The pulsed action on fluid-saturated nonlinearly deformed porous media is considered. A mathematical model of a nonlinear two-velocity medium was obtained on the basis of the method of conservation laws. The model is thermodynamically consistent and hyperbolic in the reversible approximation. The numerical model is based on Godunov's explicit scheme with the use of a parallel computational algorithm. Numerical modeling of non-equilibrium nonstationary processes in heterophase deformable media for various modes of the pulsed action was made for various values of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters. Dilatancy areas are correlated with a partial density distribution of the saturating fluid. The approach proposed can be used to simulate the operation of oil collectors and in geophysical prospecting.


"To protect the future of life on earth, we need to do more than just reimagine the economy—we have to change everything. One of the seminal thinkers of the program that helped ignite the US Green New Deal campaign, Ann Pettifor explains how we can afford what we can do, and what we need to do, before it is too late. The Case for the Green New Deal argues that economic change is wholly possible, based on the understanding that finance, the economy and the ecosystem are all tightly bound together. The GND demands total decarbonization and a commitment to an economy based on fairness and social justice. It proposes a radical new understanding of the international monetary system. Pettifor offers a roadmap for financial reform both nationally and globally, taking the economy back from the 1%. This is a radical, urgent manifesto that we must act on now."


Emerging post-industrial societal needs require the evolution of existing networks of industrial infrastructures toward more distributed and citizen-centered configurations. This opens up new questions regarding what design processes and practices are necessary to effect change within these systems that are often deliberately not accessible and open for design interventions. We here present a set of design explorations in tracing and materializing infrastructures in order to make them available for design and participation, taking logistic services in a remote ruralarea of northern Sweden as a case study and field site. A design concept consisting of a drone and drone postbox were used to speculate about the possibility of a community-owned delivery network operated by dronesin synergy with existing infrastructures. We used these artifacts in staging participatory processes of imagination and experimentation in order to explore possible future configurations. The project provides an example of a possible framework for initiating and curating the transformationof industrial systems towards more open and locally adaptive forms and functions.In particular, it illustrates the rich potential and opportunities for design when it comes to ways of knowing and designing with the infra- structural—that which is usually hidden beneath the surface.


A newly developed method is proposed to simplify the measurement of ocean temperatures and heat content. That method, which makes use of expendable bathythermograph probes (XBTs), is able to account for variations in the probes such as weight, size, drop height, and wire length. Additionally, this new method accounts for variations in the conditions of the drop region, such as ocean temperature and salinity. The method requires the determination of the drag coefficient which corresponds to the probe's travel through water. This coefficient is introduced into a dynamic equation in which the position of the probe is calculated at a sequence of time steps. The calculated depths are matched with corresponding local temperatures to enable a determination of ocean heat content. The method outlined here avoids the reliance upon experimental correlations which are traditionally used for ocean-temperature measurements. To validate the method, it was applied to two calibrated XBT experiments. It is shown that the new method provides results that are virtually identical with results obtained from industry-standard techniques, and it is possible that the method can be applied to historical archives.


It's became clear that Land is not only a basic factor of production, it also has a number of specific features. Against this background, it has long been recognized that clarifying property rights to land can enhance economic growth through a number of channels: - The mean macroeconomic view is that the land has to be provided and used by government and non-governmental institutions, local community and the private sector for a wide range of purposes. Enforced property rights and security will also increase incentives for land-demand related to investment and thus overall economic output. In that way, the enforcement of property rights to land will provide incentive for good natural resources management - Efficient mechanisms for enforcing the land access and property rights exchange or transfer, are a precondition to promote the land productivity, increase agriculture output and can be used for credit as collateral in the transaction. - Well-defined land rights are an indispensable basis to increase the tax-payees, important mechanism to increase government revenue.


This paper examines empirical evidence of the technological capabilities of firms in the industrial pole of Manaus, in a developing area of northern Brazil. It also investigates the links these firms have with supporting organizations of the innovation system such as universities, research institutes or business incubators. Firms' capabilities are classified by type and level of development, and we also identify the nature of the links between them and the supporting organizations. The paper draws on a sample of 75 organizations from Manaus: 46 firms (in two sectors: electro-electronics and motorcycle and bicycle industries, and their major suppliers) and 29 research-oriented support organizations. The evidence was collected through extensive fieldwork at both the industry- and firm-level as well as from first-hand accounts. From the study we find that all the sampled firms have progressed beyond basic operational capabilities. At the time of the fieldwork, several firms possessed a high level of innovative capabilities in diverse technological functions. Many of these firms have actively established a variety of informal, human resource-based and even research-based links with innovation supporting organizations. These findings oppose prevailing generalizations and assumptions that, as a consequence of globalization and outward-looking industrialization regimes, firms in southern Latin American economies lack technological capabilities. Furthermore our evidence does not support the view that there is a prevailing weakness in the innovation system in this region. Although this study does not explicitly examine technological development over time, we believe it offers an alternative (and more optimistic) view of the industrial reality in this developing area of Brazil. This view, which differs from existing conventional (and myopic) standpoints, could potentially support the design of more realistic industrial strategies.


Abstract The invasive Mediterranean Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) has emerged as one of the most common agricultural pests in the world. In the present study, we examined the cross-tolerance, fitness costs, and benefits of thermal tolerance and the variation in the responses of life history traits after heat-shock selection. The results showed that survival and longevity of Mediterranean B. tabaci were decreased significantly after direct or cross temperature stress and that the number of eggs per female was not reduced significantly. Furthermore, heat-shock selection dramatically increased the survival of Mediterranean B. tabaci within two generations, and it did not significantly affect the egg number per female within five generations. These results indicated that there was a trade-off between survival, longevity, and reproduction in Mediterranean B. tabaci after temperature stress. The improvement in reproduction was costly in terms of decreased survival and longevity, and there was a fitness consequence to temperature stress. In addition, heat tolerance in Mediterranean B. tabaci increased substantially after selection by heat shock, indicating a considerable variation for survival tolerance in this species. This information could help us better understand the thermal biology of Mediterranean B. tabaci within the context of climate change.


For more than 50 years, Ken Price created remarkable and unique objects that have redefined contemporary sculpture practice. Published in conjunction with a LACMA- organized retrospective exhibition, this monograph features superbly reproduced color photographs of Price's vibrant and anthropomorphic work, which has garnered a cultlike following among artists, critics, and scholars since the 1960s. Also included are essays tracing the arc of Price's career and addressing his development as a colorist; a compilation of in-depth interviews from 1980 to 2011; and an appreciation by his friend Frank Gehry, who is also designing the exhibition. An illustrated checklist and chronology as well as an anthology of historical texts from the 1960s allow readers to envision the remarkable trajectory of Price's work. Examining the artist's prolific career and influence, this authoritative book on Price will serve as the catalyst for further scholarly investigation.


Two thirds of American adults are overweight and almost half of those qualify as obese. Obesity independently increases risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), type II diabetes (T2D), and hypertension; thus, strategies to reduce risk in this population are desperately needed. Oxidative stress and inflammation are two perpetuators of these chronic diseases that are often elevated in obesity. Interventions that target reductions in oxidative stress and inflammation may help to reduce co-morbidities associated with obesity. Weight loss is shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. However, the composition of and food choices within the weight loss diet may influence the response of these factors to weight loss, and has not been adequately assessed. We first tested whether there were differential effects of a conventional low-fat, high carbohydrate weight loss diet (LF) and the Atkins diet (a popular low carbohydrate, high fat diet (HF)) on oxidative stress and inflammation. We demonstrated that HF raised Creactive protein (CRP) levels relative to LF in overweight and obese women over four weeks. This finding raises questions as to the long term safety of the HF eating plan in terms of CVD risk. We next examined the role of oxidative stress in the HF diet-induced increase in inflammation by evaluating the effects of an antioxidant supplement versus a placebo in conjunction with HF in overweight and obese men and women. Although our full hypothesis was not supported, as oxidative stress did not increase with HF, the trend for a differential effect on CRP when antioxidants were consumed is provocative. It suggests that future research on the connection between oxidative stress, the macronutrient content of the diet, and inflammation in obesity is warranted. Regarding the effects of specific fats, epidemiological research shows that diets high in saturated fat (SFA) are associated with higher CVD risk while diets higher in omega 3 fats (n-3FA) with lower CVD risk. However, the acute effects of these fats on indices of inflammation and oxidative stress are less understood, particularly in the overweight/obese population. As the majority of the time is spent in the postprandial state, the acute responses to high fat meals are gaining attention for their contribution to endothelial dysfunction and CVD. We showed that acute meals high in SFA increased a marker of endothelial activation (ICAM-1) which could contribute to the atherogenic associations with SFA. Conversely, including n-3FA in a high fat meal acutely enhanced NF-κB activation in circulating mononuclear cells; however, there were no increases in any inflammatory proteins measured over the 6 h postprandial period. It is apparent that dietary macronutrients can influence factors associated with chronic disease in overweight and obese individuals. The evidence presented here may help to refine dietary recommendations for this population.


This study presents the term Participation Cartography as an overarching category of analysis for a wide range of artistic practices that, in one way or another, enable participants to position themselves subjectively in relation to a given performed space.
By re-defining cartography from a discipline concerned with the visual representation of the observable world into a performance praxis that requires audience participation, enabling participants to position themselves in relation to a given performed space, I expand the range of practices considered by previous literature. Further, I raise issues in relation to the connections of subjectivity, space, performance, and cartography.
My argument is that Participation Cartography describes a type of practice in and through which the Subject who moves in space is both mapped and positioned. By linking Felix Guattari's (1995) term 'cartography of subjectivity' with Deirdre Heddon's (2008) investigation on autobiographical tours made by artists ('autotopographies'), Participation Cartography locates the practices here under study within a terrain that blurs everyday life and art, autobiography and representation of subjects-in-movement. In so doing, Participation Cartography expands previous notions such as 'psychogeography' (Kanarinka, 2006, McDonough, 2002), 'collaborative mapping' (Sant, 2004), 'locative media' (Hemment, 2006) and 'autotopography' (Heddon, 2008). Participation Cartography describes a type of social activity or, in Allan Kaprow's terms, a kind of 'participation performance' (Kaprow, 2003) that enables participants to present the self (Goffman, 1990) as a being-in-motion within the public arena of performance. Michel De Certeau's (1984) 'The Practice of Everyday Life' is used as a theoretical model to analyse the tensions raised by Participation Cartography between the artists' strategies, the participants' performances, and the representations of those performances that remain. Positioning, as used within a field in social psychology called 'Positioning Theory' (Harre and Van Langenhove, 1999) is applied to the analysis of the practices here under study. Participation Cartography turns the spectator into a participant. More concretely, participants are turned into both producers and users of cartographies of the Subject they co-produce with others. As a self-reflexive practice that creates agency, it enables participants to fabricate interconnections between performance, space, and subjectivity, blurring the boundaries between art and therapy.
Key practices that are discussed in this thesis include a locative media project by Jen
Southern (UK) and Jen Hamilton (Canada) titled Running Stitch (2006), Untitled
Action for the Arches (2005), a live art work by Kira O'Reilly (Ireland), and my own
collaborative pieces, The Shoemakers' Ball (2006) and We the Colombia National
Team (2003)


This paper reviews several applications of new instrumentation which have been developed for the electron microprobe analyzer and the scanning electron microscope. By using signal modulation techniques and phase sensitive detection, the information from the scanning electron microscope is made more quantitative. Digital techniques applied to photomultiplier outputs allow more sensitive and quantitative measurements of cathodoluminescence intensities and secondary electron emission. The technique of pulse rate analysis is used to enhance the information contained in x-ray scanning micrographs from an electron microprobe analyzer. Several examples of these techniques are discussed.


This paper studies architecting query compilers. The state of the art in query compiler construction is lagging behind that in the compilers field. We attempt to remedy this by exploring the key causes of technical challenges in need of well founded solutions, and by gathering the most relevant ideas and approaches from the PL and compilers communities for easy digestion by database researchers. All query compilers known to us are more or less monolithic template expanders that do the bulk of the compilation task in one large leap. Such systems are hard to build and maintain. We propose to use a stack of multiple DSLs on different levels of abstraction with lowering in multiple steps to make query compilers easier to build and extend, ultimately allowing us to create more convincing and sustainable compiler-based data management systems. We attempt to derive our advice for creating such DSL stacks from widely acceptable principles. We have also re-created a well-known query compiler following these ideas and report on this effort.


The Old Testament is a collection of writings which came into being over a period of more than a thousand years in the history of the people of Israel and which reflect the life of the people in this period. Therefore, there is a reciprocal relationship between the writings or "books" of the Old Testament and the life of Israel in its history. The understanding of the texts presupposes insights into the historical context and the development of the life of Israelite society, while at the same time the texts themselves are the most important, indeed for the most part the only, source for it. This "Introduction" attempts to take account of this reciprocal relationship. The first part deals with the history of Israel. However, its approach differs from most accounts of this history. It takes the Old Testament texts themselves as a starting point and first of all outlines the picture of historical developments and associations which the texts present. An attempt is then made, on this basis, to reconstruct historical developments by introducing material from outside the Bible. This method of working leads to close connections between the second and third parts, because it has to take account of the nature and original purpose of the texts and their function within the biblical books as they are now. The second part attempts to present the texts collected in the Old Testament as expressions of the life of Israel. The third part discusses the books of the Old Testament in their present form.


Significance Individuals with more education tend to live longer. Genetic variants have been discovered that predict educational attainment. We tested whether a "polygenic score" based on these genetic variants could make predictions about people's lifespan. We used data from three cohort studies (including >130,000 participants) to examine the link between offspring polygenic score for education and parental longevity. Across the studies, we found that participants with more education-linked genetic variants had longer-living parents; compared with those with the lowest genetic education scores, those with the highest scores had parents who lived on average 6 months longer. This finding suggests the hypothesis that part of the ultimate explanation for the extended longevity of better-educated people is an underlying, quantifiable, genetic propensity. Educational attainment is associated with many health outcomes, including longevity. It is also known to be substantially heritable. Here, we used data from three large genetic epidemiology cohort studies (Generation Scotland, n = ∼17,000; UK Biobank, n = ∼115,000; and the Estonian Biobank, n = ∼6,000) to test whether education-linked genetic variants can predict lifespan length. We did so by using cohort members' polygenic profile score for education to predict their parents' longevity. Across the three cohorts, meta-analysis showed that a 1 SD higher polygenic education score was associated with ∼2.7% lower mortality risk for both mothers (total ndeaths = 79,702) and ∼2.4% lower risk for fathers (total ndeaths = 97,630). On average, the parents of offspring in the upper third of the polygenic score distribution lived 0.55 y longer compared with those of offspring in the lower third. Overall, these results indicate that the genetic contributions to educational attainment are useful in the prediction of human longevity.


Nakagome et al. reanalyzed some of our data and assert that we cannot refute the mitochondrial DNA–based scenario for polar bear evolution. Their single-locus test statistic is strongly affected by introgression and incomplete lineage sorting, whereas our multilocus approaches are better suited to recover the true species relationships. Indeed, our sister-lineage model receives high support in a Bayesian model comparison.


To demonstrate the inadequacies of informed consent in the contemporary context and the need for better subject protection, this paper begins by scrutinizing the rise of modern informed consent doctrine in international legal documents as well as in the United States arena. After examining the federal regulatory framework governing experimentation with human subjects, considerable attention is given to the doctrine of informed consent and its shortcomings in the research setting, including lack of competence to grant consent, misunderstandings and conflicts of interest between researcher and subject, and the doctrine's incompatibility with several dynamics of the patient-physician encounter. Flaws pertaining to both the research and therapeutic settings are also noted. IRBs' responsibilities for protecting subjects are then explored, along with the numerous factors preventing these bodies from providing adequate safeguards. The paper then discusses current regulations regarding various groups- the terminally ill, women, children, prisoners, and the decisionally/cognitively impaired, including psychiatric patients and the elderly- as well as considerations unique to each. This uncovers shortcomings of current informed consent doctrine and illustrates that meaningful consent can only be achieved by crafting procedures and policies specifically tailored to the needs of each particular population. Next, problems that modern medical research in the gene therapy area raises are probed, and numerous proposals to ameliorate the informed consent process as well as IRB efficacy are offered.


Many successful indoor mapping techniques employ frame-to-frame matching of laser scans to produce detailed local maps as well as the closing of large loops. In this paper, we propose a framework for applying the same techniques to visual imagery. We match visual frames with large numbers of point features, using classic bundle adjustment techniques from computational vision, but we keep only relative frame pose information (a skeleton). The skeleton is a reduced nonlinear system that is a faithful approximation of the larger system and can be used to solve large loop closures quickly, as well as forming a backbone for data association and local registration. We illustrate the workings of the system with large outdoor datasets (10 km), showing large-scale loop closure and precise localization in real time.


The authors start by observing that many hedge funds and managed accounts have impressive before-tax returns, but that their returns may not be as impressive on an after-tax basis. Though tax planning for hedge funds and other investments can improve after-tax returns, recent changes in the tax law, such as the constructive sales rules, have made tax-deferral more difficult. They indicate that one method to defer hedge fund taxable income and convert it to long-term capital gain (investing in the fund through a derivative such as a total return swap) has significant task risks of being disallowed and is the target of proposed legislation in Congress. They then turn to the idea that private placement variable life insurance has the potential of eliminating income tax on hedge fund and other earning and, with proper estate planning, eliminating estate tax as well. They discuss private placement variable life insurance and annuities, the income tax savings, asset protection, and estate planning benefits of such policies, how the insurance can be used as part of an overall long term investment strategy, which investors should consider the policies, and a comparison of United States and offshore policies.


Monitoring screening mammography effects in small areas is often limited by small numbers of deaths and delayed effects. We developed a risk score for breast cancer death to circumvent these limitations. Screening, if effective, would increase post-diagnostic survivals through lead-time and related effects, as well as mortality reductions. Linked cancer and BreastScreen data at four hospitals (n = 2,039) were used to investigate whether screened cases had higher recorded survivals in 13 small areas, using breast cancer deaths as the outcome (M1), and a risk of death score derived from TNM stage, grade, histology type, hormone receptor status, and related variables (M2). M1 indicated lower risk of death in screened cases in 12 of the 13 areas, achieving statistical significance (p < .05) in 5. M2 indicated lower risk scores in screened cases in all 13 areas, achieving statistical significance in 12. For cases recently screened at diagnosis (<6 months), statistically significant reductions applied in 8 areas (M1) and all 13 areas (M2). Screening effects are more detectable in small areas using these risk scores than death itself as the outcome variable. An added advantage is the application of risk scores for providing a marker of screening effect soon after diagnosis.


The growing population of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools and the low academic achievement of many of these learners have been the subject of much debate. A significant related issue is determining the sources of ELLs' difficulty, namely, understanding the distinction between learning disabilities (LD) and learning difficulties due primarily to contextual factors and second-language learning. This article addresses the future directions for research in this area, with an emphasis on the need to build consensus through converging lines of evidence. Issues of sample definition, study design, and methods are discussed; also emphasized in the article is that in order to answer questions about the sources of difficulty for ELLs who are struggling, an understanding of the trajectories and experiences of those not experiencing difficulties is needed. Throughout the article, parallels are drawn between this emerging field of research and the LD research conducted with monolingual English speakers. An example of a study for which the design, analyses, and dissemination relates to many of the issues raised in the article is presented.


By reviewing the experimental and theoretical literature on γ′‐Fe4N, and by a systematic survey of predictions by the LDA, PBE, WC, LDA + U (2×), PBE + U (2×) and B3PW91 exchange‐correlation functionals, the structural, magnetic and hyperfine properties of this material as well as their pressure dependencies are interpreted. The hypothesis is put forward that γ′‐Fe4N as found in Nature is exactly at a steep transition between low‐spin and high‐spin behaviour. PBE + U (U = 0.4 eV) is identified as the most accurate exchange‐correlation functional for this material, although it is needed to fix the magnetization at the experimental value to obtain a satisfying description. Remaining disagreement between theory and experiment is pointed out. A recent experimental claim for a giant magnetic moment in γ′‐Fe4N is discussed, and is not reproduced by our calculations. We expect that the new insight obtained in the present work can lead to a consistent ab initio modeling of other materials in the iron‐nitrogen binary system. In an accompanying didactic section, the physics behind some common exchange‐correlation functionals is outlined. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


A novel simple and compact multiple-path-switching device for multiple-valued decision diagram (MDD) is proposed and investigated theoretically in order to realize highperformance nanowire-network-based logic circuits with advanced functionality. The device is designed on multi-semiconductor-nanowire branches having a couple of size-controlled nanometer-scale Schottky wrap gates (WPGs). The device selects an exit branch for messenger electrons according to gate voltage as a multiple-valued input variable. The pathswitching function is realized by multiple assign of gate threshold voltages and applying complementary gate voltages to the two WPGs. Theoretical investigation based on threedimensional potential simulation confirms that clear current path switching takes place in the proposed device.


Two main chalcones, 4-hydroxyderricin and xanthoangelol, from Ashitaba, which is a food ingredient and a folk medicine in Asia, have been demonstrated to modulate lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 and HepG2 cells. In this study, we investigated the effects of Ashitaba extract on adiposity in mice fed a high-fat (HF) diet and its underlying mechanisms based on adipose tissue and hepatic lipid metabolism. C57BL/6 mice were fed a normal or HF diet supplemented with Ashitaba extract (0.01% and 0.1%, w/w) for 16 weeks. Ashitaba extract suppressed the HF diet-induced body weight gain and fat deposition in white adipose tissue, reduced plasma cholesterol, glucose, and insulin levels, increased the adiponectin level, lowered triglyceride and the liver cholesterol content, increased phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in adipose tissue and liver, inhibited lipogenesis in adipose tissue by down-expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1), inhibited lipogenesis in the liver by down-expression of SREBP1 and its target enzyme fatty acid synthase, and promoted fatty acid oxidation by up-expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1A and PPARα. In conclusion, Ashitaba extract can possibly prevent adiposity through modulating lipid metabolism through phosphorylation of AMPK in adipose tissue and liver.


The aim of the paper is to answer the question: which loading parameter determines the stress and strain fields near a crack tip, and thereby the growth of the crack, under creep conditions? As candidates for relevant loading parameters, the stress intensity factor K I , the path-independent integral C*, and the net section stress σ n e t have been proposed in the literature. The answer, which is attempted in this paper, is based on the time-dependent stress analysis of a stationary crack in Mode I tension. The material behavior is modeled as elastic-nonlinear viscous, where the nonlinear term describes power law creep. At the time t = 0, load is applied to the cracked specimen, and in the first instant the stress distribution is elastic. Subsequently, creep deformation relaxes the initial stress concentration at the crack tip, and creep strains develop rapidly near the crack tip. These processes may be analytically described by self-similar solutions for short times t. An important result of the analysis is that small-scale yielding may be defined. In creep problems, this means that elastic strains dominate almost everywhere except in a small "creep zone" which grows around the crack tip. If crack growth ensues while the creep zone is still small compared with the crack length and the specimen size, the stress intensity factor governs crack growth behavior. If, however, the calculated creep zone becomes larger than the specimen size, the stresses become finally time-independent and the elastic strain rates can be neglected. In this limiting case, the stress field is the same as in the fully-plastic limit of power law hardening plasticity that has been treated in the literature. The loading parameter that determines the near tip fields uniquely is then the path-independent integral C*. It should be emphasized that K 1 and C* characterize opposite limiting cases. Which case applies in a given situation can be decided by comparing the creep zone size with the specimen size and the crack length. Criteria for small-scale yielding are worked out in several alternative forms. Besides several methods of estimating the creep zone size, a convenient expression for a characteristic time is derived also, which characterizes the transition from small-scale yielding to extensive creep of the whole specimen.


Abstract
 In August 2012, a Lasiurus cinereus (Hoary Bat) and 2 Lasiurus borealis (Eastern Red Bat) were netted near Donkin, Cape Breton Island, NS, Canada. Acoustic studies showed the presence of Hoary Bats on at least 3 nights and Eastern Red Bats on at least 16 nights, over a 32-night-long survey starting on 21 August 2012. These records are the first for both species on Cape Breton Island, and significantly extend the known distribution of Eastern Red Bats.


Purpose: To assess the clinical significance of the interaction between estrogen and Runx2 signaling, previously shown in vitro. Experimental Design: MCF7/Rx2dox breast cancer cells were treated with estradiol and/or doxycycline to induce Runx2, and global gene expression was profiled to define genes regulated by estradiol, Runx2, or both. Anchorage-independent growth was assessed by soft-agar colony formation assays. Expression of gene sets defined using the MCF7/Rx2dox system was analyzed in pre- and on-treatment biopsies from hormone receptor–positive patients undergoing neoadjuvant letrozole treatment in two independent studies, and short-term changes in gene expression were correlated with tumor size reduction or Ki67 index at surgery. Results: Reflecting its oncogenic property, estradiol strongly promoted soft-agar colony formation, whereas Runx2 blocked this process suggesting tumor suppressor property. Transcriptome analysis of MCF7/Rx2dox cells treated with estradiol and/or doxycycline showed reciprocal attenuation of Runx2 and estrogen signaling. Correspondingly in breast cancer tumors, expression of estradiol- and Runx2-regulated genes was inversely correlated, and letrozole increased expression of Runx2-stimulated genes, as defined in the MCF7/Rx2dox model. Of particular interest was a gene set upregulated by estradiol and downregulated by Runx2 in vitro; its short-term response to letrozole treatment associated with tumor size reduction and Ki67 index at surgery better than other estradiol-regulated gene sets. Conclusion: This work provides clinical evidence for the importance of antagonism between Runx2 and E2 signaling in breast cancer. Likely sensing the tension between them, letrozole responsiveness of a genomic node, positively regulated by estradiol and negatively regulated by Runx2 in vitro, best correlated with the clinical efficacy of letrozole treatment. Clin Cancer Res; 18(3); 901–11. ©2011 AACR.


In this paper we report on the design, fabrication and characterization of terahertz (THz) bi-material sensors with metamaterial absorbers. MEMS fabrication-friendly SiOx and Al are used to maximize the bimetallic effect and metamaterial absorption at 3.8 THz, the frequency of a quantum cascade laser illumination source. Sensors with different configurations were fabricated and the measured absorption is near 100% and responsivity is around 1.2 deg/μW, which agree well with finite element simulations. The results indicate the potential of using these detectors to fabricate focal plane arrays for real time THz imaging.


In recent years, Western Australian school have faced a significant increase in the number of secondary school teacher resignations. By analysing qualitative data gathered from interviews of 11 recently resigned secondary teachers, and three senior level administrators, the researchers sought to begin to understand the reasons behind a teacher attrition rate that has increased markedly since 2003. By placing the teachers' experiences within a framework of critical social theory, the paper outlines how collisions with power and the negative discourse encountered by teachers established their subsequent pathway to resignation. In outlining these pathways, we have provided an anthology of their existences.


Spinal cord injury (SCI) disrupts the communication between the brain and the spinal circuits responsible for movement, thereby causing severe motor deficits. Current strategies to restore function to paralyzed limbs have separately investigated electrical stimulation of the spinal cord or of the peripheral neuromuscular system. Various neuromodulation strategies, for instance electrical epidural stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord, reactivate spinal circuits below the lesion and enable the generation of locomotor activity. EES targets muscle synergies rather than specific muscles or joints, and can therefore be limited by low selectivity. Accessing distal muscles individually is key to restore refined movement. Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) offers this possibility by selectively recruiting fibers innervating distinct muscles. Here, I developed a hybrid electrical stimulation paradigm, concomitantly targeting the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves for a global activation of coordinated multi-joint leg movements and a selective activation of distal muscles respectively. This approach combines two highly complementary stimulation paradigms into one refined neuroprosthetic system that could improve functional restoration after paralysis. The first part of this work addressed the validation of intraneural electrodes for selective and stable PNS. Albeit highly promising, incomplete characterization of long-term usability and biocompatibility has so far restricted their widespread use. To bridge this gap, I conducted a longitudinal assessment and comprehensively characterized their functional properties in light of their bio-integration in rats. Results showed that i) stimulation thresholds increased moderately during one month after implantation and then stabilized, ii) these changes correlated with progressive implant encapsulation, and iii) selectivity in muscle recruitment was retained in spite of the encapsulation, permitting precise control over ankle kinematics in anesthetized experiments. Overall, these results demonstrated the potential for long-term usability of intraneural implants. In the second part of this work, I developed and characterized a hybrid PNS-EES paradigm that concomitantly stimulated the spinal cord and the sciatic nerves in rat models of severe SCI, and validated it in a pilot study with a human SCI. I showed that i) muscle recruitment obtained by EES and PNS was highly complementary, ii) PNS enabled controllable adjustments in leg movements during locomotion, and iii) the hybrid PNS-EES paradigm permitted refined movements that increased functionality during locomotion in rats and a human pilot subject. This thesis provides evidence about the long-term functionality of intraneural implants and demonstrates their potential for stable interfacing with peripheral nerves. The hybrid PNS-EES paradigm reveals how the complementarity of both strategies effectively improved functional outcomes for paralyzed lower limbs. These findings open promising perspectives for the development of hybrid neuroprosthetic systems to restore functional and refined movements to paralyzed limbs.


In-situ monitoring is an essential component for the development of hydrodynamic numerical models. Argo expansion into marginal seas has enabled the advancement of high resolution regional nested models through initialization, assimilation and validation processes. The SANI (Southern Adriatic-Northern Ionian) hydrodynamic model is a regional nested model producing high resolution outputs for the period 2008-2012. For the corresponding time period, 21 free drifting Argo floats recorded Temperature –Salinity (T/S) profiles throughout the region. This study presents the inter-comparison of the two data sets whilst noting interesting aspects of the model performance regarding the representation of the major water masses characteristics of the SANI area. Aside from the inter-comparison in a basin's scale, a spatio-temporal analysis is also performed. The results indicate an adequate response of the model simulations regarding the basic hydrographic features of the region. Nevertheless, important differences are highlighted mainly in the upper and deep layers of the study area. At a regional scale, inter-annual variability of the model's performance is observed reflecting the hydrographic changes occurred in the wider area during the study period. Overall, the results present the strong points but also highlight the weaknesses of the model. They also confirm the challenging task of producing high resolution numerical simulations in transitional areas such as the Ionian Sea.


Lexicography has long faced the challenge of having too few specialists to document too many words in too many languages with too many linguistic features. Great dictionaries are invariably the product of many person-years of labor, whether the lifetime work of an individual or the lengthy collaboration of a team. Is it possible to use public contributions to vastly reduce the time and cost of producing a dictionary while ensuring high quality? Crowdsourcing, often seen as the solution for large-scale data acquisition or analysis, is fraught with problems in the context of lexicography. Language is not binary, so there may be no one right answer to say that a word "means" a particular definition, or that a word in one language "is" the same as a particular translation term. People may misinterpret instructions or misread terms or make typographical or conceptual errors. Some crowd members intentionally add bad data. Without a payment system, incentives for participation are slim; micro-payments introduce the incentive to maximize income over quality. Our project introduces a public interface that breaks lexicographic data collection into targeted microtasks, within a stimulating game environment on Facebook, phones, and the web. Players earn points for answers that win consensus. Validation is achieved by redundancy, while malicious users are detected through persistent deviations. Data can be collected for any language, in an integrated multilingual framework focused on the serial production of monolingual dictionaries linked at the concept level. Questions are sequential, first eliciting a lemma, then a definition, then other information, according to a prioritized concept list. The method can also be used to merge existing data sets. Intensive trials are currently underway in Vietnamese, with the inclusion of additional Asian languages an explicit objective.


Background The catecholamine reuptake inhibitors methylphenidate (MPH) and atomoxetine (ATX) are the most common treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study compares the neurofunctional modulation and normalization effects of acute doses of MPH and ATX within medication-naive ADHD boys during working memory (WM). Method A total of 20 medication-naive ADHD boys underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during a parametric WM n-back task three times, under a single clinical dose of either MPH, ATX or placebo in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design. To test for normalization effects, brain activations in ADHD under each drug condition were compared with that of 20 age-matched healthy control boys. Results Relative to healthy boys, ADHD boys under placebo showed impaired performance only under high WM load together with significant underactivation in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Both drugs normalized the performance deficits relative to controls. ATX significantly enhanced right DLPFC activation relative to MPH within patients, and significantly normalized its underactivation relative to controls. MPH, by contrast, both relative to placebo and ATX, as well as relative to controls, upregulated the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC), but only during 2-back. Both drugs enhanced fronto-temporo-striatal activation in ADHD relative to control boys and deactivated the default-mode network, which were negatively associated with the reduced DLPFC activation and performance deficits, suggesting compensation effects. Conclusions The study shows both shared and drug-specific effects. ATX upregulated and normalized right DLPFC underactivation, while MPH upregulated left IFC activation, suggesting drug-specific laterality effects on prefrontal regions mediating WM.


Before the introduction of computed tomographic (CT) scanning, aortography was the investigation of choice for acute aortic dissection. Between 1978 and 1982, 24 patients were referred to the Brompton Hospital with suspected acute thoracic aortic dissection; all had aortography with diagnosis confirmed at surgery (n = 12) or necropsy (n = 2) or supported by clinical outcome (n = 8). One patient in whom aortography was negative had type B dissection at necropsy and another patient was lost to follow up. CT scanning became available in this unit in 1983 and between 1983 and 1987 was used as the only imaging investigation in 32 patients with suspected acute dissection of the thoracic aorta while in a further 22 patients aortography was used alone. Results were confirmed at surgery (n = 18), necropsy (n = 3), or supported by clinical outcome (n = 31). Two patients were lost to follow up. In an additional 16 patients both aortography and CT scanning were performed with concordant findings in 10. In six in whom the results were discordant, aortography was normal in three in whom subsequent CT scanning showed type B dissection and CT scanning was normal in three patients in whom aortography showed type A dissection. Both CT scanning and aortography are reliable techniques for assessment of suspected acute dissection of the thoracic aorta. Both techniques misdiagnose occasionally and the frequency of misdiagnosis will be minimised by performing both investigations in patients where the level of clinical suspicion is high and the initial investigation negative. CT scanning tends to miss type A dissection and in view of the success of surgery in this condition this failing has the more serious clinical consequences.


Descriptions of animal sacrifice in Homer offer us some of the most detailed accounts of this attempt at communication between man and gods. What is the significance of these scenes within the framework of the Iliad? This book explores the structural and thematic importance of animal sacrifice as an expression of the quarrel between Akhilleus and Agamemnon through the differing perspectives of the primary narrative and character speech. In the Iliad, animal sacrifice is incorporated into the primary narrative to bolster the royal authority of Agamemnon and further emphasize Akhilleus' isolation. The sacrifices embedded in character speech express frustration with the failure of reciprocity and the inability of sacrifice to influence the course of human events.


Competition involves two dimensions, rivalry for resources and social-status ranking. In our experiment we exclude the first dimension and investigate gender differences in the preference for status ranking. Participants perform a task under non-rivalry incentives. Before doing so, individuals indicate whether they prefer to do the task in an environment with social-status ranking or one without, knowing whether or not the choice will be imposed upon the whole group (as opposed to being personal) and whether the ranking will be done by a man or a woman. We find no gender difference in mean status-ranking aversion when the ranking is personal. When the ranking is imposed, there are still no gender differences in the preferences for social ranking when the ranker is a women, and women are not affected by the ranker's gender. With a male ranker, however, men have a much stronger desire to be ranked than with a female ranker.


This paper examines capital market effects of changes in securities regulation. We analyze two key directives in the European Union (EU) that tightened market abuse and transparency regulation and its enforcement. All EU member states were required to adopt these two directives but did so at different points in time. Our research design exploits this differential timing of the same regulatory change to identify the capital-market effects. We also use crosssectional variation in the strictness of implementation and enforcement as well as in prior regulation to analyze the role of these factors for regulatory outcomes. We find that, on average, market liquidity increases as EU countries tighten market abuse and transparency regulation. The effects are larger in countries that implement and enforce the directives more strictly. They are also stronger in countries with traditionally stricter securities regulation and with a better track record of implementing regulation and government policies in general. The results indicate that the same forces that have limited the effectiveness of regulation in the past are still at play when new rules are introduced, leading to hysteresis in regulatory outcomes. The finding also illustrates that imposing the same regulation in countries that differ in their initial conditions can make countries diverge more, rather than move together, which has important implications for global regulatory reform. JEL classification: F30, G15, G18, G30, K22, M41


A photonic approach for measuring microwave frequency over a wide bandwidth is proposed. An optic group delay line composed of several magneto-optical switches and a 1.6-km single-mode fiber is used as a tunable dispersive medium in the measurement setup. A minimum frequency accuracy of 80 MHz in the range of 1-20 GHz is achieved experimentally.


Developed countries have had commendable success in improving their taxation policy systems over the years. However, developing countries face numerous tax policy challenges when they attempt to establish efficient tax systems. Uganda's tax structure has been greatly improved in recent years, and it appears to mirror the tax system in other Sub-Saharan Africa countries, in terms of the types of taxes and rates. Nevertheless, growth in domestic revenue mobilization after various reforms has not significantly improved as demonstrated by the increase in overall budget deficits. The persistence of budget deficits makes it clear that Uganda's tax policies urgently need to be reviewed to increase tax revenues. This thesis reviews the pros and cons of changes made to the tax system and assesses the extent to which they can solve the deficit dilemma. In particular, this thesis demonstrates that Uganda's approach to tax policy does not take into consideration prevailing domestic social phenomena like the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the ongoing civil war in Northern Uganda, the expanding informal sector, and barriers to effective tax administration, all of which are rapidly eroding the tax base. Policy solutions that address these systemic problems are suggested.


Journeys to the limits of the known world, and narratives on fabulous people, places and things form a common ancestral background in European, and in particular Mediterranean, mythology. Odysseus and the Argonauts are just the most famous of the actors known from epic tradition. On the other hand, alien objects found in distant places have for a long time triggered archaeological discussion about tradition, trade and cultural transformation. The paper investigates, with a focus on Late Copper Age burials in the Adriatic and the central Mediterranean, possible connections between the rise of local elites, distance voyaging, esoteric knowledge, cultural transformation, and the emergence of mythological patterns.


Between 2013 and 2015, Canada signed nine (9) bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with countries in Africa, making Canada one of the most active participants in BIT negotiations on the continent. This paper demonstrates that Canada was remarkably successful in imposing its model investment treaty on its African partners. Canada's success might be considered surprising in light of several factors that should have encouraged African countries to be more aggressive in asserting their own priorities in BIT negotiations. The increasing number of highly public Investor-state arbitration cases have made clear the strong binding character of BITs compared to other international obligations and the corresponding need for host states to ensure that treaties reflect their own investment policy priorities. In seeking to do so, African countries would have been able look to African regional initiatives, such as the COMESA Investment Agreement and the SADC Model Bilateral Investment Treaty for expressions of made in African investment policies. Innovations from developed country practice have been incorporated in these initiatives but so have a variety of distinctive features. African negotiators would also have had the benefit of the substantial work done by UNCTAD and others to promote understanding of investment treaties and to provide options for new forms of international investment rules to make BITS more supportive of sustainable development, especially in developing countries. Despite stronger incentives for African countries to assert themselves in BIT negotiations and more resources for them to draw on, however, recent BITS with Canada suggest that political and economic power continue to define the outcome of negotiations.


In this work, the Fast Digital Integrator (FDI), conceived for characterizing dynamic features of superconducting magnets and measuring fast transients of magnetic fields at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other high-energy physics research centres, is presented. FDI development was carried out inside a framework of cooperation between the group of Magnet Tests and Measurements of CERN and the Department of Engineering of the University of Sannio.
Drawbacks related to measurement time decrease of main high-performance analog-to-digital architectures, such as Sigma-Delta and integrators, are overcome by founding
the design on (i) a new generation of successive-approximation converters, for high resolution (18-bit) at high rate (500 kS/s), (ii) a digital signal processor, for on-line down-sampling by integrating the input signal, (iii) a custom time base, based on a Universal Time Counter, for reducing time-domain uncertainty, and (iv) a PXI board, for high bus transfer rate, as well as noise and heat immunity. A metrological analysis, aimed at
verifying the effect of main uncertainty sources, systematic errors, and design parameters on the instrument performance is presented. In particular, results of an analytical study, a preliminary numerical analysis, and a comprehensive multi-factor analysis carried out to confirm the instrument design, are reported. Then, the selection of physical components and the FDI implementation on a PXI board according to the above described conceptual architecture are highlighted. The on-line integration algorithm, developed on the DSP in order to achieve a real-time Nyquist bandwidth of 125 kHz on the flux, is described. C++ classes for remote control of FDI, developed
as a part of a new software framework, the Flexible Framework for Magnetic Measurements, conceived for managing a wide spectrum of magnetic measurements techniques, are described.
Experimental results of metrological and throughput characterization of FDI are reported. In particular, in metrological characterization, FDI working as a digitizer and as an integrator, was assessed by means of static,
dynamic, and time base tests. Typical values of static integral nonlinearity of ±7 ppm, ±3 ppm of 24-h stability, and 108 dB of signal-to-noise-anddistortion ratio at 10 Hz on Nyquist bandwidth of 125 kHz, were surveyed during the integrator working. The actual throughput rate was measured by a specific procedure of PXI bus analysis, by highlighting typical values of 1 MB/s.
Finally, the experimental campaign, carried out at CERN facilities of superconducting
magnet testing for on-field qualification of FDI, is illustrated. In particular, the FDI was included in a measurement station using also the new generation of fast transducers. The performance of such a station was compared with the one of the previous standard station used in series tests for qualifying LHC magnets. All the results highlight the FDI full capability of acting as the new de-facto standard for high-performance magnetic measurements at CERN and in other high-energy physics research centres.


Abstract Recent phylogenetic studies of Paleozoic gastropods show the classification provided by the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology to include numerous highly polyphyletic taxa. Here we test whether this classification reflects limits on the range of possible designs, general architectural constraints, or common functional solutions for Paleozoic gastropods. Our test evaluates whether superfamilial/subordinal level archetypes as defined by the Treatise evolved more frequently than expected among 626 Late Cambrian–Middle Devonian species. Using a previously established phylogeny and five general shell features (spire angle, exhalent current position, base angle, umbilical width, and apertural inclination) we show that there are fewer gastropod morphotypes than expected given the frequency of change in these features. This is true even after accounting for architectural constraints implied by the data. Moreover, the most common morphotypes include significantly more species and evolved significantly more times than expected. These results imply a set of architectural attractors for lower–middle Paleozoic gastropods, consistent with ecomorphological theory that particular morphotypes are best suited for particular lifestyles. Thus, the Treatise classifications likely reflect these ecomorphological patterns within subclades rather than phylogenetic patterns.


An account of German environmentalism that shows the influence of the past on today's environmental decisions. Germany enjoys an enviably green reputation. Environmentalists in other countries applaud its strict environmental laws, its world-class green technology firms, its phase-out of nuclear power, and its influential Green Party. Germans are proud of these achievements, and environmentalism has become part of the German national identity. In The Greenest Nation? Frank Uekoetter offers an overview of the evolution of German environmentalism since the late nineteenth century. He discusses, among other things, early efforts at nature protection and urban sanitation, the Nazi experience, and civic mobilization in the postwar years. He shows that much of Germany's green reputation rests on accomplishments of the 1980s, and emphasizes the mutually supportive roles of environmental nongovernmental organizations, corporations, and the state. Uekoetter looks at environmentalism in terms of civic activism, government policy, and culture and life, eschewing the usual focus on politics, prophets, and NGOs. He also views German environmentalism in an international context, tracing transnational networks of environmental issues and actions and discussing German achievements in relation to global trends. Bringing his discussion up to the present, he shows the influence of the past on today's environmental decisions. As environmentalism is wrestling with the challenges of the twenty-first century, Germany could provide a laboratory for the rest of the world.


Increasingly, we can build new bridges between related fields of education. This makes it possible to use techniques that were originally designed for one specific area of teaching, in others. An example of this can be, on the one hand, the teaching of audiovisual translation and, secondly, the teaching of foreign languages. We can find instances of this possibility in recent and noteworthy works in which, for example, the application of subtitles to learn a foreign language is explored. Thus, along the same lines, the main objective of this article is the search for other possible avenues of connection between the two areas mentioned above, taking advantage of new technologies and of the tools with which they provide us. Our starting point will be audiovisual translation teaching and the use of software programs such as Windows Movie Maker and Subtitle Workshop, to later transfer them to the second language (in this case, English) classroom. In the first of these contexts, both software programs allow for, among many other possibilities and respectively, dubbing and subtitling simulations in class. On this occasion, our intention is to show the potential of the aforementioned software in the English language class, but not for interlinguistic purposes, as in the case of dubbing and subtitling into another language, but for intralinguistic ones, as in the case of postsynchronisation and of subtitling into the same language.


In this paper, we consider the inclusion-exclusion rule - a known yet seldom used rule of probabilistic inference. Unlike the widely used sum rule which requires easy access to all joint probability values, the inclusion-exclusion rule requires easy access to several marginal probability values. We therefore develop a new representation of the joint distribution that is amenable to the inclusion-exclusion rule. We compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of the inclusion-exclusion rule with the sum rule and develop a hybrid rule called the inclusion-exclusion-sum (IES) rule, which combines their power. We apply the IES rule to junction trees, treating the latter as a target for knowledge compilation and show that in many cases it greatly reduces the time required to answer queries. Our experiments demonstrate the power of our approach. In particular, at query time, on several networks, our new scheme was an order of magnitude faster than the junction tree algorithm.


In their response to our paper, Nicholson and Ridgway agree with the majority of
what we wrote. They echo our concerns about the misuse of inferential statistics and
NHST in particular. Very little of their response explicitly challenges the points we
made but where it does their defence of the use of inferential techniques does not
stand up to scrutiny. Their statements are either contradictory, agreement 'dressed
up' as disagreement, appeals to authority, semantic slights of hand, or irrelevant to
our original claims. It is not clear why such a response was needed.


The common sense view of political 'spin' is that it is an unfortunate presentational phenomenon, an epiphenomenon to the conduct of government. However, the paper springs from an argument that specialists of spin, most particularly those directing communications from Downing Street and the special advisers working within specific departments and agencies during the Blair governments, were critical in not merely presenting but constituting government policy. Most notoriously this was in the form of the Intelligence Dossier presented to parliament by the Prime Minister in 2002 which referred to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability as 'beyond doubt'.
In approaching the topic of 'spin', this paper first uses data derived from evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry's (2009 – ongoing), suggesting that in Blair's leadership, a critical nexus of non-truths and charismatic leadership came to the fore which directly leads to the question whether spin is 'lies' or a more complicated and disturbing lack of concern with truth per se. Second, it suggests contemporary practices of governance continue to be inextricably implicated in this 'spinning' legacy, via an examination of the collapse of the charity much beloved by advocates of 'The Big Society', Kids Company, and the leadership style of its Chief Executive Camilla Batmanhelidjh. It presents a psycho- social approach to these phenomenon that argues that the circumstances of the coalition and Conservative government's Open Public Services agenda are likely to create scenarios where illusion may cooperate with sincerity, a psychological fudge that allows key agents to collude even if temporarily.


Much of the current controversy regarding the rights and responsibilities of public-sector employees and their unions has focused on elementary and secondary school teachers. On one side of that controversy, critics of teachers and teachers' unions argue that teachers are overpaid civil servants and that unions' focus on wages and working conditions comes at the expense of students' learning. On the other side, teachers' unions and their supporters focus on the unique role educators play in forming the next generation of citizens and the need to adequately support teachers in fulfilling that role. Implicit in this discourse are two distinct characterizations of teachers: as governmental employees following directives laid down by school boards and principals; and as semi-free agents charged with expertly carrying out a democratic mission. While these characterizations are not mutually exclusive, they implicate different values that can stand in tension with one another. For example, if teachers are characterized primarily as governmental employees, employers' directives will be paramount in determining how teachers should perform their jobs, even when they are ill-advised; on the other hand, if teachers are characterized primarily as agents of democracy, students' interests, together with those of society writ-large, should be the focus. These discursive strands are also present in courts' treatment of teachers' First Amendment rights. Some decisions focus on teachers as employees whose work performance is subject to employer control. Others find significance in teachers' democratic role and focus on the fact that teachers are charged with implementing the vision and values of their communities as articulated by elected school board members. Many courts combine these two strands to articulate a particularly narrow scope of teachers' First Amendment rights, disregarding tensions between the strands. These decisions are of great relevance to the present debate regarding the proper role of teachers. First, the decisions themselves reflect the competing values implicated in that debate. Second, the limits that courts impose on teachers' speech rights in and out of the classroom affect the educational goals that teachers may choose to pursue and the means they use to achieve them. Teachers' classroom performances can alter public (and judicial) expectations regarding the role of teachers more generally, leading to a self-reinforcing cycle. Third, if teachers can no longer unionize and bargain with their employers to protect their speech in the classroom, the First Amendment's floor of protection will become increasingly important. I begin this article by describing the existing First Amendment protection for teachers' curricular speech by exploring three cases upholding school districts' decisions to punish teachers for teaching controversial material. I then suggest that because existing precedent does not offer meaningful protections for teachers' speech, collectively bargained protections for academic freedom may be the best available method for shielding teachers who make reasonable pedagogical decisions delegated to them by school administrators. Finally, I conclude the article by proposing that collectively bargained academic freedom provisions can serve the best interests of not just teachers, but also students, parents, and school boards.


The essential oil from Ailanthus altissima stems, an aromatic and medicinal plant, is widely used in the Chinese folk medicine. The essential oil, obtained by hydrodistillation, was fractionated using a silica gel column, yielding six different fractions. The chemical compositions of the volatile oil together with its fractions were investigated using Gas chromatography/Flame Ionization Detector (GC/FID) and Gas chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The stems EO was a complex mixture of fifty-six compounds, mainly composed by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (77.9%), among which γ-muurolene (41.1%), β-caryophyllene (23.5%) and α-humulene (6.0%) were the most represented. The comparison of this composition (may 2015) of the essential oil of the same plant harvested in the same locality and at the same times of the year (May 2012), showed significant differences that may be explained by the variation of the climatic conditions. The essential oil and its fractions were screened for the first time for their in vitro anti-5-lipoxygenase, anti-acetylcholinesterase and xanthine oxidase inhibitory properties. Results indicated that fraction 1 and fraction 6 displayed potent anti-5-lipoxygenase activity, with an inhibition percentage of 57.95 ± 2.65 and 60.09 ± 1.09%, respectively. These findings suggest that the essential oil of A. altissima stems and its active fractions might have a potential therapeutic application for the treatment of inflammatory diseases after confirmation of this activity by in vivo studies and clinical trials.


This paper develops a multi-frame image super-resolution approach from a Bayesian view-point by marginalizing over the unknown registration parameters relating the set of input low-resolution views. In Tipping and Bishop's Bayesian image super-resolution approach [16], the marginalization was over the super-resolution image, necessitating the use of an unfavorable image prior. By integrating over the registration parameters rather than the high-resolution image, our method allows for more realistic prior distributions, and also reduces the dimension of the integral considerably, removing the main computational bottleneck of the other algorithm. In addition to the motion model used by Tipping and Bishop, illumination components are introduced into the generative model, allowing us to handle changes in lighting as well as motion. We show results on real and synthetic datasets to illustrate the efficacy of this approach.


This exposition retraces the four distinct lessons early man derived from his intimate contact with nature as individual and as species. Nature taught man four archetypal lessons centered on omnipresent phenomena: camouflage, metamorphosis, the limits of life, and symbiosis. Abundant evidence for these modes of perception, imagination, and thinking is found in ancient and modern writing. This text describes each lesson nature taught man and explains how each is distinctly present in language, writing strategies, literature, poetics, and literary theories. Together, these modes compose the epistemology man has used over the millennia.


A unified model for the simulation of oil, gas, pellet and wood chip space heating boilers for energy estimating purposes has been developed based on a literature review and laboratory measurements on four different boilers. The model includes the influence of space heating return temperature, power modulation and condensation gains on the flue gas losses of the boiler, the simulation of a thermal boiler capacitance including its heat losses during standby and operation, and the ability to calculate carbon monoxide emissions and electricity use dependent on power modulation and number of burner starts. Some of the new features of the presented boiler model are the unification of models for oil, gas and biomass boilers into one model, and the combination of steady state calculation for the flue gas to water heat transfer with an explicit solution for the time dependent temperature change of the boiler's thermal capacitance.


: Uric acid (UA) detection is quite important in humans as high blood concentrations of UA called Hyperuricemia can lead to Gout, diabetes and formation of kidney stones etc. In the present work, a sensitive and selective method is presented for the voltammetric determination of UA in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA) and dopamine (DA) using a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with benzoic acid in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 7 by electropolymerisation. The obtained poly(benzoic acid) modified carbon paste electrode (PBA/CPE) showed excellent electro catalytic activity for the selective detection of UA in the presence of AA and DA and it also showed good reproducibility. Its sensitivity increased 2.33 folds for the detection of UA compared to bare carbon paste electrode (BCPE). Effect of variation of scan rate on the peak current indicated that the electrode process is both diffusion controlled and adsorption controlled. The detection limit (LOD) and quantification limit (LOQ) of the present technique were found to be 3.33 × 10 -7 M (0.333 µM) and 1.11 × 10 -6 M (1.11 µM) respectively for UA. pH effect suggested that equal number of protons and electrons were involved in the electrochemical oxidation of UA. The percentage of recovery of UA in real sample analysis i.e . in human urine is quite good and was found to be 100.5% using PBA/CPE. Thus, the selectivity, reproducibility and sensitivity of the PBA/CPE provide a good possibility for applying the technique in the routine analysis of selected class of electro active biomolecules.


This paper describes the current situation and technological progress on the MBR .The first part deals with the future trends of world water use and need of water recycling. Based on the White Paper published by the AMEDIUS project, MBR has a great potential as a key technology for the water recycling.

The second part deals with the recent research results of the authors on the membrane fouling. The following conclusions were derived from the pilot plant study:

1). The PE membrane fouled more rapidly than did the PVDF membrane,

2). Composition of the physically irreversible foulants differed considerably depending on the membrane polymer material,

The third part deals with a newly developed MBR for the nitrogen removal. In the MBR, simultaneous nitrification/denitrification in a single bioreactor is possible by inserting baffles into a normal MBR and controlling the water level to produce the anoxic condition.


Alzheimer's disease is an age-related progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The two major neuropathologic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are extracellular Amyloid beta (A β ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). A number of additional pathogenic mechanisms, possibly overlapping with A β plaques and NFTs formation, have been described, including inflammation, oxidative damage, iron dysregulation, cholesterol metabolism. To date, only symptomatic treatments exist for this disease, all trying to counterbalance the neurotransmitter disturbance. To block the progression of the disease they have to interfere with the pathogenic steps responsible for the clinical symptoms, including the deposition of extracellular amyloid β plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangle formation, inflammation and stem cell. In this review, we discuss new potential disease-modi-fying therapies for AD that are currently being studied in phase I–III trials.


The efficacy of exercise training systems designed to be used in the home on cardiometabolic outcomes remains largely unknown. This investigation included two studies. Study 1 tested the effects a multi-exercise pulley system (NordicTrack Fusion CST with video trainer) and Study 2 an incline trainer (NordicTrack X22i with video trainer), both combined with daily food provision, for 12-weeks on indices of cardiometabolic health. Study 1 enrolled 27 adults (11 men, 16 women, 33.8±4.4 years of age) and Study 2 enrolled 29 adults (11 men, 18 women, 40.8±12.5 years of age). Pre- and post-intervention measurements were performed for body weight, fat mass, lean tissue mass, and visceral fat by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, blood pressure, aerobic fitness and body circumferences. For Study 1, there were significant decreases in body weight, fat mass, visceral fat, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), resting heart rate (RHR), and all circumference sites, while there was an increase in aerobic fitness (all p<0.001). Both males and females exhibited significant improvement in all these outcomes. For Study 2, there were significant decreases in body weight, fat mass, visceral fat, DBP, RHR, all circumference sites (all p<0.001), and lean tissue mass (LTM) (p=0.006), and an increase in aerobic fitness (p<0.001). Both males and females exhibited significant changes in all these outcomes, except LTM which did not change in females. Both studies exhibited high exercise session attendance and high dietary adherence. Overall these data indicate the potential efficacy of home-based training systems, when combined with diet, on selected cardiometabolic outcomes.


This study examines the empirical link between organizational resources (production resources, financial resources, human resources, R&D resources, and reputation resources), networks (institutional, government, and research) and export marketing performance in export market ventures in a developing country context. The study was based on an empirical investigation of firms involved in exporting to foreign countries from Thailand. The primary data for the study were collected from a self-administered mail survey of 950 export market ventures from the manufacturing sector in Thailand. The study findings suggest that financial, human, R&D resources, and all networks had a significant positive impact on export marketing performance.


Three fundamental tether motions were considered for payload orbital transfer with tethers: hanging, prograde libration and prograde motorised spin. The symmetrical double-ended motorised spinning tether performed best and was most efficient, improving by two orders of magnitude on the librating tether which in turn improved on the hanging tether by roughly a factor of two. An upper payload using long tethers with a motorised tether on a circular orbit can be transferred from a low to a geostationary Earth orbit by employing relatively high motor torque and a safety factor on the tether strength close to unity. Two common literature results, the constant efficiency index of seven for a hanging tether upper payload release and the maximum efficiency index of fourteen for an upper payload released from a prograde librating tether, were found to be a lower bound and quite readily breached, respectively. Orbit circularisation through tether release was found to be feasible with retrograde librating tethers. When the point of release does not occur along the local vertical then a non-optimum release of the payload was found to severely reduce the performance of payload transfer with tethers. Consequently, a very precise and accurately timed release is important for the success of payload orbital transfer with tethers since missing the point of release by a single degree with a spinning tether, say, can cause the payload to miss its required target. The best design for the outrigger system to provide the necessary resistive torque is to utilise the gravity gradient and tap the outrigger system within the gravitational potential well. In this manner the outrigger tether length can be significantly reduced and the outrigger end masses can be minimised, thus saving valuable launch mass and cost, as well as exposing less tether surface area to the space environment. With current materials the maximum ?V to be expected with a motorised tether is between 600-1400 m/s depending on the tether length and payload mass. The duration of the spin-up lasts approximately between half and a full Earth day but may vary by an hour, say, depending on the initial conditions and orbit eccentricity. Ensuring the motor torque axis remains perpendicular to the orbital plane was found to be vital otherwise the spin-up time is greatly increased. The motorised tether has the ability to shift the datum of a hanging tether, which may have useful applications in Earth monitoring or tethered Interferometry. Out-of-plane initial angular displacements or the motor torque axis not remaining perpendicular to the orbital plane caused the motorised tether to precess. Furthermore, the motion of the motorised tether with a constant motor torque was found to be regular, but quasi-periodic, which implies that the payload cannot be reliably delivered at perigee along the local vertical.


The root causes of health inequalities, according to Marmot [1] are the causes of various social determinants of health. The author used socio-economic factors shaping health analyzed with a breakdown into four categories, i.e.: demographic situation, labor market and education, economic situation, state of households. The method of financing health care adopted in a given country is directly related to the health system model used in it [8]. The examined group of countries was divided into two subgroups according to the statistical importance of the surveyed private insurance population in health care financing The objective of this article is statistical analysis of levels, their changes and forms of distribution of selected determinants of health status between two groups of countries where private insurance plays a greater role as a financing mechanism for benefits or is not a significant source of the available resources. The data distributed among the NUTS2 units for European countries provided by the EUROSTAT was used for the analysis. The measurement involved skewness coefficients, concentration coefficients (kurtosis, Herfindahl-Hirschman coefficient, Gini coefficient). The results confirmed lack of clear differences in inequalities between the socio-economic factors shaping health in two groups of countries with a different significance of private insurance.


One of the most intense and painful of our human passions, shame is typically seen in contemporary culture as a disability or a disease to be cured. Shakespeare's ultimately positive portrayal of the emotion challenges this view. Drawing on philosophers and theorists of shame, Shame in Shakespeare analyses the shame and humiliation suffered by the tragic hero, providing not only a new approach to Shakespeare but a committed and provocative argument for reclaiming shame. The volume provides: * an account of previous traditions of shame and of the Renaissance context * a thematic map of the rich manifestations of both masculine and feminine shame in Shakespeare * detailed readings of Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear * an analysis of the limitations of Roman shame in Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus * a polemical discussion of the fortunes of shame in modern literature after Shakespeare. The book presents a Shakespearean vision of shame as the way to the world outside the self. It establishes the continued vitality and relevance of Shakespeare and offers a fresh and exciting way of seeing his tragedies.


Based on new methodology for nitration of pyridine and pyridine derivatives developed at our department by Professor Jan Bakke and coworkers at NTNU, a whole range of substituted nitropyridines are now readily available. The method provides new possibilities in heterocyclic chemistry for the preparation of new materials. Due to the importance and useful properties of many pyridine-based compounds, the chemistry of nitropyridine derivatives is being investigated by our group at NTNU and results for nitropyridine carbamates, amides and carboxylates are presented in this thesis. These nitropyridine derivatives have been used as substrates for the formation of new bisheterocyclic compounds and pyridine derivatives. New synthetic routes to fused heterocycles have been developed.Chapter 2 and Paper I presents the preparation, stability and reactivity of nitropyridine isocyanates (13, 23), a new class of compounds in organic chemistry. The introduction of an electronegative substituent represented by the nitro group was expected to reduce the basisity of the pyridine nitrogen, hence decrease the rate of dimerisation and increase the reactivity of the isocyanate carbon towards a nucleophile. The preparation of nitropyridine isocyanates (13, 23) are reported.Isocyanates constitute an important class of compounds in organic chemistry and undergo a series of reactions to yield a variety of interesting products includingheterocyclic derivatives. Heterocyclic isocyanates, however, have not received the same attention as the respective aromatic compounds in synthesis and reactivity studies because of their instability and high reactivity. 2-Pyridine isocyanate dimerises while the 4-isomer trimerises to form the trimer.Chapter 3 and Paper I presents the preparation, stability and reactivity of the isocyanate dimer and trimer. The isocyanate dimer (28) was formed in high yield from the reactive 5-nitro-2-pyridine isocyanate (23) by a [2+4]-cycloaddition reaction. Another byproduct in the preparation of the isocyanate using oxalyl chloride was the tetrone (26).The isocyanate trimer was formed from the unstable 4-pyridine isocyanate for reference purposes. The trimer proved to be less stable than previously reported and afforded 4-aminopyridine and methyl 4-pyridine carbamate as decomposition products in the presence of moisture and alcohols, respectively. This demonstrates that the reactive trimer can be used as a protected version of the isocyanate for synthetic purposes.Chapter 4 and Paper II presents studies of the nitropyridine isocyanates in cycloaddition reactions. The reactivity of the nitropyridine isocyanates in 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions with trimethylsilylazide and 3,5-dimethylpyridine N-oxide to afford tetrazolinones (41, 43) and substituted amines (52, 55) was investigated. A [2+4]-cycloaddition reaction of nitropyridine isocyanate with diphenylketene was also studied. The cycloadduct (59) was formed. These results demonstrate the potential of the nitropyridine isocyanates to undergo cycloaddition reactions.Application of nitropyridine carbamates, amides and carboxylates in the formation of new heterocyclic compounds have been investigated and discussed in Chapter 5-7.Chapter 5 and Paper III presents the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction of the nitro group of methyl 3-nitro-4-pyridine carboxylate. The nitro group was successfully replaced by nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur nucleophiles to afford the substitution products (16a-d) in moderate yields.Chapter 6 and Paper IV presents the cyclization reaction of nitropyridine carbamates for the formation of 1,3-dihydro-2H-imidazo[4,5-c]pyridin-2-one (79a-b), a biologically active compound. A facile acid-catalysed cyclization method for the preparation of the cyclic urea by traditional heating and the corresponding microwave-promoted reaction were developed. Both methods afforded the cyclic urea in high yield and represent a "green method" for the preparation of this compound.Chapter 7 and Paper V presents the preparation of 1H-1,2,3-triazol [4,5-c]pyridine (86) and N-acyl and N-alkoxycarbonyl triazolo[4,5-c]pyridine derivatives (96a-e, 98a-e). The triazolopyridine derivatives were readily formed by diazotization and cyclization of the respective nitropyridine carbamates and amides in high yields. The application of triazolo[4,5-c]pyridine derivatives (98a-e) in the acylation of amines and amino acids was investigated. They proved to be more effective than the commercially available benzotriazole and afforded the protected amines in high yields under mild conditions.


Changes in climate due to the enormous amount of carbon dioxide emissions have really encouraged the development of energy sources that are renewable, sustainable, and eco-friendly (Alajmi et al., 2017). In the last few years, biodiesel has emerged as one of the most potential renewable energy to replace current petrol-derived diesel. It is a renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic fuel which can be easily produced through transesterification reaction especially alkali-catalyzed transesterification (Leung et al., 2010). Triacylglycerols (fats and oils) are converted into esters by transesterification reaction producing three smaller molecules of ester and one molecule of glycerin from one molecule of fat or oil. Glycerin is removed as by-product and esters are known as biodiesel (Fazal et al., 2011). Sustainable alternatives for biodiesel production are being researched with the use of enzymes; enzymatic transesterification has attracted much attention for biodiesel production as it produces high purity product and enables easy separation from the byproduct, glycerol. (Ranganathan et al., 2008). The development of alternative energy sources can also be attributed to the rapid decrease in resources of fossil energy. Although, most studies regarding the use of animal wastes as feedstock in biodiesel production are still in the early stages and have not focus on the recent advances in the use of animal fats waste (Alajmi et al., 2017).
Biodiesel is attracting an increasing deal of attention worldwide for it is currently the only renewable energy carrier which could directly replace diesel fuel in compression ignition engines because of its positive cumulative energy values when compared to petroleum-derived diesel (Vonortas and Papayannakos, 2014). In their study, Tabatabaei et al. (2015) documented the recent innovations in biodiesel production which are presented under three categories of upstream, mainstream, and downstream processes.
Among the many challenges yet to be overcome before one could portray biodiesel as a sustainable alternative for decades to come is an economic feedstock supply. In fact, it is now well-documented that the price of feedstock could account for 70-88% of the total biodiesel production cost and hence is considered as the most significant factor affecting the economic viability of the biodiesel market (Hasheminejad et al., 2011). Non-edible feedstocks such as animal fat wastes (AFWs) have recently increased in popularity as alternatives to vegetable oils in the production of biodiesel. They are low cost, mitigate environmental damage and increase the quality of the resultant biodiesel fuel (low NOx emissions, high Cetane number and oxidative stability) (Adewale et al., 2015). The main challenging issue is its high free fatty acid (FFA) content. In fact, it has been reported  that  biodiesel  yield  could  drop  down  to  6%  when  the  FFA  content increases just above 5% wt. (Moser, 2011). The most current biodiesel synthesis processes cannot handle feedstock with high FFA content; it was proved that the supercritical fluid process can result in a significant advantage for feedstocks with any fatty acid content (Yang, 2004).
An alternative fuel to petrodiesel must be technically feasible, economically competitive, environmentally acceptable and easy available (Demirbas, 2009). FAME from vegetable oils and animal fats have shown promise as biodiesel, due to improved viscosity, volatility and combustion behaviour relative to triacylglycerols, and can be used in conventional diesel engines without significant modifications (Bhatti et al., 2008).
The advantages of biodiesel over diesel fuel are its portability, ready availability, renewability, higher combustion efficiency, lower sulphur and aromatic content, higher cetane number, higher biodegradability, better emission profile, safer handling, besides being non-toxic (Lapuerta et al., 2008; Demirbas, 2009). Moreover, biodiesel offers advantages regarding the engine wear, cost, and availability. When burned, biodiesel produces pollutants that are less detrimental to human health (Fazal et al., 2011).
Usage of biodiesel will allow a balance to be sought between agriculture, economic development and environment (Demirbas, 2009). Lower cost feedstocks are needed since biodiesel from food-grade oils is not economically competitive with petroleum-based diesel fuel.


Key to teaching democratic thinking is actively engaging in the practice; and this, the article contends, is best facilitated by an experiential learning model where students are actively using, testing, and transforming not only the materials of the course, but also their own theories and experiences. Educators hoping to inspire democratic virtues and actions should also create and foster opportunities for community-building within the classroom by having students take more ownership for the class. This experiential process of learning disrupts the hierarchical theory-to-practice model traditionally implemented, reinforcing the value of an experiential and iterative practice of reflective engagement. In addition, such classes cannot neglect critical reflection and discussion of issues of power and oppression since democratic deliberation is at its core about engaging with others. To the extent that the traditional philosophic model limits the ways in which we come to understand one another's positionality, we must seek to open valuable spaces for not simply thinking democratically, but also feeling and acting through a democratic spirit. Key Words : democratic deliberation, diversity, dialogue, integration, experiential learning, community.


Anthony Clavane loves Leeds - certainly the football club, but also the city, and the tribes that make it. Now that he is an exile in the South, his frequent pilgrimages to the stadium speak for themselves. But he no less loves the rarely-glimpsed back-streets of his youth; and even has a feel for the long-gone slums where his ancestors once settled. Leeds is his promised land; idealised and unreachable, yet still it defines him. This is a book about football. It's about unconditional love for a club, even when it doesn't always seem to love you back. But it is also a book about much more than that.


Acquiring four-component seismic data with wide-azimuth geometry provides an opportunity to build a very complete seismic picture for reservoir description. The recording of the full vector wavefield allows creation of both PS-wave data as well as P-wave images which contain different but complementary information. It also provides full-azimuth illumination of the subsurface. Azimuthal images improve definition of structural features, such as faults, that may only be illuminated within certain preferential shot-receiver azimuths. Differences in azimuthal images can also be very sensitive fault indicators in the case of small vertical displacements. Furthermore, and of crucial importance at the reservoir scale, wide-azimuth P-wave and PS-wave data lend themselves to the evaluation of azimuthal anisotropy. These attributes provide valuable spatial constraints in the characterization of heterogeneously distributed subseismic scale fractures.


Background: Girls' high school lacrosse players have higher rates of head and facial injuries than boys. Research indicates that these injuries are caused by stick, player, and ball contacts. Yet, no studies have characterized head impacts in girls' high school lacrosse. Purpose: To characterize girls' high school lacrosse game-related impacts by frequency, magnitude, mechanism, player position, and game situation. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Thirty-five female participants (mean age, 16.2 ± 1.2 years; mean height, 1.66 ± 0.05 m; mean weight, 61.2 ± 6.4 kg) volunteered during 28 games in the 2014 and 2015 lacrosse seasons. Participants wore impact sensors affixed to the right mastoid process before each game. All game-related impacts recorded by the sensors were verified using game video. Data were summarized for all verified impacts in terms of frequency, peak linear acceleration (PLA), and peak rotational acceleration (PRA). Descriptive statistics and impact rates were calculated. Results: Fifty-eight verified game-related impacts ≥20g were recorded (median PLA, 33.8g; median PRA, 6151.1 rad/s2) during 467 player-games. The impact rate for all game-related verified impacts was 0.12 per athlete-exposure (AE) (95% CI, 0.09-0.16), equivalent to 2.1 impacts per team game, indicating that each athlete suffered fewer than 2 head impacts per season ≥20g. Of these impacts, 28 (48.3%) were confirmed to directly strike the head, corresponding with an impact rate of 0.05 per AE (95% CI, 0.00-0.10). Overall, midfielders (n = 28, 48.3%) sustained the most impacts, followed by defenders (n = 12, 20.7%), attackers (n = 11, 19.0%), and goalies (n = 7, 12.1%). Goalies demonstrated the highest median PLA and PRA (38.8g and 8535.0 rad/s2, respectively). The most common impact mechanisms were contact with a stick (n = 25, 43.1%) and a player (n = 17, 29.3%), followed by the ball (n = 7, 12.1%) and the ground (n = 7, 12.1%). One hundred percent of ball impacts occurred to goalies. Most impacts occurred to field players within the attack area of the field (n = 32, 55.2%) or the midfield (n = 18, 31.0%). Most (95%) impacts did not result in a penalty. Conclusion: The incidence of verified head impacts in girls' high school lacrosse was quite low. Ball to head impacts were associated with the highest impact magnitudes. While stick and body contacts are illegal in girls' high school lacrosse, rarely did such impacts to the head result in a penalty. The verification of impact mechanisms using video review is critical to collect impact sensor data.


The effect of ostrich feather lice (Struthiolipeurus struthionis) on productivity and leather quality was investigated in the light of louse-related skin damage on other livestock species that seems similar to defects, called pitting, seen on ostrich skins. The occurrence and spread of feather lice on ostriches were also studied. Natural infestation of louse-free ostriches within a group mixed with louse-infested ostriches was achieved within 6 months. Lousiness was determined by visual counts on the body and feathers of the ostriches on five locations. There was a relatively low correlation between the number of lice observed on the live ostriches and the actual number of lice extracted from harvested wing feathers. However, it was demonstrated that lice obtained from feathers increased at a rate of 3.29 (s.e. = 1.34) lice per 100 g of feathers for an increase of one louse observed on the live birds in the paddock (R2 = 0.23). Treatment with synthetic pyrethroid insecticides eradicated all lice. Louse infestation had no significant influence on growth or slaughter traits, while no causal relationship between louse infestation and pitting damage on the processed ostrich skins could be demonstrated.