Despite theoretical speculation and strong clinical belief, recent research using laboratory polysomnographic (PSG) recording has provided new evidence that frequency of sleep bruxism (SB) masseter muscle events, including grinding or clenching of the teeth during sleep, is not increased for women with chronic myofascial temporomandibular disorder (TMD). The current case-control study compares a large sample of women suffering from chronic myofascial TMD (n = 124) with a demographically matched control group without TMD (n = 46) on sleep background electromyography (EMG) during a laboratory PSG study. Background EMG activity was measured as EMG root mean square (RMS) from the right masseter muscle after lights out. Sleep background EMG activity was defined as EMG RMS remaining after activity attributable to SB, other orofacial activity, other oromotor activity and movement artefacts were removed. Results indicated that median background EMG during these non-SB event periods was significantly higher (P < 0·01) for women with myofascial TMD (median = 3·31 μV and mean = 4·98 μV) than for control women (median = 2·83 μV and mean = 3·88 μV) with median activity in 72% of cases exceeding control activity. Moreover, for TMD cases, background EMG was positively associated and SB event-related EMG was negatively associated with pain intensity ratings (0-10 numerical scale) on post-sleep waking. These data provide the foundation for a new focus on small, but persistent, elevations in sleep EMG activity over the course of the night as a mechanism of pain induction or maintenance.


Coastal communities worldwide are becoming increasingly vulnerable to a wide range of potential hazards including shoreline erosion and coastal resource degradation. The problem is exacerbated due to rapid urbanization and the concomitant anthropogenic beach changes which influence coastal processes. The lack of basic services and disaster warning as well as response mechanisms makes the situation daunting. Using mainly qualitative methods, which include two Focus Group Discussions and 17 in-depth interviews, the authors explore the perception of respondents in regard to coastal erosion and how to mitigate the observed condition. The research incorporates both physical and social science knowledge. Our key finding is that although the Faana coastline is eroding at a significantly high rate, residents are resolved to maintain their occupancy for as long as they have the opportunity to practise their trade. The authors argue that proactive measures can be taken to reduce vulnerability and provide the enabling conditions for communities to absorb and bounce back from disruptions in basic services and economic activities.


Alternative splicing (AS) programs are primarily controlled by regulatory RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). It has been proposed that a small number of master splicing regulators might control cell-specific splicing networks and that these RBPs could be identified by proximity of their genes to transcriptional super-enhancers. Using this approach we identified RBPMS as a critical splicing regulator in differentiated vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). RBPMS is highly down-regulated during phenotypic switching of SMCs from a contractile to a motile and proliferative phenotype and is responsible for 20% of the AS changes during this transition. RBPMS directly regulates AS of numerous components of the actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesion machineries whose activity is critical for SMC function in both phenotypes. RBPMS also regulates splicing of other splicing, post-transcriptional and transcription regulators including the key SMC transcription factor Myocardin, thereby matching many of the criteria of a master regulator of AS in SMCs.


This comprehensive collection of high-interest readings drawn from a wide range of sources (contemporary, classic, academic, and popular) is designed to correlate with the goals of Introduction to Education and Foundations in Education courses. Accompanying pedagogical features, such as introductions, focus questions, post-reading notes, discussion questions, and a glossary, engage students and guide them in thinking critically about the readings. The book's diversity of articles and writers -- from the classic John Dewey and Carl Rogers to the contemporary Diane Ravitch, Elliot Eisner, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Alfie Kohn -- makes it highly flexible and responsive to a broad variety of course needs. Topic areas include students and teachers; schools and instruction; curriculum and standards; foundations, philosophy, and reform; educational technology; and diversity and social issues.


In the first two Notes of this series,(l,2) we discussed Zernike circle and annular polynomials that represent optimally balanced classical aberrations of systems with uniform circular or annular pupils, respectively. Here we discuss Zernike-Gauss polynomials which are the corresponding polynomials for systems with Gaussian circular or annular pupils.(3-5) Such pupils, called apodized pupils, are used in optical imaging to reduce the secondary rings of the pointspread functions of uniform pupils.(6) Propagation of Gaussian laser beams also involves such pupils.


Beginning in the 1830s and continuing throughout the antebellum period, life insurance expanded rapidly among the urban middle class of the Northeast as a means of protecting families against the loss of their primary breadwinner. As life insurance spread to the South, it was most strongly embraced by slaveholders. Creative southerners of both races adopted insurance to alleviate some of the most evil consequences of the slave trade, while urbanites of the South promoted insurance as a means of mitigating the untimely loss of their slave property. By the 1850s, the industry was firmly established in Richmond–underwriting the lives of slaves engaged in dangerous occupations, valued as artisans or house slaves, or hired out for work in factories and railroads–and was expanding rapidly into the other industrialized areas of Virginia. Indeed, life insurance was fast becoming a key component of industrialization in the Upper South. With the purchase of insurance, urban slaveholders demonstrated their confidence in both the longevity of the slave system itself and the value of slavery for the future of southern industrialization.


Active Contour Models have been widely used in computer vision for segmentation purposes, while anatomically constrained ACMs have offered a valuable solution on medical image segmentation. Efforts have been devoted on various ways of modeling prior knowledge. This paper focuses on how to efficiently incorporate prior knowledge, into an ACM evolution framework, using the structures' distribution map as a second feature image, and blending the two images through a novel adaptive local weighting scheme. For proof of concept the method is applied on hippocampus segmentation in T1-MR brain images, a very challenging task, due to its multivariate surrounding region and the weak, even missing boundaries.


The selection of runway exit configuration is formulated as an optimization problem in which the capacity of the runway is traded off against the cost of constructing the exits. A dynamic programming algorithm is developed to solve the optimization problem taking into account the characteristics of the aircraft population mix at the airport and the directional use patterns of the runway. Four cases of increasing complexity are considered culminating in an algorithm for runways having multiple exit types operated in both directions. The algorithm is used with a set of representative input data to develop some typical optimum configurations and to determine the sensitivity of the runway design to variation of parameters, such as number of exits, percentage directional use, relative exit construction costs, and runway length.


Through a mixture of oral testimony, analysis and personal encounter, the harsh and deadly penalties meted out to those attempting to travel across the Mexican border into the United States are evoked. Many have already suffered extensively at the hands of corrupt police and marauding paramilitary gangs as they travel into Mexico, even before risking their lives to go further north. Devastated economies, in hock to 'trade' agreements dictated by the US, render these journeys essential, for migrant remittances now outstrip oil and agriculture in many national economies. Yet failure — and many do fail — can entail robbery, rape, mutilation and murder.


Architectures for software use rich abstractions and idioms to describe system components, the nature of interactions among the components, and the patterns that guide the composition of components into systems. These abstractions are higher level than the elements usually supported by programming languages and tools. They capture packaging and interaction issues as well as computational functionality. Well-established (if informal) patterns guide the architectural design of systems. We sketch a model for defining architectures and present an implementation of the basic level of that model. Our purpose is to support the abstractions used in practice by software designers. The implementation provides a testbed for experiments with a variety of system construction mechanisms. It distinguishes among different types of components and different ways these components can interact. It supports abstract interactions such as data flow and scheduling on the same footing as simple procedure call. It can express and check appropriate compatibility restrictions and configuration constraints. It accepts existing code as components, incurring no runtime overhead after initialization. It allows easy incorporation of specifications and associated analysis tools developed elsewhere. The implementation provides a base for extending the notation and validating the model. >


This paper tries to assess the research performance of excellent research groups during the period 1998-2002 in Valencia, a peripheral Spanish region with low-level absorptive capacity. For that purpose, we use a range of qualitative and quantitative indicators to provide a reliable estimate of the contribution to scientific progress and regional scope made by different research groups. In general, we have found that research groups have diversified their performance with different and non-systematic behaviour, according to different research incentives. This later finding shows an important influence on the performance of industry-university collaboration, R&D and innovation activities.


Palm oil production has increased rapidly over the past two decades in response to rising demand for its use in food, energy, and industrial applications. Expansion of oil palm plantations presents a dilemma, as they can displace forests and peatlands, leading to biodiversity losses and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Although projections show that expansion of oil palm area will slow with faster yield growth, important concerns remain that will require careful attention from policymakers.


Discussion and analysis of characteristics and tensions associated with fieldwork in two projects using institutional ethnography is the focus of this article. Examined in comparison with each other, the first exemplar explores the organization of the Canadian immigration system and the mandatory medical screening for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) of immigrants within this. The second exemplar looks at how nurses' work in a selection of Canadian hospitals is organized. The argument made is that the politics of deliberately maintaining a standpoint on the side of a set of people (immigrants with HIV and nurses)—where inquiry begins from the experiential knowledge and concerns with the world of these constituents—gives rise to challenges to which the researcher must contend and adapt. Mobilizing examples from our fieldwork, we explore several such challenges and explain the research decisions we made in the face of these. In this article, we present insights and practical strategies for researchers who are preparing to use institutional ethnography as a strategy for critical social inquiry. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1301144


In response to growing concerns about coronary heart disease (CHD), the Government of Canada has recently taken policy measures to reduce Canadian trans fatty acid (TFA) consumption. The mandatory labelling of trans fat content in foods began in December 2005. The House of Commons also established a task force in November 2004 to develop a set of regulations to ban the sale of food products with a TFA content greater than 2 percent. The issue at stake is whether the mandatory content restriction has economic merit. While the mandatory TFA reductions could reduce heart disease and improve the health of Canadians, they also have the potential to increase economic costs faced by all aspects of the Canadian food oil complex, from primary producers to consumers. The goal of this article is to examine the impacts of a mandatory reduction of trans fat content by estimating the potential health benefits and potential adverse impacts on the agri-food sector.


Collagens are widely used as biomaterials in drug-delivery and tissue engineering applications due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility and hypoallergenicity. Besides gelatin-based materials, collagen microfibers are in the focus of biomedical research. Commonly, man-made fibers are produced by wet-spinning yielding fiber diameters higher than 8 μm. Here, assembly and continuous production of single collagen type I microfibers were established using a microfluidic chip. Microfluidics-produced microfibers exhibited tensile strength and Young's modulus exceeding that of fibers produced in classical wet-spinning devices and even that of natural tendon and they showed lower diameters. Their structural orientation was examined by polarized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showing fibril alignment within the microfiber. Cell culture tests using the neuronal cell line NG108-15 showed cell alignment and axon growth along the microfiber axes inaugurating potential applications in, for example, peripheral nerve repair.


The rise and fall of the concept of nuclear winter, played out in research activity, public relations, and Reagan-era politics. The nuclear winter phenomenon burst upon the public's consciousness in 1983. Added to the horror of a nuclear war's immediate effects was the fear that the smoke from fires ignited by the explosions would block the sun, creating an extended "winter" that might kill more people worldwide than the initial nuclear strikes. In A Nuclear Winter's Tale, Lawrence Badash maps the rise and fall of the science of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popularization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion. Badash traces the several sciences (including studies of volcanic eruptions, ozone depletion, and dinosaur extinction) that merged to allow computer modeling of nuclear winter and its development as a scientific specialty. He places this in the political context of the Reagan years, discussing congressional interest, media attention, the administration's plans for a research program, and the Defense Department's claims that the arms buildup underway would prevent nuclear war, and thus nuclear winter. A Nuclear Winter's Tale tells an important story but also provides a useful illustration of the complex relationship between science and society. It examines the behavior of scientists in the public arena and in the scientific community, and raises questions about the problems faced by scientific Cassandras, the implications when scientists go public with worst-case scenarios, and the timing of government reaction to startling scientific findings.


In this article, the author takes an ethnographic approach to the museumization of migration in Paris and Berlin by focusing on the French migration museum, the Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration, as well as in various examples in Berlin—such as neighborhood museums, art institutions and ethnographic museums. By looking at these examples through the perspective of social movements which have taken place in the United States and which unleashed debates around civil rights, the representation of racial/ethnic minorities, knowledge formations and the design of academic curricula, this article explores the ways in which actors engage in representing migration in museums and exhibits. The ethnographic cases show arenas of conflict and interaction between "makers" and "participants," in which the making of representations is contested. At the same time that the topic of "migration" in a museum can be used for a politics of multiculturalism, it can also open up spaces for political interventions "from below." The first part of the article discusses the strategies employed by the Cité nationale to represent migration "from above," showing the internal fractures and the conflicts which emerge when "immigrants" appear as visitors in the museum. The second part of the article shows ethnographic cases in Berlin, focusing on how the body of the "immigrant" as well as "immigrant communities" are used by museum curators as objects of display in neighborhood and ethnographic museums. The third part explores an exhibit in Berlin, which shows how actors of an immigrant association represented themselves and their community in an art institution and in their own terms. The last part compares the exhibits on migration in both cities and describes the political intervention of the Sans Papiers movement, which took the Cité nationale between October 2010 and January 2011 to fight for their legal status from within the museum. H UMAN A RCHITECTURE : J OURNAL OF THE S OCIOLOGY OF S ELF -K NOWLEDGE ISSN: 1540-5699. © Copyright by Ahead Publishing House (imprint: Okcir Press) and authors. All Rights Reserved. HUMAN


In this paper, a reduced control-centric model of a particular behavior associated with maritime helicopter rotor systems, known as Blade Sailing Phenomenon (BSP), is developed. BSP is a transient aeroelastic phenomenon described by the large undesired flapping motion of the helicopter rotor blades during low rotor speeds. The developed model utilizes the Unified Airloads Model to capture the aerodynamic loads, the Intrinsic Nonlinear Beam Model to capture the structural behavior of the blade, and the Integrally Actuated Twist (IAT) for actuation. The governing partial-differential equations of motion together with the blade structural displacements as the output of interest are then discretized in the space domain using the Galerkin Spectral Discretization Method. The resultant nonlinear ordinary-differential equations are in the standard form of nonlinear systems that is highly desirable for designing a feedback controller to counter the BSP.


There is a critical need for culturally competent school and teacher leaders to provide equitable and inclusive school environments for our nation's growing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students. This must begin with culturally competent educators who provide this multicultural educational experience for students. In a national public school system with majority White educators and over 50% students of color, there is a large cultural gap between teachers and their culturally diverse students. In addition, there has not been consistently documented professional development models for cultural competence that adequately connect and engage school and teacher leaders, students, and the communities which they represent. Students of color are underperforming on standardized assessments in comparison to their White peers at an alarming rate. In addition, students of color represent the lowest high school graduation rates and percentages of college admissions and graduations. Simultaneously, these same students have the highest school suspension rates and dropout rates as well as the highest representation in the juvenile justice system, among other concerning statistics. My research addresses these issues and provides a viable solution which engages students, educators, and communities in this critical work. Using a design-based research approach, I created a professional development model, the Cultural Competence Innovation Model (CCIM-pronounced "Kim"). I created my CCIM professional development model to empower school and teacher leaders to implement a school-wide community engagement plan that equips school and teacher leaders with the necessary tools to provide inclusive, equitable, high impact, results-oriented school environments. The professional core learning outcomes of knowledge, skills, and attitudes are addressed within my CCIM professional development model. My CCIM PD model provides the cultural competence training and support that enables school and teacher leaders to enact a collaborative, inclusive, flexible school environment. After providing an introduction to my topic and study, I review existing research. I examine scholarship regarding the history of racism in our country, the current oppressive, national educational structures in place, and the potential impact of effective, strategic implementation of culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy (CRSP) in ultimately developing students as global citizens. I discuss CRSP as the necessary training for school and teacher leaders to provide more inclusive school environments. CRSP, therefore, is an essential element of my CCIM professional development model. I next introduce my qualitative, design-based research methodology that included an adapted iterative design process known as ADDED. I used ADDED to create my CCIM professional development model. A team of thirteen research participant practitioners, referred to as a total school community, completed four design rounds to help me collaboratively construct my CCIM professional development model. The four design rounds consisted of individual interviews, focus groups, and opportunities for design feedback and proposed next steps. In conclusion, I reveal my finalized version of my CCIM professional development model and discuss my future goals for implementation in schools and/or school districts across the nation.


During the mid-twentieth century, Latin American countries witnessed unprecedented struggles over the terms of national sovereignty, civic participation, and social justice. Nowhere was this more visible than in Peronist Argentina (1946 1955), where Juan and Eva Peron led the region s largest populist movement in pursuit of new political hopes and material desires. Eduardo Elena considers this transformative moment from a fresh perspective by exploring the intersection of populism and mass consumption. He argues that Peronist actors redefined national citizenship around expansive promises of a vida digna (dignified life), which encompassed not only the satisfaction of basic wants, but also the integration of working Argentines into a modern consumer society. From the mid-1940s onward, the state moved to boost purchasing power and impose discipline on the marketplace, all while broadcasting images of a contented populace. Drawing on documents such as the correspondence between Peronist sympathizers and authorities, Elena sheds light on the contest over the dignified life. He shows how the consumer aspirations of citizens overlapped with Peronist paradigms of state-led development, but not without generating great friction among allies and opposition from diverse sectors of society. Consumer practices encouraged intense public scrutiny of class and gender comportment, and everyday objects became freighted with new cultural meaning. By providing important insights on why Peronism struck such a powerful chord, "Dignifying Argentina" situates Latin America within the broader history of citizenship and consumption at mid-century, and provides innovative ways to understand the politics of redistribution in the region today."


Issue redefinition and venue shopping have been identified as key strategies for enacting agenda and policy change, but much work remains to be done in elaborating these processes. I argue that an important aspect of issue redefinition involves shifting not only the image of an issue but also the bases for considering those issues—what I call policy principles. Policy principles are the core values, beliefs, or guidelines attached to policies that help direct decision making. The emergence and acceptance of new principles by the public and policymakers can be a vital source of policy change, at times having far greater consequences for policy than redefining an issue. Venue shopping is also a multifaceted undertaking involving efforts by policy entrepreneurs and advocacy groups to keep issues out of venues they would rather not participate in as well as move decision making to new arenas. Moreover, while the literature suggests that shifting venues is usually a sensible strategy, sometimes venue shopping can backfire. A case study of the municipal movement to restrict the nonessential use of lawn and garden pesticides in Canada illustrates these theoretical points and shows the applicability of agenda setting models to contexts outside the United States.


This study aimed to (1) determined the effect of BA concentration on the growth of banana seedlings origin hump cleavage. (2) determined the effect of different origin banana weevil seedling growth and tuber production of tillers. (3) determined the effect of BA concentration on the growth of seedlings and saplings of origin hump hump production. This research has been carried out in January 2013 to April 2013 in the Integrated Field Laboratory, University of Lampung, Bandar Lampung. The design of the experiment using a randomized block design with 3 replications were once created as a test group. Grouping is done based on the size of the hump and time of observation. Arranged in a factorial design of treatment (4 x 2) consisting of two factors; The first factor is the concentration of benzyladenine (BA) consists of 4 levels of concentration are: 0, 50, 100, and 150 ppm. The second factor is the hump that comes from plants that have been producing, and tubers of plants are still puppies. The results showed: (1). Use of BA with a concentration of 50, 100 and 150 ppm had no significant effect on all the variables of observation. (2). Type tuber production yield better growth than puppies hump seen from the variable leaf length, root length, leaf width, number of roots, and the girth so it better be made for seedlings compared with seedling tubers. (3) Pemberian BA with various concentrations of either the production or hump hump tillers showed no difference in the growth of shoots.


"Slates" in the Schiefergebirge east of the Rhine contain tectonically deformed sedimentary dykes. The present orientations of the sand dykes relative to cleavage and bedding allow one to identify discrepancies of more than 30° between the cleavage and the XY-plane of the macroscopically defined finite strain ellipsoid in some localities. Further, microscopic evidence of a non-coaxial strain history is provided by curving fibre "strain shadows". Individual surfaces composing the anastamosing cleavage are considered to have been generated in or near local principal plane orientations although the mean cleavage plane deviates from the principal plane of the bulk finite strain ellipsoid. This is because the cleavage has been "frozen in" to the rock fabric as material surfaces which could not keep pace with the rotation of the strain axes and is also due to the cleavage-forming processes having been operative only at an advanced stage in the strain history. The spaced, stylolitic nature of the cleavage, as opposed to the penetrative fabric of classic "slaty" cleavages, is attributed to a relatively thin sedimentary cover at the time of cleavage formation.


The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate market developments and policy issues that influence the environmental performance of the industry sector. The analysis concentrates mainly on the industry's input use in the form of energy and forest raw materials. The thesis consists of an introductory part, and five self-contained papers. Paper I addresses important market signals and firm specific management practices that may explain differences in observed energy intensities across industrial firms. The paper combines interview statistics with secondary data on energy prices, output etc., that are used in a simple econometric model in which the energy intensities of 89 process firms over the time period 2004-2010 are analyzed. The descriptive results show a significant increase in firm and top management energy efficiency awareness. The respondents stress that increased awareness is due to rising energy costs. In line with this, the model estimations show that awareness will not have an effect on firm's energy intensity. Instead, rising energy prices will significantly reduce the energy intensity. Paper II addresses the role of voluntary energy efficiency programs in the industrial sector. We expand on earlier work by explicitly considering the self-selection mechanism in these programs as well as the role of different management and decisionmaking practices for understanding program outcomes. The results show that the probability for choosing to participate in PFE as well as the level of self-reported energy savings for those who participate tend to increase with increased electricity intensity and electricity use. Different management practices also affect the probability of participation; firms in which the energy manager has fewer responsibilities and works closer to the CEO have been more likely to participate in the program. The above suggests that PFE may primarily have attracted firms that already have had plenty of experience with energy efficiency issues. Increasing the use of renewable energy is of principal EU energy policy concern. In this respect, investigating European trade in forest raw materials is important for understanding how industry sectors in the EU will be affected by these policies. Papers III and IV therefore, quantify and analyze possible trade patterns in forest raw materials in the presence of EU energy policy. Specifically, in Paper III the White Paper and the RES-E Directive are analyzed whilst the RES2020 Directive is of focus in Paper IV. The analysis builds on developing and employing a partial equilibrium model of trade in selected forest raw materials in Europe. In Papers III and Paper IV, the results suggest that the policy implementations will increase the trade in forest raw materials by up to 67 and 110 percent, respectively. Since the national goals in the RES2020 Directive are mandatory in contrast to the indicative recommendations stated in previous EU energy policies on renewables, Paper IV concludes that more ambitious goals will inevitably affect the input competing industries. Finally, Paper V provides a critical survey of previous econometric analyzes of supply and demand elasticities in wastepaper markets. A key finding is that the own-price elasticity of wastepaper supply is overall low (around 0.20-0.30). This adds to our understanding of the price volatility in wastepaper markets, and carries important implications for the impacts of – and the efficient choice between – price- and quantity-based waste management policies.


This working paper is one of a series produced by TES-MTC project discussing the problem of East-West Joint Ventures located in the CMEA countries on a country basis.

The paper describes the current situation in Bulgaria. An evidence of the process dynamics is that during the time the first version of this working paper has been edited a new legislation was introduced in the country. A small new paragraph has been added now under the heading "A further step in legislation" analyzing the opportunities provided for foreign investors. The operating practice of joint ventures is remaining unchanged for the time being, but the outlooks are undergoing change.

The end of 1988 and beginning of 1989 marked changes in all CMEA countries' legislation. Those changes do not only affect the joint companies with foreign participation, hut also the legislative frame of all economic activities in those countries.

In the future the MTC project with its international network which is performing an empirical study on practical problem of East-West joint ventures will update the latest legislative changes through working papers and other printed material as detailed as possible.


The purpose of additive subgroup decomposition is to study the relationship between overall inequality and inequality within and between population subgroups defined by variables like gender, age, education and region of residence. As opposed to the inequality measures that are additively decomposable, the so-called generalized entropy family of inequality measures, the Gini coefficient does not admit decomposition into within- and between-group components but does also require an interaction (overlapping) term. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an alternative decomposition method that can be considered to be a parallel to Lerman and Yitzhaki's (1985) elasticity approach for decomposing the Gini coefficient by income sources, which means that the elasticity of the Gini coefficient with respect to various income components is treated as the basic quantities of the decomposition method. Thus, rather than decomposing the Gini coefficient or any other inequality measure into a within-inequality term, a between-inequality term and eventually an interaction term, the basic quantities of the introduced method are the effects of marginal changes in variables that are used to specify the population subgroups


Fungal pathogens perceive and respond to molecules from the plant, triggering pathogenic development. Transduction of these signals may use heterotrimeric G proteins, and it is thought that protein phosphorylation cascades are also important. We have isolated a mitogen-activated protein kinase homolog from the corn pathogen Cochliobolus heterostrophus to test its role as a component of the transduction pathways. The new gene, CHK1, has a deduced amino acid sequence 90% identical to Pmk1 of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea and 59% identical to Fus3 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A series of chk1 deletion mutants has poorly developed aerial hyphae, autolysis, and no conidia. No pseudothecia are formed when a cross between two Deltachk1 mutants is attempted. The ability of Deltachk1 mutants to infect corn plants is reduced severely. The growth pattern of hyphae on a glass surface is strikingly altered from that of the wild type, forming coils or loops, but no appressoria. This set of phenotypes overlaps only partially with that of pmk1 mutants, the homologous gene of the rice blast fungus. In particular, sexual and asexual sporulation both require Chk1 function in Cochliobolus heterostrophus, in contrast to Pmk1, but perhaps more similar to yeast, where Fus3 transmits the mating signal. Chk1 is required for efficient colonization of leaf tissue, which can be compared with filamentous invasive growth of yeast, modulated through another closely related mitogen-activated protein kinase, Kss1. Ubiquitous signaling elements thus are used in diverse ways in different plant pathogens, perhaps the result of coevolution of the transducers and their targets.


The tectonic evolution of the Hurwitz Group, a widespread succession of predominantly metasedimentary rock up to 7 km thick in the Hearne province of the Canadian Shield, has not been fully evaluated due to a lack of absolute geochronologic data. The Hurwitz Group has been interpreted previously as either a passive-margin foredeep sequence associated with the 1.9-1.77 Ga Trans-Hudson orogen, or correlative with the Snowy Pass and 2.45 Ga Huronian Supergroups, located on the Wyoming and Superior cratons, respectively. U-Pb baddeleyite-zircon analyses from a gabbro sill yield a minimum age of 2094 +26/-17 Ma for the lower parts of the Hurwitz Group, which could be as old as ca. 2400 Ma, depending on the time of metamorphism. It is clear that the mafic magmatism and sedimentation documented in the lower Hurwitz Group are not linked temporally to the Trans-Hudson orogen, but rather are related to an earlier episode of crustal destabilization and extension, possibly the opening of the Manikewan Sea.


Earlier work has tended to view Delos as an entrepot for the larger Hellenistic grain trade, but during the years of independence (314-167 B.C.) the island relied on the import of grain to satisfy local demand, and this was certainly the more important aspect of the trade in grain, at least from the Delians' point of view. This study explores several issues connected with the local supply of grain. From prices for grain reported in inscriptions and estimates of the local population, the aggregate annual demand for grain is estimated, and the price structure of grain derived; the ratio of wheat and barley prices on Delos is found to differ considerably from that known from Athens and Roman Egypt. The shortage of 282 B.C., assumed by earlier scholars from prices recorded for that year, is shown instead to be a period of atypically low prices. The impact of the sailing season on shipments of grain is explored, and an annual rhythm in grain prices and availability linked to the closure of the sea and the agricultural year is revealed. The Delians tried to reduce the impact of these fluctuations by the public purchase of grain on an irregular basis in the late fourth and third century, as attested through public loans; by the last quarter of the third century they had established a regular sitōnia fund to buy grain for resale at reduced prices. Comparison of funds available, grain prices, and the estimated aggregate demand suggest that the Delian sitōnia was able to cover a significant fraction of local demand; this contrasts with evidence from other cities. Some of the implications of these results for our understanding of the Hellenistic economy are briefly explored.


Women with schizophrenia have a high risk for symptom exacerbation or relapse during pregnancy and thereafter. Relapses are more frequent when antipsychotics are discontinued. This paper describes the case of a 28-year old woman with schizophrenia who continued treatment with olanzapine during the first trimester. Olanzapine, a second-generation antipsychotic, was administered at a therapeutic dose from week 1 of gestation until week 13 when she reported the pregnancy to her psychiatrist. Despite the psychiatrist's recommendation to continue treatment, the patient stopped olanzapine at 20 weeks. She was hospitalized at week 36 for a schizophrenia relapse and was transferred to the obstetrics department where she gave birth by Cesarean section to a normal child. This case is important, illustrating the perils of unplanned pregnancy during antipsychotic treatment and abrupt discontinuation. Ultimately, clinical decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, weighing the risks to the mother in terms of symptom exacerbation and relapse if antipsychotic treatment is discontinued, and the potential risk to the fetus regarding possible teratogenic effects of continued antipsychotic treatment.


Integrated water resources management is a long-standing paradigm that needs to be reaffirmed and strengthened in light of current environmental changes and new development priorities at the international level. A review of progress toward internationally agreed goals related to water provides information on four areas of action that require increased attention. Further, the analysis of pathways taken so far helps to understand why some goals have not been achieved and what role the different levels of governance play in the transition to sustainable development.


Abstract Women have played a significant role in Australian geoscience, and especially in palaeontology. 'Australian' women gained degrees by the early 20th century and began to contribute intensively. Australian-born young women already immured to the rigours of climate and culture, collected and illustrated fossils, enrolled in the first university courses, thrived in the field, in some instances outnumbering and out-achieving men. Where women palaeontologists made their mark they often energetically concentrated on a taxonomic group, making them their own, as Isabel Cookson did with palynology, Joan Crockford with bryozoans, Irene Crespin especially with foraminifans, Dorothy Hill with corals, Ida Brown with brachiopods, Nell Ludbrook with molluscs, Elizabeth Ripper with stromatoporoids, Kathleen Sherrard with graptolites, and Mary Wade, initially with foraminiferans and then the Ediacaran fauna. Brown, Crespin, Hill, Ludbrook, Wade and their contemporaries did alpha taxonomy, classical geology and biostratigraphical studies that laid the foundations for making maps and work that became recognized nationally and internationally. Some achieved greatness; some – Hill, Cookson, Ludbrook and Phillips Ross – by leaving the country, either to gain their higher degree or to work. Many – for example, Hosking, Johnston, Prendergast, Richards, Ripper, Sullivan and Vincent – are or have been mere shadowy figures with a few publications and then oblivion or even tragedy. Women in geosciences spanning the 20th century in Australia contributed some hundreds of scientific papers, maps and textbooks. Abbreviations: AAP, Association of Australasian Palaeontologists; AAS, Australian Academy of Science; AMDEL, Australian Mineral Development Laboratories; ANZAAS, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science; ARC, Australian Research Council; BAAS, British Association for the Advancement of Science; BMNH, British Museum (Natural History), now The Natural History Museum; BMR, Bureau of Mineral Resources, now Geoscience Australia; CSIRO, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization; FGS, Fellow of the Geological Society, London; GA, Geological Association, London; GSA, Geological Society of Australia; GSL, Geological Society, London; GS, Geological Survey (GSNZ, New Zealand; GSQ, Queensland; GSSA, South Australia; GST, Tasmania; GSV, Victoria; GSWA, Western Australia); IGCP, International Geological Correlation Programme (now International Geoscience Programme); IUGS, International Union of Geological Sciences; MBE, Member of the order of the British Empire; NSW, New South Wales; OBE, Officer of the British Empire; PIRSA, Primary Industries Research, South Australia; QLD, Queensland; SA, South Australia; U, University (ANU, Australian National; CU, Cambridge, UK; MU, Melbourne; MUGS, MU Geology Section; SU, Sydney; UA, Adelaide; UMA, MU Archives; UN, University of Newcastle; UNE, New England; UNSW, New South Wales; UQ, Queensland; UT, Tasmania; UWA, Western Australia); UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.


Motor Unit Number Estimate (MUNE) is a quantitative method which has been developed to determine the axon number as close as possible to the real axon number. It is used to assess and to monitor neuromuscular diseases such as anterior horn diseases. The Electrophysiological muscle scan is based on recording Compound Muscle Action Potentials (CMAPs) as response of the muscles innervated by the nerves being stimulated by gradually increased electrical currents. The purpose of this study is to develop a method which will ensure the MUNE by the analysis of the data obtained via electrohysiological muscle scan. CMAPs which were generetaed as a result of gradual stimulation in simulator software were recorded. The absolute values of the differences of CMAPs and the ratio of the mean of these values to the maximum CMAP value were computed through a software created in MATLAB to calculate MUNE values. Hence, it was intended to determine the relationship between the real axon count and MUNE.


After a brief introduction to the topic of business process modeling, the book offers a quick-start into model-based business process engineering. After that, the foundations of the modeling languages used are conveyed. Meaningful examples are in the foreground - each of the underlying formalisms is treated only as far as needed. Next the Horus Method is described in detail. The book defines a sequence of activities which finally leads to the creation of a complete business process model. The Horus Method, incidentally, is not bound to the use of the Horus software tools. It can be used with other tools or, if necessary, be used even without tool support. Important application fields of business process engineering are described, where the spectrum ranges from business process reengineering to the development and implementation of information systems. The book concludes with an outlook on the future of business process engineering and highlights current research activities in the area.


Code-mixing and code-switching are common and well-documented processes in the
speech of multilingual persons. Where multilingual persons are also literate in each language,
code-mixing is also possible in writing. Despite conservative pressures which tend to deem only
one of the languages in a linguistic repertoire the prestige variety, and therefore the primary
choice for written expression, multiliterate authors who are able to assume a multiliterate
readership may use two or more languages in their texts. Some theories of code-mixing are here
summarized, along with a review of code-mixing in spoken Irish. Examination of code-mixing
in modern and contemporary Irish literary texts shows that, structurally, written code-mixing is
for the most part similar to what is observed in spoken language. Functionally, however, written
mixing often has wider aims. Because writing is a planned and conscious form of language,
multilingual writers utilize their greater linguistic repertoires strategically by imbuing different
languages with different symbolic meanings. A full appreciation of such texts requires an
understanding not just of the languages involved, but also of their functions in the cultural
environment and the historical, political, and cultural associations with the other languages.


Introduction Melatonin, the primary hormone of the pineal gland, acts as a powerful "chronobiotic," maintaining normal circadian rhythms. In patients with sleep disorders and altered circadian rhythms, such as occur in jet lag, night shift work, and various neuropsychiatric disorders, oral administration of melatonin can provide the necessary resynchronization of those cycles, at dosages ranging from 0.3 to 8 mg. Synthesis of melatonin from the amino acid tryptophan is decreased by exposure to magnetic fields and by the aging process. Melatonin is a potent scavenger of free radicals and exerts direct inhibition of cancer growth. Various cancer types have been shown to be responsive to oral melatonin (10-50 mg daily), including breast cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and brain metastases from solid tumors. Melatonin has also been reported to lower LDLand total cholesterol levels. Abnormally low melatonin levels have been theorized to be a factor in multiple sclerosis, coronary heart disease, epilepsy, and postmenopausal osteoporosis. These reports, while preliminary, serve to further illustrate the wide range of potential effects exerted by melatonin.


We published the flrst description of a disk-shaped MHD aerodyne, combining pulsed ionization and induction systems. Magnetic pressure tends to push away electric discharge, in region of low magnetic fleld. In the seventies the e‐ciency of the wall conflnement, due to the inversion of the magnetic pressure gradient was demonstrated. It is time now for ambitious MHD projects. We have planned experimental studies of MHD acceleration, combining pulsed ionization, wall conflnement and induction system. We intend to study pulsed ionization systems based on wall micro discharges or microwaves action. We present the difierent features of the project.


The mechanism of high pressure-adapted growth in the deep-sea bacterium Photobacterium profundum SS9 is poorly understood. To gain further insights, two P. profundum SS9R mutants were investigated. FL23 (pbpra3229::m-Tn10) and FL28 (pbpra1039::m-Tn10) had been previously characterised as high pressuresensitive and pressure-enhanced, respectively. FL23 had a growth defect at atmospheric pressure but failed to show high pressure-adapted growth on solid agar. Pbpra3229 is 75 % identical to E. coli DiaA (stimulator of DNA replication and critical for the timely initiation of replication) and 45% identical to E. coli GmhA (essential for lipopolysaccharide core biosynthesis), which led to an investigation into whether either process was affected in FL23. However, the lipopolysaccharide of FL23 and its parent strain were identical, which suggests that Pbpra3229 is not a GmhA homologue. In contrast, the pbpra3229 and E. coli diaA genes were functionally interchangeable and both restored the timing of DNA replication in an E. coli diaA mutant. FL28 had growth and morphological defects at high pressure, but both phenotypes were exacerbated at atmospheric pressure. Pbpra1039 is 55% identical to E. coli SeqA, which is a negative regulator of DNA replication and also essential for timely initiation. Pbpra1039 was shown to be a functional homologue of E. coli SeqA, as pbpra1039 partially complemented the DNA replication defect of an E. coli seqA mutant. Combined, these findings provide evidence that Pbpra3229 is a DiaA homologue, whereas Pbpra1039 is a cold adapted SeqA homologue, and that both positive and negative regulation of initiation of DNA replication are essential for the ability of P. profundum SS9 to adapt to deep-sea conditions. A marine metagenomic library was also screened for clones that produced novel cell envelope polysaccharides and tools were developed to identify cell envelope polysaccharides in P. profundum SS9.


If I closed my eyes, it would have been easy to imagine that I was visiting a peaceful city park. The sounds of birdsong and children's laughter rang in the air, and the odor of freshly cut grass filled my nostrils. But the sweet smells and soothing sounds belied the horror of the place where I actually stood—inside the wrought iron gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Holocaust's most infamous concentration camp. Today the camp is a museum, and there is an eerie dissonance between the tranquility of its sprawling grounds and the mass murders that were carried out here almost 70 years ago. Like many visitors to Auschwitz, I experienced powerful emotions—a mixture of revulsion, anger, and a deep empathy for the millions of souls who suffered and perished there. I also felt a discomfiting sense of doubt about the goodness of humanity, including my own.


ABSTRACT The crisis in Syria has resulted in vast numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Syria's neighbouring countries as well as in Europe. Refugees are at considerable risk of developing common mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most refugees do not have access to mental health services for these problems because of multiple barriers in national and refugee specific health systems, including limited availability of mental health professionals. To counter some of challenges arising from limited mental health system capacity the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a range of scalable psychological interventions aimed at reducing psychological distress and improving functioning in people living in communities affected by adversity. These interventions, including Problem Management Plus (PM+) and its variants, are intended to be delivered through individual or group face-to-face or smartphone formats by lay, non-professional people who have not received specialized mental health training, We provide an evidence-based rationale for the use of the scalable PM+ oriented programmes being adapted for Syrian refugees and provide information on the newly launched STRENGTHS programme for adapting, testing and scaling up of PM+ in various modalities in both neighbouring and European countries hosting Syrian refugees.


Croatia's accession to the European Union (EU) meant, in political terms, the recognition of its political and normative-institutional achievements in the establishment of a nation state and the democracy. At the same time, for the vast majority of Croatian citizens EU membership also had a symbolic meaning: a departure from the troubled past and a return to the Western, European cultural circle, which they have always felt they belong to. This feeling is the source for the strong pro-European orientation, which, as state independence was being achieved, and democracy established—as an expression of the strong political will of Croatian citizens for freedom and autonomy—helped achieve those historical and political goals. The EU was perceived as a framework that would enable those goals to be realized, so there was a general political consensus about joining it among all relevant political actors, and the vast majority of Croatian citizens granted their consent.
 The path to full EU membership was long and arduous, primarily because of the specific conditions that marked the process of establishing a Croatian state and a democratic order. On the one hand, these are endogenous structural and socio-cultural factors: the structure and activity of political actors and the functioning of institutions, which were significantly marked by their authoritarian political and historical legacy. On the other hand, was a war of aggression and a struggle for freedom and independence with long-lasting and difficult social and political consequences. These specific conditions—which none of the other acceding countries had—slowed down the process of democratization and, consequently, hampered the EU accession process.
 All these reasons are why Croatia had the most comprehensive and longest accession negotiations, including the most extensive body of pre-accession conditions. Although the extent and duration of negotiations, as well as the lack of expected support from the EU (especially during the war) have led to an increase in Euroskepticism and criticism of the EU—and consequently to the low turnout in the referendum for accession—the pro-European orientation remained dominant in Croatia. In general, public support for EU accession in Croatia was based on a set of mutually connected factors: identity-based (cultural affiliation), institutional-political (democracy), and utilitarian (socioeconomic benefits).
 In the period after joining the EU, due to insufficient preparation, Croatia has relatively slowly used the opportunities (especially economic) provided by EU. Nevertheless, EU membership has accelerated the increase in institutional capacity and better use of European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). At the same time, the free movement of people, goods, capital, and services, and the opportunities brought by the open EU market, had a double impact: strengthening the economy due to greater orientation toward the EU market, but also slower economic growth, due to structural problems (the lingering power of the state, and regulations to the economy and the market) and increased emigration of the highly educated younger population (chronic labor-force deficit).
 Nonetheless, through Croatia's participation in the EU institutions, the real benefits of full membership are becoming increasingly visible, and the sense of integration in the EU's social, political, cultural, and economic space is growing stronger. At the same time, EU membership affects further improvement of the normative-institutional framework of Croatia.


Massive Multiplayer Online Strategy games present several unique challenges to players and designers. There is the need to constantly adapt to changes in the game itself and the need to achieve a certain level of simulation and realism, which typically implies battles involving combat with several distinct armies, combat phases and diferent terrains; resource management which involves buying and selling goods and combining lots of diferent kinds of resources to fund the player's nation and cutthroat diplomacy which dictates the pace of the game. However, these constant changes and simulation mechanisms make a game harder to play, increasing the amount of effort required to play it properly. As some of these games take months to be played, players who become inactive have a negative impact on the game. This work pretends to demonstrate how to create versatile agents for playing Massive Multiplayer Online Turn Based Strategy Games, while keeping close attention to their playing performance. In a test to measure this performance the results showed similar survival performance between humans and AIs.


SUMMARY Bats (order Chiroptera, suborders Megachiroptera ["flying foxes"] and Microchiroptera) are abundant, diverse, and geographically widespread. These mammals provide us with resources, but their importance is minimized and many of their populations and species are at risk, even threatened or endangered. Some of their characteristics (food choices, colonial or solitary nature, population structure, ability to fly, seasonal migration and daily movement patterns, torpor and hibernation, life span, roosting behaviors, ability to echolocate, virus susceptibility) make them exquisitely suitable hosts of viruses and other disease agents. Bats of certain species are well recognized as being capable of transmitting rabies virus, but recent observations of outbreaks and epidemics of newly recognized human and livestock diseases caused by viruses transmitted by various megachiropteran and microchiropteran bats have drawn attention anew to these remarkable mammals. This paper summarizes information regarding chiropteran characteristics and information regarding 66 viruses that have been isolated from bats. From these summaries, it is clear that we do not know enough about bat biology; we are doing too little in terms of bat conservation; and there remain a multitude of questions regarding the role of bats in disease emergence.


The influence of selenium on cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (c-DDP) nephrotoxicity in mice and rats was assessed, using single doses of both compounds. Sodium selenite, 2 mg of selenium per kg, given l h before c-DDP, greatly reduced blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels and morphological kidney damage in both BALB/c mice and Wistar rats, while administration l h after c-DDP did not. Liver toxicity of selenium was evaluated by measuring serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase and serum glutamic oxalate transaminase and by routine histology. No liver damage was observed in animals treated with sodium selenite, 2 mg of selenium per kg, and physiological saline or c-DDP. Pretreatment with sodium selenite did not reduce the antitumor activity of c-DDP against MPC 11 plasmacytoma or Prima breast tumor in BALB/c mice. The present results indicate that sodium selenite may provide protec tion against c-DDP nephrotoxicity, when it is given before c-DDP. Moreover, selenium has an antineoplastic activity against several tumors. The combination of these qualities may open new perspectives in cancer chemotherapy.


ABSTRACT Despite the important role of emergency department (ED) performance measurement, commonly used metrics remain disaggregated and are not standardized. The objectives of this study are to develop an aggregated performance measure that enables benchmarking EDs with respect to technical and scale efficiencies, and to investigate significant exogenous factors affecting the technical efficiency of EDs. To our best knowledge, this is the first study that examines the scale and technical efficiencies of EDs and helps to address hospital redesign/reengineering. This study formulated input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) models that involve three inputs and three outputs and derived efficiency scores for individual EDs. The DEA analysis indicated that many EDs may not need to modify the size of their operations to improve efficiency. Instead, they may need to focus their efforts on re-engineering their processes to use their inputs more efficiently. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that additional functional areas within the ED, length of stay, and percent of patients who arrive by ambulance were associated with the technical efficiency of EDs. This research is significant in that hospitals can use these models as benchmarking tools, and the findings can be a basis to redesign EDs with respect to critical hospital resources for performance improvement.


Convolutional coding and Viterbi decoding, along with binary phase-shift keyed modulation, is presented as an efficient system for reliable communication on power limited satellite and space channels. Performance results, obtained theoretically and through computer simulation, are given for optimum short constraint length codes for a range of code constraint lengths and code rates. System efficiency is compared for hard receiver quantization and 4 and 8 level soft quantization. The effects on performance of varying of certain parameters relevant to decoder complexity and cost is examined. Quantitative performance degradation due to imperfect carrier phase coherence is evaluated and compared to that of an uncoded system. As an example of decoder performance versus complexity, a recently implemented 2-Mbit/s constraint length 7 Viterbi decoder is discussed. Finally a comparison is made between Viterbi and sequential decoding in terms of suitability to various system requirements.


Polar codes were recently introduced by Arıkan. They achieve the symmetric capacity of arbitrary binary-input discrete memoryless channels under a low complexity successive cancellation decoding strategy. The original polar code construction is closely related to the recursive construction of Reed-Muller codes and is based on the 2 × 2 matrix of the given equation. It was shown by Arıkan and Telatar that this construction achieves an error exponent of 1/2, i.e., that for sufficiently large blocklengths the error probability decays exponentially in the square root of the length. It was already mentioned by Arıkan that in principle larger matrices can be used to construct polar codes. A fundamental question then is to see whether there exist matrices with exponent exceeding 1/2. We characterize the exponent of a given square matrix and derive upper and lower bounds on achievable exponents. Using these bounds we show that there are no matrices of size less than 15 with exponents exceeding 1/2. Further, we give a general construction based on BCH codes which for large matrix sizes achieves exponents arbitrarily close to 1 and which exceeds 1/2 for size 16.


This paper evaluates whether ISO certification enables a supplier to
become an extended resource in a specific sector. The evaluation consisted of a
statistical analysis of data from 90 suppliers to a wind turbine manufacturer.
The suppliers were selected, evaluated and audited as extended resources from
a resource-based view (RBV). We test the differences that the qualified
suppliers exhibit in main ISO processes and we identify specific areas that will
improve supplier relationships. We also demonstrate significant differences
exist when the level of technology the supplier uses is taken into account. Our
results may well be applicable in a wider manufacturing processes context. We
determine that ISO certification alone is not enough to cement a positive
relationship in an upstream supply chain environment, despite such
relationships being crucial to the success of a business, and support the use of a
wider sector-specific certification tool that goes beyond ISO certification


New "urban wastelands" are continually developing in European cities as side effects of economic, technological and political changes. These abandoned industrial zones or former traffic nodes (railways, harbours) have typically been built in the late 19th or in the early 20th century to the fringe of the old city centres. The combination of low estate values with high potential land rents have turned these areas to important scenes of urban transformation since 1980's. Especially locations close to waterfront have attracted investments and resulted rapid changes and new housing and commercial exploitations. There are though exceptions: some areas remain residual or vacant for years. These areas turn to potential places for temporary "lower secondary uses" since no "primary higher uses" are attracted of them. The contextual factors creating "gaps" for temporary uses are weak demand in the local estate market, delays in the political decision making and planning processes, unclear ownership or exceptionally high construction costs caused by soil contamination and massive old infrastructures. This paper examines the nature of temporary uses and users in the central micro-peripheries, the role of temporary uses in the urban development processes as well as their impact on urban cultures and urban economies in five European metropolitan areas. The research has been done as part of the research project "Urban Catalysts. Strategies for Temporary Uses – Potential for Development of Urban Residual Areas in European Metropolises" (duration 2001-2003), funded by the Fifth R&D Framework Programme of European Community and its key action programme "City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage". In this project local case studies have taken place in Amsterdam, Berlin, Helsinki, Naples and Vienna. The research methods have included interviews with local key actors (temporary users, estate owners, planners and other authorities, politicians) and examination of planning and other development documents as well as site documentation with spatial analyses of the patterns of temporary usage of urban space. The research results show that the areas containing temporary uses have succeeded to foster extremely dynamic and mixed uses (art, culture, education, leisure, sports, residences, production, commerce) and to attract heterogeneous user groups (established and start up companies, migrants, system refugees, drop-outs, part time activists, associations). Many of the sites have also attracted user groups working in the same branch, sharing a common production network or co-operating in flexible ways. The spatial analysis proved temporary uses to mean adaptive reuse of urban spaces, being in most cases part of industrial heritage. The residual spaces seemed also to offer a possibility also for weak social groups to take risks and do various experiments with relatively modest economic investments. They created synergy and arenas for collective learning. The results include further strategies, instruments and methods that have been used in some cities to integrate temporary uses into city management and urban design. The most successful best practice examples show that the temporary uses have had clear catalytic effects on local urban culture and economies. It could be stated that temporary uses are an underused resource in activating residual areas and in improving both social stabilization and competition capacity of urban regions.


The Human Cell Atlas (HCA) will be made up of comprehensive reference maps of all human cells - the fundamental units of life - as a basis for understanding fundamental human biological processes and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. It will help scientists understand how genetic variants impact disease risk, define drug toxicities, discover better therapies, and advance regenerative medicine. A resource of such ambition and scale should be built in stages, increasing in size, breadth, and resolution as technologies develop and understanding deepens. We will therefore pursue Phase 1 as a suite of flagship projects in key tissues, systems, and organs. We will bring together experts in biology, medicine, genomics, technology development and computation (including data analysis, software engineering, and visualization). We will also need standardized experimental and computational methods that will allow us to compare diverse cell and tissue types - and samples across human communities - in consistent ways, ensuring that the resulting resource is truly global.
This document, the first version of the HCA White Paper, was written by experts in the field with feedback and suggestions from the HCA community, gathered during recent international meetings. The White Paper, released at the close of this yearlong planning process, will be a living document that evolves as the HCA community provides additional feedback, as technological and computational advances are made, and as lessons are learned during the construction of the atlas.


Stargardt macular dystrophy (STGD1) is the most common form of inherited childhood blindness worldwide and for which no current treatments exist. It is an autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in ABCA4. To date, a variety of gene supplementation approaches have been tested to create a therapy, with some reaching clinical trials. New technologies, such as CRISPR-Cas based editing systems, provide an exciting frontier for addressing genetic disease by allowing targeted DNA or RNA base editing of pathogenic mutations. ABCA4 has ∼1,200 known pathogenic mutations, of which ∼63% are transition mutations amenable to this editing technology. In this report, we screened the known "pathogenic" and "likely pathogenic" mutations in ABCA4 from available data in gnomAD, Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD), and ClinVar for potential PAM sites of relevant base editors, including Streptococcus pyogenes Cas (SpCas), Staphylococcus aureus Cas (SaCas), and the KKH variant of SaCas (Sa-KKH). Overall, of the mutations screened, 53% (ClinVar), 71% (LOVD), and 71% (gnomAD), were editable, pathogenic transition mutations, of which 35–47% had "ideal" PAM sites. Of these mutations, 16–20% occur within a range of multiple PAM sites, enabling a variety of editing strategies. Further, in relevant patient data looking at three cohorts from Germany, Denmark, and China, we find that 44–76% of patients, depending on the presence of complex alleles, have at least one transition mutation with a nearby SaCas, SpCas, or Sa-KKH PAM site, which would allow for potential DNA base editing as a treatment strategy. Given the complexity of the genetic landscape of Stargardt, these findings provide a clearer understanding of the potential for DNA base editing approaches to be applied as ABCA4 gene therapy strategies.


Objectives: This study was to evaluate the perception of senior pharmacy students towards herbal medicines and determine their knowledge towards herbal medicines as well as to identify whether there is any association between the current year of study of the senior pharmacy students and their level of knowledge towards herbal medicines. Methods: Questionnaires which contain 21 items, 6 items in 5 point Likert scale for the perception part while 15 items in limited choices for the knowledge part were distributed to all 3rd year and 4th year senior pharmacy students. The data collected was analyzed by using SPSS software version 12. Results: Most of the respondents gave neutral responses towards the statements that seek for their perspectives in herbal medicines. By the way, the highest portion of respondents (56.4%) was categorized in the intermediate level while the amount of respondents with high knowledge in herbal medicines was ranked the second place among three with a percent of 37.2%. The amount left was in a poor level of knowledge. This study showed that the current year of study was associated with the level of herbal knowledge. Conclusions: Senior pharmacy student knowledge of herbal medicines varies depending on the current year of study in pharmacy program and they were not confident enough in giving perceptions towards herbal medicines. The pharmacy curriculum should be revised in order to enable senior pharmacy students accessing herbal medicines more often and broaden their view and knowledge in that particular field. Key words: Herbal medicines, Knowledge, Malaysia, Perception, Senior pharmacy students.


Large international corporations commonly engage in IT outsourcing. However, the process of evaluating, selecting, and subsequently contracting out or selling the organization's IT assets, people, and/or activities to a third-party supplier creates the possibility of a "Winner's Curse." This occurs when the supplier over-promises on what can be delivered for the contract price. This article presents a longitudinal outsourcing case study that explicates the often abstruse Winner's Curse, its effect on post-contract management and the relationship, and how it was alleviated by agreeing to mutually renegotiate the terms of the deal. Building on auction and IT outsourcing theory, the article provides both a model of IT outsourcing processes and a Winner's Curse typology for understanding IT outsourcing ventures. To avoid the experience of relational trauma as a consequence of a Winner's Curse, this article identifies six lessons that client and supplier companies should consider before signing IT outsourcing deals.


Being a by-product of the well-established charcoal industry, slow pyrolysis bio-oil can be an excellent, cost-effective and renewable liquid fuel. However, even in Brazil, a country with a very clean energy profile and large-scale charcoal production, bio-oil is not properly utilised yet. A simple upgrade of traditional methods of charcoal production can significantly increase liquid fuel output. The concept of a bio-char-refinery, introduced in this paper, for production of charcoal, activated carbon, liquid fuel and variety of chemicals presents a possible approach for the development of biomass-based industry. Successful implementation of this concept could provide significant amounts of fuel and chemicals able to enhance economic development and reduce the consumption of petroleum derived products.


BACKGROUND
Cytochrome P-450 2E1 (CYP2E1) is involved in alcohol metabolism, and the expression of this enzyme displays wide phenotypic variability in humans. It has been proposed that some of this variability in expression may be a consequence of the size of a repeat polymorphism in the 5" regulatory region of the gene and that the polymorphism may segregate with alcoholism. This study examined whether the repeat polymorphism exists in macaque monkeys and whether it associates with excessive alcohol consumption in this animal model.

METHODS
Ten outbred cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) that displayed a voluntary alcohol consumption ranging from 1.0 to 3.6 g/kg/day were genotyped for a CYP2E1 repeat polymorphism. This polymorphism has been documented in the region from -2519 base pair (bp) to -1953 bp of the human CYP2E1 gene 5" distal promoter.

RESULTS
Individual polymerase chain reaction amplification of genomic DNA from each of the 10 monkey samples revealed a single band of approximately 400 bp in the region corresponding to the human CYP2E1 polymorphism. Polymerase chain reaction amplicons from the 10 individuals were sequenced, and each one generated a 370 bp sequence that is 90% identical to the human gene sequence. However, unlike human alleles that contain five to eight repeats, the cynomolgus monkey is homozygous for a single copy of the repeat most closely resembling repeat 8 (88% identical) in the human gene.

CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate that the CYP2E1 distal promoter region in monkeys is very similar to the human sequence yet lacks the extensive repeated DNA found in humans. This includes the rare repeats 3 and 4, which have been postulated to play a role in transcription regulation and to associate with alcohol abuse liability in humans. These data suggest that the CYP2E1 polymorphism arose late in evolution and that the regulation of the gene by this genetic region is not associated with a heavy alcohol drinking phenotype in the cynomolgus monkey.


Rotary kiln incineration combined with the disposal of residual slag on landfills defined by German landfill regulations is the most acceptable treatment for hazardous waste with respect to the environment. The objective of research is to optimise the elution behaviour of HWI-slag. Quality-improved slags may be disposed off on cheaper landfill sites still applying to the landfill regulations in order to save disposal costs. For that purpose, the hazardous waste is mixed with additives which lower the melting temperature of slag and initiate chemical reactions with heavy metals in the rotary kiln. The heavy metals are immobilised in the slag by these effects. Limestone, soda and calciumfluoride are used as additives.


Devices that collect water from the atmospheric air using condensation are well-known. They operate in a manner very similar to that of a dehumidifier: air is passed through a cooled coil, making water to condense. This is the most common technology in use. Here, we present a device that can collect a large amount of water (more than 1m3/s) from the atmospheric air using gravitational condensation. Another novelty of this device is that it consumes little electricity. In addition, the new technology of this device leads to a new concept of pump, the Gravitational Pump, which can be used to pump water at very low cost from aquifers, rivers, lakes, etc., and also to supply the high pressure (100atm or more) needed to push seawater through the semipermeable membrane, in the desalinization process known as reverse osmosis.


Scale model of high specific speed Francis turbines may present at upper part load operation under low cavitation number pressure fluctuation in the range 2 to 4 times fn, the rotating frequency. In the framework of the FLINDT project, pressure measurements on the draft tube wall of a Francis turbine scale model at 104 locations revealed such phenomenon at a frequency of almost 2.5 fn. The phase shift analysis of the measured pressure fluctuations in the draft tube at this frequency points out a pressure source located in the inner part of the draft tube elbow. The spectral analysis of the pressure signal at this location shows that there is energy uniformly distributed in the range 0 to 7 fn. This results from impacts of the vortex rope during its precession on the draft tube wall. The wave speed along the draft tube is calculated using the experimental results of the phase shifts and allows modeling the entire test rig with SIMSEN. The simulation of the hydro acoustic behavior of the entire test rig, including the scale model and the piping system, and considering white noise excitation at the pressure source location provides eigen frequencies of the full hydraulic system. An eigen frequency at 2.46 fn is identified and the corresponding mode shape agrees well with the experimental results. A forced excitation composed of the synchronous pressure fluctuation measured in the draft tube cone added to pressure impulsion peaks at the vortex rope precession frequency is also simulated. This excitation represents the synchronous part of the vortex rope excitation and the energy provided by the impacts on the draft tube wall. The analysis of the resulting pressure fluctuation in the entire test rig shows significant pressure amplitude mainly at 2.46fn, which evidences the excitation mechanism.


The prediction capabilities of unsaturated flow and transport models are often limited by insufficient knowledge about the structural and textural heterogeneity of the soil. To obtain more information about soil structure, texture, and heterogeneity, as well as hydraulic properties, noninvasive spectral induced polarization (SIP) measurements have shown promise. However, there clearly is a need for more detailed investigations on the relation between SIP and hydraulic properties, in particular for unsaturated soil. To address this need, we developed a novel experimental setup that allows simultaneous determination of hydraulic and electrical properties. Our setup consists of multistep outflow equipment for hydraulic measurements and an electrical impedance spectrometer for measurements of the complex electrical conductivity. Two different measurement cells were constructed. The first measurement cell can only be used for nonshrinking soil, while the other one also allows measurements on mildly shrinking soil. Test measurements showed that the measurement accuracy is very high for the complex electrical conductivity. Nonpolarizable point electrodes are used for voltage measurements, ensuring a good contact to the sample for a wide range of water saturations. An experiment performed on unconsolidated sand investigated the dependence of the complex electrical conductivity and fitted Cole–Cole parameters on water saturation. The phase values and chargeability increased with decreasing saturation. The relaxation time associated with a phase peak was independent of saturation and corresponded reasonably to the average grain size of the sand. Therefore, no relationship between relaxation time and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity was found for this well‐sorted sand.


Bioluminescence tomography (BLT) is a new optical molecular imaging modality, which can monitor both physiological and pathological processes by using bioluminescent light-emitting probes in small living animal. Especially, this technology possesses great potential in drug development, early detection, and therapy monitoring in preclinical settings. In the present study, we developed a dual modality BLT prototype system with Micro-computed tomography (MicroCT) registration approach, and improved the quantitative reconstruction algorithm based on adaptive hp finite element method (hp-FEM). Detailed comparisons of source reconstruction between the heterogeneous and homogeneous mouse models were performed. The models include mice with implanted luminescence source and tumor-bearing mice with firefly luciferase report gene. Our data suggest that the reconstruction based on heterogeneous mouse model is more accurate in localization and quantification than the homogeneous mouse model with appropriate optical parameters and that BLT allows super-early tumor detection in vivo based on tomographic reconstruction of heterogeneous mouse model signal.


In 1928, as she was preparing to appear as a defense witness in the prosecution of Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness (1928) for obscenity, Virginia Woolf wrote in a letter: At this moment our thoughts center upon Sapphism--we have to uphold the morality of that Well of all that's stagnant and lukewarm and neither one thing or the other; The Well of Loneliness. (Woolf 555; also qtd. in Cline 255) (1) Woolf's response to The Well--privately caustic, publicly supportive--prefigures the ambivalence that the novel has famously continued to arouse among readers and critics. The Well appeared on the heels of the critical and popular acclaim accorded Hall's novel Adam's Breed (1926), recipient of the 1927 Prix Femina Vie Heureuse (which Woolf herself won the next year), and Hall's novels share certain concerns with Woolf's. Like Woolf, Hall created female protagonists who are artists (A Saturday Life) or writers (The Well of Loneliness), whose thwarted ambitions include an Oxbridge education (The Unlit Lamp), who may challenge conventional gender expectations (The Unlit Lamp, The Well of Loneliness), and whose lives are shaped by powerful (although in Hall's case almost entirely negative) mother figures who embody traditional feminine morality (The Unlit Lamp, The Well of Loneliness.) But Hall is not among the contemporary authors discussed in Woolf's literary journalism. Woolf's dismissal of Hall has traditionally been read as a marking of the boundary between modernist aesthetics and the traditions of Victorian and Edwardian realism from which modernism distinguished itself. As Joanne Winning writes, Woolf "attempts to draw a line between [The Well of Loneliness] and other, more innovative literature being produced around it" (372)--including, presumably, Woolf's own covertly "Sapphic" Orlando, published shortly after The Well of Loneliness. (2) But the terms of Woolf's critique beg more questions about boundaries than they resolve: With respect to what counter-possibilities of motion and heat is the novel "stagnant and lukewarm"? What are the poles between which it falls, the "one thing" or "another" that it fails to be? According to what criteria, in other words, does Hall's novel exhibit the in-betweenness that seems to be the source of Woolf's unease? If it is in-betweenness that is at the root of negative responses to the novel, might it be possible to read that in-betweenness differently, as a source of the novel's strength rather than its weakness? Finally, might Hall's depiction of an "in-between" identity illuminate the problems of grounding narratives of identity in modernist narrative and beyond? Certainly, Hall's curiously "lukewarm" stance toward her immediate literary context--the aesthetic context of high modernism and the intellectual context of Freudian theorizing--seems suggestivh278as a ground for Woolf's reaction. (3) "Neither one thing nor another" accurately describes The Well's relationships to, on the one hand, a Victorian narrative concern with the social and material milieus and, on the other hand, a modernist concern with interior consciousness. The Well's opening sentence--"Not very far from Upton-on-Severn--between it, in fact, and the Malvern Hills--stands the country seat of the Gordons of Bramley; well-timbered, well-cottaged, well-fenced and well-watered" (11)--could not more firmly announce its nostalgia for agrarian, country-house society and, by extension, the traditional novel to which such a setting appertains. And yet Stephen Gordon's trajectory propels her firmly out of the milieu thus announced, into a future defined by exile. The "country seat" becomes a painful reminder, embodying "that inherent respect of [sic] the normal which nothing had ever been able to destroy [in Stephen] ... an added burden it was, handed down by the silent but watchful founders of Morton [Hall]" (430). Similarly, if the novel's plotting notably depends upon the conventions of the heterosexual romance, its climax, in which Stephen engineers her own romantic rejection and embraces authorship as a lonely, terrifying, but generative form of possession, makes clear Hall's belief that she and her heroine were plotting an alternative, if not entirely new, fictional trajectory. …


Biological Collections, which deal directly with identifying and documenting biodiversity, have a major role in assisting biodiversity management. They form the basis for research, documenting flora and fauna and creating repositories of biological information. Without taxonomic research the biological collections would be merely a collection of curious objects, of limited value to our understanding of the natural world. The Environmental Scientific Centre of Qatar University has created a Marine Collection to house the species collected in the region. The species are being identified by taxonomists and deposited in the Marine Collection with a Collection Number and accompanied by descriptive characteristics. The Specify Software Project, a database platform for museum and herbarium research data, is being used concomitantly for registration of each species. The collection includes marine animals from coastal and offshore waters of Qatar, such as invertebrates (poriferas, cnidarians, crustaceans, gastropods, molluscs, echinoderms and others) and vertebrate specimens (urochordata, cephalochordate, Condrictyes, Osteicties and Reptiles). A total of 4830 specimens was collected and are being deposited in the Collection, as well as subsequent samples from new projects, including species for articles in preparation which are currently listed as a new occurrence in Qatar such as; Coeloplana (Benthoplan) meteoris,Branchyostoma arabia, Paranchystus pictodontaeamong several other species. Furthermore the collection houses a new systematic ofPortunus segnis, and the biodiversity of benthic organisms from offshore oyster beds and crabs from the mangrove ecosystem. It is well recognized for any impending assessment of biodiversity indices a baseline of existing data is required and the marine collection at the ESC will be a crucial tool in any future research or environmental monitoring programs that might be undertaken in not only Qatar but the Arabian Gulf.


When a member of Congress introduces legislation, the Constitution requires that legislative proposal to secure the approval of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the president (unless Congress overrides a presidential veto) before it can become law. In all cases, either chamber of Congress may block it.In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB. When the unelected government officials on this board submit a legislative proposal to Congress, it automatically becomes law: PPACA requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement it. Blocking an IPAB "proposal" requires at a minimum that the House and the Senate and the president agree on a substitute. The Board's edicts therefore can become law without congressional action, congressional approval, meaningful congressional oversight, or being subject to a presidential veto. Citizens will have no power to challenge IPAB's edicts in court. Worse, PPACA forbids Congress from repealing IPAB outside of a seven-month window in the year 2017, and even then requires a threefifths majority in both chambers. A heretofore unreported feature of PPACA dictates that if Congress misses that repeal window, PPACA prohibits Congress from ever altering an IPAB "proposal." By restricting lawmaking powers of future Congresses, PPACA thus attempts to amend the Constitution by statute. IPAB's unelected members will have effectively unfettered power to impose taxes and ration care for all Americans, whether the government pays their medical bills or not. In some circumstances, just one political party or even one individual would have full command of IPAB's lawmaking powers. IPAB truly is independent, but in the worst sense of the word. It wields power independent of Congress, independent of the president, independent of the judiciary, and independent of the will of the people. The creation of IPAB is an admission that the federal government's efforts to plan America's health care sector have failed. It is proof of the axiom that government control of the economy threatens democracy. IPAB may be the most anti-constitutional measure ever to pass Congress, and it is therefore tempting to dismiss IPAB as an absurdity that the body politic will soon reject. Until that occurs, IPAB will potentially empower just one unelected government official to impose any tax or regulation, to appropriate funds, and to wield other lawmaking powers.


The outburst of the financial crisis in 2008 raised a number of questions about financial stability and banking development, given that the crisis originated in advanced economies, where the financial sector had grown both very large and very complex. This study presents the results of research into ways of ensuring financial stability in the banking sectors in European and EU associated countries. The empirical analysis for EU member and associate countries is carried out for the period 2004-2014 and shows that significant heterogeneity in the member states' descriptions of their banking sectors not only led to different levels of Z-score, but also to principally different factors influencing the stability of banking activities in EU countries and countries associated with the EU. Keywords: Banking sector, Financial stability, EU Integration.  JEL: F15, F36, G21.


The static dipole polarizabilities and ionization potentials of the first and second main group elements, including the charged ions, are obtained from all-electron relativistic coupled-cluster theory using a scalar relativistic Douglas-Kroll Hamiltonian. Spin-orbit coupling effects are investigated using a fully relativistic four-component Dirac-Coulomb-Hartree-Fock scheme followed by a second order many-body perturbation treatment to account for electron correlation. Periodic trends in the dipole polarizabilities and the ionization potentials are discussed. In each case, a detailed discussion on electron correlation and relativistic effects are given. A relationship for relativistic and electron correlation effects between the dipole polarizability and the ionization potential is established. Particular attention is paid to the evaluation of a near basis set limit quality of the dipole polarizabilities. This is accomplished by the evaluation of all-electron basis sets used, followed by an extensive study on the convergence behavior of the dipole polarizabilities with respect to a finite basis set expansion. The present all-electron dipole polarizabilities are believed to be very precise, especially for charged ions where the availability of experimental values are limited. Scalar relativistic small-core pseudopotentials are fitted and their performance is tested in terms of static dipole polarizabilities and ionization potentials. It is demonstrated that the small-core definition of the pseudopotential (nine-valence electron for the main group 1 and ten-valence electron for the main group 2 elements) enables us to safely omit core-valence correlation without scarifying accuracy. Following atomic dipole polarizabilities, applications are made to molecules starting with alkali dimers and their singly charged ions. The scalar relativistic pseudopotentials of this study are used to calculate equilibrium bond lengths, dissociation energies, vibrational frequencies and the dipole polarizabilities of these dimers. The change in the molecular dipole polarizabilities from the corresponding atomic dipole polarizabilities are discussed in terms of molecular bonding models. Simple ammonia complexes of the alkali-metals and their singly charged ions are studied. The equilibrium geometries, dissociation energies, harmonic vibrational frequencies as well as the dipole polarizabilities of these complexes are given.


Higher education is increasingly realized by net-based scenarios often incorporating collaborative activities. This is accompanied with specific benefits but also constraints. In computer-mediated peer-tutoring for example it is more difficult to construct mutual models, thus impairing collaborators grounding, audience design and coordination. In this paper 'Knowledge Mirroring', that is providing information about the partner's knowledge, is introduced as technological support developed to compensate for these problems. Effects of Knowledge Mirroring on audience design and knowledge acquisition are studied in a simulated peer-tutoring scenario with explaining as basic activity. Analysis of explanations revealed audience design with respect to usage of elaborations and references. Results regarding knowledge acquisition show that learners provided with Knowledge Mirroring were able to draw more inferences on information distributed across the learning material.


This article illustrates the experience that took place in a rural municipality in the South West of Senegal, Ouonck, in dealing with a situation of food insecurity manifested by malnutrition especially amongst the elderly, pregnant women, and above all, children between 0 and 5 years of age.  The period 2004-2005 was particularly severe as a result of drought, persistent poverty and low agricultural output. It was thus with the aim of combatting this dramatic situation of poor health and food insecurity with an improved diet, that, in 2006, the municipality began a project to produce spiruline, thanks to a decentralized cooperation partnership with Bretteville (France). Spiruline is a nutritional integrator in the form of an algae rich in protein that helps to stimulate the body's natural defence system and fight malnutrition. This initiative is noteworthy not only from a health perspective, where very good results were obtained, but also from a social and economic standpoint, having created some local jobs at the spiruline production farm and in the distribution chain.  Moreover, the modality of the farm management encouraged the local population to work side-by-side with the farm manager testifying to the value of this local partnership and the engagement of the local population. Although certain technical constraints obliged the farm to halt production for a period, the experience testifies to how the engagement and sensibility of local communities, coupled with the involvement of a plurality of territorial actors could put in place and fuel a practice with important benefits for the local population, from a health, economic and social standpoint. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Full text available in French only. To view, please select "Francais" in the language box. To watch the video about this experience, in French only, click  here .


We study, with numerical simulations using the generalized nonlinear envelope equation, the processes of optical parametric and difference- and sum-frequency generation (SFG) with incoherent pumps in optical media with both quadratic and third-order nonlinearity, such as periodically poled lithium niobate. With ultrabroadband amplified spontaneous emission pumps or continua (spectral widths > 10 THz), group-velocity matching of a near-IR pump and a short-wavelength mid-IR (MIR) idler in optical parametric generation may lead to more than 15-fold relative spectral narrowing of the generated MIR signal. Moreover, the SFG process may also lead to 6-fold signal coherence improvements. When using relatively narrowband filtered noise pumps (e.g., spectral widths < 1 THz), the signal from optical parametric, sum-frequency, and difference- frequency generation has nearly the same spectral width as that of the incoherent pump.