OBJECTIVE
To develop and assess the reproducibility of a protocol to noninvasively test endothelial function in dogs on the basis of the flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) procedure used in humans.

ANIMALS
5 healthy spayed female dogs.

PROCEDURES
Luminal arterial diameter and blood flow velocity in the brachial and femoral arteries were measured with ultrasonography. The within-dog reproducibility of these ultrasonographic measurements was tested. An occlusion period of 1, 3, or 5 minutes with an inflatable cuff was used to create the FMD response. Measurements made at 15, 30, and 60 seconds following release of the occlusion were compared with measurements made immediately prior to each occlusion to assess the FMD response.

RESULTS
Within-dog reproducibility of measurements revealed moderate to high correlations. Change from baseline in luminal arterial diameter was most substantial when measured at 30 seconds following release of occlusion, whereas blood flow velocity changes were maximal when measured at 15 seconds following release. The brachial imaging site provided a larger number of significant FMD responses than the femoral site. The 3-minute occlusion period provided equal or better responses than the 5-minute occlusion period.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Ultrasonographic measurement of the FMD responses was a feasible and reproducible technique and significant changes from baseline were detected. The FMD responses in dogs were most substantial when performed at the brachial artery with blood flow velocity and luminal arterial diameter changes from baseline measured at 15 and 30 seconds, respectively, following release of a 3-minute occlusion period.


Background/Aims: In human case-control association studies, population heterogeneity is often present and can lead to increased false-positive results. Various methods have been proposed and are in current use to remedy this situation. Methods: We assume that heterogeneity is due to a relatively small number of individuals whose allele frequencies differ from those of the remainder of the sample. For this situation, we propose a new method of handling heterogeneity by removing outliers in a controlled manner. In a coordinate system of the c largest principal components in multidimensional scaling (MDS), we systematically remove one after another of the most extreme outlying individuals and each time recompute the largest association test statistic. The smallest p value obtained within M removals serves as our test statistic whose significance level is assessed in randomization samples. Results: In power simulations of our method and three methods in current use, averaged over several different scenarios, the best method turned out to be logistic regression analysis (based on all individuals) with MDS components as covariates. Conclusion: Our proposed method ranked closely behind logistic regression analysis with MDS components but ahead of other commonly used approaches. In analyses of real datasets our method performed best.


Methods for exploiting the technique of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model fires and the associated fundamental processes of combustion and radiation are appraised by applying the CFD model JASMINE to simulate the fire-induced airflow in a room-sized compartment. For a systematic evaluation of these methods describing the fundamental processes and the associated mathematical formulation, a two-stage-verification and validation procedure is adopted here. In the verification stage, a number of important model parameters, e.g., the choice of fire source model (e.g., combustion model vs. volumetric heat source (VHS) model), radiation transport model (e.g., six-flux vs. discrete transfer radiation model), gas property model (e.g., constant absorption coefficient vs. grey gas model), design and resolution of the numerical grid, etc. are assessed by comparing the predicted results against a specific fire scenario selected from the data of Steckler, K.D., Quintiere, J.G. and Rinkinen, W.J. (1982). Flow Induced by Fire in a Compartment, NBSIR B2-2520, National Bureau of Standards, Pittsburgh [2]. The validation stage has then focused on the detailed comparison of the CFD fire model against the comprehensive data set of Steckler et al. [2] for a wide range of fire scenarios covering a range of fire strengths (i.e., heat release rates), fire source locations, the sizes and shapes of the ventilation opening (i.e., door or window). Such a systematic study has demonstrated the predictive capability of the CFD methodology in reproducing detailed thermal and flow field behavior of the enclosure fires, and has also shown that the predictive accuracy of the CFD methodology can be significantly improved by careful selection of the fire models and model parameters. Some guidance on the use of CFD methodology has been provided for performing the fire modeling properly and effectively for performance-based fire safety design.


Airport operation in Switzerland is confided to companies with private law status. The Federal Ministry has drawn up a sectoral Plan of air infrastructure, which is an instrument both of regional policy and of planning. It does not create new rights but fixes directions. National airports respond to commercial demand, which has changed greatly during the last five years. The three national airports are Zurich, with 17.5 millions passengers a year; Geneva, with 9.5 millions; and Basle-Mulhouse - located in French territory- with 3.5 millions. There are another 10 regional airports (Berne, Sion, Lugano, St. Gallen, etc.) and further local airports providing access to alpine zones. The Federal Government is proposing a better coordination of airport policies, as well as a systematic connection of airports to the rail network. Zurich and Geneva have been the object of a 50 year concession. The bankruptcy of SAir Group, which included Swissair, strongly destabilised Zurich airport. The actual level of traffic is thus lower than it was in 1997. In addition, future growth is restricted because of noise problems; the air corridors even had to be shifted from the neighbouring German region to the Swiss territory. Geneva was hurt earlier by the part-withdrawal of Swissair, but has already found alternative solutions and is now in a better position. Geneva airport is close to the city and well-served by train (an undertaking has been made that, by 2020, 45% of airport users will be using surface public transport), air traffic increases and the airport is profitable. It is home notably to Easyjet airline. Its strategy consists of encouraging the airlines already present to remain there, and to segment the offer according to the airline (by creating a terminal dedicated to "low cost"). Basel-Mulhouse hopes to boost its capacity to 8 million passengers a year, thanks to a similar strategy and an electronic automatic approach system.


For the last century, there has been a continuing debate about the nature of emotion. In the most recent offering in this scientific dialogue, Lench, Flores, and Bench (2011) reported a meta-analysis of emotion induction research and claimed support for the natural kind hypothesis that discrete emotions (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety) elicit specific changes in cognition, judgment, behavior, experience, and physiology. In this article, we point out that Lench et al. (2011) is not the final word on the emotion debate. First, we point out that Lench et al.'s findings do not support their claim that discrete emotions organize cognition, judgment, experience, and physiology because they did not demonstrate emotion-consistent and emotion-specific directional changes in these measurement domains. Second, we point out that Lench et al.'s findings are in fact consistent with the alternative (a psychological constructionist approach to emotion). We close by appealing for a construct validity approach to emotion research, which we hope will lead to greater consensus on the operationalization of the natural kind and psychological construction approaches, as well as the criteria required to finally resolve the emotion debate.


Traditionally, network operators have used simple flat-rate broadband data plans for both wired and wireless network access. But today, with the popularity of mobile devices and exponential growth of apps, videos, and clouds, service providers are gradually moving towards more sophisticated pricing schemes, including dynamic pricing. This decade will therefore likely witness a major change in ways in which network resources are managed and the role of economics in allocating these resources. This survey reviews some of the well-known past broadband pricing proposals (both static and dynamic), including their current realization in various consumer data plans around the world, and discusses several research challenges and open questions. By exploring the benefits and challenges of pricing data, this paper attempts to facilitate both the industrial and the academic communities' efforts in understanding the existing literature, recognizing new trends, and shaping an appropriate and timely research agenda.


The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the recently initiated research concerning geometric constructions of means, where the variables are appearing as line segments. The present study shows that all Lehmer means of two variables for integer power k and for k = m 2 , where m is an integer, can be geometrically constructed, that Lehmer means for power k = 0 , 1 and 2 can be geometrically constructed for any number of variables and that Lehmer means for power k = 1 / 2 and - 1 can be geometrically constructed, where the number of variables is n = 2 m and m is a positive integer.


The book reflects academically on important and relevant ethical fields from a multidimensional South African context. The book challenges conventional borders from different ethical, theological, philosophical, economic and cultural perspectives with insight and expertise and seeks to add academic-ethical value, locally and globally, with its different points of departure deeply embedded in justice. From a mainly qualitative methodological perspective, this scholarly book demonstrates that ethics requires analytical thinking and critical people who, in an existentially and emancipatory way, can help make the world a more just, decent and humane place in which to live. The authors, who represent different academic and cultural backgrounds, present in their respective chapters their research systematically, intersectionally and constructivistically, based on profound theoretical analysis and reasoning. This epistemology results in an act of knowing that actively gives meaning and order to the reality to which it is responding. By doing this, they point out that people are in an ongoing process of becoming more human – allowing ourselves and our fellow human beings to flourish and to reach fuller potential through justice-based ethical reflection and action.


The effects of patents on scientific research and access to medicine are hotly debated. While providing incentives for R&D, patents increase the costs of research tools and raise cost barriers on access to drugs. This
 Policy Forum
 reviews the experience of free software, distributed computing, and other forms of commons-based peer production. It then proposes two complementary avenues open to scientists and universities to alleviate the costs of overly protective patent systems.


PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Work is an important environment shaping the aging processes during the adult years. Therefore, the cumulative and acute effects of work characteristics on late-life health deserve great attention. Given that population aging has become a global trend with ensuing changes in labor markets around the world, increased attention is paid to investigating the effects of the timing of retirement around the world and the macroeconomic benefits often associated with delaying retirement. It will be essential for societies with aging populations to maintain productivity given an aging workforce and for individuals it will be crucial to add healthy and meaningful years rather than just years to their lives.

DESIGN AND METHODS
We first describe the available evidence about participation of older workers (65+) in the labor force in high, middle, and low-income countries. Second, we discuss the individual-level and societal influences that might govern labor-force participation of older adults. Thirdly, we review evidence on the association between work on the one and physical, mental, and cognitive health in later life on the other.

RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS
Globally, both is true: work supports healthy aging and jeopordizes it. We draw implications for policymaking in terms of social protection, HR policies, and older employee employability.


A growing body of research documents that land use relates with travel mode choice, distances and time spent traveling, and household level vehicle emissions. However, to date little work has been done at a sufficiently disaggregate scale to gain an understanding of how local governments should alter their land use policies and plans to reduce vehicle use and encourage transit and non-motorized forms of travel. This study of the four county Central Puget Sound region links parcel level land use data with travel data collected from the Puget Sound Household Travel Survey (PSHTS). The primary aim of the study is to describe how measures of land use mix, density, and street connectivity where people live and work influences their trip making patterns including trip chaining and mode choice for home based work trips, home based non-work trips, and mid day trips from work. Land use measures are developed within one km of the household and employment trip ends in the survey. Tour based models are developed to estimate the relative utility of travel across available modes when controlling for level of service, regional accessibility to employment, and socio-demographic factors. A secondary aim of the project is to estimate the linkages between land use and household generations of Oxides of Nitrogen and Volatile Organic Compounds that are precursors to the formation of harmful ozone. Emissions are estimated based on modeled speeds for AM, PM, and off peak travel at the trip link level and then aggregated to the household level. Household emissions are then correlated with land use patterns where people live when controlling for socio-demographic factors. An exploratory analysis was also conducted as part of this work to estimate how land use patterns where people work influences their modal choice and engagement in travel demand management (TDM) programs offered by employers. The project relied on the Commute Trip Reduction Database from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). However, it was found that additional development of these data is necessary before this type of analysis can be done. Results are presented that document how much of an increase in the utilization of specific modes of travel for work and non-work travel would likely accrue from specific types of land use changes, and from changes to travel cost and travel time.


Durability describes the ability of a device to operate properly in imperfect conditions. We have recently proposed a novel neural network structure called an "Affordable Neural Network" (AfNN), in which affordable neurons of the hidden layer are considered as the elements responsible for the robustness property as is observed in human brain function. Whereas earlier we have shown that AfNNs can still generalize and learn, here we show that these networks are robust against damages occurring after the learning process has terminated. The results support the view that AfNNs embody the important feature of durability. In our contribution, we investigate the durability of the AfNN when some of the neurons in the hidden layer are damaged after the learning process.


In this report, two applications of neural networks are investigated. The first one is low bit rate image compression by using neural networks and projection pursuit. The second one is improving the classification accuracy of neural network classifiers by using unlabeled data. In the first part, a novel approach for low bit rate image coding is presented. The image is compressed by first quadtree segmenting the image into blocks of different sizes based on two activity measures , and then constructing a distinct code for each block by invokin~g the theory of projection pursuit. The two activity measures used in this work are the block variance and the signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of the reconstructed block. It is shown that the projection pursuit coding algorithm can adaptively conslruct a better approxj mation for each block until the desired signal to noise ratio or bit rate is achieved. This method also adaptively finds the optimum network configuration. Bxperimental values for the objective measure of performance using PSNR are superior to the JPEG decoded images. The subjective quality of the encoded images with the proposed algorithm are also superior to the JPEG encoded images. In the !second part, classification accuracy improvement of neural network classifiers using unlabled testing data is presented. In order to fully utilize the informati.on contained in high dimensional data, training samples are needed from all classes. In order to increase classification accuracy without increasing the number of training samples, the network makes use of testing data along with training data for learning. However, the testing data are unlabeled whereas the training data are labeled. It was shown previously for the case of parametric classifiers that decision rules which use both labeled (training) and unlabeled (testing) samples have a lower expected error than those which use labeled samples only. Since the output of a neural network such as backpropagation network approximates the a posteriori probabilities, the same result applies to neural network classifiers. It is shown that including unlabeled samples from under-represented classes in the training set improves the classification accuracy of some of the classes during supervj sed-unsupervised learning.


Companies seeking competitive advantage in the highly competitive fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry can no longer differentiate themselves from competitors on products and pricing alone. Customer service and the perceived value that customers gain from suppliers is key in staying ahead. The FMCG industry in South Africa (SA) does not place much emphasis on evaluating customer service. This study is an evaluation of the outbound logistics customer service of Unilever Home and Personal Care (UHPC), a multinational FMCG company in SA. The study focuses on attributes of customer service that major retail customers with distribution centres {DC's) consider important and evaluates logistics customer service against key competitors. A survey of three major retail customers' of UHPC was conducted in the major regions of SA. Thirty self-administered questionnaires were sent out to staff at Shoprite, Clicks and Spar DC's across SA. Staff targeted were those associated with inbound logistics and included people as senior as DC Managers to Receiving Controllers. As these are specialised job functions, the sample size comprised of only 30 respondents. A total of 24 responses were analysed to determine the attributes of customer service which UHPC customers consider important and also to determine the perceived performance of UHPC against other competitors. The results revealed that DC customer consider order accuracy, timeliness of delivery, order quality, product availability, order fulfilment, personnel contact, cooperation of supplier, alerts on transportation delays, relationship with supplier and service level agreements to be the ten most important attributes of logistics customer service. The different customer groups did not rank the attributes in the same way. Shoprite and Clicks perceive UHPC's logistics customer service to perform from good to excellent on all 32 attributes whilst Spar felt that UHPC under-performed on 8 attributes. UHPC was highly rated amongst key competitors in the local FMCG industry and outperformed competitors on 28 attributes of logistics customer service. The following areas of improvement were identified for UHPC: order discrepancy handling after delivery, quality/durability of packaging, personal contact knowledge and ability and helpfulness in solving problems and supplier innovation in improving delivery.


For drinking water supply in the Donauried area (52 km 2 ) approximately 950 l/s groundwater are ed from 6 catchment plants with 220 wells. In the Donauried also intensive farming and several natural parks with valuable but drained lower moors are located so that many conflicts have arisen around the water. In a joint research project the goal is to manage the 6 plants' water demands, hydrology and season to achieve a water-optimum for each party. That is to have enough water for water supply, to guarantee farming without affecting groundwater quality and to rewel the lower moors. This task is solved by developing an optimisation algorithm that is based on a numerical groundwater flow model taking into account the water demands of all parties.


Sediments deposited in three fjord systems latitudinally spanning the northeast Gulf of Alaska coastline have distinctive rock magnetic characteristics that are derived from glacially eroded accreted terranes. Ideal conditions exist in coastal Alaska to preserve primary rock magnetic properties within the sediment record because of the dominance of glacial erosion and rapid sediment transportation and burial. In temperate glacially dominated marine settings, terrigenous sediment is not diluted by biogenic material and diagenetic alteration is minimal. The juxtaposition of temperate glaciers on the northwest-trending accreted terranes of the southern Alaska continental margin provides magnetic provenance tracers of sediment derived from this region that can aid in the interpretation of glacial, paleoclimate, and tectonic proxy records from marine sediment. Holocene sediment deposited in Glacier Bay is eroded from the Craig subterrane of the Alexander terrane; it is characterized by high-volume magnetic susceptibility and coarse-grained, pseudosingle-domain (PSD) and multidomain (MD) magnetite. In Yakutat and Disenchantment bays, farther to the north, glaciers also erode the Yakutat and Chugach terranes. There, sediment contains slightly finer-grained PSD and MD magnetite, which is chemically distinct from that of Glacier Bay. In the northern-most sector, sediment is eroded from the Chugach terrrane in Harriman and College fiords, adjacent to Prince William Sound. These sediments have low magnetic susceptibility and contain micron-size pyrrhotite.


Despite the importance of National Lottery funding for the provision of local sporting opportunities in England, research concerning the implications of the central governance of Lottery funded programmes has been limited. Drawing on theories of governance and governmentality, the research presented in this paper focused specifically on the Big Lottery Fund's governance of local partnerships in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme. Qualitative data collection enabled comparison of national aspirations for, and governance of, local partnerships with actual partnerships in three case studies. This analysis demonstrated that local contexts influenced local partnerships to a greater degree than the Big Lottery Fund's governance of the NOPES programme. The degree of specificity in national aspirations for local partnerships as well as the tools available to govern the NOPES programme nationally are used to explain these findings and, as a result, implications for both theoretical and policy development are identified.


The Saints in the Lives of Italian-Americans:An Interdisciplinary Investigation. Co-edited by Joseph A. Varacalli, Salvatore Primeggia, Salvatore J. LaGumina, and Donald J. D'Elia. [Filibrary Series, No. 14.] (Stony Brook: Forum Italicum, Center for Italian Studies, State University of New York. 1999. Pp. xi, 323. $20.00 paperback.) Italian Americans disapproved of the liturgical changes mandated by the Second Vatican Council, Salvatore Primeggia says in his contribution to this collection of articles on the cult of saints among southern Italian immigrants and their descendants in the United States, but he offers not a single piece of evidence to support this assertion. Mary Elizabeth Brown says at the end of her chapter that "challenges to their community" [it makes sense in her view to talk about a single, coherent, unified Italian American "community" for all places and times] delivered "a kind of electric shock to restore the heartbeat of the cult of saints." (The "challenges" Brown refers to are the "civil, gay, or women's rights movements" which affronted Italian American "traditional values and neighborhood cohesiveness." Presumably she just knows, and assumes that her readers will know too, that all Italian Americans are "traditionally" racist, homophobic, and sexist so that none of them would have endorsed the values or goals of these movements because she simply asserts this without support.) Brown's only evidence for the revival of the cult of saints among contemporary Italian Americans is John Paul It's 1983 Divines perfectionis. These two examples are indicative of the tone and method of this collection. A strong sense of loss pervades the articles in The Saints in the Lives of ItalianAmericans for the Church before the Second Vatican Council and for the old Italian American neighborhoods as the authors imagine that church and those neighborhoods to have been. Rather than what it purports to be,"an interdisciplinary investigation," the book is an example of the aggrieved and recriminatory literature of memory in modern American Catholic culture. Instead of evidence for any of these claims, the authors offer only their own nostalgia and anger as documentation. Victimization is the primary historical explanation. The saints were "pushed out," Italian American "folk religious culture"was suppressed and destroyed by the Irish, and upwardly mobile Italian Americans are .pressur[ed]" into conforming to American middle-class styles (according respectively to Richard Renoff [p. 125], Salvatore LaGumina [p. 131], and Joseph A. Varacalli Ip. 81). But the authors are not without hope: "if John Paul II's overall restorationist agenda is successful," Varacalli says in his introduction, then perhaps the saints will be "able to recapture their turf. …


Producing large enough quantities of high-quality transcriptions for accurate and reliable evaluation of an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system can be costly. It is therefore desirable to minimize the manual transcription work for producing metrics with an agreed precision. In this paper we demonstrate how to improve ASR evaluation precision using stratified sampling. We show that by altering the sampling, the deviations observed in the error metrics can be reduced by up to 30% compared to random sampling, or alternatively, the same precision can be obtained on about 30% smaller datasets. We compare different variants for conducting stratified sampling, including a novel sample allocation scheme tailored for word error rate. Experimental evidence is provided to assess the effect of different sampling schemes to evaluation precision.


A promising route to forming novel nanoparticle-based materials is directed self-assembly, where the interactions among multiple species of suspended particles are intentionally designed to favor the selfassembly of a specific cluster arrangement or nanostructure. DNA provides a natural tool for directed particle assembly because DNA double helix formation is chemically specific — particles with short single-stranded DNA grafted on their surfaces will be bridged together only if those strands have complementary base sequences. Moreover, the temperature-dependent stability of such DNA bridges allows the resulting attraction to be modulated from negligibly weak to effectively irreversible over a convenient range of temperatures. Surprisingly, existing models for DNA-induced particle interactions are typically in error by more than an order of magnitude, which has hindered efforts to design complex temperature, sequence and time-dependent interactions needed for the most interesting applications. Here we report the first spatially resolved measurements of DNA-induced interactions between pairs of polystyrene microspheres at binding strengths comparable to those used in self-assembly experiments. The pair-interaction energies measured with our optical tweezers instrument can be modeled quantitatively with a conceptually straightforward and numerically tractable model, boding well for their application to direct self-assembly. In addition to understanding the equilibrium interactions between DNA-labeled particles, it is also important to consider the dynamics with which they bind to and unbind from one another. Here we demonstrate for the first time that carefully designed systems of DNA-functionalized particles exhibit effectively diffusion-limited binding, suggesting that these interactions are suitable to direct efficient self-assembly. We systematically explore the transition from diffusion-limited to reaction-limited binding by decreasing the DNA labeling density, and develop a simple dynamic model that is able to reproduce some of the anomalous kinetics observed in multivalent binding processes. Specifically, we find that when compounded, static disorder in the melting rate of single DNA duplexes gives rise to highly non-exponential lifetime distributions in multivalent binding. Together, our findings motivate a nanomaterial design approach where novel functional structures can be found computationally and then reliably realized in experiment. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering First Advisor John C. Crocker This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/568


Rehabilitation programs are becoming an increasingly important component in the management of workers' compensation cases involving permanent or temporary disability. In this paper we report the results of an empirical investigation based on 3,211 clients of rehabilitation providers in Western Australia. The issues addressed include investigation into variation in the cost of rehabilitation services, and the source of referrals to rehabilitation providers. These matters are linked to an analysis of return to work rates, where we seek to identify potentially important determinants of a successful transition back into the workforce. In connection with this last important issue, we find systematic variation between return to work rates and the extent of disability, migrant status, age and rehabilitation status.


Informal education programs organized by university physics departments are a popular means of reaching out to communities and satisfying grant requirements. The outcomes of these programs are often described in terms of broader impacts on the community. Comparatively little attention, however, has been paid to the influence of such programs on those students facilitating the informal science programs. Through Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) at the University of Colorado Boulder, undergraduate and graduate physics students coach elementary and middle school children during an inquiry-based science afterschool program. As part of their participation in PISEC, university students complete preparation in pedagogy, communication and diversity, engage with children on a weekly basis and provide regular feedback about the program. We present findings that indicate these experiences improve the ability of university students to communicate in everyday language and positively ...


TripleSpec4.1 was first commisioned on the CTIO [1] 4-m Blanco telescope [2] as ARCoIRIS [3]. In order to provide greater community access to the instrument, it was decided to move ARCoIRIS [3] to the SOAR 4.1-m [4]telescope during the 2019A semester. For this move, we installed new optics in the instrument so that the plate scale and spectroscopic resolution would remain unchanged. TripleSPec4.1 is a cross-dispersed, single-object, longslit, infrared imaging spectrograph, containing no moving parts, and is based on an updated design of the three existing TripleSpec spectrographs installed on the 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the 5-m Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory, and on the 10-m KECK II telescope on Maunakea. TripleSPec4.1 features a fixed slit assembly of 1.1-arcsecs by 28-arcsecs. Spectra cover a simultaneous wavelength range of 0.80 to 2.47 microns, at a spectral resolution of approx. 3500, encompassing the entire z'YJHK photometric range. TripleSpec4.1 is mounted on SOAR on the IR Nasmyth platform, replacing the OSIRIS spectrograph on one of the side ports. The instrument is fed by a dichroic, which allows visible light to go to the facility guider. The guider is able to patrol the full field of view, including the spectrograph target, So long as there is a suitable guide star in the field of view, this provides faster guiding than the TripleSPec4.1 slit viewer, and therefore better image correction. The slit viewer is still usable where there are no visible guide stars.


Purpose Newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) programs have expanded significantly in the past years and are expected to expand further with the emergence of genetic technologies. Historically, NBS expansion has often occurred following ad hoc consideration of conditions, instead of a structured and transparent approach. In this review, we explore issues pertinent to NBS policy making, through the lens of the policy cycle: (a) agenda setting, (b) policy advice, (c) policy decision, (d) implementation, and (e) evaluation. Methods A literature search was conducted to gather information on the elements specific to NBS and its policy making process. Results The review highlighted two approaches to nominate a condition: a structured approach through horizon scanning; and an ad hoc process. For assessment of a condition, there was unanimous support for a robust process based on criteria. While the need to assess harms and benefits was a repeated theme in the articles, there is no agreed-upon threshold for benefit in decision-making. Furthermore, the literature was consistent in its recommendation for an overarching, independent, multidisciplinary group providing recommendations to government. An implementation plan focusing on the different levels on which NBS operates and the information needed on each level is essential for successful implementation. Continuously monitoring, and improving a program is vital, particularly following the implementation of screening for a new condition. An advisory committee could advise on implementation, development, review, modification, and cessation of (parts of) NBS. Conclusion The results highlight that there are a wave of issues facing NBS programs that policy makers must take into account when developing policy processes. What conditions to screen, and the technologies used in NBS, are both up for debate.


Abstract Background Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) regulates cell motility, proliferation and morphology and has a crucial impact on the ability of tumors to metastasize. Tight Junctions (TJs) are the first barrier that cancer cells must overcome to metastasize. In previous studies, signal induced proliferation associated protein 1 (SIPA1) has been shown to be involved in the metastasis of tumors. Breast and prostate cancer cells exhibit reduced response to HGF after SIPA1 knock down which was concurrent with changes in the regulation of TJs. It appears that SIPA1 influence HGF mediated control of TJs in cancer cells. We aimed to discover the role of SIPA1 in the HGF-mediated regulation of TJs and metastatic spread in lung adenocarcinoma. Methods Expression of SIPA1 was measured in human lung tumor tissues (n = 148) together with adjacent background tissue (n = 148). IHC was performed to examine SIPA1 expression within a lung tissue microarray. In vitro cell function assays were carried out after knock down of SIPA1 in the A549 cell line with/without HGF. Related TJs protein expression was analyzed using qPCR and western blotting. Results Patients with lung cancer exhibited a higher expression level of SIPA1 in tumor compared with background tissues (n = 148, p = 0.0141). High expression of SIPA1 was associated with advanced T stage of lung cancer (T3 vs T1, p = 0.014) and poor prognosis (p = 0.0021). Moreover, knockdown of SIPA1 reduced the aggressive behavior and enhanced the barrier function of the A549 cells. The SIPA1 knockdown cells showed a decreased response after treatment with HGF in invasion, proliferation and barrier function assays. In addition, receptor of HGF (Met) and several TJ components such as JAM1, Claudin5, Claudin10, Claudin11 and Claudin20 had reduced expression, whilst others such as Claudin1, Claudin19 had increased expression after knockdown of SIPA1. Conclusions SIPA1 may act as a targeting molecule and a marker for prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. It has an effect on pathways associated with aggressive behavior and barrier function in lung cancer cells. HGF induced malignant behavior of cancer cells requires the presence and influence of SIPA1, which can effect changes in cancer cell behavior by interacting with the TJ complex. Legal entity responsible for the study Tracey A. Martin - Cardiff China Medical Research Collaborative, School of Medicine, Cardiff University. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


The ability to identify tactile objects depends in part on the perception of their surface microstructure and material properties. Texture perception can, on a first approximation, be described by a number of nameable perceptual axes, such as rough/smooth, hard/soft, sticky/slippery, and warm/cool, which exist within a complex perceptual space. The perception of texture relies on two different neural streams of information: Coarser features, measured in millimeters, are primarily encoded by spatial patterns of activity across one population of tactile nerve fibers, while finer features, down to the micron level, are encoded by finely timed temporal patterns within two other populations of afferents. These two streams of information ascend the somatosensory neuraxis and are eventually combined and further elaborated in the cortex to yield a high-dimensional representation that accounts for our exquisite and stable perception of texture.


"What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age?" This apparently simple question opens into the massive, provocative, and complex "A Secular Age", where Charles Taylor positions secularism as a defining feature of the modern world, not the mere absence of religion, and casts light on the experience of transcendence that scientistic explanations of the world tend to neglect. In "Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age", a prominent and varied group of scholars chart the conversations in which "A Secular Age" intervenes and address wider questions of secularism and secularity. The distinguished contributors include Robert Bellah, Jose Casanova, Nilufer Gole, William E. Connolly, Wendy Brown, Simon During, Colin Jager, Jon Butler, Jonathan Sheehan, Akeel Bilgrami, John Milbank, and Saba Mahmood. "Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age" succeeds in conveying to readers the complexity of secularism while serving as an invaluable guide to a landmark book.


Abstract
An outbreak of scrub typhus occurred in Chinese Army personnel in the eastern part of Taiwan during 1970. This is the first outbreak of this disease documented on the main island of Taiwan since 1932. Of 21 hospitalized patients examined during the convalescent stage, 19 had antibody titers of from one to 640 to one to 10,240 as measured by indirect immunofluorescence to the Karp, Kato and Gilliam stains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi. All were males of from 35 to 51 years and all had high fever by history. Eleven patients had eschars, six with typical black necrotic scabs. In addition, serologic evidence of prior scrub typhus infection was found in 59 of 241 other men from the two military companies involved in the outbreak. All men had been working clearing an area in hills 300 to 500 meters high. This land was originally cleared for agricultural use, but had been abandoned over 4 years previously. Rickettsia tsutsugamushi was recovered from rodents and chiggers (Leptotromibidium deliense) captured in the area.


This book is a sustained record of Hamid Dabashi's reflections over many years on the question of authority and the power to represent. Who gets to represent whom and by what authority? When initiated in the most powerful military machinery in human history, the United States of America, already deeply engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq, such militant acts of representation speak voluminously of a far more deeply rooted claim to normative and moral agency, a phenomenon that will have to be unearthed and examined.In his groundbreaking book, "Orientalism", Edward Said traced the origin of this power of representation and the normative agency that it entails to the colonial hubris that carried a militant band of mercenary merchants, military officers, Christian missionaries, and European Orientalists around the globe, which enabled them to write and represent the people they thus sought to rule. The insights of Edward Said in "Orientalism" went a long way in explaining conditions of domination and representation from the classical colonial period in the 18th and 19th century to the time that he wrote his landmark study in the mid 1970's. Though many of his insights still remain valid, Said's observations need to be updated and mapped out to the events that led to the post-9/11 syndrome.Dabashi's book is not as much a critique of colonial representation as it is of the manners and modes of fighting back and resisting it. This is not to question the significance of Orientalism and its principal concern with the colonial acts of representation, but to provide a different angle on Said's entire oeuvre, an angle that argues for the primacy of the question of postcolonial agency. In Dabashi's tireless attempt to reach for a mode of knowledge production at once beyond the legitimate questions raised about the sovereign subject and yet politically poignant and powerful, postcolonial agency is central. Dabashi's contention is that the figure of an exilic intellectual is ultimately the paramount site for the cultivation of normative and moral agency with a sense of worldly presence. For Dabashi the figure of the exilic intellectual is paramount to produce counter-knowledge production in a time of terror.


The LIFE methodology (Extence et al. 1999) has demonstrated that it is possible to link changes in benthic invertebrate community structure (as sampled routinely by Agency biologists) with indices of historical river flow at a gauge close to the sample site. This report investigates the response of LIFE observed / expected (O/E) score to preceding gauged flows through a linear modelling framework.

Data were supplied by the Agency in Excel files, key data were extracted from the three main tables and loaded into a relational database. This initially included all available macro invertebrate sample data up until December 1999 and some data from 2000 and 2001. Later it was agreed to take advantage of the macro invertebrate data available since 2001, thus the LIFE score database was extended to the end of 2003. To match this, all flow indices were re-calculated for water years 1989-2002. Additional data derived by CEH were added to the database. RIVPACS was run for the majority of the sample sites, either using site characteristic data held already in the CEH Dorset Invertebrate Database, or the site characteristics provided with the data. The RIVPACS outputs were most probable RIVPACS group and expected LIFE scores, for spring, summer and autumn samples. The Institute of Hydrology Report 108 low flow quality classification was also added for each gauging station.

Following exploratory data analysis, some sites were excluded from the data set on the basis that their characteristics (e.g. deep water and silty bed) make their macroinvertebrate community unlikely to respond to flow in the manner that the LIFE index was designed.

Linear modelling demonstrated that autumn LIFE O/E score does indeed vary systematically with flow. Flow variables from the immediately preceding summer are the most important in explaining variation. The relative importance of high and low flow variables can depend on how they are standardised. The simplest models, explaining variation in LIFE score solely on preceding flows, confirm the validity of the LIFE approach, but do not explain a high proportion of overall variation in LIFE score.

Various site-specific factors have been used to improve the fit of the model, most notably splitting the sites into categories based on base flow index, and also whether there are significant artificial influences in the catchment. These give model R² values of between 0.1 (high BFI) to 0.2 (low BFI). Adding immediately preceding spring sample LIFE O/E as an explanatory variable increases R² to 0.4. A "site" factor encompassing all unexplained variation in mean LIFE O/E increases R² to 0.6, an encouraging result, indicating a maximum value for R² but still retaining a common slope. A simple approach adding RIVPACS group (two to four categories) as an interaction term (i.e. affecting slope of response) did not add to the model fit.

There is a trend for higher BFI sites to show negative relationships between LIFE O/E and winter Q10. These sites are also more strongly associated with Q95 flows from the previous summer, although this trend is weak, and is dependent on the method of flow standardisation. Both these relationships can easily be masked by inter-site differences. Analysis of autocorrelation of residuals from the model suggested that the year to year correlation of autumn LIFE O/E is largely due to the correlation in the explanatory flow variables. Also, there was little evidence for the perceived greater lag of baseflow-dominated catchments, beyond that explainable by the lag in the flows themselves. In general, low flow duration indices are probably not the most sensitive indicators of LIFE response on baseflow dominated catchments, alternative indicators emphasising drought duration could give improved model fits.

There is still clearly considerable unexplained site to site variation in the O/E LIFE scores, this is illustrated by the wide variation in slopes of the individual sites' LIFE O/E vs flow relationship. For the analysis undertaken, the data supported common LIFE vs flow slopes for all sites, although there was evidence of a interaction effect between artificial influences and preceding summer Q10: the more influenced catchments had more depressed LIFE O/E values when summer Q10 was low, but had LIFE O/E scores similar to the less influenced catchments when summer Q10 was high. This was not the case for LIFE vs preceding summer Q95.

Analysis of replicate data taken within a season has allowed calculation of an average total within-season standard deviation of LIFE score, consistent with previous work this decreases with number of taxa observed. The average total within-season variance was compared with the total mean squares of LIFE score to give an indication of the maximum potential model R² possible, this was in the region of 0.75: the quoted R² values for models should be viewed with this in mind.

Unexplained variation in mean LIFE O/E can hopefully be tackled by improvements to RIVPACS, perhaps by incorporating catchment characteristics from digital datasets. Unexplained variation in the slope of response of LIFE to flow could be tacked in several ways, including more sophisticated application of the RIVPACS groupings. In addition, it is likely that adding additional site factors such as habitat types and / or channel geometry would improve the methodology. This unexplained variation will need to be addressed for single LIFE O/Es to be a useful tool in determining abstraction / flow stress without supporting information. However the models as they stand would be extremely useful in assisting determining response where small amounts of data only are available.


Background: Oxidative stress (OS) plays a crucial role in the development of insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) level is an antioxidant associated with HDL complex. Diminished activity of PON1 enzyme and increased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) has been reported in variety of diseases involving oxidative stress. Objective: To compare the serum levels of PON1, MDA and lipid parameters in obese and normal women with PCOS with their respective controls. Materials and methods: Case-control study was carried out at the Biochemistry Department, Koppal Institute of Medical Sciences, Koppal, India from July 2015 to March 2018. It included 100 women with PCOS (50- obese and 50 normal) and 100 control subjects (50- obese and 50 normal), aged 18 to 40 years. Fasting lipid profile, malonaldehyde (MDA) and PON 1 were estimated. Results: There was no dyslipidemia in women with PCOS. Serum levels of PON1 were significantly decreased and MDA levels were increased in women with PCOS irrespective of BMI compared to their respective controls with a p value of <0.001, suggesting a significant inverse correlation between PON1 activity and MDA concentrations in women with PCOS irrespective of BMI. Conclusions: Women with PCOS have increased oxidative stress irrespective of BMI indicated by decreased serum PON1 and increased levels of serum MDA. However, there was no dyslipidemia.


MoS2/carbon hybrid materials have been shown to be promising non-precious metal electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, a facile method for synthesizing them is still a big challenge, let alone patterning them through a design. In this work, we present a novel strategy to synthesize and pattern MoS2/carbon hybrid materials as electrocatalysts for the HER through a one-step direct laser writing (DLW) method under ambient conditions. DLW on citric acid–Mo–S precursors leads to the in situ synthesis of small-sized MoS2 nanoparticles (NPs) anchored to the carbon matrix. Largely exposed catalytically active sites from the MoS2 NPs and the synergetic effect from the carbon matrix make the hybrid materials exhibit superior catalytic performance and stability for the HER in acidic solutions. Through computer-controlled laser beams we can design arbitrary patterns made of these catalysts on targeted substrates, which will open a new route for fabricating on-chip microfuel cells or catalytic microreactors.


We investigate a variant of the chip-firing process on the infinite path graph $\mathbb{Z}$: rather than treating the chips as indistinguishable, we label them with positive integers. To fire an unstable vertex, i.e. a vertex with more than one chip, we choose any two chips at that vertex and move the lesser-labeled chip to the left and the greater-labeled chip to the right. This labeled version of the chip-firing process exhibits a remarkable confluence property, similar to but subtler than the confluence that prevails for unlabeled chip-firing: when all chips start at the origin and the number of chips is even, the chips always end up in sorted order. Our proof of sorting relies upon an independently interesting lemma concerning unlabeled chip-firing which says that stabilization preserves a natural partial order on configurations. We also discuss some extensions of this sorting phenomenon to other graphs (variants of the infinite path), to other initial configurations, and to other Cartan-Killing types.


This paper investigates digital data hiding schemes. The concept of information hiding will be explained at first, and its traits, requirements, and applications will be described subsequently. In order to design a digital data hiding system, one should first become familiar with the concepts and criteria of information hiding. Having knowledge about the host signal, which may be audio, image, or video and the final receiver, which is Human Auditory System (HAS) or Human Visual System (HVS), is also beneficial. For the speech/audio case, HAS will be briefly reviewed to find out how to make the most of its weaknesses for embedding as much data as possible. The same discussion also holds for the image watermarking. Although several audio and image data hiding schemes have been proposed so far, they can be divided into a few categories. Hence, conventional schemes along with their recently published extensions are introduced. Besides, a general comparison is made among these methods leading researchers/designers to choose the appropriate schemes based on their applications. Regarding the old scenario of the prisoner-warden and the evil intention of the warden to eavesdrop and/or destroy the data that Alice sends to Bob, there are both intentional and unintentional attacks to digital information hiding systems, which have the same effect based on our definition. These attacks can also be considered for testing the performance or benchmarking, of the watermarking algorithm. They are also known as steganalysis methods which will be discussed at the end of the paper.


Strategy Bites Back is the antidote to conventional strategy books -- and conventional strategy formation. Edited by the legendary Henry Mintzberg, it contains contributions from everyone from Gary Hamel to Napoleon Bonaparte, Michael Porter to Hans Christian Andersen: essays, poems, case studies, cartoons, whatever it takes to 'free your mind' and unleash the crucial emotional side of strategy formation. Coverage includes: strategy and brinkmanship, culture, seduction;i¾ strategy lessons from your mother, from beehives, chess grandmasters, even the National Zoo. Along the way, Mintzberg and his colleagues take on the sacred cows and entrenched beliefs that keep strategists from recognizing their most powerful options. Strategy Bites Back doesn't just make strategy fun: it helpsi¾ define strategies that offer huge upsides and real inspiration.


New Mexico's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant took three decades, several lawsuits, myriad battles with the Department of Energy, and more than a few political twists and turns before becoming the first and only operational geologic radioactive waste repository in the world. The story of how Carlsbad, New Mexico, became the center of a national drama is an object lesson in how the United States and countries around the world can improve on this lengthy, contentious, and incredibly vital repository approval process. As more and more nations build nuclear programs and accumulate radioactive waste, there is no time to lose in initiating plans for safe disposal sites that can last—essentially—forever.


The Ecological Society of America has evaluated the ecological effects of current and potential uses of field-released genetically engineered organisms (GEOs), as described in this Position Paper. Some GEOs could play a positive role in sustainable agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, bioremediation, and environmental management, both in developed and developing countries. However, deliberate or inadvertent releases of GEOs into the environment could have negative ecological effects under certain circumstances. Possible risks of GEOs could include: (1) creating new or more vigorous pests and pathogens; (2) exacerbating the effects of existing pests through hybridization with related transgenic organisms; (3) harm to nontarget species, such as soil organisms, non-pest insects, birds, and other animals; (4) disruption of biotic communities, including agro- ecosystems; and (5) irreparable loss or changes in species diversity or genetic diversity within species. Many potential applications of genetic engineering extend beyond traditional breeding, encompassing viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi, grasses, trees, insects, fish, and shellfish. GEOs that present novel traits will need special scrutiny with regard to their environmental effects. The Ecological Society of America supports the following recommendations. (1) GEOs should be designed to reduce environmental risks. (2) More extensive studies of the en- vironmental benefits and risks associated with GEOs are needed. (3) These effects should be evaluated relative to appropriate baseline scenarios. (4) Environmental release of GEOs should be prevented if scientific knowledge about possible risks is clearly inadequate. (5) In some cases, post-release monitoring will be needed to identify, manage, and mitigate environmental risks. (6) Science-based regulation should subject all transgenic organisms to a similar risk assessment framework and should incorporate a cautious approach, rec- ognizing that many environmental effects are GEO- and site-specific. (7) Ecologists, ag- ricultural scientists, molecular biologists, and others need broader training and wider col- laboration to address these recommendations. In summary, GEOs should be evaluated and used within the context of a scientifically based regulatory policy that encourages innovation without compromising sound environ- mental management. The Ecological Society of America is committed to providing scientific expertise for evaluating and predicting the ecological effects of field-released transgenic


We review the ecology and distributions of the chafers Liocola marmorata (F.), Gnorimus nobilis (L.) and Gnorimus variabilis (L.) in Sweden based on museum and several large private collections. These species live in hollow deciduous trees, in Sweden especially in oaks. The former and recently documented localities are shown on maps. More than 100 years ago, all the species as well as their habitats were more common in Sweden than today. One problem when interpreting old finds is that hollow trees do not seem to have been examined by entomologists, except during the last 50 years. However, Gnorimus nobilis, which often visits flowers, was frequently found in former times. In the province of Skane, which has been most intensively studied among Swedish provinces, the number of known localities for Gnorimus nobilis has decreased from 13 before 1975 to 6 after that year, despite more intensive studies during the last 25 years. Of the studied species, Liocola marmorata has had the largest contraction of its range in Sweden. It has disappeared from the southwestern part, but occurs still in many localities in the provinces of Ostergotland and Uppland. In Uppland, the absence of Osmoderma eremita, which has a similar niche, may decrease the competition in tree hollows and favour L. marmorata. Gnorimus varibilis has a preference for sun-exposed oaks, and can live in downed dead trees long after the trunk has fallen. It has been found at about 30 localities in Sweden during the last 25 years. We suggest that Gnorimus variabilis is a globally threatened species and that Sweden has a strong responsibility to preserve this species. There are still seven localities in southeastern Sweden where all three species as well as Osmoderma eremita occur. All these localities harbour a high number of threatened saproxylic beetles. We discuss the chafers living in hollow trees as indicator species and propose conservation measures for them. The highest priority should be given to increase the survival rate and number of very old trees, especially oaks, in and near stands which inhabit the species and contains a large number of suitable hollow trees. (Less)


In vertebrates, early brain development takes place at the expanded anterior end of the neural tube. After closure of the anterior neuropore, the brain wall forms a physiologically sealed cavity that encloses embryonic cerebrospinal fluid (E-CSF), a complex and protein-rich fluid that is initially composed of trapped amniotic fluid. E-CSF has several crucial roles in brain anlagen development. Recently, we reported the presence of transient blood–CSF barrier located in the brain stem lateral to the ventral midline, at the mesencephalon and prosencephalon level, in chick and rat embryos by transporting proteins, water, ions and glucose in a selective manner via transcellular routes. To test the actual relevance of the control of E-CSF composition and homeostasis on early brain development by this embryonic blood-CSF barrier, we block the activity of this barrier by treating the embryos with 6-aminonicotinamide gliotoxin (6-AN). We demonstrate that 6-AN treatment in chick embryos blocks protein transport across the embryonic blood-CSF barrier, and that the disruption of the barrier properties is due to the cease transcellular caveolae transport, as detected by CAV-1 expression cease. We also show that the lack of protein transport across the embryonic blood-CSF barrier influences neuroepithelial cell survival, proliferation and neurogenesis, as monitored by neurepithelial progenitor cells survival, proliferation and neurogenesis. The blockage of embryonic blood-CSF transport also disrupts water influx to the E-CSF, as revealed by an abnormal increase in brain anlagen volume. These experiments contribute to delineate the actual extent of this blood-CSF embryonic barrier controlling E-CSF composition and homeostasis and the actual important of this control for early brain development, as well as to elucidate the mechanism by which proteins and water are transported thought transcellular routes across the neuroectoderm, reinforcing the crucial role of E-CSF for brain development.


If the hidden expenses associated with laboratory purchases -labor, cleaning, buffers, validation, time delays - are identified, reduced processing costs, higher throughput, and accelerated time-to-market are possible. This comparison between resin and membrane chromatography helps shed light on some hidden costs.


This research is case study that done at PT. BPR Nusamba Wlingi which is have place in Tangkil street 9A Wlingi-Blitar with the title " THE EVALUATION OF INTERNAL OPERATION SYSTEM TOWARD PROCEDURE OF GIVING OF CREDIT AT PT. PBR NUSAMBA WLINGI". The purpose of this research is to know what is internal operation system toward procedure of giving credit at PT. BPR have according to good internal control elements. In this research of analysis method the used is descriptive analysis method that is explaining or depicting an object with the following analysis step: first; analyzing organization chart dissociating authority and responsibility. Second, analyzing how authorization system and procedure of giving credit. Third; analyzing healthy practice in executing function and duty every organization. Fourth; analyzing employees which is their quality according to their responsibility. The result from analysis which have done said that applied internal control system at PT. BPR Nusantara Wlingi have goodness. This matter can be seen from credit area organization chart which have dissociated responsibility. Existence of duty delegation and authority from each function part that adequate clearly. So that the each part can hold responsible according to authority and duty from each function part that adequate and clear. So that the each shares can hold responsible according to accepted authority and duty. Procedure of giving credit at PT. BPR Nusamba have goodness, because in credit realization relate at condition of giving good credit. All activity through official functionary authorization system yielding bookkeeping document, so that become input to process record-keeping of accountancy. Then, the healthy practice have done that is used of job forms, and also doing of depository of document. For employees which is their quality according to their quality is measured from education level, job experience and their ability in executing responsibility and duty till can yield report on time. There are gyration to employees or tour of duty according to requirement of BPR. But, still seldom done delivered of employees to follow banking seminar. Based on the result of analysis above, so that can reach the target which is expected hence the writer suggest better PT. BPR Nusamba Wlingi do inspection routinely and of the moment to know employees performance. For a while to add knowledge to all employees, PT. BPR have to be more often participant employees at seminars about banking. So that the performance result of their employees better. Require to be performed of giving motivation work and also reward to job performance. Besides that have to be more be careful and selective in choosing employees which is competence. Keyword : SISTEM PENGENDALIAN INTERNAL Link Terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/244/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-ikaagustin-12192-Pendahul-n.pdf


Background: The dose of tenofovir alafenamide is reduced from 25 to 10 mg daily when given with boosting agents. However, such dose reduction has never been adopted for tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF). In this study, we aim to quantify the effect of cobicistat (COBI) both on tenofovir concentrations and TDF durability in real life setting. Methods: HIV-positive patients receiving TDF-containing antiretroviral therapies with at least 1 assessment of tenofovir plasma trough concentrations were included in the study. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed considering tenofovir concentration as the dependent variable and clinical characteristics as independent covariates. Subsequently, survival and Cox analyses were performed considering as the primary outcome TDF discontinuation for any reasons. Results: Patients were given TDF with protease inhibitors/ritonavir (n = 212), non–nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (n = 176), integrase inhibitors (dolutegravir or raltegravir, n = 46), or with elvitegravir/COBI (ELV/COBI) (n = 76). By multivariate analysis, concomitant antiretroviral therapies resulted significantly associated with tenofovir levels, with the highest drug concentrations measured in patients given ELV/COBI. By survival analysis, we found that patients given TDF with ELV/COBI had the lowest rate of drug durability. Overall, these patients had a 2.3-fold increased risk to experience TDF discontinuation. Conclusions: Coadministration with COBI resulted in significantly higher tenofovir concentrations and higher TDF discontinuation compared with other antiretroviral regimens. Accordingly, the possibility that the lack of proper dose adjustment for TDF when given with COBI might have biased the safety comparisons with tenofovir alafenamide during registrative trials cannot be ruled out.


Diffusion engineering has been proposed as an approach to increase the collected charge and energy resolution of a single-photon superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) spectrometer. We present new experimental results confirming this approach. When a photon of energy E is absorbed in a superconductor with energy gap Delta, it creates N initial quasiparticles, with N ap 0.6(E/Delta). Their charge, upon tunneling, is equal to Q = peN, with p = 1 for single tunneling across the voltage biased STJ. The output charge can be amplified by backtunneling, with p > 1,if the quasiparticles are confined around the junction. This charge multiplication is proportional to the confinement time. Previous work used higher gap superconductors for confinement. In this work, the counterelectrode is terminated by a long, narrow wire made of the same material. We find p > 1 due to the slow out-diffusion of the quasiparticles down the wire. The wire dimensions and diffusion constant were chosen to engineer the backtunneling multiplication. For large backtunneling, the signal-to-noise of our spectrometer is increased.


Invasion and dominance of exotic grasses and increased fire frequency threaten native ecosystems worldwide. In the Great Basin region of the western United States, woody and herbaceous fuel treatments are implemented to decrease the effects of wildfire and increase sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to exotic annual grasses. High cover of the exotic annual cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) after treatments increases fine fuels, which in turn increases the risk of passing over a biotic threshold to a state of increased wildfire frequency and conversion to cheatgrass dominance. Sagebrush ecosystem resilience to wildfire and resistance to cheatgrass depend on climatic conditions and abundance of perennial herbaceous species that compete with cheatgrass. In this study, we used longer-term data to evaluate the relationships among soil climate conditions, perennial herbaceous cover, and cheatgrass cover following fuel management treatments across the environmental gradients that characterize sagebrush ecosystems in the Great Basin. We examined the effects of woody and herbaceous fuel treatments on soil temperature, soil water availability (13–30 and 50 cm depths), and native and exotic plant cover on six sagebrush sites lacking pi~ non (Pinus spp.) or juniper (Juniperus spp.) tree expansion and 11 sagebrush sites with tree expansion. Both prescribed fire and mechanical treatments increased soil water availability on woodland sites and perennial herbaceous cover on some woodland and sagebrush sites. Prescribed fire also slightly increased soil temperatures and especially increased cheatgrass cover compared to no treatment and mechanical treatments on most sites. Non-metric dimensional scaling ordination and decision tree partition analysis indicated that sites with warmer late springs and warmer and wetter falls had higher cover of cheatgrass. Sites with wetter winters and early springs (March–April) had higher cover of perennial herbs. Our findings suggest that site resistance to cheatgrass after fire and fuel control treatments decreases with a warmer and drier climate. This emphasizes the need for management actions to maintain and enhance perennial herb cover, such as implementing appropriate grazing management, and revegetating sites that have low abundance of perennial herbs in conjunction with fuel control treatments.


In the tropical rain forest zone of Southern Cameroon, shifting cultivation and perennial plantations of cocoa are the main farming systems practiced by small-scale farmers to ensure subsistence food crop production and a small income. This research used scientific modelling tools to produce quantitative information on the evolution of soils under this shifting agricultural system. An analysis of farming system led to the development of a conceptual model of the spatio-temporal dynamics of shifting agriculture, including transition matrices of rotational cycles that guided the sampling strategy for the study of soil evolution under the system. The study of soil variability showed that 30-35% of the total variance of some topsoil (0-20 cm) properties was due to the influence of land use practices. Five soil properties (pH, calcium, available phosphorus, bulk density and organic carbon) that are the most sensitive to these agricultural practices were empirically modelled and linear/quadratic fractional rational functions were successfully fitted to time series soil variables to derive quantitative measures on temporal changes in soil with land use. Data and methods produced are useful for soil quality assessment and spatio-temporal dynamic simulation in order to guide decision-making for sustainable land-use planning and soil resources management.


Amid the exuberant chaos of the Paris art scene between the world wars, among the jarring factions of Dadaists, Surrealists, Futurists, and miscellaneous others, Philadelphia-born Man Ray was universally admired yet - it seemed - stubbornly mysterious. Although he looms large in today's standard art histories as a figure of unmistakable importance, few people have seen more than a selection of his remarkable photographs or a handful of his enigmatic "objects". Indeed, surprisingly little is known about this extraordinary and innovative creator of paintings, collages, drawings, films, aesthetic theory, and autobiography - as well as photographs and objects. When it was first published,"Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray"was acclaimed as "the first major book on this mysterious and eclectic artist and his work" (The Bloomsbury Review). It not only examines all aspects of the artist's production in all its forms, but also discusses Man Ray's multifarious connections with the artistic and political radicals of pre-World War I New York, the underground avant-garde as well as the haute monde of Paris between the wars, and the emigre society of Hollywood after World War 11. Illustrated with nearly 300 of the artist's works in full colour and duotone (many published for the first time)"Perpetual Motif"brings together a host of authors who have distinguished themselves as specialists in the many fields of Man Ray's endeavours. Each has contributed an enlightening essay on one of the many facets in the career of this multifaceted artist.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to improve the dietary intake patterns and food choices of children aged 9-13 years in a periurban community. Methods: Two schools were randomly selected from within this periurban community. A nutrition education programme was implemented over one school term, with the testing of nutrition knowledge occurring pre- and post-intervention, and in the long term, with the experimental group only. A validated 24-hour recall questionnaire was completed pre- and post-intervention by both the control (n = 91) and experimental groups (n = 81), and in the long term, by the experimental group. Food models were used to assist in the estimation of portion sizes and identification of food items. The questionnaire was analysed using the computer software programme FoodFinder 3, with means and standard deviations calculated for macro- and micronutrients, and comparisons made with dietary reference intakes for specific age groups. A list was drawn up of the 20 most commonly consumed food items, based on weights consumed. Paired t-tests were conducted to assess significance in dietary intake and food choices after the intervention. Correlations between knowledge and dietary choices were determined among the experimental group in the long-term measurements. Results: Correlations linked protein intake to knowledge of proteins, and vitamin C intake to knowledge of fruit and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable intake remained very low. Refined sugars and fat were still consumed among the experimental group. The diet for both groups was based on carbohydrates. Conclusions: The objective of changing the dietary intake patterns of the children was not achieved. The intake of legumes, fruit and vegetables remained low. The lack of variety in intake results in a diet that does not meet the daily requirements of children.


A comparative seismic soil-structure-interaction (SSI) study was performed for the reactor building of a nuclear power plant in Switzerland in order to gain insights into the relative significance of nonlinear response effects which may be triggered during beyond-design-basis seismic events. The case study reactor building is founded on 20m of gravel underlain by bedrock and with an embedment depth of 9m.The analysis program was designed as a sequential study to investigate both the independent and combined effects of nonlinear response of soil, soil-structure interface, and structure on the characteristics of in-structure response spectra (ISRS) throughout the reactor building at a hazard level greater than the design basis earthquake. An integrated finite element (FE) model of the soil-structure system, including soil continuum and detailed structure, was built to perform nonlinear time domain analysis (NLTD). For comparison to the commonly employed equivalent linear approach in frequency domain (ELFD), the modeling assumptions in time domain were made consistent with the ELFD approach in an equivalent linear time domain analysis (ELTD). Subsequently, the nonlinear effects were added to the ELTD model, one at a time, to create various NLTD models. Finally, different combinations of nonlinear effects were considered. The interface nonlinearity was introduced through contact surfaces. Soil nonlinearity was incorporated through a hysteretic plasticity model whose shear response is dependent on soil effective pressure. To calibrate the plasticity model, gravel's shear stiffness degradation curve was modified to produce shear strength values consistent with the laboratory-measured friction angle. Composite layered shell finite elements with nonlinear material properties were used to model key structural shear walls. The reasonable match between ELFD and ELTD results confirmed the general viability of time domain approaches for seismic SSI analysis in nuclear industry. The comparison of ISRS obtained from NLTD models (with single and combined nonlinearity) with those obtained from ELTD indicated a significant effect on response due to energy dissipation through interface sliding and soil nonlinearity, neither of which are captured in typical practice using ELFD approaches. In general, the relative importance of site and interface nonlinearities is a function of contact friction coefficient, soil stiffness, and excitation intensity. Details of this case study further demonstrate that the relative importance of nonlinear effects is siteand case-specific.


Depositional sequences and their relation to relative fluctuations in sea level is one of the main issues in present-day Eanh Sciences. The generation of depositional sequences is controlled by the interplay of tectonics, sediment supply and eustatic sea level fluctuations (e.g. Haug, 1900; Suess, 1906; Grabau, 1913; Stille, 1924; Kuenen, 1939; Krumbein and Sloss, 1956; Fisher and Brown, 1972; Frazier, 1974; Payton, 1977; Burton et aI., 1987; Cloetingh, 1988; Wilgus et aI., 1988; Galloway, 1989; Walker, 1989). In order to establish the relative importance of these factors in foreland areas, previous studies have focused on the relation between tectonic activity and facies migrations on one hand and subsidence patterns on the other (Allen, 1986; Kleinspehn and Paola, 1988; Hemmings and Jordan, 1989, 1990; Cross, 1990; Angevine et aI., 1990; Macdonald, 1991). Comparing such data with forward models created many controversies; these were probably mainly due to the variability in parameters used in geophysical models, and to the discrepancy in scale between geophysical and geological models. In the present study, detailed tectonic and stratigraphic data from the Calabrian fore-arc area (southern Italy) are used together in order to show the relations between the various parameters and their role in the genesis of depositional sequences. The Late Neogene of Central Calabria was chosen because of its interesting position along the external side of the Central Mediterranean Calabrian Arc (Finetti, 1982; Moussat, 1983; Boccaletti et aI., 1984; Mantovani et aI., 1985; Kastens et aI., 1988; Patacca and Scandone, 1989). Rapid facies changes, ranging from continental to open marine, complex tectonically-defined unconfonnities within very small sub-basins, and a wide range of phenomena reflecting syn-depositional tectonic activity were known to occur. Furthennore, there is a thick, heterogeneous pile of Messinian clastic evaporites and continental deposits, reflecting major eustatic sea level fluctuations in this time interval. During field campaigns from 1983 till 1990, a number of local geological problems related to complex stratigraphic relationships and tectonic defonnations of the area had to be overcome. Data are presented in the fonn of detailed stratigraphic colums, composite structural profJ.J.es and paleogeographical maps which display encountered reflections of syndepositional tectonics. Additional infonnation from literature includes maps of basement structure, seismic sections and borehole data. An extensive review of previous geological literature is provided.


This paper analyzes the relationship between intermunicipal cooperation and efficiency of public service provision. The organizational arrangements, including self-provision, joint pro-vision or contracting, affect politicians' and bureaucrats' incentives as well as internal transaction costs. Hence, cooperation gains from scale effects have to be weighed against technical inefficiencies. We analyze wastewater disposal for a unique dataset of small and medium-sized Hessian municipalities. We employ a two-stage DEA (DEA = Data Envelopment Analysis) bootstrap approach to calculate relative efficiency measures controlling for organizational arrangements and further environmental variables. Jointly providing municipalities and contractor municipalities score lower in terms of technical efficiency than self-providing and contracting municipalities. The scope for increasing scale efficiency turns out to be limited and hence, only small municipalities may benefit from scale economies from cooperation. The findings suggest that small municipalities should rely on contracting or on joint provision with a high degree of vertical integration.


This paper exploits responses on the stated preferences for public sector jobs among a sample of unemployed in Pakistan to inform on the existence of public sector job queues. The empirical approach allowed job preference to influence unemployment duration. The potential wage advantage an unemployed individual would enjoy in a public sector job was found to exert no independent influence on the stated preference indicating that fringe benefits and work conditions are perhaps more important considerations. The stated preference for a public sector job was found to be associated with higher uncompleted durations. The estimated effect suggests that, on average and controlling for education and other characteristics, those unemployed who stated a preference for public sector jobs had higher uncompleted durations of between four and six months. This finding was taken to confirm that there are long queues for public sector jobs in Pakistan.


The Challenge of Disease Eradication Though we live in an age of conservation, the deliberate extinction of an ancient life form is being relentlessly pursued worldwide with increasing zeal. Encouraged by political leaders, financed by a coalition of industry, governments, private benefactors, and celebrities, but operating largely out of sight of the media, an army of professionals and volunteers has already eliminated this organism from over 175 countries. The world is standing by, not to mourn the senseless obliteration of yet another member of the earth's living heritage, but to celebrate the consignment to history of a disease that until recently was one of the world's most dreaded illnesses. Only 10 years ago, the poliovirus was paralyzing 1,000 children every day; today it is on the verge of being eradicated forever. Now, however, the greatest threat to delivering a polio-free world to future generations is complacency in the face of this disappearing disease. Extinction by Another Name Disease eradication has been described as the ultimate goal in public health. It entails not just the reduction of the target pathogen to zero, but also the eventual cessation of all control measures against it. While the humanitarian arguments for pursuing the eradication of an organism are compelling in themselves, the full benefits of these initiatives go far beyond the permanent elimination of a disease. Eradication is also good economics. Though the ongoing global effort to eradicate polio will cost US$2.5 billion over 20 years, these costs pale against the US$1.5 billion that the world stands to save every year in direct costs alone once immunization efforts can stop. Although at first glance eradication appears to be an elegant, cost-effective solution for tackling the diseases that plague mankind, few organisms are actually amenable to this solution. We lack the tools, resources, and commitment to launch and ensure the success of eradication initiatives against most pathogens. In general, an organism can only be eradicated if humans are essential to its life cycle, if there is no reservoir other than humans, and if it has no chronic carrier state. Thus, while HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria together claim more than four million lives every year, not to mention the economic toll they exact, these diseases are not at present candidates for eradication. Once a disease has met the biological criteria needed to be considered "eradicable," there must be an effective tool, whether a vaccine, drug, or other intervention, to efficiently interrupt transmission of the pathogen among humans. Even then the benefit of applying these tools in a massive eradication campaign must outweigh the financial, human, and other opportunity costs of such an effort. In addition, there must be social and political recognition of the value of seeking eradication, rather than just pursuing ongoing control of the disease. Perhaps most importantly, this commitment must be sustainable over the 10 to 20 years that will be required to implement the program. Such commitment is especially important and particularly difficult to secure during the final phase of an eradication initiative, when the target disease is rapidly disappearing and when the marginal costs of delivering the program are skyrocketing. Even when the rigorous criteria outlined above are met, eradication remains a high-risk enterprise. Of the six initiatives that have been launched to eradicate a human pathogen in the last 100 years, three failed outright, two have yet to conclude, and only one has been unreservedly successful. Certification of the eradication of smallpox in 1980, with the rapid cessation of immunization against that disease, continues to stand as the only testament to humanity's capacity to successfully and permanently eliminate a disease that has plagued it throughout history. The early eradication initiatives of this century targeting yellow fever, malaria, and yaws, a disease now confined to Africa, were fatally flawed from the outset due to an incomplete understanding of the biology of these diseases at the time. …


The last decades have witnessed a growing emphasis on the relationship between environmental law and criminal law. Legislation aimed at tackling environmental crime has been adopted at national, EU , and international level and has been gradually evolving over time. These developments notwithstanding, the current legal framework faces a number of challenges in tackling the largely inter-related phenomena of transnational, organised and economic environmental crime. This study of Valsamis Mitsilegas and Fabio Giuffrida addresses these challenges by focusing on the role of the European Union- and more specifically its criminal justice agencies (Europol and Eurojust)- in tackling transnational environmental crime. The study analyses the role of Eurojust and Europol in supporting and coordinating the competent national authorities dealing with investigations and/or prosecutions on transnational environmental crime, and it shows that, for the time being, the full potential of these agencies is not adequately fulfilled with regard to fighting this phenomenon effectively.


Singapore is a unique example of demographic change which results in a rapidly ageing society, with recent witness of experiences such as retirement and pension, retaining and re-employment of older people in the workplace. As a result people's perception towards traditional norms and values are also changing quite dramatically. The purpose of this paper is to investigate Singapore adult individuals' attitudes to retirement and re-employment in old age. It also examines the employers' perceptions and practices towards older workers in Singapore. The paper utilises the data collected for Singapore as part of the 2005 Global Ageing Survey (GLAS). Statistical analyses have been performed in the paper including univariate as well as bivariate analyses. The study revealed that most individuals viewed retirement positively e.g. for relaxation, a new chapter in life, happiness, satisfaction, freedom and hope. However, they also recognized the need to continue working to support themselves financially. They believed that they should and would ultimately bear most of the costs of supporting themselves in retirement. Most individuals in the age group of 50 to 59 felt that the government should increase retirement age as the number of older persons increases substantially. Employers held similar view, i.e. government should increase retirement age or enforce additional savings. Hence, while there may be a "pull" factor towards retirement, the philosophy of self‐reliance i.e. wanting to work to be financially independent is also evident. Individuals' desire for flexible work arrangements and part‐time work was evident. Such schemes should become more accessible to promote re‐employment. The data also revealed that many stereotypical views of older workers persist, such as older workers are more expensive, not as capable as younger workers etc., particularly amongst employers, despite wide evidence to the contrary.The study highlights interesting findings which may be useful for policy-makers, labour-market planners and employers, in view of the re-employment legislation to be implemented in 2012 in Singapore.
By and large the society will benefit from the research. Both employers and employees are expected to glean lessons from the research findings. The paper focuses on current employment scenario for older adults in Singapore and this enhances our understanding of attitudes towards older workers and retirement. The findings of a rare evidence-based GLAS study might increase employers' willingness to employ older workers.


This article serves as an injunction for queer biblical studies to be reclaimed and mobilised as activist practice. First, I discuss the application and activist potential of queer theory – in and beyond the academy. To address concerns around queer elitism, I argue how rupturing the binary between theory and practice recharges the accessibility and the activist potential of queer. In my discussion of queer pedagogy in the biblical studies classroom, I offer practical strategies based on queer commentaries in teaching and learning. I explore the notions of risk, experimentation and failure, as well as of tackling specific issues relating to resistance to queer biblical criticism based on religious faith. Moreover, I consider how flipped learning theory can offer a personalised and holistic approach to queer studies. In emphasising the value of queer biblical studies as activist practice, I stress inclusion, intersectionality and student-educator parity as important elements in this project. In detailing my commitment to activism, I conclude that true commitment to social justice means that researchers aspire for their work to be irrelevant to future audiences: when the work of activist academics becomes irrelevant, it means scholarship has effected change, with social justice becoming realised rather


Nowadays, most software and hardware applications are committed to reduce the footprint and resource usage of data. In this general context, lossless data compression is a beneficial technique that encodes information using fewer (or at most equal number of) bits as compared to the original representation. A traditional compression flow consists of two phases: data decorrelation and entropy encoding. Data decorrelation, also called entropy reduction, aims at reducing the autocorrelation of the input data stream to be compressed in order to enhance the efficiency of entropy encoding. Entropy encoding reduces the size of the previously decorrelated data by using techniques such as Huffman coding, arithmetic coding, and others. When the data decorrelation is optimal, entropy encoding produces the strongest lossless compression possible. While efficient solutions for entropy encoding exist, data decorrelation is still a challenging problem limiting ultimate lossless compression opportunities. In this paper, we use logic synthesis to remove redundancy in binary data aiming to unlock the full potential of lossless compression. Embedded in a complete lossless compression flow, our logic synthesis based methodology is capable to identify the underlying function correlating a data set. Experimental results on data sets deriving from different causal processes show that the proposed approach achieves the highest compression ratio compared to state-of-art compression tools such as ZIP, bzip2 and 7zip.


Sport psychology consulting with athletes who are from an indigenous ethnic group presents some challenges and opportunities that do not typically need to be considered when consulting with nonindigenous athletes. Māori are the indigenous ethnic group of New Zealand. To work as a sport psychology consultant with Māori athletes and indeed any indigenous athletes (e.g., Tahitian,First Nation Canadian Indian) it is important for the sport psychologist to have an understanding of Te Ao o Nga Tāngata Whenua (indigenous worldview) and tīkanga Tāngata Whenua (indigenous cultural practices; Hanrahan, 2004; Schinke & Hanrahan, 2009; Tuhiwai-Smith, 1999). Both research and practice in the social sciences regarding Māori people seek to use a Kaupapa Māori (Māori research and practice platform) approach. Kaupapa Māori attempts to ensure that culturalsensitivity is infused from the conceptualization of an intervention (e.g., psychological skills training, psychological intervention) through to the design, delivery, evaluation, final analysis, and presentation of the intervention or research project. A Kaupapa Māori approach to sport psychology consulting attempts to ensure that key Māori aspirations are honored and celebrated, as many Māori do not wish to follow a non-Māori ideology that depersonalizes the whānau (family) perspective and seeks individuality in its place (Durie, 1998a; Mead, 2003). Therefore, an effective sport psychology consulting program for an athlete who lives her or his life from a Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) and tīkanga Māori (Māori cultural practices) perspective needs to be constructed as a Māori-for-Māori intervention based within a Kaupapa Māori framework.


This study investigated contemporary floodplain sedimentation, interactions between sediment, vegetation, and agricultural land use, and the potential utility for a Bayesian Network Decision Support System (BNDSS) to assist farmers in making better decisions concerning agricultural land use. The research was performed around Bara Bania Mouza (village) under Daulotpur Uazila in Manikgong district of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna floodplain in Bangladesh. This area was selected because it is representative of the young and active floodplain, where the land is flooded and receives overbank sediment deposition every year. The research employed exploratory data analysis and Bayesian approaches to identify and investigate causal relationships among the variables and so support probabilistic inferences. The study investigated two distinctly different types of monsoonal flood: a bonna (an abnormally large flood that occurred in 2007) and a barsho (a normal flood that occurred in 2008). Data on landforms, flood hydraulics, sediment dynamics (suspended sediment concentrations and sediment accumulation rates), and vegetation, rain-fed flooding, land use and farmers knowledge on soil suitability and cropping were collected through field surveys. The results establish how flow and sediment dynamics contrast as a function of landform and demonstrate that the thickness and calibre of deposited sediment strongly influence farmers' decisions on which and how many crops to cultivate on a given plot. Natural vegetation (e.g. sun grass) and certain agricultural crops were shown to have huge potential for use in slowing floodwater and trapping coarse grain sediment particles in buffer stripes. Marked contrasts were also observed between the characteristics of sediment deposited by rain-fed and river water flooding. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews revealed that although farmers have profound knowledge on soil types and crop associations their methods are crude and little or no science is involved in the investigation of soil and sediment properties. Despite this, farmers' estimates of soil properties proved to be reasonably accurate with the estimate of particle size differing by only <15% from the results of laboratory particle size analysis. This suggests that the farmers' methods do give reliable indications of key soil attributes, but that they could be improved if scientific information was integrated with their local knowledge. A Bayesian approach provides a means of achieving this and the BNDSS developed in this study was found to produce good results when compared to field observations and backward propagation indicated that for better decision making it is crucial to consider both physical and socioeconomic variables. The findings of the research reported in this thesis show that sedimentation has major impacts on agricultural land use dynamics in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna floodplain and that both natural vegetation and agricultural crops significantly influence sediment movement and the way that deposition is distributed over the floodplain. In a wider context, flood, sediment, vegetation and agricultural land use dynamics are controlled by complex set of both physical and human phenomena that are challenging to describe, integrate, analyse and interpret in a single study. In light of this, it is not surprising that the findings presented in this thesis highlight important gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed through further research.