The hydrographic situation for a region north of Svalbard is investigated using observations from the Norwegian Young Sea Ice Cruise (N-ICE2015). Observations from January to June 2015 are compared to historical observations with a particular focus on the warm and salty Atlantic Water (AW) entering the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait. Here we discuss how the AW has changed over time, what governs its characteristics, and how it might influence the sea ice cover. We find that AW characteristics north of Svalbard are mainly controlled by the distance along the inflow path, and by changes in inflowing AW temperature in the Fram Strait. AW characteristics north of Svalbard are also largely affected by local processes such as sea ice growth, melting and tidal induced mixing. Furthermore, one dimensional model results and observations show that AW has a direct impact on the sea ice cover north of Svalbard. Shallow and warm AW efficiently reduces sea ice growth and results in bottom melting throughout the whole year. The historical observations and outcome from a fully coupled earth system model show a warming trend of AW core temperature over the last few decades. We believe that the AW warming trend in the Arctic Ocean may be part of long term multidecadal variability, which is influenced by anthropogenic forcing. Simulations suggest that approximately 30 % of the recent warming may be attributed to global warming.


The fiftieth anniversary of the University of Warwick also marks the fiftieth anniversary of its Art Collection. This exhibition examines how the forces that shaped the University also influenced the development of the collection.

The exhibition opens with the modernist utopia of the early University where the great colourfield paintings were hung like flags for the new, egalitarian age. It looks at how prints were bought to respond to ideas of a community in the 1970s, humanising the campus. In the 1980s, both the University and the collection were rewired by a new phase of development that included the creation of the Mead Gallery, while at the millennium, commissions sought to redefine public art in the context of a university. In the twenty-first century, the University Art Collection has many roles: delivering teaching, learning and research; introducing thousands of children and their families to the University; providing work experience for students and opportunities for artists; developing a sense of place and identity for the campus; initiating and extending discussions with its many audiences.

The exhibition will include the work of over 100 artists including Hurvin Anderson, Claire Barclay, Jack Bush, Terry Frost, Tess Jaray, Patrick Heron, Richard Long, Francis Morland, Yoko Ono, Eduardo Paolozzi, Fiona Rae, Anne Redpath and Andy Warhol.

A 150 page colour illustrated book, Imagining a University, has been published to coincide with the exhibition and is now on sale in the Mead Gallery for a Special Exhibition Price of £18 (from 21 June, the price will be £25). For details, go to New Mead Gallery Publication


The purpose of this study is twofold. The first purpose is to identify Cape Town's important destination attributes. Secondly one needs to examine how and to what extent Cape Town's important destination attributes impact on international tourists' decision on choosing Cape Town as their destination. A proposed model was formulated and it postulates that international tourists' perception of Cape Town's important attributes impacts on their decision making in three ways: (1) directly; (2) it impacts on Cape Town's overall image, and in turn, influences their decision; (3) it also impacts on the international tourists' overall satisfaction with their trip to Cape Town, and in turn, influences their own or their peripheral people's future decision on destination selection. Ten of Cape Town's important destination attributes were identified based on a triangulation approach prior to the research. A structured questionnaire was used to examine how and to what extent these important attributes impact on international tourists' decision, along with the aforementioned "three ways' influences". Three hundred and fifty (350) international tourists, awaiting their departure in the boarding area of the Cape Town International Airport were selected as the sample. The valid data collected was computed by means of the SPSS to test the hypotheses, which were formulated according to the "three ways' influences". The results show that, while each of the ten Cape Town's attributes was important for the destination-unrestricted international tourists to choose Cape Town as their destination, the ten Cape Town's attributes were not serious concern in the destination-restricted international tourist' decision on destination selection. The results also show that, the ten Cape Town's attributes revealed different importance levels in influencing tourists' destination decision making, formation of Cape Town's overall image, and the tourists' satisfaction level with their trip to Cape Town. Some attributes were more important than others.


Lampreys are ancestral jawless vertebrates with particularly complex life histories. Population declines resulting from increased anthropogenic pressure have been observed. For semelparous diadromous lampreys, the marine phase remains largely a black box, making targeted management and conservation measures difficult to implement. Here, we collated a database of 168904 hauls from both fisheries-dependent and fisheries-independent surveys between 1965 and 2019. Lampreys were observed in only 254 hauls (<1% lamprey presence); 421 sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus and 300 European river lamprey Lampetra fluviatilis were identified. Sizes ranged from 13 to 92 cm and from 14 to 42 cm, respectively. The majority of lampreys (61%) were caught by mobile demersal gear types. The highest presence of both species was recorded within the Greater North Sea, followed by the Bay of Biscay. L. fluviatilis was observed closer to the coast than P. marinus. For both lampreys, there was an increase in size with distance from the coast. P. marinus were predominantly <60 cm and observed from August to February, indicating that these were sexually immature juveniles migrating out to sea. For L. fluviatilis, the majority were thought to be adults (>20 cm) and occurred in autumn, indicating inshore migration. Our observations provide insight into the ecology of lampreys at sea and highlight study locations and gear types, which may be more pertinent for future research. Greater awareness is needed during surveys to collate catch information on lampreys and improve understanding of their ecology and phenology at sea.


Dietary fibre has been proposed to decrease risk for colon cancer by altering the composition of intestinal microbes or their activity. In the present study, the changes in intestinal microbiota and its activity, and immunological characteristics, such as cyclo-oxygenase (COX)-2 gene expression in mucosa, in pigs fed with a high-energy-density diet, with and without supplementation of a soluble fibre (polydextrose; PDX) (30 g/d) were assessed in different intestinal compartments. PDX was gradually fermented throughout the intestine, and was still present in the distal colon. Irrespective of the diet throughout the intestine, of the four microbial groups determined by fluorescent in situ hybridisation, lactobacilli were found to be dominating, followed by clostridia and Bacteroides. Bifidobacteria represented a minority of the total intestinal microbiota. The numbers of bacteria increased approximately ten-fold from the distal small intestine to the distal colon. Concomitantly, also concentrations of SCFA and biogenic amines increased in the large intestine. In contrast, concentrations of luminal IgA decreased distally but the expression of mucosal COX-2 had a tendency to increase in the mucosa towards the distal colon. Addition of PDX to the diet significantly changed the fermentation endproducts, especially in the distal colon, whereas effects on bacterial composition were rather minor. There was a reduction in concentrations of SCFA and tryptamine, and an increase in concentrations of spermidine in the colon upon PDX supplementation. Furthermore, PDX tended to decrease the expression of mucosal COX-2, therefore possibly reducing the risk of developing colon cancer-promoting conditions in the distal intestine.


Shows Edo period screens and scroll in the collection of the British museum and includes brief notes on the background of each work of art.


This paper reports the estimated number of spam blogs in order to assess their current state in the blogosphere. To extract spam blogs, I developed a traversal method among co-citation clusters of blogs from a spam seed. Spam seeds were collected in terms of high out-degree and spam keyword. According to the experiment, a mixed seed set composed of high out-degree and spam keyword seeds is more effective than individual seed sets in terms of F-Measure. In conclusion, mixed seeds from different methods are effective in improving the F-Measure results of spam extraction with co-citation clusters.


Objectives Events in the lungs might contribute to generation of anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We investigated if signs of immune activation are present in bronchial biopsies and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) of patients with early-untreated RA without clinical signs of lung involvement. Methods Twenty-four patients with RA with symptom duration <1 year and naïve to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs were subjected to bronchoscopy where BAL and mucosal bronchial biopsies were retrieved. For comparison, 15 bronchial biopsies and 79 BAL samples from healthy volunteers were available. Histological examination was performed to evaluate lymphocyte infiltration, presence of immune cells (T and B cells, plasma cells, dendritic cells and macrophages) and immune activation markers. Cell composition of BAL samples was analysed by differential counting and T cell subsets by flow cytometry. Results Lymphocyte infiltration was more frequently found in ACPA-positive patients (50%) as compared with ACPA-negative patients (17%) and controls (13%). Germinal centres, B cells and plasma cells were only found in ACPA-positive patients. The frequency of T cells in bronchial biopsies of patients with ACPA-positive RA was positively associated with expression of immune activation markers. BAL samples of patients with ACPA-positive, but not ACPA-negative, RA had significantly higher relative numbers of lymphocytes and expressed higher levels of activation markers compared with controls. Conclusions Signs of immune cell accumulation and activation are present both in the bronchial tissue and in BAL of untreated patients with early RA without concomitant lung disease, strengthening the role of the lung compartment as an important player in ACPA-positive RA.


This descriptive study was conducted to determine the pattern of personality profile amongst the students of matriculation programs in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor. This study also aimed to determine whether there were any differences in personality between male and female students according to specialization areas. The subjects of this study were 340 students who
were selected using the stratified random sampling from a total of 1475 students of Science, Engineering, Medical, Accounting and TESL matriculation programs. The instrument used in this study was the Sidek Personality Inventory (IPS). The data obtained were then analysed using the descriptive statistic including the mean, standard deviation and frequency. The finding of this study was that each specialization area has shown the same personality pattern. The finding clearly indicated that some major traits of personality which were identified as the ideal
personality for the student in higher education such as analytical, intellectual, and endurance traits were only at the medium level whereas for the dependent and self-critical traits, it was quite high. The finding also indicated that there were no significant differences in personality traits based on specialization area and gender of the students. Pertaining to the research findings,
several implications and recommendations were put forward.


A new generation of ruthless pragmatists carves a parallel state across Mexico and Central America. Most powerful among them is Los Zetas, ruled over by Heriberto Lazcano, known as The Executioner. Lazcano and his men have forced a tectonic shift among drug trafficking organizations in the Americas, forever altering how criminal business is conducted in the Western Hemisphere. This narrative brings an unprecedented level of detail in describing how Los Zetas became Mexico's most diabolical criminal organization. Criminals control networks of police, politician, and businessmen spanning the American continent. The Mexican government is losing its "war on drugs," despite the military, technical, and intelligence resources provided by its northern neighbor. Subcontracted street gangs operate in hundreds of US cities, purchasing weapons, delivering product, executing targeted foes, and bribing the US Border Patrol. Despite suffering severe losses that would cripple any major corporation, Los Zetas continues to operate internationally in criminal markets. Many of the poor and destitute across the region cooperate with Los Zetas, sometimes for money, often because of coercion.


This work aims at assessing the oxidation of carbonaceous matter with a novel optical experimental technique
named Indirect Nanoplasmonic sensing (INPS). The INPS working principle is based on the optical absorption
profile of metallic nanoparticles via the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances and was, in this work, utilized for the first time to monitor in situ and in real time un-catalyzed O2-based oxidation of nanoscopic carbon materials. Oxidation of carbon-based materials is central in a wide range of industrial applications as well as in energy production based on fossil fuels, and in environmental cleanup processes. In particular, under the
category of transport emission reduction in the process of regenerating Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF), under-standing the oxidation reaction of carbonaceous matter known as soot is of high importance in order to meet more and more stringent emission legislations, which are imposed due to the health risks associated with soot nanoparticles. Two types of carbonaceous matter were used in this study, Printex U commonly used as a model for diesel soot and graphitized carbon films in the main part of the project. The Printex U study, due to the problems mainly associated with deposition on INPS sensor chips, turned out to require efforts beyond the scope of this work to derive an optimal deposition protocol and is thus only discussed in the appendix. INPS showed in general a high sensitivity towards oxidation rates of graphitic carbon films as a function of temperature and oxidant concentration. From progressive isothermal oxidation experiments, relevant kinetic parameters could be extracted, such as an activation energy of around 135 kJ/mol. Differential and pulsed oxidation experiments were used to extract the reaction order, which was found to be 1 for oxygen. Both these values are in agreement with the range of reported values in the literature. In connection
to the reactivity of carbon films, conversion dependencies were assessed and found to agree well with previous
published results. Finally, also the oxidation history of the carbon films, that is to what oxidation conditions
the films have been exposed previously, was shown to be important as it modifies the rate of the further
oxidation. Due to the complexity of the carbon oxidation process (e.g. sites with different reactivities, timedependent number of active sites, etc.), and due to issues originating arguably from the chosen deposition
procedure of the carbon films (i.e. thermal evaporation), a high degree of reproducibility for the progressive
isothermal oxidation experiments could not achieved. In connection to the INPS platform, due to the fact
that sensitivity of plasmonic signal is a function of several parameters such as temperature, distance of the
reaction from the sensor surface and more, the comparison of the different temperature results and different
film thicknesses are subject to limitations. Possible improvements to eliminate/minimize such effects are
thus also discussed.


This paper examines three sources of the fluctuations in real interest rates during the past three decades: changes in budget deficits, changes in tax rules, and changes in monetary policy. The evidence indicates that budget deficits and monetary policy have had a strong influence on the level of long-term interest rates but fails to identify any effect of changes in corporate tax rates and investment incentives. The analysis shows that it is projected future budget deficits rather than the current level of the actual or structural deficit that influence long-term interest rates. Each percentage point increase in the five-year projected ratio of budget deficits to GNP raises the long-term government bond rate by approximately 1.2 percentage points while the ratio of the current deficit to GNP (either actual or structural) has no significa effect. The specific parameter estimates imply that the increase in projected budget deficits was responsible for about two-thirds of the rise in the interest rates between 1977-78 and 1983-84.


OBJECTIVE
To ascertain the degree of agreement between a score for screening and another for diagnosis of motor development in 6-month old infants and to define the most appropriate cutoff point for screening.

METHODS
A sectional study, enrolling asymptomatic full term newborns with gestational ages from 37 to 41 weeks, who were discharged from the maternity unit 2 days after birth and are resident in the Campinas area. Infants were excluded if they presented genetic syndromes, malformations, congenital infections, intensive care admission or low birth weight. The assessment instruments investigated were the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID-II). Two cutoff points were evaluated for the AIMS, the 5th and 10th percentiles, and for the BSID-II infants were classified according to its motor index score (IS) as having inadequate (IS < 85, at least 1 standard deviation below the mean) or adequate performance (IS >or= 85, above the mean minus 1 standard deviation).

RESULTS
The study sample comprised 43 infants. Six infants (14.00%) exhibited inadequate motor performance. Using the BSID-II motor classification and the 5th percentile AIMS cutoff, sensitivity was 100%, specificity 78.37%, accuracy 81.39%, kappa index 0.50 and p < 0.001; whereas, using the BSID-II motor classification and the 10th percentile AIMS cutoff, sensitivity was 100%, specificity 48.64%, accuracy 55.81%, kappa index 0.20 and p 0.025.

CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that concordance between the two 6-month assessment scales is good. The parameters employed are best combined using the 5th percentile AIMS cutoff point.


Case Report: Recurrent Thyroid Abscess Secondary to the Fistula of Pyriform Recess
Background: Acute suppurative thyroiditis is a rare event among the thyroid diseases, representing from 0, 1 to 0, 7% of the possible scenarios that can affect this organ. Pyriform recess fistula is the principal cause in children, presenting itself with an infectious process which is usually unilateral and recurrent. The authors report a case of a continuing thyroidal abscess due to pyriform recess fistula in a 16 year old patient, which is later than evidence describes.
Clinical Case: In 2009, patient, 14 years old caucasian male, present hyperemia and cervical edema, on the left side and toxiinfectious signs. The ultrasound showed dense collection at the topography of the left thyroid lobe, and the diagnosis was settled in suppurative thyroiditis; treatment was conducted accordingly, through surgical drainage and antibiotics. The infectious process recurred in the following years, and further investigation of the trigger factor showed that there was a fistulous route of the left pyriform recess, setting a fourth brachial arch persistence, leading to a left thyroidal lobectomy and resection of the fistulous route.
Discussion: as the main cause of suppurative thyroiditis in childhood, the pyriform recess fistula presents as an acute infectious process in an initial stage, and complementary exams will only show the consequences of this presentation, which are local collection and edema of adjacent structures, located in this case specifically more on the left side than the right. In the subacute stage of the disease, the diagnosis is determined through the pharyngo-esophagogram, which will reveal the fistulous tract, due to its contrast filling. The resection of the fistulous tract is the chosen surgical procedure, and it can partially resect the thyroid lobe or not.
Conclusion: the authors conclude that the pyriform sinus fistula is a rare disease and the leading cause of childhood suppurative thyroiditis as shown in the literature review, and therefore should be investigated in cases of suppurative thyroiditis and should be treated with a thyroidectomy with resection of the tract.


The study examines the relationship between climatic factors and reported malaria cases using data from 12 districts in Uganda over the period 2000-2011. A panel dataset comprising temperature, temperature standard deviation; minimum humidity; maximum humidity; precipitation; precipitation standard deviation; malaria cases; health facilities; hospital beds; health workers; per capita health expenditure and gross domestic product per capita. The Fixed Effects Model was found to be preferable. Health facilities, per capita GDP, the interaction of temperature and precipitation, the interaction of precipitation and variability in precipitation, maximum and minimum humidity have a significant positive effect on malaria cases. Hospital beds and health workers are significant and negatively related to malaria cases while per capita health expenditure, temperature, precipitation and variability in temperature have no effect.


Adaptive microvascular changes in increased arterial pressure were investigated in the intestine of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In 4- to 5-week-old normal Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and SHR ras, as well as in 18- to 21-week-old WKY rats, the number of arterioles of a given type per milligram of tissue were very similar. However, 18- to 21-week-old SHR had 30% to 35% fewer arterioles in the diameter range of 25--35 mu, as if intestinal vessels were lost or failed to grow during maturation. The largest and smallest arterioles in the intestine of adult SHR were constricted by 20% to 25%, but other vessels in the SHR had an equal or increased diameter relative to those in WKY rats. As a result of rarefaction and selective vasoconstriction in SHR, microvascular pressures in the intestinal muscle of SHR were near those in WKY rats, and those in villi of SHR were equal to those in WKY rats despite a 60% to 70% increase in mean arterial pressure in SHR. The percentage of small arterioles (less than 15 mu) that were intermittently closed to flow at rest was minimal, and the total number of small vessels per milligram of tissue was equal in WKY and SH rats. These data indicate that the adaptive changes in the intestinal vasculature of SHR do not include the loss of small arterioles as occurs in skeletal muscle but that the vascular branching pattern is disturbed, and the largest and smallest arterioles are constricted in the intestine of SHR.


Two-dimensional (2D) covariance analyses applied to spectroscopy data obtained while monitoring chemical processes allow exploring the chemical reactions involved. Some slices of the sample–sample covariance map are an approach to the concentration profiles of the reactive species and we present a novel methodology to identify them. The method overcomes problems habitually referenced in the application of this technique and it is based on the selection of spectral zones with similar standard deviation of the variables and row centering the spectra data in each zone. The slices are identified according to the correlation coefficient value. The method is illustrated using simulated spectra data set representatives of two model reactions A → B and A → I → B. It has been applied to analyze the effect of rare earth metal triflate initiators in the cationic curing process of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with γ-valerolactone. The number of significant slices found is equal to the number of reactive species. This is interesting information that can be used as an initial estimation to find profile concentrations using other methods such as multivariate curve resolution–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS).


The electrochemical properties of chemically modified electrodes have long been a significant focus of research. Although the electronic states are directly related to the electrochemical properties, there have been only limited systematic efforts to reveal the electronic structures of adsorbed redox molecules with respect to the local environment of the redox center. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed for ferrocene-terminated self-assembled monolayers with different electron-donating abilities, which can be regarded as the simplest class of chemically modified electrodes. We revealed that the local electrostatic potentials, which are changed by the electron donating/withdrawing functional groups at the ferrocene moiety and the dipole field of coadsorbed inert molecules, practically determine the density of states derived from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and its vicinities (HOMO-1 and HOMO-2) with respect to the electrode Fermi level. Therefore, to design new, sophisticated electrodes with chemical modification, one should consider not only the electronic properties of the constituent molecules, but also the local electrostatic potentials formed by these molecules and coadsorbed inert molecules.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


The business strategy literature offers apparently opposite views of the ability of vertical integration to cope with the uncertainty related to changing regulatory environments. In this paper, we analyze how the process of retail deregulation affects the comparative efficiency of governance structures, which range on a continuum from fully vertically integrated structures to market transactions. Based on the analysis of 177 U.S. electric utilities from 1998 to 2001, our results show that the process of retail deregulation has a negative impact on firms' productive efficiency, as measured using Data Envelopment Analysis. Furthermore, firms that are vertically integrated into electricity generation, or that rely on the market for the supply of their electricity, are more efficient than firms that adopt hybrid structures combining vertical integration and contracting. This research has important implications because it shows the coexistence of different types of governance structures that cope efficiently with regulatory uncertainty through different mechanisms. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


When Chris Met Fred Photographer Chris Mueller has had a few characters show up at his door in New York City. But none quite like Fred. Fred is a crash-test dummy—and not just any crash-test dummy. He's a Hybrid-III adult male model, with half of his vinyl flesh removed to show off his sensor-packed steel skeleton. He was in town to be photographed for this issue's "Anatomy of a Crash-Test Dummy." Fred, whose home is at the headquarters of dummy maker Denton ATD, in Rochester Hills, Mich., has been to trade shows all over the world. He normally travels by truck, but he's also traveled by car, sitting next to the driver, and once Denton bought him a seat on a flight to Europe. This was Fred's first trip to New York, and he was delivered to Mueller in a refrigerator-size crate. "It was giant," says Mueller, who has photographed airliners, racing cars, human brains, and NASA engineers, but never dummies. How to get the thing to his studio, 10 blocks north, where the photo shoot was to take place? "I opened the crate, put Fred on a hand truck, and rolled down the street with him," he says. "I covered him with a black canvas, and people kept looking over, catching glimpses of Fred." At the photo session Fred proved very easy to work with. "He just listened and did what he was told," says Mueller, who after the shoot was off to an assignment in California. As for Fred, he was ready to go home, back to his Hybrid-III female companion, Frida. n


We think of James Madison as a political theorist, legislative drafter, and constitutional interpreter. Recent scholarship has fought fiercely over the nature of his political thought. Unlike other important early national leaders—John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Edmund Randolph, James Wilson—law has been seen as largely irrelevant to Madison's intellectual biography. Madison, however, studied law and, at least in one extant manuscript, took careful notes. These notes have been missing for over a century, and their loss contributed to the sense that Madison must not have been that interested in law. Now located, these notes reveal Madison's significant grasp of law and his striking curiosity about the problem of language. Madison's interest in interpretation is certainly not news to scholars. These notes, however, help to establish that this interest predated the Constitution and that his interest in constitutional interpretation was an application of a larger interest in language. Moreover, Madison thought about the problem of legal interpretation as a student of law, never from the secure status of lawyer. Over his lifetime, he advocated a variety of institutional approaches to constitutional interpretation, and this comfort with nonjudicial interpreters, along with a peculiar ambivalence about the proper location of constitutional interpretation, may owe a great deal to his self-perception as a law student but never a lawyer.


Cataluminescence (CTL) is a specific chemiluminescence (CL) occurring on the surface of solid catalysts during heterogeneous catalytic oxidation reactions, and it is still a young technique compared to conventional CL. In recent years, CTL-based sensors have been widely used in the detection of various analytes. We have witnessed many developments in CTL-based sensing systems for the enhancement of sensitivity or selectivity. This review provides a thorough introduction to the history and development of CTL-based sensing systems. We have briefly discussed the working principles for CTL systems and related the influencing factors first. The development of CTL based on these factors and instruments has been subsequently introduced. Several excellent CTL-based sensing systems have been discussed to highlight their practicality for the analysis of complicated environmental samples. Discussions of the challenges and future trends of CTL-based sensing systems have been provided in the end of this review.


In distributed applications, a group of multiple application processes have to send and receive multimedia messages by using the high-speed network. The multimedia message at the application level is decomposed into multiple smaller packets which are transmitted in the communication system. In this paper, we discuss the atomic and ordered delivery of messages at the application level rather than the system level. In some multimedia applications, the application processes do not mind if some packets are lost and in what order packets from different processes are received. The application process specifies the minimum receipt ratio /spl epsiv/ (/spl les/1) showing how many percentages of whole data in each message the destination processes have to be received at least. The communication system delivers the packets to the destinations in the group so as to satisfy the receipt ratio /spl epsiv/. The protocol is based on the fully distributed control scheme, i.e. no master controller.


Most studies on information technology (IT) capability have drawn their conceptualization from the tenets of resource-based view (RBV). Though path dependence is central to the concept of RBV, very few studies have examined the developmental paths of IT capabilities, which are typically treated as first-order constructs with their effects on firm performance investigated as direct causal links. This paper conceptualizes IT capability as the outcome of a pathspecific resource building process, driven by the e-business skills and knowledge of a firm's IT human resources, which we refer to as e-business centric IT expertise. We posit that through the use of appropriate IT infrastructure, and the development of back-end integration and front-end functionalities, e-business centric IT expertise could be harnessed to provide the right information to the right customers at the right time, giving rise to a firm-specific IT capability. We further contend that IT capability is a source of competitive advantage, offering inimitable differentiation in market responsive agility, which is a key to securing sales in an increasingly customer-centric market. We operationalize these conceptualizations as a structural equation model (SEM) and tested 12 hypothesized relationships using data drawn from a survey of 310 fast-growth smallto-medium sized companies in Australia. The test results uphold 10 of the 12 formulated hypotheses, supporting our conceptualization that IT capability building is a path-specific process. To affirm our contention that IT capability is developed from the interacting effects of a suite of IT resources, and not the sum of the disjointed effects of individual resources, we also formulated and tested an alternative model that links individual IT resources directly to market responsive agility. Combined with a series of mediation tests, our SEM exercises confirm that IT resources interact in a specific way to give rise to IT capability to enhance market responsive agility and achieve sales performance. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context


The grid and the mesh of trees (or MOT) are among the best-known parallel architectures in the literature. Both of them enjoy efficient VLSI layouts, simplicity of topology, and a large number of parallel algorithms that can efficiently execute on them. One drawback of these architectures is that algorithms that perform best on one of them do not perform very well on the other. Thus there is a gap between the algorithmic capabilities of these two architectures. We propose a new class of parallel architectures, called the mesh-connected trees (or MCT) that can execute grid algorithms as efficiently as the grid, and MOT algorithms as efficiently as the MOT, up to a constant amount of slowdown. In particular, the MCT topology contains the MOT as a subgraph and emulates the grid via embedding with dilation 3 and congestion two. This significant amount of computational versatility offered by the MCT comes at no additional VLSI area cost over these earlier networks. Many topological, routing, and embedding properties analyzed here suggest that the MCT architecture is also a serious competitor for the hypercube. In fact, while the MCT is much simpler and cheaper than the hypercube, for all the algorithms we developed, the running time complexity on the MCT matches those of well known hypercube algorithms. We also present an interesting variant of the MCT architecture that admits both the MOT and the torus as its subgraphs. While most of the discussion in this paper is focused on the MCT architecture itself, these analyses can be easily extended to the variant of the MCT presented here.


Standard MCMC methods can scale poorly to big data settings due to the need to evaluate the likelihood at each iteration. There have been a number of approximate MCMC algorithms that use sub-sampling ideas to reduce this computational burden, but with the drawback that these algorithms no longer target the true posterior distribution. We introduce a new family of Monte Carlo methods based upon a multi-dimensional version of the Zig-Zag process of (Bierkens, Roberts, 2017), a continuous time piecewise deterministic Markov process. While traditional MCMC methods are reversible by construction (a property which is known to inhibit rapid convergence) the Zig-Zag process offers a flexible non-reversible alternative which we observe to often have favourable convergence properties. We show how the Zig-Zag process can be simulated without discretisation error, and give conditions for the process to be ergodic. Most importantly, we introduce a sub-sampling version of the Zig-Zag process that is an example of an {\em exact approximate scheme}, i.e. the resulting approximate process still has the posterior as its stationary distribution. Furthermore, if we use a control-variate idea to reduce the variance of our unbiased estimator, then the Zig-Zag process can be super-efficient: after an initial pre-processing step, essentially independent samples from the posterior distribution are obtained at a computational cost which does not depend on the size of the data.


We demonstrate the usefulness of adding delay to infinite games with quantitative winning conditions. In a delay game, one of the players may delay her moves to obtain a lookahead on her opponent's moves. We show that determining the winner of delay games with winning conditions given by parity automata with costs is EXPTIME-complete and that exponential bounded lookahead is both sufficient and in general necessary. Thus, although the parity condition with costs is a quantitative extension of the parity condition, our results show that adding costs does not increase the complexity of delay games with parity conditions. Furthermore, we study a new phenomenon that appears in quantitative delay games: lookahead can be traded for the quality of winning strategies and vice versa. We determine the extent of this tradeoff. In particular, even the smallest lookahead allows to improve the quality of an optimal strategy from the worst possible value to almost the smallest possible one. Thus, the benefit of introducing lookahead is twofold: not only does it allow the delaying player to win games she would lose without, but lookahead also allows her to improve the quality of her winning strategies in games she wins even without lookahead.


Up-conversion luminescence processes of Tb3+ ions in GeO2-Ga2O3-BaO glass system were investigated under diode-laser excitation of Yb3+. Emission bands at 489, 543, 586 and 621nm corresponding to 5D4→7FJ (J = 6, 5, 4, 3) transitions and luminescence at 381, 415, 435 nm resulting from 5D3, 5G6→7FJ (J = 6, 5, 4) transitions of Tb3+ were observed. The highest up-conversion emission intensity was obtained for 0.7Yb2O3/0.7Tb2O3 co-doped lead-free germanate glass. The energy transfer coefficient was determined based on fitting of calculations and experimental results by least squares method. The energy transfer coefficient amounts to Cf = 1.5∙10−33 cm6/s while quantum efficiency of the Yb3+→Tb3+ energy transfer is 12%.


Strangford Lough in County Down is one of three statutory Marine Nature Reserves in the UK and has been officially designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. For thousands of years, however, its appeal was much more practical. Its vast natural harbour provided refuge for seafarers seeking shelter from the notoriously dangerous Irish Sea and the fertility of its land and the richness of its wildlife proved a strong attraction for human settlement. The high quality of archaeology around the lough has been recognised for many years. From 1995 to 2000 Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service, conscious that the shore and seabed of the lough were hiding many more secrets, undertook a pioneering survey of the maritime cultural landscape. The results of the survey are ground-breaking, many of them challenging our preconceptions about the knowledge and skills of our ancestors - excavations at Nendrum, for instance, revealed a seventh century tidal corn mill that demonstrated a previously unknown level of engineering sophistication. This book, presenting the survey results in a readily accessibe form, will not only add to our appreciation of Strangford's past but will also broaden the way we look at Ireland's maritime heritage.


Agent-based models, particularly those applied to financial markets, demonstrate the ability to produce realistic, simulated system dynamics, comparable to those observed in empirical investigations. Despite this, they remain fairly difficult to calibrate due to their tendency to be computationally expensive, even with recent advances in technology. For this reason, financial agent-based models are frequently validated by demonstrating an ability to reproduce well-known log return time series and central limit order book stylized facts, as opposed to being rigorously calibrated to transaction data. We thus apply an established financial agent-based model calibration framework to a simple model of high- and low-frequency trader interaction and demonstrate possible inadequacies of a stylized fact-centric approach to model validation. We further argue for the centrality of calibration to the validation of financial agent-based models and possible pitfalls of current approaches to financial agent-based modeling.


Conservation agriculture has many agricultural and food security benefits. In addition, conservation agriculture has potential on- and off-site ecosystem service benefits that are the focus of this paper. Ecosystem services provided by conservation agriculture fall into three main categories: provisioning services such as increased food production; regulating services such as carbon sequestration and climate regulation, reducing losses of soil, pesticides, nutrients and other potential contaminants in surface and subsurface water flows, and water cycle improvements; and supporting services such as nutrient and storage and cycling. This paper focuses on the regulating service benefits of conservation agriculture: erosion control, reduced losses of pesticides and nutrients, and particularly water cycle benefits including increased water productivity (more crop per drop), infiltration, percolation, plant available water storage, groundwater recharge, plant available water, and stream baseflow and decreases in peak stream flows and downstream flooding.


Abstract The western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a significant pest of field corn, Zea mays L. (Poales: Poaceae), across the United States Corn Belt. Widespread adoption and continuous use of corn hybrids expressing the Cry3Bb1 protein to manage the western corn rootworm has resulted in greater than expected injury to Cry3Bb1-expressing hybrids in multiple areas of Nebraska. Single-plant bioassays were conducted on larval western corn rootworm populations to determine the level of resistance present in various Nebraska counties. The results confirmed a mosaic of susceptibility to Cry3Bb1 across Nebraska. Larval development metrics, including head capsule width and fresh weight, were measured to quantify the relationship between the level of resistance to Cry3Bb1 and larval developmental rate. Regression and correlation analyses indicate a significant positive relationship between Cry3Bb1 corrected survival and both larval development metrics. Results indicate that as the level of resistance to Cry3Bb1 within field populations increases, mean head capsule width and larval fresh weight also increase. This increases our understanding of western corn rootworm population dynamics and age structure variability present in the transgenic landscape that is part of the complex interaction of factors that drives resistance evolution. This collective variability and complexity within the landscape reinforces the importance of making corn rootworm management decisions based on information collected at the local level.


In this paper we investigate the Follow the Regularized Leader dynamics in sequential imperfect information games (IIG). We generalize existing results of Poincare recurrence from normal-form games to zero-sum two-player imperfect information games and other sequential game settings. We then investigate how adapting the reward (by adding a regularization term) of the game can give strong convergence guarantees in monotone games. We continue by showing how this reward adaptation technique can be leveraged to build algorithms that converge exactly to the Nash equilibrium. Finally, we show how these insights can be directly used to build state-of-the-art model-free algorithms for zero-sum two-player Imperfect Information Games (IIG).


OBJECTIVES
To describe the computed tomography features of canine thyroid tumours. METHODS Retrospective study of records of dogs with a thyroid tumour and neck computed tomography. Neck computed tomographies were evaluated for tumour characteristics. Thoracic radiographs and computed tomographies were evaluated for lung nodules.

RESULTS
Of 19 identified cases, 17 were carcinomas and 2 were adenomas; 12 had mineralisation, 16 had heterogeneous attenuation and 16 were unilateral. Tumours were located from the temporomandibular joint to C5. Sixteen had well-defined margins postcontrast. Tumours were ovoid and mean volume was 57·4 cm(3) . By computed tomography, eight had definitive or possible invasion into surrounding structures; all eight were histopathologically invasive carcinomas. Five histopathologically non-invasive tumours and two adenomas had no computed tomography invasion into surrounding structures. Four had complete palpable mobility (two adenomas and two histopathologically invasive carcinomas); one had computed tomography evidence of possible invasion. The sensitivity of palpable mass mobility to determine histopathological invasion was 71% with 0% specificity. The sensitivity of computed tomography invasion to determine histopathological invasion was 70% with 100% specificity.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Computed tomography scans revealed several common features. Palpable mass mobility was not definitive for lack of histopathological invasion. Computed tomography invasion was specific but not very sensitive for histopathological invasion.


Transitions to educational institutions have received growing attention in recent years, with research directed towards supporting effective transition policies, practices and programmes. In UK based research, minimal attention has been paid to what a parent may experience as their child with SEN transitions to school and how parents cope with these changes and adjustments. This qualitative study looked at how parents in an outer London borough experienced their child with SEN's transition from nursery to school. In this study, the transition to school process was understood in the context of relational change, uncertainty, changes in expectations, as well as internal and interpersonal processes. A psychosocial approach was adopted and Hollway and Jefferson's (2013) Free Association Narrative Interview Method was used to interview five parents about their experience. A thematic analysis was used to gather a rich account of the psychological and social dimensions of the transition process for each of these parents. Themes were then considered in conjunction with relevant psychoanalytic concepts. Findings are presented in relation to analysis, related theory and research. The limitations of this study and implications for educational psychology practice and the role of professionals in the transition to school are discussed, including a reflection on how the conceptualisation of transition may be pertinent to EP practice


In addition to a conventional cytochrome c oxidase, higher plants contain a cyanide-resistant alternative oxidase (AOX). Significant progress in the characterisation of this oxidase has included isolation of cDNAs encoding the AOX from a number of species. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences reveals a high degree of homology especially between the plant sequences and also shows the presence of three copies of an iron-binding motif (Glu-X-X-His). Lack of absorbance above 350 nm and the presence of these motifs, led to a hypothetical structure of the catalytic site of the AOX in which the active-site contains a coupled binuclear iron centre analogous to that found in methane monooxygenase and ribonucleotide reductase (Siedow et al., 1995, FEBS Lett. 362:10-14). Since this model was put forward a revised hypothetical structure has appeared (Andersson & Nordlund 1999, FEBS Lett. 449:17-22). Both the original model and the revised model classify the AOX as a member of the di-iron carboxylate family of proteins whilst the major difference concerns the topology of the enzyme. In order to probe the structure-function relationship of the plant AOX we have developed a functional yeast expression system and have previously demonstrated that Glu 270, proposed to be involved in binding iron, is essential for activity (Albury et al., 1998, J. Biol. Chem., 273:30301-30305). We are continuing to probe the structure of the AOX by mutating residues both within the active site and also in a putative quinone binding region. Data from respiratory analyses of these mutants, some of which result in a partially active AOX, will be presented and the structure of the AOX will be discussed in the light of these results


The central argument of this article is that global cities are, due to their clustering of producer service firms, critical governance nodes in global production networks. More in particular, the article scrutinises the role of producer service firms in uneven development and, especially, in the geographical transfer of value (Hadjimichalis, 1984). Because the direct as well as the indirect mechanisms through which value is transferred geographically require the intervention of producer service firms, global cities can be theorised as governance nodes for centripetal wealth transfers along global commodity chains. Moreover, and in the context of the persisting criticism that the global city concept has a bias towards Northern/Western cities, the article argues that the claim that global cities are critical places for the organisation of uneven development also holds for cities beyond 'the usual suspects'. Referring to cases of how producer service firms in Hamburg and Mexico City erect entry barriers to protect their clients from competition and of how they shape labour relations at the expense of employees, I have maintained that governance is, as Sassen (2010: 158) has argued, indeed 'embedded' into the services provided. From that follows that even 'minor' global cities are strategic governance places from where the transfer of wealth towards the centres of the world economy is organised.


At present, most of e-commerce applications are developed using asymmetric cryptography to guarantee the authentication of the involved parties. On the other hand, a growing demand for mobile devices has geared a shift towards mobile e-commerce applications. This paper highlights that the existing authentication protocols, based on RSA asymmetric cryptography, are not appropriate for such devices due to their limitations in computing power, memory capacity, key sizes and cryptographic support. Therefore, an efficient protocol for resource constrained platforms that achieve a level of security similar to the one achieved by the protocols in use today is designed and implemented. This protocol is based solely on Hyperelliptic curve asymmetric cryptography and the results prove that the performance achieved is good compared to RSA.


Abstract A study of seed coat micromorphology, using both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, revealed characters of taxonomic significance and utility among the species of Eriocaulaceae of the United States and Canada. Our survey of nine native species of Eriocaulon, five Lachnocaulon, and one Syngonanthus revealed diversity in the shape and size of the cells of the seed coat, the degree and pattern of ornamentation, and appendage shape. In the context of world Eriocaulaceae, the species of the United States and Canada exhibit no morphologies that are unique.


The present manuscript describes the process followed to carry out the last part of a displacement sensor implementation. The mentioned sensor is based on the self-mixing (SM) interferometric laser effect that is capable of providing correct target measurements in real-time even when it is subject to extraneous parasitic movements.
Self-mixing interferometry is a measurement technique, in which a laser beam is reflected from an object, back into the laser. The reflected light interferes with the light generated inside the laser, and this causes changes in the optical and electrical properties of the laser. Information about the target object and the laser itself can be obtained by analyzing these changes. It is necessary to say that SM displacement sensors have traditionally needed a stationary support (such as an optical table and/or anti-vibration material) to guarantee an accurate target measurement as any parasitic/extraneous movement of the SM sensing laser system can corrupt the real target displacement measurement.
So, keeping in mind such a limitation that can potentially limit the use of such optical sensors, a Solid-State Accelerometer (SSA) coupled Self-Mixing (SSA-SM) sensing system has been recently proposed that measures real target displacement even if the laser sensor is itself subject to a displacement. This system uses the SSA accelerometer to determine the movement that the sensor is subjected to. Then, the subtraction of this movement to total movement measured by the self-mixing intermerometry allows knowing the real motion of the target, but to perform this subtraction the two signals should be in phase.
A first prototype allying the signal obtained from the accelerometer and the signal obtained from the self-mixing interferometry has been created, and verifications have been done using a filter implemented in MATLAB which allows to perform the calibration on the two real signals and calculates the corrected displacement.
The main objective is then to implement this idea and to validate in a practical way the operating principle of the sensor that had been validated using MATLAB. To do this, the signals have been processed in the digital domain, as it is much more practical to use digital filters to correct signals. A dsPIC has been used to perform this task.
The report begins by introducing the physical operating principle of the sensor, based on the SM interferometry, the interest of its study and developments for this application. Then it describes the proposed method, its scope and the starting point of this study. The employed components such as the dsPIC33FJ128GP802, the development tools used for programming and the computer interface are mentioned and their main characteristics are explained.
First, the correction and subtraction of the two signals has been implemented in the dsPIC, which takes care of band-pass filtering and phase and gain corrections needed to do that. The methodology used was to create a program step by step, starting with a simple program that only received and sent a signal (through analogical to digital converters and vice versa) , after introducing a filter and finally, a program that received ,filtered and sent two signals. At that point, real samples have been used in order to calculate the phase and gain mismatches and create a filter to compensate them. Once the filter is done, the subtraction code has been implemented and good results have been. obtained for different cases although the accelerometer signals were still conditioned by analog elements.
This has led to completely digitalize the sensor part responsible for obtaining the displacement signal from the accelerometer. Initially, a double analog integration was used to obtain a displacement from the acceleration signal. To digitalize this operation, the filter characteristic of an integrator has been programmed in the dsPIC twice, in serial mode. Finally, the integration and filtering parts have been added in a single dsPIC, providing much better results than before. An accuracy of 100nm has been achieved, achieving the removal of 97,18% of the parasitic signal over the frequency range of interest.
A paper has been drafted and accepted, and a place at a conference called IEEE Sensors Conference, on the 28-31st of October 2012 in Taiwan, has been granted to present this project.
In addition, an optimization of two aspects of the sensor has been done. In the first one, the accuracy of the filter has been increased due to the higher number of coefficients that has been achieved (from 1500 to 1790), through the use of a special feature of dsPIC : the use of a part of the program memory, called PSV (program space visibility), as a data memory. In the second one, the expansion of the range of frequencies where the SM interferometric signal is able to be unrolled has also been increased. The first proposed SSA-SM sensing system uses Consecutive-Samples based Unwrapping (CSU) to process the SM interferometric signal accomplished in a microcontroller, who limits this range to 2 kHz because of his performances and programmed code. Therefore, using the same method, a program that is able to detect the number of fringes of a self-mixing signal has been developed, so that SM displacement signals up to 34 kHz could be reconstructed.
In conclusion, the operating principle has been validated. This results in a displacement/vibration sensing system that can be used for embedded applications as there is no more need of keeping the sensor stationary. Such an approach opens the way for the use of such laser sensors in conditions where the use of anti-vibration support is not available or possible. The proposed data fusion between the acceleration signal and the SM interferometric signal results in a robust sensing system. Hence, a compact, real-time, precise and self-aligned SSA-SM sensor has been designed that has a displacement measurement precision of approximately 100nm with a parasitic movement elimination of 31dB for a laser diode emitting at 785nm.


Academics have proposed hybrid products with equity features for the financing of housing. In spite of their risk-sharing benefits these products have not become mainstream. This paper studies an important exception, a UK government scheme which in the five years since its inception has provided almost £10 billion of equity financing. The analysis of the origination and prepayment behavior of households who have used the scheme highlights housing affordability constraints. A difference-in-difference analysis of an increase in the maximum government equity limit shows that households took advantage of the increase to buy more expensive properties, and not to reduce their mortgage debt and house price risk exposure. A counterfactual study of homebuyers who, instead of using the equity available, relied on high loan-to-value mortgages shows that their financing choices can be rationalized by an expected rate of house price appreciation of 7.7% per year. We draw general implications for how households approach their house purchase and financing decisions, taking advantage of the fact that the shared equity mortgages that we study allow the separation of the consumption and investment dimensions of housing.


Background: Visible psoriasis skin symptoms have a severe psychological impact on quality of life. To improve clinical approaches, methods of assessing these aspects are needed. Objectives: To investigate the influence of psoriasis on patients' body image based on the Body Image Model (BIM). Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Transcriptions of the interviews were subsequently analyzed using concepts from the BIM. Results: Eight patients with severe to moderate psoriasis (PASI ≥10) were interviewed. Five thematic issues linked to the negative impact of psoriasis on patient body image were identified: body coverage, sexual inhibitions, the influence of social support, reduced exercise activity and a negative self-image. Furthermore, information obtained through the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaires did not entirely reflect statements from patients made during interviews. Conclusion: An altered body image has a psychosocial impact on patients with visible psoriasis that may result in increased body coverage, sexual inhibitions and reduced exercise activity. This further affects self-image negatively and influences how people with psoriasis handle the risk of metabolic syndrome. Assessment of patient body image using components of the BIM increases the possibility of identifying important psychosocial aspects of psoriasis and the related risk of metabolic syndrome and is thus a valuable support for the DLQI questionnaires.


An efficient and accurate detection of dry matter (DM) yield of legume-grass mixtures can facilitate a targeted and site-specific management of legume-based swards. The major objective of this study was to examine the relationship between spectral signatures of legume-grass swards and DM yield across a wide range of legume species (white clover [Trifolium repens L.], red clover [T. pratense L.], alfalfa [Medicago sativa L.], birdsfoot trefoil [Lotus corniculatus L.]), legume proportion (0-100% of DM), and growth stage (beginning of tillering to end of flowering). Modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression, stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR), and the vegetation indices (Vls), simple ratio, normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index, and red edge position were used for analysis of the hyperspectral data set (350-2500 nm). Compared to common calibrations, legume-specific models achieved better results, indicating that each legume species had its own spectral characteristics. Modified partial least squares and SMLR gave the best R 2 values, ranging in cross validation from 0.74 to 0.92 with a standard error below 92 g DM m- 2 . The DM yield prediction by Vls resulted in unsatisfactory accuracies. Prediction accuracy for MPLS and SMLR models were still acceptable even with a reduced spectral data set (630-1000 nm), a finding that could facilitate an application of field spectroscopy in practice.


"These are gritty, forthright narratives about late-twentieth-century life in remote Alaska...A wonderful collection indeed!"--Julie Cruikshank, author of The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory (Nebraska 1998) and Life Lived Like a Story: Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders (Nebraska 1991). "These stories add a new dimension to the genre of Native American literature."--Robin Ridington, coauthor of Blessing for a Long Time: The Sacred Pole of the Omaha Tribe (Nebraska 1997). In this lively and sometimes poignant collection of essays and autobiographies, nearly fifty Alaska Native writers tell of their unique way of life and bear witness to the sweeping cultural changes occurring in their lifetimes. They explore a range of experiences and issues, including skinning a polar bear; traditional domestic and subsistence practices; marriage customs; alcoholism; the challenges and opportunities of modern education; balancing traditional and contemporary demands; discrimination; adapting to urban life; the treatment of Native peoples in school textbooks; and the social realities of speaking standard and "village" English. With its fresh perspectives and unfailingly authentic voices, this collection is essential for an understanding of Alaska Native peoples today. Susan B. Andrews and John Creed are award-winning journalists and associate professors in the humanities at the Chukchi campus of the University of Alaska in Kotzebue.


Large-scale distribution of a large, commercially significant gastropod, Strombus gigas (queen conch), was investigated in a 11,000-ha region of the Great Bahama Bank near Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Cays. Maps of depth and seagrass biomass, generated with Landsat thematic mapper data, and a 4-year survey of juvenile conch distribution showed that most of the juveniles were in aggregations located in 1.5-4.0-m water depth. Although general locations of juvenile conch aggregations remained the same between 1989 and 1992, their total surface area occupied only about 1.5% of the 8,300 ha of seagrass habitat available. Locations of only the most persistent long-term aggregations could be predicted on the basis of preferred seagrass biomass (30-80 g dry weight m -2 ); however, important conch nurseries were always located in tidal channels which brought clear, oligotrophic water from the Exuma Sound. Harmonic analysis of water temperature data from sites with and without juvenile aggregations showed that conch nurseries were subject to flushing with oceanic water on every tide, whereas non-conch sites reflected only diurnal heating and cooling of bank water. Relationships between circulation and juvenile conch distribution on the Great Bahama Bank may be related directly to larval recruitment, or indirectly to aspects of nutrient cycling and food production; evidence for both mechanisms exists. Although exact locations of conch aggregations shift from year to year, these shifts appear to occur within larger nursery habitats, the boundaries of which are set by a precise combination of physical and biological factors. Because most meadows are probably unsuitable for this severely overfished species, critical nursery habitats should be identified and protected.


We study scalable image and video coding for the surveillance of rooms and personal environments based on inexpensive cameras and portable devices. The scalability is achieved through a multi-level 2D dyadic wavelet decomposition featuring an accurate low-cost integer wavelet implementation with lifting. As our primary contribution, we present a modification to the SPECK wavelet coefficient encoding algorithm to significantly improve the efficiency of an embedded system implementation. The modification consists of storing the significance of all quadtree nodes in a buffer, where each node comprises several coefficients. This buffer is then used to efficiently construct the code with minimal and direct memory access. Our approach allows efficient parallel implementation on multi-core computer systems and gives a substantial reduction of memory access and thus power consumption. We report experimental results, showing an approximate gain factor of 1,000 in execution time compared to a straightforward SPECK implementation, when combined with code optimization on a common digital signal processor. This translates to 75 full color 4CIF 4:2:0 encoding cycles per second, clearly demonstrating the realtime capabilities of the proposed modification.


Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is an animal model of apnea-induced hypoxia, a common stressor in the premature neonate. Neonatal stressors may have long-term programming effects in the adult. We hypothesized that neonatal exposure to IH leads to significant changes in basal and stress-induced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function in the adult male rat. Rat pups were exposed to normoxia (control) or 6 approximately 30-second cycles of IH (5% or 10% inspired O₂) daily on postnatal days 2-6. At approximately 100 days of age, we assessed the diurnal rhythm of plasma corticosterone and stress-induced plasma ACTH and corticosterone responses, as well as mRNA expression of pertinent genes within the HPA axis. Basal diurnal rhythm of plasma corticosterone concentrations in the adult rat were not affected by prior exposure to neonatal IH. Adults exposed to 10% IH as neonates exhibited an augmented peak ACTH response and a prolonged corticosterone response to restraint stress; however, HPA axis responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia were not augmented in adults exposed to neonatal IH. Pituitary Pomc, Crhr1, Nr3c1, Nr3c2, Avpr1b, and Hif1a mRNA expression was decreased in adults exposed to neonatal 10% IH. Expression of pertinent hypothalamic and adrenal mRNAs was not affected by neonatal IH. We conclude that exposure to neonatal 10% IH programs the adult HPA axis to hyperrespond to acute stimuli in a stressor-specific manner.


As the twentieth century draws to a close and the rush to globalization gathers momentum, political and economic considerations are crowding out vital ethical questions about the shape of our future. Now, Hans Kung, one of the world's preeminent Christian theologians, explores these issues in a visionary and cautionary look at the coming global society. How can the new world order of the twenty first century avoid the horrors of the twentieth? Will nations form a real community or continue to aggressively pursue their own interests? Will the Machiavellian approaches of the past prevail over idealism and a more humanitarian politics? What role can religion play in a world increasingly dominated by transnational corporations? Kung tackles these and many other questions with the insight and moral authority that comes from a lifetime's devotion to the search for justice and human dignity. Arguing against both an amoral realpolitik and an immoral resurgence of laissez faire economics, Kung defines a comprehensive ethic founded on the bedrock of mutual respect and humane treatment of all beings that would encompass the ecological, legal, technological, and social patterns that are reshaping civilization. If we are going to have a global economy, a global technology, a global media, Kung argues, we must also have a global ethic to which all nations, and peoples of the most varied backgrounds and beliefs, can commit themselves. "The world," he says, "is not going to be held together by the Internet." For anyone concerned about the world we are creating, A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics offers equal measures of informed analysis, compassionate foresight, and wise counsel.


Objectives
Among the challenges in health research is translating interventions from controlled experimental settings to clinical and community settings where chronic disease is managed daily. Pragmatic trials offer a method for testing interventions in real-world settings but are seldom used in OA research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the literature on pragmatic trials in OA research up to August 2016 in order to identify strengths and weaknesses in the design and reporting of these trials.

Methods
We used established guidelines to assess the degree to which 61 OA studies complied with pragmatic trial design and reporting. We assessed design according to the pragmatic-explanatory continuum indicator summary and reporting according to the pragmatic trials extension of the CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials guidelines.

Results
None of the pragmatic trials met all 11 criteria evaluated and most of the trials met between 5 and 8 of the criteria. Criteria most often unmet pertained to practitioner expertise (by requiring specialists) and criteria most often met pertained to primary outcome analysis (by using intention-to-treat analysis).

Conclusion
Our results suggest a lack of highly pragmatic trials in OA research. We identify this as a point of opportunity to improve research translation, since optimizing the design and reporting of pragmatic trials can facilitate implementation of evidence-based interventions for OA care.


The sport industry has a tremendous impact on the natural environment. As a result, sport organizations have implemented ways to reduce their impact ranging from energy upgrades, waste management programs, and fan engagement. However, fan engagement efforts have received mixed results to increase participation in sustainability initiatives. This paper proposes that sense of place can be leveraged using fan identification to increase participation in such initiatives, thereby decreasing the environmental impact of the sport organization and individual fans. A conceptual model is presented and practical examples are provided for the use and reference of sport management and sustainability educators or researchers.


Forum: The State of Feminist Security Studies: Continuing the Conversation. This forum comprises seven pieces conceived in response to the recent Politics & Gender Critical Perspectives section that featured contributions from Carol Cohn, Valerie Hudson, Jennifer Lobasz, Laura Sjoberg, Ann Tickner, Annick Wibben, and Lauren Wilcox ( P&G 2011, Vol. 7, Issue 4). Throughout, we refer to this collection as "the CP section."


BACKGROUND
Follow-up clinical consultations could improve overall health status as well provide knowledge and education for cancer prevention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This is the cross-sectional study using the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) 6th edition for 2012, with 115,083 respondents who underwent cancer checkups selected as subjects. Associations between the presence of consultation and the socioeconomic status were determined using statistical methods with the SAS 9.3 statistical package (Cary, NC, USA).

FINDINGS
Among the recipients, 32,179 (28.0%) received clinical consultations after cancer screenings. Those in rural areas (odds ratio, OR=0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.73) visited follow-up clinics less frequently than did those in urban areas. Starting at the elementary school level, as the education level increased to middle school (OR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.19-1.34), high school (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.23-1.36) or college (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.65-1.89), the participation rates also increased. When compared with the lowest quartile group, the quartile income level showed a statistical trend and difference as follows: second lowest quartile (OR=1.11, 95% CI: 1.07-1.16), third lowest (OR=1.12, 95% CI: 1.07-1.17) and highest quartile income (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.23-1.35). In addition, the people with economic activities (OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.84-0.90) visited follow-up clinics less frequently than did the others. Current smokers (OR=0.93, 95% CI: 0.89-0.98) and inveterate drinkers (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.85-0.94) had a tendency to visit less often than did non-smokers and other drinkers with all cancers combined.

INTERPRETATION
We suggest primary prevention through lifestyle modifications including smoking and drinking, and environmental interventions may offer the most cost-effective approach to reduce the cancer burden.


A quality children's literature program needs to be correlated with ongoing science lessons and units of study. It can enhance and enrich the science curriculum. Pupils tend to enjoy reading library books and the the literature may assist pupils to explore topics in greater depth. In addition to science experiments, demonstrations, and multi-media, children's literature is another avenue of learning science concepts and generalizations. Voluntarily, pupils may pursue personal interests and purposes in science (Ediger and Rao, 2005). ********** An attractive bulletin board display showing selected book jackets of new library books should be readily visible to children in the classroom. The science teacher needs to refer to the bulletin board while introducing library books to the class. This provides readiness for choosing a library book to read. Subject matter presented provides background information for reading. Pupils then have an overview of content in a library book, making it easier to comprehend. During spare time in the school day, pupils may read science content. While supervising university student teachers in the public schools, the writer experienced the use of library book content in a science lesson discussion. Thus instead of using the basal text, pupils presented ideas on "The Changing Surface of the Earth" from related library book content. The discussion was engaging and lively with comments from almost each pupil. Smaller groups make it possible for more frequency of participation by each child and this was observed in a different observational visit. A good library of science books is a must! It is a way of further securing pupil interest in different topics in science (Ediger, 2007-2008). There are more approaches in stressing children's literature in science. During story time, the teacher needs to read aloud to pupils carefully chosen library books on science content. He/she needs to read with voice inflection, appropriate pitch, and enunciation. Obtaining and maintaining learner attention is important. If children are of primary school age, it is good to show the related illustrations as content is being read orally. This assists these young children to understand subject matter read. The speed of oral reading needs to engage good listening. Periodically, the teacher needs to ask interesting questions pertaining to content read. These questions and forthcoming answers might well propel pupils to acquire further information on their own (Ray, 2006). The content read aloud may motivate pupils to select a problem area to solve. The problem takes time to solve and involves deliberation and time to secure necessary information. The library books, science experiments, and the internet, among other reference sources, may be used. Critical thinking needs to be emphasized in separating facts from opinions, fantasy from reality, and accurate from inaccurate content. Objective information then needs to be secured. Individual or small group endeavors may be involved in problem solving. Creative thinking, too, may be stressed in coming up with new solutions to problems. Creative thinking also needs to be encouraged because improvements in school and in society come about due to novel, unique ideas developed. Thus, library books read to children do help learners to branch out in their thinking (National Research Council, 1996). As another science library book activity, a certain period of time needs to be set aside during the school day for pupils to read a self selected library book. Generally, a pupil will choose a book of personal interest and on his/her reading level. Pupils tend to select sequential library books which are meaningful and they perceive purpose in their reading. Individualized reading motivates learners to read since they have personal ownership due to self selection of reading materials. Developing a life long interest in reading and learning about science is salient (See American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993). …


Three iron oxide materials have been studied for uptake of three anions (arsenate,
phosphate and fluoride) and a cation (cadmium) from aqueous solutions.
Two of the materials were produced using original procedures developed
at Loughborough University. The former material was conditioned by
a controlled freeze-thaw procedure to enhance granularity and the latter was
air-dried at room temperature. Their capacities were compared with a commercially
available material supplied by GEH Wasserchemle, Germany. Pore size distributions and specific surface area values were determined by N2 analysis at 77 K. All samples possessed a reasonable specific surface area, in the range 200-300 m2/g and were mesoporous. Samples produced at Loughborough University also contained some macropores, evidence of a more amorphous
structure or lack of pH control during production. X-ray diffraction indicated that all samples had some b-FeOOH present and
that the chloride content and production pH affected the material crystallinity.
Crystallinity increased with increasing chloride content and a higher production
pH resulted in the presence of more than one phase.
Chemical characterisation was also completed on all three samples. The point
of zero net proton charge and isoelectric point for each material was obtained
by potentiometric batch titrations and zeta potential measurements respectively.
The difference in these values increased with a higher chloride content
and all samples studied possessed a positive surface at low pH and negative
surface at high pH. These parameters were not greatly affected by the background
electrolyte concentration, implying that the background electrolyte is
not specifically adsorbed. However, arsenate and phosphate appeared to be
specifically adsorbed as the isoelectric point decreased.
The uptake capacities for arsenate, phosphate. fluoride and cadmium of all
three samples were obtained by measuring batch isotherms at 25 degrees C. The
pH range was 4-9, using various initial concentrations up to a maximum of
approximately 30 uM. For all anionic species studied, the capacity decreased with increasing pH, and the reverse trend was noted for cadmium. The Langmuir model provided a
good fit for the anionic isotherms and the Freundlich model for the cationic
isotherms. The materials studied possessed a markedly higher capacity for
fluoride than arsenate and phosphate, with an intermediate capacity for cadmium.
This indicates that fluoride is attached to the surface via monodentate
(single) bonds, whilst both arsenate and phosphate are primarily attached to
the surface via bidentate (two) bonds. Cadmium is probably bound by both
these mechanisms.
The effect of competing anions on arsenic uptake capacity was determined using
mini-column experiments of binary (arsenate-fluoride, arsenate-Phosphate
and phosphate-fluoride) and ternary (arsenate-fluoride-phosphate) mixtures.
Arsenate removal was strongly affected by the presence of phosphate, but was only slightly lower in the presence of fluoride. (Continues...).


This paper describes work on the Multimission VICAR Planner (MVP) system to automatically construct executable image processing procedures for custom image processing requests for the JPL Multimission Image Processing Lab (MIPL). This paper focuses on two issues. First, large search spaces caused by complex plans required the use of hand encoded control information. In order to address this in a manner similar to that used by human experts, MVP uses a decomposition-based planner to implement hierarchical/skeletal planning at the higher level and then uses a classical operator based planner to solve subproblems in contexts defined by the highlevel decomposition. Second, the image processing domain is characterized by large amounts of search to find the correct program options for images (e.g. operator effects), rather than search among different programs (e.g. planning operators) and many of these program options are incompatible (i.e. certain combinations cannot be used). MVP represents these interactions by using codesignation constraints to specify program options for operators and allowing these constraints to occur in operator preconditions allowing MVP to search the program option space efficiently while handling negative interactions between program options.


. The article proposes methods for supporting development of efficient programs for modern parallel architectures, including hybrid systems. First, specialized profiling methods designed for programmers tasked with parallelizing existing code are proposed. The first method is loop-based profiling via source-level instrumentation done with Coccinelle tool. The second method is memory reuse distance estimation via virtual memory protection mechanism and manual instrumentation. The third method is cache miss and false sharing estimation by collecting a partial trace of memory accesses using compiler instrumentation and estimating cache behavior in postprocessing based on the trace and a cache model. Second, the problem of automatic parallel code generation for hybrid architectures is discussed. Our approach is to generate OpenCL code from parallel loop nests based on GRAPHITE infrastructure in the GCC compiler. Finally, in cases where achieving high efficiency on hybrid systems requires significant rework of data structures or algorithms, one can employ auto-tuning to specialize for specific input data and hardware at run time. This is demonstrated on the problem of optimizing sparse matrix-vector multiplication for GPUs and its use for accelerating linear system solving in OpenFOAM CFD package. We propose a variant of "sliced ELLPACK" sparse matrix storage format with special treatment for small horizontal or diagonal blocks, where the exact parameters of matrix structure and GPU kernel launch should be automatically tuned at runtime for the specific matrix and GPU hardware.


The result of a dialogue between poets and scholars on the meaning and making of the sacred, this book endeavours to determine how the sacred emerges in sacred script as well as in poetic discourse. It ranges through scholarship in areas as apparently disparate as postmodernism and Buddhism. The perspectives developed are various and without closure, locating the sacred in modes as diverse as patristic traditions, feminist retranslations of biblical texts, and oral and written versions of documents from the world's religions. The essays cohere in their preoccupation with the crucial role language plays in the creation of the sacred, particularly in the relation that language bears to silence. In their interplay, language does not silence silence by, rather, calls the other as sacred into articulate existence.


The interaction of muscle phosphofructokinase with human erythrocyte ghost membranes was investigated. Scatchard analysis of the binding reveals only a single class of binding sites numbering approximately 4 x 10" sites/ghost with an association constant of 2 X lo7 M-'. Maximum binding is observed below pH 6.8 and is complete within 30 min at 4", 24", and 37°C; binding is inhibited by high ionic strength. Studies on the effect of ligands on the binding show that fructose-1,6-Pz, Mg"', and ATP favor binding, while ADP and 2,3-P2glycerate do not. The nature of the phosphofiuctokinase binding site on the membrane was investigated using membranes which had been washed with saline, EDTA, and NaOH to remove various peripheral membrane proteins. The results show that the removal of peripheral proteins from the membrane does not diminish the binding capacity of the membranes, suggesting that an integral membrane protein is the binding site. Phosphofructokinase binding is inhibited by aldolase and glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase, which have been reported to bind to Band 3 protein (Kant, J. A., and Steck, T. L. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 8457-8464; Yu J., and Steck, T. L. (1975) J. Biol. Chem. 250, 91769184; Strapazon, E., and Steck, T. L. (1976) Biochemistry 15, 1421-1424; Strapazon, E., and Steck, T. L. (1977) Biochemistry 16, 2966-2971). Furthermore, both aldolase and glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase also mediate the dissociation of phosphofructokinase from these membranes; the amount of phosphofructokinase released is proportional to the amount of aldolase bound. Neither spectrin (0.1 mg/ml) nor hemoglobin (0.1 to 50 mg/ml) influences the binding of phosphofructokinase. These results demonstrate that phosphofructokinase binds to a specific site, probably Band 3 protein, on the inner surface of human erythrocyte membranes. A model which explains the relationship of the binding sites of these enzymes is presented.


Thiocarbonyl Imides from the Reaction of 2,2,4,4-Tetramethyl-3-thioxocylobutanone and Aryl Azides

Reaction of 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-3-thioxocylobutanone (6) and 4-methoxyphenyl, phenyl, and 4-nitrophenyl azide (7a–c, respectively), at 80°, leads to the 11-aryl-5,10-dithia-11-azadispiro[126.96.36.199]undecane-2,8-diones 8a–c (Scheme 3), respectively, in 67–83% yield. The structure of 8b has been established by X-ray crystallography. The formation of the products may be explained via an intermediate thiocarbonyl imide of type D (Scheme 4), generated by the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of the aryl azide with the CS bond of 6 and elimination of N2.


The education of learners with hearing impairments started in Kenya in 1958. To date they lack access to middle level training after acquiring a crafts certificates course in the two vocational institutions for the hearing impaired. With the global trend of inclusive education, it is possible for regular training institutions in general and Kenya Technical Teachers College in particular to offer further training for them. The purpose of the study was to establish constraints to inclusion of students with hearing impairments for training at Kenya TechnicaJ Teachers college and make suggestions for facilitation of more persons with hearing impairments to train as technical teachers than it is presently. This was done by examining various variables using descriptive survey design and a target population of eight hundred and fifty students, one hundred and seventeen lecturers, twelve heads of departments, one pJincipaEand three old students of Kenya Technical Teachers' college with hearing impairments. Sampling techniques used to arrive at the sample size were purposive sampling to select the principal and heads of departments, stratified then random sampling to select students and teachers respondents and snowball to select old students with hearing impairments _The sample size constituted eighty five students (forty five males, fortyfema1es), twelve teachers (six males, six females), eleven heads of departments. one principa4 and two. old students with hearing impairments. Data were collected using questionnaires for students, lecturers and heads of department. Interview guides for the principal and old students with hearing impairments and observation checklists for lessons and physical facilities. A pilot study was conducted in the same institution using one depattment that was exdud'ed from; the main study. The purpose was to ensure validity and re!tabaity of the instruments in Which reliability of 0.8 was obtained. Being a descriptive survey, the objectives generated descriptive data which was measured using dE7criptive statistics sum as frequencies and percentages. The study revealed that the teaching learning resources were inadequate and most of them unsuitable; no teacher was trained in speCial eeds Education or conversant with sign language. There were no support services in the institution. The teaching learning strategies that were being used required adjustments to cater for students with hearing impairments. There was 00 poticy on special ~ucation to stimulate implementation of inclusive education. The results of the findings led to the conclusion that there were constraints to inclusion of students will hearing impairments at Kenya Technical Teachers college. In view of this the study recommends fn-setiVrcUitgnf teachers in special needs in education and sign language, deployment of teachers who are trained in special Needs. Provision of more suitable resources and support services and adaptation of the teaching -learning strategies.


Analysis and Compression of Large CFD Data Sets Using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Trevor J. Blanc Department of Mechanical Engineering, BYU Master of Science Efficient analysis and storage of data is an integral but often challenging task when working with computation fluid dynamics mainly due to the amount of data it can output. Methods centered around the proper orthogonal decomposition were used to analyze, compress, and model various simulation cases. Two different high-fidelity, time-accurate turbomachinery simulations were investigated to show various applications of the analysis techniques. The first turbomachinery example was used to illustrate the extraction of turbulent coherent structures such as traversing shocks, vortex shedding, and wake variation from deswirler and rotor blade passages. Using only the most dominant modes, flow fields were reconstructed and analyzed for error. The reconstructions reproduced the general dynamics within the flow well, but failed to fully resolve shock fronts and smaller vortices. By decomposing the domain into smaller, independent pieces, reconstruction error was reduced by up to 63 percent. A new method of data compression that combined an image compression algorithm and the proper orthogonal decomposition was used to store the reconstructions of the flow field, increasing data compression ratios by a factor of 40. The second turbomachinery simulation studied was a three-stage fan with inlet total pressure distortion. Both the snapshot and repeating geometry methods were used to characterize structures of static pressure fluctuation within the blade passages of the third rotor blade row. Modal coefficients filtered by frequencies relating to the inlet distortion pattern were used to produce reconstructions of the pressure field solely dependent on the inlet boundary condition. A hybrid proper orthogonal decomposition method was proposed to limit burdens on computational resources while providing high temporal resolution analysis. Parametric reduced order models were created from large databases of transient and steady conjugate heat transfer and airfoil simulations. Performance of the models were found to depend heavily on the range of the parameters varied as well as the number of simulations used to traverse that range. The heat transfer models gave excellent predictions for temperature profiles in heated solids for ambitious parameter ranges. Model development for the airfoil case showed that accuracy was highly dependent on modal truncation. The flow fields were predicted very well, especially outside the boundary layer region of the flow.


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy, utility and complications of continuous glucose monitoring system in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. METHODS: This retrospective study assessed 16 type 1 diabetic patients (16.12±4.41 years) submitted to continuous glucose monitoring system (Medtronic; Northridge, CA) for 72 hours. The following parameters were analyzed: mean capillary glucose level and mean glucose value measured by the continuous glucose monitoring system; glucose excursions (continuous glucose monitoring system vs. capillary glucose measurement), postprandial hyperglycemia (NR < 140 mg/dl), nocturnal hypoglycemia, complications (trauma, local infection, disconnection) and therapeutic management after continuous glucose monitoring. A1c levels were measured at the beginning and after 3 months of the study. RESULTS: The mean capillary glucose values were 214.3±66.5 mg/dl vs. 207.6±54.6 mg/dl by continuous glucose monitoring system, with a significant correlation (p = 0.001). The correlation coefficient and mean absolute error were 0.86±0.21 and 12.6% of the median, respectively. The continuous glucose monitoring system was significantly more efficient in detecting glucose excursion than fingerstick capillary blood sampling (p = 0.04; W = 74), and postprandial hyperglycemia was identified in 60% of type 1 diabetic patients with a median value of 157 mg/dl (< 140 mg/dl). Nocturnal hypoglycemia was detected in 46.7% of these patients. The evaluation of A1c levels in eight (50%) patients before continuous glucose monitoring and after 3 months showed a significantly lower level of A1c in this population (8.18±1.5 vs. 7.28±1.3; p = 0.034). The therapeutic management of type 1 diabetes was changed in 100% of patients. No complications were detected in 93.7% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: The continuous glucose monitoring system showed to be a very safe, well-tolerated and highly accurate method, with a low complication rate. It is a good method to identify glucose excursion and postprandial hyperglycemia, and to improve metabolic changes in therapeutic strategies, with a significant impact on the A1c levels of pediatric diabetic patients. The efficacy of the continuous glucose monitoring system in detecting hypoglycemia is still unclear in the medical literature.


Arterial hypertension (HTN) is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and also leads to hypertensive heart disease, hypertensive nephropathy, cerebrovascular disease as well as cardiac arrhythmias. Despite receiving antihypertensive drugs, patients often do not reach their individual guideline blood pressure (BP) levels. Interventional sympathetic renal artery denervation (RDN) has been demonstrated to successfully lower blood pressure in patients with systolic blood pressure values ≥160 mmHg while on three or more antihypertensive drugs. The SymplicityTM device (Medtronic, Palo Alto, CA, USA) was shown to be safe, with side effects rarely occuring. Recent data from registries show that this procedure is efficient in about 70% of patients. New upcoming devices aim to significantly reduce procedure time and post-procedural complications through new concepts and strategies for RDN, and may possibly improve its effectiveness. Currently, radiofrequency (RF) is the dominant modality for RDN, but devices using energy delivery via ultrasound (US) have been developed. Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is a novel invasive diagnostic modality, which is able to analyse endothelial integrity at a resolution of approximately 10 μm. Recent IVOCT findings after RDN find evidence for endothelial damage and thrombus formation introduced through RDN, yet the clinical significance is uncertain since similar images are obtained when analysing coronary arteries after stenting. Nevertheless, irrigated RDN devices could reduce the observed issues and deliver more energy to deeper tissue levels similar to that observed in ablation of atrial fibrillation. This article provides an overview of currently available data and devices; furthermore we present a case report on the OneShotTM Renal Denervation System (Covidien, Campbell, CA, USA) and preliminary findings of IVOCT examinations after RDN.