Northern Irish Literature: The Imprint of History by Michael Parker. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Volume 1, 1956-1975, pp. xx + 357. Volume 2, 1975-2006, pp. xix + 334. $125 per volume. In a talk given in 1989, the poet Michael Longley told his Northern Ireland audience: "culturally speaking, we're sitting on a gold mine." (1) This two-volume study digs into the rich literary seams that vein with fine writing Ulster's mother lode of cultural ore. Parker expertly extracts a glittering sample of the Province's poetry, fiction, and drama. However, his intention is not just to display some of the best nuggets from this treasure trove but also to grasp the milieu in which they are set and the influences exerted on them. His interest in "the imprint of history" means looking at the stones and dirt in which the gold is embedded and at the geological processes that shaped things, rather than just focusing on the precious metal itself, stripped of its provenance and refined into the abstract purity of text. History and locality, so important in Irish writing, are highlighted. This is criticism rooted in locus as well as in literature. It is entirely apt, therefore, to find Yeats's comment quoted at the outset about a work of art being "no rootless flower." It is, rather, "created through an intricate interplay of forces both external and internal to the writer" (1:xvi). Northern Irish Literature: The Imprint of History casts much light on the "intricate interplay" behind the blossoms of published work. Of course gold, literary or otherwise, is unlikely to be the first thing people associate with Northern Ireland. Its public image--though improved of late--is still clouded by "The Troubles," the name given to the intermittent eruption of violence between its competing factions over a long period, but particularly between 1969, with the deployment of the British army, and the paramilitary ceasefires of the 1990s. This turbulence led to considerable media coverage. Unsurprisingly, this encouraged a bleakly adversarial picture of the place in which little glimmer of its cultural gold was visible. The complexities of difference were reduced to the grotesque antics of two tribal blocs implacable in their mutual hatred. History's intricacies, the complicated webs of allegiance and aspiration that underlie life in Ulster, as they do everywhere, were obscured by stereotypes. Like other contested regions, Northern Ireland has suffered from media simplifications which promote crudely dichotomous views. Its people were parsed into one or other category: nationalist or unionist; republican or loyalist; Catholic or Protestant; Irish or British--each presented as an undifferentiated mass sharing the same credo and uniform in its hostility to "the other side." One of the strengths of Michael Parker's approach is that he provides an antidote to such fatuous portrayals. He makes the point repeatedly that there is considerable heterogeneity in "the two communities." Indeed, were one given to looking for some curative role for literature in a situation of conflict, one could point to how it provides a corrective to the (deadly) view that promotes the fictive sameness of groups. It humanizes antagonistic homogeneities by showing individual faces in their apparently undifferentiated mass. Throughout the 700-plus pages of this meticulous study, Parker comes across as a kind of indefatigable ring-master. Readers who enter the big top of these capacious volumes are treated to an accomplished performance. He puts both well and lesser known writers through their paces. With a deft crack of his whip Sam Thompson, Maurice Leitch, John Montague, Seamus Heaney, John Hewitt, Padraic Fiacc, John Boyd, Derek Mahon, Roy McFadden, Paul Muldoon, Brian Friel, James Simmons, and Seamus Deane parade before the audience. Volume 1 provides both perceptive comment on a selection of their writings and an expert contextualization showing their relationship to Northern Ireland's often stifling, sometimes terrifying, environs. …


Data science and artificial intelligence are driven by a plethora of diverse data-related assets, including datasets, data streams, algorithms, processing software, compute resources, and domain knowledge. As providing all these assets requires a huge investment, data science and artificial intelligence technologies are currently dominated by a small number of providers who can afford these investments. This leads to lock-in effects and hinders features that require a flexible exchange of assets among users. In this paper, we introduce Agora, our vision towards a unified ecosystem that brings together data, algorithms, models, and computational resources and provides them to a broad audience. Agora (i) treats assets as first-class citizens and leverages a fine-grained exchange of assets, (ii) allows for combining assets to novel applications, and (iii) flexibly executes such applications on available resources. As a result, it enables easy creation and composition of data science pipelines as well as their scalable execution. In contrast to existing data management systems, Agora operates in a heavily decentralized and dynamic environment: Data, algorithms, and even compute resources are dynamically created, modified, and removed by different stakeholders. Agora presents novel research directions for the data management community as a whole: It requires to combine our traditional expertise in scalable data processing and management with infrastructure provisioning as well as economic and application aspects of data, algorithms, and infrastructure.


ABSTRACT The interaction between the gp120 and gp41 subunits of the human immunodeficiency virus envelope glycoprotein serves to stabilize the virion form of the complex and to transmit receptor-induced conformational changes in gp120 to trigger the membrane fusion activity of gp41. In this study, we used site-directed mutagenesis to identify amino acid residues in the central ectodomain of gp41 that contribute to the stability of the gp120-gp41 association. We identified alanine mutations at six positions, including four tryptophan residues, which result in mutant envelope glycoprotein complexes that fail to retain gp120 on the cell surface. These envelope glycoproteins readily shed their gp120 and are unable to mediate cell-cell fusion. These findings suggest an important role for the conserved bulky hydrophobic residues in stabilizing the gp120-gp41 complex.


Sub-daily ensemble rainfall forecasts that are bias free and reliably quantify forecast uncertainty are critical for flood and short-term ensemble streamflow forecasting. Post- processing of rainfall predictions from numerical weather prediction models is typically required to provide rainfall forecasts with these properties. In this paper, a new approach to generate ensemble rainfall forecasts by post-processing raw numerical weather prediction (NWP) rainfall predictions is introduced. The approach uses a simplified version of the Bayesian joint probability modelling approach to produce forecast probability distributions for individual locations and forecast lead times. Ensemble forecasts with appropriate spa- tial and temporal correlations are then generated by linking samples from the forecast probability distributions using the Schaake shuffle. The new approach is evaluated by applying it to post- process predictions from the ACCESS-R numerical weather prediction model at rain gauge locations in the Ovens catch- ment in southern Australia. The joint distribution of NWP predicted and observed rainfall is shown to be well described by the assumed log-sinh transformed bivariate normal dis- tribution. Ensemble forecasts produced using the approach are shown to be more skilful than the raw NWP predictions both for individual forecast lead times and for cumulative to- tals throughout all forecast lead times. Skill increases result from the correction of not only the mean bias, but also biases conditional on the magnitude of the NWP rainfall prediction. The post-processed forecast ensembles are demonstrated to successfully discriminate between events and non-events for both small and large rainfall occurrences, and reliably quan- tify the forecast uncertainty. Future work will assess the efficacy of the post-processing method for a wider range of climatic conditions and also investigate the benefits of using post-processed rainfall fore- casts for flood and short-term streamflow forecasting.


BACKGROUND
Bone metastasis is a single condition but presents with various patterns and severities. Skeletal- related events (SREs) deteriorate overall performance status and reduce quality of life. However, guidelines for early detection and management are limited. This study includes a survey of the prevalence of bone metastasis in cases with common cancers in Thailand as well as a focus on survival patterns and SREs.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using a database of the Chiang Mai Cancer Registry and the Musculoskeletal Tumor Registry of the OLARN Center, Chiang Mai University. The prevalence of bone metastasis from each type of primary cancer was noted and time-to-event analysis was performed to estimate cancer survival rates after bone metastasis.

RESULTS
There were 29,447 cases of the ten most common cancers in Thailand, accounting for 82.2% of the entire cancer registry entries during the study period. Among those cases, there were 2,263 with bone metastases, accounting for 7.68% of entries. Bone metastasis from lung, liver, breast, cervix and prostate are common in the Thai population, accounting for 83.4% of all positive cases. The median survival time of all was 6 months. Of the bone metastases, 48.9% required therapeutic intervention, including treatment of spinal cord and nerve root compression, pathological fractures, and bone pain.

CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of the top five types of bone metastasis in Thailand were different from the frequencies in other countries, but corresponded to the relative prevalence of the cancers in Thailand and osteophilic properties of each cancer. The results of this study support the establishment of country specific guidelines for primary cancer identification with skeletal lesions of unknown origin. In addition, further clinical studies of the top five bone metastases should be performed to develop guidelines for optimal patient management during palliative care.


[Excerpt] "For those who believe that the death penalty should be declared unconstitutional and that the U.S. Supreme Court is the institution that should make that declaration, these are interesting times. On one hand, the Rehnquist Court, which had previously not been a reliable friend of criminal defendants, in 2002, ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded defendants, and in 2005 it came to the same conclusion as to defendants who committed a capital crime before his or her eighteenth birthday. On the other hand, close scrutiny of these opinions evidences that the Court all but casts aside methodology to reach the apparently desired outcome. The Court's rulings that neither juveniles nor mentally retarded defendants could be executed were welcome pronouncements to death penalty abolitionists—that is, those who advocate for and work toward the legal prohibition of capital punishment. However, that is not the end of the story."


This paper adapts features of a model of Brams/Fishburn (1992) on coalition voting to the context of a mixed-member proportional system. We differentiate between a candidate vote which determines the winner of a constituency contest, a party vote which determines the seat shares of the parties in parliament, and a coalition preference for all parties the voter considers acceptable for building a majority government. In contrast to the purely axiomatic contribution of Brams/Fishburn we formulate a descriptive model of choice behavior for a real world political environment. We focus a) on congruence between party/candidate preference and coalition preference b) on congruence between coalition preference and party/candidate vote; c) on congruence between coalition preferences and ticket combinations; d) on sincerity/insincerity of party and candidate vote; e) on causes of ticket splitting. Hypotheses are complemented by information on the voters' expectations. Data base of this paper is a representative national sample conducted during the German parliamentary elections 1998.


ABSTRACT This paper addresses the emergence of microvolunteering as a conceptual and practical phenomenon, as well as one which policy makers must engage with in a careful and critical fashion. Taking a lead from Smith et al. [2010. "Enlivened Geographies of Volunteering: Situated, Embodied and Emotional Practices of Voluntary Action." Scottish Geographical Journal 126: 258–274] who specify a need to extend our analyses beyond the formal organizational spaces of volunteering, we consider the potential impact of micro-volunteering on changing patterns of civic participation over the next decade or two. With particular reference to policy ambitions and transformations in the UK, but with reference to broader international trends also, we set out how microvolunteering is being variously defined and appropriated as a means of addressing structural barriers to "traditional" volunteering. Drawing on a range of practical examples we consider how microvolunteering potentially alters the relationship between volunteering, community and identity, as well as relates to the parallel notion of "slacktivism". Set against both positive and negative accounts of microvolunteering within the broader media, we advocate caution to policy makers looking to implement such activities, and particularly in respect to what microvolunteering can realistically achieve.


BACKGROUND
Desmoid tumors are uncommon and benign mesenchymal neoplasms. The optimal treatment of patients with desmoid tumors is still controversial. Surgery is the primary treatment for locally invasive or recurrent desmoid tumors. Also, radiotherapy is a treatment option for patients at high risk for local failure such as those with positive margins or recurrent and unresectable tumors.

AIMS
To report our institutional experience and long-term results of patients with desmoid tumors who received radiotherapy.

STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective cross-sectional study.

METHODS
Between 1980 and 2009, 20 patients who received radiotherapy (RT) in our institution were analyzed. The majority of patients (80%) were referred with a recurrent tumor after previous surgery. Thirteen patients underwent marginal resection, 4 had wide local excision and 3 patients had only biopsy. Resection margin was positive in 15 (75%) patients. All patients received radiation therapy. The median prescribed dose was 60 Gy. Five patients received less than 54 Gy.

RESULTS
The median follow-up time was 77.5 months (28-283 months). Nine patients developed local recurrence after RT. Seven local failures (78%) were in field. Time to local recurrence ranged from 3-165 months (median 33 months). The 2-5 year local control (LC) rates were 80% and 69%, respectively. On univariate analysis, the 5 year local control rate was significantly better in the patients treated with ≥54 Gy than in patients who received <54 Gy (p=0.023). The most common acute side effect was grade 1-2 skin toxicity. As a late side effect of radiotherapy, soft tissue fibrosis was detected in 10 patients and lymphangitis was seen in 1 patient. One patient developed radiation-induced sarcoma.

CONCLUSION
According to our results, radiotherapy is especially effective in recurrent disease and provides a high local control rate in the patients received more than 54 Gy.


When drug reactions resembling allergy occur, they are called drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHRs) before showing the evidence of either drug‐specific antibodies or T cells. DHRs may be allergic or nonallergic in nature, with drug allergies being immunologically mediated DHRs. These reactions are typically unpredictable. They can be life‐threatening, may require or prolong hospitalization, and may necessitate changes in subsequent therapy. Both underdiagnosis (due to under‐reporting) and overdiagnosis (due to an overuse of the term 'allergy') are common. A definitive diagnosis of such reactions is required in order to institute adequate treatment options and proper preventive measures. Misclassification based solely on the DHR history without further testing may affect treatment options, result in adverse consequences, and lead to the use of more‐expensive or less‐effective drugs, in contrast to patients who had undergone a complete drug allergy workup. Several guidelines and/or consensus documents on general or specific drug class‐induced DHRs are available to support the medical decision process. The use of standardized systematic approaches for the diagnosis and management of DHRs carries the potential to improve outcomes and should thus be disseminated and implemented. Consequently, the International Collaboration in Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (iCAALL), formed by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), and the World Allergy Organization (WAO), has decided to issue an International CONsensus (ICON) on drug allergy. The purpose of this document is to highlight the key messages that are common to many of the existing guidelines, while critically reviewing and commenting on any differences and deficiencies of evidence, thus providing a comprehensive reference document for the diagnosis and management of DHRs.


Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) associated to pregnancy represents a rare event, with a potential fatal evolution: studies show a 0.03% to 0.35% incidence during pregnancy. It may be suspected during labor when is associated with either major bleeding, or thromboses. Here, we report two peculiar cases occurred before premature labor. Our purpose is to adapt the available laboratory tests into the clinical situation in order to obtain the best management. The first case, a 32-year-old para 6 woman at 34 weeks of pregnancy presented to the hospital with continuous vaginal bleeding, intrauterine fetal dead and acute abdominal pain. The second case, a-30-year-old para 3 parous presented to emergency room complaining of painful uterine contractions; at 30 minutes after the hospitalization the heart beat was no longer registered during non-stress fetal monitoring; continuous bleeding and uterine irritability followed. In both cases the fetus was extracted by Caesarean section due to maternal degradation and continuous bleeding; in the first case a Caesarean hysterectomy was performed due to uteroplacental apoplexy. Abnormal laboratory tests recorded during the surgical intervention: under 1 gram/dl of fibrinogen and thrombocytes between 50 and 100000/ml, PT and APTT growth. In both cases a red blood cell and plasma transfusion were performed, as well as volemic balancing. In both cases the outcome was favorable, the coagulation normalized in less than 8 hours from procedure.
In conclusion. DIC may also appear before labor in the third trimester when caused by uteroplacental apoplexy and antepartum fetal death. The clinical picture consisted in a pregnant woman presenting with persistent vaginal bleedings, stiff uterus and rapid deterioration of bodily function, requiring a prompt management which included laboratory test in order to differentiate a DIC diagnosis. In case of a low probability of DIC diagnosis, a multisciplinary team in an appropriate hospital with intensive care unit and laboratory can lead to a favorable outcome.


Complex networks theory has been well established as a useful framework for studying and analysing structure, dynamics and evolution of many complex systems. Infrastructural and man-made systems like power grids, gas and water networks and the internet, have been also included in this network framework, albeit sometimes ignoring the huge historical body of knowledge surrounding them. Although there seems to exist clear evidence that both complexity approach in general, and complex networks in particular, can be useful, it is necessary and profitable to put forward some of the limits that this scheme is facing when dealing with not so complex but rather complicated systems like the power grid. In this introductory paper, we offer a critical revision of the usefulness of the complexity and complex networks' approach in this later case, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses. At the same time we emphasise the disconnection between the so called complex and the more traditional engineering communities as one of the major drawbacks in the advent of a true body of understanding, more than simply knowing the subtleties of this kind of complex systems.


O(6)-Methylguanine ((Me)G) is a highly cytotoxic DNA modification generated by S(N)1-type methylating agents. Despite numerous studies implicating DNA replication, mismatch repair (MMR), and homologous recombination (HR) in (Me)G toxicity, its mode of action has remained elusive. We studied the molecular transactions in the DNA of yeast and mammalian cells treated with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Although replication fork progression was unaffected in the first cell cycle after treatment, electron microscopic analysis revealed an accumulation of (Me)G- and MMR-dependent single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) gaps in newly replicated DNA. Progression into the second cell cycle required HR, while the following G(2) arrest required the continued presence of (Me)G. Yeast cells overcame this block, while mammalian cells generally failed to recover, and those that did contained multiple sister chromatid exchanges. Notably, the arrest could be abolished by removal of (Me)G after the first S phase. These new data provide compelling support for the hypothesis that MMR attempts to correct (Me)G/C or (Me)G/T mispairs arising during replication. Due to the persistence of (Me)G in the exposed template strand, repair synthesis cannot take place, which leaves single-stranded gaps behind the replication fork. During the subsequent S phase, these gaps cause replication fork collapse and elicit recombination and cell cycle arrest.


This article broadly examines the teaching of journalism and media studies in the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council and focuses specifically on the authors' experiences of teaching these subject areas in the Colleges of Applied Science in Oman. Written partly in response to O'Rourke and Belushi (2010) and drawing on earlier work by Quinn (2001) and Al Hasani (2006), the paper addresses a number of broader questions about journalism and media education in the GCC countries. It asks whether the use of English as a language of instruction is sustainable in countries like Oman and whether its use is based on considerations of practicality or because of its perceived prestige. The article draws on debates about higher education language policy and questions about the viability of teaching 'Western-style' journalism in non-democratic societies raised by Josephi (2010) and others. The article argues that higher education policies which affect journalism and media education too often appear to be based on ideas about what will make the country look good or 'modern' while ignoring what might be its actual needs. The article argues that in some cases English language education in these subjects is not viable in its current form and that students themselves see the role of journalism in an utterly different light to that of their 'Western' or 'Western'-educated instructors.


Growth in tourism during the past 20 years means more people are using physical spaces away from home for vacation. Yet research on vacation spaces is noticeably absent. Focusing on a cruise ship, the primary purpose of this article is to draw attention to how social interaction in a group vacation context intersects with vacation experiences. A secondary purpose is to introduce space and how it can extend thinking about the role that tourism spaces play in the development of social interaction. The results indicate that individuals use cruise ships to feel at ease and comfortable with themselves, as well as in control and liberated. They also develop social interactions during a cruise and make "playful" spaces on the cruise ship. Using these themes, the authors highlight limitations in current conceptualizations of tourism behavior. The authors also suggest how cruise lines might use the study to create more meaningful passenger experiences.


In the future, new aspects from decentralized generation using different dc voltage levels are expected to influence the general concept of power exchange. Converter are needed to adapt the voltage between low voltage (LV), medium voltage (MV), and high voltage (HV). In this paper, a galvanic isolated bidirectional dc/dc converter based on the modular multilevel converter is studied, with a large potential for secure and flexible dc power flow control. The use of medium frequency transformation allows savings in copper and iron. A fundamental frequency modulation method is introduced for the presented converter, that enables variable stepup or step-down between primary and secondary dc voltage in discrete steps. The balancing mechanism of the internal power storage components is explained and verified by simulation and experiment.


Knowledge transfer among geographically separated members is recognized as a critical ingredient for collaborative accomplishment of knowledge work in virtual teams. However, due to the "localness" of knowledge, such transfer of knowledge is believed to be inherently problematic, and thus, it is important to develop a solid understanding of the factors that enable knowledge transfer in such contexts. Drawing on existing literature on knowledge management and virtual teamwork, we identify 4 Cs (communication, capability, credibility, and culture) associated with individuals who are found to transfer significant amounts of knowledge to remote members, and test the 4 Cs in the context of US-Norwegian virtual teams engaged in systems development. A number of implications and directions for future research are also suggested.


By signing an international river sharing agreement (RSA), countries voluntary commit to release water in exchange for a compensation. We examine the robustness of such commitments to reduced water flows. We focus on RSAs that satisfy core lower bounds and fairness upper bounds. We characterize the constrained upstream incremental RSA as the core and fair RSA that is sustainable during the most severe droughts. It assigns to each country its marginal contribution to its followers, up to its maximal benefit from water extraction. It lexicographically maximizes the welfare of the most upstream countries in the set of core and fair RSAs. Its mirror image, the downstream incremental RSA, is not sustainable to drought at the river source.


Suicide is a leading cause of death in prisons across the United States. Existing research on prison suicides has been criticized for focusing on static variables such as demographics and ignoring process variables. The purpose ofthe present investigation was to study the expenences of inmates who attempted suicide in order to shed light on factors associated with the suicide attempts in prison. A qualitative research project was conducted. Twenty-fo¥ inmates who attempted suicide in prison were interviewed in six state prison facilities in Oregon. The results were organized into three categories: mental health issues, relationship issues, and prison factors. Within the mental health category, the themes were depressive symptoms, symptoms of anxiety, hallucinations andlor paranoid ideation, medication-related problems, impulsivity, and relig~ous beliefs. Inmates described their depressive symptoms in detail; several subthemes emerged in this area. The relationship issues category was represented by themes of relationship problems involving one's family ofprocreationlpartner outside of prison, family of originladoptive family, inmates, and staffmembers. Subthemes were also identified in the latter theme. Prison factors included moves within the prison, employment/activityrelated difficulties, and placement in segregation. Inmate recommendations for suicide prevention are also discussed, along with other data such as psychosocial history of the participants, personal accounts of the suicide attempts, summaries ofthe individual attempts, and precipitating factors.


The ill child in the assembly makes high demands of pastoral care. The nature of the illness, social environment, relationships, personality, age and level of development, background and personality are some of the factors determining what the character pastoral care would take. In this article the charismatic assembly is described as the ideal place to care holistically for the sick child and the family system influenced by the illness. Some of the implications of such mutual care would be substitute maternal or family care by fellow believers; emphasis on the autotherapeutic value of games and the use of games in pastoral care; the involvement of the peer group as an effective force in ministering to the ill child; the necessity of treating the ill child as an individual; the importance of answering spiritual and theological questions posed by the child; the appointment of a responsible person to coordinate care of the child and his / her family; the need to continuously equip believers for pastoral care for this ministry; and the need for caretakers to understand their limitations in order to refer to other help professions if necessary.


Sovereign governments owe debt to many foreign creditors and can choose which creditors to favor when making payments. This paper documents the de facto seniority structure of sovereign debt using new data on defaults (missed payments or arrears) and creditor losses in debt restructuring (haircuts). We overturn conventional wisdom by showing that official bilateral (government-to-government) debt is junior, or at least not senior, to private sovereign debt such as bank loans and bonds. Private creditors are typically paid first and lose less than bilateral official creditors. We confirm that multilateral institutions such as the IMF and World Bank are senior creditors.


OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this study was to analyze national trends in adult cranial cases performed by neurological surgery residents as logged into the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) system.METHODSThe ACGME resident case logs were retrospectively reviewed for the years 2009-2017. In these reports, the national average of cases performed by graduating residents is organized by year, type of procedure, and level of resident. These logs were analyzed in order to evaluate trends in residency experience with adult cranial procedures. The reported number of cranial procedures was compared to the ACGME neurosurgical minimum requirements for each surgical category. A linear regression analysis was conducted in order to identify changes in the average number of procedures performed by residents graduating during the study period. Additionally, a 1-sample t-test was performed to compare reported case volumes to the ACGME required minimums.RESULTSAn average of 577 total cranial procedures were performed throughout residency training for each of the 1631 residents graduating between 2009 and 2017. The total caseload for graduating residents upon completion of training increased by an average of 26.59 cases each year (r2 = 0.99). Additionally, caseloads in most major procedural subspecialty categories increased; this excludes open vascular and extracranial vascular categories, which showed, respectively, a decrease and no change. The majority of cranial procedures performed throughout residency pertained to tumor (mean 158.38 operations), trauma (mean 102.17 operations), and CSF diversion (mean 76.12 operations). Cranial procedures pertaining to the subspecialties of trauma and functional neurosurgery showed the greatest rise in total procedures, increasing at 8.23 (r2 = 0.91) and 6.44 (r2 = 0.95) procedures per graduating year, respectively.CONCLUSIONSNeurosurgical residents reported increasing case volumes for most cranial procedures between 2009 and 2017. This increase was observed despite work hour limitations set forth in 2003 and 2011. Of note, an inverse relationship between open vascular and endovascular procedures was observed, with a decrease in open vascular procedures and an increase in endovascular procedures performed during the study period. When compared to the ACGME required minimums, neurosurgery residents gained much more exposure to cranial procedures than was expected. Additionally, a larger caseload throughout training suggests that residents are graduating with greater competency and experience in cranial neurosurgery.


Twitter has become one of the most sought after places to discuss a wide variety of topics, including medically relevant issues such as cancer. This helps spread awareness regarding the various causes, cures and prevention methods of cancer. However, no proper analysis has been performed, which discusses the validity of such claims. In this work, we aim to tackle the misinformation spread in such platforms. We collect and present a dataset regarding tweets which talk specifically about cancer and propose an attention-based deep learning model for automated detection of misinformation along with its spread. We then do a comparative analysis of the linguistic variation in the text corresponding to misinformation and truth. This analysis helps us gather relevant insights on various social aspects related to misinformed tweets.


: The response time to cimaterol (CIM), a P-adrenergic agonist, by broiler chickens for carcass characteristics, muscle composition, muscle fiber size, catheptic enzyme activity, and tenderness was determined. Two trials were con-ducted in which chickens were fed a control diet (CON) containing 0 ppm of CIM or a diet containing 1 ppm of CIM. Trial 1 consisted of 55, 31-d-old broiler chickens individually fed for up to 48 h. At 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 48 h, five CON and five CIM-fed chickens were killed. Trial 2 consisted of 160, 33-d-old broiler chickens group-fed for up to 14 d. At 2,4,6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 d, 10 CON and 10 CIM-fed chickens were killed. The breast muscle (BM) and leg muscle (LM) weight, cathepsin B and L activities, DNA, RNA, and protein concentration, and BM shear force value (SFV) were measured in both trials. Thigh muscle (TM) SFV were measured in Trial 2 only. Fiber size of BM was measured (five birds per treatment) at d 2, 6, 10, and 14. In Trial 1, BM weight and SFV were lower in CIM-fed birds at 6 h (P < ,051. In Trial 2 BM SFV were higher at d 8 (P = ,061 and d 10 (P c .05) in CIM-fed chickens. The SFV of CIM-fed chickens were higher at d 4, 8, lo, 12, and 14 (P < .051. The BM of CIM-fed chickens had a higher protein:DNA ratio (P < .05) at d 6 through 14, whereas LM of CIM-fed chickens had a higher protein:DNA ratio at d 8, 10, and 14. Fiber size of the BM in CIM-fed chickens tended to be larger at d 10 (P = .I31 and at d 14 (P = ,171. Total BM weight and BM as a percentage of final body weight (FBW) was higher at d 10 and 14 (P < .01) in CIM-fed chickens. Total LM weight and LM as a percentage of FBW was higher at d 14 (P < .01) in CIM-fed chickens. In the BM of CIM-fed chickens, protein:DNA ratio increased by d 6, SFV by d 8, muscle fiber size by d 10, and BM weight and BM as a percentage of FBW by d 10. The TM or LM of CIM-fed chickens showed increases in SFV by d 4, protein:DNA ratio by d 8, and LM weight and LM as a percentage of FBW by d 14. Response times to treatment with CIM differed for the various traits measured (i.e., meat tenderness, muscle composition, fiber size, or carcass charac-teristics).


North-South trade competition cannot be an explanation for the adverse trend for U.S. unskilled wages. If wage competition in these industries from abroad pushed down wages, then prices of these goods should also have gone down, and they have not. Also VERs and anti-dumping measures have protected exactly the wage earners supposedly threatened.


PURPOSE
The purposes of this study were (a) to evaluate self-care, symptom burden, and reported infections among individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema; (b) to examine the differences in self-care, symptom burden, and reported infections between individuals with unilateral and those with bilateral lower-extremity primary lymphedema; and (c) to examine the associations among self-care status, symptom burden, and reported infections in individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema.

DESIGN
A secondary data analysis was used. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey study supported by the National Lymphedema Network from March 2006 through January 2010. The surveys were available both online and in hard copy in order to increase accessibility.

METHODS
Descriptive statistics were conducted and associations between variables were assessed using Mann-Whitney tests and chi-square tests of independence. Multiple logistic regression was used to test for associations while controlling for potentially confounding variables.

FINDINGS
A total of 803 participants reported having lower-extremity primary lymphedema. The majority of the participants were female (82.9%), White (74.2%), and from the United States (90.7%). Approximately two thirds of the respondents conducted some home daily lymphedema self-care. Over half of the respondents reported experiencing symptom burden and 44.8% reported at least one episode of infection. Compared to individuals with unilateral lower-extremity primary lymphedema, individuals with bilateral lower-extremity lymphedema were more likely to conduct skin care (p = .004), use alternative medications (p = .005), more frequently reported symptoms (p < .05), and more likely to report at least one episode of infection (p = .002). Respondents who reported use of compression garments also were less likely to have self-reported pain (p = .002), poor range of motion (p = .026), and numbness (p = .001). Participants who reported exercising also were less likely to have self-reported pain (p = .003). Participants who reported at least one episode of infection also reported experiencing more symptoms (p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema experienced substantial symptom burden and infection episodes. Significant associations were identified among self-care, symptom burden, and reported infections.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The findings support the need for clinicians to educate patients with lower-extremity primary lymphedema regarding the importance of self-care, symptom management, and infection control. It is critically important for clinicians to evaluate symptom burden and reduce infections in individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema.


We have undertaken a detailed field, petrological, geochronological, and modeling study of Esan volcanic complex, northern Japan, in order to establish its eruptive history over the past 50,000 yr. The Esan volcanic complex includes seven lava domes, which are endogenous domes developed without basal edifices. Each dome was produced by intermediate to silicic magmas with 57–67 wt% SiO 2 that were erupted in magnitude 4–5 eruptions. Five explosively erupted pyroclastic units cover the aprons of these lava domes. The spatial and temporal relationships of the domes and the pyroclastic units have been determined in order to constrain the eruptive sequence of the Esan volcanic complex. A simple elastic model, assuming a hydraulic connection state, was utilized to study variations in long-term magma discharge at the Esan volcanic complex, which have been attributed to changes in magma storage conditions. The stepwise change in magma discharge with time, which is 4.2–5.3 × 10 4 m 3 /yr, is interpreted to reflect a change between magma chamber radius ( R c ) and magma depth ( H c ) caused by an upward migration of magma. Assuming a continuous input of magma from a deep source at a constant supply rate, the magma storage system that existed during the early stage of the Esan volcanic complex has been renewed, which will result in a shorter recurrence interval between eruptions rather than a long period of dormancy (22,400 yr). Given this finding, and the fact that the most recent eruption occurred 9000 yr ago, there is currently a risk of a large eruption at the Esan volcanic complex.


Abstract— The near‐Earth asteroid rendezvous (NEAR) mission carried x‐ray/gamma‐ray spectrometers and multi‐spectral imager/near‐infrared spectrometer instrument packages which gave complementary information on the chemistry and mineralogy, respectively, of the target asteroid 433 Eros. Synthesis of these two data sets provides information not available from either alone, including the abundance of non‐mafic silicates, metal and sulfide minerals. We have utilized four techniques to synthesize these data sets. Venn diagrams, which examine overlapping features in two data sets, suggest that the best match for 433 Eros is an ordinary chondrite, altered at the surface of the asteroid, or perhaps a primitive achondrite derived from material mineralogically similar to these chondrites. Normalized element distributions preclude FeO‐rich pyroxenes and suggest that the x‐ray and gamma‐ray data can be reconciled with a common silicate mineralogy by inclusion of varying amounts of metal. Normative mineralogy cannot be applied to these data sets owing to uncertainties in oxygen abundance and lack of any constraints on the abundance of sodium. Matrix inversion for simultaneous solution of mineral abundances yields reasonable results for the x‐ray‐derived bulk composition, but seems to confirm the inconsistency between mineral compositions and orthopyroxene/clinopyroxene ratios. A unique solution does not seem possible in synthesizing these multiple data sets. Future missions including a lander to fully characterize regolith distribution and sample return would resolve the types of problems faced in synthesizing the NEAR data.


Background:ThePAM50, agene expression assay to categorize breast tumors into intrinsic subtypes, hasnot been previously used to examine shortand long-term prognostication in a population-based cohort where treatment patterns and time of initial follow-up vary. Methods: In a stratified case–cohort design of 1,691 women from the LACE and Pathways breast cancer survivor cohorts, we used PAM50 to categorize tumors into Luminal A (LumA), Luminal B (LumB), HER2enriched (HER2-E), Basal-like andNormal-like, and to examine risk of early and late recurrence andmortality by Cox proportional hazards regression. Results:Comparedwith LumA, cumulative risk of recurrence andbreast cancer deathwas higher for LumB, HER2-E, and Basal-like tumors at 2, 5, and 10 years. However, HR of breast cancer death varied over time [<5 years (early) vs. > 5 years (late)] for both Basal-like (HR, 6.23 early vs. HR, 0.63 late) and HER2-E tumors (HR, 2.97 early vs. HR, 0.73 late) but not for LumB tumors where risk was elevated consistently (HR, 2.67 early vs. HR, 1.47 late). The contrast between LumB, HER2-E, and Basal-like compared with LumA on early recurrence was stronger when subtype was defined by PAM50 than by immunohistochemistry (IHC) markers. Conclusions: The PAM50 categorized intrinsic subtypes in a manner that more accurately predicts recurrence and survival, especially for luminal tumors, compared with commonly used methods that rely on traditional IHC clinical markers. Impact: The PAM50 is robust for use in epidemiologic studies and should be considered when archived tumor tissues are available. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(5); 725–34. 2014 AACR.


Pre-assessment interventions aimed at helping students to understand assessment criteria and standards have led to significant improvements in performance (Rust et al., 2003). However, broad adoption of these interventions has not been widespread, perhaps due to a perception that too much additional time may need to be spent in conducting these interventions. This presentation analyses a tightly-focused intervention to improve students' and tutors' understanding of assessment criteria and their judgement of required standards. It was integrated within an honours degree subject in Design using the web-based marking tool ReView,

The intervention engaged students with the assessment criteria and standards of a design task exemplar using the same criteria that would be used to assess their work on this task. The tutor used 20 minutes of a normal lecture period working with a class of 80 students to grade the exemplar piece prior to the submission date. Onscreen grading sliders in ReView were used by students to show how they judged each criterion. This was accompanied with explanations for these judgements. Tutors were also asked during this live process to grade and provide an explanation for their judgements. Students were then asked to self-assess their own work on ReView at the time of submission using their experience of grading the exemplar for guidance. Once marking was complete, the ReView tool displayed the tutor's feedback as well as both the students' and tutors' grading against each criterion and the total. This clearly exposed the variation between the students and the tutor's judgements for the task.

The students' performance in this task was compared to results from the 2010 cohort of the same subject, who did not undergo the pre-assessment intervention. The 2011 cohort performed significantly better in each of the criteria and in the final marks. The 2011 students also showed less deviation from the tutors' marks in their self-assessments than in the previous year. Correlation analysis showed that those students who were more accurate in their self-assessment of their own work had higher grades than those who showed a large difference between their self-assessment mark and the tutors.

There were a number of critical features of the design of this intervention to benefit the development of student judgement: a) making judgements of an exemplar based on the criteria for the task in a context where variant opinions and reasons were expressed; b) self-assessing their own work using the exemplar marking experience for guidance; c) seeing a visual comparison of their self-assessment of their own work against the tutors for assessment criteria and totals.


ABSTRACT
 This article investigates the way Swedish cultural journalists from press, radio and television perceive the core and boundaries of their sub-field at a time when digitalisation and "journalistification" blur them even more. It draws on 27 in-depth interviews with cultural journalists that have worked in the field since the 1980s. What is defined as cultural journalism has expanded since the inclusion of popular culture in its mandate in the early 1990s. Despite this, cultural journalists at different media share similar understandings of their remit, even if self-identification with current practices varies somewhat by generation. The study shows how cultural journalists defend and negotiate the boundaries towards debate and opinion, and news and entertainment journalism. Cultural journalists experience pressure by management to be relevant, newsworthy and "clickable". Especially press respondents felt that cultural debates have become increasingly indistinguishable from societal debates, due to their visibility in the digital flow. How cultural journalists negotiate boundaries with entertainment and news desks varies somewhat depending on the media organisation. Boundary challenges appear through new genres related to liveness, personality-orientation and societal debate, all of which may conflict with the central task of cultural journalism—to provide in-depth reflection and expertise-based analysis.


The dissertation is regarded as an integral component of many undergraduate degree programmes. Despite this there is a lack of research into the dissertation. This paper utilises documentary research to examine dissertation provision within one institution. The paper focuses on the extent to which the dissertation is included on different degree programmes; differences in module value/duration; length, structure and format of dissertations; level and nature of support provided to students; and the skills developed on dissertations. study identified significant variations in the provision of the dissertation across the institution. It goes on to examine the potential reasons for this variation and considers whether this diversity represents an issue from a quality perspective. The paper also sets out a research agenda for both ourselves and others to pursue.


Patterning by Subtraction Soft lithographic patterning is usually a "positive" inking process. A polymer stamp is cured on a hard master substrate and then inked with molecules such as alkane thiols, which can then be transferred to a second substrate (such as gold). However, the resolution of the transferred pattern is often degraded by surface diffusion. Liao et al. (p. 1517; see the Perspective by Rogers) obtained higher resolution in a subtractive approach, in which oxygen-plasma–activated silicone stamps removed hydroxyl-terminated alkane thiols from gold surfaces. This lift-off process also removed the terminal gold atom bound to the alkane thiol. The bare regions could be backfilled with protein molecules, and multiple lift-off steps could create patterns with features as small as 40 nanometers. Oxidized silicone-rubber stamps can pattern bare regions on gold surfaces by removing hydroxyl-terminated alkane thiols. Conventional soft-lithography methods involving the transfer of molecular "inks" from polymeric stamps to substrates often encounter micrometer-scale resolution limits due to diffusion of the transferred molecules during printing. We report a "subtractive" stamping process in which silicone rubber stamps, activated by oxygen plasma, selectively remove hydroxyl-terminated alkanethiols from self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold surfaces with high pattern fidelity. The covalent interactions formed at the stamp-substrate interface are sufficiently strong to remove not only alkanethiol molecules but also gold atoms from the substrate. A variety of high-resolution patterned features were fabricated, and stamps were cleaned and reused many times without feature deterioration. The remaining SAM acted as a resist for etching exposed gold features. Monolayer backfilling into the lift-off areas enabled patterned protein capture, and 40-nanometer chemical patterns were achieved.


1. Many arthropods depend on carbohydrate-rich food sources such as nectar or honeydew. Nevertheless, we often know little about the extent to which various sugar sources contribute to the diet of arthropods. 2. One way to study food use in the field is to analyse guts of collected insects for source-specific compounds. Sugar sources often show distinct differences in their carbohydrate composition. This applies especially to honeydew, the excretion product of phloem-feeding 'Sternorrhynchae', which often features a broad range of phloem-feeder synthesized di- and oligosaccharides. 3. Out of these oligosaccharides, melezitose, has been widely used as an indicator of honeydew consumption. The use of melezitose or other honeydew saccharides as 'signature sugars' hinges on the assumption that the production of these sugars is unique to honeydew-secreting insects. 4. Here we show that the hymenopteran parasitoids Diadegma semiclausum and D. insulare synthesize the trisaccharides melezitose and erlose as well as the disaccharide maltose when fed sucrose, but not when feeding on an equimolar glucose–fructose mixture. 5. The presence of melezitose, erlose and maltose was confined to the parasitoid's digestive tract, indicating that enzyme activity is restricted to this area. D. semiclausum excrement contained low overall sugar concentrations and low relative levels of melezitose, erlose and maltose. 6. Possible functions of sugar synthesis in these nectar-feeding insects are discussed.


In recent years, the 'right to the city' has emerged as a key co ncept and practice amongst both academics and social movements around which to organise a re sponse to the crisis of Fordist production and political representation. In Spain this res pon e has taken to the streets, with millions of people coming together and shouting 'They don't represent us!'. As a key site of both neoliberal urban governance and politic al insurgency, Barcelona provides a powerful site through which to examine the relationships b etween urban social movements, urban governance and struggles around the right to the city. In this thesis I build a (partial and provisional) genealogy of the right to the city, examining t he relevance of those struggles that have emerged inside and against neoliberal governmentalit y since the early 1980s in an effort to assemble the right to the city through the material combin atio of struggles around urban production and citizenship rights. To do this, I return to the relation between genesis and manag ement as an uneven dialectic in the production of rights; drawing on and building new connec tions between post-colonial studies, autonomous marxist debates, critical studies of citiz enship and urban studies to investigate how strangers, outsiders and the governed challenge Europe an capitalism from inside and assert a different imagination of contemporary urban life. I also explore my own role in these dynamics. In contrast to an understanding of academic knowledge as analytical and objective representation, my p osition as both a militant and a researcher provides the ground upon which I analyse social mov e ents as a factory of concepts and practices capable of assembling an instituent politics against neoliberal governmentality.


This paper demonstrates the processes of spatial production achieved through the setup of a home shrine by newly arrived Hindu immigrant women inside American houses, particularly the kitchens.  By focusing on the home shrine, the paper uses a gendered lens through which to understand vernacular architecture, since women often garner greater control over domestic objects and interiors than they do over construction of buildings. I propose that production of sacred space, achieved through domestic objects like home shrines, is a fluid process. Its location in the house can be more easily changed from one place to another. Compared to the permanent construction of buildings, this compliancy of form may appear less concrete for providing objective architectural analysis. However, I suggest that it is the opposite. The flexibility involved in women's production process makes room for greater spatial negotiation and demonstrates the diversity of ways concrete domestic architecture is maneuvered to satisfy women's religious needs over time. Further, the paper demonstrates the wide array of complex decisions that women have to make regarding body movements in the house and worship practices, achieved through material intervention, that speak of domestic architecture in less static and more dynamic ways. By tracing women's experiences with domestic architecture as new arrivals in the country, and later, as permanent residents, the paper foregrounds women's strong architectural contributions through the use of domestic objects that enable a gendered and consequently a more inclusive approach to the study of architectural space.


PURPOSE: To investigate the acute effects of a 20-minute walk/run at 40% VO2 with and without blood flow restriction on pulse wave velocity (PWV). METHODS: Seventeen female subjects, between the ages of 18 and 40, signed informed consent and were familiarized with the study protocol, on the same day measurements were assessed: height, weight, body composition, and thigh circumference. Followed by each subject performing the Bruce Protocol on a treadmill. Subjects were asked to come back to the lab hydrated and 8 hours fasted on two different days (separated by at least 48 hours). After reaching hydration, participants were asked to lie down in the supine position for a minimum of 10 minutes and baseline hemodynamics and measurement of PWV using SphygmoCor® CPV Pulse Wave Analyzer. The sites tested were carotid to radial (C-R), carotid to femoral (C-F), and femoral to posterior tibial (F-PT). The randomized testing sessions consisted of two 20minute walk/run sessions at 40% VO2 intensity with BFR cuffs inflated (BFR), and the BFR cuffs uninflated (CON). Tightness of the cuffs was set at 55-60 mmHg for BFR, and the cuffs were placed snug enough that they don't move during exercise for the CON session. The final cuff pressures were achieved by starting at 120 mmHg and increasing progressively by 20 mmHg with 10 s rest in between increments. Upon completion of exercise, post exercise PWV was assessed at immediately, 15, 25, and 45 minutes. RESULTS: No condition*time interaction or condition and time main effects were observed for C-R and CF sites (p>0.05). There were no significant condition*time interaction or time main effect for the F-PT site (p>0.05), but a significant condition main effect was detected at the 15 minute mark post exercise following the BFR session (p<.01). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the BFR session resulted in an improved arterial compliance at the F-PT site. This may have been caused by the increased shear stress from blood pooling during the BFR session resulting in a greater release of nitric oxide therefore vasodilation in the lower body. There may be a practical application of using this combination of exercise and settings to help improve cardiovascular health. Since this was an acute study, future training studies should look at the chronic effects on pulse wave velocity using these settings.


The upper Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation in the lower Colorado River trough, which consists largely of siltstone with basal tufa and marl, has been interpreted as estuarine on the basis of paleontology. This interpretation requires abrupt marine inundation that has been linked to early rifting in the Gulf of California and Salton trough. New strontium isotope measurements reported here from carbonates and invertebrate shells in the Bouse Formation reveal no evidence of marine water, but are consistent with deposition in a lake or chain of lakes fed by the Colorado River. Furthermore, the absence of a southward decrease in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr within the Bouse Formation does not support the estuarine model in which low 87 Sr/ 86 Sr marine Sr would have dominated the mouth of the hypothetical Bouse estuary. Elevation of originally marine 87 Sr/ 86 Sr in the Bouse Formation to its present level, due to postdepositional interaction with ground water, is unlikely because Sr from secondary calcite above, below, and within the Bouse Formation is consistently less radiogenic, not more, than Bouse marl and shells. In contrast to Bouse Sr, strontium from mollusks in tidal-flat and delta-front paleoenvironments in the contemporaneous Imperial Formation in the Salton trough and from the subsurface south of Yuma was derived from sea water and confirms the dominance of marine strontium near or at the mouth of the late Miocene to early Pliocene Colorado River. Inferred post–early Pliocene uplift of the Bouse Formation from below sea level to modern elevations of up to 550 m has been used to support a late Cenozoic uplift age for the nearby Colorado Plateau. This constraint on uplift timing is eliminated if the Bouse Formation is lacustrine.


Hundreds of specimens of megascopic carbonaceous fossils shaped like leaves have been found at the ∼1700-million-year-old Tuanshanzi Formation of the uppermost Paleoproterozoic Changcheng Group (1600 to 1850 million years old) in the Jixian area, north China. These leaflike fossils mostly resemble the Longfengshania; each consists of a blade (with spoonlike, lanceolate, or ribbonlike shapes) with a single stipe, a holdfast, or both. On the basis of their megascopic dimensions, preliminary differentiation of organs or tissues, and possible remains of multicellular structures, they are benthic, multicellular algal fossils similar to the longfengshanids. These fossils indicate that multicellular organisms originated at least 1700 million years ago.


A fixed time kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed for the selective determination of metformin hydrochloride in bulk and in tablet formulation. This experiment indicates that at room temperature alkaline solution metformin is oxidized to -diketone by the action of sodium hypochlorite, the product is subsequently reacts with sodium nitroprusside to give a green colored 1, 3 dinitrosyl-N'-(iminomethyl)-N, N-dimethyl formamidine complex with maximum absorption at 685 nm. In sodium hydroxide-boric acid buffer solution, this time dependent chromophoric reaction reaches to a state of maximum absorbance within 5 minutes. At a preselected time of 5 minutes (after initiation of reaction) readings of maximum absorbance were adopted for constructing the calibration curve. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 10-120 g.mL -1 with molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity of 6.335 x 10 4 L. Mol -1 .cm -1 and 0.0261 g.mL -1 respectively. The linear regression equation is A= 0.004 + 0.003C (g. mL -1 ) with a regression coefficient (r 2 =0.999). The percent recovery of the method is 100.04% with average relative error 0.038% and average relative standard deviation (RSD) 0.319%. The parameters with regard to determination of metformin by proposed method are optimized. The reaction mechanism and reaction stoichiometry is discussed. The proposed method was successfully applied for estimation of metformin in commercially available metformin tablets containing glibenclamide, glimepiride, glipizide and gliclazide. The average accuracy was found good, which was evaluated by comparison of the results obtained with those claimed by the manufacturer.


We present DRIFT - a total order multicast algorithm for ad hoc networks with mobile or static nodes. Due to the ad hoc nature of the network, DRIFT uses flooding for message propagation. The key idea of DRIFT is virtual flooding - a way of using unrelated message streams to propagate message causality information in order to accelerate message delivery. We describe DRIFT in detail. We evaluate its performance in a simulator and in a wireless sensor network. In both cases our results demonstrate that the performance of DRIFT exceeds that of the simple total order multicast algorithm designed for wired networks, on which it is based. In simulation at scale, for certain experiment settings, DRIFT achieved speedup of several orders of magnitude


Naive users need to access statistical information, but frequently do not have the sophisticated levels of understanding required in order to translate their information needs into the structure and vocabulary of sites which currently provide access to statistical information. However, these users can articulate quite straightforwardly in their own terms what they are looking for. One approach to satisfying the masses of citizens with needs for statistical information is to automatically map their natural language expressions of their information needs into the metadata structure and terminology that defines and describes the content of statistical tables. To accomplish this goal, we undertook an analysis of 1,000 user email queries seeking statistical information. Our goal was to better understand the dimensions of interest in naive users' typical statistical queries, as well as the linguistic regularities that can be captured in a statistical-query sublanguage grammar. We developed an ontology of query dimensions using this data-up analysis of the queries and extended the ontology where necessary with values from actual tables. We proceeded to develop an NLP statistical-query sublanguage grammar which enables the system to semantically parse users' queries and produce a template-based internal query representation which can then be mapped to the tables' metadata, in order to retrieve relevant tables which are displayed to users with the relevant cell's value highlighted.


Semantics of Programming Languages exposes the basic motivations and philosophy underlying the applications of semantic techniques in computer science. It introduces the mathematical theory of programming languages with an emphasis on higher-order functions and type systems. Designed as a text for upper-level and graduate-level students, the mathematically sophisticated approach will also prove useful to professionals who want an easily referenced description of fundamental results and calculi. Basic connections between computational behavior, denotational semantics, and the equational logic of functional programs are thoroughly and rigorously developed. Topics covered include models of types, operational semantics, category theory, domain theory, fixed point (denotational). semantics, full abstraction and other semantic correspondence criteria, types and evaluation, type checking and inference, parametric polymorphism, and subtyping. All topics are treated clearly and in depth, with complete proofs for the major results and numerous exercises.


Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) is a thermoplastic and biodegradable polyester characterized by high rigidity due to its high crystallinity. However, the use of long chain biobased monomers to produce segmented copolymers is an effective strategy to tailor the properties of PBS, such as greater flexibility. In this paper, a series of aliphatic bio-copolyesters of poly(butylene succinate-dilinoleic succinate) (PBS-DLS) were successfully synthesized via a direct two-step polycondensation method using a semi-pilot scale reactor for melt polymerization and titanium dioxide/silicon dioxide coprecipitate catalyst (C-94). In this study, the thermal and mechanical properties were investigated and compared, focusing on the effect of varying the amount of biobased dilinoleic diol in the structure. With increasing amount of long chain diol, a decrease in molecular weight, density, and melt flow index was observed. The semicrystalline nature of the copolymers was confirmed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) methods. These copolymers exhibit two main transition temperatures and vary in softness and processing flexibility. Furthermore, in the DSC data a linear trend was observed with increasing wt.% of hard PBS segments, which can be described by the Gordon-Taylor equation. Increasing the soft DLS segment content in the copolymer series resulted in an increase in the elastic behavior of the polymers. The broad range of crystallization temperatures and melt flow index values indicates that a polyester library with customizable properties that spans PBS applications has been successfully obtained.


This thesis provides a comprehensive look at water hammer with an emphasis on home plumbing systems. The mathematics of water hammer are explained, including the momentum and continuity equations for conduits, system construction, and the four-point implicit finite difference scheme to numerically solve the problem. This paper also shows how the unsteady momentum and continuity equations can be used to solve water distribution problems instead of the steady-state energy and continuity equations, along with the examples problems which show that an unsteady approach is more suitable than the standard Hardy-Cross method. Residential plumbing systems are examined in this paper, household fixtures are modeled for their hydraulic functions, and several water hammer simulations are run using the Water Hammer and Mass Oscillation program (WHAMO). It is determined from these simulations that the amount of air volume in the system is a key factor in controlling water hammer. Abnormal pump operation is clearly explained including a description of the four quadrants and eight zones of operation as well as the mathematics and a numerical scheme for computation. Low pressures caused by transients can lead to intrusion and contamination of the drinking water supply. Several scenarios are simulated using the WHAMO program and cases are provided in which intrusion occurs. From the intrusion scenarios, key factors for intrusion to occur during transients include the starting energy in the system, the magnitude of the transient, the hydraulics of the intrusion opening, and the external energy on the pipe (the level of the groundwater table). A primer for using WHAMO is provided as an appendix as well.


Abstract Drawing both on conversation analysis and text linguistics, this article retraces the emergence of a new communicative practice in an online discussion forum: Based on data from an academic learning environment, we demonstrate how peers in a student study group start using the "edit button" which allows them to modify in retrospect not only their own but also other people's posts. This communicative practice of post editing in online discussion forums develops in four stages: It starts out as simple postings of messages on a discussion board. Next, the collocutors make use of the edit button to change their own posts, and, in a dialogical manner that of their discussion partners. Finally, it comes down to a complex form of exchange between the interlocutors who innovatively use the edit button within a single post. By using the edit button in innovative ways the participants bring together sequentially related messages in a single post that are usually spread over multiple posts. We argue that the emergence of this innovative use of the strategy of "sequential compression" (sequenzielle Verdichtung), as we shall call it, may be understood as an answer both to the affordances of asynchronous communication in discussion forums and to the learning situation which is characterized by pressure of time calling for new and innovative strategies.


Mindboggle (http://mindboggle.info) is an open source brain morphometry platform that takes in preprocessed T1-weighted MRI data and outputs volume, surface, and tabular data containing label, feature, and shape information for further analysis. In this article, we document the software and demonstrate its use in studies of shape variation in healthy and diseased humans. The number of different shape measures and the size of the populations make this the largest and most detailed shape analysis of human brains every conducted. Brain image morphometry shows great potential for providing much-needed biological markers for diagnosing, tracking, and predicting progression of mental health disorders. Very few software algorithms provide more than measures of volume and cortical thickness, and more subtle shape measures may provide more sensitive and specific biomarkers. Mindboggle computes a variety of (primarily surface-based) shapes: area, volume, thickness, curvature, depth, Laplace-Beltrami spectra, Zernike moments, etc. We evaluate Mindboggle's algorithms using the largest set of manually labeled, publicly available brain images in the world and compare them against state-of-the-art algorithms where they exist. All data, code, and results of these evaluations are publicly available. Author Summary Brains vary in many ways, including their shape. Analysing differences in shape between brains or changes in brain shape over time has been used to characterize morphology of diseased brains, but these analyses conventionally rely on simple volumetric shape measures. We believe that access to a greater variety of shape measures could provide greater sensitivity and specificity to morphological disturbances, and could aid in diagnosis, tracking, and prediction of the progression of mental health disorders. Mindboggle is open source software that provides neuroscientists (and indeed, anyone interested in computing shapes) tools for computing a variety of shape measures, including area, volume, thickness, curvature, geodesic depth, travel depth, Laplace-Beltrami spectra, and Zernike moments. In addition to algorithmic contributions, we conducted evaluations and applied Mindboggle to conduct the most detailed shape analysis of human brains.


TRIDENT is a STREP project recently approved by the European Commission whose proposal was submitted to the ICT call 4 of the 7th Framework Program. The project proposes a new methodology for multipurpose underwater intervention tasks. To that end, a cooperative team formed with an Autonomous Surface Craft and an Intervention Autonomous Underwater Vehicle will be used. The proposed methodology splits the mission in two stages mainly devoted to survey and intervention tasks, respectively. The project brings together research skills specific to the marine environments in navigation and mapping for underwater robotics, multi-sensory perception, intelligent control architectures, vehicle-manipulator systems and dexterous manipulation. TRIDENT is a three years project and its start is planned by first months of 2010.


Despite growing interest and attention from Information Technology researchers and practitioners, empirical research on factors that influence an organization's likelihood of adoption of Web services has been limited. This study reports an empirical analysis of survey data to identify the influencing factors and demographic characteristics related to Web services adoption intention—based on whether to adopt and when to adopt Web services—from the perspective of 129 South Korean firms. The survey questionnaire respondents were an individual in each firm who typically advised the key person who would be making the decision to adopt Web services technology. The determining factors of Web services adoption were identified from both in-depth interviews with Web services experts and a literature review. The questionnaire was pretested with a pilot survey of seventy-four South Korean firms. Logistic regression was the main statistical analysis method, and the test showed significant correlation between some factors and whether to adopt. Important factors are business benefit driver (BBD), readiness (RD), and trust (TRUST).


Many essential phenomena in biology involve changes in cell shape. Cell deformation occurs in response to physical forces either coming from the external environment or intracellularly generated. In most tests of cell rheology, an external constraint is usually superimposed on an already mechanically active cell, thus the measurements may reflect both active motion and passive viscoelastic deformation. To show that active and passive processes could be distinguished on a time scale basis, we designed a novel piezo-controlled micromanipulation system to impose dynamic mechanical deformations on individual cells. Chick fibroblasts were seized between two glass microplates; one of the plates, more flexible, served as a sensor of the applied force. Controlled amounts of unidirectional compression and traction in the range of 10(-8)-10(-7) N were applied, using either step functions or sinusoidal signals at chosen frequencies. These tests allowed identification of three time scale dependent regimes. (1) A dominant elastic response, characterized by a linear stress-strain relationship, was especially apparent at short times (seconds); (2) A viscous behavior, characterized by force relaxation and irreversible cell deformation, was noticeable at intermediate times (minutes). Data from traction and oscillatory excitation tests were well fitted by a three-element Kelvin viscoelastic model, allowing the calculation of two elastic moduli in the range of 600-1,000 N/m2 and an apparent viscosity of about 10(4) Pa.s. (3) A contractile regime, in which actin-dependent traction forces were developed in response to uniaxial load was apparent at longer times (several tens of minutes). These forces were in the order of 4 x 10(-8) N above viscous relaxation. Thus we could distinguish, on a time scale basis, the specific contributions of passive viscoelasticity and active traction, and evaluate their mechanical characteristics within one experiment on a single cell.


Genome sequencing has provided a means for describing the complete genetic makeup of an organism. The application of sequencing technology to fungi has provided a wealth of data of interest to medical mycologists and to evolutionary and cellular biologists alike. The sequencing of multiple fungal genomes provides an initial view of the degree of conservation and diversity within the fungal kingdom. Furthermore, the comparison of these fungal genomes with the genomes of other eukaryotes provides a more precise view both of the scale of conservation of eukaryotic genes and of novel genes restricted to the fungi. While much research on fungi has focused on understanding conserved eukaryotic functions, the genomic sequence also will be important in characterizing fungus-specific pathways such as those involved in secondary metabolism, including antibiotics, and specialized degradation pathways, such as for cellulose. The genome sequences of related organisms provide more than just catalogs of species gene content, they allow comparisons between genomes to study elements that are highly diverged and those that are highly conserved. Alignment of genes from multiple organisms, using sequence similarity search tools like BLAST or FASTA, typically identifies the most highly conserved and slowly evolving genes since they share the greatest sequence conservation. The availability of multiple genomes from a range of species with different evolutionary distances provides perspective on the evolution of gene order, content, and substitution rates. This exciting pot of data opens up new challenges and new opportunities in fungal research.


: Object: The study causal factors, as well as obstetrics outcomes of labor in women with premature rupture of membranes and tactics of labor management. Subject and methods: The study material was the history of childbirth of 106 pregnant women in whom labor was complicated by premature rupture of the membranes in the period from 22-36 weeks of gestation, delivery in the Bukhara regional perinatal center for the period 2017-2019. Results: This article presents the results of a retrospective study in which childbirth was complicated by premature rupture of the membranes. The results show the significant role of premature rupture of the membranes in the development of obstetrics complications, especially in women with aggravated somatic and gynecological anamnesis. Conclusion: Premature discharge of amniotic fluid, as a result of pathological growth of conditionally pathogenic microbiocenosis of cervico-vaginal, which was the cause of chorioamnionitis, which contributed to a significant increase in the specific frequency of obstetrics pathologies.


On 28 May 2013 a peaceful demonstration by environmental activists who were protesting against the demolition of Gezi Park –one of the few green areas left at the heart of Istanbuland construction of a shopping mall along with a mosque instead was suppressed by excessive and aggressive police intervention. In response to the police suppression, thousands of individuals in Istanbul gathered in Taksim and Kadıköy followed by other big city centers in Turkey, which subsequently evolved into a resistance movement throughout the country. Particularly the peak days of the uprisings generated so much interests both in domestic and international public opinions, it was even perceived as the biggest political resistance in the history of modern Turkey. Although the government side tried to portray the incidents as "demonstrations" to degrade its impact, the opposition side presented the incidents as "riots" to boost participation. This paper aims to look from three years back at the Gezi Resistance in terms of its nature and grass-roots mobilization of masses and where it stands from the perspective of the New Social Movements Theory. Comparisons are made with similar social movements in other countries and implications for political communication of such movements are discussed.


Efficiency scores are determined for Canadian universities using both Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier (SF) methods for selected specifications. The scores are compared. Although there is some consistency, there is also considerable divergence in the efficiency scores and their rankings. Besides choice of the DEA or SF method, scores are sensitive to the definition of output, the inclusion of environmental (i.e., primarily firm-specific) factors, and the procedures for their inclusion (one-stage and two-stage methods). Despite the divergence among methods and specifications noted, the relative positions of individual universities across sets of several efficiency rankings (e.g., all the DEA and SF outcomes) demonstrate consistency. An analysis of rankings provides a range of potential rankings for each university. High and low efficiency groups are evidenced but the rank for most universities is not significantly different from that of many others. The results indicate that, while efficiency analysis can be helpful, decision makers need to be very cautious when employing efficiency scores for management and policy purposes and they recommend looking for confirmation of the usual efficiency analysis.


IN SEARCH OF THE SOUL: FOUR VIEWS OF THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM. Edited by Joel B. Green, and Stuart L. Palmer. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005. Pp. 223, Pb, $19.00. Reviewed by Bryan Auday and Lauren Buckel (Gordon College/Wenham, MA). What does it mean to be fully human? Who am I? What does it mean to be created in God's image (imago dei)? I see that I possess a body, but do I possess a soul? What is a soul? What is the relationship between the soul and the body? These are immensely important questions. These questions demand thoughtful scholarship from within the Christian academy. Unfortunately, attention to the mind/body problem has been shortchanged by media outlets that have focused their energies on the headline-grabbing debate over evolution, creationism, and intelligent design. Although questions regarding how we evolved or were created are provocative, we believe that the questions that are addressed about personhood in the book In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem are far more important and have more relevance to our Christian life than any debate about origins. The book, In Search of the Soul, edited by Joel Green and Stuart Palmer, is a welcomed addition to scholarship that has come to print in the past ten years on the subject of Christian anthropology and the mind-body problem. One impetus behind the recent scholarship has been the discipline of neuroscience which has caused some prominent scientists who are also Christians (e.g., Warren Brown, Malcolm Jeeves) to formalize a monistic (physicalist) position regarding the mind-body relationship which is more compatible with recent neuroscientific discoveries. This is the belief that mind (soul) and body essentially are one substance. The monist position is in contrast to more commonly held dualistic understandings (some would say originating from New Testament Greek thought) that argue that mind and body are different kinds of substance that exist independently. In Search of the Soul, does not introduce a "new" model of the mind-body problem, nor does it defend a particular model. Its purpose is to introduce the reader to two dualistic models in addition to two closely related physicalistic positions-all four of which are couched within a broadly defined Christian theological framework. A distinguished group of contributors has been assembled to defend each of the four positions selected. Immediately after a model has been presented, the reader gets the pleasure of reading brief responses provided by the authors of the three other perspectives. We feel that the editors made an excellent choice by including these responses because the book clearly gives the reader a sense that they are eavesdropping on a conversation, albeit a one-sided one, since there is not a rebuttal to the response. …


Mobile telecommunication operators are now focussing on emerging markets due to the current highly competitive mobile telecommunication sector in established markets. The deployment of wireless mobile infrastructure in these emerging markets or a green field scenario requires an innovative energy efficient approach, which is not feasible in an incumbent operator scenario. This paper describes a combined macro and pico cellular heterogeneous wireless network architecture, and analyses its energy efficiency with respect to variation in inter site distance. The increase in capacity and power saving through sparse network deployment is investigated in terms of area spectral efficiency and area power consumption respectively. The results suggest that the deployment of pico cells along with a traditional cellular network can improve the energy efficiency of the network, as well as provide gains in terms of increased inter site distance. Finally. the indifference curves of Energy Efficiency and number of pico nodes indicate the optimum deployment scheme for multiple area spectral efficiency targets.


Community engagement (CE) and community-engaged research (CEnR) are increasingly viewed as the keystone to translational medicine and improving the health of the nation. In this article, the authors seek to assist academic health centers (AHCs) in learning how to better engage with their communities and build a CEnR agenda by suggesting five steps: defining community and identifying partners, learning the etiquette of CE, building a sustainable network of CEnR researchers, recognizing that CEnR will require the development of new methodologies, and improving translation and dissemination plans. Health disparities that lead to uneven access to and quality of care as well as high costs will persist without a CEnR agenda that finds answers to both medical and public health questions. One of the biggest barriers toward a national CEnR agenda, however, are the historical structures and processes of an AHC—including the complexities of how institutional review boards operate, accounting practices and indirect funding policies, and tenure and promotion paths. Changing institutional culture starts with the leadership and commitment of top decision makers in an institution. By aligning the motivations and goals of their researchers, clinicians, and community members into a vision of a healthier population, AHC leadership will not just improve their own institutions but also improve the health of the nation—starting with improving the health of their local communities, one community at a time.


'Test, Learn, Adapt' is a paper which the Behavioural Insights Team is publishing in collaboration with Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, and David Torgerson, Director of the University of York Trials Unit. The paper argues that Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs), which are now widely used in medicine, international development, and internet-based businesses, should be used much more extensively in public policy.

'Test, Learn, Adapt' sets out nine separate steps that are required to set up any RCT. Many of these steps will be familiar to anyone putting in place a well-designed policy evaluation - for example, deciding in advance the outcome that we are seeking to achieve. Others are less familiar - for example, randomly allocating the intervention to control or intervention groups.

The introduction of a randomly assigned control group enables you to compare the effectiveness of new interventions against what would have happened if you had changed nothing. RCTs are the best way of determining whether a policy or intervention is working. We believe that policymakers should begin using them much more systematically.


In the last decades, growing numbers of people have sought to use courts, government budgets have declined, new technologies have emerged, arrest and detention rates have risen, and arguments have been leveled that private resolutions are preferable to public adjudication. Lawsuits challenge the legality of fee structures, money bail, and the imposition of fines. States have chartered task forces to propose changes, and new research has identified the effects of the current system on low-income communities and on people of color. The costs imposed through fees, surcharges, fines, and bail affect the ability of plaintiffs and defendants to seek justice and to be treated justly.

This volume, prepared for the 21st Annual Arthur Liman Center Colloquium, explores the mechanisms for financing court systems and the economic challenges faced by judiciaries and by litigants. We address how constitutional democracies can meet their obligations to make justice accessible to disputants and to make fair treatment visible to the public. Our goals are to understand the dimensions of the problems, the inter-relationships among civil, criminal, and administrative processes, and the opportunities for generating the political will to bring about reform.


Vibration energy harvesting based on piezoelectric materials is of interest in several applications such as in powering remote distributed wireless sensor nodes for structural health monitoring. Synchronized Switch Harvesting on Inductor (SSHI) and Synchronous Electric Charge Extraction (SECE) circuits show good power efficiency among reported power management circuits; however, limitations exist due to inductors employed, adaption of response to varying excitation levels and the Synchronized Switch Damping (SSD) effect. In this paper, an inductor-less dynamically configured interface circuit is proposed, which is able to configure the connection of two piezoelectric materials in parallel or in series by periodically evaluating the ambient excitation level. The proposed circuit is designed and fabricated in a 0.35 μm HV CMOS process.The fabricated circuit is co-integrated with a piezoelectric bimorph energy harvester and the performance is experimentally validated. With a low power consumption (0.5 μW), the measured results show that the proposed rectifier can provide a 4.5 × boost in harvested energy compared to the conventional full-bridge rectifier without employing an inductor. It also shows a high power efficiency over a wide range of excitation levels and is less susceptible to SSD.


Image restoration after a double pass through a multimode fiber using a polarization-preserving phase conjugator is demonstrated. Results indicate that the resolution of the restored image is limited by the number of guided modes and that the contrast is restored only when the phase conjugator preserves polarization on reflection.


Stack-augmented recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have been of interest to the deep learning community for some time. However, the difficulty of training memory models remains a problem obstructing the widespread use of such models. In this paper, we propose the Ordered Memory architecture. Inspired by Ordered Neurons (Shen et al., 2018), we introduce a new attention-based mechanism and use its cumulative probability to control the writing and erasing operation of the memory. We also introduce a new Gated Recursive Cell to compose lower-level representations into higher-level representation. We demonstrate that our model achieves strong performance on the logical inference task (Bowman et al., 2015) and the ListOps (Nangia and Bowman, 2018) task. We can also interpret the model to retrieve the induced tree structure, and find that these induced structures align with the ground truth. Finally, we evaluate our model on the Stanford Sentiment Treebank tasks (Socher et al., 2013), and find that it performs comparatively with the state-of-the-art methods in the literature.


Insects approved for classical biocontrol of weeds are often capable of using close relatives of their target weed for feeding, oviposition, or larval development, with reduced preference and performance. When nontarget herbivory occurs and is suspected to reduce survival, growth, or fecundity of individual plants, and insects are capable of reproducing on their nontarget host, characterization of spatial and temporal patterns of the occurrence and intensity of herbivory is valuable for predicting potential population-level effects. Here, we perform a novel post-release manipulative field experiment with a root-feeding biocontrol weevil, Mogulones crucifer, released in Canada to control the rangeland weed Cynoglossum officinale, to test for its ability to establish on the nontarget plant Hackelia micrantha. After Cynoglossum, M. crucifer exhibits its highest preference for and performance on Hackelia spp. We released M. crucifer on Canadian rangeland sites with naturally occurring populations of H. micrantha growing interspersed with the target weed or in the near absence of the target weed. Adult weevil feeding on surrounding plants was monitored for three summers after release (years 0, 1, and 2), and, subsequently, subsets of plants were destructively sampled to determine M. crucifer oviposition levels. Additional oviposition and larval development data were obtained from seven non-experimental sites where weevils were released zero, three, or four years earlier. M. crucifer was not detected on experimental sites without C. officinale after two years, and nontarget herbivory was restricted to rare, low-level spillover. Visible evidence of adult herbivory (i.e., scars on shoots) was associated with oviposition in 90% of targets but only 30% of nontarget plants. We infer, through ecological refuge theory, that nontarget population-level impacts from M. crucifer spillover are unlikely because of temporal, spatial, and probabilistic refuges from herbivory, and make recommendations for monitoring and management of biocontrol systems with similar attributes, such as removing target plants around nontarget populations of interest. Because M. crucifer is among the least host-specific of the modern weed biocontrol agents, and H. micrantha is likely one of its most highly preferred nontargets, these conclusions are, arguably, generally applicable to other nontarget plants and biocontrol systems.


In recent years, rail transit modes (metros, trams and light rail systems) have been greatly developed around the world. They are used as a way of promoting quality public transport, to encourage modal shift from private vehicles and to achieve sustainable mobility in cities. Algiers is the first city in the Maghreb that has implemented an underground metro. The metro came into operation in November 2011. This mode of transport, whose operation is well known in developed countries, is fairly new to the population of Algiers. For this reason, the results of mobility and quality studies conducted in other developed countries cannot be extrapolated to countries like Algeria, or other neighbouring countries where other rail transit projects are being developed. The first survey on mobility and quality of service in the Algiers' metro took place in June 2012. The survey collected information on: socio-demographic characteristics of users, mobility habits, overall satisfaction with the subway, and satisfaction with 16 specific characteristics of the service (frequency, punctuality, cleanliness, price, etc.). This article presents some of the results of that survey, identifying the user profile that is most prevalent in this mode of transport as well as the users' perceptions of the quality of service provided. The results show that the level of satisfaction with almost all the characteristics of the service is very high, except for the price. Finally, the survey also revealed that, for the moment, the objective of encouraging a modal shift from private vehicles has not been achieved, because this kind of user represents only 15% of the total metro's users.


ABSTRACT This article explores the potential of emerging digital cultures for Indigenous participation in policy debates in the rapidly changing Australian media landscape. From the Zapatista's 'netwar' to the 'hashtag activism' of IdleNoMore, Indigenous people have pioneered innovative uses of digital media for global connectivity and contestation. Digital and social media open up unprecedented opportunities for voice, and, in theory, participation in decision-making. But there is limited understanding about how Indigenous voices are heard at times of major policy reform, and whether increased participation in digital media necessarily leads to increased democratic participation. Leading Indigenous commentators in Australia suggest an inability of governments and other influential players to listen sits at the heart of the failure of Indigenous policy. This article presents two contemporary Australian case studies that showcase Indigenous participatory media response to government policy initiatives: first, the diverse reaction in social media to the government-sponsored campaign for constitutional reform to acknowledge Australia's First Peoples, branded as Recognise and second, the social media-driven movement #sosblakaustralia, protesting against the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities. This article brings together theories of political participation, media change and listening to ask whether key democratic institutions, including the mainstream news media and political decision-makers, can engage with the proliferation of Indigenous voices enabled by participatory media. We argue that while the digital media environment allows diverse Indigenous voices to be represented, recent scholarship on participation and listening extends the analysis to ask which voices are heard as politics is increasingly mediatized.