Populations of simple artificial organisms modeled as neural networks evolve a preference for one particular food type in an environment that contains more than one food type if the quantity of energy extracted from each food type is allowed to coevolve with the behavioral preference (evolvable fitness formula). If, after the emergence of the food preference, the preferred food gradually disappears from the environment at the evolutionary time scale, the evolved specialist strategy is maintained until the preferred food type has completely disappeared. Then a new specialist strategy suddenly emerges with a preference for another food type present in the environment. The appearance of the new strategy takes very few generations, in fact much fewer than in a population starting from zero (random initial population) in the same environment. This, together with the fact that the population with an evolutionary past is more efficient than the population starting from zero, suggests that the former population is preadapted to the changed environment. An analysis of the activation values of the hidden units indicates that the new food preference can be an exaptation, that is, a new adaptation based on a structure that has previously emerged for adaptively neutral reasons.


Perineural invasion (PNI) is one of the most important causes of local recurrence and poor survival in pancreatic cancer. However, the exact mechanism of PNI is still not clear. In this study, we sought to identify the reciprocal signaling interactions between sympathetic nerves and pancreatic cancer cells and the underlying mechanisms. We used mouse dorsal root ganglia and pancreatic cancer cells cocultured in vitro, cellular and molecular biology, and animal models to evaluate the function of the sympathetic neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) in PNI progression and pathogenesis. NE promoted PNI of pancreatic cancer cells and increased levels of phosphorylated STAT3 in a concentration-dependent manner. NE-mediated activation of STAT3 was inhibited by blocking b-adrenergic receptors (AR) and by blocking protein kinase A, but not through blocking a-AR. Blocking STAT3 could inhibit NE-induced NGF, MMP2, and MMP9 expression and attenuate the migratory, invasive ability and PNI of pancreatic cancer cells. Furthermore, PNI of pancreatic cancer cells was blocked by treatment with a STAT3 phosphorylation inhibitor in vivo. These studies show that NE plays a critical role in pancreatic cancer PNI development and progression through the b-AR/PKA/STAT3 signaling pathway. Reciprocal signaling interactions between the sympathetic nerves and pancreatic cancer cells critically contribute to pancreatic cancer PNI pathogenesis. Inhibition of the activity of sympathetic nerves or STAT3 may be potential strategies for pancreatic cancer PNI therapy. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(3); 264–73. 2012 AACR.


A receptor protein helps avoid excessive activation of immune responses to invading pathogens. Moderation is the key in a successful innate immune response, and excessive activation of inflammatory pathways can be as problematic as an inadequate protective response. Cui et al. explored the function of the NOD-like receptor NLRC5. NOD-like receptors are members of a protein family that includes detectors of viral nucleotides that activate the innate immune system. NLRC5's function, however, appears to be as a negative regulator of innate immune signaling activated either by Toll-like receptors (another type of receptor that recognizes molecules derived from bacteria) or RIG-1–like receptors (which recognize viral RNAs). NLRC5 interacted with IKKα and IKKβ (the IκB kinases that promote signaling through the NF-κB transcription factor in response to Toll-like receptors or other signals). IKKs become activated when associated with the protein NEMO (NF-κB essential modulator), and the authors showed that NLRC5 competed with NEMO for binding to the IKKs. In the RIG-I pathway, NLRC5 was coimmunoprecipitated in a complex with RIG-I, and this blocked interaction of RIG-I with MAVS, an adaptor protein that links RIG-I with activators of NF-κB signaling. The physiological relevance of these findings was supported by experiments in which NLRC5 protein was depleted by siRNA in a mouse macrophage-derived cell line or a human acute monocytic leukemia cell line. Loss of NLRC5 enhanced accumulation of interferon-β mRNA in cells exposed to a viral stimulus. Depletion of NLRC5 in various mouse and human cells also rendered the cells resistant to viral infection. Expression of NLRC5 itself appeared to be regulated by NF-κB, indicating that NLRC5 may function as part of a negative feedback loop. Because of its role in modulating NF-κB–dependent transcription and production of type I interferon, the authors propose that NLRC5 is likely to be an important regulator of innate immune responses and may be a useful target to either enhance responses to microbial infection or combat diseases associated with excessive inflammation. J. Cui, L. Zhu, X. Xia, H. Y. Wang, X. Legras, J. Hong, J. Ji, P. Shen, S. Zheng, Z. J. Chen, R.-F. Wang, NLRC5 negatively regulates the NF-κB and type I interferon signaling pathways. Cell 141, 483–496 (2010). [PubMed]


This review describes five categories of the reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including photochemistry, electron attachment/detachment, recombination processes, radical reactions, and ion-neutral chemistry. For each class of reaction, an overview of the studies and their general results are presented, as well as references to the literature. The thermochemistry of PAHs and relevant species is described, including bond dissociation energies, ionization energies, electron affinities, basicities, acidities, and the interrelationships of these quantities. Modeling of the chemistry of PAHs and their ions is discussed for both diffuse and dark clouds. The role of PAH cations in the catalytic formation of molecular hydrogen is considered. Finally, this review concludes with a discussion of current challenges in the chemical characterization of PAHs, and a perspective for future studies.


Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive disease, which is associated with pain, stiffness and disability. Previous research has demonstrated that the progression of knee OA is influenced by numerous biomechanical factors, which will affect the loading on the knee joint. Cross sectional studies have shown altered knee OA gait to be characterised by altered joint moments, increased muscle activity and increased muscular co-contraction. Furthermore, modelling studies have shown that the alterations in muscle patterns that are characteristic of knee OA lead to elevated joint loads, while longitudinal studies have demonstrated the progression of knee OA to be related to these altered muscular responses.
In this thesis, I examine a new model that has the potential to explain some of the previous observed differences in joint moments and muscle activity characteristic of knee OA gait. Specifically, this thesis investigates the effect of increased sagittal plane inclination of the trunk (forward trunk lean) and the effect this could have on hip, knee and ankle moments and muscle activation patterns. Three studies were conducted. The first sought to characterise differences in sagittal trunk inclination during walking, between people with knee OA and healthy control participants. This study demonstrated that people with knee OA walk with approximately 3° more trunk flexion than healthy control subjects. In the second study, I examined the relationship between trunk inclination and a range of different biomechanical parameters, including hip extensor moments, hamstring activation levels and hamstring-quadriceps co-contraction. These results of this study showed weak to moderate correlations between hip extensor moment and the magnitude of hamstring activation during the period 15-25% of the stance phase of the gait cycle. In the final study, I explored the effect of a three-curve rocker shoe on trunk inclination and a range of other biomechanical variables. These data showed that, although there was significant reduction in trunk inclination with the rocker shoe, there was no corresponding decrease in moments or muscle activations over the period 15-25% of stance. Taken together, the results of this thesis show that people with knee OA walk with an increased trunk lean and that this may explain some of the previously observed differences in hip moments and muscle patterns. However, further work is required to establish if interventions that could reduce trunk lean (such as a rocker shoe) could lead to long-term clinical benefits for people with knee OA.


We aim at finding optimal mappings for concurrent streaming applications. Each application consists of a linear chain with several stages, and processes successive data sets in pipeline mode. The objective is to minimize the energy consumption of the whole platform, while satisfying given performance-related bounds on the period and latency of each application. The problem is to decide which processors to enroll, at which speed (or mode) to use them, and which stages they should execute. We distinguish two mapping categories, interval mappings without reuse, and fully arbitrary general mappings. On the theoretical side, we establish complexity results for this tri-criteria mapping problem (energy, period, latency). Furthermore, we derive an integer linear program that provides the optimal solution in the most general case. On the experimental side, we design polynomial-time heuristics, and assess their absolute performance thanks to the linear program. One main goal is to evaluate the impact of processor sharing on the quality of the solution.


In this PhD thesis we evaluated the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the genetic background on atrial substrates required for the initiation and perpetuation of atrial fibrillation (AF), one of the most common arrhythmia. It was shown that dispersion of refractoriness, an electrophysiological substrate for the initiation and perpetuation of AF, is not influenced by the electrical remodeling during AF and it is mainly enhanced in the left atrium (LA) of patients with idiopathic AF. The influence of the ANS on dispersion of refractoriness is rather limited and dependent on the degree of electrical remodeling and the atrial site. In patients with early remodeling dispersion of refractoriness is not influenced by autonomic blockade (AB); while in patients with advanced remodeling due to long-lasting AF, dispersion of refractoriness after AB is only decreased in the right atrium (RA). However, the influence of ANS on complex fractionated electrograms (CFAEs) is greater. Areas of CFAEs can represent critical regions for maintaining AF sites, since they can be related to anatomic and electrical changes of the atrial myocardium. CFAEs are influenced by systemic blockade of the ANS. Such blockade reduced the prevalence of CFAEs in the atria of patients with long-lasting AF, and prevented the time-dependant rise of CFAEs in patients with a new episode of AF and thus in the early- phase of AF. The presence of CFAEs is thus, at least partly, influenced by the status of the ANS. The detection of CFAEs, however, has been controversial among studies. The most accurate technique to identify these areas is unipolar recordings with subtraction of remote ventricular activity (gold standard). With the bipolar technique, some areas with CFAEs may be missed while other areas may be erroneously identified as presenting CFAEs. CFAEs derived from activation times in unipolar recordings without QRS subtraction and a catheter placed perpendicular to the endocardial atrial wall come closest to the gold standard. In this thesis we also studied the role of Cx40 protein in AF. Based on literature it was concluded that heterogeneous distribution of Cx40 protein in the atria during AF can contribute to the stabilization of AF and altered expression of Cx40 protein in the myocardial sleeves of the thoracic veins may be the substrate for the firing foci that can trigger AF. However, Cx40 polymorphism was not present in a big cohort of patients with unexplained ischemic cerebrovascular events and it could not be used as a genetic marker in order to predict idiopathic AF in this population. Additionally it was shown that patients bearing this polymorphism had a reduced expression of Cx40 protein in their atria. However, the presence of this polymorphism was not associated with the prevalence of post-operative AF after cardiothoracic surgery.


The index fund managers, who aim to offer the investor at least as much as the return of the base index, are expected to exhibit selection and timing ability. Based on this expectation the aim of this study is to investigate the selection and timing ability of BIST 30 indexes funds. Therefore, the selection and timing ability of fund managers were tested by applying Treynor-Mazuy, Henriksson-Merton and Jensen-Alpha methods to the daily returns of 7 BIST 30 indexes funds between the time period of January 2005 and December 2015. The analysis findings indicate that none of the 7 funds had statistically significant positive alphas and related timing coefficients so BIST 30 index funds managers did not have selective ability and market timing ability.


The international community recognizes the need to join forces to avert dangerous climate change. This requires mobilizing financial resources from a wide range of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources. This makes it increasingly necessary to track and report financial flows that support climate change mitigation and adaptation, to build trust and accountability with regard to climate finance commitments and monitor trends and progress in climate related investment. Yet there is currently no precise internationally definition of climate finance and current efforts to track climate finance lack transparency, comparability and comprehensiveness. This report sets out the joint MDB approach for adaptation finance reporting, developed by a group of MDBs to work towards better tracking of climate finance. It responds to the particular context of the activities that the MDBs carry out in developing and emerging economies and is built on the premise that climate adaptation and sustainable development are closely aligned. A separate report on mitigation finance is being published in parallel to this report. This harmonized methodology has emerged from a process to find commonalities between existing MDB approaches to adaptation finance, each reflecting a different set of sectoral, geographic and investment mandates. The joint approach is also a work in progress aimed at assisting the MDBs, as well as other organizations that might want to follow a similar approach, in gradually converging towards a harmonized approach for the tracking of climate change finance.


We present a new two-beam technique, the X scan, for measuring both absorptive and refractive components of optical nonlinearities in bulk semiconductors. The sample is excited by a high-intensity, short (picosecond) pump pulse and is probed with weak degenerate or nondegenerate pulses whose relative arrival time and transverse alignment with the pump are varied. X scans at various delays enable separation of free-carrier mediated nonlinearities and instantaneous χ(3) nonlinearities. Varying the relative pump–probe polarizations yields components of the χ(3) tensor. We report new values for degenerate (532 nm) and nondegenerate (532; 683 nm) cross-phase-modulation and two-photon-absorption coefficients for two polarization states and free-carrier absorption and refractive cross sections at 532 and 683 nm.


Leveraging research by psychologists on human decision-making, we present a human-robot decision-making problem associated with a complex task and study the corresponding joint decision-making dynamics. The collaborative task is designed so that the human makes decisions just as human subjects make decisions in the two-alternative, forced-choice task, a well-studied decision-making task in behavioral experiments. The human subject chooses between two options at regular time intervals and receives a reward after each choice; for a variety of reward structures, the behavioral experiments show convergence to suboptimal choices. We propose a human-supervised robot foraging problem in which the human supervisor makes a sequence of binary decisions to assign the role of each robot in a group in response to a report from the robots on their resource return. We discuss conditions under which the decision dynamics of this human-robot task is reasonably well approximated by the kinds of reward structures studied in the psychology experiments. Using the win-stay, lose-switch human decision-making model, we prove convergence to the experimentally observed aggregate human decision-making behavior for reward structures with matching points. Finally, we propose an adaptive law for robot reward feedback designed to help the human make optimal decisions.


Investment in East Germany is heavily subsidized. Econometric estimates based on a treatment approach show that the level of investment is significantly higher in firms being supported by state aid. Nevertheless, capital productivity is lower in East Germany, indicating a misallocation of capital. Additionally, there are negative effects in West Germany due to negative crowding-out effects. Therefore state aid in East Germany should be reduced in the medium run.


individual.Wesequenced159and137samples,respectively,fromcaseswithandwithout previously known causal variants. Among the latter group, 61 cases had clinical and laboratory phenotypes indicative of a particular molecular etiology, whereas the remainder had an apriori highly uncertain etiology. All previously detected variantswererecapitulated and, when the etiology was suspected but unknown or uncertain, a molecular diagnosis was reached in 56 of 61 and only 8 of 76 cases, respectively.ThelattercategoryhighlightstheneedforfurtherresearchintonovelcausesofBPDs.TheThromboGenomicsplatformthus providesanaffordableDNA-basedtesttodiagnosepatientssuspectedofhavingaknowninheritedBPD.(


We present a tomographic measurement of the cross-correlation between thermal Sunyaev-Zel ' dovich (TSZ) maps from Planck and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and weak galaxy lensing shears measured during the first three years of observations of the Dark Energy Survey. This correlation is sensitive to the thermal energy in baryons over a wide redshift range and is therefore a powerful probe of astrophysical feedback. We detect the correlation at a statistical significance of 21 σ , the highest significance to date. We examine the TSZ maps for potential contaminants, including cosmic infrared background and radio sources, finding that cosmic infrared background has a substantial impact on our measurements and must be taken into account in our analysis. We use the cross-correlation measurements to test different feedback models. In particular, we model the TSZ using several different pressure profile models calibrated against hydrodynamical simulations. Our analysis marginalizes over redshift uncertainties, shear calibration biases, and intrinsic alignment effects. We also marginalize over Ω m and σ 8 using Planck or DES priors. We find that the data prefer the model with a low amplitude of the pressure profile at small scales, compatible with a


Title of Dissertation: EVOLUTION OF POLLINATION AND BREEDING SYSTEMS OF ANTILLEAN GESNERIACEAE. Silvana Martén Rodríguez, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Directed By: Dr. Charles B. Fenster, Biology Department Islands serve as one of our most important model systems for understanding the role of the environment on character evolution and diversification. This study examined the role of pollinators on the evolution of floral traits and breeding system on the tribe Gesnerieae (Gesneriaceae), a monophyletic radiation from the Antilles that encompasses great floral diversity. Pollinator observations were conducted over 5 years (2003-2007) for 19 species of Gesnerieae across multiple islands. Pollination systems include specialized systems (i.e. one functional group of floral visitors, e.g. hummingbird or bats) and generalized systems (e.g. various functional groups, e.g., bats, birds and insects). Hummingbird-pollinated species have the lowest frequencies of pollinator visitation (mean number of visits per flower/ per day =1 ± 1.5 SE) compared to bat-pollinated (mean= 2 ± 1.8) and generalist species (mean=13 ± 1.8). A multivariate analysis of floral traits provides strong support for correlated sets of floral traits associated with bat and hummingbird pollination supporting the pollination syndrome concept (the notion that flowers evolve integrated phenotypes in response to selection by the most important pollinators). A two-year pollen limitation study of nine species was conducted to evaluate how differences in visitation among different pollination system influenced plant female reproductive success; this study resulted in significant pollen limitation for specialized species with low visitation only (bat and hummingbird-pollinated). Furthermore, emasculation experiments demonstrated that ornithophilous species use autonomous self-pollination as a reproductive assurance mechanism. A survey of potential autonomous self-pollination for 15 Gesnerieae representative of all floral phenotypes supported an association between this breeding system hummingbird-pollinated tubular-flowered species. Last, phylogenetic analyses of two nuclear DNA regions (ITS and GCYC) and a morphological data set revealed that bat and generalized pollination evolved from hummingbird pollination. Furthermore, autonomous self-pollination originates only in ornithophilous lineages of Gesnerieae. Overall these results provide evidence for the evolution of generalization and autonomous breeding systems, as two alternative reproductive strategies in response to inadequate hummingbird pollination service in insular ecosystems. This study underscores the utility integrating the study of pollination and breeding systems within a phylogenetic context to provide further insights into the ecological conditions that can influence floral evolution. EVOLUTION OF POLLINATION AND BREEDING SYSTEMS OF ANTILLEAN GESNERIACEAE.


The English education system has undergone large-scale restructuring through the introduction of academy schools. The most salient feature of these schools is that, despite remaining part of the state sector, they operate with more autonomy than the predecessors they replaced. Two distinct time periods of academy school introduction have taken place, under the auspices of different governments. The first batch was initiated in the 2002/03 school year by the Labour government of the time, and was a school improvement programme directly aimed at turning around badly performing schools. The second batch involved a mass academisation process following the change of government in May 2010 and the Academies Act of that year, which resulted in increased heterogeneity of new academies. This paper compares the two batches of introduction with the aim of getting a better understanding of their similarities and differences, and their importance for education policy. To do so, we study what types of schools were more likely to change to academy status in the two programmes, and the impact of this change on the quality of new pupil enrolments into the new types of school. Whilst we do point out some similarities, these are the exception rather than the norm. For the most part, our analysis reveals a number of marked dissimilarities between the two programmes, in terms of both the characteristics of schools that become academies and the changes in pupil intakes that occurred post-conversion.


The legal requirements for wastewater discharge into environment, especially to zones exposed to eutrophication, lately became stricter. Nowadays wastewater treatment plants have to manage with the new rules and assure better biogenic elements' removal, in comparison with the past. There are some well-known methods of diminishing concentrations of these compounds, but they are ineffective in case of nitrogen-rich streams, as landfill leachate or reject waters from dewatering of digested sludge. This wastewater disturbs conventional processes of nitrification-denitrification and raise necessity of building bigger tanks. The partial nitritation followed by Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation (Anammox) process appear to be an excellent alternative for traditional nitrification/denitrification. The process was investigated in three different reactors – Membrane Bioreactor (MBR), Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) and Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC). The process was evaluated in two options: as a two-stage process performed in two separate reactors and as a one-stage process. The two-step process, in spite of very low nitrogen removal rates, assured very high nitrogen removal efficiency, exceeding even 90% in case of the MBBR. However, obtained results revealed that the one-step system is a better option than the two-step system, no matter, what kind of nitrogen-rich stream is taken into consideration. Moreover, the one-step process was much less complicated in operation. Performed research confirmed a hypothesis, that the oxygen concentration in the bulk liquid and the nitrite production rate are the limiting factors for the Anammox reaction in a single reactor. In order to make a quick and simple determination of bacteria activity, the Oxygen Uptake Rate (OUR) tests were shown as an excellent tool for evaluation of the current bacteria activity reliably, and without a need of using expensive reagents. It was also shown, that partial nitritation/Anammox process, could be successfully applied at temperatures much lower than the optimum value. Performed Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH) analyses, proved that the Anammox bacteria were mainly responsible for the nitrogen removal process.


Several proposed beyond-CMOS devices based on two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures require the deposition of thin dielectrics between 2D layers. However, the direct deposition of dielectrics on 2D materials is challenging due to their inert surface chemistry. To deposit high-quality, thin dielectrics on 2D materials, a flat lying titanyl phthalocyanine (TiOPc) monolayer, deposited via the molecular beam epitaxy, was employed to create a seed layer for atomic layer deposition (ALD) on 2D materials, and the initial stage of growth was probed using in situ STM. ALD pulses of trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and H2O resulted in the uniform deposition of AlOx on the TiOPc/HOPG. The uniformity of the dielectric is consistent with DFT calculations showing multiple reaction sites are available on the TiOPc molecule for reaction with TMA. Capacitors prepared with 50 cycles of AlOx on TiOPc/graphene display a capacitance greater than 1000 nF/cm(2), and dual-gated devices have current densities of 10(-7)A/cm(2) with 40 cycles.


Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are now widely used in many areas of science, medicine, finance and engineering. Analysis and prediction of time series of hydrological/and meteorological data is one such application. Problems that still exist in the application of ANN9s are the lack of transparency and the expertise needed for training. An evolutionary algorithm-based method to train a type of neural networks called Product Units Based Neural Networks (PUNN) has been proposed in a 2006 study. This study investigates the applicability of this type of neural networks to hydrological time series prediction. The technique, with a few small changes to improve the performance, is applied to some benchmark time series as well as to a real hydrological time series for prediction. The results show that evolutionary PUNN produce more transparent models compared to widely used multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network models. It is also seen that training of PUNN models requires less expertise compared to MLPs.


While claims about pedagogic innovation in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are common, most reports provide no evidence to justify those claims. This paper reports on a survey aimed at exploring how different stakeholders describe MOOCs, focusing on whether they would consider them pedagogically innovative, and if so, why. Respondents (n = 106) described MOOCs primarily as free, openly accessible online courses that attract large numbers of participants. Views on pedagogic innovation fell into three categories: 1) MOOCs are pedagogically innovative (15.1%). Explanations referred to the massiveness, openness and connectivism. None of the participants offered a clear definition of or criteria for pedagogic innovation. 2) MOOCs are not pedagogically innovative (84.9%). More than half of the respondents added an unsolicited opinion, including strong criticisms of MOOCs. 3) MOOCs may or may not be pedagogically innovative. The evidence suggests that caution should be exercised when characterising MOOCs as pedagogically innovative.


Abstract Two methods are proposed for solving the three-dimensional neutron diffusion equation by iterating between solutions of the two-dimensional (2-D) radial and one-dimensional (1-D) axial solutions. In the first method, the 2-D/1-D equations are coupled using a current correction factor (CCF) with the average fluxes of the lower and upper planes and the axial net currents at the plane interfaces. In the second method, an analytic expression for the axial net currents at the interface of the planes is used for planar coupling. A comparison of the new methods is made with two previously proposed methods, which use interface net currents and partial currents for planar coupling. A Fourier convergence analysis of the four methods was performed, and results indicate that the two new methods have at least three advantages over the previous methods. First, the new methods are unconditionally stable, whereas the net current method diverges for small axial mesh size. Second, the new methods provide better convergence performance than the other methods in the range of practical mesh sizes. Third, the spectral radii of the new methods asymptotically approach zero as the mesh size increases, while the spectral radius of the partial current method approaches a nonzero value as the mesh size increases. Of the two new methods proposed here, the analytic method provides a smaller spectral radius than the CCF method, but the CCF method has several advantages over the analytic method in practical applications.


Scaffolding students' problem solving and helping them to improve problem solving skills are critical in instructional design courses. This study investigated the effects of students' uses of a digital mapping tool on their problem solving performance in a design case study. It was found that the students who used the digital mapping tool performed better than those who did not use the tool in providing arguments when defining the problem and justifying the solutions. The results indicated that digital concept mapping could facilitate students' illstructured problem solving. In this study, guide map was used. Future research may examine the use of free style map in problem solving.


Objectives of the Study The main objective of this study is to find out the XBRL adoption methods for European banks to submit COREP reports to local FSAs and to explore transitions in these methods. Thus, the goal is to find patterns from the transitions in XBRL implementation methods. The study is exploratory, as there is no earlier literature about XBRL implementation methods in COREP reporting or from XBRL implementation method transitions in any field. Additionally, this thesis has developed a useful framework for examination of technology adaption methods, transitions in technology adaption methods and patterns in technology adaption methods' transitions. Academic background and methodology Academic background includes general earlier XBRL related literature, explaining the major benefits and attributes for companies using XBRL, XBRL usage around the world and discussing the implementation strategies that companies may use to adopt XBRL into their organizational processes. It also presents the basic elements of COREP reporting. Additionally, the incremental vs radical change in technology adoption is adopted to this research as it brings valuable addition to the framework. The theoretical framework is built on the XBRL implementation strategies, on pieces from XBRL related literature and on the model of technology adoption. The methodology consists of multiple case study with qualitative data collected through questions distributed via online tool and internet telephone interview with voluntary bank representatives around Europe. This data is analyzed with comparative case analysis/cross-case analysis. Findings and conclusions Findings confirm only one of the four propositions thoroughly. Propositions are presented in the theoretical part of the thesis. Results support the proposed theoretical framework, although XBRL have not yet matured deeply into banking industry's legacy systems in Europe. Respondents had clear opinions on methods they are using and the XBRL attributes. Four of the seven attributes arise as more valuable to respondents than other three attributes, meaning that respondents' opinion differed from earlier literature.


The outcomes of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in elderly patients have not been thoroughly investigated. We aimed to investigate the clinical outcomes and risk factors associated with PD in elderly patients. We conducted a prospective observational nationwide adult end-stage renal disease (ESRD) cohort study in Korea from August 2008 to March 2013. Among incident patients (n = 830), patient and technical survival rate, quality of life, and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) scores of elderly PD patients (≥65 years, n = 95) were compared with those of PD patients aged ≤49 years (n = 205) and 50~64 years (n = 192); and elderly hemodialysis (HD) patients (n = 315). The patient death and technical failure were analyzed by cumulative incidence function. Competing risk regressions were used to assess the risk factors for survival. The patient survival rate of elderly PD patients was inferior to that of younger PD patients (P<0.001). However, the technical survival rate was similar (P = 0.097). Compared with elderly HD patients, the patient survival rate did not differ according to dialysis modality (P = 0.987). Elderly PD patients showed significant improvement in the BDI scores, as compared with the PD patients aged ≤49 years (P = 0.003). Low albumin, diabetes and low residual renal function were significant risk factors for the PD patient survival; and peritonitis was a significant risk factor for technical survival. Furthermore, low albumin and hospitalization were significant risk factors of patient survival among the elderly. The overall outcomes were similar between elderly PD and HD patients. PD showed the benefit in BDI and quality of life in the elderly. Additionally, the technical survival rate of elderly PD patients was similar to that of younger PD patients. Taken together, PD may be a comparable modality for elderly ESRD patients.


My ethnography explores the independent documentary film community in Songzhuang, an artist village in Beijing's Tongzhou District. Through participantobservation, interviews, participation in festivals, and my own filmmaking practice, I describe filmmakers and festival organizers as cultural producers endeavoring to work outside the confines of both the government and the mainstream cinema industry. To offer an analysis of the social, political, economic, and ethical conditions of this independent film community, my study also focuses on concrete practices of filmmakers and film supporters; privately-owned centers and social networks that enable the production, exhibition, and distribution of films; and the relationship between this community and government regulation. I argue that the independent documentary community constitutes a jianghu (literally, "rivers and lakes"), which, drawing from Chinese literature, I delimit as a social world of marginality and resistance against the status quo. Further, jianghu refers not only to independent filmmakers, but also to millions of "migrants" within the Chinese population who, even as they provide labor that fuels development, nonetheless subsist on the margins. This study also considers the efforts of filmmakers and scholars to elucidate a Chinese visual aesthetic, which has been called xianchang ("on the spot") and, most recently, jingguan dianying ("quiet observational cinema"). These indigenous framings counter eurocentric notions of iv documentary and prevail among the majority of independent directors as an aesthetic wellsuited to represent the "cruelty of the social," a term I introduce to describe social suffering born not only of China's modern history of pain but also its contemporary turbulent era. I draw together the issues of distribution, social impact, and economic stability for independent documentary, as well as document the role of the state in quelling, censoring, and co-opting independent film. I conclude by exploring xianchang and my own filmmaking practice as advancing a form of knowledge that, owing to its experiential quality and its refusal to simplify and reduce phenomena into cultural data, is well-suited to represent the inherent complexity of Chinese society. Finally, a coda documents recent government oppression and festival cancellations to argue that the current moment is one of grave uncertainty for Chinese independent film.


Sex is an immutable characteristic; says who? As transgendered people and LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning) issues gain more traction and recognition, the clear contours of sex and gender are fading, and a more fluid concept of gender is emerging. However, the American legal system lags behind the mutability of gender in an environment where the conceptualization and understanding of gender is becoming ever more nuanced and complex. This is most apparent in the law's treatment of transgendered marriage: a marriage involving at least one person who identifies as transgendered. A transgendered person can be defined as a person who identifies as a gender that is different than the gender assigned based on his or her sex at birth, inclusive of those who have or have not transitioned, had sex-reassignment surgery, executed a name change, or modified the gender marker on his or her legal documents. The law's rigid response to the complications that transgendered marriage presents in the wake of unlawful same-sex marriage, is to wholly negate the importance of recognizing gender, and instead, to look primarily to a person's sex for guidance. This article explores the jurisprudence underpinning lawful and null transgendered marriages from a feminist perspective. Specifically, it describes the history and current state of jurisprudence as it relates to transgendered marriage. This review of the legal landscape identifies the law's sex-based thresholds for defining gender, which result in the validation or invalidation of a transgendered marriage. Analyzing these thresholds implicates the way in which the law serves to control gender identity and reinforces traditional gender roles in society. This in turn reveals the insidious undercurrent of bias and patriarchy permeating the annals of the justice system as it relates to gender and transgendered identity. Ultimately, this article exposes the woefully inadequate state of jurisprudence today as it


AIMS
  A possible explanation for increased levels of attractiveness of faces when under the influence of alcohol is the reduced ability to perceive bilateral asymmetry. This study tested the degree of preference by alcohol-dosed and non-alcohol-dosed participants for symmetrical faces and their ability to detect facial symmetry, while controlling for other explanations.

DESIGN
  Volunteers were recruited to a random allocation experiment with three conditions: alcoholic drink (alcohol dosed), non-alcoholic drink (placebo) and diluted orange cordial (control). Data on concentration, personality and demographics were collected. Dependent variables were symmetry preference and detection.

SETTING
  Laboratory, University of Roehampton.

PARTICIPANTS
  A total of 101 participants, mainly students (41 alcohol-dosed, 40 placebo, 20 control).

MEASUREMENTS
  Participants provided verbal responses to images of faces which were presented on a computer screen for 5 seconds each; the first task required a preference judgement and the second task consisted of a forced-choice response of whether or not a face was symmetrical. Levels of concentration, weight and level of alcohol dose were measured, and demographics plus additional psychological and health information were collected using a computer-based questionnaire.

FINDINGS
  In contrast to a previous investigation, there was no difference in symmetry preference between conditions (P = 0.846). In agreement with previous findings, participants who had not drunk alcohol were better at detecting whether a face was symmetrical or asymmetrical (P = 0.043). Measures of concentration did not differ between conditions (P = 0.214-0.438). Gender did not affect ability to detect symmetry in placebo or alcohol-dosed participants (P = 0.984, 0.499); however, alcohol-dosed females were shown to demonstrate greater symmetry preference than alcohol-dosed males (P = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS
  People who are alcohol-dosed are subtly less able to perceive vertical, bilateral asymmetry in faces, with gender being a possible moderating factor.


EVOLVE is a tool for evaluating the design of housing for older people. It is used to assess how well a building contributes to the physical support and personal well‐being of older people. Developed from research into extra care housing, it can be used for a variety of building types, including sheltered housing and individual private houses. The tool can be used by architects, housing providers, commissioners, researchers and individual tenants or home owners. EVOLVE can be used as a briefing document or an aid to design. It can provide a rational basis to the selection of proposals in a competitive procurement process. The EVOLVE tool can also be used to evaluate existing housing stock, including schemes where remodelling is under consideration.


The impact of rising energy prices on households and the economy has increasingly become a focal point of public concern and public policy attention. Record gasoline prices and skyrocketing natural gas prices have been the subject of a national task force chaired by the Vice President and a national summit chaired by the Secretary of Energy. Economists are now convinced that rising energy prices have slowed the economy down, while newspaper headlines debate how consumers are coping with the rising prices.


This paper examines and challenges the dominant academic portrayal of Anglo-American corporate law as an aspect of 'private' or facilitative law, and argues for a re-characterisation of the subject that reflects the centrality of public regulation to its core dynamics. In this regard, the paper represents part of a larger project aimed at highlighting the limitations of the popular contractarian theory of corporate law, which essentially seeks to present corporate law rules as the endogenous outcome of private contractual processes rather than regulatory state interventionism. The first part of the paper explains how the particular way in which an area of law (including corporate law) is characterised academically is of paramount importance to its future development, by establishing the core descriptive and normative parameters thereof. The second part explores the purported 'privity' (or 'privateness') of corporate law as it is most commonly understood and taught within the Anglo-American environment, and demonstrates the important normative implications that tend to follow from this position. The third part highlights how the widespread presence of mandatory and irreversible corporate law rules in the Anglo-American environment poses a difficult empirical challenge for those who seek to present corporate law as a principally contractual, rather than regulatory, phenomenon. The fourth and fifth parts of the paper look at the various ways in which proponents of the contractarian paradigm have sought to rationalise the regulatory dimensions of corporate law in a way that actually affirms, rather than undermines, the purported 'contractualness' (and thus 'privateness') of the subject matter. Particular attention is devoted to the controversial 'market mimicking' rationalisation of regulatory state interventionism in corporate law, which essentially seeks to portray mandatory rules as a publicly-provided embodiment of what the relevant contracting parties (i.e. shareholders and managers) would have bargained for had they been afforded the opportunity to do so. The sixth part of the paper explains the logical difficulties with this claim, and the final part concludes by highlighting the principal normative implications of the paper's key finding – in short, that Anglo-American corporate law is at root an undeniably public phenomenon, whose innate regulatory dimensions cannot readily be explained away by recourse to contractarian logic.


This paper is looking into efforts made to introduce local-global connections within journalist programs at Sodertorn University in Stockholm. This University was a pioneer in multimedia journalism education when founded 15 years ago. New Information Technology is a part of a globalization process and it has had wide impact on the development of mass media practices in all societies. Technical multimedia skills are today central to advanced journalism education at universities. Globalization has in that sense colored journalism programs For instance is multimedia journalism at Sodertorn University one of the most popular journalism university programs in Sweden. However, very little space in journalism education is given to knowledge about and skills in covering different aspect of globalization. News coverage of processes and events outside the home country is seldom a part of the training for students in journalism, not even at advanced levels. The courses are predominantly national in scope with few exceptions. Several recent reports emphasizes that lack of international focus as a problem for journalist programs in general in Sweden although the national university authority has urged for change. In this paper I propose a method for changing this inward-looking education. The challenge is to use local knowledge and skills that are available, mostly inexpensive and in reach by using a "four-step" approach during the educational program.


Air Bottoming Cycle (ABC) is used to enhance total efficiency and output power in conventional gas turbine systems. An integrated biomass gasification-gas turbine-ABC combined cycle has been presented in this study. The proposed cycle has been used as a novel approach to alleviate restrictions on generated power in the biomass gasification-gas turbine systems. Additionally, a significant amount of heat can be produced in this combined cycle, which justifies its application as a combined heat and power system. Modeling and simulation of the cycle has been performed regarding the energy system. To generate syngas fuel from bagasse, a two equilibria gasifier system, integrated with a low temperature gas cleaning system, has been used. Results show that, delivered power from the proposed cycle has been increased about 44.2% compared to the conventional gas turbines, while the total energy efficiency of the combined cycle has been calculated about 58.9%. Moreover, results indicate that due to higher opportunity of energy recovery in GT-ABC, the total efficiency and generated power reduction is less without ABC cycle because of pressure ratio changes. Additionally, wastage of heat in the proposed cycle was minimized by transferring waste heat to heat sinks, which resulted in the balance of energy in the cycle. Overall results show the suitability of the proposed cycle to attain high efficiency and power generation capacity in biomass gasification-gas turbine systems.


ABSTRACT The most frequent way to survey green waste composts is to monitor the temperature during the composting process. However, if the temperature is a good index for global biological processes, it is not for the chemical stability. In order to identify a reliable index, this work investigates water extraction coupled to spectroscopic indexes such as E2/E3, E4/E6, and SUVA254 ratios, and fluorescence indexes such as Kalbitz, Milori, CP/PARAFAC, and Fluorescence Region Integration. The measurements of these indexes are carried out with six samples from different sites with different green waste material composition. The results show that most indexes depend on the green waste origin more than the composting time; some depend mostly on the material origin while others on compost age. A comparison of these results indicates that the biochemical process occurs more rapidly than expected by the compost producers. The combination of these indicators gives useful information on the processes that take place during composting.


On 18 July 2002, Parliament passed the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002. The Act ensures that South Africa complies
with its obligations as a State Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court. This article provides a short introduction to the Act and examines some of its
more interesting aspects. The conclusion advanced is that the Act suitably foments
South Africa's support of the International Criminal Court system, and demonstrates that
the country is responding to the world public's demand for a stand on genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes. It is noted, however, that the Act's ultimate success
lies not in the strength of its internal provisions, but on the external will of the
government to use the Act to full effect against international criminals.


In the postoperative treatment of hand surgery, it is important to start exercise therapy as early as possible. In conventional negative pressure wound therapy, the fingers are immobilized by the film dressing covering the wound and hand, thereby preventing sufficient rehabilitation. Here, we devised a bag-type negative pressure wound therapy that makes it possible to start finger exercises almost immediately, and we applied it to 4 patients:one each with hand burns, symmetrical peripheral gangrene, a crush injury accompanied by extensive skin defects and a fingertip degloving injury. The duration of the bag-type negative pressure wound therapy ranged from three to eight weeks, and good granulation was achieved, so that a skin graft was not required. In addition, particularly in the case of the fingertip degloving injury, good nail regeneration was achieved. Except for the case of symmetrical peripheral gangrene, a good range of joint motion with a percent total active motion (%TAM) of 94.7% or more was achieved. Our therapy was performed by inserting the hand into a sealing bag;sufficient exercise therapy was made possible by expanding the bag during rehabilitation.


A study was carried out in the Forth estuary (Scotland) to determine the impact of industrial effluents on
the nematodes and harpacticoid copepods species of an estuarine mudflat. The nematodes and harpacticoid
copepods species in the area ranging from the species which are absent from the vicinity of the effluents to
the species which occure predominantly in the most highly polluted sediments display a spectrum of responses
to the discharges. It is thought at least some of the species favouring the immmediate vicinity of the effluent
channels would be associated with the dense microalgal mat that fringes the channels. Two factors seemed
to be dominant in controlling the species distribution of nematodes and harpacticoid copepods in the area
interdal height and pollution. Cluster analysis of the species abundance data from the sampling stations "clearly
showed the separation of sites on the upper, middle and lower shore. The ordination of the stations was
also strongly influenced by intertidal height superimposed by pollution.


Low phosphorus availability is a primary constraint to crop production in developing countries. Adventitious roots play an important role in phosphorus acquisition, as they are localized near the soil surface where phosphorus is relatively abundant A population of recombinant inbred lines of Phaseolus vulgaris L. (G2333/G19839) was screened under high- and low-phosphorus conditions in the greenhouse and field. We observed phenotypic variation and transgressive segregation for adventitious root traits in both environments. Allomctric analysis revealed that although the taproot and basal roots are closely linked to shoot growth, recombinant inbred line (RILs) differ substantially in biomass allocation for adventitious roots. A linkage map with 149 genetic markers and a total cumulative map length of 1175 cM was used to identify a total of 19 QTL across 8 of the 11 linkage groups. Together these quantitative trait lod (QTL) accounted for 19 to 61% of the total phenotypic variation for adventitious root traits in the field and 18 to 39% under greenhouse conditions. Two major QTL for adventitious rooting under low phosphorus conditions in the field were observed on linkage groups B2 and B9 that together accounted for 61% of the observed phenotypic variation. We conclude that adventitious rooting under low phosphorus is a feasible target for bean breeding.


Objective: To characterise the demographics and aetiology of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes referred to a tertiary cardiac pathology centre in the UK. Design: Retrospective non-case controlled analysis. Setting: Cardiac pathology centre at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Royal Brompton Hospital. Subjects: Between 1996 and 2008, the hearts of 118 athletes were referred for pathological assessment to ascertain the precise aetiology of SCD. Results: The majority of athletes (n = 113; 96%) were male and most (107; 91%) were amateurs participating predominantly in football, rugby and running. The mean (SD) age of death was 28 (12) years (range 7–59); 75% athletes were aged ⩽35 years. Most deaths (81%) occurred during or immediately after exercise. Antecedent symptoms of cardiac disease were reported in 21 (18%) subjects, and 20 (17%) had a family history of premature cardiovascular disease and/or SCD. 25 (21%) athletes had relevant past medical history which included a known history of cardiac disease. Cardiomyopathy was the commonest cause of death and accounted for 62% of all the SCDs. A significantly high proportion of athletes (23%) exhibited a morphologically normal heart. Atherosclerotic coronary disease accounted for only 3% of cases and was confined to athletes aged >35 years. Conclusions: SCD in sport is largely due to clinically silent cardiomyopathies or primary electrical disorders (morphologically normal heart). Antecedent symptoms and family history are absent in over 80% of cases, and therefore clinical screening with health questionnaires will fail to identify most athletes with potentially sinister cardiac disorders.


The paper introduces a new perspective in the vast literature devoted to the political economy of Europe and the U.S. American preferences for a liberal market economy are relatively clear; by contrast, European preferences for a social market economy remain confusing and are the subject of continuing debates in the field of political economy in positive as well as normative terms. Redistribution is the most usual way to deal with different attitudes towards inequalities in the two continents. But redistribution is not the most appropriate summary of what the "welfare state" in Europe actually does: social insurance mechanisms are a more appropriate reference. These deep and persistent differences between Europe and the U.S. are well interpreted in many historical and political aspects. A more theoretical perspective is developed here in five steps. First, those goods (health, pension, education...) with which the welfare state is concerned have powerful inter-temporal properties so that market solutions are not unequivocally optimal. Second, those goods have a strong impact on equality and modern political philosophy clarifies why their production and distribution should reflect considerations of justice as well as of efficiency. A two-step decision process is subsequently introduced: actual choices are the consumer's job (utility maximization) but embedding fairness in redistributive policies or within institutions providing universal insurance lies in the citizens' hands. Fourth, this choice between pure or mixed market solutions is referred to two models of political philosophies differently combining Liberty and Equality in the western philosophical tradition. Finally, some elements of the legal system are introduced as a natural bridge between the abstract formulations of collective preferences and actual social institutions.


The steady decline of IP transit prices in the past two decades has helped fuel the growth of traffic demands in the Internet ecosystem. Despite the declining unit pricing, bandwidth costs remain significant due to ever-increasing scale and reach of the Internet, combined with the price disparity between the Internet's core hubs versus remote regions. In the meantime, cloud providers have been auctioning underutilized computing resources in their marketplace as spot instances for a much lower price, compared to their on-demand instances. This state of affairs has led the networking community to devote extensive efforts to cloud-assisted networks — the idea of offloading network functionality to cloud platforms, ultimately leading to more flexible and highly composable network service chains.We initiate a critical discussion on the economic and technological aspects of leveraging cloud-assisted networks for Internet-scale interconnections and data transfers. Namely, we investigate the prospect of constructing a large-scale virtualized network provider that does not own any fixed or dedicated resources and runs atop several spot instances. We construct a cloud-assisted overlay as a virtual network provider, by leveraging third-party cloud spot instances. We identify three use case scenarios where such approach will not only be economically and technologically viable but also provide performance benefits compared to current commercial offerings of connectivity and transit providers.


In May 2010, a coalition of California students, parents, and school districts filed a ground-breaking lawsuit alleging that the state's public school finance system violates the California constitution. The lawsuit, Robles-Wong v. California, is not ground-breaking because of its basic aim; at last count, school finance lawsuits with similar goals have occurred in forty-four states. Instead, the lawsuit is path-breaking because of the novel approach plaintiffs used to frame their constitutional challenge. Historically, plaintiffs have sued state governments using two legal theories: the equity theory and the adequacy theory. Under the equity theory, plaintiffs argue that the states distribute school resources in a disparate manner that violates equal protection of the laws. Under the adequacy theory, plaintiffs assert that the states deny children their right to an adequate level of education as guaranteed under the education clauses in state constitutions. While litigants suing under the equity theory have lost more cases than they have won, adequacy challenges have met some success: plaintiffs in adequacy claims have prevailed in two-thirds of the thirty-three cases in state courts. In recent years, however, plaintiffs have grown less likely to prevail in their school finance challenges, losing six of eleven cases decided since 2009. Moreover, as I show in an empirical analysis of school spending levels in twenty-two states, even those states that have experienced successful adequacy and equity lawsuits continue to spend less than the amount necessary to provide their children with a quality education. Responding to these trends, the Robles-Wong plaintiffs allege a new and different form of constitutional violation: that the state's school finance program violates the state's constitutional duty to provide a "system" of common schools because it is not "intentionally, rationally, and demonstrably aligned" with the educational goals described in statewide academic content standards. As this Article explains, this constitutional violation alleged in Robles-Wong, which I call the "broken system" cause of action, represents a significant evolution in the historic journey of school finance litigation. In addition to describing the textual and legal basis for this new theory, I argue that it builds on the experiences of its two predecessor theories, responds to important trends in education policy reform, and offers courts a manageable framework for ensuring that state school systems are in compliance with the substantive educational guarantees of state constitutions.


A multi-sensing platform for applications in wireless and batteryless monitoring of free-moving small animals is presented in this paper. The proposed platform hosts six sensors: four biosensors for sensing of both disease biomarkers and therapeutic compounds, and two further sensors (T and pH) for biosensor calibration. Electrodeposition of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) and the subsequent function-alization with proper enzymes is used to assure sensitivity and specificity in electrochemical biosensing. The realized sensors are demonstrated to be capable of measuring several parameters: lactate with a sensitivity of 77±26 μA/mM· cm2 and a limit of detection (LOD) of 4±1 μM; glucose with a sensitivity of 63±15 μA/mM· cm2 and a LOD of 8±2 μM; Etoposide (a well known anti-cancer agent) with a sensitivity of 0.15±0.04 mA/mM· cm2 and a LOD of 4±1 μM; Open Circuit Potential (OCP) measurements are used on a Pt/IrOx junction to sense pH with a sensitivity of around -75±5mV/pH; while a Pt resistive thermal device is used to measure physiological temperature-range with an average sensitivity of 0.108±0.001 kΩ/°C.


The decomposition of plant litters on the soil surface is brought about by a variety of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. The aim of the present study was to study the ecology of the colonizing fungi associated with the degradation of leaf litter of Syzygium calophyllifolium Walp. The colonization of fungi was analyzed in three different grades of litters (Grade 1-L, Grade 2-F1 layer, Grade 3-F2 layer). In presenting the data, two terms viz. Frequency of occurrence (FOC) and percentage of occurrence (POC) were used throughout the test. Altogether 36 species were isolated from three grades of litter by moist chamber incubation technique. These included 4 zygomycetes, 2 ascomycetes and the remaining 30 belonged to deuteromycetes. An analysis of the data obtained on the three grades of litter suggested that 15 species belonging to 12 genera were recorded from 'Grade 1', 25 species belonging to 19 genera were recorded from 'Grade 2' and 18 species belonging to 15 genera were recorded from 'Grade 3' litter. A comparison of the mycoflora of the three grades reveal that while some are common to all the three grades, a few were found restricted to any two grades and still some to a particular grade.


Introduction Following a successful pilot, JAG released their new JETS e-Portfolio in September 2009. The JETS e-Portfolio has been designed to support trainees in endoscopy by providing them with a web-based, electronic tool for logging their endoscopic experience. It allows trainees to demonstrate their competence levels, develop a personal development plan and complete JAG DOPS forms. The JETS e-Portfolio has been designed to support and streamline the JAG trainee certification process which is currently under review. Methods The JETS e-Portfolio was released nationally in early September 2009. Initially it was released on a Deanery-by-Deanery basis starting in the Severn and West Midlands regions. It can now be used by any trust in any Deanery. Here we present the current uptake data at the time of writing. Results Since September 2009, 34 trusts (22.5%) in England have starting using the JETS e-Portfolio. 112 trainees now use the e-Portfolio to log their endoscopic experience. 1096 endoscopy lists have been logged with 5116 procedures added. 412 JAG approved DOPS have also been added to the system. There have been no major IT issues and the feedback from trainees using the system has been excellent. Conclusion After 3 months of release, nearly one quarter of English Trusts are using the JETS e-Portfolio. A staged release in Wales and Northern Ireland is also planned. Initial data suggest that trainees are very willing to input data into the JETS e-Portfolio. The e-Portfolio also appears to be supporting the training process through the regular use of DOPS forms. Details on how to set up the JETS e-Portfolio are available on the JAG website.


Dicynodonts are an extinct group of herbivorous non-mammalian therapsids ('mammal-like' reptiles) that are widely known from terrestrial Permo-Triassic strata throughout Pangaea. Dicynodont fossil remains are common within the Late Permian Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin in South Africa. A large, partially articulated dicynodont skeleton recovered from the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone is taphonomically important in having an unusual disarticulation pattern, bone surface punctures and a broken tooth of an unidentified carnivore associated with it. Here we report on the nature of the bone damage, and the identity of the carnivore that lost a canine tooth whilst scavenging the dicynodont carcass. The morphological characteristics of the serrations on the unidentified tooth were compared with those of contemporaneous carnivores, the gorgonopsians and therocephalians. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of a silicone cast of the unidentified tooth revealed distinctive 0.5-mm square-shaped serrations. Our comparative assessment of the tooth size, curvature, cross-sectional shape and morphology of the serrations revealed that the unidentified canine most closely matched Aelurognathus, a gorgonopsian known from the same assemblage zone.


We provide a new fully automatic framework to analyze facial action units, the fundamental building blocks of facial expression enumerated in Paul Ekman's facial action coding system (FACS). The action units examined here include upper facial muscle movements such as inner eyebrow raise, eye widening, and so forth, which combine to form facial expressions. Although prior methods have obtained high recognition rates for recognizing facial action units, these methods either use manually preprocessed image sequences or require human specification of facial features; thus, they have exploited substantial human intervention. We present a fully automatic method, requiring no such human specification. The system first robustly detects the pupils using an infrared sensitive camera equipped with infrared LEDs. For each frame, the pupil positions are used to localize and normalize eye and eyebrow regions, which are analyzed using PCA to recover parameters that relate to the shape of the facial features. These parameters are used as input to classifiers based on support vector machines to recognize upper facial action units and all their possible combinations. On a completely natural dataset with lots of head movements, pose changes and occlusions, the new framework achieved a recognition accuracy of 69.3% for each individual AU and an accuracy of 62.5% for all possible AU combinations. This framework achieves a higher recognition accuracy on the Cohn-Kanade AU-coded facial expression database, which has been previously used to evaluate other facial action recognition system.


Cognitive performance during high-stakes exams can be affected by random disturbances that, even if transitory, may have permanent consequences for long-term schooling attainment and labor market outcomes. We evaluate this hypothesis among Israeli high school students who took a series of high stakes matriculation exams between 2000 and 2002. As a source of random (transitory) shocks to high-stakes matriculation test scores, we use exposure to ambient air pollution during the day of the exam. First, we document a significant and negative relationship between average PM2.5 exposure during exams and student composite scores, post-secondary educational attainment, and earnings during adulthood. Second, using PM2.5 as an instrument, we estimate a large economic return to each point on the exam and each additional year of post-secondary education. Third, we examine the return to exam scores and schooling across sub-populations, and find the largest effects among boys, better students, and children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. The results suggest that random disturbances during high-stakes examinations can have long-term consequences for schooling and labor market outcomes, while also highlighting the drawbacks of using highstakes examinations in university admissions.


: The capacity of hydrochloric acid treated pistachios seed shell carbon (PSSC) for the removal of cadmium from aqueous solution was examined. The effect of various experimental parameters such as equilibration time, pH, carbon dosage, temperature, agitation speed, particle size was studied using batch process. The experiment demonstrated showed that the equilibrium adsorption data fit the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The adsorbents used in this study are characterized by FTIR, XRD before and after adsorption of cadmium ion. Desorption study was carried out using HCl solution with a view to regenerate the spent adsorbent and to recover the adsorbed metal ion. The result obtained clearly indicates that PSSC is a very good adsorbent than commercially activated carbon (CAC) and it can be used for the removal of heavy metals from synthetic water.


To attain the highest performance of energy supply systems, it is necessary to rationally determine types, capacities, and numbers of equipment in consideration of their operational strategies corresponding to seasonal and hourly variations in energy demands. Mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) approaches have been applied widely to such optimal design problems. The authors have proposed a MILP method utilizing the hierarchical relationship between design and operation variables to solve the optimal design problems of energy supply systems efficiently. In addition, some strategies to enhance the computation efficiency have been adopted: bounding procedures at both the levels and ordering of the optimal operation problems at the lower level. In this paper, as an additional strategy to enhance the computation efficiency, parallel computing is adopted to solve multiple optimal operation problems in parallel at the lower level. In addition, the effectiveness of each and combinations of the strategies adopted previously and newly is investigated. This hierarchical optimization method is applied to an optimal design of a gas turbine cogeneration plant, and its validity and effectiveness are clarified through some case studies.


The warm room retrofit is a response to a common problem: how to stay warm in a large, poorly insulated house during the coldest parts of winter. The problem is especially acute for low-income and elderly homeowners who ma.y not have sufficient resources to improve the thermal integrity of their entire house. Although still an experimental tech nique, the warm room retrofit has the potential for achieving significant energy savings in houses a.t costs similar to those currently allocated by low-income weatherization pro grams. The retrofit is a. combination of zoning, heating systems modification and insula tion which allows the occupant to heat selected areas of her home while maintaining the unused areas at a cooler temperature. This study presents the results from a retrofit pro ject in Kansas City, sponsored by the Urban Consortium in 1985-86. Nine houses were selected for the study, four controls and five houses that received the warm room retrofi.t. The houses are all single-family detached structures, occupied by low-income owners (with the owners' ages between 60 and 80 years), and heated with gas-fired, forced-air or gravity-fed furnaces. The warm zone was designed to include the kitchen, bathroom, and one to two additional rooms, depending on family size. The costs of the retrofit averaged $1,425 per house. Our analysis included regressions of total gas use versus outdoor tem peratures to measure savings, which averaged 26% (percent). Because of potential health and safety problems, we also measured indoor air quality before and after the retrofit, sampling levels of indoor radon, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde. An important part of the study was to determine occupant response and the acceptability of the retrofit. The residents participated in the design of the retrofits, and were interviewed after the retrofits were installed to determine improvements in comfort and their satisfaction with the results.


Language contact through translation (LCTT) is a particular source of contact-induced language change. While investigations into individual scenarios have shown its importance, major works on language contact have largely neglected this type of language contact. In particular, no attempt has been made so far at establishing general principles and mechanisms for LCTT situations. This contribution presents a tentative typology for the study of LCTT and analyzes two different situations from that perspective, namely the contact between Latin and Old Swedish in the Middle Ages and between English and German today.


A new polypeptide-human branched chain transacylase 31, the polynucleotide for coding it, the process for preparing said polypeptide by DNA recombination, the application of said polypeptide in treating more diseases (cancer, HIV infection, etc), the antagonist to resist said polypeptide and its therapy action, and the application of said polynucleotide are disclosed.


Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are high aspect ratio nanomaterials readily obtained from cellulose microfibrils via strong acid hydrolysis. They feature unique properties stemming from their surface chemistry, their crystallinity, and their three-dimensional structure. CNCs have been exploited in a number of applica‐ tions such as optically active coatings, nanocomposite materials, or aerogels. CNC size and shape determination is an important challenge and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is one of the most powerful tools to achieve this goal. Because of the specifics of TEM imaging, CNCs require special attention. They have a low density, are highly susceptible to electron beam damage, and easily aggregate. Specific techniques for both imaging and sampling have been developed over the past decades. In this review, we describe the CNCs, their properties, their applications, and the need for a precise characterization of their morphology and size distribution. We also describe in detail the techniques used to record quality images of CNCs. Finally, we survey the literature to provide readers with specific examples of TEM images of CNCs.


Municipal solid waste (MSW) has become a critical problem for city environment. Indiscriminate dumping of waste around cities poses environmental hazards causing ecological imbalances with respect to land, water and pollution. The estimated amount of city waste in Faisalabad (Pakistan) is 1570 tonnes day. This waste along with others produced in the country in the form of cow dung, poultry manure, FYM and filter cake (FC) from sugar industry, can successfully be converted into biofertilizer with the help of EM (effective microorganisms). The EM-Biofertilizer is a potential source of organic matter and soil microand macronutrients for plant growth as well as for sustainable agriculture. In view of these considerations, the present research work was conducted in the laboratory and greenhouse of the Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, during 2003-2006. The objectives of the study were to preserve the nutrients present in the solid waste and convert them into biofertilizer. The raw material of MSW was collected from different point sources of the city, Faisalabad (Pakistan), mixed and divided into bio-degradable and nonbiodegradable portions. The biodegradable portion was air dried and ground with the help of grinder. Analysis for NPK, OM and C:N ratio of the waste was conducted. Then it was inoculated with effective microorganisms (EM) solution to convert these wastes into biofertilizer. The waste was taken into plastic pots and inoculated with 1%, 5% and 10% EM solutions for the period of fifteen days. The treatments were repeated thrice. In order to know the effect of EM the waste was again analyzed for NPK, organic matter, organic carbon and C:N ratio and was named as EM-Biofertilizer. The results of the experiment indicated that the inoculation of effective microorganisms had promising effect on the availability of nutrients. The amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), organic carbon (OC) and organic matter (OM) was improved with respect to control/ compost (without EM). EM application improved the nutritional status of the organic wastes due to anaerobic decomposition process. The C: N ratio was lower in EM-Biofertilizer than organic matter alone due to free living bacteria in EM inoculum which promoted the availability of nutrients especially the N contents in the manures. The organic matter which was not inoculated with EM resulted to higher degradation process due to aerobic respiration but the EM inoculum inhibited the oxidation way of decomposition, encouraging the process of fermentation. The results revealed that maximum nitrogen was obtained with 5% treatment of effective microorganisms as compared to other inoculation levels after 15 days. Microorganisms enhanced the decomposition process of the organic waste and maintained the availability of essential nutrients to be utilized in soil for sustainable crop production. The EM-Biofertilizer formed in this method was applied to different crops i.e. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), Okra (Hibiscus esculentus), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and Cowpea (Phaseolus vulgaris), to know the effect of EM-Biofertilizer on the productivity of these crops. The application of EM-Biofertilizer had significant effect on the growth and nutrient concentrations in plants and soil. There was positive correlation between NPK concentrations in leaves of the crops. In case of cotton, on relative basis there was 23% increase in cotton boll size in the EM-Biofertilizer treatment as compared with soil alone and 7% increase as compared to compost i.e. without EM treatment. The same trend was noted in case of okra, spinach and cowpea where with the application of EM-Biofertilizer, the increase in fruit length, leaf length and pod size was 53%, 46% and 60%, respectively as compared to control (soil only) where as 22%, 41% and 46% respective increase was noted as compared to compost (without EM-Biofertilizer). There was significant effect of EMBiofertilizer on plant height, and number of bolls of cotton, the increase was 50% and 53% respectively with respect to compost alone. Same positive effect of EMBiofertilizer was also noted in the increase of number of plants (33%), number of fruits (39%), fruit length (22%) and biomass (15%) as compared to control (without EM-Biofertilizer) in case of okra. There was significant effect in the increase of leaf length (41.24%) and biomass (5%) in case of spinach with the application of EM-Biofertilizer. This was because of the availability of plant nutrients, especially the N and P which are the main growth limiting nutrients. The increase in number of grains (67%), grain weight (50%) and pod size (46%) was also recorded in case of cowpea, on the EM-Biofertilizer treatments as compared to compost (without EM). The percentage increase in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and organic matter in soil (for cotton) i.e. 29%, 14%, 18% and 78% respectively, was observed with the treatment of EM-Biofertilizer. Same trend in increase of soil NPK and OM was noted in 5% EM-Biofertilizer treatment in the case of spinach, okra and cowpea. The correlations were developed, which indicated that N, P, K in leaves and OM in soil have positive correlation with the yield of all these crops. The above results clearly depicted that the soil quality parameters i.e. NPK and OM can be sustained through the use of EM technology. Tonnes of solid waste produced daily in Pakistan can be treated with effective microorganisms (EM) for producing EM-Biofertilizer for crop production reducing pollution and creating healthy environment.


Grassland fertilization is a production tool for increasing forage available for hay and for grazing. In North Dakota, in 1978, it's use has been primarily on tame grass stands to maintain high yields of forage and to put new life into old sod-bound stands. Native grasslands were being fertilized to a limited extent, but primarily in renovation programs to improve species composition, which had deteriorated through many years of excessive overgrazing. Fertilization provides more forage for livestock producers. Native grasslands possess a lower potential for increased forage production as compared to seeded tame grass forages. However, native grasses forage capabilities can be increased through proper management and range improvement practices. Proper fertilization is one of these practices. Studies showed that grazing seasons are shortened due to less forage available per animal for body maintenance and gain. Up to this writing, grazing studies had not been conducted in North Dakota using cow-calf pairs to measure animal production potential on native and/or tame grass pastures, except under irrigated conditions. The cow-calf demonstrations discussed in this report were initiated to compare the potential calf production on fertilized and unfertilized native ranges located in the Missouri Plateau area of northwestern North Dakota. It was determined that the application of fertilizers to all native grasses was not recommended, but only those most productive. If fertilizer is applied, beef gains per acre might increase as much as 20-28 pounds. Less productive native grasslands could be improved or maintained in a healthy condition though the application of intensive livestock and grazing management practices.


Photodynamic therapy (PDT) may modify the mucosal immune response and thus serve as a therapy for Crohn's disease (CD). After evaluating safety in BALB/c mice and establishing an endoscopic index of colitis (EIC), we could demonstrate that a single «low dose» PDT with 15 mg/kg delta-aminolevulinic acid and 10 J/cm2 induced healing of the colitis and decreased the expression indices of pro-inflammatory cytokines. The effect of «low dose» PDT appeared more rapidly, was stronger and lasted longer in the context of higher colitis activity. Before testing «low dose» PDT in humans we evaluated in dose-response experiments the effect on healing of colitis and safety with higher (20J/cm2) and lower (2J/cm2) energy doses. The lower PDT dose regimen induced an improvement of the EIC three days after PDT compared to disease control mice (p< 0.05). The improvement after three days was weaker with 2 J/cm2 than with the previously used energy dose of 10J/cm2. The higher PDT dose regimen did not induce an improvement of the EIC compared to control disease mice. Both regimens were safe. Furthermore, the effect of a second «low dose» PDT with 10J/cm2 performed one week after the first session was assessed. The second PDT delayed recurrence of inflammation compared to mice with a single PDT treatment (1 week p < 0.05, 2 weeks p = 0.01). To further evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of PDT we performed an immunostaining of activated T-cells (CD4+ T-cells) in the mucosa of the colon, measured the percentage of Annexin V+ cells (an early marker of apoptosis) and performed Propidium iodide (PI) staining to identify viable cells. Three days after «low dose» PDT a diminution in the number of CD4+ cells compared to disease control mice was seen. The percentage of Annexin V+ cells within the CD4+/PI- population increased after PDT treatment compared to disease control mice (p<0.01). In conclusion, «low dose» PDT improves colitis, decreases expression indices of proinflammatory cytokines and leads to disappearance of activated CD4+T-cells in the mucosa of the colon. The diminution of pathogenic CD4+ T-cells is likely to be partly mediated by apoptosis. The greatest effect on healing of colitis was achieved with the primarily chosen energy dose of 10 J/cm2. A second PDT prolongs remission. In view of the favorable effect in mice, «low dose» PDT is now being tested in humans.


An anaphylactic reaction may be fatal if not recognised and managed appropriately with rapid treatment. Key steps in the management of anaphylaxis include eliminating additional exposure to the allergen, basic life-support measures and prompt intramuscular administration of adrenaline 0.01 mg/kg (maximum 0.5 mL). Adjunctive measures include nebulised bronchodilators for lower-airway obstruction, nebulised adrenaline for stridor, antihistamines and corticosteroids. Patients with an anaphylactic reaction should be admitted to a medical facility so that possible biphasic reactions may be observed and risk-reduction strategies initiated or reviewed after recovery from the acute episode. Factors associated with increased risk of severe reactions include co-existing asthma (and poor asthma control), previous severe reactions, delayed administration of adrenaline, adolescents and young adults, reaction to trace amounts of foods, use of non-selective β-blockers and patients who live far from medical care. Risk-reduction measures include providing education with regard to food allergy and a written emergency treatment plan on allergen avoidance, early symptom recognition and appropriate emergency treatment. Risk assessment allows stratification with provision of injectable adrenaline (preferably via an auto-injector) if necessary. Patients with ambulatory adrenaline should be provided with written instructions regarding the indications for and method of administration of this drug and trained in its administration. Patients and their caregivers should be instructed about how to avoid foods to which the former are allergic and provided with alternatives. Permission must be given to inform all relevant caregivers of the diagnosis of food allergy. The patient must always wear a MedicAlert necklace or bracelet and be encouraged to join an appropriate patient support organisation.


Forensic examination plays an important role in China's judicial system, especially in the fact-finding process of both civil and criminal proceedings. Since 2005, this system has experienced gradual, yet significant changes. This paper seeks to examine the major themes of these changes in the context of the continued conceptual reformulation and structural realignment of civil and criminal procedures and the ongoing effort to codify evidence law with transforming impact on China's judicial system and culture. Emphasis is given to the transition of the forensic examination system from an officially (both administrative and judicial) administered fact-finding mechanism with powerful impact on the courts' truth-seeking activities to, at least partially, an expert witness system with significant participation and control by the parties' to judicial proceedings. A convergence of influence from both the continental inquisitorial tradition and the common law adversarial structure appears to have strongly informed the process and direction of the Chinese forensic examination reform. This paper attempts to explain the reasons for this convergence of influence, identify the trend and direction of this development, and provide observations and suggestions for further improvement of the forensic examination system in several key aspects with particular reference to the legal principles and judicial practices under the Federal Rules of Evidence of the United States.


Water is the most important and most debated natural resource in the Pacific Northwest. Researchers, educators and policy makers give a lot of attention to water resources in the region; however, the knowledge of actual water resource priorities of the public is lacking. Consequently, the purpose of this research study was to document how urban, suburban and rural residents living in the Pacific Northwest prioritize water resource issues over the last 20 years. A survey instrument was developed to ask the public about 10 common water uses in the region. This survey was statistically designed using the Dillman methodology and delivered to the public using a mail-based survey process in 1998, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2017. Water uses in this study were the importance of water for: irrigated agriculture, aquatic habitat, commerce, drinking water, household landscapes, industry, power generation, recreation, snowpack and wetlands. Each water use could be categorized by survey respondents as very important, important, somewhat important, not important or no opinion. In 2017, drinking water, snowpack, wetlands, recreation, aquatic habitat, industry, commerce, power generation, household landscapes and irrigated agriculture were considered an important or very important use of water by over 95, 80, 79, 77, 76, 74, 64, 63, 52 and 47% of the public, respectively. Over time snowpack, recreation, wetlands and aquatic habitat protection have become more important to the public. Conversely, the importance of water for irrigated agriculture, power generation and commerce have become less important to the public. However, at least 45% of all respondents considered all ten questioned water uses important. Survey respondents were placed into three groups (urban, suburban or rural) based on the population of their home county. Rural residents considered the use of water for agriculture more important than both suburban (84 vs. 46%) and urban (84 vs. 35%) residents. Conversely, urban residents were more likely to consider the preservation of wetlands as very important, compared to suburban and rural residents. The demographic factors of gender, education and age also impacted how the public viewed the importance of different water-related issues. Females were more likely than males to consider most water uses important. Respondents with more formal education were more likely to consider snowpack and aquatic habitat important than those with less formal education. Younger respondents were more likely than older residents to consider wetlands and aquatic habitat important. The information from this study will be used to assist policy makers in their decision-making processes about water resource issues.


Abstract Many analysts argue that U.S. drone strikes generate blowback: by killing innocent civilians, such strikes radicalize Muslim populations at the local, national, and even transnational levels. This claim, however, is based primarily on anecdotal evidence, unreliable media reports, and advocacy-driven research by human rights groups. Interview and survey data from Pakistan, where, since 2004, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has launched more than 430 drone strikes, show little or no evidence that drone strikes have a significant impact on militant Islamist recruitment either locally or nationally. Rather, the data reveal the importance of factors such as political and economic grievances, the Pakistani state's selective counterterrorism policies, its indiscriminate repression of the local population, and forced recruitment of youth by militant groups. Similarly, trial testimony and accounts of terrorists convicted in the United States, as well as the social science scholarship on Muslim radicalization in the United States and Europe, provide scant evidence that drone strikes are the main cause of militant Islamism. Instead, factors that matter include a transnational Islamic identity's appeal to young immigrants with conflicted identities, state immigration and integration policies that marginalize Muslim communities, the influence of peers and social networks, and online exposure to violent jihadist ideologies within the overall context of U.S. military interventions in Muslim countries.


BACKGROUND
The absence of a reliable classification system for Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease has contributed to difficulty in establishing consistent management strategies and in interpreting outcome studies. The purpose of this study was to assess interobserver and intraobserver reliability of the modified Waldenström classification system among a large and diverse group of pediatric orthopaedic surgeons.

METHODS
Twenty surgeons independently completed the first two rounds of staging: two assessments of forty deidentified radiographs of patients with Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease in various stages. Ten of the twenty surgeons completed another two rounds of staging after the addition of a second pair of radiographs in sequence. Kappa values were calculated within and between each of the rounds.

RESULTS
Interobserver kappa values for the classification for surveys 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0.81, 0.82, 0.76, and 0.80, respectively (with 0.61 to 0.80 considered substantial agreement and 0.81 to 1.0, nearly perfect agreement). Intraobserver agreement for the classification was an average of 0.88 (range, 0.77 to 0.96) between surveys 1 and 2 and an average of 0.87 (range, 0.81 to 0.94) between surveys 3 and 4.

CONCLUSIONS
The modified Waldenström classification system for staging of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease demonstrated substantial to almost perfect agreement between and within observers across multiple rounds of study. In doing so, the results of this study provide a foundation for future validation studies, in which the classification stage will be associated with clinical outcomes.


Biochemical purifications from mammalian cells and Xenopus oocytes revealed that vertebrate Mi-2 proteins reside in multisubunit NuRD (Nucleosome Remodeling and Deacetylase) complexes. Since all NuRD subunits are highly conserved in the genomes of C. elegans and Drosophila, it was suggested that NuRD complexes also exist in invertebrates. Recently, a novel dMec complex, composed of dMi-2 and dMEP-1 was identified in Drosophila. The genome of C. elegans encodes two highly homologous Mi-2 orthologues, LET-418 and CHD-3. Here we demonstrate that these proteins define at least three different protein complexes, two distinct NuRD complexes and one MEC complex. The two canonical NuRD complexes share the same core subunits HDA-1/HDAC, LIN-53/RbAp and LIN-40/MTA, but differ in their Mi-2 orthologues LET-418 or CHD-3. LET-418 but not CHD-3, interacts with the Krüppel-like protein MEP-1 in a distinct complex, the MEC complex. Based on microarrays analyses, we propose that MEC constitutes an important LET-418 containing regulatory complex during C. elegans embryonic and early larval development. It is required for the repression of germline potential in somatic cells and acts when blastomeres are still dividing and differentiating. The two NuRD complexes may not be important for the early development, but may act later during postembryonic development. Altogether, our data suggest a considerable complexity in the composition, the developmental function and the tissue-specificity of the different C. elegans Mi-2 complexes.


The growth in prominence of the law of restitution and European Community law has resulted in the creation of a body of case law, which is contained within this work. This book examines the Community rules that affect restitutionary claims commenced in the English courts. This book considers the affect that EC rules may have on the development of specific areas of the English law of restitution, it sets out the circumstances in which the development of English rules governing restitutionary claims might be affected by the requirements of Community law, and examines in detail the Community rules which affect restitutionary claims commenced before the national courts and attempts to rationalise and to explain them within the framework of the principle of unjust enrichment. It is essential reading for practitioners as well as academics and postgraduate students.


The essay explores the public social dimension of the "great cultural essays" as a popular post-socialist genre. It looks into the genre's emergence and popularity as part of the making of a middleclass taste in contemporary China and its claim to a re-imagined cultural national inheritance. In particular, the discussion focuses on the example of essayist Yu Qiuyu and examines the implications of his successful transformation of an obsolete historical "Culture" into a desirable commodity that offers spiritual home to the aspiring and successful of a "Greater China".


Interview with attorney Ed Idar, Jr., who is from Austin, Texas. In the interview, Mr. Idar discusses his experiences as a leader in the American GI Forum during World War II. He also talks about his affiliations with the Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations as well as other Mexican-American social action groups. Mr. Idar expresses his views and opinions on several issues including the problem of undocumented workers, the bracero problem, the segregation of schools, jury service, poll tax drives, LULAC, the Viva Kennedy movement, gubernatorial elections, and the Crystal City incident.


The Romance Languages document remarkable variations in subject word order in different constructions, and have various restrictions in their occurrence. No consensus has emerged on what the paramaters are for such variations. This volume does not attempt to create a consensus, but tries to represent and bring into dialogue the different sides of the debate.