The nonprofit sector is evolving rapidly as organizations expand their focus on efficiency, sustainability, and accountability. Public agencies are changing as well, embracing collaborative public management and fostering stewardship-based contracting approaches. But how have all these developments influenced government funding for nonprofit organizations? Which types of nonprofits procure public funds, and how do patterns change over time? Based on 200 interviews with leaders of nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, I argue that standard management strategies for achieving mission have become increasingly relevant for procuring government grants and contracts. Results indicate that professionalization and collaboration are consequential for receiving government support, net of prior funding, and collaboration also contributes to total support from government. Building from these results, I conclude by discussing the opportunities and challenges of public–nonprofit relations.


This paper presents empirical findings and results from a study conducted as a part of an INTERREG IIIB project on intermodal transport solutions and corridors in the North Sea Region (SUTRANET – Sustainable Transport Research & Development Network in the North Sea Region, www.sutranet.org). The aim of the study has been to explore possibilities and barriers for the development of intermodal transport solutions in selected corridors in the North Sea Region. The North Sea Region is one among several regions appointed by the EU-Commission to exemplify the operationalisation of the concept Motorways of the Sea (European Commission, 2004). The policies of promoting Motorways of the Sea is aiming at revitalise the short-sea-shipping within Europe as a transport industry, but also to relieve the heavily congested road network in central regions (European Commission, 2001). However, the success of Motorways of the Sea relies not only on the implementation of shipping lines between specific ports, but also the hinterland connections of these ports and the logistical decisionmaking among co-ordinators of transport flows (European Commission, 2003). The traditional role of forwarding firms as freight integrators is being challenged by other actors within the transport system, e.g. ferry and shipping lines, ports and train operators. The rationale for this development has been the increased focus by the transport sectors stakeholders on the control of guiding transport flows through specific transport networks of own interest. Most transport firms are mobile in their activities by nature, but are in reality confined in their day-to-day operations to different forms of relative fixed network structure – e.g. railway lines, ferry routes and ports, costefficient choice of road routes, etc. This represents potentials and barriers for promotion of intermodal transport solutions, since it points to the importance of governance of transport networks by different transport stakeholders as "gate-keepers" for what kind of transport modes and routes are selected. In this study stakeholders from Danish and Norwegian ports, ferry operators, train operators, forwarding and road haulage firms has been interviewed in order to analyse how logistical decisionmaking affect the organisational and physical configuration of intermodal transport solutions in the transport corridor between Scandinavia and the European Continent.


The question of whether two drugs – namely alcohol and tobacco – are used as complements or substitutes is of crucial interest if side-effects of anti-drug policies are considered. Numerous papers have empirically addressed this issue by estimating demand systems for alcohol and tobacco and subsequently calculating cross-price effects. However, this traditional approach often is seriously hampered by insufficient price-variation observed in survey data. We, therefore, suggest an alternative instrumental variables approach that statistically mimics an experimental study and does not rely on prices as explanatory variables. This approach is applied to German survey data. Our estimation results suggest that a reduction in tobacco consumption results in a reduction in alcohol consumption, too. It is shown theoretically that this implies that alcohol and tobacco are complements. Hence, we conclude that successful antismoking policies will not result in the unintended side-effect of an increased (ab)use of alcohol.


Over 170 mutations in superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a lethal motor neuron disease. Although the molecular properties of SOD1 mutants differ considerably, we have recently shown that intracellular copper dyshomeostasis is a common pathogenic feature of different SOD1 mutants. Thus, the potentiation of endogenous copper regulation could be a therapeutic strategy. In this study, we investigated the effects of the overexpression of metallothionein-I (MT-I), a major copper-regulating protein, on the disease course of a mouse model of ALS (SOD1(G93A)). Using double transgenic techniques, we found that the overexpression of MT-I in SOD1(G93A) mice significantly extended the lifespan and slowed disease progression, but the effects on disease onset were modest. Genetically induced MT-I normalized copper dyshomeostasis in the spinal cord without influencing SOD1 enzymatic activity. The overexpression of MT-I in SOD1(G93A) mice markedly attenuated the pathological features of the mice, including the death of motor neurons, the degeneration of ventral root axons, the atrophy of skeletal muscles, and the activation of glial cells. Double transgenic mice also showed a decreased level of SOD1 aggregates within the glial cells of the spinal cord. Furthermore, the overexpression of MT-I in SOD1(G93A) mice reduced the number of spheroid-shaped astrocytes cleaved by active caspase-3. We concluded that therapeutic strategies aimed at the potentiation of copper regulation by MT-I could be of benefit in cases of ALS caused by SOD1 mutations.


I present a model that can transform discounts on closed-end mutual funds into a measure of investor sentiment about the ability of fund managers to beat the market. This measure of sentiment varies positively with capital flows into actively managed open-end mutual funds, but negatively with capital flows into passively managed index funds. Investors appear to re-allocate their portfolios between actively and passively managed investment vehicles based on expectations about by how much managers will beat or trail the market.


Smart-grid technology will have a big impact on the way we generate, transport and consume electrical energy. Consumers will be the one who will be benefited most from the smart-grid technology. This chapter will discuss about the types of consumers, their role, their responsibilities and their awareness about smart-grid technology, relationship between the energy provider and consumer, and related issues. Also, this chapter presents a few case studies and their results. Consumers are grouped into three categories, namely industrial, commercial and residential. The demand-side management, the benefits of demand-side management in smart-grid technology and technological requirements to implement it are presented in detail. The consumer behaviour, their level of awareness about smart-grid technology, how to enhance the awareness and the man power training needs are discussed. The various government policies across the world and changes needed for the success of smart-grid technology are presented. Few case studies about the challenges faced and success of smart-grid technology will be useful for the further expansion of smart-grid technology.


The professional interview is a charged psychological encounter and hurdle, necessary for all of us to traverse in order to move on in our lives and careers. The interviewer is the gatekeeper who holds the keys to our brighter future. This book is a detailed examination of the interview experience and our role as the interviewee within it. This book does not consider the content required for any given interview; instead, it looks in detail at the interview processes and performance from a psychological perspective in order to be the best we can be. Deconstructing the Interview teaches a way of mindfully connecting with the interview space, operating externally in the room, and guiding our answers and performance with situational awareness and an enhanced understanding of the psychological factors at play. As well as communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal, this book considers in detail our interface with the external world around us; to improve and refine our interview skills, and to operate in the room as our true authentic selves. Here we accept and embrace anxiety as an essential part of this process, and we choose to be 'mindfully anxious'. This book breaks down the interview stage and its players from a psychological perspective, and helps the reader build interview skills from the ground up. This is a new and novel approach in helping the reader prepare for the interview process, and builds on the author's previous book in this series (Deconstructing the OSCE, 2014, OUP).


Cloud computing is a relatively recent model where scalable and elastic resources are provided as optimized, cost-effective and on-demand utility-like services to customers. As one of the major trends in the IT industry in recent years, cloud computing has gained momentum and started to revolutionise the way enterprises create and deliver IT solutions. Motivated primarily due to cost reduction, these cloud environments are also being used by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) operating Critical Infrastructures (CI). However, due to the complex nature of underlying infrastructures, these environments are subject to a large number of challenges, including mis-configurations, cyber attacks and malware instances, which manifest themselves as anomalies. These challenges clearly reduce the overall reliability and availability of the cloud, i.e., it is less resilient to challenges. Resilience is intended to be a fundamental property of cloud service provisioning platforms. However, a number of significant challenges in the past demonstrated that cloud environments are not as resilient as one would hope. There is also limited understanding about how to provide resilience in the cloud that can address such challenges. This implies that it is of utmost importance to clearly understand and define what constitutes the correct, normal behaviour so that deviation from it can be detected as anomalies and consequently higher resilience can be achieved. Also, for characterising and identifying challenges, anomaly detection techniques can be used and this is due to the fact that the statistical models embodied in these techniques allow the robust characterisation of normal behaviour, taking into account various monitoring metrics to detect known and unknown patterns. These anomaly detection techniques can also be applied within a resilience framework in order to promptly provide indications and warnings about adverse events or conditions that may occur. However, due to the scale and complexity of cloud, detection based on continuous real time infrastructure monitoring becomes challenging. Because monitoring leads to an overwhelming volume of data, this adversely affects the ability of the underlying detection mechanisms to analyse the data. The increasing volume of metrics, compounded with complexity of infrastructure, may also cause low detection accuracy. In this thesis, a comprehensive evaluation of anomaly detection techniques in cloud infrastructures is presented under typical elastic behaviour. More specifically, an investigation of the impact of live virtual machine migration on state of the art anomaly detection techniques is carried out, by evaluating live migration under various attack types and intensities. An initial comparison concludes that, whilst many detection techniques have been proposed, none of them is suited to work within a cloud operational context. The results suggest that in some configurations anomalies are missed and some configuration anomalies are wrongly classified. Moreover, some of these approaches have been shown to be sensitive to parameters of the datasets such as the level of traffic aggregation, and they suffer from other robustness problems. In general, anomaly detection techniques are founded on specific assumptions about the data, for example the statistical distributions of events. If these assumptions do not hold, an outcome can be high false positive rates. Based on this initial study, the objective of this work is to establish a light-weight real time anomaly detection technique which is more suited to a cloud operational context by keeping low false positive rates without the need for prior knowledge and thus enabling the administrator to respond to threats effectively. Furthermore, a technique is needed which is robust to the properties of cloud infrastructures, such as elasticity and limited knowledge of the services, and such that it can support other resilience supporting mechanisms. From this formulation, a cloud resilience management framework is proposed which incorporates the anomaly detection and other supporting mechanisms that collectively address challenges that manifest themselves as anomalies. The framework is a holistic endto-end framework for resilience that considers both networking and system issues, and spans the various stages of an existing resilience strategy, called (D2R 2+DR). In regards to the operational applicability of detection mechanisms, a novel Anomaly Detection-as-a-Service (ADaaS) architecture has been modelled as the means to implement the detection technique. A series of experiments was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed technique for ADaaS. These aimed to improve the viability of implementing the system in an operational context. Finally, the proposed model is deployed in a European Critical Infrastructure provider's network running various critical services, and validated the results in real time scenarios with the use of various test cases, and finally demonstrating the advantages of such a model in an operational context. The obtained results show that anomalies are detectable with high accuracy with no prior-knowledge, and it can be concluded that ADaaS is applicable to cloud scenarios for a flexible multi-tenant detection systems, clearly establishing its effectiveness for cloud infrastructure resilience.


Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P < 5×10−8: seven for BMI, and one for WHRadjBMI in African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (<5%). In the trans-ethnic fine mapping of 47 BMI loci and 27 WHRadjBMI loci that were locus-wide significant (P < 0.05 adjusted for effective number of variants per locus) from the African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained ≤ 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations.


This paper returns to the much-discussed topic of ranking law schools. Where U.S. News & World Report includes a wide variety of factors – some of which are criticized as irrelevant to what prospective students care about or should care about – this paper looks to three variables. They are median LSAT score of entering students, which seeks to capture the quality of the student body; the percentage of the graduating students who are employed at 9 months following graduation at full-time, permanent JD required jobs (a separate analysis excludes school-funded positions and solo practitioners from this variable); and the number of citations to each school's main law review, which seeks to capture a school's recent reputation. It rank orders each of those variables, averages those ranks to obtain a new ranking, and then compares those new rankings to the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the 147 schools for which U.S. News provided ranks in March 2014. It identifies the schools that improve and decline the most with the new ranking. This paper provides ranks for all 194 ABA accredited law schools that U.S. News included in its rankings released in 2014, including the 47 schools that U.S. News put in its "unranked" category.


ABSTRACT The fossiliferous site of Milia (Grevena, N. Greece) is best known for the excavation of the longest tusks of Mammut borsoni (Hays, 1834) in the world (4.39 m and 5.02 m). In association with this species occur the Tapir Tapirus arvernensis arvernensis Croizet & Jobert, 1828, the Rhinocerotidae Dicerorhinus jeanvireti Guérin, 1972 and the Suidae Sus avernensis arvernensis Croizet & Jobert, 1828. The first species is represented by two fossils corresponding to one adult and one juvenile individual, the second species is represented by 197 identified remains among which 68 are measurable specimens corresponding to eight adult and one juvenile individuals, and the third species by nine specimens. The dimensions are compared with those of European Ruscinian and Villafranchian species from the same families: Tapirus arvernensis Croizet & Jobert, 1828 and T. jeanpiveteaui Boeuf, 1991 for the tapir, Dicerorhinus megarhinus (de Christof 1834), D. miguelcrusafonti Guérin & Santafe, 1978, D. jeanvireti Guérin, 1972 and D. etruscus etruscus (Falconer, 1859) for the rhinoceros, Potamochoerus provincialis (Gervais, 1859), Sus arvernensis Croizet & Jobert, 1828 and S. strozzii Forsyth Major, 1881 for the boar. The association of Tapirus arvernensis arvernensis, Dicerorhinus jeanvireti and Sus arvernensis arvernensis allows us to date the site to biozone MNQ 16 (Earliest Villafranchian). The degree of evolution of the Milia D. jeanvireti population allows us to assign to it an age somewhat younger than that of Vialette. The faunal association is a clear indication of a forested landscape in a warm and relatively wet climate.


From the summer of 1830 through the fall of 1831, Schumann worked diligently at the piano with the intention of becoming a professional performer. Beginning in May 1831 he regularly recorded his progress
 in his diary, describing his repertory, hand position, his aesthetic and technical goals, his frustrations and triumphs. Repeatedly he wrote of the clash between a cherished ideal, nurtured in him as an
 amateur, of music as an expression from the heart, and what he deemed the routine music making of professionalism——a clash played out in his piano practice until it reached an impasse he was unable
 to resolve in his performance. The conflict Schumann experienced was related to a larger one in the world of European concert music, namely the demand for ever more dazzling exploits just as music was elevated
 to the highest position among the arts. This essay presents the nearest possible look into a young artist9s mind as he grappled with a dilemma basic to his generation: how to embrace the newest athletic
 developments while still claiming music as an expressive language reaching into inner depths that are supposedly immune to its power to dazzle. As one example it shows Schumann9s progress toward a finished,
 ideal performance of Chopin9s Variations, opus 2, as this is documented in a series of exercises recorded in his practice diary. These deal little with any mechanical problems in the set but instead give
 a glimpse of how Schumann hoped to realize physically his imagined, ideal sound world.


Statutory damage awards are controversial in copyright law. To some, statutory damages are indispensable to enable the pursuit of meritorious copyright infringement claims that otherwise are too costly to pursue. Others are convinced that the availability of statutory damages tempts plaintiffs into asserting dubious infringement claims in order to obtain generous settlement concessions from risk averse defendants. In light of these contrasting viewpoints, we face the important policy question whether statutory damages should be redesigned for the digital age or, to the contrary, be retained in their current form, given the difficulties of enforcing copyrights online.

This Article conducts a comprehensive empirical study of copyright statutory damages. An extensive examination of docket entries and case law reveals a widespread practice of overclaiming of remedies in copyright litigation. Although 80 percent of plaintiffs in all disputes claim that they suffered conduct that constitutes willful infringement, courts find willful infringement in just 2 percent of cases where plaintiffs obtain a favorable verdict.

The findings suggest that remedy overclaiming in copyright serves strategic purposes. For instance, by highlighting the outer range of enhanced statutory awards in complaints, plaintiffs leverage the risk aversion of defendants to induce generous settlement concessions. In order to curb opportunistic uses of the statutory damages, I provide policy suggestions that would make remedy overclaiming more costly to plaintiffs and less threatening to defendants.


We have developed a DNA isolation method which allows the isolation of high quality DNA from frozen citrated blood and cell lines within 90 min. The procedure avoids the use of toxic organic reagents and tedious extraction steps. DNA prepared by this method is very well suited for restriction fragment length polymorphism and polymerase chain reaction analysis.


This study of urban dialectology consists of an
invest.igation of some aspects of the French phonological
system in the city of Trois-Rivieres, Province of Quebec.
The corpus of data includes a series of sixty recorded interviews
which provides conparable speech samples from a
significant cross-section of Trifluvians, who are stratified
according to age, sex, occupation and education. The
data obtained from these interviews represent the sociolinguistic
variation existing in Trois-Rivieres and the
inter-individual diversity within this speech community.
Descriptions on the methods of sampling, collection
of data, the quantitative analysis of phonological
variables, and interview construction eliciting different
speech styles are made in chapter 1, together with a general
description of the situation of the French language
in Quebec and Canada.
To study the variation existing in the Trifluvian
speech community, seven phonological variables are subjected
to special examination. These.consist of four vocalic variables,
i.e. (a),(e),(eu),(o), and three consonantal variables, namely (g), (ch), (r). The analysis of the co-variation
of these phonological variables and sociological and stylistic
factors is made throughout chapter 2. In this latter
chapter, questions concerning the extent of the linguistic
variation present, the causes of linguistic diversity and
the process of linguistic change are also treated.
Chapter 3 is devoted to the examination of general
attitudes of speakers towards language and to the correlation
of their subjective attitudes with their objective
linguistic behaviour observed in chapter 2.
The final chapter, or the synthesis, studies the
processes in which the variables are involved end their
consequences for the evolution of the Trifluvian sociolinguistic system.


The article presents the results of a numerical study of the effect of equivalent sandgrain roughness on the characteristics of a low-flow centrifugal compressor stage. Low-flow stages are widely used in high-pressure compressors as the last stages. These compressors are used for natural gas booster compressor stations, as well as in technological processes for the production of methanol, ammonia, high - pressure polyethylene, etc. The efficiency of the low-flow stages is lower than that of medium-and high-flow centrifugal compressors stages. Stages operate at high pressure and have low gas volume flow rates. For this reason they have narrow channels of the flow part, significant friction and leakage losses. The study was conducted in the Ansys CFX 19.2 software package. In the first part of the study, the low-flow stage numerical model is validated with the test results. Full-scale tests of the stage were carried out at the LPI-SPbPU earlie. In the second part of the study, impeller equivalent sand-grain roughness numerical study carried out. As a result, the characteristics of the stage were obtained at four different values of equivalent sand-grain roughness ks. The impeller losses were estimated. It is established that when the ks values increase, the polytropic head and efficiency values do not decrease equally over the entire characteristic. Characteristics are significantly reduced in areas of high expenditure and change slightly with minimal expenditure. The internal head coefficient varies slightly depending on ks.


Predicting the responses of tree species to rapid environmental change requires an understanding of their ecology, reproductive strategy, population connectivity and levels of adaptive variation. This project examines these aspects for an understudied UK native tree genus Tilia L. Comparison of edaphic and physiographic variables indicated that Tilia cordata Mill. is more generalist than T. platyphyllos Scop., as well as preferring locations with higher potential incident solar radiation and greater levels of organic carbon content. Examination of fine-scale spatial genetic structure indicates that T. cordata has a mixed reproductive system with approximately half of all individuals within sampled populations being of clonal origin. The incidence of clonality was weakly negatively correlated to historic summer temperatures and positively so to the proportion of canopy trees within samples, suggesting both fertility limitations and time since disturbance affect vegetative growth in the species. Clonal reproduction is not expected to impact future outcrossing success due to the fine scale of its effects on spatial genetic structure, being much smaller than typical pollen movements associated with outcrossing. T. cordata populations exhibited weak clinal spatial genetic structure at coarser scales (tens of kilometres) across two locations, which likely reflect historic dispersal limitations across a contiguous landscape and effective pollen movement at scales less than two kilometres. Fragmentation has not yet eroded genetic variation except in the demes with the smallest size (not necessarily the most isolated), suggesting that larger fragments may ultimately suffer the same fate. Finally, low metabolic variation between UK populations of T. cordata despite contrasting environmental conditions during sampling indicates high levels of phenotypic plasticity, while variation in a functional trait and a group of unidentified metabolite concentrations suggest avenues for examining local adaptation in the future


The porpose of this research is to find out the effectiveness of Mosque-based Microbusiness Community Program to empowering mustahiq's economy at Miftahul Jannah Mosque Surabaya. The research method of this research is a qualitative approach, case studies strategy, and descriptive analysis techniques which collecting data through interview, and observation. The informants are members of Mosque-based Microbusiness Community Program at Miftahul Jannah Mosque Surabaya, consist of seven people who had attanded the program and has recieved assistance zakat productive in the form venture capital from Baitul Maal Muamalat through Mosque-based Microbusiness Community Program (KUM3). Based on the results of the research is Mosque-based Microbusiness Community Program effective to empower mustahiq's economy use productive zakat consist of venture capital, the mosque has a maximum role to facilitate the distribution of productive zakat from Baitul Maal Muamalat to mustahiq evidenced by increasing three indicators, namely ruhiyah, partisipation, and business.


Background: In 1998, a major HIV intervention project was started in a mining community in Carletonville, South Africa. This included community-based peer education, condom distribution, syndromic management of sexually transmitted infections (STI), and presumptive STI treatment for sex workers. Objectives: To investigate changes in sexual behaviour and the prevalence of STI before and 2 years after the start of the HIV prevention programme. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were carried out in 1998 and 2000 among mineworkers, sex workers and adults in the community. Demographic and behavioural factors were recorded and participants were tested for syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydial infection and, at the start of the intervention, for HIV. Results: In 1998, the prevalence of HIV among men and women in the general population, mineworkers, and sex workers, was 20%, 37%, 29% and 69%, respectively. In 2000, syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydial infection had increased among mineworkers; chlamydial infection had increased among men and women, and syphilis had increased among women. There was evidence of positive behaviour change but this was not substantial or universal. Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and awareness of the epidemic were high but condom use remained low. Conclusion: There was little evidence of significant behaviour change and the prevalence of curable STI increased. The prevention programme had had less impact than expected. Reasons for the reduced impact, and the lessons for future intervention projects are discussed. There is a need for further monitoring of the HIV epidemic especially as its impact increases.


Objectives To determine whether England's smoke-free legislation, introduced on 1 July 2007, influenced intentions and attempts to stop smoking. Design and setting National household surveys conducted in England between January 2007 and December 2008. The sample was weighted to match census data on demographics and included 10 560 adults aged 16 or over who reported having smoked within the past year. Results A greater percentage of smokers reported making a quit attempt in July and August 2007 (8.6%, n=82) compared with July and August 2008 (5.7%, n=48) (Fisher's exact=0.022); there was no significant difference in the number of quit attempts made at other times in 2007 compared with 2008. In the 5 months following the introduction of the legislation 19% (n=75) of smokers making a quit attempt reported that they had done so in response to the legislation. There were no significant differences in these quit attempts with regard to gender, social grade or cigarette consumption; there was however a significant linear trend with increasing age (χ2=7.755, df=1, p<0.005). The prevalence of respondents planning to quit before the ban came into force decreased over time, while those who planned to quit when the ban came into force increased as the ban drew closer. Conclusion England's smoke-free legislation was associated with a significant temporary increase in the percentage of smokers attempting to stop, equivalent to over 300 000 additional smokers trying to quit. As a prompt to quitting the ban appears to have been equally effective across all social grades.


This paper covers the treatability results of a laboratory-scale hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (HUASBR) treating dairy effluents from a large integrated industry with a maximum production capacity of 500 tons of milk per day. The study began wilb the determination of effluent characteristics and pollution profile for the investigated dairy industry. As a result of observations, by-product recovery and waste reduction alternatives were investigated by in-plant control measures. Anaerobic treatability studies were conducted by a laboratory-scale hybrid upflow anaerobic reactor with an effective volume of 81. The reactor was operated more that 270 days under mesophilic conditions and it was fed wilb the combined effluents from the investigated dairy industry. The hydraulic retention times ranged from 0.21 to 0.96 days under normal operating conditions after the start up. COD removal efficiencies of more than 87% were achieved at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 8.5 kg COD/m 3 ·d OLR was gradually increased from 2.54 to 7.1 kg COD/m 3 ·d within 15 days but the anaerobic reactor performances did not change significantly. The reactor was operated under varying feed characteristics to test the response of the system to high strength acid whey. The system can tolerate OLRs as high as 17 kg COD/m 3 ·d with an average COD removal efficiency of 75% for two weeks. Although the reactor was fed by diluted effluent with an average COD of 1070 mg/l at very high hydraulic loadings (HRT=5 hours), 75% removals of COD were achieved under these conditions.


The last half-century has seen a continuing population and consumption growth, increasing the competition for land, water and energy. The solution can be found in the new sustainability theories, such as the industrial symbiosis and the zero waste objective. Reducing, reusing and recycling are challenges that the whole world have to consider. This is especially important for organic waste, whose reusing gives interesting results in terms of energy release. Before reusing, organic waste needs a deeper characterization. The non-destructive and non-invasive features of both Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry and imaging (MRI) make them optimal candidates to reach such characterization. In this research, NMR techniques demonstrated to be innovative technologies, but an important work on the hardware and software of the NMR LAGIRN laboratory was initially done, creating new experimental procedures to analyse organic waste samples. The first results came from soil-organic matter interactions. Remediated soils properties were described in function of the organic carbon content, proving the importance of limiting the addition of further organic matter to not inhibit soil processes as nutrients transport. Moreover NMR relaxation times and the signal amplitude of a compost sample, over time, showed that the organic matter degradation of compost is a complex process that involves a number of degradation kinetics, as a function of the mix of waste. Local degradation processes were studied with enhanced quantitative relaxation technique that combines NMR and MRI. The development of this research has finally led to the study of waste before it becomes waste. Since a lot of food is lost when it is still edible, new NMR experiments studied the efficiency of conservation and valorisation processes: apple dehydration, meat preservation and bio-oils production. All these results proved the readiness of NMR for quality controls on a huge kind of organic residues and waste.


Abstract : Performance of the Navy's latest operational ocean forecast model (the Hybrid Coordinate Model, HYCOM, which became operational in March 2013) is systematically evaluated by comparing its velocity fields with actual ADCP velocities collected during a two-week cruise in the Agulhas Return Current region in 2012 (ARC 12). This chaotic region is complex and highly variable, with velocities sometimes exceeding 200 cm/s. Assessment using in-situ velocity measurements is very rare. This analysis characterizes the uncertainty in the model output and its predictions that Undersea Warfare operators, as well as other warfighters, obtain from the HYCOM output, and use in real world operations. Qualitative comparisons show good placement by HYCOM of persistent and energetic ocean current and eddy features, but difficulty (as expected, because HYCOM cannot resolve features finer than eddy scale) resolving the finer-scale variability present in the chaotic ARC region. Quantitative comparisons showed that the overall Root Mean Squared Error (RSME) is 35 cm/s and 47 near-surface, and 17 cm/s and 32 at 500 m depth, showing a general decrease of RMSE with depth.


This paper argues that double-object verbs decompose into two heads, an external-argument-selecting cause predicate (vCAUSE) and a prepositional element, PHAVE. Two primary types of argument are presented. First, a consideration of the well-known Oerhle's generalization effects in English motivate such a decomposition, in combination with a consideration of idioms in ditransitive structures. These facts mitigate strongly against a Transform approach to the dative alternation, like that of Larson 1988, and point towards an Alternative Projection approach, similar in many respects to that of Pesetsky 1995. Second, the PHAVE prepositional element is identified with the prepositional component of verbal have, treated in the literature by Benveniste 1966; Freeze 1992; Kayne 1993; Guéron 1995. Languages without PHAVE do not allow possessors to c-command possessees, and show no evidence of a double-object construction, in which Goals c-command Themes. On the current account, these two facts receive the same explanation: PHAVE does not form part of the inventory of morphosyntactic primitives of these languages.


The current study utilised a within groups design to explore whether a disparity exists between society's beliefs about sentencing and the guidelines that are present within our legal system and whether specific extra-legal variables relating to participants and the
victim within a crime scenario significantly influence the sentencing process. Participant characteristics were explored in order to determine whether the age, gender, victim history and beliefs (locus of control beliefs (LOCB) and just world beliefs (JWB) have the potential to significantly impact upon the sentencing recommendations that individuals feel are appropriate for offenders. Sentencing recommendations made by participants were also compared to the sentencing guidelines within the Queensland legal system. Finally the project aimed to determine whether providing victim information within a specific crime scenario would significantly impact on the sentencing recommendations of participants.

The current research utilised the offence of manslaughter as the crime of interest because previous research has identified this crime as being of sufficient severity to elicit variability within sentencing recommendations (Rachlinski & Jourden, 2003). The manslaughter offence was presented within a scenario as a component of a questionnaire. Within the questionnaire participants were also required to provide demographic information and complete two self-report assessments, Rubin and Peplau's (1975) Just World Belief Scale and Rotter's (1966) Locus of Control Scale.

The research findings revealed that participants sentenced differently across the crime definitions, and their recommended sentence lengths were significantly longer than those currently utilised within the Queensland legal system. The results also revealed that contrary to the research hypothesis participant characteristics including age, gender, victim history and beliefs did not significantly impact on sentencing recommendations. It was further hypothesis that victim characteristics would have a significant impact on sentencing recommendations however the results failed to achieve significance. Finally the results found that sentence lengths recommended did not significantly vary from the crime definition to the crime scenario as predicted.

This project explores the discrepancy between public opinion and legal guidelines with regard to sentencing, with the results indicating that the public may not be as influenced by extra-legal variables as often suggested. The findings from this study will hopefully contribute to discussion and decisions regarding the role of jurors in the sentencing process with the overall aim being to improving sentencing consistency within the courts.

In order to analyse the data collected the following analyses were completed. The analysis included paired t-tests to compare sentencing recommendations across the ten crime definitions, a MANCOVA analysis to asses whether the sentences recommended significantly differed across the ten crime definitions with regard to the extra-legal variables, ten one-sample t-tests were conducted to compare the average sentencing recommendations of participants to the courts average sentences. A 5 x 2 ANCOVA was completed to analysis the interaction between sentence lengths recommended and participant and victim variables, and finally three t-tests were completed to determine whether there was a significant difference in sentencing recommendations for the crime definition as compared to the crime scenarios, and to determine whether there was any significant differences in sentencing recommendations for the crime scenario in relation to participant gender and participant victim history.


Council House Movie Star: a photographic exploration of practice based research consists of a series of photographic gallery images of the working class drag queen Gale Force and her 'family' on the periphery of society. These photographs were taken over a period of two years and reflect the creative process of the renowned film and immersive installation work Council House Movie Star (2012).
This exhibition will display the body as it really is with the greying of hair, bad wigs and make-up and no glamorous Photoshop trickery, no pretend muscles and no removal of fatty skin. The work seeks to encapsulate the immortalised fat and ageing drag body on canvas, laid bare for public scrutiny.
In addition to the display of photographs printed onto canvas, accompanying texts will give greater insights into the working process and behind-the-scenes action of the research and methods used. These shall include: filming scenes, rehearsals, performances, the 'dragging up' and 'dragging down' in the changing rooms, and projection of documented interviews with performers. The documentation of the process of performance making is, in itself, as essential as the performance for practice-led artists.


The thermal properties of different kinds of dough were investigated after different kneading times by means of Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). Two varieties of durum wheat semolina were used in this study: Alemanno and Cappelli. The doughs were prepared using a mixograph. The gelatinized flour fraction plays an important role on the thermal properties' definition, while the mixing time influences the dough network building and consequently the starch gelatinization phenomena. Also, the amount of free water in the dough could be influenced by the mixing time. Thus, the TGA technique was applied in order to evidence the mass loss as a function of the increasing temperature and, from this, the free water content, the residual weight (related to the protein kind and content), and the weight loss rate, i.e. the peaks of the first derivative of the thermogravimetric curve (DTG), which appear at different temperatures and present different heights and positions, depending on the dough network force and extension. In such a way, it was possible to find some correlations between the dough characteristics, like the semolina composition (e.g. the gluten content and quality) and the mixing time, and the thermogravimetric analysis outputs. The results showed that the ratio between free and bond water is strongly dependent on both the mixing time and the semolina variety, and a clear evidence of the protein content in the dough is found because of the position and the size of the peaks in the DTG curve, in combination with the residual mass at fixed temperatures.Proteins, starch and water are the main components of semolina dough. When the ingredients are mixed, several kinds of interactions take place. Understanding the interactions among proteins, starch and water is useful to improve the dough characteristics and, consequently, the final product quality.Thermal analysis is an interesting tool that allows to study the interactions among the dough components in terms of bond formation. Starch gelatinization and protein coagulation phenomena are the main responsible for the thermal properties of wheat doughs. These structures show an effect on the thermal behavior approximately in the same temperature range (55-80 °C) and moisture level. Regarding the proteins, the main role is played by gluten, which is composed by two fractions: the alcohol soluble gliadins, which mainly contribute to the viscosity, extensibility, and cohesiveness of the dough, and the alcohol insoluble glutenins, which are responsible for the dough elasticity (Drabinska et al., 2016). The ratio between gliadin and gluten is also important, as if it increases, the elasticity of gluten decreases. The gluten proteins are characterized by a temperature dependent equilibrium between two phases: a semi-solid one, prevailing at high temperatures, and a glassy solid one, prevailing at low temperatures; the physical change between these two phases is considered as a "glass transition". The glass transition temperature (Tg) is the main parameter for understanding the mechanical properties of gluten proteins (Leon et al., 2003). Starch, the major component of wheat flour, making up about 80% of its dry weight, influences the dough rheological properties, especially upon heating in the presence of water when starch gelatinizes (Li and Yeh, 2001). The gelatinization process causes the transition of insoluble starch granules to a solution composed of individual molecules (Leon et al., 2003). Gelatinization of starch is a cooperative process, in such a way that structural relations between amorphous and crystalline regions within the starch granules are responsible for the sharpness of thermal transition and the temperature at which it occurs (Romano et al., 2015).The quality of semolina doughs is related to the interactions between starch and proteins in the presence of water (Guler et al., 2002). Starch gelatinization is influenced by the presence of other ingredients that affect the water activity. Some ingredients, such as sugar, salt, and proteins, compete with starch for the available water in the system and affect its gelatinization (Avramenko et al., 2018). Protein and gluten influence the gelatinization parameters of starch and the water behaviour (Romano et al., 2015). Furthermore, starch gelatinization and protein coagulation are competitive and antagonistic (Huault et al., 2019). The interactions between starch and proteins are a consequence of the attraction between positively and negatively charged colloids in an acidic environment, and the modification of wheat proteins due to heating result in a loss of protein binding to the starch and in a decrease of the interactions (Mohamed and Rayas-Duarte, 2003). So the starch gelatinization peak temperature increases and the enthalpy decreases, in the presence of gluten proteins. In addition, the peak temperature increases as the ratio between gluten and starch increases (Mohamed and Rayas-Duarte, 2003). The thermal stability of the gluten decreases with increasing in the level of gliadins and their transition also shifts to lower temperatures; the changes in the starch gelatinization parameters are believed to be due to the less amount of available water in the presence of gluten (Khatkar et al., 2013)Water is added to hydrate the flour, for the gluten formation and to hydrate the starch so that it can gelatinize. These events result in the formation of the basic structure of a baked product. Starch and gluten are complex chemical polymers and hence their interaction with water is complex (Li and Yeh, 2001). Both the amount and the mobility of water are recognized to have a crucial role in starch gelatinization, in the formation of the gluten network (Fessas and Schiraldi, 2001), in the thermal stability of proteins (Romano et al., 2015) and in the glass transition temperature (Khatkar et al., 2013). Also, the mixing process and its conditions are important to determine the amount of free and binding water, because all the interactions among the dough components are established during mixing. An insufficiently developed dough results in a higher free water content because the latter has no time enough to react with the flour proteins and with the soluble components in the system. Therefore, the thermal properties are influenced by these interactions and, consequently, by the free water amount. The time required for the optimum dough development is also positively correlated with the polymeric protein composition and the ratio between protein polymers and monomers (Angioloni and Dalla Rosa, 2005).To summarize, the flour components influence the properties of the finished product. Also, the process conditions affect the quality of the final product. TGA measures the change in weight caused by the loss of water and by the product degradation due to the structural interactions breaking. The TGA can be a useful tool to characterize the dough and to understand which kind of bonds and consequently of structures were formed during kneading, and how the relative amount of the different components influences their building.


Hyperresponsiveness of resistance vessels has been described in various vascular beds of spontaneously hypertensive rats perfused with artificial medium. This change has been attributed to altered vascular dimensions secondary to the development of hypertension. To test the possibility that true changes in sensitivity might contribute independently to vasoconstrictor hyperresponsiveness in spontaneously hypertensive rats, threshold vasoconstrictor doses of norepinephrine and barium chloride were determined in denervated hindquarters of rats perfused at constant flow with autologous blood. Threshold constrictor responses to norepinephrine were elicited in the hypertensive rats at concentrations averaging less than one-third that required in controls. Threshold vasoconstrictor concentrations of barium were not significantly different between the two groups. The ratio of norepinephrine/barium sensitivity was also significantly elevated in the hypertensive group. These data suggest that in the presence of a full humoral complement, excitability (barium sensitivity) in resistance vessels of spontaneously hypertensive rats is not altered, whereas the smooth muscle is hypersensitive to norepinephrine. Thus, it appears that changes in sensitivity as well as altered vascular geometry are important in the production of vascular hyperresponsiveness in the spontaneously hypertensive rat.


We consider the Node-weighted Steiner Forest problem on planar graphs. Demaine et al. showed that a generic primal-dual algorithm gives a 6-approximation. We present two different proofs of an approximation factor of $3$. Then, we draw a connection to Goemans and Williamson who apply the primal-dual algorithm to feedback problems on planar graphs. We reduce these problems to Node-weighted Steiner Forest and show that for the graphs in the reductions their respective linear programming relaxations are equivalent to each other. This explains why both type of problems can be approximated with primal-dual methods. We show that the largest sub-determinant of a matrix $A\in Q^{d\times n}$ can be approximated with a factor of $O(\log d)^{d/2}$ in polynomial time. This problem also subsumes the problem of finding a simplex of largest volume in the convex hull of $n$ points in $Q^d$ for which we obtain the same approximation guarantee. The previously best known approximation guarantee for both problems was $d^{(d-1)/2}$ by Khachiyan. We further show that it is NP-hard to approximate both problems with a factor of $c^d$ for some explicit constant $c$. We highlight the importance of sub-determinants in combinatorial optimization by showing their significance in two problems. First, the Stable Set problem asks for a maximum cardinality set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices. The problem is NP-hard to approximate with factor $n^{1-\epsilon}$ for any $\epsilon>0$, where $n$ is the number of vertices. We restrict to instances where the sub-determinants of the constraint matrix are bounded by a function in $n$. This is equivalent to restricting to graphs with bounded odd cycle packing number $ocp$, the maximum number of vertex-disjoint odd cycles in the graph. We obtain a polynomial-time approximation scheme for graphs with $ocp=o(n/\log n)$. Further, we obtain an $\alpha$-approximation algorithm for general graphs where $\alpha$ smoothly increases from a constant to $n$ as $ocp$ grows from $O(n/\log n)$ to $n/3$. In contrast, we show that assuming the exponential-time hypothesis, Stable Set cannot be solved in polynomial time if $ocp=\Omega(\log^{1+\epsilon} n)$ for some $\epsilon>0$. Second, we consider coloring $n$ intervals with $k$ colors such that at each point on the line, the maximal difference between the number of intervals of any two colors is at most one. This problem induces a totally unimodular constraint matrix and is therefore efficiently solvable. We construct a fast algorithm with running time $O(n \log n + kn\log k)$.


The exchange reaction of the trinuclear macrocycles [(C6H3iPr3)Ru(C5H3NO2)]3 (AAA) and [(cymene)Ru(C5H3NO2)]3 (BBB) has been studied. It was found that the equilibration proceeds in two steps and that the final mixture is completely dominated by the mixed-metal macrocycles [{(C6H3iPr3)Ru}2{(cymene)Ru}(C5H3NO2)3] (AAB) and [{(C6H3iPr3)Ru}{(cymene)Ru}2(C5H3NO2)3] (ABB). The results are rationalized by assuming unfavorable steric interactions between adjacent (C6H3iPr3)Ru fragments. It is shown that interactions of this kind can be used to bias scramblingprocesses in such a way that mixed-metal macrocycles are obtained in over 80 % yield. The structures of [{(C6Me6)Ru}{(C6H6)Ru}2(C5H3NO2)3] and [(Cp*Rh){(C6H6)Ru}2-(C5H3NO2)3] have been determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis.


Abstract Over the reform period, industry has been the source of 40% of GDP, and has contributed 90% of China's exports. Annual firm-level surveys that begin in 1992, complemented with industry-wide census in 1995, 2004 and 2008, are rich sources of data on firm behavior. It is well-known that working with Chinese data requires overcoming difficult measurement issues. Macroeconomic series, for example, are often suspected of suffering from reporting bias and political interference. Working with the firm-level data has its own challenges. In this paper, we provide an introduction to these data sets. We discuss and illustrate several of the issues that make comparability over time difficult and suggest solutions. The importance of a particular measurement issue often depends on the exact application. We illustrate this point by tracing the evolution of the relative productivity level of entrants and incumbents over time, distinguishing between changes in actual performance and changes driven by measurement problems. We conclude by identifying a few promising areas of future research and margins on which collaboration among users to improve these data might be beneficial.


The effect of climate change on the mass balance of ice shelves and bottom water formation is
investigated using a terrain-following three-dimensional numerical ocean model. The Regional
Ocean Modeling System was modified to simulate the thermodynamic processes beneath ice
shelves, including direct basal processes and frazil ice dynamics. Process-orientated studies
of simplified ice-shelf-ocean cavities investigate the sensitivity of the melting/freezing to the
various parametrisations which describe the internal physics of the models. The Amery Ice
Shelf/ocean model is forced with tides, seasonal winds and relaxation to seasonal lateral boundary
climatologies. The open ocean surface fluxes are modified by an imposed climatological sea-ice
cover that includes the seasonal effect of polynyas.
The circulation and basal melting and freezing show good agreement with glaciological
and oceanographic observations that have been collected from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf
via boreholes through the ice and in the adjacent area of Prydz Bay. Strong horizontal and
thermohaline ("ice-pump") circulation is primarily driven by melting and refreezing of the ice
shelf. The net basal melt rate is `~45` `Gt` `year^-1` (`~0.7` `m` `year^-1`), which represents 67 % of
the total mass loss of the Amery Ice Shelf. The total amount of refreezing is `~5.3` `Gt` `year^-1` ,
of which 70 % is due to frazil accretion. The seasonal variability of the basal melt/freeze (up to
`±1` `m` `year^-1`) within 100 km of the open ocean is the same magnitude as the area-averaged melt
rates. The annual averaged bottom water formation rates are `~`1.2 Sv to the west of the Amery, in
the vicinity of Cape Darnley.
The Amery Ice Shelf/ocean model is used to investigate the sensitivity of the basal melt/freeze
and bottom water formation to the inclusion of various physical mechanisms and changes in
forcing. Direct comparison with glaciological observations shows that ice-shelf models that
include frazil processes improve the simulated pattern of marine ice accretion. Simulations
without ice-shelf/ocean thermodynamic processes overestimate bottom water formation by up
to 2.8 times as much as simulations with ice-shelf/ocean thermodynamic processes, due to the
missing buoyant freshwater from the melting ice shelf. Climate change sensitivity studies suggest
that an ocean warming of 1°C above present day temperatures can potentially remove the Amery
Ice Shelf in —500 years, solely due to increased basal melting, and can also lead to a significant
decrease in the formation of bottom water. This research contributes to understanding how
interaction between ice shelves and various forcing mechanisms can lead to changes in basal
melt/freeze and dense water formation, which has major implications for the stability of ice
shelves, sea level rise, and the salt budget of the global oceans.


Though it is widely recognized that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face significant health disparities, the comprehensive data sets needed for population-level health surveillance of people with IDD are lacking. This paucity of data makes it difficult to track and accurately describe health differences, improvements, and changes in access. Many states maintain administrative health databases that, to date, have not been widely used for research purposes. In order to evaluate the feasibility of using administrative databases for research purposes, the authors attempted to validate Massachusetts' administrative health database by comparing it to a large safety net hospital system's patient data regarding cancer screening, and to the state's service enrollment tables. The authors found variable representativeness overall; the sub-population of adults who live in 24-hr supported residences were better represented than adults who live independently or with family members. They also found a fairly low false negative rate for cancer screening data as compared with the "gold standard" of hospital records. Despite some limitations, these results suggest that state-level administrative databases may represent an exciting new avenue for health research. These results should lend context to efforts to study cancer and health screening variables using administrative databases. The present study methods may also have utility to researchers in other states for critically evaluating other state IDD service databases. This type of evaluation can assist researchers in contextualizing their data, and in tailoring their research questions to the abilities and limitations of this kind of database.


The pigeon's colour vision was examined, using behavioural and physiological techniques Avian colour vision has aroused interest because of the suggestion that chromatic discrimination in birds is mediated by a single cone pigment, combined with several types of retinal oil-droplets which act as differential colour filters. Using an operant conditioning method, difference thresholds were measured throughout the spectrum (400 - 680 nm) to generate a wavelength discrimination function, which yields information about the type of visual system an animal possesses. Earlier work had suggested that birds are trichromatic, but the finding of three clearly defined regions of optimum discrimination at 595, 530 and 460 nm indicates instead that the pigeon's colour vision is at least tetrachromatic. The pigeon's saturation discrimination abilities were also studied using a similar technique Saturation increased towards the spectral extremes while a point of least saturation occurred at 597 nm. Additional subsidiary saturation minima were found at 443, 496, 536 and 662 nm. These results largely corroborated those of the wave length discrimination experiment but indicated that the pigeon's visual system may be more complex than a tetrachromatic one Preliminary to an extension of the wavelength discrimination study, the pigeon's spectral sensitivity was measured electroretinographically The resulting spectral sensitivity curve peaked at 560 - 580 nm, in agreement with previously reported data. Furthermore, spectral sensitivity extended well into the ultraviolet region (<400 nm), where sensitivity was quite high In a second study of wavelength discrimination, results of the first experiment showing three threshold minima were confirmed and, additionally, pigeons maintained good discrimination between wavelengths within the ultraviolet range. Experimental findings were discussed in terms of the physiological mechanisms underlying visual performance, in particular, the present results, together with other evidence, suggest that the retinal oil-droplets are not basic to avian colour vision The functional significance of the pigeon's colour vision was also considered


We present a detailed description of a search for anomalous production of missing E T (Slashed E sign T ), jets, leptons (e, μ, τ), b quarks, or additional photons in events containing two isolated, central (|η| 12 GeV. The results are consistent with standard model expectations, with the possible exception of one event that has, in addition to the two photons, a central electron, a high-E T electromagnetic cluster, and large Slashed E sign T . We set limits using two specific SUSY scenarios for production of diphoton events with Slashed E sign T . ©1999 The American Physical Society.


Purpose: This study examines how district governance and different school contexts in Denver's portfolio management model affect shared leadership for learning. We define this as shared influence on instructional leadership and school-wide decision making, which research suggests have strong ties to student achievement and teacher commitment. Method: We analyze interview data from 53 administrators, teacher leaders, and teachers in eight case study schools and teacher surveys in 48 schools. In both data sets, we purposively sampled based on variance in school performance ratings and by school type (e.g., traditional public, standalone charter, charter management organization [CMO], and innovation schools). Findings: We find that perceptions of shared instructional leadership were generally high across the school contexts, though CMO and innovation schools had the highest perceptions in both the survey and case study data. Schools varied substantially in shared decision making, but innovation schools had higher average scores than other school models. Centralized policies and supports, alongside organizational visions spanning networks of schools, helped explain the enactment of shared leadership for learning. For example, schools within Denver's "innovation" network shared a common vision of teacher empowerment, while CMOs that had more prescribed policies and practices across their schools had lower reported levels of shared decision making. Implications for Research and Practice: Portfolio management models that prioritize school-based autonomy and choice between different kinds of schools are proliferating in urban areas. Our study helps explain why and how shared leadership for learning differs between school models and explores important implications for this variation.


The need to more precisely represent the consequences of congestion mitigation policies in urban transport systems calls for replacement of the static equilibrium assignment by DTA in the integrated travel demand and traffic assignment models. Despite of the availability of DTA models and despite of the conceptual clarity of how such integration should take place, only few operational model systems have been developed for large-scale applications. We report on replacement of the static traffic assignment by two different DTAs in the four stage demand model for the Greater Stockholm region: the macroscopic analytic Visum DUE and microscopic simulation Transmodeler. First results show that even without systematic calibration the DTA is in reasonable agreement with observed traffic counts and travel times. The presented experiments did not reveal striking difference between using macroscopic and microscopic assignment package. However, given the clear trend to microscopic modeling and simulation on the travel demand side, the use of micro-simulation-based DTA package appears more natural from system integration perspective.


Modern game engines seek to balance the conflicting goals of high rendering performance and productive software development. To improve CPU performance, the most recent generation of real-time graphics APIs provide new primitives for performing efficient batch updates to shader parameters. However, modern game engines featuring large shader codebases have struggled to take advantage of these benefits. The problem is that even though shader parameters can be organized into efficient modules bound to the pipeline at various frequencies, modern shading languages lack corresponding primitives to organize shader logic (requiring these parameters) into modules as well. The result is that complex shaders are typically compiled to use a monolithic block of parameters, defeating the design, and performance benefits, of the new parameter binding API. In this paper we propose to resolve this mismatch by introducing shader components, a first-class unit of modularity in a shader program that encapsulates a unit of shader logic and the parameters that must be bound when that logic is in use. We show that by building sophisticated shaders out of components, we can retain essential aspects of performance (static specialization of the shader logic in use and efficient update of parameters at component granularity) while maintaining the modular shader code structure that is desirable in today's high-end game engines.


n this paper we argue that pre-election polls and prediction markets reflect two different processes which, by analyzing them together, can help us understand if and how key events which occur during an election campaign influence the final outcome. While polls can be seen as reflecting the voters' enlightening process towards realizing their vote preferences, prediction markets have this process incorporated into their prediction. We study the movements of weekly poll ratings and IEM market predictions and measure the impact selected events have on these in the run-up to the US 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. We conclude that the Swift Boat ad campaign in 2004 was an enlightening event which moved poll ratings in favor of President Bush, towards the level the IEM market had predicted already before the Swift Boat event. The financial crisis in 2008, on the other hand, was an enlightened event. It came as news to both market traders and poll respondents, sealing the victory for Obama. The paper has previously been presented at the Third International Conference on Prediction and Information Markets, April 3-5 2011, Nottingham Business School.


European Union's economic growth and social development passes through the correct operation of transport infrastructures, which comprises physical networks, terminals and intermodal nodes, information system, as well as refueling and electrical supply networks. The safe operation of the Europe's aging transport infrastructure during their entire life cycle is insured by an effective and proactive maintenance. Among the physical network, bridges are structures that facilitate transport, creating connection between countries and regions. Lack of maintenance and material degradation are identified as causes of several bridge failures. After the collapse of the Polcevera Viaduct in Genova, Italy, on August 14th, 2018, the state of the European bridges has been questioned. The first part of this work is focused on the study of the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa. From the free-available literature data, a numerical model of the structure has been prepared. However, the refined numerical approach and the collected design conditions allow a reasonable heuristic study to be carried out, to outline potential structural behaviors and responses to external perturbation ns. The analysis identified two critical aspects that may have affected the structural response. Both are related to the time variable that has likely affected both the operating conditions of the bridge and its loading capacity. The traffic load at the time of the structural design (60's) has certainly undergone a preponderant evolution, linked both to the evolution of transports in general (increasing in loading and traffic volume) and to the port development of the city of Genoa. At the same time, it makes sense to consider how the structural materials employed in different technologies (reinforced and prestressed concrete, prestressed stays) may have been subject to the degradation of their characteristics. Indeed, the effect of atmospheric agents and the proximity to the marine environment may have influenced the resistant capacity of the bridge. Furthermore, the cyclic load of traffic may have induced fatigue effects. Besides, structural solutions for stays (e.g. saddles) and the essentially static determinate scheme may have also affected the response. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is identified as a key point for the bridge maintenance and for the prevention of dramatic collapse. Indeed, reinforced concrete elements in bridge structures are subjected during their service life to different loading conditions that may affect their durability and efficiency, in particular, reinforced concrete elements can develop cracking conditions due to tensile stresses. However, such cracking conditions can develop and propagate leading to the exposure of the steel reinforcement bars to the aggression of external agents such as chlorides. Being able to monitor the development and evolution of cracking can be crucial and the second part of this research is aimed at this purpose. In particular, laboratory tests have been performed on reinforced concrete beams monitored by two nondestructive systems: distributed fiber optics sensors (FOS) and digital image correlation (DIC) to monitor the state of cracking and its propagation within the thickness. The main objectives of the research can be summarized as follows: (i) Deformation development from concrete casting, (ii) Crack detection and localization with distributed FOS and DIC, (iii) Crack opening quantification.


ABSTRACT Citrus canker (caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, Xcc) is an important bacterial disease of citrus that is spread naturally by rain and wind. Feeding damage to citrus leaves by the citrus leafminer (CLM), Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), has been shown to promote infection levels of citrus canker in a number of citrus-growing regions around the world. We conducted 2 studies to document that CLM damage exacerbates canker in Florida citrus. In 1 study, young citrus trees of 5 cultivare commonly grown in Florida were inoculated with a culture of Xcc. Two groups of trees were studied, 1 group with leaves damaged by CLM and 1 group that was treated with a pesticide to prevent CLM damage. Over all 5 cultivars, comparisons between the 2 groups of trees indicated that CLM damage resulted in 6-fold increase in the number of lesions. No difference was found between the 2 groups with respect to numbers of canker lesions on leaves without CLM damage. In the second study, a survey of commercial citrus groves was conducted to investigate incidence of canker on leaves with and without CLM injury. Low percentages of leaves infected by citrus canker were observed during the survey, with a maximum of 15% of leaves infected in 1 grove. However, during late Jul and Aug in some grapefruit and lemon groves, an average of 79% of leaves with canker had lesions directly associated with CLM damage, and an average of 36 more lesions per leaf was present on leaves with CLM damage. Exacerbation of canker by CLM during Jul and Aug coincided with the time of year when environmental conditions are usually optimal for canker in Florida and when population levels of CLM usually are most abundant. Citrus growers managing citrus canker should benefit from controlling CLM during the summer when conditions are favorable for canker infections, particularly in lemons and grapefruits.


I. INTRODUCTION That Godless Court?, by Ronald B. Flowers, presents the history of church-state relations in the United States through the use of Supreme Court decisions. Defending his position as a strict separationist in the area he refers to as the "relationships between religion and civil authority," Flowers is quick to point out that "[s]trict separation is not hostile to religion. . . but will provide the best conditions for religions to flourish . . . and [will] maximize the free exercise of religion."1 Flowers asserts that the church-state debate should not focus on whether the government can or should interfere with individual religious actions, but rather on what level of governmental interference is justified in preventing or limiting religious freedom.2 This Book Review examines, in particular, Flowers's advocacy of the use of the compelling state interest test and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to reconcile church-state relationships and concludes that his discussion fails to consider several key arguments which show that these concepts lack constitutional foundation. This Review also concludes that, while Flowers's book provides a practical and helpful overview of church-state issues prior to 1993, its lack of substantive analysis may misguide those readers who rely on its simplicity. Part I of this Review provides an overview of Flowers's approach to the church-state debate and the foundation for his views as a strict separationist. Part II then examines Flowers's advocacy of the twice-defunct compelling state interest test3 and questions his support of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act4 with some of the key criticisms that have been made against it. Part III briefly examines the current status of the church-state debate in light of the Supreme Court's decision in City of Boerne v. Flores.5 II. APPROACHING THE CHURCH-STATE DEBATE In his introduction, Flowers establishes that his goal in That Godless Court? is to educate the clergy and lay people on church-state issues through the Supreme Court's work in this area.6 His approach in achieving this goal is quite simple; he devotes the majority of his book to succinctly presenting the extensive historical background of the church-state debate. Keeping in mind that his intended audience is not legally trained, Flowers explains the structure of the federal court system as well as the process by which the Supreme Court determines the cases that it will review in the first chapter.7 He then explains the formation of the religion clauses in the First Amendment by reflecting on the development of religion in colonial America.8 At this point in his book, Flowers provides a chronological overview of numerous Supreme Court cases and decisions that have proven to be pertinent and have contributed to the current status of church-state issues in the United States.9 Flowers objectively provides this historical information and conscientiously distinguishes between the cases and decisions regarding the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause and those regarding its Establishment Clause. Not until the last chapter of his book does Flowers present his own perspectives regarding the ongoing church-state debate and provide any insight into the basis for his opinions.lo Perhaps because Flowers's work is geared toward the clergy and lay people, he falls short on substantive analysis and discussion of his position and rather long on historical narrative. In the final chapter of the book, entitled "Flash Points and the Future," Flowers clearly establishes his position that "the maximum amount of religious liberty is consistent with the Constitution and best for religious groups and American life in general."11 His analysis encompasses four separate and very brief discussions. First, he discusses the role that the Christian Right movement has played in the church-state debate and the impact that this group has had on that debate and in politics in general. …


Ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) is used to induce experimental myocardial infarction (MI). Most previous studies have focused on the early postoperative period, while data on mid-term follow-up are scanty. This study examined the mid-term effects of LAD ligation in 95 MI rats and 28 controls. The following parameters were evaluated: systemic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level. In addition, M-mode and B-mode echocardiography, histologic examinations, and cardiac hydroxyproline assays were performed. Forty-seven perioperative and 5 late deaths were recorded. Left ventricular dilation, observed 1 mo after MI, did not progress with time. Septal thickening was similar in the 2 groups, while wall thickening was lower in the MI rats at 1 mo only. Stroke volume was diminished in MI rats, while cardiac output was depressed only at 1 and 2 mo, due to increased heart rate. SBP was unchanged and plasma BNP level was similar in the 2 groups. The infarcted area (mean +/- SD) was 35 +/- 10%. The ventricles in MI rats were heavier and had increased hydroxyproline content. In conclusion, these data show that LAD ligation is not only a model of acute MI, but at mid-term it provides a model of chronic ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.


Introduction: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most prevalent endocrinopathy in reproductive aged women. The association of early-life factors such as fetal adipose tissue and birth weight with adulthood outcomes like obesity, body fat mass (BFM) and body lean mass (BLM) is not clearly understood. We aimed to compare the association between birth weight and body composition in women with PCOS and normal controls. Materials and Methods: For this study we enrolled a total of 70 reproductive aged women with PCOS diagnosis, referring to the Reproductive Endocrinology Research Center and the same number of healthy women without polycystic ovaries by ultrasonography or hirsutism and/or anyovulatory other dysfunction were enrolled. Their birth weights were documented and their body composition was assessed, using standard measuring devices. Results: Cases were younger than the controls (29.7±4.9 versus 30.8±5.9 years) and had the same BMI (24.6±2.4 versus 24.8±4.5 kg/m2). Our study demonstrated that BFM and BLM are increased in adult PCOS women born underweight, compared to their normal counterparts (16± 4.7 versus 12.2± 4.1, P= 0.06 and 46.4±5.8 versus 41.1±5.8, P=0.07). Conclusion: The impact of fetal adipose tissue and birth weight on the occurrence adulthood obesity, BFM and BLM vary between women with and without PCOS.


Malaysia was ranked twelfth in world ranking of Mega biodiversity countries, as declared by UNESCO in 1997. BUT the question is SO WHAT? Since independence in 1957, none of our natural products have been developed to produce pharmaceutical drugs. Further, no single indigenous species has been made into a tradeable
COMMODITY.By 2004, we were no longer ranked among the top twelve mega-biodiversity countries, as we were ranked 14th among the 17 countries listed in 2004. This is because most of our forests
have been logged, stripping off the nation's bio-wealth (Malaysia's Mega-diversity under threat, 2004 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/malaysia-s-mega-diversity-unde). Even now, no one knows for sure what we still have, and what has already
been eradicated. Logging has destroyed our forests which we have replaced with mono exotic species i.e. either rubber or palm oil. Terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems are under constant threat. Although 70 % of the earth's surface is covered by water, the freshwater ecosystem comprises only 2%. However, 12% of all animal species, and 40% of all the recognised fish, which totals
about 8,400 species, are in the freshwater ecosystem (http://www.fao.org/sd/EPdirect/EPre0044.htm). Unfortuntely with freshwater ecosystems being reduced, at least one fifth of all freshwater fishes are already extinct or seriously endangered. Further, since 1995, 70% of the world's marine fishes have been either fully exploited
or over fished and depleted.One should also remember that fish is accountable for approximately 17% of the animal protein in the normal human diet, and around 29% in Asia. Hence the loss and degradation of
biodiversity in the marine ecosystem is very alarming and will have phenomenal implications on the food and livelihood security of humans. Previously, 75% of the fishes consumed were from nature i.e. wild species, while the remaining 25% was from aquaculture
production. Today however, approximately 85% of fish supplies are from aquaculture (http://www.fao.org/sd/EPdirect/EPre0044.htm). In Malaysia, the aquaculture industry is now a priority and the government has projected a 200% increase in production to 600,000 tones in 2010, from 200,000 tonnes last year (http://www.
fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_malaysia/en).
Today, there are 290 freshwater fish species identified in Peninsular Malaysia, more than 100 in Sarawak and 200 in Sabah(http://www.nre.gov.my/opencms/opencms/NRE/BM/Services/Biodiversity/biodiversity.html), and the Haruan C striatus is one of them. Most if not all freshwater aquatic species face fewer risks as compared to land animals which are at risk from diseases such
as smallpox, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad - Cow Disease (MCD), Japanese encephalitis (JE), Bird Flu (H5N1) and Swine Flu (H1N1) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaculture). This, among others, is the reason why aquaculture is becoming increasingly more important and hence why the Haruan is now an important option in the field of food and drug discovery


Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) has two kinds of isoforms depending on cellular binding domains. VEGF189 is the largest molecule with the strongest cellular binding ability, and is thought to be most potent for vascularization in various cancers. This study aims to clear the clinicopathological characteristics of VEGF189 in the pulmonary adenocarcinoma. We finely and quantitatively examined the expression of VEGF-A isoforms (VEGF121, VEGF165 and VEGF189) by real-time polymerase chain reaction in a total of 100 pulmonary adenocarcinomas resected by surgical operation. The VEGF isoform expression status was analyzed on clinicopathological features including stromal vascularization, vascular involvement, distant metastasis, lymph nodal metastasis, postoperative relapse time and prognosis of long-term observation periods. All the pulmonary adenocarcinomas showed significant expression of VEGF-A. Twenty-two cases with the adenocarcinomas overexpressing VEGF-A significantly showed earlier postoperative relapse and poorer prognosis between 5- to 15-year periods (p = 0.0093 and p = 0.0240, Kaplan Meier, log-rank test). The expression levels of VEGF189 increased in 13% of the pulmonary adenocarcinoma. These 13 cases with increased VEGF189 expression significantly showed higher distant metastases, earlier postoperative relapse, and poorer prognosis (p = 0.0006, Fisher's test; p = 0.0016 and p = 0.0084, Kaplan Meier, log-rank test) than the other 87 cases. The 13 lung cancers with VEGF189 overexpression also showed increased vessel counts, areas (p = 0.0091 and p < 0.0001, Mann-Whitney U test) and enhanced venous involvement (p = 0.0056, Fisher's test). The cellular binding isoform VEGF189 confers pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients with poorer prognosis with distant metastasis via blood flow.


This paper proposes a measure of financial fragility that is based on economic welfare in a general equilbrium model calibrated against UK data. The model comprises a household sector, three active heterogeneous banks, a central bank/regulator, incomplete markets, and endogenous default. We address the impact of monetary and regulatory policy, credit and capital shocks in the real and financial sectors and how the response of the economy to shocks relates to our measure of financial fragility. Finally we use panel VAR techniques to investigate the relationships between the factors that characterise financial fragility in our model, i.e. banks' probabilities of default and banks' profits to a proxy of welfare.


We examine the change in terminus positions of glaciers flowing into the western Ross Sea, Antarctica, between 71°S and 78°S as a proxy for changes in snowfall and/or summer air temperature. This coastline's major glaciers terminate in ice tongues, which are particularly sensitive to changes in flow rate and calving. Using historic maps and satellite imagery spanning 60 yr (A.D. 1955–2015), the terminus positions, ice speed, calving rates, and ice front advance and retreat rates for 34 glaciers are documented. Additionally, changes in regional ice flow speed from 2008 to 2014 are examined. No significant spatial or temporal patterns of terminus position, flow speed, or calving emerged, implying that the conditions associated with ice tongue stability are unchanged. A weak trend of advance may be present in the northernmost part of the coast, consistent with estimates of increased snow accumulation and glacier mass balance in that region. The stability of these glaciers over the past half century contrasts sharply with the rapidly shrinking glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula and suggests that no significant climate change, as manifest in glacier change, has reached this region of Antarctica.


Genetics is considered as one of the topics in science that students have difficulty and trouble in understanding. This study used study guide as an intervention tool to address the difficulties of students in learning genetics concepts. The main purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of students on the effectiveness of study guide in enhancing motivation and learning in genetics lessons.The study used descriptive action research design. The development and evaluation of the study guide focused on the ADDIE Model. The respondents of the study were 75 students of Gingoog City Comprehensive National High School (SY 2015-2016).The study guide is a double-sided A4 size hard copy colored sheets that contains genetics concepts. The concepts were presented in the form of diagram and pictures. The study guide was handed out to students at the beginning of the 4th quarter where genetics lessons are dealt. The respondents answered the survey questionnaire at the end of the lessons.The results of the present study revealed that the students strongly agree that the study guide presented figures/pictures which are colourful and attractive that makes it interesting and provided adequate and comprehensive information. Majority of the students perceived that the study guide helped them when undertaking tests or exam followed by tutorials, reports and assignments. Moreover, students strongly perceived that the use of the study guide is very effective as supplemental tool in learning genetics concepts. The study guide exhibits good features that motivated students to read, learn and understand genetics lessons.


South Africa aims to generate 42 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy technology sources by 2030. Concentrating solar power (CSP) is one of the major renewable energy technologies that have been prioritised by South Africa, given the abundant solar resources available in the region. Seven CSP plants have been, or are being, built; three of them are already connected to the national grid. However, the impacts of this technology on South African research, development, and innovation have not been investigated to date. This paper thus analyses the CSP technologies in South Africa in terms of the existing technology adoption models and diffusion strategies, used by government and its agencies, to improve the development and deployment of these technologies. It is found that CSP has been treated generally like other renewable energy technologies through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), although a tariff plan for CSP plants of the future has been made. No specific technology diffusion or adoption model for CSP was found; so this paper explores how it can be developed.


Leishmania parasites cause a spectrum of clinical pathology in humans ranging from disfiguring cutaneous lesions to fatal visceral leishmaniasis. We have generated a reference genome for Leishmania mexicana and refined the reference genomes for Leishmania major, Leishmania infantum, and Leishmania braziliensis. This has allowed the identification of a remarkably low number of genes or paralog groups (2, 14, 19, and 67, respectively) unique to one species. These were found to be conserved in additional isolates of the same species. We have predicted allelic variation and find that in these isolates, L. major and L. infantum have a surprisingly low number of predicted heterozygous SNPs compared with L. braziliensis and L. mexicana. We used short read coverage to infer ploidy and gene copy numbers, identifying large copy number variations between species, with 200 tandem gene arrays in L. major and 132 in L. mexicana. Chromosome copy number also varied significantly between species, with nine supernumerary chromosomes in L. infantum, four in L. mexicana, two in L. braziliensis, and one in L. major. A significant bias against gene arrays on supernumerary chromosomes was shown to exist, indicating that duplication events occur more frequently on disomic chromosomes. Taken together, our data demonstrate that there is little variation in unique gene content across Leishmania species, but large-scale genetic heterogeneity can result through gene amplification on disomic chromosomes and variation in chromosome number. Increased gene copy number due to chromosome amplification may contribute to alterations in gene expression in response to environmental conditions in the host, providing a genetic basis for disease tropism.


The occurrence of loughlinite (Na-sepiolite) in two pans (Koi Pan and Brak Pan) of the Northern Cape Province is reported upon. The presence of loughlinite within the pan sediments was confirmed by means of X-ray Diffraction analysis, which showed distinct reflections at 12.7 to 12.8 A, which collapsed to 12.3 A following Mg-saturation. This is the fourth reported occurrence of loughlinite worldwide and the first from South Africa. Loughlinite occurs associated with the mineral analcime, which was also reported from all previously described occurrences of the former. It is also interesting to note that all known occurrences of loughlinite are from playa-lake settings. We propose that the mineral formed authigenically under the saline and alkaline conditions of the pan environment, as is also deemed to have happened by some scholars in the Killik area, Turkey. Loughlinitization of sepiolite from sepiolite-bearing Kalahari calcrete occurring within the study area appears unlikely.


BLANK PAGES OF THE HOLOCAUST: GYPSIES IN YUGOSLAVIA DURING WORLD WAR II Elizabeta Jevtic Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages Master's of Arts After a general overview of the persecution of Gypsies (Roma) during World War II, this thesis focuses on the situation of Gypsies on the territory of Serbia and Croatia. The two republics are chosen because of their unique structures during the years 1941 to 1945. Both republics had puppet regimes set up by Germany; however, Croatia was an ally to Germany and strove to mirror the Third Reich in all its policies. The regime's head, Ante Pavelic, was known as one of the most brutal and merciless men on the territory of Yugoslavia, and with him Croatian paramilitary forces committed great atrocities in concentration camps established in Croatia. Serbia was divided up among Germany and its allies, and its racial policies varied depending on the occupying forces. In Croatia, all Gypsies were annihilated, but in Serbia many survived because of the protection provided by local peasantry and occupying forces from Hungary, Bulgaria or Italy. The thesis points at four main findings: (1) the negligence toward the Gypsies' plight and persecution; (2) the fact that, according to Nazi definitions, the persecution of Gypsies was based on their race rather than their style of living; (3) the fact that there were multiple concentration camps throughout the territory of Yugoslavia, with the most brutal camp at Jasenovac in Croatia; and (4) the fact that the Holocaust was far more than a Jewish phenomenon. Examining the two regions and highlighting them, the thesis proves that the fate of Gypsies in German-occupied territories of Yugoslavia was the same as the fate of Jews, that they were persecuted under superficial excuses, but with racial sentiments as the primary motivation. This new material, along with little known facts, documents, and stories show how marginalized Gypsies have been since the end of the war, and how little scholarly attention has been paid to their suffering. These new and some unpublished materials also help depict the brutality of Jasenovac, the Auschwitz of Balkans, and prove that the atrocities during World War II were not committed only by German soldiers, but that they reached their peak among people of other nationalities as well. Finally, the thesis claims that Gypsies deserve to be placed in the study of the Holocaust along side of Jews, and to receive the rights and remembrance that Jews have been afforded.


The thymus is the principal site of T cell development, coordinating positive and negative selection of an immunocompetent repertoire. The ability of fetal thymi from C57BL / 6 mice to support these selection events in culture is, however, critically dependent on the timing of their excision: whereas thymi from 16 day embryos generate mature CD4+8– and CD4–8+ thymocytes, 14 day thymi show a profound blockage in positive selection at the CD4+8+ stage. Here we show that this blockage is not due to intrinsic deficiencies in the ability of thymocytes to transduce positive selection signals, suggesting the defect to lie within the thymic microenvironment. Since vascularization of the thymus occurs at day 15 of gestation, we investigated whether the exclusion of plasma proteins from 14 day thymi was responsible. Accordingly, the addition of serum from 16 day embryos to organ cultures of 14 day thymi rescued mature CD4+8– and CD4–8+ subsets. Activity was found to reside in a low molecular weight fraction of serum, sensitive to proteolysis, which was present only transiently during ontogeny. Our data suggest that repertoire selection is initiated following "priming" of the thymic microenvironment by plasma proteins, thereby ensuring the onset of positive selection to be delayed until the entry of extrathymic proteins to which self tolerance must be established.


Increasing demand for food, feed, and fuels adds pressure on ecosystems through land use and land use change (LULUC), with greenhouse gas emissions among the most significant environmental impacts. Large regional variation in LULUC and indirect driv- ing forces may not be adequately addressed by a one-size-fits-all approach that assigns equal LULUC emissions per unit of area, and by a focus on direct d(LU) LUC impacts only. Hence, our method integrates effects from international agricultural commodity trade as indirect emissions (iLULUC) of the demand of food and feed. In most countries, the majority of foods and feedstuffs (70% of global calories) are produced for the domestic market and the rest is exported and contributes to a hypothetical global pool of iLULUC emissions. Total LULUC emissions are calculated for individual countries, accounting for LULUC from increased domestic agricultural production for domestic consumption and for emissions imported from the global market ' s iLULUC pool. Furthermore, we estimate consumption-based emission factors for specific product groups per country. Results show that vegetable oils, oil crops, and cereals account for the majority of global LULUC emissions and iLULUC results derived with the presented method cannot be compared directly to dLULUC results; however, their orders of magnitude are similar.