It is already well known that by early next century rising demand on South Africa's conventional surface and ground water resources will cause water shortages to be severe and frequent. Available data on water in the atmosphere suggests that approximately 6.1012 m3 of water, mainly in vapour form, is transported annually over the South African land mass. This is ten times the volume that will, on average, reach the surface of South Africa as natural precipitation. The rest is destined never to reach the ground. even though it may appear temporarily in the form of droplets or ice particles in clouds. If an additional one per cent of the water in the atmosphere could be induced to precipitate at ground level, this would increase rainfall by 10 per cent, equivalent in volume to the mean annual runoff in all of South Africa's rivers. Widespread benefits, not only for runoff, but also for dryland agriculture and forestry, are instinctively suggested.


The sports circle has focused on the core stability training. With gradual improvement of competitive sports development level, the gap of athletes in the core stability likely leads to the competition failure. It is therefore necessary to focus on the core stability training. In university's volleyball teaching, the teachers must pay attention to the straining strength, allow the students to understand the significance of the core stability training, master the basic training skills and laya solid foundation for the lifelong sports.


The cDNA and deduced amino-acid sequences for dimeric and octameric isoforms of creatine kinase (CK) from a protostome, the polychaete Chaetopterus variopedatus, were elucidated and then analysed in the context of available vertebrate CK sequences and the recently determined crystal structure of chicken sarcomeric mitochondrial CK (MiCK). As protostomes last shared a common ancestor with vertebrates roughly 700 million years ago, observed conserved residues may serve to confirm or reject contemporary hypotheses about the roles of particular amino acids in functional/structural processes such as dimer/octamer formation and membrane binding. The isolated cDNA from the dimeric CK consisted of 1463 nucleotides with an open reading frame of 1116 nucleotides encoding a 372-amino-acid protein having a calculated molecular mass of 41.85 kDa. The percentage identity of C. variopedatus dimeric CK to vertebrate CK is as high as 69%. The octameric MiCK cDNA is composed of 1703 nucleotides with an open reading frame of 1227 nucleotides. The first 102 nucleotides of the open reading frame encode a 34-amino-acid leader peptide whereas the mature protein is composed of 375 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 42.17 kDa. The percentage identity of C. variopedatus MiCK to vertebrate CK is as high as 71%. This similarity is also evident in residues purported to be important in the structure and function of dimeric and octameric CK: (a) presence of seven basic amino acids in the C-terminal end thought to be important in binding of MiCK to membranes; (b) presence of a lysine residue (Lys110 in chicken MiCK) also thought to be involved in membrane binding; and (c) presence of a conserved tryptophan thought to be important in dimer stabilization which is present in all dimeric and octameric guanidino kinases. However, C. variopedatus MiCK lacks the N-terminal heptapeptide present in chicken MiCK, which is thought to mediate octamer stabilization. In contrast with vertebrate MiCK, polychaete octamers are very stable indicating that dimer binding into octamers may be mediated by additional and/or other residues. Phylogenetic analyses showed that both octamer and dimer evolved very early in the CK lineage, well before the divergence of deuterostomes and protostomes. These results indicate that the octamer is a primitive feature of CK rather than being a derived and advanced character.


This article examines the success of the newly founded populist Schill party in the Hamburg state election of September 2001, when it was able to gain almost 20 per cent of the vote and subsequently even managed to become part of the new state government in Hamburg. This success - in its extent unprecedented in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany - is dealt with in light of previous successes of protest parties in Germany. Based on an aggregate as well as an individual data analysis, the authors come to the conclusion that Schill's success can to a considerable extent be explained by well known models of voting decisions and by characteristic reasons for casting a protest vote. Therefore, the Schill party can be termed a protest party that is not likely to prevail despite of its meteoric rise.


Ad platforms such as Facebook, Google and LinkedIn promise value for advertisers through their targeted advertising. However, multiple studies have shown that ad delivery on such platforms can be skewed by gender or race due to hidden algorithmic optimization by the platforms, even when not requested by the advertisers. Building on prior work measuring skew in ad delivery, we develop a new methodology for black-box auditing of algorithms for discrimination in the delivery of job advertisements. Our first contribution is to identify the distinction between skew in ad delivery due to protected categories such as gender or race, from skew due to differences in qualification among people in the targeted audience. This distinction is important in U.S. law, where ads may be targeted based on qualifications, but not on protected categories. Second, we develop an auditing methodology that distinguishes between skew explainable by differences in qualifications from other factors, such as the ad platform's optimization for engagement or training its algorithms on biased data. Our method controls for job qualification by comparing ad delivery of two concurrent ads for similar jobs, but for a pair of companies with different de facto gender distributions of employees. We describe the careful statistical tests that establish evidence of non-qualification skew in the results. Third, we apply our proposed methodology to two prominent targeted advertising platforms for job ads: Facebook and LinkedIn. We confirm skew by gender in ad delivery on Facebook, and show that it cannot be justified by differences in qualifications. We fail to find skew in ad delivery on LinkedIn. Finally, we suggest improvements to ad platform practices that could make external auditing of their algorithms in the public interest more feasible and accurate.


As governments become increasingly concerned about the fiscal implications of the ageing population, labour market policies have sought to encourage mature workers to remain in the labour force. The `human capital' discourses motivating these policies rest on the assumption that older workers armed with motivation and vocational skills will be able to return to fulfilling work. This article uses the post-redundancy recruitment experiences of former Ansett Airlines flight attendants to develop a critique of these expectations. It suggests that policies to increase older workers' labour market participation will not succeed while persistent socially constructed age- and gender-typing shape labour demand. The conclusion argues for policies sensitive to the institutional structures that shape employer preferences, the competitive rationality of discriminatory practices, and the irresolvable tension between workers' human rights and employers' property rights.


We investigate some repetition problems for a very special class $\mathcal{S}$ of strings called the standard Sturmian words, which  have very compact representations in terms of sequences of integers. Usually the size of this word is exponential with respect to the size of its integer sequence, hence we are dealing with repetition problems in compressed strings. An explicit formula is given for the number $\rho(w)$ of runs in a standard word $w$. We show that $\rho(w)/|w|\le 4/5$ for each $w\in S$, and  there is an infinite sequence of strictly growing words $w_k\in {\mathcal{S}}$ such that $\lim_{k\rightarrow \infty} \frac{\rho(w_k)}{|w_k|} = \frac{4}{5}$. Moreover, we show how to compute the number of runs in a standard Sturmian word in linear time with respect to the size of its compressed representation.


Recognition of multifocal vasculopathy due to varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is often problematic. We describe a human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient who had progressive central nervous system disease for >3 months. Both VZV DNA and antibody were detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens; serial polymerase chain reaction analyses confirmed the diagnosis and guided the duration of therapy. Reduced ratios of VZV antibody in serum to that in CSF were also demonstrated.


Rationale Modulating mitochondrial morphology may alleviate cardiac disease by preventing mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) tethers junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (jSR) to mitochondria. Standard 2D electron microscopy (2D-EM) does not allow the accurate assessment of mitochondrial morphology and jSR in the adult heart. Here, we investigate whether 3D-EM tomography, which allows one to image the mitochondria and jSR in 3-dimensions, can provide a more objective and accurate assessment of these features. Methodology Electron micrographs of serially sectioned samples, obtained from left ventricular tissue harvested from either 8 week-old wild-type (WT) and Mfn2−/− mice, were imaged using either standard 2D-EM or 3D-EM tomography. Specific regions containing juxtaposed mitochondria and jSR were aligned, segmented, and reconstructed in 3D using Amira V.5. Results In 2D-EM the Mfn2−/− mitochondria appeared to be larger, whereas in 3D-EM tomography the mitochondria appeared to be either similar or smaller in size, when compared to WT. Measuring the distance between mitochondria and jSR using 2D-EM gave highly variable results. However, 3D-EM allowed one to reconstruct the space between the juxtaposed organelles in 3D allowing a more accurate measurement of this distance. Conclusions Here, we show that 3D-EM tomography is superior to 2D-EM in the assessment of mitochondrial morphology and can be used to more accurately measure the distance between mitochondrial and jSR in the adult heart. 3D-EM tomography will enable one to accurately assess mitochondrial morphology in different cardiac diseases (acute IRI, heart failure, LVH) and in the presence of co-morbidities (diabetes, metabolic syndrome, age).


The 1927 Solvay conference was perhaps the most important meeting in the history of quantum theory. Contrary to popular belief, the interpretation of quantum theory was not settled at this conference, and no consensus was reached. Instead, a range of sharply conflicting views were presented and extensively discussed, including de Broglie's pilot-wave theory, Born and Heisenberg's quantum mechanics, and Schrödinger's wave mechanics. Today, there is no longer an established or dominant interpretation of quantum theory, so it is important to re-evaluate the historical sources and keep the interpretation debate open. This book contains a complete translation of the original proceedings, with background essays on the three main interpretations of quantum theory presented at the conference, and an extensive analysis of the lectures and discussions in the light of current research in the foundations of quantum theory. The proceedings contain much unexpected material, including extensive discussions of de Broglie's pilot-wave theory (which de Broglie presented for a many-body system), and a theory of 'quantum mechanics' apparently lacking in wave function collapse or fundamental time evolution. This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in physics and in the history and philosophy of quantum theory.


Abstract. Rapid changes in the ionospheric current system give rise to induction currents in the conducting ground that can significantly contribute to magnetic and especially electric fields at the Earth's surface. Previous studies have concentrated on the surface fields, as they are important in, for example, interpreting magnetometer measurements or in the studies of the Earth's conductivity structure. In this paper we investigate the effects of induction fields at the ionospheric altitudes for several realistic ionospheric current models (Westward Travelling Surge, Ω-band, Giant Pulsation). Our main conclusions are: 1) The secondary electric field caused by the Earth's induction is relatively small at the ionospheric altitude, at most 0.4 mV/m or a few percent of the total electric field; 2) The primary induced field due to ionospheric self-induction is locally important, ~ a few mV/m, in some "hot spots", where the ionospheric conductivity is high and the total electric field is low. However, our approximate calculation only gives an upper estimate for the primary induced electric field; 3) The secondary magnetic field caused by the Earth's induction may significantly affect the magnetic measurements of low orbiting satellites. The secondary contribution from the Earth's currents is largest in the vertical component of the magnetic field, where it may be around 50% of the field caused by ionospheric currents. Keywords. Geomagnetism and paleomagnetism (geomagnetic induction) – Ionosphere (electric fields and currents)


Desmopressin acetate is a potent synthetic peptide hormone. A more acceptable route of Desmopressin acetate is a potent synthetic peptide hormone. That is administered via parenteral, intranasal, and oral routes. A more acceptable route of administration with potentially good bioavailability could be offered by transdermal delivery. The present work reports on the development of water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsions for the transdermal administration of desmopressin acetate. A water-in-oil nano/submicron emulsions for transdermal administration of desmopressin developed. Its skin penetration profiles determined using Franz-diffusion cell. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams for emulsion regions constructed. Effects of hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), ratio of surfactants and co-surfactant mixture to oil phase (Smix/oil), and ratio of surfactants to co-surfactant (S/Cs) on skin flux evaluated. Skin flux was increased when S/Cs and Smix/oil were decreased, and HLB was increased. Optimized formulation was obtained as: HLB=8, S/Cs=3 and Smix/oil=5.4, with average particle size of 69nm. The optimized nano/submicron emulsions increased desmopressin skin flux 4.45 fold relative to drug solution.


The relationship between law, foreign direct investment (FDI) and development is a neglected area of investigation, and this study seeks to contribute to the understanding of that relationship through an analysis of the legal regulation of FDI in Kuwait. As well as offering a general theoretical appraisal of the role of FDI in development, it puts forward some practical proposals for legislative innovation and administrative reform in Kuwait with the intention of showing how greater encouragement can be given to the expansion of FDI with a view to promoting the country's future economic and social well-being.

The approach in this thesis stresses the importance of considering the effectiveness of Kuwait's FDI regulations against the background of the country's historical evolution and in relation to the distinctive patterns of political economy which have emerged in Kuwait's twentieth-century transformation from a traditional to a more modern society with an impressive level of welfare provision. In this respect, considerable attention is given to the significance of the various oil concession agreements between Kuwait and foreign investors for the exploration and marketing of oil. It is these agreements which have led directly to the growth and development of the country's current FDI regulations, and which have gradually enabled Kuwait to determine its own foreign investment policies as British influence has declined and national independence has been gained. Criticisms are offered, however, of the failure of Kuwait to pay sufficient attention to the role of FDI in the non-oil sectors of the economy.

The close examination of the law and administrative practice of FDI in Kuwait reveals a range of failings and inadequacies which have tended to have a negative effect on the attraction of FDI. This particular area of policy in Kuwait has developed in a somewhat piecemeal fashion without sufficient coherence and co-ordination.


The use of tree thinking in learning biology is still rarely used. The purpose of this study was to identify the tree thinking emergence profile of senior high school students through the inquiry-based learning model. This research is using the experimental method. The approach used in this research is a qualitative approach. The population in this study was 36 students of class X in SMA Negeri Sukabumi. The samples were taken by using a purposive sampling technique. The data collection was performed using a written test in the form of LKS by using five tree thinking indicators. The results showed that the value of tree thinking students for the first indicator gained a percentage of 69% included in the good category, the second indicator obtained a percentage of 63% included in the good category, the third indicator received a percentage of 73% included in the good category, the fourth indicator obtained a percentage of 81% included in the very category good, and the fifth indicator gets a percentage of 52% included in the category enough. This result leads to the Student learning outcomes that are categorized as good because the students follow the learning by using models, strategies, and learning approaches that can improve their ability of tree thinking in Arthropoda subjects. This study suggests that the inquiry-based learning model can be used as an alternative in learning biology to improve tree thinking skills.


CPR training is an important part of any collegiate recreation facility's risk management plan for injury prevention. Because student employees are the first line of defense it is important that they are properly prepared to respond to any emergency situation. Oftentimes classroom training alone is not enough to prepare employees for emergencies. The purpose of this project was to build a training and audit program for CPR in order to build confidence and retain knowledge and skills for student employees in a campus recreation department. A training and audit program was created based on researching programs used by other universities and reviewing the literature about confidence in performing CPR. Participants for the study were employees at a campus recreation center who held the Floor Attendant position. Participants were asked to complete a short quiz at the beginning and end of the test period, which was four months. They also participated in an audit at the beginning and end of the test period. After the second audit the participants were surveyed on their experience with the program and selfreported confidence in performing CPR before and after the program. Overall, the majority of participants improved between the first and second tests. For audits, 80% of participants improved their skills and for the quiz, 70% of participants improved. When surveyed, most students agreed that their confidence in performing CPR in an audit and real life situation was higher after participating in the program. Most also agreed that they were more confident when performing a surprise audit because it was most like a real life situation. These results suggest that overall the training and audit program does increase confidence for student employees in campus recreation and assist in retaining knowledge. However, more research should be done in order to determine the effectiveness of this program for different recreation departments.


Previous investigations indicated that glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) played important roles in bone turnover via GLP-1 receptors (GLP1Rs) in postmenopausal state. Furthermore, polymorphisms in GLP1R gene were suggested to affect the function of GLP1Rs and be associated with many diseases. However, the relationships between GLP1R polymorphisms and osteoporosis susceptibility and bone strength remain unexplored. To address this issue, a total of 458 Chinese Han postmenopausal women were included in this study. The bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine (L 2 -L 4) and femoral neck was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).  A missense mutation (rs1042044) in GLP1R was genotyped using allele specific TaqMan probes.  Our data showed that genetic variants of rs1042044 were significantly associated with osteoporosis (P = 0.003) and that the C allele of rs1042044 was a protective factor against osteoporosis compared to the A allele with gene dosage-dependent manner (OR, 0.579; 95% CI, 0.366 to 0.916 for AC genotype and OR, 0.404; 95% CI, 0.238 to 0.688 for CC genotype). These findings indicate that polymorphisms in GLP1R gene may affect BMD and development of osteoporosis in Chinese Han postmenopausal women, which provide novel insight into the mechanisms of osteoporosis development and target for personal prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Key words : Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, single nucleotide polymorphism, osteoporosis, bone mineral density.


The Third Edition of Principles of International Business Transactions can be used with any international business law course. It tracks of the authors' popular problem-oriented coursebook, International Business Transactions and their three spin-offs Contracting Across Borders, Trade and Economic Relations and Foreign Investment. Coverage moves sequentially from international sales and letters of credit to regulation of international trade to transfers of technology to foreign investment to international business dispute settlement. Full citations and analyses are provided.


One problem with water-based film-forming systems is the high heat of evaporation, yielding long drying times. Short drying times are commonly important, and solvents with high vapour pressures must be used. This fluorescence microscopy method has successfully been used for studies of low and high volume latex fractions, even for particles with a diameter as small as 100 nm. It is possible to perform statistical analyses from single particles traces, yielding information on interactions with other compounds, as well as changes in the environment of the particle. For fast-drying systems, film formation often occurs under non-equilibrium conditions. The microstructure, frequently due to uncompleted phase separation, is decisive for the film properties. Such microstructures have been found in polymer thin films for optoelectronic devices. Of special interest is the recognition of arrested states and so-called Levy walk diffusion at elevated concentrations, the concentration gradient being a consequence of the drying process


Abstract. We present a parameterization retrieval of volume mixing ratios (VMRs) from differential slant column density (dSCD) measurements by Airborne Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (AMAX-DOAS). The method makes use of the fact that horizontally recorded limb spectra (elevation angle 0°) are strongly sensitive to the atmospheric layer at instrument altitude. These limb spectra are analyzed using reference spectra that largely cancel out column contributions from above and below the instrument, so that the resulting limb dSCDs, i.e., the column integrated concentration with respect to a reference spectrum, are almost exclusively sensitive to the atmospheric layers around instrument altitude. The conversion of limb dSCDs into VMRs is then realized by calculating box air mass factors (Box-AMFs) for a Rayleigh atmosphere and applying a scaling factor constrained by O4 dSCDs to account for aerosol extinction. An iterative VMR retrieval scheme corrects for trace gas profile shape effects. Benefits of this method are (1) a fast conversion that only requires the computation of Box-AMFs in a Rayleigh atmosphere; (2) neither local aerosol extinction nor the slant column density in the DOAS reference (SCDref) needs to be known; and (3) VMRs can be retrieved for every measurement point along a flight track, thus increasing statistics and adding flexibility to capture concentration gradients. Sensitivity studies are performed for bromine monoxide (BrO), iodine monoxide (IO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), using (1) simulated dSCD data for different trace gas and aerosol profiles and (2) field measurements from the Tropical Ocean tRoposphere Exchange of Reactive halogen species and Oxygenated VOC (TORERO) field experiment. For simulated data in a Rayleigh atmosphere, the agreement between the VMR from the parameterization method (VMRpara) and the true VMR (VMRtrue) is excellent for all trace gases. Offsets, slopes and R2 values for the linear fit of VMRpara over VMRtrue are, respectively (0.008 ± 0.001) pptv, 0.988 ± 0.001, 0.987 for BrO; (−0.0066 ± 0.0001) pptv, 1.0021 ± 0.0003, 0.9979 for IO; (−0.17 ± 0.03) pptv, 1.0036 ± 0.0001, 0.9997 for NO2. The agreement for atmospheres with aerosol shows comparable R2 values to the Rayleigh case, but slopes deviate a bit more from one: (0.093 ± 0.002) pptv, 0.933 ± 0.002, 0.907 for BrO; (0.0021 ± 0.0004) pptv, 0.887 ± 0.001, 0.973 for IO; (8.5 ± 0.1) pptv, 0.8302 ± 0.0006, 0.9923 for NO2. VMRpara from field data are further compared with optimal estimation retrievals (VMROE). Least orthogonal distance fit of the data give the following equations: BrOpara =  (0.1 ± 0.2) pptv + (0.95 ± 0.14)  ×  BrOOE; IOpara =  (0.01 ± 0.02) pptv + (1.00 ± 0.12)  ×  IOOE; NO2para  =  (3.9 ± 2.5) pptv + (0.87 ± 0.15)  ×  NO2OE. Overall, we conclude that the parameterization retrieval is accurate with an uncertainty of 20 % for IO, 30 % for BrO and NO2, but not better than 0.05 pptv IO, 0.5 pptv BrO and 10 pptv NO2. The retrieval is applicable over a wide range of atmospheric conditions and measurement geometries and not limited to the interpretation of vertical profile measurements in the remote troposphere.


This essay proposes a new way to assess the desirability of intellectual property rights. Traditionally, intellectual property assignment is assessed based on a incentive/monopoly pricing tradeoff. I suggest they should be further assessed by their effects on the decision architectures surrounding the property right - their effects on how firms make product innovation decisions. The reason is that different decisional structures for product development can be are fundamental to the performance of firms, industries, and even the economy as a whole. The organizational economics literature can help with this assessment. It makes an important and useful distinction between hierarchical (centralized) and polyarchical (decentralized) decision architectures. The key point of this paper is that government's decisions with respect to property assignments can steer decision architectures toward a polyarchical or hierarchical architecture, respectively.


Introduction: Beta Thalassemia (BT) disorders are characterized by a genetic abnormality in the compound of beta-globin chains, one of the most common hereditary diseases in Turkey and worldwide. Some of the characteristic orofacial complication of BT is associated with bone structure. Material and method: Thalassemic and control groups selected retrospectively from the archives of Dortcelik Pediatric Hospital, Bursa. Cephalometric measurements were used in the current study. All statistical analyses were conducted using student's-test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Significant findings were shorter SNB angles, greater ANB angles, greater condylion to point A sizes, protrusive upper lips, shorter interincisal angles, greater value of wits, shorter interincisial angle, greater U1-NA, shorter anterior face height (NaMe), shorter posterior face height (SGo) are significantly in thalassemic patients (n: 26). All measurements have indicated affected orofacial structure. Conclusions: Orofacial complication due to bone structure development in thalassemic patients is pronounced. Distinct findings are treated by orthodontics. When orofacial intervention is applied, the complications were evaluated. All treatments must be controlled by a hematologist.


The influence of climate and soil texture on soil organic matter losses due to cultivation are rarely addressed due to lack of appropriately paired sites. In addition, soil organic matter recovery on previously cultivated fields is not well understood. In this study, we identified seven sites that have native and abandoned fields and five sites that have native, abandoned, and cultivated fields. All sites are in the northeastern Colorado shortgrass steppe, crossing a precipitation range from 320 to 370 mm, and have sand contents from 36 to 67%. Historical cultivation reduced soil C and N across this region by between 16 and 42%. Although variation in native soil C and N at these sites correlates with climate and soil texture, variation among sites in soil losses due to cultivation is not explained by these variables. We used a statistical model and a simulation model to estimate patterns of soil loss across sites ; neither model predicted variation among sites adequately (P > 0.05). We suggest that local-scale variability in organic matter losses due to cultivation are strongly dependent on management practices. With a simulation model and the data from native, abandoned, and cultivated fields, we estimated that 25 to 120 g C m -2 have been recovered on the abandoned fields during the past 50 yr. Such rates of recovery are small compared with loss rates due to cultivation. Rates of soil organic matter recovery are constrained by natural pedogenic processes, which cannot reverse disturbance processes at a comparable rate in this semiarid environment.


With her gripping film The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow (b. 1951) made history in 2010 by becoming the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director. Since then she has also filmed history with her latest movie, Zero Dark Thirty, which is about the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. She is one of Hollywood's brightest stars, but her roots go back four decades to the very non-Hollywood, avant-garde art world of New York City in the 1970s. Her first feature The Loveless reflected those academic origins, but such subsequent films such as the vampire-Western Near Dark, the female vigilante movie Blue Steel, and the surfer-crime thriller Point Break demonstrated her determination to apply her aesthetic sensibilities to popular, genre filmmaking. The first volume of Bigelow's interviews ever published, Peter Keough's collection covers her early success with Near Dark; the frustrations and disappointments she endured with films such as Strange Days and K-19: The Widowmaker; and her triumph with The Hurt Locker. In conversations ranging from the casual to the analytical, Bigelow explains how her evolving ambitions and aesthetics sprang from her earliest aspirations to be a painter and conceptual artist in New York in the 1970s and then expanded to embrace Hollywood filmmaking when she was exposed to such renowned directors as John Ford, Howard Hawks, Don Siegel, Sam Peckinpah, and George Roy Hill.


A natural extension of scalar percolation models of, for example granular superconductors, are superelastic vector models in which nearest neighbour sites with more than one degree of freedom are coupled by infinitely strong central force bonds with probability P and unit strength bonds with probability (1-P). We present results for the density of vibrational states of such a system, obtained from a numerical simulation of a two dimensional triangular network. As the superelastic rigidity percolation threshold is approached from below, the density of states becomes fracton-like and is characterized by a spectral dimensionality \tilded which is greater than the Euclidean dimension of d=2. This behaviour is explained using single parameter scaling, which predicts a value for \tilded slightly greater than our numerical result of \tilded=2.9. No sharp features in the density of states at phonon-fracton cross-over are observed.


As the Christians' religious and meditation environments, mediaeval churches in the West have a specific magnificence and grandeur, always being considered as prominent urban landmarks With the used elements in them, the internal spaces of churches have exclusive characteristics, transforming them into holy places for the prayers of Christians during various centuries. The research hypothesis indicates that the architectural elements used in designing a religious place are successful, when they are advancing towards the religious and believing resources related to the building, and when the political factors, luxury and trappings are the dominating aspects of the building, it cannot create spiritual and religious space for the praying people entering to the place. The aim of this study is to analyze and investigate the spiritual and mystic effects of architectural elements and religious ceremonies of Christians in the Western churches with regards to the field observations, environmental perceptions, and expanding the subject with studying the related topics. Method of collecting the information to develop this study was field information from the Western churches during a scientific/research trip to France and Italy, and analysis of the findings, library studies, and collecting information via questionnaires given to the people that have closely observed European churches. The result of this article indicate the views of Eastern people, who have been in the Western churches for the first time, expressing their environmental perceptions and spiritual feelings about a Christian religious place.


Abstract A series of organo-silicates was obtained from synthetic Na-fluorotetrasilicic mica (Na-TSM) by ion exchange with dodecyl-, tetradecyl-, hexadecyl- and octadecyltrimethylammonium (C12, C14, C16 and C18) bromides. When the concentration of the alkylammonium ions has varied from 0.43 to 3.4 mmol/g of the silicate, the maximum amount adsorbed on the mica was 0.92 mmol/g. As shown by 23Na MAS NMR, ~0.30 mmol/g of Na+ ions were non-exchangeable, even if a large excess of the organic ions was used. The XRD patterns of all the samples obtained show that alkylammonium ions are distributed inhomogeneously within the mica interlayers. As a consequence, the organo-micas contain several phases consisting of randomly and regularly interstratified layers differing in terms of the amount of alkylammonium ions adsorbed. These different layers swell in ethylene glycol in the same manner and form new interlayers with identical spacings. The d001 values of individual organo-TSMs after glycolation suggest that the alkylammonium ions are oriented perpendicular or almost perpendicular to the mica layers. The Na-TSM layers were not detected in organo-TSMs by XRD. The presence of organic and inorganic (Na) mixed-ion interlayers with spacings controlled by the arrangements of the organic ions is consistent with the results obtained. These data also suggest that the alkylammonium/Na+ ion ratios vary in alternate interlayers.


Elementary particles possess quantized values of charge and internal angular momentum or spin. These characteristics do not change when the particles interact with other particles or fields as long as they preserve their entities. Quantum theory does not explain this quantization. It is introduced into the theory a priori. An interacting particle is an open system and thus does not obey conservation laws. However, an open system may create dynamically stable states with unchanged dynamical variables via self-organization. In self-organized systems stability is achieved through the interplay of nonlinearity and dissipation. Can self-organization be responsible for particle formation? In this paper we develop and analyze a particle model based on qualitative dynamics and the Feigenbaum universality. This model demonstrates that elementary particles can be described as self-organized dynamical systems belonging to a wide class of systems characterized by a hierarchy of period-doubling bifurcations. This semi-qualitative heuristic model gives possible explanations for charge and action quantization, and the origination and interrelation between the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, as well as SU(2) symmetry. It also provides a basis for particle taxonomy endorsed by the Standard Model. The key result is the discovery that the Planck constant is intimately related to elementary charge.


[1] The processes of nonadiabatic ion acceleration occurring in the vicinity of magnetic neutral lines produce highly accelerated (up to 2500 km/s) field-aligned ion beams (beamlets) with transient appearance streaming earthward in the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) of the Earth's magnetotail. Previous studies of these phenomena based on single spacecraft (s/c) missions supported the view that beamlets are temporal transients, since the typical time of a beamlet observation at a given s/c very rarely exceeds ∼1–2 min. Now multipoint Cluster observations have led to a new understanding of these phenomena with a spatial rather than a temporal structure. On the basis of 3-year Cluster measurements made in the PSBL, we present statistical evaluation of the beamlet duration (at least 5–15 min) and confirm well-manifested localization of the beamlet along Z and in some cases along Y directions, i.e., approximately across the lobe magnetic field. Earlier results reporting shorter beamlet observations could be understood by invoking not only PSBL flapping motions but also of an additional effect revealed by Cluster: earthward propagation of kink-like perturbations along the beamlet filaments. Phase velocity of these perturbations is of the order of the local Alfven velocity (V ∼ 600–1400 km/s) and related fast flappings of localized beamlet structures in the Y-Z direction significantly decreasing the time of their observation at a given spacecraft. Multipoint observations of beamlets revealed that they represent long-living (∼5–15 min) plasma filaments elongated along the lobe magnetic field (∼60–100RE) and strongly localized in direction perpendicular to the PSBL-lobe boundary (∼0.2–0.7RE). In some cases, it was also possible to estimate the width of beamlet in dawn-dusk direction which was of the order of fractions of RE.


The biology, ecology and identification of plankton and their use in monitoring water quality.

Healthy waterways and oceans are essential for our increasingly urbanised world. Yet monitoring water quality in aquatic environments is a challenge, as it varies from hour to hour due to stormwater and currents. Being at the base of the aquatic food web and present in huge numbers, plankton are strongly influenced by changes in environment and provide an indication of water quality integrated over days and weeks. Plankton are the aquatic version of a canary in a coal mine. They are also vital for our existence, providing not only food for fish, seabirds, seals and sharks, but producing oxygen, cycling nutrients, processing pollutants, and removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.

This Second Edition of Plankton is a fully updated introduction to the biology, ecology and identification of plankton and their use in monitoring water quality. It includes expanded, illustrated descriptions of all major groups of freshwater, coastal and marine phytoplankton and zooplankton and a new chapter on teaching science using plankton. Best practice methods for plankton sampling and monitoring programs are presented using case studies, along with explanations of how to analyse and interpret sampling data.

Plankton is an invaluable reference for teachers and students, environmental managers, ecologists, estuary and catchment management committees, and coastal engineers.


Background: Osborn wave, typically associated with hypothermia, is currently referred to as one of the J wave syndromes due to its clinical potential to develop lethal cardiac arrhythmia; it may rarely be observed in a non-hypothermic setting such as cannabis abuse. Case Report: In this paper, we presented two young cases who presented to the emergency services with unconsciousness, drowsiness, and hypoxia, and also J wave on electrocardiography (ECG) due to Bonsai abuse. Conclusion: Osborn wave may be a significant criterion to initiate close monitoring in a coronary care unit, with supportive treatment and mechanical ventilation as necessary in those patients who abuse Bonsai.


Using a longitudinal community-level data of Indonesia, we test whether a presence of 5 different microfinance institutions (MFI) within a community has contributed to the improvement in the welfare (as measured by per capita expenditure) of the community's population. Applying the Difference-in-Difference analysis to this data, we find that direct access to MFI through its presence in the community has an impact only in rural areas. We find no evidences that direct access to MFI in urban area improves household welfare. Moreover, among the 5 different MFI in rural areas,we find evidence of an impact only for two micro finance institutions namely Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Perkreditan Rakyat (BPR). This finding suggests that BRI, as the largest and most successful state-owned micro finance institution in Indonesia, should maintain its orientation in rural banking services.


Tennessee Williams may be forgiven if his short fiction never approached the phenomenal success of his dramatic works. While his plays explore subjects that were, during the postwar period, considered unseemly (such as rape, psychosis, or incest) or dangerous (such as homosexuality), they are almost always viewed through a theatrically translucent, if thinly veiled, scrim of allegorical existentialism) More often than not, however, this veil is lifted in Williams's short stories, laying bare renderings of miscegenation, violent brutalization, and barely sublimated homosexual desire. Although by applying a sense of "unreal reality" Williams attempts to move his fiction into the realm of atmospheric theatricality, the stories nevertheless retain too much of a "hyper-real" quality that, paradoxically, prevents any lasting imposition of fantasy. As Dennis Vannatta notes, Williams was "the most autobiographical of writers," full of "contradictions and clashing passions" (4), and he easily transmutes these reality-based passions into his short stories, concatenating them together with bursts of sound and fury, signifying everything. That said, it is difficult to imagine what passion could have inspired the notorious short story "Desire and the Black Masseur," written in 1946 but not widely published until 1954, in the midst of Cold War paranoia over the "alarming proliferation of 'commies, niggers, and queers'" that presaged the nascent civil rights and homosexual movements (Saunders 137). While "Desire" is rife with themes of loneliness, pain, violence, and death common in Williams' work, the transformation of these themes into explicit representations of sadomasochism and cannibalism is both surprising and disturbing. The titular Black Masseur's devouring of Anthony Burns is, of course, disturbing, but I would assert that the story's more sinister subject matter lies in the undercurrent of explicitly racial violence both accompanying and as a consequence of the interracial homosexual desire shared between Burns and the Black Masseur. This violence, I argue, manifests itself in "Desire and the Black Masseur" as an allegorically-rendered lynching narrative. Considering the little-disputed claim that Anthony Burns is ultimately cannibalized by the unnamed Black Masseur, my consideration of "Desire and the Black Masseur" as a lynching narrative may seem surprising given the historical antecedents of lynching. James W. Clarke, for instance, points out that lynching in America is usually associated with white supremacists who "used terror, making lynching a public spectacle, to exert absolute power over the [South's] black population. Lynching replaced whipping after emancipation as the public exhibition of raw primordial power of white over black" (274). (2) On its surface, "Desire and the Black Masseur" contains no white supremacists, no public spectacles, and no outright displays of "raw primordial power of white over black." As well, Williams' portrayal of the passions shared by Anthony Burns and the Black Masseur seem, at first glance, to be rather straightforward. Nevertheless, as a southern writer, Williams would have been keenly aware of the angst-ridden postwar dynamics surrounding interracial desire, as well as the penalties exacted for violations of this strictly delineated racial and sexual divide. Southern historian Victoria Bynum states that there was a palpable hypocrisy associated with America's World War II position as a "defender of democracy abroad while tolerating racial discrimination at home" (249), particularly in the South, where the contours of racial discrimination extended deep into the terrains of normative sexual mores. After all, southern society had long been obsessed with the myth of the "black beast rapist" who would, given the opportunity, willingly ravage the pure, virginal, and (of course) white paragons of southern womanhood) Even the merest suggestion that a black man would, in effect, "cross over" into the white world would set off a cascading chain of dangerous events, as Trudier Harris observes: "to violate the inviolable, as any Black would who touched a white woman or became mayor of a town, is taboo. …


The complexity of chemokine response biology has just increased. Mellado et al. report that chemokine receptors can heterodimerize, broadening a cell's sensitivity and response to these proinflammatory cytokines. In both transfected cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the chemokine receptors CCR2 and CCR5 formed homodimers and heterodimers when their cognate ligands, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T cell-expressed and secreted), respectively, were added simultaneously to cells. Surprisingly, activation of the heterodimers occurred at ligand concentrations as small as 1/100th those that activated homodimers. CCR2-CCR5 complexes also recruited the downstream signaling molecules associated with each of the receptors when cells were treated with both chemokines, and expression of either a CCR2 or CCR5 mutant receptor impaired such recruitment to the heterodimer partner. Although each receptor homodimer signals through the Gi heterotrimeric GTPase during chemotaxis, the heterodimer appears to associate with Gq/11. The signal pathways governed by heterodimers also appears to control cell adhesion rather than chemotaxis. M. Mellado, J. M. Rodríguez-Frade, A. J. Vila-Coro, S. Fernandez, A. Martín de Ana, D. R. Jones, J. L. Torán, C. Martínez-A., Chemokine receptor homo- or heterodimerization activates distinct signaling pathways. EMBO J. 20, 2497-2507 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


We introduce a new class of graphs that we call cycletrees. A cycletree includes a basic binary tree and has a unique Hamiltonian cycle. We argue that cycletrees reflect the communication patterns of several common parallel programming paradigms and can be used in various fields of parallel computation. Several minimality, optimality and planarity properties are proved for cycletrees. A subclass of cycletrees is identified as natural cycletrees through an inductive definition. Methods for generating natural cycletrees, given either a set of vertices, a cycle or a basic binary tree, are presented. We present an inexpensive and simple routing algorithm for natural cycletree networks. A superfast parallel algorithm is presented, which dynamically establishes the shortest path router data for the given router algorithm. We compare cycletrees with other interconnection graphs that have been designed for partly similar reasons.


Isoelectric focusing gel electrophoresis was used to look for variant HLA molecules in five patients with HLA-B27 negative ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The isoelectric points of the HLA-A and B antigens from these patients and HLA paired controls were identical. This implies that the HLA-A and B antigens from the patients with AS and the controls are similar. Gene conversion of a nucleotide sequence from a B27 positive gene is thus unlikely to be the explanation for the existence of AS in patients who are HLA-B27 negative by alloantisera typing.


The Kenyan government transferred the management of the secondary education bursary fund from Head teachers and School's Boards of Governors to the newly created Constituency Bursary Committees (CBCs) in the 2003/2004 financial year in line with its policy of decentralization. It is a tenet of decentralization that it leads to enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accountability and local participation in service delivery. However, some educational stakeholders have criticized the new system of disbursing bursaries as inefficient and ineffective and have numerously called on the government to re-examine it. It is against this background that this study was conceived and executed with a view to: capturing the perceptions of stakeholders with regard to the new secondary education bursary disbursement procedure, determining the effectiveness and equitability of the CBCs in bursary disbursement, and mapping the challenges facing the CBCs. This study adopted an exploratory approach using a descriptive survey design. The study locations were Nairobi County and Machakos County. The target population included members of the CBC, Secondary schools Head teachers, BoG chairpersons, PTA chair persons, elected Councillors, Parents, Students, Religious leaders, KNUT officials and DEOs. Data was collected through questionnaires and interview schedules. The study established that the CBCs were rated lowly by the stakeholders. In a five point likert scale (1 low, 5 high), the CBCs scooped very low scores on a number of key variables namely: efficiency (2.48), transparency (2.36), accountability (2.34), representation of local community (2.40), competence (2.19), and fairness (2.50). The study established that the majority of the stakeholders, especially Parents, BoG members, PTA members, Head teachers and KNUT Officials, would prefer that the Secondary Education Bursary Scheme be managed at the school level. The study further established that the decentralized bursary scheme was inefficient with regard to timeliness in making bursary awards for it took more than two months for 50% of the applicants to get their bursary. It also emerged that the bursary had a limited reach as only 21.9% of the applicants in the 13 constituencies received bursaries over a three year period. Indeed, some constituencies had a reach averaging around 10% over the three year period meaning many of the applicants were unsuccessful. According to the head teachers, some 4302 very needy students were locked out of the bursary and some 65 students dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. The study also tested some five hypotheses using ANOVA and established that the bursary was equitable with regard to gender(p-value 0.474), type of school attended( p-value 0.068), type of family set up(pvalue 0.000), family income(p-value 0.000), and region of residence-urban or rural(p-value 0.013). The CBCs faced a number of challenges e.g., political interference by MPs, limited funds against a high number of bursary applicants, delayed release of funds by the MoE, and lack of capacity. In order to improve the effectiveness of the CBCs, the recommends that: MPs should cease being the patrons of the CBCs so as to curb their influence, government should increase bursary allocation in order to benefit more students, government should stick to a schedule for releasing the bursary as this would enable CBCs to plan, and that teachers should be more involved in the screening bursary applicants at school level.


Microbial rhodopsin is a photo-receptive membrane protein of micro-organisms. The most ubiquitous microbial rhodopsins are light-driven ion pumps which actively transport H+ or Clagainst membrane chemical potential. In 2013, we reported a new class of ion pump rhodopsin, sodium pump rhodopsin (KR2) which outwardly transports Na+ ion by the use of light energy. The mechanism of Na+ transport by KR2 was investigated in spectroscopic and crystallographic studies. The results showed that the H+ transfer between photoisomerized retinal Schiff base and its counter ion, Asp116, is a critical process for the Na+-transport function. After this H+ transfer, the protonated Asp116 sequesters the H+ from the ion-transport pathway, and then immediately Na+ is taken up from the cytoplasmic side. The Na+ binds to the site composed of Asn112 and Asp251, and simultaneously H+ goes back to the retinal Schiff base. Then, positive charge of the reprotonated retinal Schiff-base prevents the back flow of Na+ to the cytoplasmic side. Finally, the Na+ is released to the extracellular side. Furthermore, on the basis of structural insights about KR2, we have succeeded to develop new artificial K+ and Cs+ pumping KR2 mutants, KR2K+ and KR2Cs+, respectively. Wildtype KR2 and these mutants are expected to provide new ways of the application to optogenetics.


This book provides a compact history of the gradual development of the US into a great power. Most histories of US foreign policy and development concentrate either on economic growth or on relations with the major powers outside the continental United States. This book, however, emphasizes the longstanding conflict between the US and the American Indians and Mexico, and how the development of the United States as a great power depended primarily on its seizure of large areas of land from their previous inhabitants. Covering Christopher Columbus' famous voyage and US colonial policy up to World War II, the book explains (at times controversially) how the US became a large land area, which proved to be an indispensable tool in its becoming a great power.


This research investigates the institutional implications of co-production as a strategy for development. The study is located within international debates on global development targets beyond 2015 and how cities of the Global South meet the challenges of urbanisation and informality. With forecasts indicating the continuing growth of urban populations, there is an urgent need to consider how governments, working collaboratively with communities, meet the burgeoning demand for housing and basic services and create the institutions necessary for sustainable urban development. Co-production is examined empirically through an embedded case study with the Zimbabwe Homeless People?s Federation, its partner NGO Dialogue on Shelter Trust and the City of Harare Council. The research traces how co-productive relations have evolved between these stakeholders over the period 1997 to 2013. Co-production is considered as a mediating function that supports the creation of spaces for dialogue and problem-solving in complex urban environments. Drawing on sociological institutional theory, the thesis examines the implications of co-productive working on the discursive representation of people in poverty and the institutionalised practices of the state toward low income communities. The research finds that the organisational and deliberative processes associated with co-production are formative: contributing to the efficacy of low income communities and the state to address housing and basic service needs. The thesis reports firstly that community mobilisation has a significant role in bringing together the financial and human resources needed to contribute to co-production. More importantly mobilisation provides the social infrastructure needed to create agential communities. Secondly, where organised communities are involved in the governance of development projects, there is an enhanced capacity to problem solve, which galvanises state support for progressive policies. Thirdly, the research in Harare identified that processes and practices of co-production stimulate adaptation of institutional arrangements. These gain significance over time as they accumulate to affect discourse, epistemic practice and lead to small scale institutional change. The research confirms the potential significance of co-production for sustainable urban development. For communities, co-production serves to shift their subjectivity within existing institutional configurations; creating the potential to act outside of normatively defined roles. For the state, co-production creates an opportunity to establish spaces of deliberation that provide an infusion of resources and can bolster failing legitimacy. However, evidence from Harare also underlines that co-production is contextually defined and adaptive change is fragile in the face of stronger forces of politics and elite interests.


D URING 2002, the Los Angeles County Depa r tmen t o f Health Services (LACDHS) investigated three community outbreaks of skin infections associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA commonly has occurred in health-care settings; however, recent investigations of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) have identified infection in various settings, including correctional facilities, athletic teams, and others (CDC, unpublished data, 2002). This report describes investigations of CA-MRSA in Los Angeles County. In September 2002, LACDHS investigated cases of MRSA infection in two athletes on the same team who were hospitalized with MRSA within the same week. No additional cases of MRSA have been identified. The source of MRSA infection for these patients has not been determined. On November 22, 2002, physicians from two large infectious disease clinical practices notified LACDHS of MRSA skin infections among men who have sex with men (MSM). LACDHS has increased surveillance in selected clinics serving MSM and has begun a study of risk factors for infection among this population. Currently, LACDHS is investigating an outbreak in the Los Angeles County Jail, in which 928 inmates had MRSA wound infections diagnosed in 2002. Patients were reported as having spider bites but subsequently were found to be infected with MRSA. Review of medical charts of 39 of the 66 inmates hospitalized with these infections indicated that all initially had skin infections, but 10 later had invasive disease, including bacteremia, endocarditis, or osteomyelitis. The Los Angeles County Jail is the largest jail system in the United States; 165,000 persons are incarcerated in the jail each year. LACDHS issued recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of skin infections in the jail and is working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to review policies and procedures on laundry, showers, environmental cleaning, skin care, and control of person-to-person transmission. In each of these outbreaks, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns from MRSA isolates of these patients have been similar, including resistance to fluoroquinolones. Molecular analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of isolates performed at the Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory has identified a predominant strain common to all of these outbreaks. The PFGE pattern of the predominant strain also is consistent with PFGE patterns that CDC has identified in community outbreaks from other parts of the United States (CDC, unpublished data, 2003). Selected MRSA isolates will be sent to CDC to characterize their virulence factors and toxins. LACDHS is advising healthcare providers to be aware that MRSA is a documented cause of communityassociated skin and soft tissue infections. Local treatment and incision and drainage remain first-line therapies for soft tissue infections. Clinicians who suspect MRSA skin and soft tissue infections should consider microbiologic culture of wounds and appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Skin infections might be prevented by keeping cuts and abrasions clean by washing with soap and water. Previous investigations of MRSA infection clusters in community settings have identified MRSA transmission through sharing common objects (e.g., athletic equipment, towels, benches, and personal items) contaminated with MRSA (CDC, unpublished data, 2002). To prevent MRSA infections from spreading in health-care settings, health-care providers should use standard precautions and appropriate hand hygiene between treating patients, clean surfaces of examination rooms with commercial disinfectant or diluted bleach (1 tablespoon bleach in 1 quart water), and carefully dispose of dressings and other materials that come into contact with pus, nasal discharge, blood, and urine. The outbreaks described in this report reflect the importance of CAMRSA infections. In collaboration with state health departments, CDC is conducting active, populationbased surveillance for CA-MRSA in selected regions of the United States to help characterize the incidence and risk factors for MRSA in the community.


The theft of gold from primary deposits, primary producers and legal title holders is a major problem in many countries around the world. The identification of the source of gold and the means by which it was beneficiated are therefore crucial in determining ownership and legality, especially in the South African context, where large quantities of gold are stolen and illicitly mined, with major economic losses, predominantly from the mines in the Witwatersrand Basin. Gold usually occurs in its metallic form, often alloyed with a limited range of elements which include Ag, Hg and Cu, in addition to a wide range of trace elements. The concentrations and associated elements are typical for specific genetic types of the gold deposits from which they are mined, and this elemental fingerprint can be used for identifying deposits. Most stolen gold is melted down into small pieces of gold, or consolidated into small bars, which are then traded by criminal syndicates, and finally laundered via refineries. Before it gets to the refinery, however, it is possible to identify (via the elemental distribution) possible sources and processes employed to recover the gold. The processes used to produce illicit gold are discussed, as well as their effects on the gold metal produced, which may have an effect in masking the origin of the gold. The legislation in South Africa regarding the mining and possession of precious metals is discussed, as well as the establishment of the South African Gold Database as a means for combatting the theft of gold from the major goldmining companies in South Africa and the reason for the type of sample selected to be representative of the gold produced at each mine – unrefined d'ore gold. The different analytical techniques utilised for the analysis of gold grains, and their development and improvement of the past few decades are then discussed. It is important that a method to analyse stolen gold be fairly straight-forward and repeatable, so the different types of instrumention with their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. It is shown that the best method for the analysis of all types of gold material, from a comparison point of view and not for absolute analysis, is laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The development of this technique and its applications for gold are evaluated. PROVENANCE OF ILLICIT GOLD WITH EMPHASIS ON THE WITWATERSRAND BASIN 4 The composition of the d'ore samples across the Witwatersrand Basin was analysed in order to determine compositional trends in the extracted gold between mines and goldfields, focussing on three goldfields in particular – Free State, Klerksdorp and West Wits. It is shown that there are two major groups of gold samples, spatially defined, within these three goldfields, which are clearly distinguished on the basis of Pb isotopic systematics and Ni content. It is also shown that the different goldfields can be distinguished on the basis of the d'ore composition, and that to a lesser extent discrimination between individual gold mines in the West Wits and Free State goldfields is possible. Illicit gold recovered from the vicinity of the Driefontein mine was analysed and compared to the samples in the database in order to determine whether the use of d'ore gold samples, produced with the carbon-in-pulp method, would be sufficient to identify illicit gold recovered using mercury amalgamation. It is shown that depending on the elements used, such identification can be made. In addition it is shown that, due to differences in beneficiation methods and the stage within the beneficiation process, the specific type of material processed to extract the gold can be identified. This has important intelligence benefits when investigating the theft and the place from where the material was stolen. The identification of two different types of gold mineralisation within the Witwatersrand Basin, and the use of the database to identify stolen gold from the basin, showed the applicability of the methodology. A second scenario was therefore examined, dealing with gold from two different genetic sources from northern South America, in which illicit gold bars were compared to artisanally recovered gold from two countries, and gold samples from the suspected source as a control. It is shown that in this second case, the two ore deposits could be very clearly distinguished, and even though the artisanal gold was recovered by amalgamation, a clear identification could be made with the control sample. The discrimination made here was much more distinct than that made within the Witwatersrand basin, and this is considered to be due to a single source of gold compared to possible multiple sources, as is the case in the Witwatersrand Basin. Each mine within the Witwatersrand basin extracts gold from one or more reefs, so the variation within and between reefs at the Driefontein mine was studied, using gold prills as samples. The identified variation is discussed in terms of depositional and post-depositional processes, and it is shown that there appear to be two populations of gold within the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR), i.e. one alluvial and the other hydrothermal. For the PROVENANCE OF ILLICIT GOLD WITH EMPHASIS ON THE WITWATERSRAND BASIN 5 Carbon Leader Reef (CLR), however, the prill compositions differ from those from the VCR, and show that the gold mineralisation in this reef could have arisen from another, different process or combination of processes. Individual gold grains from different reefs were then analysed, in order to determine to what degree the d'ore and prill results correlate with the gold grain compositions. Four distinct populations were found, each linked to a specific and different mineralisation process. Within the Vaal Reef, alluvial gold of epithermal vein gold from a granite-greenstone terrane was identified, as well as a second population of gold with an anomalous composition (containing U and Pb) which was interpreted as being of a remobilised origin, being formed during the first stages of diagenesis, and a third population of gold typical of low temperature hydrothermal mineralisation. Gold-bearing carbon from the CLR was also analysed, which revealed gold mineralisation attributed to precipitation of colloidal organometallic compounds. The uranium mineralisation associated with the CLR is shown to be co-eval with the gold on microbial mats, and this mineralisation was the source of the Au (and U and Pb) which was remobilised in an initial post-depositional event. The two populations identified within the VCR are confirmed as being of hydrothermal and alluvial origins. The variation within the Witwatersrand Basin, due to differences between source areas of original detrital material and hydrothermal events post-deposition, provide sufficient discrimination to enable the identification of the origin of seized illicit gold. In addition, the use of LA-ICP-MS enables the discrimination of different gold materials of natural origin to a level not seen before, with trace element resolution at micron scales, resulting in a much better and more precise identification of genetic processes. PROVENANCE OF ILLICIT GOLD WITH EMPHASIS ON THE WITWATERSRAND BASIN 6


The objective of this short paper is to provide an algorithm that generates X(n,m) with a desired intercorrelation matrix, R(m,m). In computer-based simulations (such as Monte Carlo experiments) that evaluate performance of competing estimators of regression coefficients (or evaluate the efficacy of a method of estimation of parameters) under severe multicollinearity conditions, one requires to generate X(n,m) that are highly multicollinear across the variables. Sometimes two variables Y and Z are each cointegrated with another variable X, but Y and Z do not appear to be cointegrated with each other, though, intuitively, one would expect that they should be cointegrated with each other and the transitivity property would be exhibited. By using the algorithm presented here, several examples of X(n,m) may be generated for experiments and further investigation in this line. Experiments that directly or indirectly use multivariate analysis methods (such as Principal components analysis, Factor analysis or Cluster analysis) as a procedure may require X(n,m) with a desired R matrix. In such experiments our algorithm may be useful. We also provide here the source codes of the computer program (in FORTRAN) that implements the algorithm given in the paper. These source codes may easily be translated into any other computer language such as Pascal, BASIC etc, if needed. Some languages may not have a provision to perform double precision arithmetic. In that case, single precision arithmetic may be used. The results would be sufficiently accurate for the desired purpose. In its present FORTRAN codes, the program may be compiled by any suitable FORTRAN compiler.


50 Studies Every Anesthesiologist Should Know presents key studies that have shaped the practice of anesthesiology. Selected using a rigorous methodology, the studies cover topics ranging from pain medicine, critical care, and cardiothoracic anesthesiology to general anesthesiology. For each study, a concise summary is presented with an emphasis on the results and limitations of the study and its implications for practice. Brief information on other relevant studies is provided, and an illustrative clinical case concludes the review. This book is a must-read for health care professionals in anesthesiology and pain medicine and for anyone who wants to learn more about the data behind clinical practice in anesthesiology, pain medicine, critical care, and its broad subspecialties.


Sharon Kivland's vinyl LP To Dream by the Book was played throughout the exhibition on a vintage Marconiphone. A hundred readers recorded the stuff of dreams – those with a spatial quality (though perhaps this is true of the structure of all dreams) – from Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud points out, comparing dream-content (what is represented) with dream-thought (which instigates the dream, turning the text of the unconscious into a play), that content and its account is 'brief, meagre, and laconic' in relation to the complexity and richness of the dream-thought. The dramatisation of the dream is reported, a second edition of an earlier text, but the dream is something new, in which an old wish makes its return.

On Saturday 20 May at 19 h Kivland gave a short introduction to the material of Freud's dream book, followed by the playing of and attentive listening (Michel Foucault called Freud the most famous ear of our epoch) to the LP, which, most excitingly, was be turned over from side A to side B.

The dream readers

Gabrielle Abbott, Katherine Angel, Sean Ashton, Angela Bartram, Emma Bolland, Sean Bonney, Elaine Brown, Laura Brunelliere, Elina Bry, Alison J. Carr, Veronique Chance, cris cheek, David Michael Clarke, Andrew Conio, Francesca Costa, Nina Coulson, Heather Connelly, Anne-Marie Creamer, Amy Cutler, David Crawley, Simon Crump,Thomas Cuckle, Karen David, Jonathan Davies, Uma Debray, Richard Dodwell, Cordelia Donohoe, Bryan Eccleshall, Gavin Edmonds, Lauren Elkin, Fiona Furness, Rachel Garfield, Laura Gonzalez, Helen Goodwin, Katie Goodwin, Philip Goodman, Francesca Gore, Ruth Herbert, Dale Holmes, Miranda Housden, Lizzie Hughes, Matt Hulse, Dominique Hurth, Amber Jacobs, Ann-Marie James, Juliet Jacques, Tina Jenkins, Evy Jokhava Metcalfe, Simon King, Nayan Kulkani, Chris Leach, Mark Leahy,
Elizabeth Legge, Ann-Marie LeQuesne, Brian Lewis, Conrad Leyser, Trish Lyons, Carol Mancke, Alex March, Caroline May, Katherine Meynell, Kristin Mojsiewicz, Harry Moore, Vicki Morris, Michelle Naismith, Megan Nolan,Hestia Peppe, James Petrucci, Timothy Perkins, Roxane Permar, Lucy Pook, Claire Potter, Theo Price, Rose Richards, Katya Robin, Aoife Rosenmeyer, John Russell, Archie Shuttler, Johan Siebers, Ronnie Simpson, Tansy Spinks, Liz Stirling, Isabella Streffen, Linda Stupart, Mimei Thompson, Elisabeth Tonnard, Graham Tunnadine, Laima Vanaga, Patrick Ward, Emmanuelle Waeckerle, Julie Warburton, Ashley West Leonard, Louise K. Wilson, James Whittet, Ben Woodeson, Dawn Woolley, Gillian Wylde, Katharina Zimmerhackl

HoH: Disillusioned they congregated at the gates of those in power to chant an anthem for our times:

Sleep workers cannot sleep
Sleep workers cannot stop
Sleep workers wonder tirelessly
Sleep workers suffer from arousal disorders

Nothing happened... they disbanded and walked away. Wired they chose to rewire, fed up with looking to the past for an allusive origin, they took up threads from that dangerous and adjacent time, the future...

Hysterias are constantly woven out of many threads: they are revised, pulled apart and re-stitched. Their DNA is constructed out of zeros and ones, a spatial code that produced through the punch cards of Plant's looms. Although apparently lacking, the 0fs (or the holes in the card) are the overarching portals that co-construct Hysterias' tapestry. 0fs are the invisible element: they occupy a grey position that cannot be pointed out, as they are a process as opposed to a place. As micro-machines these 0fs act as an infrastructure, which determine the pathways on which the rest of the code travels.

Hysterias start to travel through the 0fs and are denatured, as a result they propagate and replicate streams of code that erect a series of vertical screens from their horizontal subspace. A verticality that is born out of the superhighway of multiplicity, or +0 space-time. Constructed along the rigorous lines of super-adjacency these surfaces operate within a Hyper-Gothic tradition: superimposed screens that ricochet off each other. These Gothic Houses magnify the prismatic qualities of the Hysterias' space time and shoot out matter at diagonals across the space. These vertical shards of matter are travelling faster than the speed of light and bounce around the space, intersecting with any object or subject that they encounter. These super-Venturi's, are both code and structure, they are micro-engineers manufacturing webs out of a Totality+0. Continuous with this coding and imperceptible from it, they weave an alternate space-time.


This technology proposes a lossless, a reversible, and a combined data hiding schemes for cipher text images encrypted by public key cryptosystems with probabilistic and holomorphic properties. In the lossless scheme, the cipher text pixels are replaced with new values to embed the additional data into several LSB-planes of cipher text pixels by multiple layer wet paper coding. Then, the embedded data can be directly extracted from the encrypted domain and the data embedding operation does not affect the decryption of original plaintext image. In the reversible scheme, a pre-processing is employed to shrink the image histogram before image encryption, so that the modification on encrypted images for data embedding will not cause any pixel oversaturation in plaintext domain. Although a slight distortion is introduced, the embedded data can be extracted and the original image can be recovered from the directly decrypted image. Due to the compatibility between the lossless and reversible schemes, the data embedding operations in the two manners can be simultaneously performed in an encrypted image. With the combined technique, a receiver may extract a part of embedded data before decryption, and extract another part of embedded data and recover the original plaintext image after decryption.


The SPAD critical level (Soil Plant Analysis Development) in potato leaves was established to verify the possibility of its utilization in Monalisa potato tuber yield prognosis. The experiment was installed in a Red-Yellow Argisoil having 39 mg kg-1 of mineral nitrogen content. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete blocks with split plot design and four replications. In the plot were set five N rates (0; 25; 50; 100 and 200 kg ha-1), applied in the furrows before planting. In the split plot were set four side-dressed N rates (0; 90; 180 and 360 kg ha-1), applied in bands 10 cm apart plant side at 23 days after plant emergence, before hilling. SPAD indices were obtained from the terminal leaflet of the fourth leaf from the apex (QF) for six times. The first one (SPAD1) was measured three days before the side-dress N fertilization and the others at 7; 17; 27; 37 and 47 days after the side-dress N application. SPAD indices were also determined in leaves older (FM) than the QF. N content in the QF was determined at the first sampling time. SPAD1 index and N content in the QF increased as preplanting N rates increased following a quadratic function, attaining the critical values of 44.9 and 6.15 dag.kg-1, respectively. The correlation between SPAD1 indices and tuber yield was linear and positive, showing that SPAD1 could be used as a prognostic index of potato yield. At all sampling dates, SPAD indices in the QF and FM leaves were affected by N rates but they reached different values, showing the necessity to standardize the time and leaf to be sampled.


Volatile organic solvent (inhalant) abuse continues to be a major health concern throughout the world. Of particular concern is the abuse of inhalants by adolescents because of its toxicity and link to illicit drug use. Toluene, which is found in many products such as glues and household cleaners, is among the most commonly abused organic solvents. While studies have assessed outcomes of exposure to inhalants in adult male animals, there is little research on the neurobehavioral effects of inhalants in female or younger animals. In attempt to address these shortcomings, we exposed male and female Long-Evans rats to 20 min of 0, 2,000, 4,000, or 8,000 parts per million (ppm) inhaled toluene for 10 days in rats aged postnatal (PN) day 28-39 (adolescent), PN44-PN55, or >PN70 (adult). Animals were observed individually in 29-l transparent glass cylindrical jars equipped with standard photocells that were used to measure locomotor activity. Toluene significantly increased activity as compared to air exposure in all groups of male and female rats with the magnitude of locomotor stimulation produced by 4000 ppm toluene being significantly greater for female adults than during any age of adolescence. The results demonstrate that exposure to abuse patterns of high concentrations of toluene through inhalation can alter spontaneous locomotor behavior in rats and that the expression of these effects appears to depend upon the postnatal age of testing and sex of the animal.


Phosphorus availability in soil as a mobile mineral influences forage growth. The purpose of doing this research is to enhance the soil phosphorus availability and grass production of Panicum maximum cv Riversdale by intercropping system with legums. The experiment was conducted based on with randomized design with five treatments of mixcropping of: (i) Gliricidia sepium + P. maximum; (ii) Calliandra calothyrsus + P. maximum; (iii) Leucaena leucocephala cv Taramba + P. maximum; (iv) Calopogonium mucunoides + P. maximum; (v) P. maximum as negative control. Plants were grown in pots with split-root technique using partition with a whole to allow some legume roots grew in the grass side. After growing for three months, on the legume areas 32P isotop solution was injected for 50 ml (11.23 μci/ml). After 21 days incubation samples were collected from both soil areas and both plants. The translocation of 32P was determined using geiger counter from legumes into the grass and the concentration of 32P was also determined in all plants. Forage productions was determined both in the legumes and grass. Result showed that soil phosphorus concentration in the grass area was significantly improved by intercropping with G. sepium and C. callothyrsus, while the one with L. leucocephala was similar, and the one with C. mucunoides was significantly lower than that of negative control (without legume). Detection of 32P showed that there was P translocation in the system. P. maximum grass production depending on kind of legumes (P<0.05) those with G. sepium was significantly higher, L. leucocephala and C. callothyrsus were not significantly higher, while the one with C. mucunoides was 26.2% lower from the control although not significantly. However, C. mucunoides produced the highest forage from the legume plant. It is concluded that grass-legume intercropping had a positive impact on phosphorus soil concentration in the grass area and grass production. Kind of legumes influenced the effectivity.


This paper develops a framework to analyze platform competition in two‐sided markets in which agents endogenously decide on which side of a platform to join. We characterize the equilibrium pricing structure and perform a comparative statics analysis on how the distribution of agents' preferences affects the platforms' profits. We also show that the market equilibrium under profit‐maximizing platforms leads to the first best social surplus, which illustrates the importance of the price mechanism to induce more balanced participation across the two sides. This framework can be applied to analyze market competition for "rental" or "sharing" platforms. In addition, we extend our analysis to consider an initial investment stage, which makes participants the owner of some durable goods to rent out.


From clean drinking water, to seat belts, to immunizations, the impact of public health on every individual is undeniable. For undergraduates, an understanding of the foundations of public health is an essential step toward becoming an educated citizen. Public Health 101: Healthy People--Healthy Populations provides a big-picture, population perspective on the determinants of health and disease and the tools available to protect and promote health. It examines the full range of options for intervention including use of the healthcare system, the public health system, and society-wide systems such as laws and taxation. Through case studies, vignettes, and extensive examples, readers will come away with a clear understanding of how public health affects them in their everyday lives. They will learn and apply frameworks for thinking about the issues of public health and gain a deeper understanding about the health news they are exposed to each day. Key Features: Public Health 101 fully implements the curriculum framework, learning objectives, and "enduring understandings" of undergraduate public health education as recommended by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)* and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR). Frameworks for thinking, checklists, and step-by-step examples provide students with hands-on practice. Case studies, vignettes, and extensive illustrations reinforce the materials and provide interactive exercises for classroom discussions, homework, and examinations. A full package of instructor resources is available online at http://publichealth.jbpub.com/essential/riegelman. * To learn more about the AAC&U initiative, The Educated Citizen and Public Health, or to download the curriculum guide, log on to: www.aacu.org/public_health. Looking for more real-life evidence? Check out Essential Case Studies in Public Health, Putting Public Health into Practice.


Coronary artery disease is not a simple coronary lesion that causes angina, but also combined heart problem that leads to severe ischemic complications as dilated heart failure, valve insufficiencies, heart rhythm disturbances, thrombus formation to secondary ischemic/embolic complications. In order to manage it, several worldwide surgical treatment months, wound assessment, measurement of limb oxygenation, ankle brachial pressures as well as McGill pain questionnaire will be carried out. Blood will also be collected at baseline and at the end of every month of the treatment period (for a total of 5 collections) for the measurement of different biomarkers were divided in two groups: Those with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (Group 1, 54 patients), and those with non-ST elevation. We present here our single center and initial experience on surgical approach for left ventricular restorations and, we found it in conclusion that the outcome of these procedures was quite sufficient.


No abstract availableThis article was originally published by Parallel Press, an imprint of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, as part of The International Journal of Screendance, Volume 2 (2012), Parallel Press. It is made available here with the kind permission of Parallel Press.


Aim. The optimal method for advanced airway management during cardiac arrest remains controversial. Most patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in Korea are managed with a bag-valve mask by paramedics, while physicians perform advanced airway management in emergency departments (ED). Endotracheal intubation (ETI) has a risk of failure at the first attempt. By contrast, I-gel, a supraglottic airway device, is easier to insert than an endotracheal tube and shows a higher first-attempt success rate than ETI in outof-hospital settings by paramedics in the United States. We reviewed the use of ETI and I-gel by ED physicians to assess the first attempt success rate in a hospital setting. Methods. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients with non-traumatic OHCA who were managed with either ETI using a Macintosh laryngoscope, or I-gel in the ED of Korean hospital from January 2012 to January 2014. Results. Of 322 adult patients with nontraumatic OHCA, 160 received I-gel and 162 received ETI. The first-attempt success rate was higher in the I-gel group (96.9%) than in the ETI group (84.6%, p < 0.001). The time from arrival to obtaining advanced airway management was shorter in the I-gel group than in the ETI group. Conclusions. I-gel showed a better firstattempt success rate and shorter insertion time compared with ETI when performed by physicians in a hospital setting.


Dual-Phase (DP) steels are today used in the automotive industry due to its large strength to weight ratio. However, the high strength of DP-steel does have a negative impact on the general formability in sheet metal forming. Unfavourable process conditions in the press shop will, on top of this, reduce the formability of DP-steels even more. This paper addresses the problem of edge fracture in stretch flanges in sheet metal parts made of DP-steel. The experimental part involves tests of ten different DP590 and DP780 steel grades with three different shear cut qualities. The influence on the fracture strain of the sample orientation of the shear cut are also studied by facing the burr away or towards the punch and testing samples with the cut edge parallel with the rolling direction and the transverse direction. The strains are measured with an ARAMIS system in each test, together with punch displacement and punch force. All tests are then simulated with AutoFormplus R7 and the results from these simulations are compared with the experimental results in order to find the appropriate failure strain for each combination of supplier, coating, thickness and shear cut quality.


Odontochitina tabulata, a new tabulated ceratioid species, has been recorded and described from core samples in Well C3-65 in the SE Sirte Basin. This species is characterizd by parasutural and pandasutural features reflecting clear gonyaulacacean paratabulation. It has a short stratigraphic range and is considered as a valuable stratigraphic marker for the Late Santonian–Early Campanian. The diagnosis of the genus Odontochitina Deflandre, 1935 is emended to include forms having a well defined gonyaulacacean paratabulation and narrow pandasutural and parasutural ridges.


The art of embroidery is one of the first hand-minute arts known to man since ancient times, is one of the main sources to give different effects and textures to the surface of the fabric. And with increasing global and local interest in environmental issues and the importance of preserving it, the call was for the necessity of paying attention to re-operating environmental waste as it is one of the most important environmental issues for many countries of the world including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is making a great effort at the present time to solve this problem. And from this waste the remains of different fabrics from garment factories, that Kingdom is currently making a great effort to benefit from it in several ways, because it is of great importance in economic development. This research aims to produce bedspreads with innovative designs for newborn babies using the manual embroidery method and the use of fabric residues to achieve aesthetic and functional values in the designs of innovative bedspreads under research to help support the relationship between local social development centers in the region of Hail. The research methodology is based on the experimental approach by conducting technical and applied experiments and employing them in producing ten innovative design ideas suitable for children's bedspreads, and the descriptive approach using the analytical study to achieve the goals of the research and verify its hypotheses. The study yielded some results, the most important of which were the appropriateness of innovative designs under research, including manual embroidery techniques for the early childhood (from the cradle stage - until the age of two years), also the aesthetic aspects of the design  have achieved distinction and modernity, as well as the requirements for job performance for the purpose developed for it (fit of material and textile structure used), also the possibility of benefiting from the computer was  realized in the design process and in creating designs that are implemented by hand embroidery and suitable for children's bedspreads, that corresponds to the requirements of the Saudi community and can be used as a model for small projects to develop the local community in the Hail region, of Saudi Arabia.


A model is proposed of a population of competing companies that are in a coevolutionary race and whose evolutionary performance is evaluated by a financial market, composed of value investors and of a breed of arbitrageurs that perform bargain arbitrage, trying to identify 'bargains' in the form of relative misspricings and, acting accordingly, buying assets with higher value at lower prices and selling assets with lower value at higher prices.The model's equations are based on coupled networks of nonlinear maps, in this way, the model is focused on a coevolutionary process between companies and financial market. It is shown that, for a wide range of dynamical couplings and parameters, Multifractal Self-organized Criticality (MSOC) takes place, with the emergence of patterns of turbulence that closely resemble actual financial turbulence. The relation between arbitrage and multifractal financial turbulence is addressed.


Anatomy of the Skin Surface. Multimodal Imaging - What Can We Expect. Comparative Studies of Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Multimodal Imaging of Skin Structures: Imagining Imaging of the Skin. Image Analysis of D-Squames, Sebutapes and of Cyanoacrylate Follicular Biopsies. High Resolution Ultrasound. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Human Skin In Vivo. High Resolution In Vivo Multiphoton Tomography of Skin. Optical Coherence Tomography. Fringe Projection for In Vivo Topometry. Confocal Microscopy of Skin In Vitro and Ex Vivo. Histometry of the Skin by Means of In Vivo Confocal Microscopy (CLSM). Two-Photon Microscopy and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy of In Vivo Skin. Stereo-Imaging for Skin Contour Management. Development of a Digital Imaging System for Objective Measurement of Hyperpigmented Spots on the Face. Skin Documentation with Multi-Modal Imaging or Integrated Imaging Approaches. Combined Raman Spectroscopy and Confocal Microscopy. Morphometry in Clinical Dermatology. Measurement of Human Hair Growth. Atopic Dermatitis and Other Skin Diseases. Differentiation Between Benign and Malignant Skin Tumors by Image Analysis, Neural Networks and Other Methods of Machine Learning. Early Detection of Melanoma by Image Analysis. Visualization of Skin pH. Visualization of Skin Oxygenation. Capacitance Imaging of the Skin Surface. Applications of Reflectance Confocal Microscopy in Clinical Dermatology. Sonography of the Skin in Health and Disease. Non-Invasive Imaging in the Evaluation of Cellulite. Effects of Detergents. Monitoring Skin Hydration by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Multi-Spectral Imaging. Assessment of Anticellulite Efficacy. Digital Imaging as an Effective Means of Recording and Measuring the Visual Signs of Skin Aging. Evaluation of Comedogenic Activity by Skin Fluorescence Imaging Analysis (SAFIR). Quantifying Skin Ashing Using Cross-Polarized Imaging. Imaging of Pore Size and Sebum Secretion by Sebumtape During Treatment for Skin Oiliness. Utilization of a High-Resolution Digital Imaging System for the Objective and Quantitative Assessment of Hyperpigmented Spots on the Face.


The recognition that information is, most of the time, incomplete and imperfect is essential in understanding the nature of the formation of beliefs. To understand human behavior in the area of (academic) performance, the beliefs individuals sustain about their ability become crucial. Before performing a certain task, the agent never knows his/her true ability. He/she only has an ex-ante notion of his/her believed ability and the truth is only revealed ex-post. Once the true ability is known and the payoffs realized, we observe different reactions that range from disappointment to happiness. The logical question is then, who would have preferred not to know the truth? This paper deals with the information acquisition decisions of individuals who face uncertainty about their own ability. At a theoretical level (Benabou and Tirole, 2002), it has been shown that overconfident individuals (people with beliefs about themselves higher than reality) with time inconsistent preferences have more at stake when they face the decision of learning the truth about themselves than more pessimistic agents. To test this prediction, a field experiment is designed and implemented, where students face the decision of learning, or not, their true ability before performing a test. It will be shown that overconfident students indeed more often decide not to learn their true ability.