Reflective teaching practice has become a central theme in professional growth at the pre-service teacher education level almost everywhere. English language teaching (ELT) teacher trainers, like any other teacher trainers, have a powerful role to play in fostering reflection in their student teachers through the approaches and strategies they incorporate in their training, which can have implications related to the perceived worth of reflective practice. This quantitative study describes the responses of 90 final- year ELT student teachers and eight of their trainers at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman, to a survey about the roles, approaches and strategies used to help the student teachers to reflect on their teaching. The results show that while the trainers have helped their student teachers to develop as reflective teachers, there are certain practices and aspects adopted by the trainers that need to be reconsidered, as they can have negative implications for teacher preparation.


CONTEXT
Combat sports are typically divided into weight classes, and body-mass manipulation to reach a weight class is commonplace. Previous research suggests that weight loss practices in mixed martial arts (MMA) may be more extreme than in other combat sports.

PURPOSE
To investigate the magnitude of weight loss and the prevalence of weight loss strategies in different combat sports.

METHODS
Competitors (N = 637) from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing, judo, MMA, Muay Thai/kickboxing, taekwondo, and wrestling completed an online questionnaire seeking information regarding their weight loss practices.

RESULTS
Body-mass manipulation was commonly undertaken by all combat-sport athletes, with a particularly high incidence of gradual dieting, increased exercise, and fluid restriction. Skipping meals was higher in taekwondo and wrestling (84%) compared with the other combat sports (∼58%), whereas training in heated rooms and forced oral fluid loss (spitting) was higher in wrestling (83% and 47%, respectively) compared with other combat sports (∼45% and ∼19%, respectively). MMA athletes reported the highest usage of sauna (76%) and water loading (67%) while also reporting the second-highest use of training in rubber/plastic suits (63%).

CONCLUSIONS
Body-mass manipulation was present in all combat sports, with the prevalence and magnitude of acute weight loss greater in MMA. The incidence of and practices reported will help support staff be fully aware of the variety of methods these athletes and coaches may use to achieve weight loss. Additionally, the results could aid regulatory bodies in the further development of policies on weight cutting.


Genetic correlations between reproductive and productivity traits of ewes and their early growth, wool production and worm resistance traits were estimated among 2460 crossbred ewes. The ewes were progeny of 74 maternal breed sires and mainly Merino dams. The ewes were born over 3 years and had three joinings with a total of 6824 ewe joining records. The reproductive and ewe productivity traits included: (i) fertility (ewes lambing per ewe joined); (ii) litter size (number of lambs born per ewe lambing); (iii) rearing ability or lamb survival (lambs weaned of lambs born for lambing ewes); (iv) number of lambs born (NLBj) per ewe joined; (v) number of lambs weaned (NLWj) per ewe joined; (vi) total litter weight weaned (TWWj) per ewe joined; and (vii) the component trait average lamb weaning weight in the litter (AWW). The growth traits included the weight of the ewe at birth (BWT), weaning (WWT) and postweaning (PWWT), as well as growth rate pre- and postweaning. The wool traits included greasy (GFW) and clean fleece weight (CFW), yield and average fibre diameter (FD) at their first adult shearing. Worm egg count (WEC) during their first year was also recorded. Bivariate mixed models analyses using ASReml procedures were used to estimate the genetic correlations. The genetic correlations between TWWj and growth traits were positive and moderate to high and ranged from 0.34 for BWT to 0.61 for PWWT. Those for the other composite reproductive traits were slightly lower and ranged from 0.27 to 0.54 for NLWj and from 0.07 to 0.46 for NLBj. The genetic correlations between the overall measures of reproduction (NLBj, NLWj and TWWj) and GFW, CFW and FD were negative and generally low to moderate (–0.21 to –0.52). The correlations were generally larger for NLBj than for NLWj and TWWj. The genetic correlations between the reproductive traits and WEC were close to zero, except between AWW and WEC (0.42). The phenotypic correlations between the reproductive traits and the growth, wool and WEC traits were all close to zero. The genetic correlations were generally favourable between ewe reproduction and growth, with early selection for traits such as WWT and PWWT likely to give some improvement in subsequent reproduction and ewe productivity. In contrast, there appears to be a slight antagonism between reproduction and wool production. This study provides estimates of genetic correlations from crossbred ewes that add to the limited knowledge of these parameters that will improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation and prediction of the outcomes from breeding programs for meat and wool objectives that include reproduction.


This article discusses Henry Jenkin's concept of transmedia as the art of making worlds, in reference to the building of fictional worlds, to theoretically expand on this definition for the documentary genre. If Bill Nichols stated that non-fiction genre has a great persuasive power -because of the indexical nature of its images and sounds, and the psychological effect of verosimility created in the audience- we defend the idea that this character is increased through the transmedia storytelling. The immersion, extrability and performativity of this kind of narrative form lead to an active user role in the transmedia world, that coincides with his own world, the real one. That is why numerous activist projects have used the transmedia documentary as an opportunity for critical thinking and social change.


Abstract STANLEY, J.-D. and BERNHARDT, C.E., 2010. Alexandria's Eastern Harbor, Egypt: Pollen, microscopic charcoal, and the transition from natural to human-modified basin. Pollen and microscopic charcoal examined in Holocene sediment core samples record major environmental modifications affecting Alexandria's Eastern Harbor through time. We assess whether such changes on Egypt's coastal margin were influenced primarily by natural, or natural plus human, or primarily human factors. We focus on (1) the times when pollen assemblages and microscopic charcoal content changed in the core, (2) how they changed, and (3) why this occurred. The analysis takes into account the core's stratigraphy, regional climate variability, human history, and local archaeological record. Four pollen–microscopic charcoal zones are identified. The earliest change occurred at ca. 6000 YBP, during Egypt's earlier Predynastic (Neolithic) period, coinciding with a lithologic break from sand to muddy sand. Pollen during this time indicates a transition to a much drier climate rather than effects of human activity. The second change in pollen occurred 3600–2900 YBP, during a period of continued aridity with no lithologic variation in this core interval. Pollen (cereal taxa, agricultural weeds, grape) and a sharp increase in microscopic charcoal indicate that human activity became prevalent at least 700 y before Alexander the Great's arrival in this region, and these results highlight the transition from a largely natural climate–controlled environment to one influenced by both climate and anthropogenic activity. The third shift up-core in pollen assemblages is dated at ca. 2300 YBP, at the boundary between a sand and mud unit. It coincides with construction by the Ptolemies of the Heptastadion between Alexandria and Pharos Island. From this time onward, harbor sediment in the nearly enclosed catchment basin indicates a near-continuous record of dominant proximal human activity.


Corruption in Zimbabwe has made the country's economic system too porous to handle investments of note while protecting and enriching those responsible for the damage. As a result, productive capital in the hands of foreign direct investors and also domestic capital has fled the country. In addition to the capital haemorrhage, corruption has also made it impossible for the country to attract new foreign direct investment as investors redirect their investments to other friendly destinations. Combating corruption is possible though eliminating it is not. The cost of corruption in repelled foreign capital and capital flight can never be quantified. The country is, however, counting the losses in cumulative amounts reported in various corruption cases, with the estimated US$ 15billion loss on domestic resource in form of diamonds only being the highest. For a country with an annual fiscal budget of just about US$4billion, such losses are substantial. The only recommendation from this discussion is that it all ends with the Government to start doing something as the ultimate centre of power in the land. Without a corrective and penalizing voice from the Government, which is backed by action, fighting corruption shall remain a life time dream for many sober Zimbabweans who have never tested the sweetness of discretionary power. Unless and until something about corruption is done at the highest level, Zimbabwe will remain a living testimony of Jovanovic's assertion that corruption repels foreign capital and causes domestic capital to flee.


A new anthology celebrating the accomplishments of the Critical Mass movement over the past twenty years. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, the book explores how Critical Mass has gone around the world, how it has evolved along the way, and the impacts it has had on local politics, transportation, and cultures. Includes contributions from San Francisco, Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles, Puerto Elegre, Manchester, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rome, Sao Paulo, A Coruna, Guadalajara, Nuevo Leon, Budapest, Prague, Helsinki, Ponce, Mexico City, Bilbao, Baton Rouge, Capetown, Vigo, Naples, New York City, Portland, London, Berkeley, Florianopolis, Calais, Dubai, and Palestine!


The P2Y2 nucleotide receptor (P2Y2R) interacts with αv integrins to activate Go and induce chemotaxis in human 1321N1 astrocytoma cells. In this study, it was determined that the P2Y2R also requires interaction with αv integrins to activate G12 and associated signaling pathways that control chemotaxis in 1321N1 cells. Mutation of the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) integrin-binding sequence in the first extracellular loop of the human P2Y2R to Arg-Gly-Glu (RGE), which prevents integrin interaction, did not inhibit Gq or ERK1/2 signaling by the P2Y2R agonist UTP but completely inhibited activation of G12 and G12-mediated events, including Rho activation, cofilin and myosin light chain-2 phosphorylation, stress fiber formation and chemotaxis towards UTP. The involvement of G12 in all these events was verified by using a dominant negative Gα12 construct. G12 activation by the P2Y2R also was inhibited by anti-αvβ5 integrin antibodies and αv integrin antisense oligonucleotides, suggesting that αv integrin activity and expression are required for the P2Y2R to activate G12. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that Gα12 protein associates with the wild-type P2Y2R and with αv integrins but not with the RGE mutant P2Y2R or with α3 integrins. Collectively, these results suggest that αv integrin complexes provide the P2Y2R with access to G12, thereby allowing activation of this heterotrimeric G protein that controls actin cytoskeletal rearrangements required for chemotaxis.


Abstract. Snow cover characterization and estimation of snow geophysical parameters is a significant area of research in water resource management and surface hydrological processes. With advances in spaceborne remote sensing, much progress has been achieved in the qualitative and quantitative characterization of snow geophysical parameters. However, most of the methods available in the literature are based on the microwave backscatter response of snow. These methods are mostly based on the remote sensing data available from active microwave sensors. Moreover, in alpine terrains, such as in the Himalayas, due to the geometrical distortions, the missing data is significant in the active microwave remote sensing data. In this paper, we present a methodology utilizing the multispectral observations of Sentinel-2 satellite for the estimation of surface snow wetness. The proposed approach is based on the popular triangle method which is significantly utilized for the assessment of soil moisture. In this case, we develop a triangular feature space using the near infrared (NIR) reflectance and the normalized differenced snow index (NDSI). Based on the assumption that the NIR reflectance is linearly related to the liquid water content in the snow, we derive a physical relationship for the estimation of snow wetness. The modeled estimates of snow wetness from the proposed approach were compared with in-situ measurements of surface snow wetness. A high correlation determined by the coefficient of determination of 0.94 and an error of 0.535 was observed between the proposed estimates of snow wetness and in-situ measurements.


Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects deer, elk and other cervid wildlife species. Although there is no known link between the consumption of CWD affected meat and human health, hunters are advised to have animals from CWD affected areas tested and are advised against consuming meat from CWD infected animals (Government of Alberta, 2010). We model hunter response to the knowledge that deer in a wildlife management unit have been found to have CWD in Alberta, Canada. We examine hunter site choice over two hunting seasons using revealed and stated preference data in models that incorporate preferences, choice set formation, and scale. We compare a fully endogenous choice set model using the Independent Availability Logit model (Swait, 1984) with the availability function approach (Cascetta and Papola, 2001) that approximates choice set formation. We find that CWD incidence affects choice set formation and preferences and that ignoring choice set formation would result in biased estimates of impact and welfare measures. This study contributes to the broader recreation demand literature by incorporating choice set formation, scale and temporal impacts into a random utility model of recreation demand.


Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes or e-cigs) are designed to heat and aerosolize mixtures of vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, and flavoring additives, thus delivering nicotine by inhalation in the absence of combustion. These devices were originally developed to facilitate smoking cessation and have been available in the United States for over a decade. Since 2010, e-cig use has expanded rapidly, especially among adolescents, despite a paucity of short- and long-term safety data. Patterns of use have shifted to include never smokers and many dual users of e-cigs and combustible tobacco products. Over the last several years, research into the potential toxicities of e-cig aerosols has grown exponentially. In the interim, regulatory policymakers across the world have struggled with how to regulate an increasingly diverse array of suppliers and products, against a backdrop of strong advocacy from users, manufacturers, and tobacco control experts. Herein we provide an updated review of the pulmonary toxicity profile of these devices, summarizing evidence from cell culture, animal models, and human subjects. We highlight the major gaps in our current understanding, emphasize the challenges confronting the scientific and regulatory communities, and identify areas that require more research in this important and rapidly evolving field.


Aeromonas hydrophila is a Gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic in fish, causing motile aeromonad septicaemia. It can enter (invade) fish cells, and survive as an intracellular parasite. The host-pathogen interaction and signal transduction pathway were studied by screening signal transduction inhibitors using carp epithelial cells and a virulent strain of the bacterium, PPD134/91. Genistein, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, postponed internalization of A. hydrophila into host cells, suggesting that tyrosine phosphorylation plays a role in internalization. In contrast, staurosporine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, and sodium orthovanadate, a protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, accelerated internalization of PPD134/91. Other virulent strains of A. hydrophila were also examined and it is likely that all strains, irrespective of serogroup, use the same signalling pathway to facilitate bacterial uptake.


Although nickel is a toxic metal for living organisms in its soluble form, its importance in many biological processes recently emerged. In this view, the investigation of the nickel-dependent enzymes urease and [NiFe]-hydrogenase, especially the mechanism of nickel insertion into their active sites, represent two intriguing case studies to understand other analogous systems and therefore to lead to a comprehension of the nickel trafficking inside the cell. Moreover, these two enzymes have been demonstrated to ensure survival and colonization of the human pathogen H. pylori, the only known microorganism able to proliferate in the gastric niche.
The right nickel delivering into the urease active site requires the presence of at least four accessory proteins, UreD, UreE, UreF and UreG. Similarly, analogous process is principally mediated by HypA and HypB proteins in the [NiFe]-hydrogenase system. Indeed, HpHypA and HpHypB also have been proposed to act in the activation of the urease enzyme from H. pylori, probably mobilizing nickel ions from HpHypA to the HpUreE-HpUreG complex. A complete comprehension of the interaction mechanism between the accessory proteins and the crosstalk between urease and hydrogenase accessory systems requires the determination of the role of each protein chaperone that strictly depends on their structural and biochemical properties.
The availability of HpUreE, HpUreG and HpHypA proteins in a pure form is a pre-requisite to perform all the subsequent protein characterizations, thus their purification was the first aim of this work. Subsequently, the structural and biochemical properties of HpUreE were investigated using multi-angle and quasi-elastic light scattering, as well as NMR and circular dichroism spectroscopy. The thermodynamic parameters of Ni2+ and Zn2+ binding to HpUreE were principally established using isothermal titration calorimetry and the importance of key histidine residues in the process of binding metal ions was studied using site-directed mutagenesis. The molecular details of the HpUreE-HpUreG and HpUreE-HpHypA protein-protein assemblies were also elucidated. The interaction between HpUreE and HpUreG was investigated using ITC and NMR spectroscopy, and the influence of Ni2+ and Zn2+ metal ions on the stabilization of this association was established using native gel electrophoresis, light scattering and thermal denaturation scanning followed by CD spectroscopy. Preliminary HpUreE-HpHypA interaction studies were conducted using ITC. Finally, the possible structural architectures of the two protein-protein assemblies were rationalized using homology modeling and docking computational approaches.
All the obtained data were interpreted in order to achieve a more exhaustive picture of the urease activation process, and the correlation with the accessory system of the hydrogenase enzyme, considering the specific role and activity of the involved protein players. A possible function for Zn2+ in the chaperone network involved in Ni2+ trafficking and urease activation is also envisaged.


This interlocutory research examines American Modernist architect Louis Kahn's (1901-1974) works through the lens of landscape design. This research emphasizes the materiality and design instrumentally of water in Kahn's designs that have significant landscape work and explores the reverberating relationship between architecture and landscape. From the late 1950s to his death in 1974, Khan produced his most important works, which include: the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1959-65) in La Jolla, California; the Kimbell Art Museum (1966-72) in Fort Worth, Texas; and the National Assembly Building Complex (1962-83) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All of these selected works with major waterscapes have been heavily influential in the architectural world. The key questions that the paper explores are: How does the water (waterscape) act as an intersect? What role does water play? How is water a cultural connector? These questions are explored via interviews, conversations, empirical and spatial studies of the selected sites, and archival scholarship that includes study of existing drawings and literature. This paper looks at water primarily as an intersectional element that not only acts as the interface of architecture and landscape, but also helps in creation of "contact zones" and a controlled topographic catalyst. Use of water also creates a link between the East and the West, the local and the global, colonial and native, Islamic and non-Islamic, as well as the seen and unseen, expanding to the perception of real and unreal. Holistically, my research creates a bridge between the larger discourse of different cultures, theory, and a cross practice of disciplines.


Myotis grisescens (Gray Bat) and Myotis austroriparius (Southeastern Bat) generally do not utilize similar habitats; however, in areas of range overlap where they both may be captured foraging in riparian areas or observed roosting in caves, it may be difficult to discriminate between them due to contradictory information found in mammal identification guides. In order to find characteristics that can reliably be used to identify these species, we examined museum specimens and live-captured individuals to obtain data on length of toe hairs, point of attachment of the plagiopatagium to the foot or ankle, forearm length, and the presence or absence of notches on the claws of feet and thumbs. The presence or absence of a notch in the claws and forearm length were found to be the most objective methods of identifying these species.


Objective. Outcomes important to patients are those that are relevant to their well-being, including quality of life, morbid endpoints, and death. These outcomes often occur over the longterm and can be identified in prospective longitudinal observational studies (PLOS). There are no standards for which outcome domains should be considered. Our overarching goal is to identify critical longterm outcome domains for patients with rheumatic diseases, and to develop a conceptual framework to measure and classify them within the scope of OMERACT Filter 2.0. Methods. The steps of this initiative primarily concern rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and include (1) performing a systematic review of RA patient registries and cohorts to identify previously collected and reported outcome domains and measurement instruments; (2) developing a conceptual framework and taxonomy for identification and classification of outcome domains; (3) conducting focus groups to identify domains considered critical by patients with RA; and (4) surveying patients, providers, and researchers to identify critical outcomes that can be evaluated through the OMERACT filter. Results. In our initial evaluation of databases and registries across countries, we found both commonalities and differences, with no clear standardization. At the initial group meeting, participants agreed that additional work is needed to identify which critical outcomes should be collected in PLOS, and suggested several: death, independence, and participation, among others. An operational strategy for the next 2 years was proposed. Conclusion. Participants endorsed the need for an initiative to identify and evaluate critical outcome domains and measurement instruments for data collection in PLOS.


An investigation of the variability associated with primary and secondary compression indices of municipal solid waste (MSW) is conducted in the present study. A controlled laboratory experimental program was conducted to quantify the compressibility of fresh MSW and landfilled MSW (subjected to leachate recirculation for a year in the field) under different elevated moisture content conditions. Several series of one-dimensional compressibility experiments were conducted on fresh and landfilled waste samples under the field moisture content of 44% (by dry weight) and three elevated moisture contents of 60, 80 and 100% (by dry weight). The compression of waste samples was measured at different elapsed time periods under incremental normal stresses of 48, 96, 192, 383, and 766 kPa. The modified compression indices (or compression ratios) were calculated based on the measured compression versus stress data. Long term secondary compression behavior was determined by performing long term compression tests on fresh and landfilled waste samples under normal stress of 383 kPa. The steep slope is not evident on the vertical stress – strain plot for the 44% moisture content sample, potentially owing to breakdown of micro-fabric and mini-fabric of fresh waste and rearrangement of the particles. It is observed from the present study that the magnitudes of modified primary compression index for fresh MSW exhibited no specific correlation with an increase in moisture content from 44 to 100% owing to variations in the initial composition of fresh MSW, small scale laboratory testing, and rate of biodegradation of MSW. For a constant vertical stress, the landfilled waste compressed less than the fresh waste at initial and elevated sample moisture contents owing to reduction of organic content in the degraded waste. Based on the compilation of compression indices from several published studies, the average values of mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation for modified primary compression and secondary compression indices are computed. Overall, this study demonstrated that the long term compression characteristics can highly vary depending on the waste composition, moisture content, and biodegradation. From the statistical analysis, it is determined that the variability associated with secondary compression index is significantly higher than the primary compression index , which may be attributed to significant differences in the biodegradable content of waste and associated extent and rate of biodegradation of waste.


Using pooled origin/destination data from the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Study, we examine the implications for infant mortality of migration from Puerto Rico to the United States. An analysis restricted to the U.S. mainland shows that children of migrants have lower risks of infant mortality than do children of mainland-born Puerto Rican women. A critical question is whether this pattern indicates that maternal exposure to U.S. culture undermines infant health or whether it is largely a result of the selective migration of healthier or more advantaged mothers to the United States. Our findings show that mother's duration of U.S. residence is positively related to infant mortality among the children of migrants, suggesting that a process of negative assimilation is occurring. However, inclusion of Puerto Rico in the analysis demonstrates the importance of selective migration in explaining the U.S. mainland pattern: Infant mortality is substantially lower among recent migrants to the mainland than it is among nonmigrant women in Puerto Rico. The roles of socioeconomic status, cultural orientation, health habits, and health care utilization in accounting for differences in infants' survival chances by maternal migration status are assessed.


Graffiti resides at the uncomfortable intersection of criminal law and free speech rhetoric. It is not the shout of revolution to the gathered, protesting masses, or the political pamphlet flung from a 1920s window. Graffiti is not the obscene-rendered-political-jacketed protest of war, or a flag set aflame in the name of reclaiming patriotism. It is an illicit scrawl. It is damage and defiance rolled into one from the moment of its creation. Graffiti is a crime.

Unlike more celebrated examples of free speech, graffiti earns no safe harbor from the First Amendment. When asked to choose between the tag that appears in the middle of the night on someone else's property and the possibility that the tag might enjoy an embedded meaning, First Amendment jurisprudence does not wax philosophical about the values of equality or democracy or the utility of a free marketplace of ideas. Under criminal law, graffiti is regulated as a property offense or nuisance offense based on the damage it causes, with no consideration of the message it contains.

This Article argues that this rote calculation is wrong. While graffiti undoubtedly damages the property to which it is attached, to ignore the communicative component of graffiti is to ignore its role as a medium for the most marginalized of voices. From #MeToo to Black Lives Matter to youth in occupied territories to those that resist occupation, graffiti lays claim to a power and purpose that cannot be realized in other, more bounded speech forums. Accordingly, this Article proposes a speech-based affirmative defense to graffiti crimes. This defense would not be an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card. Rather, it would permit jurors to consider the expressive value of graffiti in their deliberations. It would allow the men and women who bear witness to the graffiti and the damage it may cause in their own communities to make the ultimate decision whether a criminal sanction is appropriate or whether it is speech worth saving.


This article offers a new interpretation of the operatic phenomenon known as verismo , and of the relationship of Puccini's Tosca with that movement. In contrast to previous scholarship on verismo , which often treats the relationship between literature and music as transparent, I stress that marrying empiricist aesthetics to traditional operatic values was a highly unnatural process. I suggest that Italian opera in the 1890s was pushed to a sort of crisis point, and that the very act of singing could no longer be taken as self-evident. Composers developed a set of new techniques——offstage song, performer-characters, an extreme reliance on bells——to deal with this sudden untenability of operatic convention. All of these techniques were elaborated most fully in Tosca , and the opera might be read as an allegory of the verismo moment, embodying the conflict between hard-nosed realism and unapologetic singing in its two antagonists: Baron Scarpia and Floria Tosca. The plot clearly endorses Tosca's position, but a close reading of the opera's music suggests a rather different interpretation. By focusing on the role of bells in the opera, I argue that realistic sound often overwhelms the autonomy of the characters, at times seeming to collapse them into the scenery itself. Early critics were disturbed by this aspect of the music. Listening to the opera with their ears may help us realize that——despite its overt celebration of individual freedom, and its much-lauded critique of state-sanctioned violence—— Tosca exhibits an antisubjective impulse that has much in common with other ""Fascist"" and ""proto-Fascist"" texts.


Drawing on experiences in his social studies classroom, Houman Harouni evaluates both the challenges and possibilities of helping high school students develop critical research skills. The author describes how he used Wikipedia to design classroom activities that address issues of authorship, neutrality, and reliability in information gathering. The online encyclopedia is often lamented by teachers, scholars, and librarians, but its widespread use necessitates a new approach to teaching research. In describing the experience, Harouni concludes that teaching research skills in the contemporary context requires ongoing observations of the research strategies and practices students already employ as well as the active engagement of student interest and background knowledge.


A practical guide to the inside language of the world of derivative instruments and risk management. Financial engineering is where technology and quantitative analysis meet on Wall Street to solve risk problems and find investment opportunities. It evolved out of options pricing, and, at this time, is primarily focused on derivatives since they are the most difficult instruments to price and are also the riskiest. Not only is financial engineering a relatively new field, but by its nature, it continues to grow and develop. This unique dictionary explains and clarifies for financial professionals, the important terms, concepts, and sometimes arcane language of this increasingly influential world of high finance and potentially high profits. John F Marshall (New York, NY) is a Managing Partner of Marshall, Tucker & Associates, a New York-based financial engineering and consulting firm. Former Executive Director of the then International Association of Financial Engineers, Marshall is the author of several books, including "Understanding Swaps".


Apically secreted Hedgehog is internalized and recycled for secretion at the basolateral membrane and establishment of the long-range morphogenetic gradient. Hedgehog (Hh) is secreted from polarized epithelial cells in the posterior (P) region of the imaginal disc of the developing Drosophila wing, crossing the border to the anterior (A) compartment to form a morphogenetic gradient. The precise mechanism whereby Hh spreads, and whether the gradient forms at the apical or the basolateral surface of the epithelium, have been controversial. Callejo et al. found that Hh was abundant at both the apical and basolateral membranes of P cells in wild-type disks, suggesting that it was secreted from both surfaces. Using discs with a dynamin mutation that "froze" endocytosis at the originating membrane, they determined that Hh accumulated basolaterally in recipient A cells, whereas its receptor Patched (with which it is endocytosed in recipient cells) accumulated both apically and basolaterally suggesting that the long-range Hh gradient forms on the basolateral surface. Intriguingly, however, Hh accumulated at the apical surface of dynamin mutant P cells, suggesting that it was internalized by the same cells that secrete it. Indeed, Hh appeared in P cell puncta, together with internalized dextran. Mutation of various endocytic proteins indicated that Hh was endocytosed at the apical surface of P cells by means of dynamin and Rab5 and then recycled to the basolateral membrane for secretion (rather than targeted for lysosomal degradation as in A cells). Dispatched, a protein previously implicated in the release of functional Hh, colocalized with Hh in endocytic vesicles and coimmunoprecipitated with it. Observation of its trafficking, together with analyses of the effects of its functional disruption, implicated Dispatched in Hh vesicular trafficking to the basolateral cell surface and indicated that it was crucial for long-range Hh signaling. Two proteins involved in Hh reception in A cells, Dally-like and Interference Hh, were also implicated in its basolateral release. Thus, the authors conclude that Hh secreted at the apical membrane is internalized and recycled to the basolateral membrane for secretion and establishment of the long-range morphogenetic gradient. Couso provides thoughtful commentary. A. Callejo, A. Bilioni, E. Mollica, N. Gorfinkiel, G. Andrés, C. Ibáñez, C. Torroja, L. Doglio, J. Sierra, I. Guerrero, Dispatched mediates Hedgehog basolateral release to form the long-range morphogenetic gradient in the Drosophila wing disk epithelium. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108, 12591–12598 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. P. Couso, Hedgehog, Patched and Dispatched near the basement. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108, 12565–12566 (2011). [Full Text]


Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic multifaceted demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) of presumed autoimmune origin.1

Patients with MS are characterised by a spatial and temporal dissemination of neurological sign and symptoms, by the presence of multifocal lesions in the periventricular white matter on MRI scans and by an immunoglobulin synthesis within the CNS.1 Further diagnostic tools are desirable, and the use of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers may contribute to the comprehension of the disease's pathogenesis and progression.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved and genetically controlled cellular process where intracellular components are sequestered within double-membrane vesicles (autophagosomes), which then fuse with lysosomes where the material is degraded.2 Autophagy also occurs as mitophagy, which is responsible for the removal of aberrant, aged and wasted mitochondria. Interestingly, autophagic/mitophagic pathways have been found deregulated in various human diseases. In particular, it has been demonstrated how these catabolic pathways are implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.2 Moreover, recent studies suggest a role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the neurodegenerative aspects of MS.3 Despite these observations, the role of autophagy and mitophagy in MS is still elusive.

To tackle the question, we tried to verify the frequency of specific autophagic markers (ATG5 protein) and mitophagic markers (Parkin protein) in patients with MS and in neurological controls.

Forty consecutive untreated patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) were included in the study (24 women and 16 men; mean age=40.7±10.5). Forty patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases …


REVIEW ARTICLE Introduction: This study aims to understand the dynamics of insurance as a risk management tool for natural disasters in India. It further explores different strategies and programs for disaster insurance adopted by the Indian government and highlights these initiatives' gaps. Methods: The authors conducted both offline and online desk reviews to understand the dynamics of insurance mechanisms and government strategies. They conducted a narrative review of existing literature, including peerreviewed articles, thematic books, and government and non-governmental reports from diverse sources. Results: The review clearly shows that despite the various types of natural disasters the country faces, the coverage of disaster insurance in India remains low. It outlines the importance of insurance as a risk management tool, especially for the most vulnerable sections of society living in rural parts. The review further highlights the benefits of different government schemes and strategies while at the same time highlighting the gaps in these schemes. Conclusion: The review calls for an urgent and sustained effort to increase the number of individuals insured against natural disasters in the country by addressing the policy shortcomings and engaging with the communities and the private sector to understand their respective needs. The review also underlines the importance of creating awareness regarding disaster insurance among the wider population. Furthermore, it calls for a comprehensive disaster management plan with insurance as one of its pillars.


The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of computer usage on the demand for paper and paperboard products. A log-linear model is developed to analyze the effect of computer usage on the demand for four categories of paper, newsprint, printing/writing paper, packaging paper and household/sanitary paper. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part is US monthly analysis. We create computer number index as a measurement for computer usage. Monthly data (from Jan 1992 to Jun 2005) are collected to estimate the effect for four categories of paper. The monthly estimation results support the hypothesis that the increasing usage of computer has a significantly negative effect on the demand for printing/writing paper, and a significantly positive effect on the demand for packaging paper. But it doesn't provide enough evidence for the effect on the demand for newsprint. The second part is the yearly analysis on 16 main countries, which constitute the major demand for paper/paperboard products and are countries with widespread usage of computer. Using the yearly data from 1961 to 2002 and applying fixone model, we find that computer usage has a significantly positive effect on demand for packaging paper. The small difference in US monthly analysis and 16 countries' yearly analysis may arise from the different measures in computer usage, prices of paper/paperboard products, and


Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) play an important role in the livelihoods of rural communities in tropical forest areas. This study in Cambodia identified issues that limit local people's sustainable management of NTFPs. These included access to resources and markets, unsustainable extractive activities, demographic pressure, lack of information on market demands, prices, royalties and authorization systems too complex to be applied at the local level. In Central and Eastern Cambodia, participatory approaches were used to interview NTFP collectors in 16 villages in 4 provinces. During focus groups and community meetings, choices and preferences were debated. Herbarium samples of NTFPs that local people consider important were also collected from the forests near each of the villages. The study revealed that information on the location of the villages, population density, ethnic groups, village context (recent situation in terms of infrastructure and private sector investments), and the condition of the forest all need to be taken into account when developing activities to improve NTFP management, uses and trade. A step-by-step approach should include identifying NTFPs as important to the local economy and as the extractive activity with the smallest negative impact on the forest. The study concluded with a recommendation to develop a collectors' network, to plant important and depleted NTFP species, and to develop processed products from NTFP raw materials.


Trunk Highway 10 (TH10) is a major arterial roadway connecting the Minneapolis/St. Paul and St. Cloud metropolitan areas in Minnesota. TH10 (signed as US Highway 10) runs parallel to Interstate 94 along this entire route, but the two are separated by the Mississippi River; river crossings are limited. The TH10 corridor is developing rapidly as suburban growth radiates rapidly outward to the Northwest from Minneapolis/St. Paul. The highway is a freeway from its junction with Interstate 35W and for several miles to the northwest toward St. Cloud. But at the City of Anoka, it becomes a multilane expressway with at-grade intersections and some nearly direct accesses for commercial businesses. An overall planning study for the corridor completed in January 2002 recommended major capacity increases along the TH10 corridor, particularly in the Anoka area, where there is clearly a traffic bottleneck. One possibility for increasing capacity is an upgrade of part of TH10 from an expressway to a freeway with full access control and interchanges rather than at-grade intersections. This sort of conversion typically raises the hackles of commercial businesses and land developers alike. During 2006 and 2007, a team of consultants, local governments, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) collaborated on a detailed planning study and stakeholder involvement process for a one-mile long section of TH10 through the City of Anoka. This planning process included tasks designed to understand the needs of commercial businesses along the study corridor and to directly involve them in the design and evaluation of project alternatives for the corridor. The process involved the development of a corridor economic profile, a business inventory and classification study to determine the businesses most likely to be impacted by access changes, a set of detailed business interviews, a business forum, and a business-oriented design charette. The entire process was designed to understand the concerns of business, educate them, and also to fully engage them in the planning process. The results of this process led to significant modifications in the original project alternative concepts and a surprising lack of local business and citizen objections to freeway conversion alternatives. The freeway design alternatives would involve significant changes in roadway access for businesses adjacent to the corridor, including the elimination of all direct commercial accesses from the roadway mainline. Yet, the majority of businesses were supportive of the selected project alternative—a freeway—at the end of the process.


An e-mail recently landed in my in-box from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy to a convent hoping to make a CD of chant to sell to raise money. The nuns were making in inquiry concerning permissions. ICEL of course informed the nuns that they must pay royalties to ICEL for all music sold insofar as it used their texts-which is not very surprising even if I find the practice of charging to record liturgical texts to be an offense against the Catholic moral sense. What really alarmed me about this email was another claim: ICEL told the sisters that even to record Latin chants from the Liber Usualis, they had to get permission from the Holy See and the Vatican Press--even though the book in question was published neither by the Holy See nor the Vatican Press and, moreover, the book itself has been in the public domain for decades. What this suggests is not only copyright imperialism but legal ambiguity at the heart of the raging controversy concerning the "intellectual property" of liturgical texts. All good sense suggests that these texts should have the same status they have had for nineteen hundred years, namely they are not owned by anyone in particular even as the church herself bears responsibility for validating their integrity--the same status in law today that the Book of Common Prayer has. The more I've looked into this subject, the more the complicity of Catholic publishers becomes obvious, and in ways that similarly violate the moral sense and also stretch legal boundaries. Consider the strange claims of the missalette publishers. Unlike a book you buy at Borders, every issue comes with a restriction. "The use of this publication is licensed only to current subscribers during the 2010 year." What about those left over from last year? You must "discard any remaining printed material covered by the license at the end of the designated time period shown on the license." What about saving up three years of missalettes and reusing them just to eliminate waste and saving parish money? Don't even think about it. That's not allowed. One of the publishers, OCP, tells us that it is illegal and violates "moral rights." And so, at the beginning of every liturgical year in Advent, there must be a bonfire of the missalettes. They must be destroyed, lest you be immoral, or so we are told. Actually what happens is that they are all collected and hurled into the garbage bin out back and taken off to the landfill. Can you imagine? When I think of the work of the scribes of the first millennium and a half of Christianity, when every book was the result of many thousands of hours' labor, and when a book itself was the greatest treasure of a monastery, and when I think of the time spent even to publish a Gutenberg Psalter, it truly boggles the mind that parishes are now under a legal obligation to destroy the Word of God. Now, when I first heard this (in fact, it was William Mahrt, president of the CMAA who first told me), I didn't believe it. Even after all that I've learned about the way these companies operate, I didn't believe that we were all under some kind of requirement to torch our missalettes at the end of the year. …


Background: Epidemiologic studies have shown that breast cancer risk is reduced 30% to 40% in highly physically active compared with inactive women. However, the effects of moderate activities, timing of activities, and intervening effects of other risk factors remain less clear. Methods: We analyzed data on physical activity patterns in 2176 incident breast cancer cases and 2326 controls in a population-based breast cancer case-control study in Poland conducted in 2000–2003. Using unconditional logistic regression analyses, we calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associated with physical activity levels (measured by average metabolic equivalents of energy expenditure hours per week), controlling for potential confounders. Results: Total adult lifetime activity reduced risk of breast cancer, with individuals in the highest quartile having an OR of 0.80 (CI = 0.67–0.96) compared with the lowest quartile. Reduced risks were most consistent for the highest quartiles of moderate-to-vigorous activities: moderate/vigorous recreational activities (OR = 0.74; CI = 0.62–0.89), outdoor activities (0.81; 0.68–0.97), heavy physical work (0.60; 0.42–0.87), and combined high intensity (metabolic equivalent >6.0) activities (0.75; 0.63–0.90). These relations were not modified by body mass index, menopausal status, or family history of breast cancer. Reductions in risk with moderate/vigorous recreational activities were stronger for larger tumors and those with nodal involvement. Women who increased their recreational activity in their 50s had significantly reduced risk, with those in the highest tertile of change being at a 27% lower risk. Conclusions: Leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous activities reduce breast cancer risk irrespective of underlying host characteristics.


That all is not well with tort law cannot seriously be doubted. In Liability: The Legal Revolution and Its Consequences, Peter Huber attempts to chronicle the changes in tort doctrine over the past thirty or so years that have brought tort law to its present crisis, and to prescribe sweeping remedial actions capable of defining a more intelligent course of accident compensation. Drastic measures are necessary, Huber argues, because of the magnitude of the emergency.

Huber's critique of modern tort law is always provocative and often perceptive and enlightening. The book identifies many jurisprudential trouble-spots which cry out for reform, and the examination raises many important questions about the current state of tort law. Unfortunately, Huber forfeits many opportunities to persuade or enlighten by engaging in unwarranted exaggeration and indulging in unsubstantiated and inaccurate assertions. His efforts to write in a vivid, colorful style frequently degenerate into unfair caricature, heavy sarcasm, and one-sided argumentation.

Huber's book should be read, but not because it is an even-handed, accurate portrayal of modern tort law, nor because its proffered remedies are an adequate solution to current problems. Rather, it should be read because it forces one to think deeply about liability issues, and that, of course, is an essential step in curing all that is not well with tort law.


Constructions of alcohol and drug problems, as well as of treatment, show a great variation that can be understood from the perspective of societal needs to categorize individuals as deviant. The thesis deals with contemporary perspectives, among staff in treatment of alcohol and drug problems and a group of drug users, on alcohol and drug problems and how these problems should be handled in the public sphere. The thesis consists of four papers covering: (1) views of treatment staff on alcohol and drug problems, (2) views of treatment staff on gender issues, (3) views of treatment staff on priorities of client groups and (4) views on the "user" from the point of a union for drug users. The first three papers use questionnaire-data from a treatment systems study in Stockholm County. The first and third papers deal with questions directed to treatment staff whereas the second paper besides staff data analyses data from interviews with 1865 individuals entering treatment for alcohol and drug problems. The fourth paper is a discourse analysis of texts written by the Swedish users union.The results shows that staff see alcohol and drug problems as social problems, diseases and moral problems. Staff also perceive men and women in treatment as different, both in terms of their problems and their treatment. These experienced differences were supported by comparisons between men and women in treatment in a few cases, but mostly differences were not that great or did not appear at all. When staff were asked to make priorities between groups of clients they seem to take past actions of the clients into account rather than using the egalitarian reasoning regulating priorities in official documents. Taking past actions into account indicates a moral approach to alcohol and drug problems. The analysis of the Swedish users union also points at a moral perspective on drug problems in the dominating drug policy discourse, pronounced in the opposition of the union. In this opposition the union constructs the user as a "consumer", as "weak", "sick" and "innocent". The union shows signs of a human rights perspective, a public health perspective and a disease perspective as well as a direct opposition to the perspective of the user as a criminal.Seen together the papers show the importance of categorizing subjects for and in treatment as well as the constructed nature of alcohol and drug problems. A moral perspective seems to be the base for many categorizations (distinguishing between normal and deviant as well as between more and less culpable "troubled persons") and is not as clearly in conflict with medical and social perspectives as one might expect. The thesis also indicates a strengthened medical approach with connections to individualisation of problems and market orientation. To classify a certain group of individuals as deviants is important for our construction of normality and inclusiveness, whether the deviance is in terms of illness or moral failure. Treatment of deviance can be seen as a manifestation and reproduction of this categorization and research on treatment and deviance plays an important part in this process.


Although collection of information about traffic or pedestrian stops is an important part of a department's strategy to address perceptions of bias, taken by itself this data may be insufficient to resolve the controversy about racial profiling. Unfortunately, most jurisdictions have implemented data collection systems with little thought about how information will be disseminated to the public or, more important, used to create an effective policecommunity dialogue about police operations. A model of community-police task forces may be used to facilitate discussions of racial profiling data and enhance a police-community conversation about appropriate police operations. This article discusses the challenges of role definition, representation, leadership, and goals setting that face task forces devoted to understanding the problem of racial profiling.


A soluble form of a cytokine receptor subunit secreted by T cells blocks cytokine signaling and increases inflammation. Cytokines of the common γ-chain family signal through cell-surface receptors that consist of cytokine-specific subunits and a shared γ-chain (γc) subunit. The γc subunit is a transmembrane protein that contains an extracellular region for ligand-binding and a cytoplasmic tail that is required for intracellular signaling. Cytokines of the γc family, which include interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-7, are critical for the development and survival of various T cell subsets. Hong et al. found that the culture medium of activated mouse T cells contained a soluble form of γc (sγc), which contained the extracellular, but not the transmembrane or cytoplasmic, regions of γc. The sγc protein was generated not by the shedding of cell-surface γc but through an alternatively spliced γc mRNA that was increased in abundance in activated T cells. Mice injected with a T cell–activating antibody had increased serum concentrations of sγc. In a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, overexpression of sγc led to increased inflammation and worse disease, which was associated with increased numbers of pro-inflammatory T helper 1 (TH1) and TH17 cells. Conversely, disease was less severe in transgenic mice that expressed only the membrane-bound form of γc. Western blotting analysis showed that IL-2 signaling was decreased in cultured T cells exposed to sγc compared with that in control T cells exposed to IL-2. Binding assays and flow cytometric analysis showed that sγc bound to the IL-2 receptor β-subunit and that the affinity of sγc for IL-2Rβ was enhanced in the presence of IL-2. In vitro, sγc enhanced the generation of TH17 cells, which depended on inhibition of IL-2 signaling. Finally, in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that sγc also blocked signaling by IL-7. Thus, these data suggest that sγc inhibits specific cytokine responses, which can promote autoimmunity (see commentary by Jameson and Renkema). C. Hong, M. A. Luckey, D. L. Ligons, A. T. Waickman, J.-Y. Park, G. Y. Kim, H. R. Keller, R. Etzensperger, X. Tai, V. Lazarevic, L. Feigenbaum, M. Catalfamo, S. T. R. Walsh, J.-H. Park, Activated T cells secrete an alternatively spliced form of common γ-chain that inhibits cytokine signaling and exacerbates inflammation. Immunity 40, 910–923 (2014). [PubMed] S. C. Jameson, K. R. Renkema, An uncommon tail about the common γ-chain. Immunity 40, 859–860 (2014). [PubMed]


The sports industry has seen a rapid adoption of dynamic pricing practices in recent years. However, there is still limited understanding on the effect of dynamic pricing on revenue in sport event settings and how to execute effective dynamic pricing strategies. In this paper, we address these issues by developing a comprehensive demand model for single-game ticket sales that can be used to predict the revenue associated with a particular pricing strategy over the course of a sport season. We apply the model to actual ticket sales and pricing data from an anonymous Major League Baseball franchise during a recent MLB season, and evaluate the effectiveness of the dynamic pricing policy applied by our partner franchise during that period. We find that the actual dynamic pricing strategy used by this franchise resulted in revenue decrease of 0.79% compared to a pricing policy where prices are fixed over time. We propose alternative pricing policies to help improve revenue and find that an optimized dynamic pricing policy can improve revenue by 14.3% compared to a pricing policy where prices are fixed over time.


When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. Despommier's stroke of genius, The Vertical Farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. These farms, grown inside skyscrapers, would provide solutions to many of the serious problems we currently face, including: allowing year-round crop production; providing food to areas currently lacking arable land; immunity to weather-related crop failure; re-use of water collected by de-humidification of the indoor environment; new employment opportunities; no use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides; drastically reduced dependence on fossil fuels; no crop loss due to shipping or storage; no agricultural runoff; and, many more. Vertical farming can be located on abandoned city properties, creating new urban revenue streams. They will employ lots of skilled and unskilled labor. They can be run on wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal energy. They can be used to grow plants for pharmaceutical purposes or for converting gray water back into drinking water. In the tradition of the bestselling "The World Without Us", this is a totally original landmark work destined to become a classic. With stunning illustrations and clear and entertaining writing, this book will appeal to anyone concerned about America's future.


Poor health has been identified as an issue for people who live in areas affected by structural disadvantage and social exclusion. One area in the North East of Dublin City has been identified for the development of a project addressing health inequality and promoting a "Healthy Community" by Northside Partnership, a local development company established in 1991 to address social exclusion. The Partnership has been assisted in the development of the programme by a wide range of statutory and community organisations, and in particular the Health Service Executive (HSE) Dublin North Health Promotion Department. DIT engaged with Northside Partnership in a Students Learning with Communities Initiative to research levels of mobility and the potential for sustainable transportation within the study area. In 2013 an assessment of mobility (presented at the 2013 AESOP Congress) was undertaken among key disadvantaged communities in the Northside Partnership "Healthy Community" area. The study revealed that while mobility levels are high, perceptions of the quality of mobility services are very low, particularly in relation to service reliability. Furthermore, significant barriers to mobility are presented by poor environmental conditions as well as safety issues. Other issues are prevalent, such as poor perceptions of active travel and further research was recommended in this area. The study examines walking mode share for the area over recent census periods. Walking to work and school has declined from 18% to 14% between 2002 and 2011. While much of this is explained by a changing demographic, deteriorating environmental conditions and anti-social behaviour appear to also be relevant factors. The study identifies the key trip demand centres within or adjacent to the study area. Many of the routes examined are commonly used walking links yet provide a very low level of amenity. In some cases, pedestrians are routinely enforced into unsafe and unpleasant circumstances. Current conditions derogate significantly from the best practice national guidance document, the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets. Social inhibitors to walking also exist within the study area. The area is classified by low income, significantly lower participation rates the labour force and a higher degree of welfare dependency than the rest of the city. In many cases "soft" measures can be as critical to counteract these barriers and to increase the general amenity of the area for the most elemental of the transport modes. The development of the Santry River Greenway, not just as a physical piece of green infrastructure but as a socially connected community space, is recommended. The development of practical solutions capable of addressing the complexity of issues identified in this paper requires a collaboration of actors from different policy arenas and agencies. O'Connor, Borscheid, Reid & Ni Lochlainn: NSP Walkability Audit 27-28th August 2015 NUI Galway Proceedings of the ITRN2015


In the context of natural language processing, representation learning has emerged as a newly active research subject because of its excellent performance in many applications. Learning representations of words is a pioneering study in this school of research. However, paragraph (or sentence and document) embedding learning is more suitable/reasonable for some realistic tasks such as document summarization. Nevertheless, classic paragraph embedding methods infer the representation of a given paragraph by considering all of the words occurring in the paragraph. Consequently, those stop or function words that occur frequently may mislead the embedding learning process to produce a misty paragraph representation. Motivated by these observations, our major contributions in this paper are threefold. First, we propose a novel unsupervised paragraph embedding method, named the essence vector (EV) model, which aims at not only distilling the most representative information from a paragraph but also excluding the general background information to produce a more informative low-dimensional vector representation for the paragraph of interest. Second, in view of the increasing importance of spoken content processing, an extension of the EV model, named the denoising essence vector (D-EV) model, is proposed. The D-EV model not only inherits the advantages of the EV model but also can infer a more robust representation for a given spoken paragraph against imperfect speech recognition. Third, a new summarization framework, which can take both relevance and redundancy information into account simultaneously, is also introduced. We evaluate the proposed embedding methods (i.e., EV and D-EV) and the summarization framework on two benchmark summarization corpora. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed framework in relation to several well-practiced and state-of-the-art summarization methods.


The central approximation of plate tectonics is that the plates are rigid, which gives the theory its rigor and predictive power. Space geodetic measurements are consistent with the rigidity of stable plate interiors, but some failures of plate-circuit closure, in particular of oceanic plates, indicate that plates may be measurably non-rigid. We explore the hypothesis that horizontal thermal contraction causes deformation of oceanic plates. Here we show significant expected displacement fields due to thermal contraction for the Pacific plate based on a previously proposed relationship between seafloor age and strain rate and on two end-member assumptions on how strain compatibility is enforced. The predicted maxi- mum 2.2 mm/yr southeastward motion of the northeastern part of the plate relative to the Pacific-Antarctic Rise may contribute to a large part of the non-closure of the Pacific-North America plate motion circuit. Our predicted displacement rates cannot (yet) be confirmed by current space geodetic data and will require seafloor geodesy with 1 mm/yr accuracy. The spatial distribution of predicted moment rate agrees reasonably well with that of intraplate earthquake epicenters, similar to what is observed for plate boundary zones. Our results suggest that plate-scale horizontal thermal contraction is significant, and that it may be partly released seismically.


Superionic conductors in the chalcogenide-based copper selenide family have been considered as a promising class of thermoelectric materials, which offer great prospects for converting ubiquitous waste heat into highly demanded electrical energy. Further improvement of the thermoelectric figure-of-merit, zT, for Cu2Se is very desirable for its practical applications. Since any enhancement in electrical conductivity is often accompanied by a reduction in the Seebeck coefficient or thermal power or vice versa, a significant reduction of thermal conductivity becomes an important strategy for improvement of zT. In this work, we demonstrate that insulating-boron nano-particle inclusion in Cu2Se has little effect on the overall power factor but can significantly reduce the thermal conductivity, resulting in great improvement in zT, by a factor of 1.6–2.6 compared to undoped samples over a wide range of temperatures. Microstructure studies by high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that boron nanostructures interspaced between Cu2Se microscale grains are responsible for the great reduction in thermal conductivity and, in turn, the significantly enhanced zT. The enhancement of thermal boundary resistance ascribed to the strong acoustic mismatch between Cu2Se and boron is responsible for the low thermal conductivity of the microstructured composite. Our findings offer an effective approach of using insulating nano-particles to significantly improve the Seebeck coefficient and significantly reduce lattice thermal conductivity for achieving high zT in Cu2Se and many other similar thermoelectric composites.


The United States recently completed its transition from the allowable stress design code to the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) reliability-based code for the design of most highway bridges. For an international perspective on the LRFD-based bridge codes, a comparative analysis is presented: a study addressed national codes of the United States, Canada, and Europe. The study focused on codes related to timber bridges and involved the following parameters: organization format, superstructure types, loads, materials, design for bending, design for shear, deflection criteria, and durability requirements. The investigation found many similarities and some distinctive differences between the three bridge codes. Although the United States and Canada have different design load configurations, these result in similar bending moments and shear effects over a typical span range. However, the design load configuration in the European code produces bending moment and shear effects that are two to three times greater than the U.S. and Canadian levels. The comparative design of a glulam girder bridge revealed that the smallest beam size was required by the Canadian code and the largest was required by the European code.


During development and pregnancy, the human mammary gland undergoes extensive remodeling in processes driven by populations of stem and progenitor cells. We recently reported that breast cancers are also hierarchically organized and driven by distinct populations of cancer stem cells characterized as CD44+CD24low/− or by expression of Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). These sets of markers identify largely non-overlapping mesenchymal and epithelial populations, each of which is capable of tumor initiation when transplanted into immunosuppressed mice. Less is known about these two populations, individually or their overlap, in the normal human mammary gland. The goal of this study was to understand the biology of the ALDH+ and CD44+CD24− populations in the normal human breast, using flow cytometry based sorting paired with functional ex vivo analyses, RNA-sequencing, and single cell RNA expression profiling. ALDH+ cells and ALDH−CD44+CD24− cells, generally, have epithelial-like and mesenchymal-like characteristics, respectively. Despite this, there are substantial similarities in the biological pathways activated in both populations when compared to differentiated cells. Additionally, we found a substantial proportion of cells that simultaneously express ALDH+ and CD44+CD24− whose abundance varies between individuals. At the single cell level, these cells have the greatest mammosphere forming capacity and express high levels of stemness and EMT-associated genes including ID1, SOX2, TWIST1, and ZEB2. Through unbiased analysis of individual ALDH+ cells, we find cells with either epithelial or mesenchymal expression phenotypes. We also identify a subpopulation of cells with a hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal expression phenotype that overexpress genes associated with aggressive triple negative breast cancers. These results highlight the utility of single cell analyses to characterize tissue heterogeneity, even in marker enriched cell populations, and further identifies the genes and pathways that define this heterogeneity.


Some of the most striking and extreme consequences of rapid, long-distance aerial dispersal involve pathogens of crop plants. Long-distance dispersal of fungal spores by the wind can spread plant diseases across and even between continents and reestablish diseases in areas where host plants are seasonally absent. For such epidemics to occur, hosts that are susceptible to the same pathogen genotypes must be grown over wide areas, as is the case with many modern crops. The strongly stochastic nature of long-distance dispersal causes founder effects in pathogen populations, such that the genotypes that cause epidemics in new territories or on cultivars with previously effective resistance genes may be atypical. Similar but less extreme population dynamics may arise from long-distance aerial dispersal of other organisms, including plants, viruses, and fungal pathogens of humans.


Abstract The concentrations of potentially toxic metals (As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn and Fe) and the values of magnetic susceptibility in surface soils were measured along NW-SE gradient in Bratislava city (rural – urban – rural soils). The results indicate that both the contents of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) and the values of magnetic susceptibility decrease with increasing distance from the city centre in both directions. Urban soils are enriched mainly in Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn. Their elevated concentrations in soils within the city are due to accumulation from anthropogenic activities. There was a statistically significant and positive correlation between the mean values of Tomlinson pollution load index (PLI) and the mean values of magnetic susceptibility in soil samples. This correlation shows that the monitoring of magnetic properties of soils can be used as a rapid and non-destructive tool for the effective determination of environmental pollution in urbanized regions affected by anthropogenic activities.


OBJECTIVE
Smoking is one of the most important public health problems and preventable causes of mortality in Turkey. Major healthcare policies have been implemented to combat this problem over the past 10 years. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies performed in the country in the last 15 years to determine the prevalence of smoking in Turkey.

METHODS
Ovid Medline, the Web of Science Core Collection, and the Turkish Academic Network and Information Center (ULAKBIM), as well as the websites of the Ministry of Health and the Turkish Statistical Institute were searched for the appropriate epidemiological studies. Studies included in the analysis were evaluated by a selfdeveloped bias score regarding their potential to represent Turkey and standardization of measurements. The meta-analysis and metaregression analysis were performed using a random effects model.

RESULTS
Ten epidemiological studies (n=122383) that included data about smoking were found. Eight of them (all with low bias score) included separate data about the smoking habit of women (n=49524) and men (n=37684). The smoking prevalence was determined to be 30.5% for the whole group, 15.7% for women, and 46.1% for men, when occasional smokers were included. Although the change observed in crude prevalence values over time was not statistically significant, when the data of the 3 studies that gave prevalence values according to age categories were standardized according to age, the incidence of smoking between 2003 and 2012 decreased 6.8% (20.2%) when occasional smokers were included and 8.4% (26.3%) when they are excluded.

CONCLUSION
Despite implementation of major healthcare policies and some success in decreasing rate of smoking, one-third of the Turkish population aged over 15 years and nearly half of the men are smokers. It is essential to continue and to strengthen measures to combat smoking.


The rapid development of photovoltaics boosted by attractive feed-in tariffs caused a sharp increase in requests for connection to public distribution grids, which were originally designed to serve consumers. ERDF, main distribution network operator in France, is facing a challenge in terms of capacity for handling requests for connection and in terms of public distribution network operation and management.


Cross-fertilisation between the space sector and other sectors is an important condition for innovation and entrepreneurship in high-tech industries. Organizations that perform research and development permanently seek mechanisms for supporting business and entrepreneurship though facilitating the development of disruptive technologies and new product and service development. Over the last decade, public sector agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member states have acknowledged the importance of technology transfer and the need for business incubation centres to support new ventures. ESA has initiated a network of business incubation centres (BICs) throughout Europe. Additionally, other activities have been initiated by government. These centres essentially work as `brokers' who specialize in identifying game changing technologies and facilitate in adapting them for adaptation in another industry in search of commercial opportunities. The objective of this study is to develop a set of design principles for technology transfer and incubation practices, based on current literature and existing incubation practices in the sector. This study adopts a science-based design to investigate prevailing business incubation practices in the European space sector. The study focuses on entrepreneurs (start-ups and SMEs) in the sector, conducting or finishing their incubating period in space-related business incubators (e.g. ESA BICs) in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Semi-structured interviews (48 in total) were conducted and combined with archival sources of the business incubators. The data enables an in-depth qualitative analysis of technology transfer and business incubation practices that takes place between space actors and start-ups.


In this study, cisplatin-resistant adenocarcinoma breast cancer cell lines, labeled MCF-7/R6 and MDA-MB-231/R2 were established by 6 replicative sequential treatment of low doses (1 micromolar) over high doses (30 micromolar) of cisplatin and chemoresistance was evaluated as apoptotic response to 30 micromolar cisplatin for 48 hours. Throughout the study parental cells were used as control. RNA was isolated to conduct microarray study to analyze 48000 gene probes (Illumina Human WG-6 BeadChip). Gene expression data was analyzed by MATLAB 2009 and identification of differentially expressed genes were further studied by proteomic analysis to understand the drug resistance mechanisms. Our data indicated that transcription of drug resistant marker genes, such as GSTP1 and ABCB6 were upregulated in MCF-7/R6 cell line. Both intrinsically resistant cell line: MDA-MB-231 and acquired resistant cell line: MCF-7/R6 were similar in activating NF- kappa-B pathway but not MAP kinase pathway. In MCF-7/R6 cell line NF-kappa-B pathway was transactivated through p50 subunit, as well as translocation of Foxo3a transcription factor into the nucleus. Genes responsible for cell death, Foxo family and MAPK levels were found to change significantly at protein and genetic level in MCF-7/R6 and MDA-MB-231/R2 cells. Phosphorylation levels in transcription factor Foxo1 and Foxo3a were found to change MCF-7/R6 cells, indicating resistance to apoptosis. Moreover, cell cycle, tumor suppressor and estrogen receptor levels were found to be altered in MCF-7/R6 cell line. Our data clearly identify several proteins and pathways which have distinct roles in chemoresistance mechanism. This knowledge can be further validated in a clinical setting.


Microbubbles are currently used as contrast agents for diagnostic imaging on account of their high scattering efficiency and non-linear response to ultrasound. The exact nature of this response depends not only upon the bubble size and imposed sound field but also the bubble environment: physical properties of the surrounding liquid, bubble surface coating, ambient temperature, pressure and proximity to other bubbles or surfaces. This dependence can potentially be exploited for the microscale interrogation of a liquid to detect, e.g. changes in viscosity or the presence of particular chemical species. To facilitate this, the sensitivity of the microbubble acoustic response to changes in its environment must be analysed. The aim of this study was to provide a theoretical framework for this. A modified Rayleigh-Plesset equation was derived to describe the radial bubble motion, including the effects of gas diffusion and adsorption/desorption of a surfactant coating, and coupled to an equation describing microbubble translation. The presence of a rigid boundary was also included in the simulations. A sensitivity analysis was performed for the effect of each of the physical variables upon the bubble response, which indicated high sensitivity to species altering the dynamic surface tension and proximity to a boundary.


Among the oldest and most enduring of American institutions are those that have been devoted to the encouragement of the arts and the sciences. During the nineteenth century, a great many scientific societies came and went, and a few in individual disciplines achieved permanence. But the century also witnessed the founding of three major organizations with broadly interdisciplinary interests: the Smithsonian Institution in 1846; the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists, which in 1848 became the American Association for the Promotion (later, Advancement) of Science; and the National Academy of Sciences in 1863. The founding of the National Academy of Sciences represented a momentous event in the history of science in the United States. Its establishment in the midst of a great civil war was fortuitous, perhaps, and its early existence precarious; and in this it mirrored the state of science at that time. The antecedents of the new organization in American science were the national academies in Great Britain and on the Continent, whose membership included the principal men of science of the realm. The chartering of academies under the auspices of a sovereign lent the prestige and elements of support and permanence the scientists sought, and in return they made their scientific talents and counsel available to the state. The National Academy of Sciences: The First Hundred Years, 1863-1963 describes the National Academies from inception through the beginning of the space age. The book describes the Academies' work through different periods in history, including the Postbellum years, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.


Tax law is a technical area of law which does not seem to be culturally specific. It is thus seen as easily transferable between different societies and cultures. However, tax law is also based on definitions and notions which are not universal (the private sphere, the family, the gift etc.). So, is tax law universal or particular? Is it indeed easily transferable between different societies? And in what ways does tax law reflect ethnic or cultural rather than economic differences? This Article seeks to answer these questions by analyzing one specific example — the history of income tax legislation in Mandatory Palestine. This history reveals the dual nature of income taxation. On the one hand, the Income Tax Ordinance which was enacted by the British in Palestine in 1941 was based on a one-size-fits-all colonial model, and the lawyers involved in its enactment, in Palestine and in the Colonial Office in London, made relatively little effort to adapt it to local conditions. On the other hand, other actors — the officials, politicians and businessmen involved in the initial debate about the imposition of income taxation in Palestine in the 1930s, and the administrators involved in the application of the specific rules of the Ordinance after it was enacted in the 1940s — were aware of the need to adapt the law to the specific conditions of Palestine. Thus, while on a formal level the Ordinance seems to represent a process in which the tax law of Palestine converged with that of other British colonies (and ultimately, with English income tax law), once we expand our framework and examine not just law in the books, but also law in action, and actors such as politicians and administrators, we discover that particular local conditions were an important factor in the enactment and application of the Palestine Income Tax Ordinance. The study of the process of transplantation, the Article concludes, should therefore focus not only on the formal norms being transplanted, but also on the role of the different non-legal actors involved in the process.


STUDY OBJECTIVES: Data were analysed from a large national birth cohort to examine cumulative and interactive prediction from various risk factors for childhood middle ear disease, and to resolve conflicting evidence arising from small and incompletely controlled studies. The large sample size permitted appropriate covariate adjustment to give generality, and permit demographic breakdown of the risk factors. SETTING: A large multi-purpose longitudinal birth cohort study of all births in the UK in one week in 1970, with multiple questionnaire sweeps. PARTICIPANTS: Over 13,000 children were entered into the original cohort. Data on over 12,000 children were available at the five year follow up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: For children at 5 years, parent reported data were available on health and social factors including data on two markers for middle ear disease: the occurrence of purulent (nonwax) ear discharge and suspected or confirmed hearing difficulty. MAIN RESULTS: In those children who had ever had reported hearing difficulty (suspected or confirmed), after control for socioeconomic status, three of the classic factors (male sex, mother's smoking habits since birth, and attending day care) were significantly more frequent. In those who had ever had ear discharge reported, only mother's smoking habit since birth was significantly more frequent. However, it showed an orderly dose response relation. In addition, a derived general child health score was found to be significantly associated with both the middle ear disease markers. Control for this variable in the analysis of those having reported hearing difficulty reduced the effect size of mother's smoking habit, but it remained statistically significant. For reported ear discharge, even after control for the general health score and social index, mother's smoking habits and day care attendance were both significant predictors. Mother's (but not father's) smoking habits and day care attendance were found to be significant risk factors for middle ear disease. Breast feeding effects were weak and did not generally survive statistical control. CONCLUSIONS: A child having all three risk factors (attends day care, a mother who smokes, and male sex) is 3.4 times more likely to have problems with hearing than a child who has none, based on cumulative risk. Further studies should focus on preventative risk modification and well specified intervention.


A numerical simulation has been developed to extract the optical constants from experimental spectra. In particular, transmission, internal reflection, and external reflection spectra can be simulated for any incident angle, polarization, and sample thickness. The simulation is used here to determine the optical constants of two materials and to illustrate differences in spectral features that arise from variations in experimental conditions. Other potential applications of this method include determining film thicknesses from experimental data, selecting the best spectroscopic technique for a particular sample, and cross-referencing spectroscopic techniques.


The paper is based on a study of how the Swedish Fair Trade textile company Oria interplays with other organizations such as business customers, Fair Trade suppliers in India, and NGOs, and how they act as societal entrepreneurs to change the situation in India as regards social and environmental issues. The aim is to understand how different organizations and companies acting in different contexts like Sweden and India work to change the business society according to the idea of Fair Trade. Both dark and bright sides emerge from the results of the actors" behaviour. The study shows that the societal entrepreneurship processes of Fair Trade in Sweden and India are dependent on actions driven by the actors" contextualized values and norms. The Swedish actors focus on Western management models such as standards and certifications, since they regard control and legitimacy as important. The Indian Fair Trade supplier adapts to the standards and certifications, but the dark side of his adaption could be explained as postcolonial coercive forces. A brighter side is the supplier"s ability to understand and combine the possibilities in both the European and Indian contexts. A challenging perspective on societal entrepreneurship is expressed in the Fair Trade paradox and is shown by the identity dilemmas the CEO of the Fair Trade company Oria struggles with in her daily practice of entrepreneurship.


This book is an updated history of the American comic book by an industry insider. You'll follow the development of comics from the first appearance of the comic book format in the Platinum Age of the 1930s to the creation of the superhero genre in the Golden Age, to the current period, where comics flourish as graphic novels and blockbuster movies. Along the way you will meet the hustlers, hucksters, hacks, and visionaries who made the American comic book what it is today. It's an exciting journey, filled with mutants, changelings, atomized scientists, gamma-ray accidents, and supernaturally empowered heroes and villains who challenge the imagination and spark the secret identities lurking within us.


Students in Greece are required to study classical texts, a task often challenging both for them and for their teachers. In this article, a teacher action researcher describes how he explored ways to enhance student engagement in the required reading. By negotiating the task of indexing, a process where students go through the text collecting information against a set of categories, teacher and students discovered they can cooperate in order to find a way of making teaching and learning more useful and pleasant for both. The article begins by setting research context in Greece, and goes on to describe the action research project. The action steps are presented in detail: the teaching problem faced by the action researcher, the resulting research, the action steps, and the data analysis during the action research project itself. In describing the above, the author focuses on the students' active involvement in the process. The article concludes that, in an action research framework, the teacher–students negotiation organises student intervention quite effectively and allows us to consult the student's voice.


Screening for polymorphisms in the human type 1 angiotensin II receptor locus (AGTR1) has led to the identification of an A1166C transversion in the 3'-untranslated region. This molecular variant, C(1166), has been linked to essential hypertension. We describe here a rapid method for the detection of this point mutation by a simple modification of PCR amplification with allele-specific oligonucleotides (ASO), so as to avoid a hybridization procedure involving either radioactive- or non-radioactive-labeled probes, labeled primers, or restriction typing. The procedure described is convenient for routine clinical laboratory use with manual sample processing and offers the potential for further automation, as well.


Gender and politics literature has a strong focus on policy progress and the conditions that facilitate progressive change. Yet, increased opposition to gender equality makes it urgent to examine if and how current attacks affect existing gender-equality policies and institutions. We develop a conceptual framework to map patterns of backsliding of gender-equality policies. Empirically, we focus on Central and Eastern Europe as a notable example of backsliding. We find that rather than the direct dismantling of gender-equality policies, the core dimensions challenged by processes of backsliding are implementation and accountability. We argue that backsliding affects the legitimacy and effectiveness of existing laws and undermines democracy.


This study explains the adoption of Passenger Service Systems (PSS) in airlines through the lens of Inter-organizational Systems adoption and home-region orientation. It examined 20 causal factors influencing PSS adoption and tested an original research model in the technology–organization–environment context, by applying transactional cost theory and neo-institutional theory. Prior to a cross-case study across multiple airlines, the explanatory single-case research analyzed interview data from four informants with a Taiwanese carrier and multiple industry reports; the key findings highlight: (i) interoperable functionality and industry standards as external technological drivers strongly influenced full conversion to the PSS platform; (ii) within the organizational context, commitment to global network, organizational transformation and top management support were identified as salient internal factors in decision-making and resource allocation, while normative pressures from an alliance body exerted a stronger influence over the airline than any other isomorphic forces; and (iii) in the context of environment, full conversion was also facilitated by PSS vendors and powered by the need for mutual worldwide learning to effectively operate foreign markets from home region. This in-depth case study provides insights that PSS in a common-use environment can bring business value to PSS user airlines in accessing a broader global market, offering greater competitive services and expanding distribution channels. To increase causality and generalizability, future work involving an embedded multi-case study with three East Asian carriers will be undertaken.


Recent work by Wang and Phillips (2009b, c) has shown that ill posed inverse problems do not arise in nonstationary nonparametric regression and there is no need for nonparametric instrumental variable estimation. Instead, simple Nadaraya Watson nonparametric estimation of a (possibly nonlinear) cointegrating regression equation is consistent with a limiting (mixed) normal distribution irrespective of the endogeneity in the regressor, near integration as well as integration in the regressor, and serial dependence in the regression equation. The present paper shows that some closely related results apply in the case of structural nonparametric regression with independent data when there are continuous location shifts in the regressor. In such cases, location shifts serve as an instrumental variable in tracing out the regression line similar to the random wandering nature of the regressor in a cointegrating regression. Asymptotic theory is given for local level and local linear nonparametric estimators, links with nonstationary cointegrating regression theory and nonparametric IV regression are explored, and extensions to the stationary strong mixing case are given. In contrast to standard nonparametric limit theory, local level and local linear estimators have identical limit distributions, so the local linear approach has no apparent advantage in the present context. Some interesting cases are discovered, which appear to be new in the literature, where nonparametric estimation is consistent whereas parametric regression is inconsistent even when the true (parametric) regression function is known. The methods are further applied to establish a limit theory for nonparametric estimation of structural panel data models with endogenous regressors and individual effects. Some simulation evidence is reported.


We introduce the Connection Scan Algorithm (CSA) to efficiently answer queries to timetable information systems. The input consists, in the simplest setting, of a source position and a desired target position. The output consists of a sequence of vehicles such as trains or buses that a traveler should take to get from the source to the target. We study several problem variations such as the earliest arrival and profile problems. We present algorithm variants that only optimize the arrival time or additionally optimize the number of transfers in the Pareto sense. An advantage of CSA is that it can easily adjust to changes in the timetable, allowing the easy incorporation of known vehicle delays. We additionally introduce the Minimum Expected Arrival Time (MEAT) problem to handle possible, uncertain, future vehicle delays. We present a solution to the MEAT problem that is based on CSA. Finally, we extend CSA using the multilevel overlay paradigm to answer complex queries on nationwide integrated timetables with trains and buses.


Several wader species breeding in agricultural landscapes are declining in Europe. Here, we present evidence that reproduction in a subpopulation of an abundant but vulnerable wader species, the Redshank Tringa totanus, is too low for self-sustainability. We used population data collected from Gotland, SE Sweden, during the breeding seasons of 1997[long dash]2003. We used analytic and simulation-based sensitivity analyses of a stage-based matrix model of female Redshanks to compare the relative importance of specific vital rates to [lambda] (population growth rate). For each vital rate, we present estimates of mean values and parameter limits. At mean values of vital rates, [lambda] is estimated to 0.876, while the computer simulation yields an average [lambda] of 0.860 (95% confidence intervals: 0.770[long dash]0.950), which is significant lower than 1. Further, analytic sensitivity of [lambda] is highest to adult survival followed by chick survival and nest success. Analytic elasticity of [lambda] ranks vital rates in a similar way as analytic sensitivity, and the computer simulation also indicates that the rankings of sensitivities and elasticities are robust to parameter uncertainties. In the simulated data, almost half of the variation in [lambda] was explained by variation in adult survival (41%). The explanatory power of chick survival (27%) and nest success of first clutches (22%) was intermediate while other vital rates accounted for negligible amounts of variation. We conclude, however, that the potential to increase an already high adult survival is limited. Therefore, management actions should aim to increase reproductive success mediated via decreased nest predation rates and increased survival of Redshank chicks simultaneously.