Abstract Previous research by Goldstone et al. (2010) generated a highly accurate predictive model of state-level political instability. Notably, this model identifies political institutions – and partial democracy with factionalism, specifically – as the most compelling factors explaining when and where instability events are likely to occur. This article reassesses the model's explanatory power and makes three related points: (1) the model's predictive power varies substantially over time; (2) its predictive power peaked in the period used for out-of-sample validation (1995–2004) in the original study and (3) the model performs relatively poorly in the more recent period. The authors find that this decline is not simply due to the Arab Uprisings, instability events that occurred in autocracies. Similar issues are found with attempts to predict nonviolent uprisings (Chenoweth and Ulfelder 2017) and armed conflict onset and continuation (Hegre et al. 2013). These results inform two conclusions: (1) the drivers of instability are not constant over time and (2) care must be exercised in interpreting prediction exercises as evidence in favor or dispositive of theoretical mechanisms.


The inhalation of cyclosporin (Cs)A to the lung is limited by its hydrophobic properties. In order to improve the poor solubility of CsA, cyclodextrin (CD) was evaluated for its suitability for dry powder inhaler formation, and the benefit of an inhaled CsA/CD complex in vivo was demonstrated. The solubilising effect of CDs on CsA was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Ciliostatic activity and haemolysis were determined to assess some safety profiles of CDs. The efficacy of an inhaled CsA/CD complex was evaluated by eosinophil infiltration into the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in actively sensitised mice. CDs markedly improved the poor solubility of CsA. The ciliostatic and haemolytic activities of maltosyl-alpha-CD were the weakest of all the tested CDs. CsA inhaled alone showed inhibitory effects on allergen-induced eosinophilia. Inhalation of the complex of CsA with maltosyl-alpha-CD, where the dose of CsA was approximately nine-times less than that of CsA inhaled alone, also inhibited eosinophil accumulation significantly, with a longer duration of action in comparison with the response to CsA alone. Thus the effective dose of cyclosporin A could be reduced by formation of a complex with maltosyl-alpha-cyclodextrin, and a wider therapeutic safety margin by inhalation of cyclosporin A as a complex with maltosyl-alpha-cyclodextrin could be expected.


The Pitts Head welded ignimbrite records a subaerial, large‐volume eruption and associated pyroclastic current that flowed into the sea. The current 15 km from source was steadily sustained with high mass flux and high particle concentration towards its base, and it entered the sea without substantial mixing with water and thus without large‐scale hydroexplosivity and without general cooling. It continued to aggrade ignimbrite at >580°C for at least 3–4 km from the original shoreline, in water initially ≥50 m deep. Entirely subaqueous, hot‐state, progressive aggradation and welding of the ignimbrite occurred where the water could not be wholly displaced by the current, although eventually the deposit displaced the shore >4 km seawards. Wet sea‐floor sediments buried by the ignimbrite were heated and locally fluidized by steam, and several square kilometres of hot ignimbrite with variable thicknesses of sedimentary substrate detached and slid downslope. Directions of sliding and the order of piling‐up of slide sheets are shown by hot‐state (rheomorphic) deformation fabrics and the geometric relations of detachment surfaces. Extensional disruption of the ignimbrite is marked by breaks in the sheet via which fluidized sediments were mobilized, locally to form rootless vents. Both the initial incursion of the pyroclastic current into the sea and the subsequent submarine sliding of the ignimbrite are likely to have caused tsunamis. Similar occurrences at modern coastlines presently susceptible to incursion of high mass flux pyroclastic currents (e.g. Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand; Neapolitan region, Italy; vicinity of Manila (Taal), Philippines) would, according to tsunami propagation behaviour, cause significant near‐and far‐field coastal hazard.


We report the complete sequence of two cosmids, SPBC19C7 (34815 bp insert, Accession No. AL023859) and SPBC15D4 (33203 bp insert, Accession No. AL031349), localized on chromosome II of the S. pombe genome. Twelve open reading frames (ORFs) were identified in SPBC19C7 and 16 in SPBC5D4. Two known genes were found on each cosmid: cyr1 and uve1 on SPBC19C7, encoding adenylate cyclase and a UV‐endonuclease, respectively, and gpt and pho2 on SPBC15D4, encoding an N‐acetylglucosamine‐1‐phosphate transferase and a4‐nitrophenylphosphatase, respectively. Five ORFs similar to known proteins were found on SPBC19C7, and six on SPBC15D4. They include putative genes for a ubiquitin protein ligase, a prolyl‐tRNA synthetase, a tRNA splicing endonuclease, a voltage‐gated chloride channel, a mannosyl transferase, a kinesin‐like protein, a histone transcriptional regulator, an N‐acetyltransferase, a cystathionine γ‐synthase and a TFIID subunit. Two ORF products of SPBC15D4 do not have clear homologues: one encodes a putative transcriptional regulator with a binuclear zinc domain and the other a protein with six transmembrane domains. Two ORFs from SPBC15D4 are similar to unknown ORFs, one from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the other from Caenorhabditis elegans. Finally, two ORFs of SPBC19C7 and six of SPBC15D4 correspond to orphan genes. The frequent occurrence of introns and the short and degenerated intron–exon boundaries consensus sequences significantly complicated ORF predictions. Two potential ORF‐free regions spanning several kb were predicted, and a clustering of ORFs transcribed in the same orientation was observed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Development of a Novel Plasmid-based Gene Integration System for Lactobacillus reuteri for the Persistent Treatment of Celiac Disease Jeremy LaBarge Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder that affects approximately 1% of the population [55]. CD is characterized by intestinal villus atrophy after consumption of gluten from wheat, barley, or rye. Patients with CD often experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, malnutrition, fatigue, and a failure to thrive. There is currently no treatment for CD. Patients must live on a strict lifelong exclusion of dietary gluten. Due to the high content of gluten in western diets and poor labeling of gluten content, adherence to a gluten free diet (GFD) is difficult [15]. Nearly all the enzymes that can digest the gluten peptide are sensitive to the stomach's low pH . As a result, dietary supplementation with enzymes to digest gluten has yet to produce a viable alternative treatment to a GFD. We propose to use a resident microbe of the human intestinal tract to express a peptidase to digest the immunoreactive gluten fragments. The bacteria, L. reuteri, will colonize the host's intestines and digest the gluten peptides before causing an autoimmune response. To accomplish this task, this thesis describes a food grade, plasmid based system to integrate genes into the genome of L. reuteri. The plasmid system utilizes an origin of replication that requires a protein, RepA, to propagate itself. A helper plasmid provides the RepA protein in trans to an integration plasmid that cannot provide RepA to itself. The integration plasmid carries a homologous region to the genome of L. reuteri allowing for targeted genomic integration. The integration plasmid will not replicate on its own, and will be integrated into the genome if the helper plasmid is absent. To select for these genomic integrants the integration plasmid expresses an erythromycin resistance marker. Using the Cre/Lox system the antibiotic resistance will be removed from the bacterial genome to re-establish the L. reuteri's food grade status. This thesis describes the construction and verification of the above mentioned plasmid tool kit containing the helper, integration, and Cre expression plasmids to integrate genes into the L. reuteri genome.


I am pleased and honored that the California Folklore Society has invited me to deliver this year's Archer Taylor Memorial Lecture. In addition, I am delighted to once again be here in Los Angeles where I received my Master's degree in Folklore and Mythology at UCLA and learned how to become a filmmaker before heading off to Indiana for my Ph.D. Archer Taylor (1890-1973) was a co-founder of this Society and is well known as a scholar of proverbs who published such standard reference works as The Proverb (1931) and English Riddles from Oral Tradition (1951). In addition, he studied beliefs, folktales, and gestures, and added to theory in the discipline (Cattermole-Tally 1989). His article, "Precursors of the Finnish Method of Folk-lore Study" (1928), is a classic work on the establishment of the comparative method in folklore (see also Georges 1986). In 1978, Wayland D. Hand (1907-1986) established this lecture series to honor Archer Taylor who was his mentor. The Archer Taylor Lecture gives me an opportunity to review some of the uses and roles of film and video in folklore studies and folklore fieldwork. After decades of making films and teaching film and folklore, and video fieldwork production, I remain convinced that film (used here to refer to both film and video) is the best way to document folkloric events and expressive behavior. An event might be as complex as what Robert Georges calls a narrating communicative event (Georges 1969), as intricate as what Michael Owen Jones refers to as material behavior in the creation of an object (1997), or as basic as one person singing a song for the camera). I strongly believe that using film to document is a way to get as close as possible to the reality of both the fieldworker and those being filmed and clearly falls within the interests of folklorists, anthropologists, and those in performance studies. In what follows, I wish to discuss some ideas about the reality of popular culture television, the reality of visual anthropology, the reality of folklore on film and the future of our discipline. FOLKLORE AND THE PUBLIC IMAGE As J.R.R. Toelkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy dominated the Oscars for its final film Part Three: The Return of the King (2004), I was reminded of all the reasons the books became so popular when first released and the ways in which those same ideas made the films into blockbusters today. Yes, they are fantasy stories, not folktales. They are the product of a medievalist's personal vision, a world Toelkien created using his scholarly background. Mordor is, after all, obviously derived from morthor, the Old English word for murder and represents a dreadful spot. What better place to set a story and give it epic proportions than Middle Earth, with its own languages, its own landscapes, and its own adventures? But are these not the same adventures as those of Odysseus, Theseus, Beowulf, and Gilgamesh, and characters in the folktale? The hobbit heroes go on a journey, battle monsters, overcome great odds, and return home victorious. Indeed, they save the world, and precisely because the tales are so closely based on myth, folktale, and epic, and populated with ogres, witches, and elves, they have struck a familiar chord with readers and viewers. The same might be said of the success of the Harry Potter books and films. We remember folkloric motifs and plotlines, much, as Jack Zipes has suggested in a recent lecture at the University of Oregon, like memes (cultural viruses) that spread out and create new variations (see Rothstein 2002). And so, folklore is created and "survives" in new ways alongside the old ones. SURVIVAL Visual anthropology and folkloric films both differ when compared to those of popular culture in content, form, and transmission. Yet survival is often the issue. "Let's get it before it's gone," the preservationists cry, and so many of our early films document performers and their songs, such as Three Songs of Leadbelly (1945). …


At the outset of the Republic, Polemarchus advances the bold thesis that "justice is the art which gives benefit to friends and injury to enemies". He quickly rejects the hypothesis, and what follows is a long tradition of neglecting the ethics of enmity. The parallel issue of how friendship (and other positive relationships) affects the moral sphere has, by contrast, been greatly illuminated by discussions both ancient and contemporary. This article connects this existing work to the less explored topic of the normative significance of our negative relationships. I explain how negative partiality should be conceptualized through reference to the positive analogue, and argue that at least some forms of negative partiality are justified. I further explore the connection between positive and negative relationships by showing how both are justified by ongoing histories of encounter (though of different kinds). However, I also argue that these relationships are in some important ways asymmetrical (i.e. friendship is not the mirror image of enmity).


This communication compares three different approaches to the study of ammonia protonation in acidic chabazite: the cluster model, the supercell model, and the embedded cluster model. In all cases, the Hartree-Fock approximation has been adopted, and a minimal Slater-type orbital basis set has been used. To calculate the interaction energies of ammonia by means of the periodic model, the CRYSTAL92 program has been used. The same program has been employed to generate the Madelung field in which a molecular cluster may be embedded. It also provides the reference solution necessary for the embedded cluster model calculations, which in turn have been performed with the EMBED93 program. All three techniques lead to similar interaction energies, however, the embedded cluster approach allows for the most natural way of performing the present adsorption study. Only those atoms which are chemically involved in the interaction have to be treated explicitly, while the rest of the system, though chemically inert, is treated as a consistently described background acting on the adsorption complex. The present investigation suggests that cooperative interaction between molecules trapped in the cavities of zeolites is of crucial importance for the protonation of ammonia to occur. 25 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.


We examine the role of prosumage of solar electricity, i.e. PV self-generation combined with distributed storage, in the context of the low-carbon energy transformation. First, we devise a qualitative account of arguments in favor of and against prosumage. Second, we give an overview of prosumage in Germany. Prosumage will likely gain momentum as support payments expire for an increasing share of PV capacities after 2020. Third, we model possible system effects in a German 2035 scenario. Prosumage batteries allow for a notable substitution of other storage facilities only if fully available for market interactions. System-friendly operation would also help limiting cost increases. We conclude that policymakers should not unnecessarily restrict prosumage, but consider system and distributional aspects.


Mistletoes are flowering plants in the sandalwood order (Santalales) that parasitise tree branches. They evolved five separate times in the order and are today represented by 88 genera and nearly 1600 species. Loranthaceae (c. 1000 species) and Viscaceae (550 species) have the highest species diversity. In South America Misodendrum (a parasite of Nothofagus) is the first to have evolved the mistletoe habit ca. 80 million years ago. The family Amphorogynaceae is of interest because some of its members are transitional between root and stem parasites. Many mistletoes have developed mutualistic relationships with birds that act as both pollinators and seed dispersers. Although some mistletoes are serious pathogens of forest and commercial trees (e.g. Arceuthobium), the vast majority are benign and in some cases beneficial to humans (e.g. Viscum album for anticancer drugs). Mistletoes play important roles in many forest ecosystems and their loss results in decreases in faunal diversity, thus making them keystone species.

Key Concepts:

A mistletoe is a branch parasite in the sandalwood order (Santalales).

Mistletoes have evolved from root parasitic ancestors five times independently in five different families: Misodendraceae, Loranthaceae, Santalaceae, Amphorogynaceae and Viscaceae.

The first lineage to evolve the mistletoe habit is Misodendrum, a South American parasite on southern hemisphere beech (Nothofagus).

Most mistletoe species are found in the families Loranthaceae (c. 1000 species) and Viscaceae (550 species).

Loranthaceae evolved on the Gondwanan supercontinent and subsequently spread from Antarctica to South America, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Africa.

Many mistletoes have developed mutualistic relationships with birds that serve as both pollinators and seed dispersers.

Some mistletoes such as Arceuthobium are important pathogens of forest trees, whereas most are beneficial and even keystone species in forest ecosystems.

Keywords:

parasitic plant;
Loranthaceae;
Misodendraceae;
Santalaceae;
Amphorogynaceae;
Viscaceae;
hemiparasite;
sandalwood


Absence epilepsy is a neurological disorder that commonly occurs in children [44]. Some studies [14] have shown that absence seizures predominantly originate either in the thalamus or the cerebral cortex. Some cerebellar nuclei (CN) neurons project to these brain areas, as explained further in Fig. 2.6 in Chapter 2. Also, some CN neurons have been observed to show modulation during the absence seizures [41]. This indicates that they somehow participate in the seizure and hence are referred to as "participating neurons" in this thesis. In this research, I demonstrate how machine learning techniques and computer simulations can be applied to investigate the properties and the input conditions present in these participating (CN) neurons. My investigation found a sub-group of CN neurons, with similar interictal spiking activity, spiking activity between the seizures, that are most likely to participate in seizures. To investigate the input conditions present in the CN neurons that produce this type of interictal activity, I used a morphologically realistic conductance based model of an excitatory CN projection neuron [66] and optimised the input parameters to this model using an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA). The results of the EA revealed that these participating CN neurons receive a synchronous and bursting input from Purkinje cells and bursting input with long intervals(approx. 500ms) from mossy fibre. The same interictal activity can also be produced when the Purkinje cell input to the CN neuron is asynchronous. The excitatory input in this case also had long interburst intervals but there is a decrease in excitatory and inhibitory synaptic weight. Surprisingly, a slight change in these input parameters can change the interictal spiking pattern to an ictal spiking pattern, the spiking pattern observed during absence seizures. I also discovered that it is possible to prevent a participating CN neuron from taking part in the seizures by blocking the Purkinje cell input.


COVID-19 has posed unprecedented challenges to global public health since its outbreak. The Qing-Fei-Pai-Du decoction (QFPDD), a Chinese herbal formula, is widely used in China to treat COVID-19. It exerts an impressive therapeutic effect by inhibiting the progression from mild to critical disease in the clinic. However, the underlying mechanisms remain obscure. Both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses elicit similar pathological processes. Their severe manifestations, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiple organ failure (MOF), and viral sepsis, are correlated with the cytokine storm. During flu infection, QFPDD reduced the lung indexes and downregulated the expressions of MCP-1, TNF-[Formula: see text], IL-6, and IL-1[Formula: see text] in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), lungs, or serum samples. The infiltration of neutrophils and inflammatory monocytes in lungs was decreased dramatically, and lung injury was ameliorated in QFPDD-treated flu mice. In addition, QFPDD also inhibited the polarization of M1 macrophages and downregulated the expressions of IL-6, TNF-[Formula: see text], MIP-2, MCP-1, and IP-10, while also upregulating the IL-10 expression. The phosphorylated TAK1, IKK[Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text], and I[Formula: see text]B[Formula: see text] and the subsequent translocation of phosphorylated p65 into the nuclei were decreased by QFPDD. These findings indicated that QFPDD reduces the intensity of the cytokine storm by inhibiting the NF-[Formula: see text]B signaling pathway during severe viral infections, thereby providing theoretical and experimental support for its clinical application in respiratory viral infections.


This thesis re-examines the relationship between Senecan drama and the emergence of the public
tragedy of the 1580s and '90s. In criticism, this relationship has been understood as a continuation of
the 'influence' Seneca had been exerting on the Universities and the Inns-of Court since the 1560s. This
thesis challenges this established view on the grounds that it fails to explain the innovativeness of the
public tragedies: the formative impact of Seneca could not be the same on conventional academic
authors as on creative public dramatists.
Chapter I of this thesis explores and formulates this unresolved problem. Challenging the
established view depends on the possibility of a Seneca who could offer a tragic vision alternative to
academic moralism.
Chapter II is concerned with showing that the plays ofthis Seneca dramatize not moral certitudes
but tragic contradictions~ the (tragic' Seneca is made possible by an unstable conception of the individual
- who is simultaneously individual and social, or individual because social. The privileged tragic
expression of this ambiguous selfhood is revenge.
Essentially, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that Senecan revenge so understood was
fundamental to the earliest masterpieces of public revenge tragedy, The Spanish Tragedy and Titus
Andronicus, and that Kyd's and Shakespeare's new treatment of revenge was facilitated by a rediscovery
of Senecan tragedy as opposed to Senecan sensationalism.
Chapters III and IV (on The Spanish Tragedy) and Chapter V and VI (on Titus Andronicus)
attempt to show that this recognition has been impeded by the inadequate notion of revenge that has
dominated modem criticism.
Founded upon the orthodox pieties that Kyd and Shakespeare challenge, much of this criticism
has obscured the distinctiveness of the Senecan avenger as against the Machiavel. This thesis conceives
the would-be a-social Machiavel and the highly-socialized avenger in opposition to each other, but in
order to reveal the inescapable social condition of the individual in both cases. At its moment of
inception public revenge tragedy appears as a synthesis of tradition and modernity, social commitment
and individual endeavour.


Extensive research has been conducted on the use of the MMPI and MMPI-2 scales in evaluating clients for psychological treatment and there have been hundreds of publications on the MMPI and MMPI-2 in the treatment evaluation area. The following highlights describe special contributions that were made to assure that the scales on the test were appropriate, reliable, and valid in predicting symptoms and behavior relevant to psychological treatment. Major research studies of the MMPI/MMPI-2 in various treatment settings are highlighted and their findings/implications are summarized.


As attention to community engagement grows, it is critical that academics, students and community collaborators understand how it is conceptualised. This paper presents findings from a qualitative inquiry with academics and community engagement administrators nationally with regard to how they conceptualise community engagement. Six universities were included in the sample that was selected purposefully from the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF) list. Four major themes emerged from the data and focussed on context, process, mutual beneficial relationship and knowledge production. The data reflected a diverse array of conceptualisations on a continuum that ranged from the university-community dyad to that of the co-production of knowledge.


Background: Lactoperoxidase (LPO) is one of the most heat-stable enzymes in milk and its inactivation has been proposed for monitoring thermal processes. The aim of this study was to provide information on activity and thermal inactivation behavior of LPO in Iranian cow and buffalo milk and whey. Methods: Sixty cow and buffalo milk samples were collected. The LPO activity was measured using spectrophotometer at 436 nm using a multimode microplate reader. Thermal inactivation behavior of LPO in milk and whey samples was investigated at temperatures 65, 70, 75, and 80 ° C, using glass capillaries for quick temperature transfer. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (Chicago, IL, v. 16.0). Results: LPO activity was slightly, but not significantly, higher in buffalo milk than in cow milk, where its activity was 4.15±0.13 U/ml and 4.02±0.1 U/ml in buffalo and cow milk, respectively. LPO activities in cow and buffalo whey were 16-19% lower than the respective values in milk, on average, 3.39±0.1 U/ml in buffalo whey and 3.36±0.08 U/ml in cow whey. No significant differences (p>0.05) were observed between thermal stabilities of LPO in both milk types. In addition, at all the tested temperatures, LPO was heater labile in whey than milk, in both milk types. Conclusion: There were some variations in LPO behavior against thermal processing in cow and buffalo milk and whey. So, these findings could be helpful in further studies about monitoring thermal processes in dairy industries.


Our historical relationship with Islam has accumulated a whole series of negative perceptions dominated by prejudices and stereotypes. We have internalized a reductionist and monolithic image of "us" and of "them" (the two "cultures"). It is as if these were closed universes in which millions of human beings are designated as "Western" or "Muslims" and represent alien and even antagonistic cultures. This concept of "cultures" in relations between the Muslim world and "us" is a product of a Western construct in which "Islam" and therefore all individuals within Islam are fictitiously represented, labelled ideologically as a dominant global force, in a way that portrays the behaviour and culture of that enormous mass of people as a uniform entity. They all are One, and the great variety of this immense geographical area is ignored. This One is perceived as alien, separate and with no values in common with us, inferior and dominated by fanaticism, fundamentalism and irrationality. The combination of hostility and reductionism that feeds this reconstructed vision of a threatening, backward and violent homus islamicus turns Muslims into people requiring therapeutic or punitive interventions. Overall, this illustrates that the problem of anti-Muslim behaviour, due to intolerance towards citizens who follow Islam, has grown in importance, and people must be made aware of its existence and the need to take measures and actions to contain and prevent it. However, defining Islamophobia requires its existence to be politically and socially acknowledged, and this is clearly not the case today. This debate is ongoing and rational and empirical criteria must be sought to define this phenomenon in accordance with international standards on racism and


The convenience and cost of metabolic measurements for oxygen consumption can be problematic. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to establish prediction equations for oxygen consumption applicable to collegiate, competitive male and female bicyclists. METHODS: Subjects were thirty-eight (n=38) female (n=10) and male (n=28) collegiate road cyclists. Prior to testing, each subject signed a university Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved informed consent. Resting measures were the following: age (y), height (cm), weight (kg) and body fat (%). Exercise measures were taken during a cycle ergometer test utilizing the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The ergometer test for males began at 150 watts (w) for five minutes with 25 w increases each minute after until volitional fatigue. The female protocol began at 125 w with 25 w increases each minute after until volitional fatigue. Measures taken during the cycle (VelotronTM) test were the following: oxygen consumption (VO2, mL*kg-1*min.-1), carbon dioxide production (L*min.-1), heart rate (b*min.-1), power (watts), time to exhaustion (TE, min). Statistical procedures included group means (standard deviation, SD), a Pearson Product R Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Stepwise Regression Analyses. Alpha was set a priori at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Group means (SD) for measures were the following for male and female subjects, respectively: age (y), 28.9 (12.2), 22.3 (5.3); height (cm), 177.3 (5.5), 167.7 (6.3); weight (kg), 75.8 (7.4), 63.5 (10.2); body fat (%), 10.01 (4.2), 22.9 (3.6); maximal VO2 (mL*kg-1*min.-1), 84.9 (4.6), 63.1 (14.1); maximal power (w), 382.1 (46.5), 275 (42.5); maximal heart rate (b*min.-1) 191.5 (9.8), 190 (7.8); TE (min.), 13.5 (2.9), 10.8 (1.7). Significant (p < 0.05) equations were the following: male VO2max= (.12*power) + (.21*HR)-8.4; female VO2max=(0.06*power)+(0.25*HR)-8.7. DISCUSSION: Significant prediction equations were established for male and female collegiate cyclists utilizing the independent variables of power and heart rate. These equations and their independent variables allow for accurate predictions of VO2 without the need for metabolic gas analysis.


Community norm violations can impair constructive communication and collaboration online. As a defense mechanism, community moderators often address such transgressions by temporarily blocking the perpetrator. Such actions, however, come with the cost of potentially alienating community members. Given this tradeoff, it is essential to understand to what extent, and in which situations, this common moderation practice is effective in reinforcing community rules. In this work, we introduce a computational framework for studying the future behavior of blocked users on Wikipedia. After their block expires, they can take several distinct paths: they can reform and adhere to the rules, but they can also recidivate, or straight-out abandon the community. We reveal that these trajectories are tied to factors rooted both in the characteristics of the blocked individual and in whether they perceived the block to be fair and justified. Based on these insights, we formulate a series of prediction tasks aiming to determine which of these paths a user is likely to take after being blocked for their first offense, and demonstrate the feasibility of these new tasks. Overall, this work builds towards a more nuanced approach to moderation by highlighting the tradeoffs that are in play.


Background An estimated 14 million people worldwide have active tuberculosis (TB). About 3% of these patients will have osteoarticular involvement and approximately 25% to 60% will have an infectious focus in the spine. Early diagnosis is essential as prompt treatment is associated with improved outcome and reduced mortality. This is particularly true within a high HIV-1 seroprevalence setting. Materials and methods All patients admitted to Kalafong District Hospital from January 2008 to December 2010 with a clinico-radiological diagnosis of spinal TB were included in this study. In all cases Ziehl-Nielsson (ZN) microscopy, TB culture, TB polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and histology with ZN stains were collected, and the turnaround times for these assays recorded. HIV testing was performed on patients who gave consent for the procedure. Results In total, 29 patients were included in this study. Seventeen patients consented to HIV testing of which 11 were confirmed to be positive. It was determined that sensitivity for culture and PCR were comparable at 77% and 72% respectively. Furthermore, when looking at the subgroup of HIV-1 positive patients specifically, both assays performed better, with sensitivities of 88% and 82% respectively. The TAT for assays was highly variable, with PCR and histology having comparable times. Conclusions PCR testing for spinal TB shows promising results especially within the HIV-1-positive population. Although this type of testing theoretically offers a shorter turnaround time, results were available in similar time frames as for histology. Therefore, on-site testing should be offered in hospitals with high case loads of TB, and combination testing should be used rather than opting for a single testing modality.


Seafloor massive sulfides are deposits of metal-bearing minerals that form on and below the seabed as a result of heated seawater interacting with oceanic crust. These occurrences are more variable than previously thought, and this variability is not necessarily reflected in the analogous volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits that are preserved in the ancient rock record. The geological differences affect both the geochemistry and the size of seafloor massive sulfide deposits. Current knowledge of the distribution, tonnage, and grade of seafloor massive sulfides is inadequate to rigorously assess their global resource potential due to the limitations in exploration and assessment technologies and to our current understanding of their 3-D characteristics.


Abstract:The purpose of this study was to determine if performance apprehension was a significant issue with students (n = 102) enrolled in a graduate level storytelling course and to determine if there was a relationship between the course structure and any change in the students' level of apprehension by the end of the course. Analyses of the data indicated that performance apprehension was a significant concern for students initially and that, by the end of the course, there was a significant reduction in students' performance apprehension regarding both reading aloud and storytelling to children and adults. Two of the primary contributing factors to this reduction included instructor modeling and opportunities for students to practice and perform for adult peers.


The spatial context is critical when assessing present-day climate anomalies, attributing them to potential forcings and making statements regarding their frequency and severity in a long-term perspective. Recent international initiatives have expanded the number of high-quality proxy-records and developed new statistical reconstruction methods. These advances allow more rigorous regional past temperature reconstructions and, in turn, the possibility of evaluating climate models on policy-relevant, spatio-temporal scales. Here we provide a new proxy-based, annually-resolved, spatial reconstruction of the European summer (June–August) temperature fields back to 755 CE based on Bayesian hierarchical modelling (BHM), together with estimates of the European mean temperature variation since 138 BCE based on BHM and composite-plus-scaling (CPS). Our reconstructions compare well with independent instrumental and proxy-based temperature estimates, but suggest a larger amplitude in summer temperature variability than previously reported. Both CPS and BHM reconstructions indicate that the mean 20th century European summer temperature was not significantly different from some earlier centuries, including the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 10th centuries CE. The 1st century (in BHM also the 10th century) may even have been slightly warmer than the 20th century, but the difference is not statistically significant. Comparing each 50 yr period with the 1951–2000 period reveals a similar pattern. Recent summers, however, have been unusually warm in the context of the last two millennia and there are no 30 yr periods in either reconstruction that exceed the mean average European summer temperature of the last 3 decades (1986–2015 CE). A comparison with an ensemble of climate model simulations suggests that the reconstructed European summer temperature variability over the period 850–2000 CE reflects changes in both internal variability and external forcing on multi-decadal time-scales. For pan-European temperatures we find slightly better agreement between the reconstruction and the model simulations with high-end estimates for total solar irradiance. Temperature differences between the medieval period, the recent period and the Little Ice Age are larger in the reconstructions than the simulations. This may indicate inflated variability of the reconstructions, a lack of sensitivity and processes to changes in external forcing on the simulated European climate and/or an underestimation of internal variability on centennial and longer time scales.


Abstract Disturbance regimes of many hardwood forests of the eastern United States in the complex stage of development are characterized by localized canopy disturbance events that change fine-scale biophysical conditions. Recently, research has demonstrated the importance of gap-scale disturbance processes in secondary hardwood stands of the southern Appalachian Highlands. However, information on canopy disturbance patterns during early developmental stages is required from the broader geographic region for a comprehensive understanding of stand dynamics. The goal of this study was to reconstruct canopy disturbance history for mixed hardwood stands on the Highland Rim of Alabama to elucidate disturbance patterns during early development. We analyzed radial growth from 46 Quercus individuals to reconstruct canopy disturbance history. The majority (67%) of the trees analyzed exhibited release events. In total, 42 releases were detected and some trees experienced multiple events. Of these releases, 28 (67%) were classed as minor and 14 (33%) were classed as major. Mean release duration was 4.00 years ± 0.21 (SE) and the longest release was sustained for eight years. Based on mean release duration, we speculate that most of the canopy gaps were filled by lateral crown expansion rather than subcanopy height growth. We did not document any forest-wide disturbance events; a pattern that may be a regional phenomenon or may be related to forest age. Canopy disturbances became common after ca. 40 years of development. We propose that the frequency of canopy gaps will decrease and the size and magnitude of individual gaps will increase as the stands mature.


The notion that 'death is a taboo' pervades private, public and academic discourses around death, dying and bereavement in contemporary Western societies. The rise of digital media within the last decades further complicates the appreciation of the stance that death is a taboo, given the increased opportunities afforded in social media environments for embracing death, fostering new intimacies with strangers and semi-strangers but also for turning death into a spectacle (Jakobsen, 2016). The study of death-related practices online and the tensions they raise has rapidly been growing in the interdisciplinary field of Death online studies. However, in this field there is a need for developing shared conceptual and analytical frameworks and ensure methodological and theoretical robustness in line with developments in the study of social media communication. There is a need to synthesize insights from death sociology and interdisciplinary death online studies in order to shape an agenda for an integrated study of the offline and the online that can capture continuities and shifts in death-related practices (see also Borgstrom and Ellis, 2017). This panel collects four papers presented by six interdisciplinary scholars from Denmark, Sweden, Israel and the UK. Focusing on the (in)visibilities of death, dying and bereavement across contexts - online and offline - the papers critically revisit the 'death is taboo' thesis by investigating the particular conditions under which death, dying and bereavement are talked about, storied, and made socially visible and the ways in which technology plays a vital part in coping with mortality.


This work tackles the challenge of detecting and matching objects in scenes observed simultaneously by fixed and mobile cameras. No calibration between the cameras is needed, and no training data is used. A fully automated system is presented to detect if an object, observed by a fixed camera, is seen by a mobile camera and where it is localized in its image plane. Only the observations from the fixed camera are used.
 An object descriptor based on grids of region descriptors is used in a cascade manner. Fixed and mobile cameras collaborate to confirm detection. Detected regions in the mobile camera are validated by analyzing the dual problem: analyzing their corresponding most similar regions in the fixed camera to check if they coincide with the object of interest.
 Experiments show that objects are successfully detected even if the cameras have significant change in image quality, illumination, and viewpoint. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented in indoor and outdoor urban scenes.


Background : Tympanic membrane perforation is a hearing problem that has become a health problem in the society. In Indonesia, there are only a few studies regarding tympanic membrane perforation. This study was aimed to observe the frequency and clinical characteristics of tympanic membrane perforation patients. Methods : This was a descriptive study performed from August to September 2014. The data was taken retrospectively from medical records of tympanic membrane perforation patients at Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital from January 2011 to December 2013. Results : Of 579 tympanic perforation patients, there were only 214 medical records met the inclusion criteria. The frequency of tympanic membrane perforation patients increased in 2011 it was 28%, in 2013 it was 37.6%. The number of male patients (53.3%) was higher than female patients'. Most patients were in productive age (83.2%). Most patients came with the chief complaint of discharge from ear (36.4%) and the most common etiology was infection (84.1%). Otological examination showed that most patients had unilateral perforation (73.8%). Based on the size of perforation, central perforation (52.3%) was the most common otological finding. From audiogram, most patients had conductive hearing loss (41.5%) with moderate degree of hearing loss (30.4%). Most patients were treated by medications (64.5%). Conclusions : The frequency of tympanic membrane steadily increases with clinical characteristic mostly in male patients in productive age admitted with chieft complain of discharge of ear. The most common etiology is infection. Majority of patients have unilateral central perforation that cause conductive hearing lost. [AMJ.2016;3(1):43–8] DOI:  10.15850/amj.v3n1.702


The in vitro incubation of lymphoid cells in RIL 2 results in the generation of LAK cells that are broadly lytic to autologous, syngeneic, and allogeneic fresh tumor cells, but which do not lyse fresh, normal cells. Strains of mice with congenital immunodeficiencies were tested both for the presence of NK cells and for their capacity to generate LAK cells after in vitro incubation with IL 2. Splenocytes obtained from two immunodeficient mouse strains (NIH-Beige-Nude and NIH-Beige-Nude-XID) failed to generate LAK cells, but displayed significant activity. Splenocytes from another immunodeficient mouse strain (NIH-Beige-XID) generated LAK cells but did not display NK cell activity. This dissociation of activation of LAK cells from NK cells among the immunodeficient strains indicates that the LAK and NK cell lytic systems are distinct.


Drawing extensively on the testimony of the Persian historians of the seventh-eighth hijri centuries (corresponding to the thirteen-fourteenth centuries of the Christian era), this article sketches a detailed picture of several personalities involved in founding the nascent Ismaili state centred at Alamūt in the fifth/eleventh century. This background sets the stage for analyzing a new manuscript source documenting Ismaili history and thought of this period, Khwāja Qāsim Tushtarī's Recognizing God ( Maʿrifat-i Khudāy taʿālā ). After outlining and amending previous scholarship on this author and surveying the text's extant manuscript and lithographic sources, the article analyzes the historical references, focusing on the figure of Sharaf al-Dīn Muḥammad, and examining the evolution of the Ismaili leadership structure. It argues for a likely date of composition between 525/1131 and 533/1139, making Tushtarī's Recognizing God one of the oldest Ismaili texts from Alamūt still in existence.


The last edition of this book saw a major restructuring of the whole work, and in particular, to stress the resurgence of freedom of contract ideology, and to introduce some basic economic issues in contract law. In this edition, the general shape and structure of the book have been left untouched, although as with previous editions, the whole work has been completely updated and modernized by replacing old and outdated examples with more modern questions with which the student may be assumed to be more familiar. The aims of the book remain unchanged: to supply a basic introduction, not merely to the law of contract, but also to theories and policies and ideas underlying the subject. In addition, the author has constantly resorted to a modern historical approach, giving the student some sense of how the law has developed over the past 100 years or so. Widely recognized as one of the most interesting and innovative books to have been published in the last 25 years, "An Introduction to the Law of Contract" remains as popular today with students and their teachers as it was when it was first published.


Communication over acoustic signals underwater results in multi-scale multi-lag channels due to multipath propagation. Hence, a robust channel estimation technique has to be present at the receiver. In this paper, assuming underwater channels undergoing Rayleigh fading, a path-based channel model that characterizes each path of the time-varying sparse channel by a delay, a Doppler scale, and an attenuation factor is considered. Alamouti's space-time block transmit diversity scheme is used in the form of two transmit antennas and one receiver, and the proposed OFDM-based non-data-aided algorithm iteratively estimates the complex channel parameters of each subcarrier using the expectation maximization (EM) method, which in turn converges to a true maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimate of the unknown channel, where the Karhunen-Lo'eve expansion is performed for complexity reduction. Finally, the novel channel estimation algorithm combines the aforementioned MAP-EM technique with ESPRIT for delay estimation by exploiting the sparseness of the underwater acoustic channels. The performance of the proposed algorithm is then presented in terms of average mean square error and symbol error rate for QPSK signaling with extreme Doppler spreads and different pilot spacings. It is shown that excellent mean-square error and symbol error rate performance is achieved even in the presence of extreme Doppler shifts.


The purpose of this paper is to situate the everyday use of social media in the broader cultural practice of leisure. Whereas the use of social media has many different aims and contexts, our main idea is to emphasize how social media practices associated with leisure and playfulness rather than functionality and tasks — therefore seemingly "useless" in a strictly utilitarian sense — are practices which are meaningful. We point to certain dynamics in social media practices which we connect to the culture of twentieth century mass tourism, using observations of central touristic practices to motivate an analysis of social media use as leisure culture. This gives us a nuanced understanding of the activities connecting everyday life and social media. Further, our analysis provides new insights into the basic motivation for engaging in online sociality despite concerns about privacy, time-waste and exploitation.


Abstract Background: Healthcare workers and students on training who are directly involved in treating and nursing patients face a great risk of acquiring blood-borne infections from the workplace. Needle prick injuries (NPI) are the commonest route by which such infections are transmitted from patients to healthcare providers. Nursing students on training are no exception, as they get exposed to accidental needle pricks and contamination during their hospital activities. Lack of appropriate resources, knowledge and skills, coupled with the unavailability of the universal standard precautionary procedures and compliance thereof, constitute high risks for needle prick injuries. Adequate knowledge and adherence to safety practices could prevent the occurrence of NPI and the related consequences. A survey was conducted among nursing students at a specific university in Gauteng to assess their knowledge of NPI, to identify and describe factors that contribute to the occurrence of NPI, and to discover the circumstances of needle prick accidents among the targeted group of students. Methods: Across-sectional quantitative survey was conducted among nursing students from the second to the fourth year of study registered at the specific university for the 2007 academic year. Questionnaires were hand delivered to a convenient sample of nursing students attending mandatory nursing classes. Those who consented signed a consent form. Participants completed and handed back the questionnaires to the researchers on the same day that they were delivered. Data collected included factors contributing to NPI and high-risk procedures leading to NPI, as perceived by these students. A knowledge assessment of NPI guidelines, policies and protocols and prevalence of NPI among these students was also done. Results: A response rate of 96 (74%) was achieved. The average age of the respondents was 23 years, with a minimum age of 18 and a maximum age of 35. The sample consisted of more females than males. The majority of respondents were in the second year of study. The majority (56%) rated needle recapping, disposing used needles (28.1%) and cleaning sharp instruments (56.3%) as extremely high-risk procedures. Furthermore, 30.2% of the respondents thought suturing and blood taking (33.3%) were high-risk procedures for NPI, while 25% rated administering injections, 35.5% rated blood transfusion and 74.8% rated the lack of adequate containers for sharps disposal to be highly associated with the risk of NPI. A significant proportion of the respondents rated the lack of knowledge about NPI (policies and protocols) at institutions of clinical training as an extremely high risk, followed by the lack of accompaniment and in-service training. Only 16.0% of the respondents had suffered NPI and only 8.3% had reported the incident. Conclusion: Procedures rated as high risk were considered to be most likely associated with the occurrence of NPI. Appropriate guidelines, adequate knowledge and the enforcement of compliance with standard precautionary measures could reduce the incidence of NPI among nursing students.


Activists have fashioned nonconventional forms of repertoire and contentious performances during the recent conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Salient among these contentious performances is virtual dissidence . I conceptualize virtual dissidence as a political performance in the repertoire of contention between authoritative regimes and the latter's contenders. The metaphors of repertoire and performance bridge apparent conceptual dichotomies in analyzing the role of social media in the Arab Spring such as structure versus agency in the service of a relational account of it. This essay will not bring these debates to any final resolution; rather, my goal is to provide a modest yet productive intervention in the debate over the importance of Internet activism in social movements. The significance of understanding virtual dissidence as emerging from repertoire is that it frames a meso-level explanation of collective action and political change. It accounts for the constraints imposed by the macro structure and the array of innovative responses ignited by activists' determination.


We then decided to focus our book on 'all the versuses of life' to which Harrison refers in his longest, and most controversial poem V, both his own and those of the class-divided Britain of the Eighties. We took the quote from V, but we believe that all of Harrison's poetry is based upon a juxtaposition of various social, political and cultural issues, which most often remain in conflict and stir controversy, much as the setting of Holbeck cemetery may seem controversial and disclose conflict. We also believe that the issues undertaken in Harrison's poetry directly refer to a number of problems afflicting Britain and its inhabitants, which are in fact universal from both a spatial and temporal aspect, thus being of great value to readers in other countries, both at present, and in subsequent years. The result is the present book, in which we attempt to explore the divisive conflict as a constant characteristic of Harrison's poetry, and explore the social, cultural and political nature of 'verse' and versus making.


We present a computational system, based on a PC and LabVIEW, to test and characterize the response of conical cup type mechanical flow meters with vertical axes. A mechanical flow meter is a device used mainly to measure and calculate the velocity of water flow in rivers and open channels. These devices suffer mechanical imperfections over time, which is why it is important to calibrate them, normally twice a year, depending on the length of time the device has been used for. At the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA in Spanish) a circular water tank was designed and developed for the purpose of testing these meters. This paper shows the automation systems designed to control the tests to calibrate these mechanical meters. The system is based on LabVIEW. LabVIEW is a general purpose programming tool with extensive libraries for data acquisition instrument control, data analysis, and data presentation. With this tool and a special hardware interface, it was possible to automate the process to test these mechanical meters. The system is called SCM (System for characterization of mechanical meters). SCM controls the testing of two mechanical meters simultaneously, and has some user control features that provide the Operator with an easy to use human machine interface.


The online retail market in India is relatively new and still adapting to the global business environment. Also, conventional tax regime was neither able to cover all e-commerce transactions nor give it a proper space to flourish. The launch of Goods and Services Tax (GST) changed the taxation scenario in India from a very complex tax structure comprising of around 500 different kinds of taxes to a simpler tax regime with just 3 broad tax categories while having both positive and negative impacts on industries operating in organized and unorganized manner. The objective of this exploratory, qualitative, and non-empirical paper is to explore and present the consequences of the introduction of GST on the Indian Economy with special reference to the online retail industry in India. Researchers reviewed the reports of various departments of Government of India (such as the Central Board of Excise and Customs); the GST Council reports up to 30th meeting held on September 28th 2018; Honorable Finance Minister's speech on GST; and interviews of government officials. This paper may provide useful insights to the online retailers, suppliers and most importantly, the common buyers in understanding the changes brought by GST and help the GST Council in making further amendments in the Act.


Current attempts to explain recommendations mostly exploit a single type of data, i.e. usually either ratings provided by users for items in collaborative filtering systems, or item features in content-based systems. While this might be sufficient in straightforward recommendation scenarios, the complexity of other situations could require the use of multiple datasources, for instance, depending on the product domain. Even though hybrid systems have a long and successful history in recommender research, the connections between user ratings and item features have only rarely been used for offering more informative and transparent explanations. In previous work, we presented a prototype system based on a feature-weighting mechanism that constitutes an exception, allowing to recommend both items and features based on ratings while offering advanced explanations based on content data. In this paper, we empirically evaluate this prototype in terms of user-oriented aspects and user experience against to widely accepted baselines. Two user studies show that our novel approach outperforms conventional collaborative filtering, while a pure content-based system was perceived in a similarly positive light. Overall, the results draw a promising picture, which becomes particularly apparent from a user perspective when participants were specifically asked to use the explanations: they indicated in their qualitative feedback that they understood them and highly appreciated their availability.


Law, as a pragmatic tool, provides us with a way to test, at a conceptual level, whether a humanly created non-biological machine could be considered a legal person. This paper looks first at the history of law in order to set the foundation for the suggestion that as a normative system it is based on a folk psychology model. Accepting this as a starting point allows us to look to empirical studies in this area to gather support for the idea that "intentionality", in the folk psychology sense, can give us a principled way to argue that non-biological machines can become legal persons. In support of this argument I also look at corporate law theory. However, as is often the case, because law has historically been viewed as a human endeavor, complications arise when we attempt to apply its concepts to non-human persons. The distinction between human, person and property is discussed in this regard, with particular note being taken of the concept of slavery. The conclusion drawn is that intentionality in the folk sense is a reasonable basis upon which to rest at least one leg of an argument that a nonbiological machine can be viewed as a legal person.


This paper explores the author's experience of 'nomadic' organization [Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 1988. A Thousand Plateaus. London: Continuum] through the findings of an ethnographic study of an annual folk-culture community festival in a rural region of Sweden. The study concerned the practices of one small village community organizing group, of which the author was a member, in contributing to the festival. Using autoethnographic methods, the author brings together phenomenological theories of embodied knowledge [Merleau-Ponty, M. 1962. The Phenomenology of Perception. Abingon: Routledge; Küpers, W. 2011. "Dancing on the Līmen – Embodied and Creative Inter-Places as Thresholds of Be(com)ing: Phenomenological Perspectives on Liminality and Transitional Spaces in Organisation and Leadership." Tamara – Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry Special Issue on Liminality 9 (3–4): 45–59.] and process theories or organizing [Chia, R. 1999. "A Rhizomic Model of Organizational Change and Transformation: Perspective from a Metaphysics of Change." British Journal of Management 10 (2): 209–227; Tsoukas, H., and R. Chia. 2002. "On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change." Organization Science 13 (5): 567–582] to examine his experiences of nomadic 'journeying'. This highlights his movement in and through liminal spaces, both physical and metaphorical, as part of the research project, and his engagement with fellow participants in the co-construction of a place as part of the festival site organization. The impacts of these experiences on the author and their implications for the spatial relations of organizing are examined using fragments of reflexion, incorporating photographic and poetic elements.


Affirmative action, in the form of reservation policies, to address the issues of inclusion has been in place in India for a long time. While its scope has enlarged with inclusion of new social groups, the efficacy remains a matter of debate. This paper explores if parental education is an appropriate criterion for affirmative action. Empirical results using three rounds of the National Sample Survey data suggest that parental education as a determinant of participation in higher education not only transcends the impact of caste, religious and economic status, it is also very attractive for the ease of implementation.


Although birds with beak deformities have been documented throughout the literature, the recent spike in occurrences in certain regions has caused concern in the scientific community. A major concern relates to the role of contaminants and environmental degradation in causing or exacerbating this epizootic. This study used spatial and statistical analyses to examine the problem from a landscape perspective. The objectives of this study were to 1) locate and compile a database of known bird beak occurrences, 2) conduct a preliminary assessment of the environmental correlates of this epizootic in order to identify patterns, and 3) make recommendations that could guide future research and data collection. Logistic regression models were generated using known occurrences of bird beak deformity, as well as randomly generated points compared with spatial data on relevant environmental variables. Generalized linear models predicted high probability (P(deformity)=0.88) of deformity occurring when all environmental variables were present. With more collaboration among researchers and data sharing, this method could provide insight into the currently unknown etiology of bird beak deformity.


This thesis consists of an introduction and five separate papers. All papers deal with measuring performance for the Swedish fire and rescue services. The first paper describes the production process of fire safety, while Papers 2-5 are empirical analyses measuring performance for some aspects of that process. Paper 1 (The problems of defining outputs in the public sector's service production a discussion with an application to the fire service) discusses how outputs and inputs should be measured in the public sector, and how they could be used in productivity and efficiency studies. There are two different levels where the studies could be performed: the vertical and the horizontal levels. The vertical level is the distinction between performing studies on the macro, the national, and the within-unit level. The horizontal level is the distinction between different outputs, whether determinant variables, direct outputs or consequences are used. The paper also includes an application of these ideas to the fire service. Paper 2 (Swedish fire and rescue services' manning levels a stochastic frontier analysis using panel data) studies the productivity and efficiency of the Swedish fire and rescue services during 1989-1995 using a stochastic frontier specification for panel data. The manning level is modelled as a function of risk, environment, and number of turn-outs. The results show that the size of population was the main determinant of manning levels. No productivity change was discovered. The efficiency differences found were substantial with a mean input saving potential of 30%. In Paper 3 (Measuring the efficiency of Swedish fire services' stand-by level), the DEAmodel is used to find efficiency scores and returns to scale corrected for environmental variables. The paper studies the stand-by level of Swedish fire services. This level has two output dimensions 1) the turn-out time (the faster the better), measured as number of people reached within five and ten minutes, and 2) the suppressing power, measured by the total number of firemen turning out (the more the better). The empirical results show that the long run input saving potential is about 30%. In Paper 4 (Productivity change of Swedish Fire Services between 1992 and 1998), Malmquist productivity indexes are used to find out how productivity has changed among Swedish fire services between 1992 and 1998. The paper studies the stand-by level and the empirical results show that productivity has decreased for fulland mixedtime fire services. Less input used has resulted in less output produced. Paper 5 (Measuring performance differences using an ordinal output variable: The case of Swedish fire services) investigates how to find performance differences in fire services with an ordinal output variable. Performance is measured by adjusting the outputs for inputs using the ordered probit model. No performance differences were found between full-time and part-time firemen for fires in detached houses. The results also indicate that "team spirit" is more important for performance than the actual number of firemen fighting a fire.


Fuel cell bus with hydrogen tanks on its roof is different from traditional one. Its mass is greater than traditional one and its centre of gravity is higher, which makes its rollover more easy and dangerous. During the rollover, the great deformation of the body structure will menace the occupants' safety, and in addition, the hydrogen leaking will threaten the lives of the occupants. So measures should be taken to ensure the deformation of body structure would not hurt the occupants, and the hydrogen pipelines would not have gas leakage. In the light of this objective, the finite element models of fuel cell bus, survive region and anti-intruding region are established, and the simulation of the bus rollover is carried out according to ECER66. The rollover results indicate that the bus is good at resisting the deformation of the rollover, and at the same time it provides data reference for improving the design of fuel cell bus. Furthermore, the pillar intruding coefficient and the clearance between anti-intruding region and tank cover are introduced in the paper to measure the safety abundance ratio of the survival region and the hydrogen pipeline of the fuel cell bus. According to these data, the description of safety of fuel cell bus can be quantified.


Mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet is accelerating, which is attributed to increased ice stream discharge and changes in surface mass balance including increased runoff. Ice stream discharge is caused by both ice deformation and basal sliding. For a better projection of future mass loss, it is important to understand deformation mechanisms of polycrystalline ice in ice sheet. Deformation properties of polycrystalline material are related to its microstructure (e.g. crystal grain orientation and size). As recrystallization and recovery are occurring together in ice sheet, microstructural analysis of ice is essential. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a method for measuring crystal lattice orientation with high angular and spatial resolutions. Both c- and a-axes of ice can be measured. We analyzed Greenland NEEM ice core and the preliminary result shows that most subgrain boundaries (SGBs) observed by optical microscopy have lattice misorientations < 4°. This result is in accordance with analyses of Antarctic EDML ice core by X-ray diffractometry while it differs from threshold angle of SGB/GB estimated with a dislocation theory. The observation results from ice sheet ice could contribute to better estimations of strain rate by models based on microstructural processes.


The main result of this paper establishes that if a controller $C$ (comprising of a linear feedback of the output and its derivatives) globally stabilizes a (nonlinear) plant $P$, then global stabilization of $P$ can also be achieved by an output feedback controller $C[h]$, where the output derivatives in $C$ are replaced by an Euler approximation with sufficiently small delay $h>0$. This is proved within the conceptual framework of the nonlinear gap metric approach to robust stability. The main result is then applied to finite dimensional linear minimum phase systems with unknown coefficients but known relative degree and known sign of the high frequency gain. Results are also given for systems with nonzero initial conditions.


Abstract: We review principles and trends in the use of semiconductor nanowires as gain media for stimulated emission and lasing. Semiconductor nanowires have recently been widely studied for use in integrated optoelectronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, and transistors. Intensive research has also been conducted in the use of nanowires for subwavelength laser systems that take advantage of their quasione- dimensional (1D) nature, flexibility in material choice and combination, and intrinsic optoelectronic properties. First, we provide an overview on using quasi-1D nanowire systems to realize subwavelength lasers with efficient, directional, and low-threshold emission. We then describe the state of the art for nanowire lasers in terms of materials, geometry, andwavelength tunability.Next,we present the basics of lasing in semiconductor nanowires, define the key parameters for stimulated emission, and introduce the properties of nanowires. We then review advanced nanowire laser designs from the literature. Finally, we present interesting perspectives for low-threshold nanoscale light sources and optical interconnects. We intend to illustrate the potential of nanolasers inmany applications, such as nanophotonic devices that integrate electronics and photonics for next-generation optoelectronic devices. For instance, these building blocks for nanoscale photonics can be used for data storage and biomedical applications when coupled to on-chip characterization tools. These nanoscale monochromatic laser light sources promise breakthroughs in nanophotonics, as they can operate at room temperature, can potentially be electrically driven, and can yield a better understanding of intrinsic nanomaterial properties and surface-state effects in lowdimensional semiconductor systems.


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Little attention has been directed at how locality shapes young adolescents attitudes to, and participation in, a range of health related practices. This thesis explores the talk of twenty-five 11-13 year old young people from diverse socio-economic households who live in Lyttelton, New Zealand and illustrates the complex intersections of locality, class, gender and social networks in the construction of their identities and health related practices. It investigates this complexity by examining young people's active engagement with their social contexts. It draws on various conceptual frameworks from social theory including the social studies of childhood, materialist/discursive analysis, a critical application of Bourdieu's theory of practice and qualitative methodology to understand young people's own perspectives; how they make sense of and (re)create the health cultures in which they participate. It considers young people's health in a broad perspective, and how it is experienced and lived out at a practical level, in the everyday lives of young people. This thesis addresses a set of key questions: how do participants make sense of their locatedness in Lyttelton? How are they enabled and constrained by their location, in particular social networks? How do they construct their identities and how are social networks, locality, gender and class relevant to this construction? How do young people who participated in this study negotiate, contest and take up health related practices? How can this research inform youth-focused health promotion? It highlights how young people are articulate and knowledgeable about the settings that structure their lives. It examines the complex relationship between social processes such as class and gender, participants' interactions in these processes and their active identity-making. This approach highlights a situated understanding of young people's agency. The analytic focus of this thesis is to understand young people's health behaviours as social practices performed in specific social contexts. By focusing on a locality, this research highlights how health related practices are interpreted by young people in the context of cultural norms and practices within their social networks. Understanding how locality and social context shapes young people's attitudes to and participation in health related behaviours has relevance for public health practice. Examining the relationships between young people's social contexts and practices within an appreciation of their embeddedness in social structures helps in understanding the complexity of young people's health related practices. This research highlights how health related practices take place in specific cultural contexts, where the contexts influence the ways that these practices are experienced. Public health needs to strive for better understandings of young people's cultures and meanings of health related behaviours within contextualised settings in order to develop more effective health promotion strategies. The challenge for public health is to incorporate more sophisticated analyses of young people's health, and to address the diversity of young people's health as complex, multifaceted, social and cultural.


The suspension and transportation of fluid muds in the nearshore zone by shallow-water, solitary-like waves has been investigated along the coast of Surinam, South America. Accumulations of fluid mud which front the coast at a spacing of 30-60 km affect incoming swell by changing the wave profile from sinusoidal to solitary-like and by preventing wave breaking except for occasional spilling. Simultaneous time-series measurements of wave height and period, fluid-mud density, and tide elevation, along with results of suspended-sediment measurements, indicate that in cases when the bulk density is less than 1.20 g/cm and where water depths are less than 5 m fluid mud is suspended from the bottom in two frequency modes: wave-by-wave suspension (-10 sec) and tiderelated suspension (-12.4 hr) . Surface-water suspensate concentrations exceed 3.4 x 10 mg/1 as up to 0.5 m of fluid mud is periodically removed from the bottom. High concentrations of suspended fluid mud, together with solitary-like waves from the northeast throughout the year, can lead to extraordinarily high sediment transport volumes. Calculations based on solitary wave theory and on data obtained from this ft ^ study indicate that 15-65 x 10 m of mud can move along shore each year without involving breaking waves, the concept of radiation stress and a nearshore circulation cell, or bed-load transport. These values are 10 to 100 times greater than typical transport rates along sandy coasts.


BACKGROUND
After stroke, the learned non-use of a paretic arm is a major obstacle to the improvement of hand function.

OBJECTIVE
We examined whether patients with a central paresis could profit from applying the self-regulation strategy of making if-then plans that specify situational triggers to using the paretic arm.

METHOD
Seventeen stroke patients with a mild to moderate hand paresis were asked to perform a Simon task which is commonly used to study the enhanced executive control needed when there is a mismatch between stimulus (e.g., color) and response (e.g., location) features. We examined whether patients with hemiparesis would be able to reduce the Simon effect (i.e., responding slower to mismatched as compared to matched stimulus and response features) by creating new stimulus-response associations via if-then plans.

RESULTS
A significant Simon effect was observed in both the affected and the non-affected arm for control trials. However, there was no longer a significant Simon effect for the critical trials prepared by forming if-then plans. This led to a significant stimulus×compatibility interaction effect for the affected arm and a marginally significant interaction effect for the non-affected arm. Making if-then plans was effective for eliminating or at least reducing the Simon effect for the affected and the non-affected arm, respectively.

CONCLUSION
This observation opens a potential new route to improving stroke rehabilitation. If-then plans may qualify as a viable strategy to overcome the learned non-use of the affected arm. Further research is now required to develop and test therapeutic measures based on this proof-of-principle.


For a long time conceptual explanations of mass migrations rested on economic and social premises. The notion of chain-migration, for instance, was given considerable reinforcement with the adoption of the economic "cost-benefi t" terminology, as was the phenomenon of transplanted networks. In time, however, scholars began to consider structural mechanisms less and aspects of individual selection more. The latter included giving greater attention to cultural factors. However, mass physical relocation, explained with reference to series of individual decisions either accepted or encouraged by the community, goes against the attachment to place necessary for the strengthening of the nation state, which fi nds form in the institutionalization of citizenship. Growing internal (national) integration and the social disintegration that accompanies mass migrations makes it necessary to devise compulsions that encourage and hasten assimilation. Under its infl uence, the signifi cance of foreignness and the phenomenon of otherness as a fact of everyday life intensifi es. In the case of Hungary, this is illustrated the most clearly by the metaphorical confl ation of Budapest's alleged "foreignness" with its alleged "Jewishness."


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between independence level in functional activities and pain, and length of hospital stay in the early postoperative period in patients with total hip arthroplasty (THA).

METHODS
The study was performed over 26 end stage hip arthritis patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Hacettepe University Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, between January 2000 and July 2003 for THA and operated with the same surgical technique by the same surgeon. All patients were mobilized in the first postoperative day and a standard rehabilitation protocol was applied to all patients. The independence level in functional activities of the cases was assessed with Iowa Level of Assistance Scale (ILAS). Iowa Ambulation Speed Scale (IASS) was used to evaluate the speed of ambulation in the early postoperative period. Pain was assessed with visual analogue scale (VAS).

RESULTS
There was no statistically significant relation between pain intensity and independence level in functional activities on the second and sixth postoperative days (p>0,05), but independence level scores in functional activities on the second and sixth days were correlated with hospital stay length (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate that in patients with THA, pain does not affect the independence level in functional activities in the early postoperative period. In the same period as the independence level improves, the hospital stay length decreases. This is an important factor that may reduce both the hospital costs and the possible complications due to prolonged hospital stay.


Sustainability, as an institutional and professional goal has gained momentum in the parks and recreation field over the past two decades. The scholarly literature has been dominated by articles contributing science-based management frameworks to inform agency decisions about sustainability. Needed also are action-oriented, case study research or evaluation studies where the objective is to inductively generate grounded theory and best management practices by studying the phenomena in action. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the USDA Forest Services' institutional goal of operationalizing Sustainable Recreation across the National Forest System. This study goal is informed by a literature synthesis of research focused on sustainable science, sustainability constraints, and institutional change and transformation as well as background on the Forest Services' Framework for Sustainable Recreation. The objectives of this research study were to develop a deeper understanding of the contextual factors, vision and goals, action steps, and performance measures associated with the Forest Services' operationalizing of their national Framework for Sustainable Recreation. Given the action-oriented and applied focus agenda of this research, the research study employed a conventional, qualitative content analysis methodology to analyze six Regional Sustainable Recreation Strategies. Results from this qualitative content analysis provide an empirical window into how the USDA Forest Service is mobilizing to integrate sustainability into their managed recreation operations. Study results elaborate two contrasting visions for managed recreation in the Forest Service—one a more limited vision of operating within agency budgetary limits and the other a more expansive vision of investing in the managed recreation program. The regional Sustainable Recreation Strategies studied here also varied considerably in the level of specificity directed towards the forest-level operationalizing of sustainable recreation objectives and priority action steps. Study results also suggest that operationalizing sustainable recreation across the National Forest System will result in new types of recreation service delivery partnerships with external stakeholder groups to leverage scarce public dollars and to improve the level of service. Finally, there was little mention in the Framework for Sustainable Recreation or the six regional strategies analyzed here for the contribution of management-science partnerships. Regional or national forums are needed that convene managers and scientists to develop an action-oriented science agenda for operationalizing sustainable recreation across the National Forest System. These same collaborative forums could benefit managers of other public recreation lands and the parks and recreation field collectively. Subscribe to JPRA


The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected factors that influence small business owners' perceived obstacles to strategic planning in Louisiana small businesses. This study was guided by five research objectives. To achieve the study purpose, the researcher developed The Perceived Obstacles to Strategic Planning Inventory, which consisted of four scales, measuring perceptions using a six point Likert-type response scale in addition to various demographic factors. An important finding was that of the 70 respondents, only 34.3% had a written long-term plan and the majority (67.1%) of respondents fell below a four on the interpretive scale suggesting they perceived that their organizations did not conduct strategic planning. Additionally, there was a significant relationship between "the perceived degree to which the organization conducts strategic planning" and each of the following scales measuring obstacles to strategic planning 1) "perceived quality of the organization's employees." 2) "leadership has knowledge of the planning process," and 3) "perceived available time the organization has to strategically plan." Lastly, a model was identified explaining a significant portion of the variance in, "the perceived degree to which the organization conducts strategic planning." Based on the impact of the "perceived quality of the organization's employees," scale the researcher concluded that the majority of small businesses felt that their employees were technically competent. Since the majority of the organizations did not plan, but have technically competent employees, the implication is that technical competence alone does not provide a business with everything they need to accomplish long-term goals and purposes. Therefore, other factors must be influencing their decision. One potential factor is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence might be defined as making a conscious decision regarding behavior despite one's emotional state. This behavior is associated with self-awareness, and those who are self-aware are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses and are able to avoid irrational thinking and impulsive behavior. Thus their thinking, is in essence, strategic. The researcher recommends further investigation into the relationship between strategic planning and other factors such as emotional intelligence of business owners/managers.


Abstract The Komjatice depression, situated on the Danube Basin's northern margin, represents a sub-basin of the Neogene epicontinental Central Paratethys Sea and Lake Pannon. The paper provides an insight into the character of sediment provenance evolution by study of well cores (ZM-1, IV-1, MOJ-1, VR-1 wells). A modern combination of provenance, sedimentology and biostratigraphy together with the reported redefinition of Pannonian formations resulted in a new lithostratigraphy of the study area. Moreover, newly published volcanic rock age data were used for calibration of biostratigraphy. The overall age span of the sedimentary fill is occupied only by late Badenian–Sarmatian (Serravallian) to Pannonian (Tortonian–Messinian) strata: 1) the basal alluvial sediments of the newly defined Zlaté Moravce Formation; 2) late Badenian–Sarmatian (Serravalian) marine sediments of the Vráble-Pozba Fm., connected with tectonic opening of the depression; 3) Pannonian (Tortonian) coarse grained sediments of the Nemčiňany Fm. with an erosional base; 4) Pannonian (Tortonian–Messinian) predominantly fine-grained, basin floor to slope Ivanka Fm., sandy deltaic Beladice Fm. and predominantly muddy, alluvial Volkovce Fm. In the middle Miocene provenance is situated in Paleozoic sequences and Neogene volcanic rocks occurring currently in the NE. During the late Miocene, provenance is changed to the NNW (Tribeč Mts.), although the transport from the NE also remained.


This letter demonstrates the use of infrared matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled with microscope mode mass spectrometry imaging. It is aimed to explore the use of intrinsic water in tissue as a matrix for imaging at spatial resolutions below the diffraction limit of the employed IR optics. Stigmatic ion optics with a magnification factor of ~70 were used to project the spatial distribution of produced ions onto a detector while separating ions with different mass-to-charge ratios using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. A pixelated detector was used to simultaneously record arrival time and impact position. A previously described dried-droplet sample system of 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) and 5 peptides covered by a copper grid for defined surface structure was used to benchmark the light- and ion-optical setup for spatial resolution and mass spectrometric performance. A spatial resolving power of 9.8 μm, well below the optical limit of diffraction (14 μm for the given setup), was established. After, frozen cryo-sections from a biological model system were measured by exploiting the endogenous water content as a matrix. Principal component analysis enabled a clear distinction between distinct tissue regions identified by both light microscopy and MS imaging.


Background: Epidemiological studies have suggested that smoking, nutrition and sexual patterns are major risk factors for cervical cancer. Aim: To study the association between food consumption patterns, smoking and sexual behavior and the risk of cervical cancer. Material and methods: A matched case control study of 170 cases and 340 controls. Food and nutrient intakes were assessed by a food frequency questionnaire considering 58 antioxidant rich food items. Median daily intake of vegetables, fruits, antioxidant vitamins and fiber was calculated. A conditional logistic regression model was used to determine odds ratios associated with variations in nutritional intake and no nutritional factors (age at first delivery, parity, body mass index, family history of cancer and smoking). Results: High intakes of vegetables, fruits, beta carotene, vitamin C, E and fiber were associated with a lower risk of cervical cancer (Odds ratios ranging from 0.56 to 0.78). The risk for cancer was inversely associated with the age at first delivery and directly associated with the total number of pregnancies and smoking. Multivariate analysis model showed a protective effect for vegetable and vitamin E consumption (odds ratio of 0.6 with confidence intervals of 0.5 to 0.8 p<0.001) and a higher risk associated to smoking (odds ratio 2.8, confidence intervals 1.5-5.5 p<0.002) and a younger age at the first delivery (odds ratio 3.37 confidence intervals 2-5.3 p<0.001). Conclusions: Cervical cancer is associated with reproductive and food consumption behaviors. A higher intake of vegetables and foods rich in vitamin E can reduce its risk (Rev Med Chile 2001; 129: 597-603)


Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have emerged as a flexible and low-cost network infrastructure, where heterogeneous mesh routers managed by different users collaborate to extend network coverage. This paper proposes a novel routing metric, Expected Forwarded Counter (EFW), and two further variants, to cope with the problem of selfish behavior (i.e., packet dropping) of mesh routers in a WMN. EFW combines, in a cross-layer fashion, routing-layer observations of forwarding behavior with MAC-layer measurements of wireless link quality to select the most reliable and high-performance path. We evaluate the proposed metrics both through simulations and real-life deployments on two different wireless testbeds, performing a comparative analysis with On-Demand Secure Byzantine Resilient Routing (ODSBR) Protocol and Expected Transmission Counter (ETX). The results show that our cross-layer metrics accurately capture the path reliability and considerably increase the WMN performance, even when a high percentage of network nodes misbehave.


Phoma stem canker (blackleg), caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, is an important disease on oilseed rape (canola, rapeseed, Brassica napus, Brassica juncea, Brassica rapa) causing seedling death, lodging or early senescence in Australia, Canada and Europe, but not in China. The two forms of L. maculans (A group and B group) that occur on oilseed rape are now considered to be separate species. The epidemiology and severity of phoma stem canker differs between continents due to differences in the pathogen population structure, oilseed rape species and cultivars grown, climate and agricultural practices. Epidemics are most severe in Australia, where only the A group occurs, and can be damaging in Canada and western Europe, where both A and B groups occur, although their proportions vary within regions and throughout the year. Epidemics are slight in China, where the A group has not been found. Dry climates (Australia, western Canada) lengthen the persistence of infected debris and may synchronize the release of airborne ascospores (after rain) with seedling emergence. L. maculans spreads from cotyledon and leaf infections down petioles to reach the stem, with infections on cotyledons and leaves early in the season producing the most damaging stem cankers at the stem base (crown). Development of both crown cankers and phoma stem lesions higher up stems is most rapid in regions with high temperatures from flowering to harvest, such as Australia and Canada. Breeding for resistance (genetic, disease escape or tolerance), stubble management, crop rotation and fungicide seed treatments are important strategies for control of phoma stem canker in all areas. Fungicide spray treatments are justified only in regions such as western Europe where high yields are obtained, and accurate forecasts of epidemic severity are needed to optimize their use.


A numerical model which determines the geometry of a threshold channel was recently developed. Such a model is an important tool for designing unlined irrigation canals and channelization schemes, and is useful when considering flow regulation. However, its applicability is limited in that its continuously curving boundary does not allow for sediment transport, which is an essential feature of natural rivers and streams. That model has thus been modified to predict the shape and stress distribution of an optimal stable channel; a channel with a flat-bed region over which bedload transport occurs, and curving bank regions composed of particles that are all in a state of incipient motion. It is the combination of this channel geometry and the phenomenon of momentum-diffusion, that allows the present model to simulate the 'stable bank, mobile bed' condition observed in rivers. The coupled equations of momentum-diffusion and force-balance are solved over the bank region to determine the shape of the channel banks (the bank solution). The width of the channel's flat-bed region is determined by solving the momentum-diffusion equation over the flat-bed region (the bed solution), using conditions at the junction of the flat-bed and bank regions that ensure matching of the bed and bank solutions. The model was tested against available experimental and field data, and was found to adequately predict the bank shape and significant dimensions of stable channels. To make the model results more amenable to the practicing engineer, design equations and plots were developed. These can be used as an alternative solution for stable channel design; relieving the practitioner of the need to run the numerical program. The case of a stable channel that transports both bedload and suspended sediment is briefly discussed. Governing equations and a possible solution scheme for this type of channel are suggested; laying the groundwork for the development of an appropriate numerical model.


type="main" xml:lang="en"> Since the passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, corporate terrorism insurance is sold as a separate policy from commercial property coverage. In this article, we determine whether companies differ in their demand for property and terrorism insurance. Using a unique data set of insurance policies purchased by large U.S. firms, combined with financial information of the corporate clients and of the insurance provider, we apply a two-stage least squares approach to obtain consistent estimates of premium elasticity of corporate demand for property and terrorism coverage. Our findings suggest that both are rather price inelastic and that corporate demand for terrorism insurance is significantly more price inelastic than demand for property insurance. We further find a negative relation between the solvency ratios of both property and terrorism risk coverage, with a stronger effect on the latter, indicating that companies use their ability to self-insure as a substitute for market insurance. Our results are robust to the application of alternative estimators as well as changes in the econometric specifications.


Evidence is presented of widespread changes in structure and species composition between the 1980s and 2003–2004 from surveys of 249 British broadleaved woodlands. Structural components examined include canopy cover, vertical vegetation profiles, field-layer cover and deadwood abundance. Woods were located in 13 geographical localities and the patterns of change were examined for each locality as well as across all woods. Changes were not uniform throughout the localities; overall, there were significant decreases in canopy cover and increases in sub-canopy (2–10 m) cover. Changes in 0.5–2 m vegetation cover showed strong geographic patterns, increasing in western localities, but declining or showing no change in eastern localities. There were significant increases in canopy ash Fraxinus excelsior and decreases in oak Quercus robur/petraea. Shrub layer ash and honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum increased while birch Betula spp. hawthorn Crataegus monogyna and hazel Corylus avellana declined. Within the field layer, both bracken Pteridium aquilinum and herbs increased. Overall, deadwood generally increased. Changes were consistent with reductions in active woodland management and changes in grazing and browsing pressure. These findings have important implications for sustainable active management of British broadleaved woodlands to meet silvicultural and biodiversity objectives.


. Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) fibers are used as a reinforcing agent to enhance concrete strength as well as to shield against thermal neutrons. This study increased the stability of PETE fibers in a strong alkali solution characteristic of concrete (pH = 12) using low-dose gamma radiation to induce crosslinking of the polymer chains. Results indicated that gamma ray dose of only 30 kGy resulted in the highest molecular weight, tensile strength and degree of crystallinity of PETE fibers with size 1.3 D. The surface topology using SEM micrography were also evaluated. An accelerated age testing revealed that these radiation-treated fibers will maintain their mechanical strength in concrete for up to at least 60 months. Thermal neutron attenuation test of fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) indicated that the degree of thermal neutron shielding increased with increasing PETE fiber content, and that at 0.3% fiber content, FRC exhibited the highest thermal neutron attenuation of about 60% compared to unreinforced concrete. Therefore, these FRCs can readily be utilized as an effective neutron shielding material for nuclear and radiation applications to enhance radiation safety.