing challenges. This report identifies four areas and research directions for ASCR and how each can be used to preserve performance scaling of digital computing beyond exascale and after Moore's law ends.


A growing cadre of organizations, corporations, NGOs and philanthropic foundations seek to address difficult global problems like poverty using social innovation and technology. Such problems are multivalent, deep-rooted, ever changing and culturally specific. Amid this complicated terrain, ethnographic tools and methods are uniquely suited and key to successfully addressing these large-scale dilemmas. In our project, we use dynamic combinations of research, strategy and creative thinking to develop scalable financial service prototypes designed to promote financial inclusion for the world's poorest individuals. Fostering holistic solutions in this arena requires new ways of conceiving, designing and delivering innovation. In this paper we describe our process and vision for navigating these complex environments with hybrid strategies and an embrace of systems thinking1. We conclude with six imperatives for success in global social innovation projects.


Although end-to-end encrypted email as been accessible for many years, it has yet to see ubiquitous uptake by the general public. In an effort to determine why this is the case, encrypted email schemes, PGP and S/MIME have been studied. Although they meet the requirements of sending an encrypted email, they fail to meet some requirements that are needed to make the use of end-to-end encrypted email ubiquitous. Meeting the requirements of end-to-end encrypted email allows for implementing secure email in a closed setting. In a closed setting, cryptographic artifacts can be managed by the trusted third party who is providing encrypted email service. When applied to an open setting, the management of cryptographic artifacts is left to the end user. In order to manage these artifacts, four requirements of ubiquity are proposed to reduce the barriers to end-to-end encrypted email adoption in an open setting. The challenges of end-to-end encrypted email are why current secure email schemes do not meet the ubiquity requirements. The challenges of end-to-end encrypted email are the establishment of trust, the management of key material, cross-platform, and supporting backwards compatibility. It is suggested that the root of the four challenges of end-to-end encrypted email is the reliance of end users to have a sematic understanding of the underlying implementation of end-to-end encrypted email and relying on users to make secure decisions. It is believed that by providing infrastructure and security management processes to support the artifacts of end-to-end encrypted email, the requirement of sematic understanding can be changed to that of a procedural understanding. As a result, the barriers of ubiquitous use of end-to-end encrypted email will be reduced.


The Mesozoic volcano-sedimentary successions exposed in southwestern Mexico have been traditionally grouped into the Guerrero terrane, and interpreted to represent an allochthonous long-lived island arc or a complex multi-arc system accreted to the continental margin of North America. However, the nature of these arcs (intraoceanic versus continental), as well as the timing of the supposed accretion, are still debated. One of the key regions in this debate is that of Zihuatanejo, where a Cretaceous island arc (Zihuatanejo arc) and associated accretionary complex (Las Ollas Complex) have been defined in the past. In this paper we present a redefinition of the stratigraphy of the Zihuatanejo region, based on field mapping supported by new 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and U-Pb geochronology, which has significant implications for the Cretaceous-Paleogene evolution of the Guerrero terrane. The lowermost stratigraphic levels of the Zihuatanejo region are represented by the pre-Cretaceous polydeformed and partly metamorphosed rocks of the Las Ollas Complex and Lagunillas Formation. These rocks are unconformably overlain by the Early Cretaceous shallow marine Playa Hermosa arc assemblage. Volcanic rocks of this assemblage are restricted to a few meters of andesitic lavas interbedded with volcaniclastic sandstone and limestone, which suggests that the study area was in a peripheral position with respect to the main axis of a magmatic arc. The rocks of the Playa Hermosa assemblage were uplifted by folding, eroded, and unconformably overlain by Upper Cretaceous continental to shallow marine rocks of the La Union-Zihuatanejo assemblage, which are only gently folded. Similar continental rocks (Cutzamala Formation) are exposed in the Huetamo area, ~80 km northeast of Zihuatanejo, and are interpreted as overlapping successions of the Guerrero terrane. Based on this correlation, we propose that the Upper Cretaceous La Union- Zihuatanejo assemblage is not part of the tectono-stratigraphic Guerrero terrane but rather constitute an overlap succession that post-dates the possible accretion of this terrane to nuclear Mexico. Finally, the Mesozoic rocks of the Zihuatanejo area are intruded by 48-40 Ma granitoids, and unconformably overlain by 41-39 Ma horizontally bedded volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, which post-date the final contractile deformation in the Zihuatanejo area.


The RapID-ANA System (Innovative Diagnostics Systems, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.) was used to test 102 strains of 14 species of phenotypically similar bile-inhibited Bacteroides from humans. Bacteroides oris, Bacteroides veroralis, Bacteroides buccalis, Bacteroides melaninogenicus, Bacteroides loescheii, and Bacteroides denticola had very similar enzyme activity profiles. Clear differentiation of these six species by the RapID-ANA System was not possible, but tests for arginine aminopeptidase and beta-glucosidase were helpful. Bacteroides oralis, Bacteroides intermedius, Bacteroides corporis, Bacteroides disiens, Bacteroides bivius, Bacteroides gingivalis, Bacteroides asaccharolyticus, and Bacteroides buccae each had unique enzyme activity profiles. No consistent differences in enzyme activities were found between the two DNA homology groups within Bacteroides melaninogenicus, Bacteroides loescheii, or Bacteroides intermedius. Tests for glycine aminopeptidase, alpha-galactosidase, arginine aminopeptidase, alpha-fucosidase, N-acetylglucosaminidase, reduction of triphenyltetrazolium, and production of indole were helpful in the differentiation of the species studied.


Introduction: Lower abdominal and lower limb surgeries may be performed under local, regional (spinal or epidural) or general anaesthesia, but neuraxial blockade is preferred mode of anaesthesia. Major advantage of epidural anaesthesia over spinal anaesthesia is the ability to titrate the extent and duration of anaesthesia. Aims and Objective: The primary outcome of the study was to measure the duration of sensory analgesia. The secondary outcomes were onset of sensory block, onset of motor block, highest level of sensory block, degree of motor block, duration of motor block, and quality of sensory blockage as measured by visual analog scale. Material and Methods: After getting institutional ethical clearance from our institute and proper written consent from each patient a total of 80 patients who underwent infraumbilical surgeries. A total of 80 patients who underwent infraumbilical surgeries were included randomly into two clinical study groups comprising 40 patients in each study group. Epidural anaesthesia was administered with 20ml of Ropivacaine 0.75% (GROUP-R) and 20 ml of epidural Ropivacaine 0.75% and Clonidine 75mcg combination (GROUP-RC). Statistical Analysis: Statistical comparison was made by comparison between groups by applying chi-square test to a contingency table for categorical data and two sample t–test and independent t-test for numerical data. Result: A total of 102 patients were assessed for eligibility, of which 16 patients did not meet the inclusion criteria and 6 patients were excluded during the study period. The groups was comparable with regard to demographic data and incidences of side effects except for the higher incidence of dry mouth in patients of RC group. Onset of analgesia was much shorter in RC group with prolonged duration of analgesia. The incidence of bradycardia and hypotension was more in RC group as compared to R group which was statistically significant. Conclusion: The addition of 75mcg clonidine to isobaric epidural ropivacaine results in longer, complete and effective analgesia with similar block properties and helped to reduce the effective dose of ropivacaine when compared with plain ropivacaine for infraumbilical surgery


Climate variability at periods from 10 kyr to 12 kyr that originates from Milankovitch band forcing is quantified at three locations for the late Pleistocene (eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean Drilling Program site 846, eastern equatorial Atlantic ODP site 663, and northeastern Atlantic Deep Sea Drilling Project site 609). Variability at these periods is not present in the primary Milankovitch forcing, so no linear linkage to Milankovitch band variations is possible. However, these periods are equal to harmonics of precession band oscillations. The magnitude of interactions between processes that occur at different timescales can only be resolved in time series data through application of higher-order statistics. Through such an application, we demonstrate that up to 75% of the variance in the 10- to 12-kyr band in the sediment records is nonlinearly transferred from precession band (19–23 kyr) variations. Within the millennial to sub-Milankovitch band, defined as the band of variance ranging from ∼15 to ∼2 kyr, approximately 1/3 of the variability in the records studied is consistent with a low-frequency, Milankovitch band origin. This variability may derive from high sensitivity of the tropics to summertime insolation in both hemispheres relative to wintertime insolation. A mechanism having equatorial origin and related to low-latitude precession variations appears consistent with the observations. Because the phase coupling between 10- to 12-kyr oscillations and precession is resolved, this result has implications for development of models which seek to explain global climate variations on this timescale.


This article is based on the original research that studied immigrant women who have been living in Liverpool since 2001. It deals with issues concerning the identity of immigrant women. One of the aims was to identify if there was a difference between subjective perception and findings derived from an objective evaluation of their integration based on the collected data. The study, conducted in Liverpool in 2009, explores the choices immigrant women have made with respect to their preferred identity, i.e. by nationality, religion, or ethnicity. The inductive explorative research is postpositivist in approach and a questionnaire was used to collect primary data. The results have demonstrated how the various challenges immigrants face when moving to another country influence their choice of identity. Their preference of identification by nationality, religion and ethnic group helped to define the level of integration of these women within the wider society. The study has found that the way the respondents wanted to be identified depended on a number of factors; degree of integration, knowledge of the local language, and participation in the local community. The quantitative method and the multiple correspondence analyses have enabled the mapping profile of the sample and have demonstrated the existence of spatial urban self-segregation. The study shows that these women live in their diaspora space rather than within the wider community.


This study uses three wealth modules from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to explore the gender wealth gap for single Australian households between 2002 and 2010. The findings indicate significant gender wealth gaps, which have increased over the last decade. The wealth gap increased for younger and mid-life cohorts of Australian single households and for households in the mid-range of the wealth distribution. Most of the increase in the wealth gap was associated with a relatively rapid accumulation of housing assets by single men over the study period. The findings of this study challenge a wider literature that tends to emphasise differences in the risk profiles of men's and women's wealth portfolios and how this may result in higher returns to wealth for men who appear to be more prepared to invest in 'risky' assets such as shares. Instead, our study emphasises how, in the Australian context at least, it is higher growth rates in the value of properties owned by single men that have improved their wealth position relative to women over the last decade.


Matchings are frequently used to model RNA secondary structures; however, not all matchings can be realized as RNA motifs. One class of matchings, called the L $\&$ P matchings, is the most restrictive model for RNA secondary structures in the Largest Hairpin Family (LHF). The L $\&$ P matchings were enumerated in $2015$ by Jefferson, and they are equinumerous with the set of nesting-similarity classes of matchings, enumerated by Klazar. We provide a bijection between these two sets. This bijection preserves noncrossing matchings, and preserves the sequence obtained reading left to right of whether an edge begins or ends at that vertex.


In this article, I scrutinize Congress's recent efforts to regulate access to sexually-themed Internet speech. The first such effort, embodied in the Communications Decency Act, failed to take into account the Supreme Court's carefully-honed obscenity and obscenity-for-minors jurisprudence. The second, embodied in the Child Online Protection Act, attended carefully to Supreme Court precedent, but failed to account for the geographic variability in definitions of obscene speech. Finally, the recently-enacted Children's Internet Protection Act apparently remedies the constitutional deficiencies identified in these two prior legislative efforts, but runs the risk of being implemented in a manner that fails to protect either adults' or minors' right to access protected expression. Although CIPA recently withstood a facial attack on its constitutionality, it is likely that this statute will confront as-applied challenges. I analyze the technology and the First Amendment doctrines at issue in CIPA's implementation, and set forth recommendations as to how libraries can implement CIPA in a manner that protects both adults' and minors' free speech rights.


We utilize coral microatolls in western Sumatra to document vertical deformation associated with subduction. Microatolls are very sensitive to fluctuations in sea level and thus act as natural tide gauges. They record not only the magnitude of vertical deformation associated with earthquakes (paleoseismic data), but also continuously track the long-term aseismic deformation that occurs during the intervals between earthquakes (paleogeodetic data). This paper focuses on the twentieth century paleogeodetic history of the equatorial region. Our coral paleogeodetic record of the 1935 event reveals a classical example of deformations produced by seismic rupture of a shallow subduction interface. The site closest to the trench rose 90 cm, whereas sites further east sank by as much as 35 cm. Our model reproduces these paleogeodetic data with a 2.3 m slip event on the interface 88 to 125 km from the trench axis. Our coral paleogeodetic data reveal slow submergence during the decades before and after the event in the areas of coseismic emergence. Likewise, interseismic emergence occurred before and after the 1935 event in areas of coseismic submergence. Among the interesting phenomenon we have discovered in the coral record is evidence of a large aseismic slip or "silent event" in 1962, 27 years after the 1935 event. Paleogeodetic deformation rates in the decades before, after, and between the 1935 and 1962 events have varied both temporally and spatially. During the 25 years following the 1935 event, submergence rates were dramatically greater than in prior decades. During the past four decades, however, rates have been lower than in the preceding decades, but are still higher than they were prior to 1935. These paleogeodetic records enable us to model the kinematics of the subduction interface throughout the twentieth century.


University Teaching in Focus provides a foundational springboard for early career academics preparing to teach in universities. Focusing on four critical areas - teaching, curriculum, students, and quality/leadership - this succinct resource offers university teachers a straightforward approach to facilitating effective student learning. The book empowers university teachers and contributes to their career success by developing teaching skills, strategies, and knowledge, as well as linking theory to practice. Written in a clear and accessible style by internationally acclaimed experts, topics include: learning theories, assessment, discipline-based teaching, curriculum design, problem-based and work-integrated learning, effective classroom teaching, and flexible modes of delivery. The needs of diverse student groups are explored and the scholarship of teaching and learning is addressed within a quality and leadership framework. The book also makes reference to seminal works and current resources. Real-world cases illuminate the theoretical content and 'Your Thoughts' sections encourage reflection and adaptation to local contexts. University Teaching in Focus explores ways that teachers can effectively engage students in life-long learning, extending their capacity to solve problems, to enter the workforce, to understand their discipline, and to interact positively with others in a global community throughout their professional lives. [Book Synopsis]


Thomas, Jessica Rose. M.S. Department of Physics, Wright State University, 2015. Assessment of the Applicability of Terahertz Spectroscopic Breath Sensing towards Monitoring Type 1 Diabetic Mellitus Type 1 diabetes is a condition that cumulatively costs around $14.9 billion in medical expenses every year in the United States[1]. Besides being costly, the monitoring of this disease is invasive, painful, and often embarrassing to the afflicted individual; blood and urine testing is currently the daily method of monitoring blood glucose and ketone levels in the body of type 1 diabetics. Though the use of these samples is standard, another avenue for possibly determining blood glucose has not been completely explored. With over 3000 chemicals reportedly found in exhaled human breath, biomarkers associated with this disorder and many of the complications caused by it may exist and could be utilized in lieu of blood and urine samples. To examine breath for these markers our lab employs Terahertz radiation. Unlike competing methods of gas testing, the high specificity, speed of testing, and small sample size that the Terahertz spectral range affords is ideal for the medical field. Presented here are both the spectral assignments and the most recent results of our investigation into the exhaled biomarkers of type 1 diabetics utilizing Terahertz spectroscopy.


The basolateral amygdala (BLA), ventral tegmental area (VTA), and nucleus accumbens (NAc) play central roles in the processing of opiate-related associative reward learning and memory. The BLA receives innervation from dopaminergic fibers originating in the VTA, and both dopamine (DA) D1 and D2 receptors are expressed in this region. Using a combination of in vivo single-unit extracellular recording in the NAc combined with behavioral pharmacology studies, we have identified a double dissociation in the functional roles of DA D1 versus D2 receptor transmission in the BLA, which depends on opiate exposure state; thus, in previously opiate-naive rats, blockade of intra-BLA D1, but not D2, receptor transmission blocked the acquisition of associative opiate reward memory, measured in an unbiased conditioned place preference procedure. In direct contrast, in rats made opiate dependent and conditioned in a state of withdrawal, intra-BLA D2, but not D1, receptor blockade blocked opiate reward encoding. This functional switch was dependent on cAMP signaling as comodulation of intra-BLA cAMP levels reversed or replicated the functional effects of intra-BLA D1 or D2 transmission during opiate reward processing. Single-unit in vivo extracellular recordings performed in neurons of the NAc confirmed an opiate-state-dependent role for BLA D1/D2 transmission in NAc neuronal response patterns to morphine. Our results characterize and identify a novel opiate addiction switching mechanism directly in the BLA that can control the processing of opiate reward information as a direct function of opiate exposure state via D1 or D2 receptor signaling substrates.


The rap music mixtape is hip hop's original mass medium. Yet, despite its importance historically and its current relevance within hip hop, the mixtape remains one of the more overlooked aspects of the world's most popular cultural expression. Similarly, the interdisciplinary approach applied here—seeking to place the mixtape within a broader international anticolonial struggle and also to examine the mixtape as a "national" mass medium developing within a colonized "hip-hop nation,"—is also an underappreciated and potentially fruitful approach to the mixtape and communication as examples that help to expose those colonial relationships. By taking popular, but rarely explored concepts of hip hop as a "nation" and applying theories of internal colonialism, the mixtape's history and current position assume different meanings.


The Spanish dehesas have been severely affected by human activities that date to the prehistoric period and have suffered accelerated decline since the 1980s. Holm oak (Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp.) is a key component of this system, and its acorns provide an important food source for wildlife and domesticated livestock. Our earlier work showed structured variation in acorn morphology and biochemistry. Here, we used chloroplast and nuclear microsatellites to detect genetic structure among populations of Q. ilex from the major biogeographic regions of Andalusia. We found high levels of spatial differentiation with chloroplast DNA indicating little seed dispersal among populations. Spatial differentiation was weaker for nuclear DNA, presumably as a result of more widespread pollen dispersal and its larger effective population size. The Baetic Cordillera (Cadiz) population consistently appeared well separated from populations of the northern Sierra Morena, suggesting that the Guadalquivir Valley has played an important role in determining population divergence. This may be, in part, evolutionary, as suggested by chloroplast DNA, and, in part, a result of human-induced population isolation, as Q. ilex has been removed from the Guadalquivir Valley. Evolutionary gene flow rates were greater than contemporary rates, which were limited to unidirectional gene flow from Cordoba to other populations in the Sierra Morena and, surprisingly, to the southern population at Almeria. The inconsistency between evolutionary and recent migration rates suggests an effect of anthropogenic activity over the last few generations of Q. ilex.


Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a common clinical problem, which causes significant morbidity and has a variable prognosis. This is the largest series to date evaluating the survival of patients with MPE according to their underlying cell type. Methods We prospectively collected data on patients presenting with MPE from two large pleural services over a 3 year period. All patients gave written informed consent. Patients were followed up for a minimum of 9 months or until death or loss to follow up (whichever was sooner). For survival analysis, the log rank (Mantel-Cox) test was applied to Kaplan Meier survival curves. Results Data was collected on 466 patients. The median age of the patients was 71 (IQR 65–79) and 63% were male. 56% of effusions were right sided and 41% patients had an effusion occupying >50% of the hemithorax. 73% of patients had confirmation of pleural malignancy based on cytology or pleural biopsy, 21% had a presumed malignant effusion with confirmed malignancy elsewhere and 6% had a radiological diagnosis. Patients with a pleural effusion secondary to mesothelioma (n=148) had the longest median survival (MS) at 339 days. This is significantly longer than those effusions caused by lung cancer (n= 127, MS 71 days) (95% CI –0.56–4.45, p<0.0001). Cell types with an intermediate survival, included gynaecological malignancy (n=33; MS=268 days), urological cancer (n=11; MS=220 days), gastrointestinal malignancy (n=16; MS 268 days), haematological malignancy (n=27; median survival 204 days) and breast cancer (n=48; MS 204 days). Lung cancer, adenocarcinoma of unknown primary (n=9; MS 87 days) and sarcoma (n=6, MS 65.5 days) had the shortest survival. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve for the 3 largest groups is shown in the figure. Conclusions Selecting the most appropriate strategy for management of malignant pleural effusion depends on patient choice, their clinical condition and the perceived prognosis. This data confirms that the survival of patients with malignant pleural effusion varies widely depending on the site of their primary malignancy. Accounting for this may help to better inform patients of their prognosis and aid clinical decision making. Abstract S16 Figure 1