This thesis is primarily concerned with the synthesis of a new thermotropic liquid
crystalline monomer and its characterisation by using elemental analysis,
spectroscopic analysis and thermal analysis techniques.
A new thermotropic liquid crystalline monomer, 4-methylphenyl 4-[2-
(vinyloxy)ethoxy]benzoate (4MP4VEB) was synthesised by reacting 4-
methylphenyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (4MP4HB) with 2-chloro-ethyl-vinyl ether in
acetonic solution. The compound 4MP4HB as a mesogenic group was prepared
from the reaction of p-hydroxybenzoic acid and p-cresol. The mesogenic group
(4MP4HB) was also used to synthesise the other thermotropic liquid crystalline
compound namely 4-methylphenyl 4-(3-hydroxypropoxy)benzoate (4MP4HPB)
but without a monomer terminal.The attempted synthesis of other liquid crystalline monomer with a varying
spacer length using a different approach only ended up with a precursor
compound. Two precursors, namely 4-[4-(allyloxy)butoxy]benzoic acid
(4ABBA) and 4-(allyloxy)benzoic acid (4ABA) were successfully synthesised
for the preparation of thermotropic liquid crystals with an allyl group as a
monomer terminal. The compound 4ABBA is a precursor that has a spacer
linkage, while 4ABA is without a spacer linkage.
The liquid crystalline compound and the synthesised precursors were
characterised by elemental, spectroscopic and thermal analyses. The observation
of thermal properties and liquid crystallinities under polarising microscope
revealed that the compound 4MP4VEB exhibited the like-mosaic defect texture
of nematic mesophase, while the compound 4MP4HPB exhibited the focal-conic
texture of smectic A mesophase.


Achievement in mathematics among blind and severely visually impaired persons is, and always has been, extraordinarily low" compared to students with sight (Kapperman & Sticken, 2004, p. 1). In fact, according to Kapperman and Sticken, many people who are blind are unable to perform mathematical operations in "reallife" situations, such as calculating change or doubling a recipe. There are many reasons this is so, including the visual nature of math, delayed development of concepts needed to understand math, and lack of necessary knowledge among teachers of students with visual impairments. In this research, the researcher aimed, first, to show that practice will increase math learning in students with visual impairments, and second, to find out whether different practice approaches result in different outcomes. Participants in Part I of this study were six students with visual impairments in the sixth and seventh grades, all of whom where behind their sighted classmates in math. Participants in Part 2 of this study were five students with visual impairments in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, all of whom were behind their sighted classmates in math. To test these hypotheses, the researcher met with each student for 30 minutes daily to practice math skills, randomly assigning students to rote practice, multisensory practice, or a combination of the two in Part I, and with the students in Part 2 as a group, for 15 to 45 minutes daily for math skill instruction and rehearsal, and recording observational data to gauge the students' attitudes toward math. Findings indicated that all of these students benefited from extra practice both in math performance and in attitude toward mathematics. Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Special Education First Advisor Alicia Li Second Advisor Dr. Carole Gorenflo This open access senior honors thesis is available at DigitalCommons@EMU: http://commons.emich.edu/honors/295


This article discusses the Central Bank v. First Interstate Bank decision [114 S. Ct. 1439 (1994)], and its essential holding that no private right of action for damages exists against aiders & abettors of those who commit securities fraud under § 10(b) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Author James redwood takes exception to the ruling in Central Bank and the method by which it was decided, which effectively threw out a long line of lower court cases upholding a private plaintiff's right to sue secondary participants in fraud actions. The article analyzes the Supreme Court's "lexicographic" method of deciding securities cases, ultimately concluding that such method is unnecessarily inflexible and inconsistently applied. Redwood provides and argument for the retention of the tripartite test for aiding & abetting liability, and provides an extended discussion of how the actions of Central Bank fit the knowledge / scienter prong of the test. The article further discusses how provisions of the 1939 Trust Indenture Act (TIA) indicate that the Court was wrong in dismissing the actions of Central Bank in the present case. Redwood concludes rather than simply "...thumb[ing] through a Webster's dictionary..." when called upon to review § 10(b) cases, the Supreme Court owes a more rigorous duty to the securities bar when confronted with securities cases in the future. Instead of utilizing the begrudgingly formalistic and "lexicographic" method applied in Central Bank, Redwood proffers "[o]nly through rigorous, sustained analysis of the securities statutes, in light of the purposes and policies behind their enactment, can the [Supreme] Court properly serve as supreme interpreter of the laws."


Much of the failure in strategy execution in organization is attributed to human factors. While there is abundance of studies which delve into strategy execution, literature pertaining to the behavioral strategy and its impact on strategy execution remains scarce. Interest towards behavioral strategy is recently renewed as a result of the rising concern of the non-progressive rate of successful strategy implementation in the practicing world. This study answers the call for more research on behavioral strategy by examining the role of engagement, a concept drawn from the theory of engagement and work-psychology literature, in explaining the support-execution relationship. Subsequently, the support-execution model of strategy execution is advanced by a joint investigation of the mediating role of strategy engagement as well as the moderating role of strategy communication in the mediated relationship. Using PROCESS macro in SPSS, the model was tested with 224 middle level managers selected from the service industry in Malaysia. The result shows that strategy engagement mediates the relationship between organizational support and strategy execution. Moreover, strategy communication is found to moderate the relationship between firstly organizational support and strategy execution, and secondly strategy engagement and strategy execution. The moderated mediation analysis reveals that strategic communication moderates the mediated relationship between organizational support and strategy execution via strategy engagement. Results from the integrated moderated mediation model provide new insights into the interaction of behavioral variables and their effect on strategy execution in contemporary business environment. Keywords: Organizational support, Strategy communication, Strategy engagement, Strategy execution JEL Classification: M10


Wetlands cover around 36,616 km 2 or 7.5% of Thailand's land area. The majority of the 42,000 wetland sites have no formalised, legal protection. This paper reports on a new wetland management approach for communities to manage a seasonally inundated wetland, Goot Ting marshes, in Nong Khai Province, northeastern Thailand. Activities undertaken under this initiative comprised participatory research on the natural resources to identify the biodiversity values and users within the wetland. The boundary and two recognised zones of the community-managed wetland were demarcated. Each zone had specific rules drawn up. Two new institutional bodies for community wetland management – at provincial and wetland level – were established for the management of Goot Ting marshes. This grass-roots initiative provides strong impetus towards a new community-based, conservation agenda for wetland management. Thailand should adopt suitable community wetland legislation and formulate community wetland policy, recognising cust...


Outside of music, the importance of sound and listening have been greatly overlooked in Latin American history. Visual media has dominated cultural studies, affording an incomplete record of the modern era. This edited volume presents an original analysis of the role of sound in Latin American and Caribbean societies, from the late nineteenth century to the present. The contributors examine the importance of sound in the purveyance of power, gender roles, race, community, religion, and populism. They also demonstrate how sound is essential to the formation of citizenship and nationalism. Sonic media, and radio in particular, have become primary tools for contesting political issues. In that vein, the contributors view the control of radio transmission and those who manipulate its content for political gain. Conversely, they show how, in neoliberal climates, radio programs have exposed corruption and provided a voice for activism. The essays address sonic production in a variety of media: radio; Internet; digital recordings; phonographs; speeches; carnival performances; fireworks festivals, and the reinterpretation of sound in literature. They examine the bodily experience of sound, and its importance to memory coding and identity formation. This volume looks to sonic media as an essential vehicle for transmitting ideologies, imagined communities, and culture. As the contributors discern, modern technology has made sound ubiquitous, and its study is therefore crucial to understanding the flow of information and influence in Latin America and globally.


We present the design and implementation of a compiler that, given high-level multiparty session descriptions, generates custom cryptographic protocols. Our sessions specify pre-arranged patterns of message exchanges and data accesses between distributed participants. They provide each participant with strong security guarantees for all their messages. Our compiler generates code for sending and receiving these messages, with cryptographic operations and checks, in order to enforce these guarantees against any adversary that may control both the network and some session participants. We verify that the generated code is secure by relying on a recent type system for cryptography. Most of the proof is performed by mechanized type checking and does not rely on the correctness of our compiler.We obtain the strongest session security guarantees to date in a model that captures the executable details of protocol code. We illustrate and evaluate our approach on a series of protocols inspired by web services.


OBJECTIVE To explore the experiences of children with type 1 diabetes and their parents taking part in an artificial pancreas (AP) clinical trial during a 7-day summer camp. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A semistructured interview, composed of 14 questions based on the Technology Acceptance Model, was conducted at the end of the clinical trial. Participants also completed the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ, parent version) and the AP Acceptance Questionnaire. RESULTS Thirty children, aged 5–9 years, and their parents completed the study. A content analysis of the interviews showed that parents were focused on understanding the mechanisms, risks, and benefits of the new device, whereas the children were focused on the novelty of the new system. The parents' main concerns about adopting the new system seemed related to the quality of glucose control. The mean scores of DTSQ subscales indicated general parents' satisfaction (44.24 ± 5.99, range 32–53) and trustful views of diabetes control provided by the new system (7.8 ± 2.2, range 3–12). The AP Acceptance Questionnaire revealed that most parents considered the AP easy to use (70.5%), intended to use it long term (94.0%), and felt that it was apt to improve glucose control (67.0%). CONCLUSIONS Participants manifested a positive attitude toward the AP. Further studies are required to explore participants' perceptions early in the AP development to individualize the new treatment as much as possible, and to tailor it to respond to their needs and values.


Rights have become,in recent years, a significant concern of legal theorists, as well as of those involved in moral and political philosophy. This new book seeks to move a number of debates forward by developing the analysis of rights and focusing upon more general theoretical considerations relating to rights. The book is divided into five parts. The first includes an explanation of the part played by conceptual analysis within jurisprudence, while the second conducts a re-examination of Hohfeld's analysis of rights. This part deals with the arguments advanced by a number of modern theorists including Hart, White and MacCormick. The third part contains the author's own framework for discussing rights, including examples drawn from tort, constitutional law and international law, together with an analysis of Unger's theory of rights. Part four centres on the perceived conflict between Dworkin, Rawls and Nozick as the defenders of a rights approach, and Bentham as the champion of utilitarianism and concludes that neither deals with the fundamental concerns of morality on which their theories are based. The fifth part consists of a conclusion which reflects on the key themes and considers the role of rights within general theory. For students, particularly helpful features of the book are the overt consideration of jurisprudential methodology and the opportunity to examine a number of key theorists linked by their divergent views on the subject of rights.


Abstract Melt blending using a twin-screw extruder was used to prepare composites of polypropylene (PP)/organic rectorite (PR). The organic rectorite (OREC) was modified with dodecyl benzyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (1227). Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy were used to investigate the dispersion of OREC in the composites. The d spacings of OREC in PR composites was greater than in OREC itself. The dispersion of OREC particles in the PP polymer matrix was fine and uniform when the clay content was small (2 wt.%). The rheology was characterized using a capillary rheometer. The processing behaviour of the PR system improved as the amount of OREC added increased. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics were analysed using differential scanning calorimetry. It was shown that the addition of OREC had a heterogeneous nucleation effect on PP, and can accelerate the crystallization. However, only when fine dispersion was achieved, and at lower rates of temperature decrease, was the crystallinity greater. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction and polarized light microscopy were used to observe the crystalline form and crystallite size. The PP in the PR composites exhibited an α-monoclinic crystal form, as in pure PP, and in both cases a spherulite structure was observed. However, the smaller spherulite size in the PR systems indicated that addition of OREC can reduce the crystal size significantly, which might improve the 'toughness' of the PP. The mechanical properties (tensile and impact strength) improved when the amount of OREC added was appropriate. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed that the storage modulus (E') and loss modulus (E'') of the nanocomposites were somewhat greater than those of pure PP when an appropriate amount of OREC was added. Finally, thermogravimetric analysis showed that the PR systems exhibited a greater thermal stability than was seen with pure PP.


As the demand for real-time data services (e.g., e-commerce or on line auctions) increases, it is desired for a real-time database to increase the timely throughput-the amount of data processed in a timely manner. As the timely throughput of a centralized real-time database is limited, it is desired to federate a set of real-time databases to increases the timely throughput. However, related work on distributed real-time databases is scarce. Most existing approaches are highly complex, incurring non-trivial overheads. Neither are they implemented in a real database system. To address the problem, we design a new system architecture for federated real-time data services and develop efficient approaches for load sharing among a set of clustered databases. To support the desired data service delay even in the presence of dynamic workloads, each individual database employs a single-input single-output (SISO) feedback admission control scheme. Based on the admission control signals collected from the individual databases, cluster-wide load sharing is performed to enhance the total timely throughput by fully utilizing the federated databases, while avoiding to overload them. We have implemented and evaluated the performance of our approach by extending the Oracle Berkeley DB. Our system significantly enhances the timely data throughput compared to a single centralized system, while effectively dealing with emulated partial unavailability of a set of federated databases.


We introduce a simple functional language foetus (lambda calculus with tuples, constructors and pattern matching) supplied with a termination checker. This checker tries to find a well-founded structural order on the parameters on the given function to prove termination. The components of the check algorithm are: function call extraction out of the program text, call graph completion and finding a lexical order for the function parameters. The HTML version of this paper contains many ready-to-run Web-based examples.


Synthetic impact surrogates are widely used in the sporting goods industry in the evaluation of personal protective equipment. Existing surrogates, exemplified by those used in safety standards, have many shortcomings, primarily relating to their mass, stiffness, geometries and levels of constraint which limit their biofidelity and subsequent usefulness in personal protective equipment evaluations. In sports, absence from competition is a primary severity measure for injuries; consequently, blunt trauma injuries, such as contusions and lacerations, become pertinent and serious concerns. It is important, therefore, that synthetic surrogates provide an adequate description of these soft tissues to effectively evaluate injury risk. A novel, multi-material human thigh surrogate has been presented with consideration to the tissue structures, geometries and simulant materials used. This study presents the detailed development stages undertaken to fabricate a multi-material synthetic soft tissue surrogate with skin, subcutaneous adipose and muscle tissue components. The resultant surrogate demonstrates the successful use of sequential moulding techniques to construct a full-scale anatomical human impact surrogate which can be used in personal protective equipment testing.


OPERA Mozart and His Operas. By David Cairns. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. [xi, 290 p. ISBN-10: 0520228987; ISBN-13: 9780520228986. $29.95.] Bibliographic references, index, illustrations. The cornucopia of literature available on Mozart's operas makes a many-coursed banquet-some might say a groaning board-for the interested reader. David Cairns, in his new book, admits as much in his first sentence: "Another book on Mozart and his operas may not be needed" (p. 1). Authors on this topic have whipped up their own concoctions out of much the same ingredients, producing an almost endless variety, from delicacies to square meals to basic field rations. But the question is: can anyone bring anything new to the table? In the late 18th century, magnificent feasts of five to six courses were the norm. So before the question above can be answered, let us sample some of the main treats already prepared. Brigid Brophy's Mozart the Dramatist: A New View of Mozart, His Operas and His Age (New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1964; reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1988), like a savory appetizer, is a brilliant meditation on the intellectual and cultural connections of the operas, with references as far afield as Sigmund Freud, Alexander Pope, Antoine Watteau, Soren Kierkegaard, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Alma Mahler. It is somewhat dated in its unquestioned Freudian and anti-Beethovian stance, but it is full of surprising details and is organized by topic ("Anarchy, Impotence and Classicism," "Women and Opera"), rather than chronology. For those who are ravenously hungry, William Mann's The Operas of Mozart (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977) is an encyclopedic reference work that provides music examples and English translations of every solo aria. It contains fascinating asides that focus on, for example, contemporary notions of key characteristics, and provides much historical and cultural background. Although this work is also a bit dated (he mentions the "age of Aquarius" on p. 1), it offers, in its author's words, "the genesis of each opera . . . exactly what words and music are contained in each musical number . . . a commentary on the whole dramatic action as it develops, as well as a critical consideration of each work." (p. 4). But by far the most satisfying dish has been brought forth by Daniel Heartz with Thomas Bauman, Mozart's Operas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990). Although it only treats the "operas of Mozart's mature years" (p. xii), i.e., Idomeneo to The Magic Flute, and eschews being an "operatic Baedeker" (p. xiv), Heartz provides contextual information on the operas from original sources, autograph studies, and other musicological inquiries. The book has extensive music examples, illustrations, parallel translations of texts, reliable references, and goes a long way to correcting previous misunderstandings. This work does presume a lot of background knowledge on the reader's part, and contains some musical analysis (forms, key relations), but is stuffed with enough interesting tidbits ("Mozart wrote the bass part especially large throughout his autograph so that the continuo cellist, old Innozenz Danzi, could read it," p. 47) and useful tables to sate a non-musician. Two final tastings are works that put Mozart's operas into cultural context: Mary Hunter's The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999) and Andrew Steptoe's The Mozart-DaPonte Operas (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988). Hunter's book is a true scholarly work, offering invaluable social, political, gender-related, and musical contexts. She treats Mozart's buffa operas as part of a "dialogue between individual operas and generic conventions of plot, character, dramatic function, musical 'type' and vocal behavior" (p. 5), and the appendices contain a list of operas she consulted (79!), the formal structures of buffa arias, and rare plot summaries. …


This volume brings together ten essays on the various contexts for texts that social-scientific approaches invoke. These contexts are: the cultural values that inform the writers of texts, the relationship between the text and the reader or community of readers, and the production of texts themselves as social artifacts. In the first, predominantly theoretical, section of the book, John Rogerson applies the perspective of Adorno to the reading of biblical texts; Mark Brett advocates methodological pluralism and deconstructs ethnicity in Genesis; and Gerald West explores the 'graininess' of texts. The second part contains both theory and application: Jonathan Dyck draws a 'map of ideology' for biblical critics and then applies an ideological critical analysis to Ezra 2. M. Daniel Carroll R. reexamines 'popular religion' and uses Amos as a test case; Stanley Porter considers dialect and register in the Greek of the New Testament, then applies it to Mark's Gospel. This is an original as well as wide-ranging exploration of important social-scientific issues and their application to a range of biblical materials.


Description Isatis tinctoria (also known as dyer's woad), is a member of the Brassica family. Although native to the grasslands of southeastern Russia, it spread widely across Asia and Europe by cultivation, and is considered a noxious weed in most of the western United States. In addition to its medicinal use, Isatis has a long history of use as an indigo dye. Isatis is a commonly used herb in traditional Chinese medicine. Root extracts of the herb are known as Ban Lang Gen and leaf extracts are known as Da Qing Ye. An indigo dye extract containing other herbs in addition to Isatis is referred to as Qing Dai. Documented medicinal use of Isatis in the western tradition extends back to at least the first century A.D. Both the leaves and roots have been used medicinally.


We summarize our knowledge of the phase behavior of polymer solutions and blends using a unified approach. We begin with a derivation of the Flory–Huggins expression for the Gibbs free energy of mixing two chemically dissimilar polymers. The Gibbs free energy of mixing of polymer solutions is obtained as a special case. These expressions are used to interpret observed phase behavior of polymer solutions and blends. Temperature- and pressure-dependent phase diagrams are used to determine the Flory–Huggins interaction parameter, χ. We also discuss an alternative approach for measuring χ due to de Gennes, who showed that neutron scattering from concentration fluctuations in one-phase systems was a sensitive function of χ. In most cases, the agreement between experimental data and the standard Flory–Huggins–de Gennes approach is qualitative. We conclude by summarizing advanced theories that have been proposed to address the limitations of the standard approach. In spite of considerable effort, there is no con...


An important challenge faced by the Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) is to mitigate delays in the implementation of its operations. To this end, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored a study to identify implementation procurement factors that cause implementation delays. The study found that 26 percent of the sovereign guaranteed investment lending portfolio financed by the IDB experienced procurement-related delays, primarily explained by nine factors. Among the factors related to a wide variety of procurement aspects of the procurement cycle, from design, planning and bidding process to contract's monitoring by the executing agency. This study identifies and evaluates the key procurement-related factors affecting project execution, based on surveys and information from internal and external Bank sources. The paper is divided into three sections: methodology, results and conclusions.


It's known that human is a product of his environment. His thoughts, desires and needs formed according to his cultural trends which related to his society. These cultural trends differ from one country to another and depending on  environment, history, language, religion and beliefs……Accordingly; we can find a huge difference in the cultures of people and their needs.  In spite of the widespread application of globalization and its orientations in various fields, it is inconsistent (at least theoretically) with the concept of designer identity, as the designer is always trying (during the design process) to express himself and trying to reflect the culture (the character) of his society in order to solve the problems of his environment and achieve the needs of his people.  The designer work needs to analyze and evaluate to understand the positivism or the negativism of the effect of his culture. So, this research is an attempt to resolve the conflict between the meaning of globalization and the concept of ''design identity'' which comes from a specific society and a specific culture, and applying the results in the field of furniture design.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a new method to extend the range of Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) systems. It exploits the virtual transparency created by second-order Raman pumping in optical fibers. The idea is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated in a 50 km fiber. By working close to transparency, we also show that the measurement length of the BOTDA can be increased up to 100 km with 2 meter resolution. We envisage extensions of this technique to measurement lengths well beyond this value, as long as the issue of relative intensity noise (RIN) of the primary Raman pump can be avoided.


Pension reform can potentially increase saving and improve incentives for labor force participation later in life. We investigate whether these effects are likely to occur and the potential size of the effects on private and total saving and on employment past age 55. Our survey of existing evidence and new empirical analysis focus on three issues: The possible reduction in other government saving if more assets are accumulated in a public retirement program; the reduction in non-pension private saving if assets are accumulated in new private retirement accounts; and the increase in old-age labor supply that could occur if Social Security benefits are reduced. We find mixed evidence that faster accumulation of assets in public or private retirement funds would produce higher public and private saving. Using the most optimistic estimates of the public saving response to faster accumulation in public retirement funds, we find advance funding will cause a big increase in aggregate saving and future national income. However, international evidence suggests governments are likely to offset a large percentage of public pension fund accumulation by reducing saving in other government accounts. The evidence on private saving suggests that savers tend to offset faster accumulation of assets in pension accounts with lower saving in non-pension accounts. Most empirical estimates of the labor supply response to Social Security reductions imply the response will be small. Even using unrealistically high estimates of responsiveness, we find that a one-third cut in benefits will add less than 3 percent to the future labor force.


Background:
 In the Interventional Management of Stroke III trial, there was a 35% incidence of improvement or resolution of occlusion in IV alteplase treated patients selected by computed tomographic (CT) angiogram for endovascular treatment.

 Objective:
 To determine the frequency of resolution or change in occlusion site in patients with CT angiogram demonstrated occlusion in IV alteplase treated or untreated patients.

 Methods:
 All acute ischemic stroke patients who underwent a computed tomographic (CT) angiogram and subsequently underwent endovascular treatment were included. The CT angiogram images were reviewed by an independent reviewer to determine presence and location of arterial occlusion and severity of occlusion was classified by a previously described grading scheme. The cerebral angiographic images were reviewed for similar endpoints. Clinical outcome at discharge was determined using modified Rankin scale (mRS).

 Results:
 CT angiogram was performed in 151 patients (mean age ± SD of 64±16 years) prior to endovascular treatment. The mean interval (±SD) between CT angiogram and cerebral angiogram was 190±10 (min) and 66 of 151 patients (43.7%) received IV alteplase prior to cerebral angiography. The rate of any recanalization prior to cerebral angiography was 28 of 151 (18.5%) and no change in occlusion was found in 92 (60.9%) patients whereas 31 (20.5%) patients showed worsening in occlusion based on the grading scheme. The rate of interim recanalization was similar in IV alteplase treated patients versus untreated patients (19.6% vs % 17.6, p= 0.7) The frequency of Angiographic recanalization following endovascular treatment was similar in both groups (67.8% versus 71.2%, p=0.7), After adjusting for age and initial NIHSS score strata, interim recanalization was not associated with higher rate of mRS 0-2 at discharge (OR 1.9, 95% CI 0.7-5.2).

 Conclusions:
 A relatively high proportion of patients have interim recanalization between CT angiogram and cerebral angiogram in acute ischemic stroke patients selected for endovascular treatment.


Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSRA) is one of the main causes of
serious infections in Iran and other countries. Treatment of these infections has become more difficult
because of resistance to most antibiotics. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of
methicillin-resistance gene in S. aureus isolates and antibiotic susceptibility to oxacillin and other
antibiotics were performed by Disc Diffusion Agar (DDA).
Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on SA isolates (n=73) collected from the clinical
samples at during 2011 in ICU and Emeregency sections. All S. aureus isolates was identified after
performing by routine laboratory procedures including, Gram stain, catalase test, DNase production,
coagulase activity and mannitol salt fermentation. In this study used to identify Phenotypic by Disc
Diffusion Agar (DDA) and for identify genotypic two pairs of primers designed by AlleleID software
(version 6) on the basis of published DNA sequences of the S. aureus gene. Synthesis of primers was
carry out by Cinnagen Company, Iran. PCR reaction of mecA with designed primers was optimized
and incident of mecA was studied in clinical samples in ICU and Emergency sections.
Results: The PCR analysis of 73 S. aureus isolates originated from patients for mecA showed 65
(89%) cases were positive. But only 54 (74%) isolates were methicillin resistant when we used the
DDA method.
Conclusion: As a conclusion, the resistance to methicillin of S. aureus in Baqiyatallah hospitals has
reached to 89% and more than 95% of them were multidrug resistance


Radiographs of the abdomen and pelvis are routinely obtained as a standard part of clinical care for the abdomen and pelvis. Brisk advances in technology over the last few decades have resulted in a multitude of medical devices and materials. Recognizing and evaluating these devices on abdominal and pelvic radiographs are critical, yet increasingly a difficult endeavor. In addition, multiple devices serving different purposes may have a similar radiographic appearance and position causing confusion for the interpreting radiologist. The role of the radiologist is to not only identify accurately these medical objects, but also to confirm for their accurate placement and to recognize any complications that could affect patient care, management or even be potentially life threatening. An extensive online search of literature showed our review article to be the most comprehensive work on medical devices and materials of the abdomen and pelvis, and in this second part of our two-part series, we discuss in depth about the neurologic and genitourinary devices seen on abdominal and pelvic radiographs.


The modification of Talbot interferometer configuration for obtaining moire fringe shearing interferograms with an increased shear amount is proposed. The problem of decrease of interferogram quality that occurs when using higher frequency gratings is significantly eliminated by rotating the beam splitter grating about the axis perpendicular to the grating lines. The theory of the interferometer and its experimental verification are presented.


Much scholarship in chemical education draws upon the model of there being three 'levels' at which the teaching and learning of chemistry operates, a notion which is often represented graphically in terms of a triangle with the apices labelled as macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic. This model was proposed by Johnstone who argued that chemistry education needs to take into account ideas deriving from psychological research on cognition about how information is processed in learning. Johnstone's model, or the 'chemistry triplet', has been widely taken-up in chemistry education, but has also been developed and reconceptualised in diverse ways such that there is no canonical form generally adopted in the community. Three decades on from the introduction of Johnstone's model of the three levels, the present perspective article revisits both the analysis of chemical knowledge itself, and key ideas from the learning sciences that can offer insights into how to best teach the macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic aspects of chemical knowledge.


In 2008 January the twenty-fourth Chinese expedition team successfully deployed the Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau. CSTAR consists of four 14.5 cm optical telescopes, each with a different filter (g, r, i, and open) and has a 4.5° × 4.5° field of view (FOV). It operates robotically as part of the Plateau Observatory, PLATO, with each telescope taking an image every ∼30 s throughout the year whenever it is dark. During 2008, CSTAR 1 performed almost flawlessly, acquiring more than 0.3 million i -band images for a total integration time of 1728 hr during 158 days of observations. For each image taken under good sky conditions, more than 10,000 sources down to ∼16th magnitude could be detected. We performed aperture photometry on all the sources in the field to create the catalog described herein. Since CSTAR has a fixed pointing centered on the south celestial pole (decl. = -90°), all the sources within the FOV of CSTAR were monitored continuously for several months. The photometric catalog can be used for studying any variability in these sources, and for the discovery of transient sources such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and minor planets.


Abstract While the benefits of routine outcome measurement have been extolled and to some degree researched, it is surprising that service user opinions on this common therapy practice have largely not been investigated. This study aimed to assess service users' experiences of completing measures during psychological therapy, with a view to exploring how therapists can maximize how helpful measures are in therapy. Fifteen participants completed surveys about the use of measures in their current episode of care. Ten clinicians also completed a survey about their use of, and views about, measures. Results showed that despite mixed experiences in how measures were explained and used, service users showed generally favourable attitudes towards their use in therapy, with them being perceived as most helpful when well integrated into sessions by their therapists. Clinicians reported using a wide range of measures, and generally endorsed positive beliefs about measures more strongly than negative ones. Implications for clinical practice, service development, and further research are discussed.


Behind every long stride, high-flying pole vault and perfectly controlled discus throw, science is at work. As a high jumper takes off, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. A discus thrower builds up momentum while spinning. Find out how science is involved in Olympic track and field events and how athletes take science into account in their quest for the gold medal.


A Rho guanosine triphosphatase–based regulatory mechanism reveals how plants remodel membranes and cell walls to produce various cell shapes. Cellular shape is tied to the cytoskeleton, with specialized regions of the plasma membrane attracting or repelling microtubules, a process mediated by the microtubule binding protein MIDD1. In plants, individual xylem cells are peppered with open pits that facilitate fluid transport, and so Oda and Fukuda studied ROP (Rho family guanosine triphosphatases of plants) proteins from xylem cells to investigate how pits develop. Formation of the pits seems to depend on MIDD1 to destabilize the microtubules at that point. A cascade of ROP proteins establishes the point at which MIDD1 functions, and reverse inhibition of one of the ROP proteins keeps the pit formation focused on a point. Y. Oda, H. Fukuda, Initiation of cell wall pattern by a Rho- and microtubule-driven symmetry breaking. Science 337, 1333–1336 (2012). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Competition and its effects are difficult to demonstrate, as they vary depending on the species present and the environmental conditions in each community. We conducted laboratory and field experiments to evaluate the effects of intra- and interspecific interactions on the use of food resources and behavior of the sea stars Leptasterias polaris and Asterias vulgaris, 2 major predators in subtidal communities of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. We demonstrate interference (en- counter) competition between the two. For both species, the presence of the other (as detected by both contact and chemical signals) decreased feeding activity and provoked behavioral changes (avoidance, decrease in percentage feeding). These effects were reversible and short-lived, and were more pronounced when there was a shortage of food and when sea stars were exposed to simulated attacks by the other species (involving pedicellarial pinching). L. polaris seemed to be the inferior competitor as (1) it switched to less profitable prey size (smaller mussels, Mytilus edulis) when A. vul- garis was present, and (2) it avoided A. vulgaris and reduced its feeding activity when food was scarce. The dominance of A. vulgaris is possibly attenuated at our study site (near its northern distri- butional limit) by the reduction of its fitness when water temperatures are low (most of the year) and during the winter when it migrates to deeper water. Competition for food resources seems to occur periodically (mainly summer), in localized areas (patches and beds of mussels) or when sea stars form dense aggregations in which they are likely to interact frequently. Interactions, and thus the chance of competition, are less likely at greater depths. Coexistence seems to be permitted by both the atten- uation of the dominance of A. vulgaris and by the great variations in how L. polaris and A. vulgaris interact (strongly affected by variations in prey availability, sea star abundance, and in the patterns of prey use by both sea stars).


[1] The equilibrium climate effect of direct radiative forcing of anthropogenic black carbon (BC) is examined by 100-year simulations in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies General Circulation Model II-prime coupled to a mixed-layer ocean model. Anthropogenic BC is predicted to raise globally and annually averaged equilibrium surface air temperature by 0.20 K if BC is assumed to be externally mixed. The predicted increase is significantly greater in the Northern Hemisphere (0.29 K) than in the Southern Hemisphere (0.11 K). If BC is assumed to be internally mixed with the present-day level of sulfate aerosol, the predicted annual mean surface temperature increase rises to 0.37 K globally, 0.54 K for the Northern Hemisphere, and 0.20 K for the Southern Hemisphere. The climate sensitivity of BC direct radiative forcing is calculated to be 0.6 K W−1 m2, which is about 70% of that of CO2, independent of the assumption of BC mixing state. The largest surface temperature response occurs over the northern high latitudes during winter and early spring. In the tropics and midlatitudes, the largest temperature increase is predicted to occur in the upper troposphere. Direct radiative forcing of anthropogenic BC is also predicted to lead to a change of precipitation patterns in the tropics; precipitation is predicted to increase between 0 and 20°N and decrease between 0 and 20°S, shifting the intertropical convergence zone northward. If BC is assumed to be internally mixed with sulfate instead of externally mixed, the change in precipitation pattern is enhanced. The change in precipitation pattern is not predicted to alter the global burden of BC significantly because the change occurs predominantly in regions removed from BC sources.


Abstract Purpose: To explore perspectives and experiences of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and health care professionals of mental health support for MS in the UK. Method: 24 people with MS, 13 practice nurses, 12 general practitioners (GPs) and 9 MS specialist nurses were recruited through community groups and primary care practices across North West England. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data analyzed thematically using constant comparative analysis within and across the data sets. The theoretical framework of candidacy was used to interrogate data. Results: Four themes were identified: candidates for care, management choices, defining roles, and permeability and responsiveness. Discussion: Candidacy for care, and symptom management, depended on the framing of symptoms through a social or medical model of depression. Normalizing symptoms could prevent help-seeking by patients. Reported referral behavior varied by professional group, based on perceived remit, competency and training needs. GPs were perceived by patients and other professionals as central for management of mental health needs in MS, but may not perceive this role themselves, suggesting a need for increased knowledge, training, and improved access to specialist care. Implications for Rehabilitation Anxiety and depression are common in people with MS. Management of mental health needs in people with MS relies on complex decisions made by both people with MS and health care professionals. General practitioners may play a key role in the ongoing management of mental health needs of people with MS.


Introduction: Pre-diabetes is a condition that persists for a considerable duration before progressing into type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Development of resistance to insulin is the underlying cause of pre-diabetes, preventive measures such as diagnosis, treatment and exercise will preclude its development into T2DM. The present study aims at studying the effect of pre-treatment and post-treatment with isolated fraction of Costus igneus on pre-diabetes and diabetes in neonatal streptozotocin (STZ) induced T2DM.Methods: Neonatal rats were treated with STZ and differentiated for pre-treatment and post-treatment. Rats of pre-treated group were treated with isolated fraction of Costus igneus (CIF) from 4th week after STZ administration and after 12th week in non-treated rats of post-treatment group. The antihyperglycemic was studied on 7th and 12th week after STZ treatment using oral glucose tolerance test and the hypoglycemic effect was studied on day 1, 7, 14 and 21 of treatment after 12th week of STZ treatment in both pre and post treated groups.Results: Oral glucose tolerance test on 7th and 12th week had shown a protective effect against increase in blood glucose levels in pre-treated groups whereas, no such significant decrease was observed in non-treated groups. In the effect on hypoglycemia, a reduction in blood glucose levels was observed on treatment with CIF in both pre and post treated rats on 14th and 21st day.Conclusions: Treatment with CIF in pre-diabetic stage could reduce the chances of progression into T2DM and is also beneficial in diabetic rats, which could be due to increase in the peripheral utilization of glucose and the insulin mimetic effect of Costus igneus.


The Windrush scandal belongs to a much longer arc of Caribbean-British transmigration, forced and free. The genesis of the scandal can be found in the post–World War II period, when Caribbean migration was at first strongly encouraged and then increasingly harshly constrained. This reflection traces the effects of these changes as they were experienced in the lives of individuals and families. In the Caribbean this recent scandal is understood as extending the longer history of colonial relations
between Britain and the Caribbean and as a further reason to demand reparations for slavery. Experiences of the Windrush generation recall the limbo dance of the middle passage; the dancer moves under a bar that is gradually lowered until a mere slit remains.


This study investigated first-line managers' experience of and responses to a concise leadership intervention to facilitate the implementation of oral care clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in nursing homes. Leadership is known to be an important element in knowledge implementation but little is known as to what supports managers to facilitate the process. By means of a process evaluation with mixed methods, the context and a three-month leadership program was explored, including activities during and in relation to the program, and the effects in terms of oral care CPG implementation plans. While the managers appreciated the intervention and considered improved oral care to be a priority, their implementation plans mainly focused the dissemination of an oral care checklist. The findings suggest that extended implementation interventions engaging both managers and clinical staff are needed, and that a concise intervention does not facilitate first-line managers to adopt behaviors known to facilitate knowledge implementation.


This research examines the impacts of climate change on the potential future distribution of Lantana camara L., a highly invasive species, in continental Australia. A process-based niche model of lantana is developed, using CLIMEX software, to estimate its potential distribution. The likely impact of climate change is explored using climate data from two Global Climate Models (GCMs), Echam Mark 3 (ECHAM3) and Hadley Mark 2 (HadCM2). The models are run with high as well as low emission scenarios projected 20 years (2030s) and 50 years (2070s) into the future. Both GCMs show a southward shift in distribution based on the climate data. Suitable areas for L. camara are identified well into the 2070s. Some of these areas coincide with bioregions containing endangered ecological communities which need to be prioritized for management actions. HadCM2 shows a more restricted lantana distribution with most of the continent becoming unsuitable by the 2070s except for some areas of suitability along the eastern coast. ECHAM3 identifies larger parts of the continent, particularly in south-west Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and large parts of the eastern coast as remaining suitable for lantana invasion into the 2070s. KeywordsClimate Change, CLIMEX, Invasive Species,


Structural analysis of remotely sensed images of Eritrea, guided by the common presence of a mid-Oligocene datum at the base of flood basalt at different elevations, helps to piece together the Tertiary history of the western flank of the Red Sea basin. Many of the Tertiary faults are reactivated shear zones in the Pan-African basement, the most important Tertiary fault at the foot of the Red Sea Escarpment marking the site of a pre-Tertiary boundary between andesitic island-arc crust and deeper, perhaps older granitoid migmatites. The initiation of extensional sedimentary basins in Eritrea clearly followed volcanism, as did doming and uplift. This sequence lends some support to active mantle upwelling as the primary tectonic impetus, specifically to massive melting simultaneous with plume impact with the lithosphere. The coincidence of major Tertiary extensional faults with zones of mid-crustal to lower-crustal silicic basement may indicate that active mantle processes were focused by zones of Theologically weak lithosphere, as postulated by Dixon et al. (1989).


Objectives This study aims to establish expert opinion and potential improvements for the Falsified Medicines Directive mandated medicines authentication technology. Design and intervention A two-round Delphi method study using an online questionnaire. Setting Large National Health Service (NHS) foundation trust teaching hospital. Participants Secondary care pharmacists and accredited checking technicians. Primary outcome measures Seven-point rating scale answers which reached a consensus of 70–80% with a standard deviation (SD) of <1.0. Likert scale questions which reached a consensus of 70–80%, a SD of <1.0 and classified as important according to study criteria. Results Consensus expert opinion has described database cross-checking technology as quick and user friendly and suggested the inclusion of an audio signal to further support the detection of counterfeit medicines in secondary care (70% consensus, 0.9 SD); other important consensus with a SD of <1.0 included reviewing the colour and information in warning pop up screens to ensure they were not mistaken for the 'already dispensed here' pop up, encouraging the dispenser/checker to act on the warnings and making it mandatory to complete an 'action taken' documentation process to improve the quarantine of potentially counterfeit, expired or recalled medicines. Conclusions This paper informs key opinion leaders and decision makers as to the positives and negatives of medicines authentication technology from an operator's perspective and suggests the adjustments which may be required to improve operator compliance and the detection of counterfeit medicines in the secondary care sector.


In the last couple of decades, there has been an increased awareness of the effects that electricity generation has on the environment through the emission of greenhouse gases and the depletion of natural resources. This realisation, coupled with an increased drive towards ensuring the sustainability of the energy supply system, has lead many, including the United Kingdom government to investigate the options for moving away from traditional fossil fuel-burning generation methods towards "lowcarbon" generators, such as renewables and nuclear power. Specifically, wind power, the more mature systems (with the exception of hydro power) of the available renewable energy supply, and nuclear power, a technology seen as producing large amounts of electricity with very few associated greenhouse emissions, have been promoted but also pitted against each other by analysts and policy makers. This work aims to provide a balanced analysis of wind power and nuclear power with respect to their effects on the natural environment. As such, modeling has been undertaken of a Generation III+ nuclear reactor, an onshore wind farm located in southern Scotland and an offshore wind farm near the Thames estuary while environmental indicators have been created to permit the comparative assessment of these three electricity generation technologies, in a U.K. context. These indicators thus facilitate an assessment of the energy requirements, the associated greenhouse gas emissions, the natural resource requirements, as well as the displaced carbon dioxide emissions from operation of each power plant. A parametric analysis has also been conducted to show the range of likely variations in each indicator's values. The results of this research show that all three technologies demonstrate similar performance with respect to their energetic and environmental impacts. More specifically, the wind farms demonstrate better energy gain ratios than the nuclear power plant when they are credited for not depleting non-renewable fuel sources. The wind farms also are shown to pay back their energy investments faster than the nuclear power plant. On the other hand, the nuclear power plant is found to produce slightly lower greenhouse gas emissions than either onshore or offshore wind farms. With respect to the assessment of natural resource depletion, it is estimated that both wind farms need more land per unit of electricity produced than the nuclear power plant, but all three power plants permanently sequester similar amounts of water. The wind farms and the nuclear power plant are found to have similar performance with respect to their material requirements, while the calculation of the avoided emissions factors for all technologies are of similar orders of magnitude. All results are shown to be highly sensitive to the assumptions made about the prospective lifecycles, and as such caution should be exercised when drawing conclusions about any comparative advantages. Nethertheless both technologies are clearly shown to have lower environmental impacts than traditional electricity generation technologies.


Probabilistic planning problems are often modeled as Markov decision problems (MDPs), which assume that a single action is executed per decision epoch and that actions take unit time. However, in the real world it is common to execute several actions in parallel, and the durations of these actions may differ. This paper presents our ongoing work on incorporating concurrent, durative actions in probabilistic planning. In particular we describeConcurrent MDPs , MDPs which allow multiple instantaneous actions to be executed simultaneously, and present two algorithms which perform orders of magnitude faster than naive approaches. We then add explicit action durations into our model and encode them as concurrent MDPs in an augmented state space. We present a novel heuristic and prove it admissible. Initial experimental results demonstrate the promise of our approach, showing speedup due to both the heuristic and our sampled RTDP algorithm.


Finite element (FE) model updating belongs to the class of inverse problems in mechanics and is a constrained optimization problem. In FE model updating, the difference between the modal parameters (the frequencies, damping ratios and the mode shapes) obtained from the FE model of the structure and those from the vibration measurements are minimized within an optimization algorithm. The design variables of the optimization problem are the stiffness reduction factors, which represent the damage. In this study, the Genetic Algorithms (GA), the Parallel GA, the local search algorithms, the Trust Region Gauss Newton, the Sequential Quadratic Programming, the Levenberg–Marquardt Techniques and the hybrid versions of these methods are applied within the FE Model Updating Technique for updating the Young's modulus of different FEs of a reinforced concrete beam. Different damage scenarios and different noise levels are taken into account. The results of the study show that the local search algorithms cannot detect, locate and quantify damage in reinforced concrete beam type structures while the GA together with the hybrid and the parallel versions detect, localize and identify the damage very accurately. It is apparent that the hybrid GA & Trust Region Gauss Newton Technique is best in terms of the computation speed as well as accuracy.


A description is given of the properties of plane diffraction gratings used in conical diffraction. Formulas are given for computing the direction of the diffracted orders. Experiments were performed to investigate the behavior of gratings used on conical diffraction mountings. Comparisons made with classical diffraction mountings show a significant increase in the efficiency of the −1 order. An empirical formula to predict the efficiencies of gratings used in conical diffraction mountings has been verified by the measurements.


In this paper we assess the different definitions and theories of economic competitiveness at the firm and national levels. First we contrast the theories of classical liberal economists with those of the German historical school of national economics, noting the importance of the historical school for theories of national economic competitiveness. Drawing on the comparative political economy literature on 'varieties of capitalism', we hen discuss the factors underlying competitiveness in social market economies, social democratic economies, and liberal economies. These models f capitalism are compared under six headings: labour markets and labour market institutions; financial markets; corporate funding and governance; inter-firm relations; the role of the state; and economic culture and history. In the penultimate section of the paper we discuss how the different odels of capitalism have responded to the economic crisis and the impact of the crisis on their economic competitiveness. The paper concludes with a summary of the key points to emerge from the analysis and looks to how the scene may evolve as national economies begin to adapt.


Introduction Primary or simple ulcer of the small intestine occurring beyond the duodenum is rare. The lesion includes single ulcers within the jejunum and ileum of unknown etiology. This lesion is to be differentiated from the type of ulceration occurring in regional enteritis as shown in Table 1. About 170 cases of simple ulcer of the small intestine have been reported in the world's literature. The purpose of this paper is to report two additional cases from the Department of Surgery at Santa Clara County Hospital and briefly to review the literature. Historical Background Baille was the first to report an ulcer of the small intestine in 1805. Morrin reported 85 cases occurring before 1931. 10 Evert et al reviewed an additional 31 cases between 1931 and 1944, 4 and Morlock et al reported 32 cases from the Mayo Clinic up to 1956. 9 Sporadic cases have since been reported


: The prospect of surgery can be frightening and more extensive surgery is included more anxious. Knowledge of how to surgery reduces anxiety. Hence, our goals are as follows: The majority of adults, who should be considered for cardiac surgery, suffer from the disease of the heart valves or coronary artery disease or both. also, a few of them have congenital problems that may have abnormal valves or possibly a link between heart chambers. In this case, The People Undergoing cardiac surgery in infancy or childhood have been successful heart surgery and now, only they express their concerns to the doctor.


The paper discusses the issue of estimating shortand long-run exchange rate pass-through to import prices in euro area countries and reviews some problems with the measures recently proposed in the literature. Theoretical considerations suggest a cointegrating relationship (between import unit values, the exchange rate and foreign prices), which is typically ignored in existing empirical studies. We use time series and up-to-date panel data techniques to test for cointegration with the possibility of structural breaks and show how the long run may be restored in the estimation. The main finding is that allowing for possible breaks around the formation of EMU and the appreciation of the euro starting in 2001 helps restore a long run cointegration relationship, where over the sample period the fixed component of the pass-through decreased while the variable component tended to increase. JEL: F14, F31, F36, F42, C23


This thesis investigates the relationship between conflict, economic growth, state capacity and natural resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. It contributes to the limited research in this area and empirically examines these relationships using different econometric models. The first empirical chapter uses a panel dataset that covers the period 1997 - 2013 to analyse the effects of economic growth on conflict in Nigeria using the negative binomial model. The findings support the direct relationship between economic growth and conflict in Nigeria. Controlling for other factors, the results indicate that increase in growth rate - measured by annual growth rate of GDP per capita - decreases the expected number of conflicts.
The study finds no evidence of a relationship between levels of wealth in a state and the incidence of conflicts. The analysis controls for factors such as spill-over effects from other states and year and state effects. Finally, to address potential concerns that economic growth could be a cause of conflict or that other unobserved factors could confound the relationship between economic growth and conflict, the chapter employs instrumental variable (IV) estimation using percentage change in rainfall as an instrument. The results with the IV estimation are similar to the results without IV in terms of both sign and significance, indicating that the negative effect of economic growth on conflicts is not due to reverse causality or omitted variables. For robustness checks, a Panel Autoregressive model (PVAR) is also employed.
The second empirical chapter analyses the effect of conflict on state capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. State capacity is measured in terms of fiscal and legal capacity. It also looks at the effects of internal and external conflicts on state capacity. The chapter adopts the Ordinary least squared (OLS) and the system generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimation methods to analyse the panel data consisting of 49 Sub-Saharan countries over the period 2000 - 2015. The results suggest that conflicts have a negative and significant effect on state capacity. However, when military expenditure is used as a proxy for state capacity it is found that conflict strengthens state capacity. The results are consistent with theoretical argument that internal conflicts polarise societies and make it more difficult for governments to reach a consensus in investing in state capacity, while external conflicts mobilise domestic population against a common enemy thereby helping in state capacity building.
Finally, the third empirical chapter examines the effect of natural resources on conflict onset and duration using discrete choice models with a dataset covering the period 1980 -2016. The results on the duration analysis show that natural resources prolong duration of conflicts. However, it is found that not all natural resources prolong duration of conflicts. Oil production does not seem to affect duration, whereas oil reserves and gas production lengthens the duration. The findings from the onset analysis show that both production and reserves of natural resources increase the risk of conflict onset.


A substantial body of empirical work suggests that young, economically marginalized males are the most likely perpetrators and victims of serious physical violence. Interpreting these findings in a historicized way that has been neglected by the criminological discourses of the moment suggests that physical violence has become an increasingly unsuccessful strategy in the quest for social power in liberal-capitalist societies. Although it has been displaced by symbolic violence as the principal domineering force in capitalism's historical project, physical violence has not been genuinely discouraged but harnessed as a specialist practice in a pseudo-pacification process. From this perspective, violence has a complex relationship with liberal-capitalism. Can the concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' help criminology to deal with this complexity and inform violence reduction strategies? This article argues that, in the context of pseudo-pacification, the notion that violent males 'rework the themes' of an institutionally powerful 'hegemonic masculinity' inverts and distorts the concept of hegemony, which for Gramsci was the self-affirming cultural production of the dominant political-economic class. Thus the concept of 'hegemonic masculinity' tends to downplay political economy and class power, which suggests that it is too far removed from historical processes and material contexts to either justify the use of the term hegemony itself or explain the striking social patterns of male violence. This intellectual retreat is representative of a general political evacuation of capitalism's global socioeconomic processes, a move that is allowing sparsely regulated market forces to continue the economic insecurity, specialist roles and corresponding cultural forms that reproduce the traditional male propensity to physical violence.


The upcoming 5G heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have attracted much attention worldwide. Large amounts of high-velocity data can be transported by using the bandwidth spectrum of HetNets, yielding both great benefits and several concerning issues. In particular, great harm to our community could occur if the main visual information channels, such as images and videos, are maliciously attacked and uploaded to the Internet, where they can be spread quickly. Therefore, we propose a novel framework as a digital forensics tool to protect end users. It is built based on deep learning and can realize the detection of attacks via classification. Compared with the conventional methods and justified by our experiments, the data collection efficiency, robustness, and detection performance of the proposed model are all refined. In addition, assisted by 5G HetNets, our proposed framework makes it possible to provide high-quality real-time forensics services on edge consumer devices such as cell phone and laptops, which brings colossal practical value. Some discussions are also carried out to outline potential future threats.


Coen and Pegram challenge us to integrate global governance theorising in ways that are pragmatic, policy‐oriented and interdisciplinary. One of the most prominent arenas for pursuing this challenge is through a focus on governing transnational production through voluntary and regulatory approaches. This focus directs attention to the structure and relationships within global value chains which influence the problems, actors, and mechanisms of global governance. Future research needs to explore how multiple governance initiatives within an industry interact, how issue boundaries evolve and change, the local implementation of global rules, and the relationships that shape governance outcomes.


Affluence and Poverty in the Middle East is an introduction to the political economy of the Middle East, focusing on its most salient features - persistent poverty and extreme inequality. El-Ghonemy analyses the factors influencing the region, including its unique historical, religious and cultural mix, as well as its economic foundations and forms of corruption. For each factor he employs case-studies drawn from throughout the region, from Turkey to Sudan and Morocco to Iran. In the final section El-Ghomeny discusses possible solutions to the challenges facing the region, including possible uses of a peace dividend, and the role of democracy.


In order to clarify the factors responsible for the cellular infiltrate characteristic of anterior uveitis, the authors have induced inflammation in rabbits by the intravitreal injection of 100 ng of Escherichia coli or Salmonella endotoxin (ET). A 2% concentration of aqueous humor 18 to 24 hr after ET consistently induced monocyte migration as measured in modified Boyden chambers. Activity was significantly greater in these samples than in aqueous after saline injection or 3 hr after endotoxin injection (prior to cellular infiltrate). Using either sephadex G-75 molecular sieve chromatography or a cibacron blue column, the vast majority of migratory activity co-eluted with albumin. Serum albumin, however, at a comparable concentration did not induce migration. Activity was largely heat- and acid-stable and was maximal in the presence of a concentration gradient, indicating that it was chemotactic rather than chemokinetic. A second peak of activity eluted from the G-75 column just prior to a marker with molecular weight of 427 and was also present in eluates from normal aqueous humor. Chloroform:methanol extraction, radioimmunoassay, and high performance liquid chromatography indicated that a small portion of the chemotactic activity could be ascribed to lipid including leukotriene B4. In contrast to the prominence of complement (C5a) derived chemotactic activity resulting from intravenous ET, C5a was not a major contributor to aqueous chemotactic activity subsequent to local ET. These observations demonstrate that leukocyte migration factors in aqueous humor can be characterized and compared. This approach can be used to test the hypothesis that subsets of anterior uveal inflammation might be distinguished on the basis of associated chemotactic factors.


Recent developments in economic integration show rather diverse patterns of integration into the world economy. Some countries are remaining in the low-tech industries whereas other countries succeed in becoming competitive also in high-tech industries. In this paper we postulate that positioning oneself at the lower end in the spectrum of high-tech industries is more favourable to a country's long-term development than aiming at the upper end of low-tech industries. We argue that countries which specialize in the lower end of the medium-high-tech activities are rewarded by faster productivity increases also in the upper end of the high-tech industries. In contrast, early specialization in medium-low-tech branches yields positive spillovers mainly in the low-tech sector, which is not promotive to catching-up in high-tech industries. We sketch a theoretical outline of this idea and present econometric results including four aggregate manufacturing branches and 37 countries. In the econometric analysis we also include trade and FDI variables.


On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the disastrous federal siege of the Branch Davidians, the tragedy is revisited in light of new government disclosures regarding negotiations during the 51-day
 standoff. Some of the newly available records - post-incident interviews with negotiators conducted by Justice Department investigators and memoranda written by negotiators or members of the FBI command
 structure——were concealed by the government for six years because they contained incriminating information. The new evidence reveals the degree to which negotiators at Mount Carmel recognized and roundly
 condemned the actions taken by the Hostage Rescue Team during the standoff that ultimately led to the insertion of deadly CS gas. Some negotiators even predicted the violent and fatal outcome of the siege
 weeks before it ended. Indeed, two veteran negotiators challenged the decisions of FBI commanders and were banished from Waco for their remonstrance.


The global financial system has become highly connected and complex. Has been proven in practice that existing models, measures and reports of financial risk fail to capture some important systemic dimensions. Only lately, advisory boards have been established in high level and regulations are directly targeted to systemic risk. In the same direction, a growing number of researchers employ network analysis to model systemic risk in financial networks. Current approaches are concentrated on interbank payment network flows in national and international level. This work builds on existing approaches to account for systemic risk assessment in micro level. Particularly, we introduce the analysis of intra-bank financial risk interconnections, by examining the real case of "cheques-as-collateral" network for a major Greek bank. Our model offers useful information about the negative spillovers of disruption to a financial entity in a bank's lending network and could complement existing credit scoring models that account only for idiosyncratic customer's financial profile. Most importantly, the proposed methodology can be employed in many segments of the entire financial system, providing a useful tool in the hands of regulatory authorities in assessing more accurate estimates of systemic risk.


Maternal protein deficiency during pregnancy is associated with changes in glucose tolerance and hypertension in the offspring of rats. In this study the growth of rat fetuses was examined when the dams were fed diets containing 18% casein, 9% casein or 8% casein supplemented with threonine. The extra threonine was added to reverse the decrease in circulating threonine concentrations that occurs when pregnant rats are fed protein-deficient diets. The fetuses of the group fed the low protein diet supplemented with threonine were significantly smaller than those of the control group and not significantly different from those fed low protein. Homogenates prepared from the livers of dams fed the diet containing 9% casein oxidized threonine at approximately twice the rate of homogenates prepared from dams fed the diet containing 18% casein. We conclude that circulating levels of threonine fall as a consequence of an increase in the activity of the pathway that metabolizes homocysteine produced by the transulfuration of methionine. Serum homocysteine was unaffected in the dams fed low protein diets compared with controls, but was significantly greater in dams fed the low protein diet supplemented with threonine. Elevated levels of homocysteine are associated with changes in the methylation of DNA. The endogenous methylation of DNA was greater than that of controls in the livers of fetuses from dams fed the 9% protein diets and increased further when the diet was supplemented with threonine. Our results suggest that changes in methionine metabolism increase homocysteine production, which leads to changes in DNA methylation in the fetus. An increase in maternal homocysteine may compromise fetal development, leading to the onset of glucose intolerance and hypertension in adult life.


The large recent catastrophic events of Indian Ocean with over 300,000 fatalities in 9 different countries and the 2011 Tohoku tsunami in Japan with about 20,000 fatalities and over $100B damage to the Japanese economy, have shown the limitations of some of the modeling approaches used in the past and have stimulated the development of both new models and novel modeling methodologies. In this thesis, some improvements in tsunami modeling is contributed, in part to better simulate tsunami generation by the co-seismic seafloor displacement caused by megathrust earthquakes like the one in Manuscript 1 (Pure and Applied Geophysics, 170, 1333-1359, 2013), and also model tsunamis generated by Submarine Mass Failures (SMFs) on or near the continental shelf break Manuscript 2 (published online on Natural Hazards, 42pps. Nov. 15 th ,2014). Besides, when assessing coastal tsunami hazard along simple coastlines, one usually sets the static reference level in tsunami models to the largest astronomic tide, typically with 10% exceedence; one also accounts for a potential sea level rise. However, in complex estuaries such as Chesapeake Bay or New York/Hudson River harbor, the dynamic effects of tidal currents on the incoming tsunami waves could, in some situations, enhance tsunami impact. In the Manuscript 3 (to be submitted) of this thesis, a new approach is implemented to simulate dynamic tide-tsunami interactions and is applied to the full case study of tsunami hazard assessment for the Chesapeake Bay mouth and the James River, which are very vulnerable, low lying, coastal environments equipped with major ports (e.g., Norfolk, Virginia Port authority) and resort areas (e.g., Virginia Beach). In the Manuscript 4 (To be submitted), by applying the new modeling tools together with the most recent bathymetric and geophysical data, we revisit the simulation of perhaps the most significant and damaging SMF tsunami case study in modern history: the 1998 Papua New Guinea (PNG) tsunami, to make a valid benchmark for landslide generated tsunami waves. Accurate tsunami hazard assessment for a specific coastal area requires modeling tsunami impact and inundation from all the possible extreme nearand farfield tsunami sources in a given ocean basin. Tsunami generation from each of these sources must first be performed, which usually requires applying a separate model representing the considered geophysical phenomenon (e.g., subaerial landslide, earthquake, volcanic eruption, submarine mass failure,...). Tsunami propagation to the study site must be conducted. Because of the many spatial and temporal scales involved, this requires using a variety of numerical grids. In this thesis, to perform tsunami propagation and coastal impact simulations with a one-way coupling modeling approach, in a series of nested grids of increasingly fine resolution (with commensurately accurate bathymetric data) is implemented. The tsunami propagation model used here, FUNWAVE-TVD (Shi eta l., 2012; Kirby et al., 2013), is a fully nonlinear and dispersive Boussinesq long wave model that features accurate dissipation by breaking and bottom friction processes. The model has Cartesian and spherical implementations, which are used for simulating nearshore and deep water ocean nested grids, respectively. The model is used to simulate both Submarine Mass Failure tsunami sources and complex co-seismic sources such as for is NHWAVE (Ma et al., 2012), which is a three-dimensional non-hydrostatic sigma-layer model. Coupling between NHWAVE and FUNWAVE will also be applied in the work.


The social sustainability of any community technology activity is dependent on whether or not it forms an integral part of, and contributes to, the shared experiences that constitute community life. Drawing from this premise the paper presents a human-centred exploration of community informatics (CI) by proposing that, as a field of study and practice, a central goal should be to develop shared understandings of ways in which ICT contribute to building and sustaining active and healthy communities. The diversity of community ICT practices have the potential to contribute to a collective knowledgebase that is not only of import as a resource for academic investigation but also in terms of its broader social significance to community life. With this in mind, the authors analyse and critically evaluate the significance of the emerging symbiosis between community technology and community research. Applying a human-centred perspective of CI to a community technology research and development project the paper concludes with a story about Black Elk, a Lakota shaman, as a metaphor for the relationship between community technology and community research.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present randomized, single-blind, pilot study was to assess the efficacy of the addition of a second mood stabilizer, either olanzapine or lamotrigine, to lithium in patients with remitted bipolar disorder and comorbid anxiety disorder.

METHOD
Adult DSM-IV bipolar disorder patients with a current anxiety disorder and a Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) score of 12 or higher, in remission from an affective episode for at least 2 months while on lithium maintenance treatment, were randomly assigned to receive 12 weeks of single-blind olanzapine 5 to 10 mg/day (N = 24) or lamotrigine 50 to 200 mg/day (N = 23) addition to lithium. The primary outcome measure was the HAM-A; secondary outcome measures were the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness scale and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. Data were collected from July 2005 to February 2007.

RESULTS
Twenty-two patients in the olanzapine and 18 in the lamotrigine group completed the trial. Mean +/- SD final doses of olanzapine and lamotrigine were, respectively, 7.7 +/- 4.2 mg/day and 96.7 +/- 46.7 mg/day in the intent-to-treat sample (N = 47). Both olanzapine and lamotrigine were effective in reducing HAM-A scores from baseline to endpoint (paired t test for completers: t = 11.361, df = 21, p < .001 for olanzapine and t = 6.301, df = 17, p < .001 for lamotrigine). Both drugs were also effective on the secondary outcome measures. Olanzapine was more effective than lamotrigine at weeks 6 and 12 with a last-observation-carried-forward analysis on all 3 outcome measures, while such differences disappeared on the HAM-A and GAF at week 12 with the visit-wise analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
The addition of a second mood stabilizer (olanzapine or lamotrigine) to lithium is effective in reducing anxiety symptoms in bipolar disorder patients with a co-occurring anxiety disorder.


The type specimen of the Mindanao Bleeding-heart Gallicolumba crinigera was acquired on Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago, southern Philippines, but a presumption of biogeographic improbability led to the type locality being "corrected" to Mindanao. Birds from Basilan, geographically interposed between Mindanao and Jolo, have been separated as G. c. bartletti chiefly for their smaller size, but comparison with the type of crinigera is impossible owing to the latter's lack of outer primaries and tail; in any case bartletti and Mindanao crinigera overlap strongly in size and differ in no diagnostic plumage feature so that bartletti is probably invalid. Given that a Gallicolumba was seen in the wild on Jolo in the nineteenth century, at least five slightly different taxonomic arrangements are possible depending on viewpoint. Reversion of type locality to Jolo would be destabilising at this stage, but it is plausible that the type of crinigera did in fact derive from native birds on Jolo. Resolution of the issue might still be possible, as a local man recently reported that a bird resembling G. crinigera survives on the island.


In this work, the problem of variable selection for regression is investigated in order to improve the forecasting accuracy. To that effect, the Support Vector Regression (SVR) and the Random Forests (RF) are used to assess the variable importance. Then, a stepwise algorithm is built to select the best subset of predictors. An intensive comparative study is conducted on simulated and real datasets. The real datasets expose the problem of particulate matter concentration forecasting in two monitoring stations from Tunisia. We have proposed a combined approach using SVR and RF for variable importance assessment and for variable selection. We have achieved a significant improvement in forecasts accuracy for the two stations when using only a reduced number of selected predictors.


Abstract. Two data sets consisting of measurements of light absorbing aerosols (LAA) in arctic snow together with suites of other corresponding chemical constituents are presented; the first from Siberia, Greenland and near the North Pole obtained in 2008, and the second from the Canadian arctic obtained in 2009. A preliminary differentiation of the LAA into black carbon (BC) and non-BC LAA is done. Source attribution of the light absorbing aerosols was done using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. Four sources were found for each data set (crop and grass burning, boreal biomass burning, pollution and marine). For both data sets, the crops and grass biomass burning was the main source of both LAA species, suggesting the non-BC LAA was brown carbon. Depth profiles at most of the sites allowed assessment of the seasonal variation in the source strengths. The biomass burning sources dominated in the spring but pollution played a more significant (though rarely dominant) role in the fall, winter and, for Greenland, summer. The PMF analysis is consistent with trajectory analysis and satellite fire maps.


A new fossil zorapteran is described and figured in Miocene Dominican amber. The specimen is the first winged Zorotypus fossil, and is described as Zorotypus goeleti n.sp. The species is distinguished from the only other fossil zorapteran, Z. palaeus also in Dominican amber, as well as an extant species to which it appears most similar, Z. snyderi. The new fossil is significant in the possession of segmented cerci, a plesiomorphic character unique for the order. The classification of the order is briefly summarized and genera proposed by Kukalova - Peck and Peck (1993) and Chao and Chen (2000) are new ly synonymized under Zorotypus. Phylogenetic affinities within Zoraptera and of the order among other lower Neoptera are briefly discussed. The order is considered to be most closely allied to the webspinners, order Embiidina.


Background Exercise interventions are often incompletely described in reports of clinical trials, hampering evaluation of results and replication and implementation into practice. Objective The aim of this study was to develop a standardized method for reporting exercise programs in clinical trials: the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT). Design and Methods Using the EQUATOR Network's methodological framework, 137 exercise experts were invited to participate in a Delphi consensus study. A list of 41 items was identified from a meta-epidemiologic study of 73 systematic reviews of exercise. For each item, participants indicated agreement on an 11-point rating scale. Consensus for item inclusion was defined a priori as greater than 70% agreement of respondents rating an item 7 or above. Three sequential rounds of anonymous online questionnaires and a Delphi workshop were used. Results There were 57 (response rate=42%), 54 (response rate=95%), and 49 (response rate=91%) respondents to rounds 1 through 3, respectively, from 11 countries and a range of disciplines. In round 1, 2 items were excluded; 24 items reached consensus for inclusion (8 items accepted in original format), and 16 items were revised in response to participant suggestions. Of 14 items in round 2, 3 were excluded, 11 reached consensus for inclusion (4 items accepted in original format), and 7 were reworded. Sixteen items were included in round 3, and all items reached greater than 70% consensus for inclusion. Limitations The views of included Delphi panelists may differ from those of experts who declined participation and may not fully represent the views of all exercise experts. Conclusions The CERT, a 16-item checklist developed by an international panel of exercise experts, is designed to improve the reporting of exercise programs in all evaluative study designs and contains 7 categories: materials, provider, delivery, location, dosage, tailoring, and compliance. The CERT will encourage transparency, improve trial interpretation and replication, and facilitate implementation of effective exercise interventions into practice.


Loco abalone ( Concholepas concholepas , Bruguiere, 1789) represents the most important gastropod fishery from the central coast of Peru down to the southernmost part of Chile. International prices are attractive enough to motivate the development of an important body of research to bring the catch to commercial size under controlled conditions. In this study, we analyze whether the fattening of loco from the seed stage (between 2 and 3 cm of peristomal length) up to commercial size is economically attractive for a private investor. The results of this model, composed by biological, technological and economic submodels, shows that under current conditions cultivation is not convenient Net Present Value (NPV) = -198,179 US$ on t = 1,400, the day where the maximum biomass is reached). The negative result is explained by the high operational costs (mainly wages) and high initial investments requirements (mainly plastic boxes to house the C. concholepas ). Interestingly, the model shows that feeding costs are comparatively low. At t = 1400, the accumulated disbursements for investments (US$92,209) are lower than those for the operating costs (US$299,486) and represent only 24% of the total accumulated disbursements. The latter shows that the project is not profitable due to the high operating costs other than the feed. The sensitivity analysis shows that would be required a 30- fold increase in the current biomass selling price for a positive NPV. In the future, this project would benefit if more efficient forms of production are developed, especially reducing the burden due to workers' compensation.


We show that a combined bet at the bookmaker and at the bet exchange market yields a guaranteed positive return in 19.2% of the matches in the top five European soccer leagues. Moreover, we find that all considered bookmakers frequently offer arbitrage positions, and that they experience, on average, negative margins from these postings. Our findings indicate that bookmakers set prices not only by optimizing over a particular bet, but also by taking the future trading behaviour of their customers into account. We discuss the implications for the literature on the relationship between betting market structure and informational efficiency.


The protection of our environment is an actual and global problem in our time and the wastewater treatment is its important part. It is based on biological treatment. In certain cases, however, due to special regulations, the biological tools are not allowed and other options should be considered and selected. The incineration is an alternative but impact assessment studies show that it can make a serious burden upon the environment as well as it might be an expensive solution. Physico-chemical tools can mean a realistic alternative in such cases. In case of wastewater containing organic solvents (ethanol, ethyl-acetate, toluene, halogenated solvents, etc.), that is typical for wastewaters of medicine and fine chemical industries, the distillation is a powerful tool to remove the volatile polluting compounds. These volatile organic compounds (VOC) can contribute significantly to the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the wastewater. This contribution we call VOC-COD. The Adsorbable Organically Bound Halogens (AO
X) can be removed also with distillation. Industrial case studies show that the distillation offers a realistic alternative and the recovered solvents can be also utilised. The COD can be reduced in certain cases below the emission limit (1000 mg/lit) and the AOX, after the physico-chemical treatment, is less than 8 mg/lit.


Homocysteine is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and its thrombotic complications. We have employed an animal model to explore the hypothesis that an increase in reactive oxygen species and a subsequent loss of nitric oxide bioactivity contribute to endothelial dysfunction in mild hyperhomocysteinemia. We examined endothelial function and in vivo oxidant burden in mice heterozygous for a deletion in the cystathionine beta-synthase (CBS) gene, by studying isolated, precontracted aortic rings and mesenteric arterioles in situ. CBS(-/+) mice demonstrated impaired acetylcholine-induced aortic relaxation and a paradoxical vasoconstriction of mesenteric microvessels in response to superfusion of methacholine and bradykinin. Cyclic GMP accumulation following acetylcholine treatment was also impaired in isolated aortic segments from CBS(-/+) mice, but aortic relaxation and mesenteric arteriolar dilation in response to sodium nitroprusside were similar to wild-type. Plasma levels of 8-epi-PGF(2alpha) (8-IP) were somewhat increased in CBS(-/+) mice, but liver levels of 8-IP and phospholipid hydroperoxides, another marker of oxidative stress, were normal. Aortic tissue from CBS(-/+) mice also demonstrated greater superoxide production and greater immunostaining for 3-nitrotyrosine, particularly on the endothelial surface. Importantly, endothelial dysfunction appears early in CBS(-/+) mice in the absence of structural arterial abnormalities. Hence, mild hyperhomocysteinemia due to reduced CBS expression impairs endothelium-dependent vasodilation, likely due to impaired nitric oxide bioactivity, and increased oxidative stress apparently contributes to inactivating nitric oxide in chronic, mild hyperhomocysteinemia.


Analysing the relationship between academia and industry allows us to understand how the knowledge produced by the universities is being adopted and enriched by the industrial sector, and ultimately affects society through the release of relevant products and services. In this paper, we present a preliminary approach to assess and compare the research outputs of academia and industry. This solution integrates data from several knowledge graphs describing scientific articles (Microsoft Academics Graph), research topics (Computer Science Ontology), organizations (Global Research Identifier Database), and types of industry (DBpedia). We focus on the Semantic Web as exemplary field and report several insights regarding the different behaviours of academia and industry, and the types of industries most active in this field.


Risk factors associated with war-zone events and circumstances are implicated in the health and adjustment of military veterans. We assessed a national stratified sample of community-residing veterans of the Gulf War (N = 357) using scales from the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory, along with an array of mental (posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety), physical (symptom and condition indicators especially pertinent to Gulf War illnesses), and functional (both mental and physical dimensions) health outcomes. We found that perceived threat or fear of bodily harm in the war zone and self-reported or perceived exposures to environmental hazards may play a critical role in all measured aspects of health. Moreover, a synergistic effect of these two risk factors was observed in the prediction of mental health and mental health functional status.


AbstractFor the past two decades, biodiversity conservation has been an area of concerted action and spirited debate. Given the centrality of biodiversity to the earth's life support system, its increasing vulnerability is being addressed in international conservation as well as in research by anthropologists and other social scientists on the cultural, economic, political, and legal aspects of human engagement with biological resources. The concepts of biodiversity as a social construct and historical discourse, of local knowledge as loaded representation and invented tradition, and of cultural memory as selective reconstruction and collective political consciousness have also been the foci of recent critical reflection.