Objectives
The objective of this study is to measure the nutrient density (ND) of the 7-day sample menus for a 2000 calorie meal plan recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) using the Nutrition Rich Food (NRF) index and to determine target NRF index score for a meal and a day.

Methods
Each food item on the menu was represented by the representative most frequently consumed food item from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2014. Nutrition information was extracted from the USDA database according to the food code of each food item. Nutrient density was evaluated by calculating the NRF index for individual meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), snacks and overall daily intake based on previously published method. The mean, median, and interquartile range (IQR) of the NRF index for the meals, snacks and daily intake over 7 days were calculated. One-sample t-test was conducted to compare the estimated mean daily intakes of individual nutrients derived from present analysis to the reported values by USDA.

Results
The mean ± SD and median (IQR) of the NRF index of all meals were: 209 ± 83.7 and 199.6 (158.6 to 229.1). For each eating occasion, the mean ± SD and median (IQR) of the NRF index of breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, and snacks were 184.2 ± 65.5 and 195.7 (174.4 to 223.5), 213.5 ± 72.5 and 205.4 (169.2 to 229.7), 229.2 ± 112.3 and 186.7 (164.6 to 254.4), and 55.9 ± 36.6 and 47.4 (33.3 to 80.9), respectively. The mean ± SD and median (IQR) of the NRF index of daily intake over 7 days were 457.4 ± 61.7 and 455.5 (424.4 to 471.2). The estimated mean daily intake levels of sodium was found significantly higher than the mean daily intake level reported by the USDA (t = 3.57, P = 0.012).

Conclusions
The study demonstrated that ND varies among the meals and daily intake following the USDA 7-day meal plan, and breakfast meals appear to have lower ND relative to lunch and dinner. Overall ND of daily intake was 457.4 ± 61.7 as presented by NRF index, which can be used as a reference score to evaluate the healthfulness of daily intake. However, by following our methodology, the USDA meal plan may have underestimated the daily intake of sodium. Since nutrient profile and content can vary significantly among foods within the same food group, foods with high ND should be selected to help meet nutrient needs while adhering to a healthy eating pattern.

Funding Sources
No funding source for the research. All authors are full time employees of Herbalife Nutrition.


With increasing consumption of phosphate rock and acceleration of global phosphate production, the shortage of phosphate resources is increasing with the development and utilization of phosphate. China's Ministry of Land and Resources has classified phosphate as a mineral that cannot meet China's growing demand for phosphate rock in 2010. The phosphorus chemical industry is one of the important economic pillars for Yunnan province. Yellow phosphorus production in enterprises has led to a significant increase in the amount of phosphorus sludge. This paper focuses on phosphine generation in the process of phosphoric sludge utilization, where the flame retardant tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) is synthesized by high concentrations of phosphine. The optimum conditions are determined at a space velocity of 150 h(-1), a reaction temperature of 60 °C, 0.75 g of catalyst, and a ratio of raw materials of 4:1. Because of the catalytic oxidation of copper chloride (CuCl2), the synthesis of THPC was accelerated significantly. In conclusion, THPC can be efficiently synthesized under optimal conditions and with CuCl2 as a catalyst.


The Kyoto Protocol marks a break-through in global warming mitigation policies as it sets legally binding emissions targets for major emitting regions. However, realisation of the Protocol depends on the clarification of several issues one of which is the permissible scope of international emissions trading between signatory countries. Unrestricted trade produces hot air when signatory countries whose Kyoto targets are well above their business as usual emissions trade in larger amounts of "abundant" emission rights. Concerns on hot air motivated proposals for caps on emissions trading by the EU. These caps are strictly refused by the USA and other non-European industrialized countries who want to exploit the full efficiency gains from trade. In this paper we show that there are cooling down strategies which can reconcile both positions. International permit trade provides enough efficiency gains to make all signatory countries better off than without permit trade while mitigating hot air. In other words, part of the efficiency gains from free trade could be used to pay for higher abatement targets of signatory countries which assure the same environmental effectiveness as compared to strictly domestic action or restricted permit trade.


OBJECTIVES
To estimate short-term costs associated with non-medical switch (NMS) from originator biologics to biosimilars among stable patients with autoimmune conditions in rheumatology, gastroenterology, and dermatology from a US provider's and third-party payer's perspective.

METHODS
An economic model was constructed to estimate switching costs related to physician time and healthcare resource utilisation (HRU) at the initial NMS visit and over 3 months. The proportion of patients with relevant conditions treated with originators and expected NMS rate, physician time, HRU, and payer reimbursement were derived from a physician survey. Switching costs were estimated for a practice of 1,000 patients with relevant conditions by therapeutic area and for an insurance plan with 1 million individuals by therapeutic area and all areas combined. Switching cost drivers were assessed with one-way sensitivity analyses.

RESULTS
Physicians expected extra 6 minutes for the NMS visit and 22 minutes over 3 months; NMS rates of 14.4%, 15.5%, and 17.7%; and 11.3%, 16.2%, and 33.2% of time not reimbursed for gastroenterology, rheumatology, and dermatology, respectively. The total switching costs for payer's were $771,460 (for n = 3,609 patients with an NMS rate of 16.6%), mostly due to follow-up visits and additional laboratory tests/procedures. In sensitivity analyses, the NMS rate was the main cost driver. Increasing the NMS rate to 25% and 50% increased payer's total switching costs to $1.19 and $2.39 million, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Originator-to-biosimilar NMS in stable patients with autoimmune conditions could result in considerable switching costs for both providers and payers.


Importance
Infection-associated immune activation and inflammation are increasingly recognized in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder.

Objective
To determine whether antibodies to common infectious agents, including cytomegalovirus (CMV), Toxoplasma gondii, and measles, as well as the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein, in serum samples differ between patients with bipolar disorder and control individuals without bipolar disorder.

Design, Setting, and Participants
In this case-control study, antibody titers were measured in serum samples from 1207 patients with bipolar disorder and 745 controls that were obtained from biobanks with participating sites in Rochester and Minneapolis, Minnesota (n = 1537), and Cincinnati, Ohio (n = 415), from January 5, 2009, through May 12, 2014. A subset of case patients and controls from Minnesota were matched by age, sex, and educational level. Bipolar type, age at onset, and history of psychosis were assessed for case patients as well as current drug treatment at the time of blood sample obtainment from the biobank. Data were analyzed from February 5, 2018, to January 4, 2019.

Exposures
The CMV and T gondii antibodies with IgM titers were expressed as z scores and IgG titers dichotomized into seropositive and seronegative based on expected prevalence in the US population and further classified based on the joint CMV-positive/T gondii-negative IgG status, C-reactive protein z score, and drug treatments with antitoxoplasma activity.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Patients were stratified by bipolar disorder type I or type II, nonearly (>19 years of age) and early (≤19 years of age) onset, and history of psychosis during mania or no psychosis.

Results
Of 1207 patients with bipolar disorder (mean [SD] age, 43.2 [15.1] years; 742 [61.5%] female), the CMV-positive/T gondii-negative IgG status was significantly higher (odds ratio [OR], 1.33; 95% CI, 1.09-1.62; P = .004) compared with that in the 745 controls (mean [SD] age, 44.5 [15.5] years; 444 [59.6%] female). The CMV-positive/T gondii-negative IgG status was associated with bipolar cases type I (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.14-1.75; P = .001), nonearly age at onset (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.16-1.72; P = .001), and history of manic psychosis (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.13-1.88; P = .004). Patients with bipolar disorder who received drug treatment with antitoxoplasma activity (n = 272) had significantly lower T gondii IgM titers (median, 1.59; interquartile range, 1.30-2.07) compared with those (n = 900) who did not receive this treatment (median, 1.69; interquartile range, 1.35-2.25) (P = .03).

Conclusions and Relevance
In this sample, increased long-term antibody response to CMV and decreased long-term antibody response to T gondii were associated with bipolar disorder and the subphenotypes of bipolar type I, nonearly disease onset, and manic psychosis. Further work appears to be needed to better understand genetic vs environmental disease risk and infection or immune activation contribution to overall disease pathogenesis with particular reference to disease onset.


A mixed sphere array and film (MSF) waveguide [a mixed system with a polystyrene microsphere array and a poly(methyl methacrytate) thin film waveguide] was fabricated and characterized at a wavelength of 0.67 µm. The attenuation coefficients of the isolated linear thin-film waveguide and the isolated linear microsphere array were measured to be 0.54 dB/µm and 0.98 dB/sphere, respectively. In the MSF waveguide the attenuation coefficients of the thin-film waveguide and the polystyrene microsphere array were 0.61 dB/µm and 1.17 dB/sphere, respectively. A curvilinear MSF waveguide was also fabricated and characterized. Evanescent wave interaction between the thin-film waveguide and the microsphere array was expected.


This article examines revealed rates of time preference for public goods, using environmental quality as the case study. A nationally representative panel-based sample of 2,914 respondents considered a series of 5 conjoint policy choices, yielding 14,570 decisions. Both the conditional fixed effect logit estimates of the random utility model and mixed logit estimates implied that the rate of time preference is very high for immediate improvements and drops off substantially thereafter, which is inconsistent with exponential discounting but consistent with hyperbolic discounting. The implied marginal rate of time preference declines and then rises. Estimates of the quasi-hyperbolic discounting parameter range from 0.48 to 0.61. People who are older are especially likely to have a high disutility from delays in improving water quality.


In this paper we present a module concept designed for better performance under shadow conditions, incorporating also lower BOS costs. This concept is a high-voltage, low-current, shadow resistant, back-contact module concept. The experimental results under partial shading conditions for mini-modules having a Voc of 39.8V show a substantial improvement in shadow performance. The concept is based on the existing ECN MWT (Metal Wrap Through) back-contact technology [1], where the standard MWT cells are replaced by series connected "mini" cells. With the flexibility of the back-foil system we are able to approach a more linear shadow response for our module.


Recent decades have seen a significant rise in studies in which evolution is observed and analysed directly—as it happens—under replicated, controlled conditions. Such 'experimental evolution' approaches offer a degree of resolution of evolutionary processes and their underlying genetics that is difficult or even impossible to achieve in more traditional comparative and retrospective analyses. In principle, experimental populations can be monitored for phenotypic and genetic changes with any desired level of replication and measurement precision, facilitating progress on fundamental and previously unresolved questions in evolutionary biology. Here, we summarize 10 invited papers in which experimental evolution is making significant progress on a variety of fundamental questions. We conclude by briefly considering future directions in this very active field of research, emphasizing the importance of quantitative tests of theories and the emerging role of genome-wide re-sequencing.


Polymerized ionic liquids or poly(ionic liquids) (polyILs) have been considered as promising hosts for fabrication of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) containing ionic liquids. In this work, a novel GPE based on a polyIL, poly(diallyldimethylammonium) bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PDADMA TFSI), and a high lithium-concentration phosphonium ionic liquid, trimethyl(isobutyl)phosphonium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (P111i4FSI), is prepared. The composition-dependent behaviour of the GPEs is investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (solid-state NMR). The effects of Al2O3 nano-particles on the polymer electrolyte properties are also discussed. It is shown that the introduction of high lithium-concentration ionic liquids into the polyIL can effectively decrease the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the resulting GPE, leading to improved ion dynamics and higher ionic conductivity. The Al2O3 nano-particles effectively enhanced the mechanical stability of the GPEs. Most importantly, although adding PDADMA TFSI to the ionic liquids decreases the diffusion coefficient of both Li+ and anions, a greater decrease in the anion diffusion is observed, resulting in a higher Li+ transport number (as evaluated by NMR) than that seen in the original ILs. Finally, a highly conductive free-standing GPE membrane is fabricated, and extremely stable lithium symmetrical cell performance is demonstrated.


To investigate matrix-specifity of probiotic effects and particularly of the reduction of antibiotics-associated diarrhea, a controlled, randomized, double-blind study was performed, in which 88 Helicobacter pylori-infected but otherwise healthy subjects were given for eight weeks either a) a probiotic fruit yoghurt "mild" containing Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5 plus Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12, n = 30), b) the same product but pasteurized after fermentation (n = 29) or c) milk acidified with lactic acid (control, n = 29). During week five, a Helicobacter eradication therapy was performed. Helicobacter activity was measured via 13C-2-urea breath tests and antibiotic-associated diarrhoea and other gastrointestinal complaints were recorded by validated questionnaires. In intervention group a, b and c the mean number of days with diarrhoea was 4, 10 and 10 (P<0·05), the frequency of episodes 17%, 7% and 27% (n.s.), and the change in total symptoms score before antibiotics treatment was -1·4 ± 1·1, -1·2 ± 1·1, 2·6 ± 1·1 points/four weeks (P<0·05). All milk products decreased Helicobacter activity by 18 to 45% without significant differences between groups. The observed decrease in Hel. pylori activity seems to be not or not only due to probiotic bacteria but (rather) to components of acidified milk (most probably lactic acid). Fruit-yogurt-like fermented milk products with living probiotic bacteria significantly shorten the duration of antibiotics-associated diarrhoea and improve gastrointestinal complaints. Fruit yogurt-like fermented milk is a matrix suitable for probiotic bacteria.


The UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2008-2009 provides general and statistical information on forest products markets and related policies in the UN Economic Commission for Europe region (Europe, North America and the Commonwealth of Independent States). The Review begins with an overview chapter, followed by a description of government and industry policies affecting forest products markets. After a description of the economic situation and construction-related demand in the region, five chapters based on annual country-supplied statistics, describe: wood raw materials, sawn softwood, sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, and paper, paperboard and woodpulp. Additional chapters discuss markets for wood energy, certified forest products, value-added wood products and tropical timber. A new chapter is on forest sector carbon markets. In each chapter, production, trade and consumption are analysed and relevant material on specific markets is included. Tables and graphs provided throughout the text present summary information. Supplementary statistical tables may be found on the Market Information Service website within the UNECE Timber Committee and FAO European Forestry Commission website at www.unece.org/timber.


In current research, the extensive family policies of the Scandinavian countries have been problematized and described as hampering women's careers. However, mechanisms have been little investigated and the Scandinavian countries are often regarded as a single policy model. Based on an account of institutional variety we study gender gaps in hourly wages and access to authority positions in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and explore the importance of segregation, skills and work interruptions. The analysis uses pooled cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 2004 and 2010. The results show that gender gaps vary both in size and regarding the mechanisms producing them. In particular, we find that gender segregation has a radically different impact in the four countries. The analysis suggests that the mechanisms linking family policies to labour market outcomes are more complex than envisaged in the current debate and point to the importance of comparing seemingly similar countries.


The experimental realization of an InP-based integratable optical isolator is presented. By using a transversely magnetized ferromagnetic metal film as the electrical contact of an active optical waveguide structure, non-reciprocal loss of the TM-polarized guided waveguide mode is induced. Based on this principle we designed, fabricated and characterized an optical isolator which is easily integratable with standard InP-based active devices. Experimentally, an isolation ratio of 32 dB/cm has been obtained.


Objective To determine if the use of carotid ultrasonography (US) may improve the stratification of the cardiovascular (CV) risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods A set of 370 consecutive patients without history of CV events were studied to assess carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and plaques. As previously proposed, CV risk was calculated according to the modified EULAR systematic coronary risk evaluation (mSCORE) for RA that was adapted by the application of a multiplier factor of 1.5 in those patients fulfilling ≥2 of 3 specific criteria. Results The mean disease duration was 9.8 years, 250 (68%) had rheumatoid factor/anticyclic citrullinated peptide positivity and 61 (17%) extra-articular manifestations. 43 were excluded because they had type 2 diabetes mellitus or severe chronic kidney disease. CV risk was categorised in the remaining 327 RA patients according to the mSCORE: mild (96 cases; 29.3%), moderate (201; 61.5%) and high/very high risk (30; 9.2%). Only five patients were reclassified as having high/very high CV risk when the mSCORE was applied. Severe carotid US abnormalities (cIMT >0.90 mm and/or plaques) were uncommon in patients with low mSCORE (13%). Nevertheless, in patients with moderate mSCORE, severe carotid US abnormalities were observed in 63% of cases. A model that included a chart mSCORE risk ≥5% plus the presence of severe carotid US findings in patients with moderate mSCORE risk (≥1% and <5%) yielded high sensitivity for high/very high CV risk (93 (95% CI 88 to 96)). Conclusions Our results support the use of carotid US in the assessment of CV risk in patients with RA.


Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of high intensity interval training on gene expression of Sema3A in EDL muscles of aged C57bl/6 mice. Materials & methods: For this purpose, twenty male C57bl/6 mice aged (n=10) and adult (n=10) were assigned in two groups of training and control. After one-week familiarization, training groups participate in four weeks high intensity training program and forty-eight hours. After the last training session, the mice were sacrificed. Then Gene expressions of Sema3A in EDL muscles were measured with Real time PCR technique. Findings: The results showed that with increasing age Sema3A mRNA expression increased in the EDL muscle (P=0.001). But training can reduce its expression in both adult (P=0.105) and old (P=0.025) groups. Although, in adult mice was not statistically significant. In addition, the findings show that aging has significant effect on EDL muscle weight, and significant difference between adult and old control groups was observed (P=0.032). On the other hand, although training slightly increased EDL muscles weight in both adult (P=0.117) and old (P=0.321) groups, this value statistically was not significant. Discussion & conclusions: Aging is associated with an increase in expression of Sema3A, which could possibly be involved in neuromuscular changes in aging. Moreover, high intensity interval training by recruited fast fiber muscle types can modify Sema3A mRNA expression and probably reduce denervation and muscle atrophy in aging process.


One of the most important legacies of the Rehnquist Court's criminal law jurisprudence is its reinvigoration of the Constitution's jury guarantee. The Court has made clear that legislators cannot pass laws mandating increases in punishment unless those laws are applied by juries, not judges. The Court has therefore rejected existing sentencing laws in numerous states and the federal system, and sentencing policy is under scrutiny as never before. The Court's sentencing cases are not only significant for their impact on day-to-day plea bargaining and trial practice in the criminal justice system; they also provide a concrete and important example of the power of law and legal methodology - and not simply politics - in Supreme Court decisionmaking. The sentencing decisions are out of step with what attitudinalist political scientists would have predicted from the right-leaning Court. The cases are the product of an alliance between Justices that the attitudinalists view as the extreme left and right of the Court; they are the product of a partnership between the Court's self-proclaimed originalists and those members of the Court who are most sensitive to the role of the judiciary in protecting criminal defendants' rights from majority politics. This area of criminal law is therefore an important reminder of the significance of legal methodology to case outcomes. In addition to documenting the importance of the jury cases, this Article uses those cases as a springboard for a larger analysis of the relationship between originalists, politics, and criminal law on the Rehnquist Court. By reviewing all of the Rehnquist Court's criminal opinions in argued cases during the ten-year period from the October 1994 Term through the 2003 Term, this Article shows that the Justices' votes in criminal cases do not fit neatly into the attitudinal model. While a review of those cases confirms the conventional view that the Court's liberal bloc voted for criminal defendants more frequently than the Court's conservatives in non-unanimous cases, the more interesting pattern is the variation among the Court's conservatives in non-capital criminal cases in which the five conservatives disagreed among themselves. In the fifty-five non-capital criminal cases in which the Court's conservatives did not vote as a bloc, Justices O'Connor, Scalia, and Kennedy each voted for the defendant twenty-four times, Justice Thomas voted for the defendant in eighteen cases, and Chief Justice Rehnquist in fourteen cases. In several of the most important constitutional decisions of that period, including but not limited to the jury cases, the conservative originalists voted for defendants while the pragmatist conservatives ruled for the government. The jury cases are therefore part of a larger pattern that reveals the relationship between originalism, politics, and criminal law to be far more complicated than is commonly believed.


Abstract. Phenolic compounds, which are emitted in significant amounts from biomass burning, can undergo fast reactions in atmospheric aqueous phases to form secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA). In this study, we investigate the reactions of phenol (compound with formula C6H5OH)), guaiacol (2-methoxyphenol), and syringol (2,6-dimethoxyphenol) with two major aqueous-phase oxidants – the triplet excited states of an aromatic carbonyl (3C*) and hydroxyl radical (· OH). We thoroughly characterize the low-volatility species produced from these reactions and interpret their formation mechanisms using aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS), nanospray desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (nano-DESI MS), and ion chromatography (IC). A large number of oxygenated molecules are identified, including oligomers containing up to six monomer units, functionalized monomer and oligomers with carbonyl, carboxyl, and hydroxyl groups, and small organic acid anions (e.g., formate, acetate, oxalate, and malate). The average atomic oxygen-to-carbon (O / C) ratios of phenolic aqSOA are in the range of 0.85–1.23, similar to those of low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol (LV-OOA) observed in ambient air. The aqSOA compositions are overall similar for the same precursor, but the reactions mediated by 3C* are faster than · OH-mediated reactions and produce more oligomers and hydroxylated species at the point when 50% of the phenolic compound has reacted. Profiles determined using a thermodenuder indicate that the volatility of phenolic aqSOA is influenced by both oligomer content and O / C ratio. In addition, the aqSOA shows enhanced light absorption in the UV–visible region, suggesting that aqueous-phase reactions of phenols may contribute to formation of secondary brown carbon in the atmosphere, especially in regions influenced by biomass burning.


We propose an active learning algorithm that learns a continuous valuation model from discrete preferences. The algorithm automatically decides what items are best presented to an individual in order to find the item that they value highly in as few trials as possible, and exploits quirks of human psychology to minimize time and cognitive burden. To do this, our algorithm maximizes the expected improvement at each query without accurately modelling the entire valuation surface, which would be needlessly expensive. The problem is particularly difficult because the space of choices is infinite. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the new algorithm compared to related active learning methods. We also embed the algorithm within a decision making tool for assisting digital artists in rendering materials. The tool finds the best parameters while minimizing the number of queries.


In the tradition of Robert Entman, this framing analysis seeks to evaluate the arbitrary and subjective power of the news media in shaping public knowledge about political leadership. It does so by assessing how the Western news media framed reporting of Indonesian political leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri between 1998 and 1999: a period encompassing the end of the Suharto New Order and the election of the WahidSukarnoputri government. Public knowledge is conceptualised as the way audiences broadly think about and structure their ideas, feelings, fears, and beliefs about political actors. The objective is to demonstrate that framing is universal and inescapable, and often to the determinant of the public sphere. This thesis argues that the Western news media broadly framed Indonesia in the late stages of the 1990s as in 'crisis', in itself this is perhaps surprising. The Western media has a propensity to report the Third world as in perpetual political crisis, bordering at times on anarchy. In this case, it is argued that by framing Indonesia in crisis a 'social reality' emerged that 'named' certain 'truths' about Indonesian politics and its leaders. It hypothesises that embedded in this social reality, the New Order (Suharto and later Habibie) were framed as responsible for the state of economic and political crises and were judged as morally and politically unable to solve the problems being experienced in Indonesia. Captured within this 'reality' was a set of privileged meanings that imagined a Megawati presidency as the remedy and solution. Whether a future Megawati presidency was an advantage or disadvantage to Indonesia is not the scope of this study, rather it demonstrates how framing functioned to assemble emotional and political meaning about Megawati and her values, character and motivations during 1998-1999. In examining how episodic, crisis and issue framing shaped social realities about Indonesia and its political leadership, this study also argues that frames reflected Western assumptions about Indonesia but more so about gendered post-colonial leadership. As a result, the frames produced in this period were stereotypical, oversimplified, decontextualised, reliant on the juxtapositioning of actors in binaries of 'good' and 'evil' and reflective of mediatised rituals of drama, tragedy and emotion. This resulted in the production of public knowledge about Indonesia generally, and Megawati specifically, that was discursive.


Protein carboxylmethylation is a reversible posttranslational modification that regulates protein function. We examined the carboxylmethylation of small GTP-binding proteins in a pancreatic beta-cell line (beta TC cells). In vitro assays showed that carboxylmethylation of a membrane 23-kDa protein was induced by guanine nucleotides, best demonstrated by the nonhydrolyzable GTP analog, guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate (GTP gamma S). GTP gamma S also induced translocation of this 23-kilodalton (kDa) protein from cytosol to particulate fractions. Immunoblotting with antiserum sc-65 raised against Rap1 identified the carboxyl-methylated 23-kDa protein as Rap1. 1) The 23-kDa carboxyl-methylated protein separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis overlapped with the 23-kDa protein detected by immunoblotting. 2) GTP gamma S, in the presence of cytosol, increased the amount of detectable membrane-associated Rap1. Studies in intact beta TC cells demonstrated the carboxylmethylation of the 23-kDa protein in response to glucose and depolarizing concentrations of potassium, an effect that was abolished by the calcium channel inhibitor, D600. Similarly, N-acetyl-S-trans,trans-farnesyl-L-cysteine, an inhibitor of in vivo carboxylmethylation at COOH-terminal S-farnesylcysteine by methyltransferase, inhibited carboxylmethylation of the 23-kDa protein in intact cells and reduced insulin secretion in response to glucose and potassium. These data establish a correlation between insulin secretion and carboxylmethylation of a 23-kDa protein that comigrates with Rap1.


Abstract The U–Pb geochronology of 687 detrital zircons from the voluminous Upper Neoproterozoic–Ordovician succession in the Wuyishan Fold Belt of South China reveals a common dominant c. 1200–950 Ma group, indicative of an outboard provenance terrane with a Grenville-age province to the southeast during the late Neoproterozoic–Early Palaeozoic. Compared with coeval samples from the Gondwanan and eastern Laurentian margins, our data show a scarcity of distinctive Gondwanan provenances (c. 650–500 Ma) and reveal some Laurentian signatures. These results argue against the peri-Gondwanan setting for South China during the late Neoproterozoic–Ordovician, instead implying a Laurentian affinity.


The concept of discourse is of high importance for non-positivist research in information systems. At the same time there are different concepts of discourse that are used simultaneously and often without clear recognition what their choice entails. This paper therefore aims to clarify the conceptual basis of working with discourses in IS research. In order to do this it describes and compares the notions of discourse as we find them in two of the most influential discourse theories, namely those by Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. A comparison of the two from the point of the IS researcher argues that the most important feature that Foucault's and Habermas's discourse theories have in common is their critical intention. From this point of view, both concepts have strengths and can be used to complement each other despite their fundamental differences.


This paper contributes to the debate in the literature on organizational climate concerning the conceptual and empirical meaning of aggregation of the perceptions of individuals. Use of the mean has been criticised because it cloaks the wide variations in perceptions that surround it. A recent move to demonstrate the existence of groups of people who do see climate in a similar way has used clustering techniques to identify such "collectives". Payne (1990) questioned the validity of this approach on the grounds that such collectives may not represent meaningful socio-psychological groups. The present paper is based on the view that meaningful collectives are most likely to emerge when people work together on common tasks and in relatively confined physical spaces. Despite finding an organization where such conditions exist the clustering technique largely fails to identify meaningful social collectives. The implications of these findings are discussed.


The motivations for program analyses are many. The impetus for the static analysis of programs initially ranged from the need for more efficient code to program transforms for parallel systems, but with the passage of time now also encompasses: providing the programmer with debugging information, program verification and program testing. Abstract interpretation is a methodology for static analysis that was formalised at the beginning of the last decade and is employed in both declarative and imperative programming paradigms. Abstract interpretation is a rigorous approximation technique that allows an analysis to focus on a particular property and infer useful information about the run time behaviour of the program being analysed. In order to implement an abstract interpretation it is necessary to chose an abstract domain that expresses the property of interest with sufficient precision to be useful. The focus of this thesis is on the use of two polyhedral domains as a means of capturing these properties of interest in logic programs. This thesis demonstrates how polyhedra can be employed to capture analyses that relate to dependency information with respect to some measure of size. Polyhedral analyses require a technique known as widening to ensure analysis convergence. Computational issues associated with widening prompted an investigation into the way linear spaces interact and how it is possible for a polyhedron to have different representations as a set of implicitly conjoined linear inequalities. Some useful computational insights are the outcome of this investigation. The observation that certain linear inequalities might represent dependency information prompted a novel approach to capturing dependency analysis with the subclass of polyhedra that can be represented by those linear inequalities. This could be advantageous for analyses in environments with constraint support as no set-up costs for the analysis would be incurred as the existing environment would be capable of supporting the abstract domain. Central to this thesis is the isomorphism that reveals the precise extent to which these polyhedra can represent dependency information. An argument-size analysis using polyhedra and a groundness analysis using certain polyhedral cones have been implemented up to the prototype stage.


Rising Consumer Materialism presents a theoretical advancement of materialism research. It identifies eight areas of a consumer's life that are inter-disciplinary and of prime importance towards promoting happy and rewarding lifestyles. This study examines the pre-planned purchase process as the primary step towards satisfactory consumption. The theoretical framework provides a stream of research possibilities that guide readers towards healthy consumption patterns. Therefore, the book offers practical solutions to problems such as loneliness and unhappiness. It advocates a new dimension of consumption activity and lifestyle choices that can help to re-socialize and improve social bonds; hitting materialism right at its core, making the consumption experience well informed and beneficial for the consumer as well as society.
Together, pre-planned engaging, intrinsic experiential purchases with a view to environmentalism, religiosity, social giving, social support and nostalgia can cure the excessive emphasis on acquiring and showing off valuables that are disruptive to a consumer's social affiliations and subjective wellbeing.
Rather than utilizing material possessions as a proxy measure for success and happiness resulting in only temporary happiness, discontent, continuous brand/product switching, undesirable post purchase evaluations and shifting brand loyalties, the book establishes alternative mechanisms for achieving happiness. The integrated framework provides a comprehensive solution rather than a half-baked specific situational-based intervention and is a must read for academics, students and consumers alike.


The lack of evidence on the effectiveness and safety of interventions in chronic dialysis patients has been a subject of continuing criticism. New technologies are often introduced into the market without having specifically studied or even included patients with advanced kidney disease. Therefore, the need to generate valid effectiveness and safety data in this vulnerable subpopulation is of utmost importance. The US Food and Drug Administration has recently placed an increased focus on safety surveillance, and sponsors must now meet this additional postmarketing commitment. In patients with ESRD, the unique data collection environment in the United States allows for creative and efficient study designs to meet the needs of patients, providers, and sponsors. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the methodological and practical aspects of the different options for postmarketing study design in this field, with critical appraisal of their advantages and disadvantages.


This article considers the changing scope of research into UK food superstores over some three decades. Rather than catalogue changing market shares by format, we seek instead to show how such change links to national policy agendas. Academic research has evolved to address the growing complexities of the social, technological, economic and political impacts of the superstore format. We exemplify this by tracing the progression of retail change in Portsmouth, Hampshire, over 30 years. We discover that academic research can conflict with the preconceptions of some public policy makers. The position is exacerbated by a progressive decline in public information – and a commensurate rise in factual data held by commercial data companies – that leaves policy makers with a choice of which data to believe. This problem casts a shadow over the objectivity of macro-policy as currently formulated. Concerns currently arise because the UK Competition Commission (2006–2009 but ongoing) starts each inquiry afresh with a search for recent data. Furthermore, it has recently called for changes to retail planning – the very arena in which UK superstore research commenced.


Correction of electron beam-induced sample motion is one of the major factors contributing to the recent resolution breakthroughs in cryo-electron microscopy. Improving the accuracy and efficiency of motion correction can lead to further resolution improvement. Based on observations that the electron beam induces doming of the thin vitreous ice layer, we developed an algorithm to correct anisotropic image motion at the single pixel level across the whole frame, suitable for both single particle and tomographic images. Iterative, patch-based motion detection is combined with spatial and temporal constraints and dose weighting. The multi-GPU accelerated program, MotionCor2, is sufficiently fast to keep up with automated data collection. The result is an exceptionally robust strategy that can work on a wide range of data sets, including those very close to focus or with very short integration times, obviating the need for particle polishing. Application significantly improves Thon ring quality and 3D reconstruction resolution.


Previous investigations have demonstrated the principle and feasibility of quasihydrodynamic lubrication using powders. With conventional lubricants, the hydrodynamic behavior of a journal bearing can be summarized in the form of a plot of friction coefficient against a nondimensional load parameter, usually referred to as a Stribeck curve. One of the main features of the curve is that, as the thickness of the lubricant film increases, the friction coefficient initially decreases until it reaches a minimum and then increases due to shearing of the lubricant film. Previous tests on a three pad journal bearing using molybdenum disulfide powder as the lubricant showed that its friction/load characteristics followed the Stribeck form. The experimental work reported herein describes further tests carried out on a three-pad journal bearing to evaluate its thermal stability and long term wear characteristics using tungsten disulfide powder as the lubricant. Dry tungsten disulfide powder lubricant has been shown to provide excellent wear resistance. Its friction properties are similar to molybdenum disulfide but it can be used at much higher temperatures. Bearing tests were carried out at speeds up to 30,000 rpm and loads up to 236 N. Over the load/speed range stable thermal operation was achieved. From friction torque measurements it was found that the coefficient of friction for the bearing was essentially constant over the range of loads and speeds. Unlike liquids, powders have a limiting shear strength property. When the limiting shear stress is reached in a powder flow, the powder essentially shears along a plane and does not flow in a viscous manner. The constant friction coefficient seen with the tungsten disulfide powder suggests that the powder had a low limiting shear strength and that this dominated the operation of the bearing in the tests. The total accumulated test time was more than eighteen hours. Periodically, the test journal and bearing pads were inspected but there was no measurable wear or visible damage.


This article seeks to synthesise two disparate views of the cost of quality into one theory. The two views of quality are that higher quality costs more and that higher quality can eliminate certain costs thereby reducing total costs. The theory promulgated by this paper proposes that both views are true but each applies to a different dimension of quality. This theory is tested by examining the cost of improved quality of a truckload carrier's customer service. A transcendental logarithmic cost function, which includes a variable for each dimension of quality, is estimated to test the hypotheses that the physical capacity dimension of quality is directly related to costs and the human performance dimension of quality is inversely related to costs. Results of this estimation support the two hypotheses and give carrier managers an idea of how much it should cost or save them to improve either of the two dimensions of service quality.


COVID-19 had a disastrous impact on the education sector resulting in a boom of online learning systems. This shift has severely impacted the underprivileged students with special needs due to the sudden implementation of prolonged distance learning. Thus, it creates an immense need to analyze distance learning media's effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic for students with special needs. The E-learning readiness and satisfaction of special needs students are scarcely investigated areas in education and e-learning literature. Established on the community of inquiry (COI) model, this study aims to determine the factors that underpin students' satisfaction with their e-learning experience through the mediated mechanism of students online learning readiness. Surveying 178 special needs students from various Indonesian universities revealed that teaching presence, cognitive and social presence, and content quality, directly and indirectly, influence e-learning satisfaction. This extended and more comprehensive model would help educators better understand e-learning's use as an effective pedagogical platform, especially in the context of special needs students. Key policy implications and directions for future research are suggested.


This study had three objectives and associated work components: Component 1 - assess routine highway ditch cleaning alternatives ("Service Levels") for water quality benefits; Component 2 - survey biofiltration swales to evaluate conditions promoting water quality benefits; and Component 3 - assess restabilization and revegetation options for use after ditch cleaning and for restoring biofiltration swale vegetation. Component 1 tested the water quality effects of three Service Levels in freeway ditches: (1) excavated to original elevation and shape along the upstream three-quarters of the length and then sodded, (2) excavated along the entire length and straw-covered, and (3) excavated along the upstream three-quarters of the length and then straw-covered. Component 2 surveyed representative swales along central Puget Sound area highways for a variety of geometric, hydraulic and vegetative characteristics. Survey data were analyzed to develop maintenance, design, and construction guidelines. In Component 3 vegetation establishment from seed was assessed in replicate plots in a freeway ditch with the assistance of restabilization aids: (1) coconut fiber blanket, (2) straw held in place with stapled jute mat, (3) straw without covering, and (4) polyacrylamide (PAM). Cost-benefit analyses were performed in Components 1 and 3. The overall best Service Level for water quality benefits was excavating the first three quarters and retaining vegetation in the remainder. The ditch treated in this manner was capable of reducing total suspended solids (TSS) by approximately 40%, total phosphorus by about 50%, and total and dissolved Cu and Zn each by roughly 20 to 25%. It is recommended as the standard procedure when cleaning ditches that discharge to a natural receiving water. Analysis of survey data showed that biofiltration swales with broad side slopes, wide bases, and total storage volumes equivalent to 3 in. of runoff from the impervious drainage area consistently supported good vegetation cover and showed few signs of damage. For assisting grass growth, straw held in place with stapled jute mat had a clear advantage in effectiveness over the alternatives and a slight economy advantage over the coconut mat.


In support of the first Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR) a relational database of global surface ozone observations has been developed and populated with hourly measurement data and enhanced metadata. A comprehensive suite of ozone data products including standard statistics, health and vegetation impact metrics, and trend information, are made available through a common data portal and a web interface. These data form the basis of the TOAR analyses focusing on human health, vegetation, and climate relevant ozone issues, which are part of this special feature.

Cooperation among many data centers and individual researchers worldwide made it possible to build the world's largest collection of in-situ hourly surface ozone data covering the period from 1970 to 2015. By combining the data from almost 10,000 measurement sites around the world with global metadata information, new analyses of surface ozone have become possible, such as the first globally consistent characterisations of measurement sites as either urban or rural/remote. Exploitation of these global metadata allows for new insights into the global distribution, and seasonal and long-term changes of tropospheric ozone and they enable TOAR to perform the first, globally consistent analysis of present-day ozone concentrations and recent ozone changes with relevance to health, agriculture, and climate.

Considerable effort was made to harmonize and synthesize data formats and metadata information from various networks and individual data submissions. Extensive quality control was applied to identify questionable and erroneous data, including changes in apparent instrument offsets or calibrations. Such data were excluded from TOAR data products. Limitations of a posteriori data quality assurance are discussed. As a result of the work presented here, global coverage of surface ozone data for scientific analysis has been significantly extended. Yet, large gaps remain in the surface observation network both in terms of regions without monitoring, and in terms of regions that have monitoring programs but no public access to the data archive. Therefore future improvements to the database will require not only improved data harmonization, but also expanded data sharing and increased monitoring in data-sparse regions.


We introduce an approach for quantum computing based on the theory of dynamic invariants. This approach generalizes adiabatic quantum computation to a nonadiabatic regime, recovering it as a particular case. We show that the relaxation of adiabaticity can be achieved by processing information in the eigenlevels of a time dependent observable, namely, the dynamic invariant operator. Moreover, we derive the conditions for which the computation can be implemented by time independent as well as by adiabatically varying Hamiltonians. We illustrate our results by providing the implementation of both Deutsch-Jozsa and Grover algorithms via dynamic invariants.


Chip level equalization has been proved as one of the key enabling technologies for HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) receiver. Although many complicated algorithms (Kalman, etc.) have been reported to have great performance, their complexity and irregularity make it difficult to have efficient parallel software implementation. Targeting processor based SDR (software defined radio) platform, our goal is to design a practical HSDPA chip level equalizer having implementation cost as low as NLMS but offering considerable performance improvement over NLMS. Our proposal is based on the observations of multiple domain sparseness in cellular channel. The first observation is that the channel input response (CIR) has only a few significant taps. Although previous work exploits this for complexity reduction, we utilize it to improve the BER instead. The second observation is that the channel dynamics is not always significant, based on which we propose a feedback-control based technique to make the equalizer aware of the variation of channel dynamics. In addition, the equalizer becomes scalable in terms of quality-cost. By exploiting both of the aforementioned sparseness, the proposed HSDPA chip equalizer can significantly lower the BER error floor introduced by channel dynamics, so that more than 5 dB SNR gain can be achieved with the same implementation cost (by scalability) as NLMS. The design is demonstrated on TI TMS320C6711


This study is of particular interest to iconographers and readers of early illustrated editions of Don Quixote, and perhaps of greater interest to all who deal in textual criticism of Cervantes' work. It advocates a rarely heard but convincing argument: that graphic representation of the novel is frequently subtle and penetrating, to the point that it can be held on equal footing with critical textual representations. Rachel Schmidt demonstrates, also, that the tendencies to idealize, sentimentalize, or romanticize the novel were existent, particularly in graphic forms, well before the work of the German Romantics. Rather than paraphrase I quote the following remarks from her Preface to show the development of her thesis: "The richly detailed and pointedly satiric tapestry of sixteenth-century Spain...does not serve as the backdrop for modern adaptations, but rather is replaced by a nostalgically bucolic countryside or an empty horizon. This idealized setting stages the romancing of Don Quixote... In short, Don Quixote's mad vision, the result of too much ingenuous consumption of chivalric romances, overshadows Cervantes' satiric puncturing of the genre. Don Quixote, the parody of a romance genre, becomes a romance in the modern popular imagination. "The second setting for the modern Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is the broad sky and empty horizon of Picasso's painting. Against an empty landscape the pair stand out as abstractions desperately seeking significance... These readings of the text as a philosophical or theoretical work are, obviously, far subtler and more compelling than the romancing of Don Quixote. ... The dialog that enlivens the novel's play is reduced to dialectic. Yet this general approach...appeared in the eighteenth century and was in fact responsible for the canonization of the novel... The erudite, elevating interpretations of the neoclassical critics, expressed both in visual images and text, informed the de luxe critical editions of the eighteenth century that graced bookshelves of the cultured thinking man. The German Romantics, who furthered these readings into the dialectics mentioned above, only took a further step of assimilating satire to speculative thought. "Significantly for this study, both the sentimental and the satirical interpretations of Don Quixote shaped the graphic and literary components of these...editions and, therefore, were integrally involved in the canonization of the novel. By closely analising both components of these books, this study proposes, first, to revise the history of the reception of Cervantes' work, which until now has been focused on the German Romantic as a major turning point. When one studies these editions as a whole, considering that both visual images and critical writings represent interpretations of the text, the coexistence, conflict, and development of these readings in the eighteenth century comes to light... "Secondly, this study highlights the productive independence of the illustration from the literary text as an interpretation that can even recast the narrative content into different generic forms. The iconography used by the artist becomes, most graphically, a rewriting through imagery of the text. The aesthetic, social, and even political interests that gave form to these rewritings, whether visual or literary, emerge from a consideration of the different interpretations juxtaposed in the eighteenth century editions when they are viewed in the light of the editorial conflicts and historical contexts giving rise to the book's production." "For me," Schmidt adds at the end of her statement, "the deluxe editions, albeit the expensive mark of education and class, did at times serve as a public forum for the disinterested, spirited consideration of ideas and perspectives." In Chapter 1, "Book Illustration as Critical Interpretation of the Text," Schmidt discusses "Printing and Authority," "Prints as Reproductions and Representations," "Illustrations and Iconography: Reading and Writing Visual Images," "Traditions and Iconography," "Canonization of Don Quixote in the Eighteenth Century," "Canonization of Don Quixote within the Deluxe Editions," and "Traditions of Reading and Illustrating Don Quixote. …


Background Double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) has become a preferred method for management of small bowel disorders in adult population. Experience in paediatric population remains limited and we present our experience with the use of DBE. Methods 34 procedures were performed on 33 patients (22M;11F) from January 2004 to October 2010, with median age of 12.9 years (range 2–18) and median weight of 39.8 kg (range 15.5–95); nine for Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJ syndrome), seven for obscure gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, five with angiomatous malformations having persistent GI bleeding, five with Crohn's disease, three for chronic abdominal pain, and two with Cowden's syndrome with multiple polyps, one for lymphangiectasia, pseudo-obstruction and jejunal stenosis. Results The entire small bowel was examined in 11 patients and a length between 150 cm and 400 cm distal to pylorus in the remaining 23. 21 patients had both antegrade (trans-oral) and retrograde (trans-anal and via ileostomy in two cases) examinations. The median examination time was 118 min (range 50–320). No complications were encountered. Polyps were detected and successfully removed in all nine patients with PJ syndrome, in a patient with tubulo-villous adenoma of the distal duodenum, in three patients with significant anaemia, and in two patients with Cowden's syndrome. The source of bleeding was identified in a further patient with oesophageal varices. Diagnosis of Crohn's disease was confirmed in two suspected patients. Three patients, known for Crohn's underwent DBE, to examine the extent of disease. One patient with feed intolerance found to have severe dysmotility. A diagnosis was made in a patient with multiple angiomata not amenable to endotherapy, and in three, with a discrete angioma which were treated with argon plasma coagulation. One patient with protein-losing enteropathy was diagnosed to have isolated intestinal lymphangiectasia. One patient with GI bleed had large ulcer at ileocolonic anastomosis site. DBE was normal or revealed minor mucosal friability in the remaining six patients. A diagnostic yield of 28/34(82%) with therapeutic success in 17/34 (50%) was achieved. Conclusion DBE appears to be a safe diagnostic and therapeutic tool with suspected small bowel disorders. Further larger studies are required to establish widespread application.


Using recently published atlas data [Olbers et al., 1992] and the Fine Resolution Antarctic Model (FRAM) [Webb et al., 1991], an investigation has been conducted into the structure of the frontal jets centered around the region of the islands of Crozet (46°27'S, 52°0'E) and Kerguelen (48°15'S, 69°10'E) in the south Indian Ocean. Geostrophic current velocities and transports were calculated from the temperature and salinity fields available from the atlas and compared with results from FRAM and previous studies. We have identified the Agulhas Return Front (ARF) and the Subtropical Front (STF), as well as the following fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC): the Subantarctic Front (SAP), the Polar Front (PF), and the Southern ACC Front (SACCF), from temperature and salinity characteristics and from geostrophic currents. This analysis of model and atlas data indicates that the jets associated with the ARF, STF, and SAF are topograpliically steered into a unique frontal system north of the islands, having some of the largest temperature and salinity gradients anywhere in the world ocean. The frontal jet associated with the ARF is detectable up to 75°E and has associated with it several northward branching jets. The PF bifurcates in the region of the Ob'Lena (Conrad) seamount; subsurface and surface expressions are identified, separated by as much as 8° of latitude immediately west of the Kerguelen Plateau. The surface expression, carrying the bulk of the transport (~65 Sv), is steered through the col in the Kerguelen Plateau at 56°S, 6° south of the latitude normally associated with the PF at this meridian. On crossing the plateau it rejoins the subsurface expression. In the south, passing eastward along the margin of the Antarctic continent and through the Princess Elizabeth Trough, a frontal jet is identified transporting up to 35 Sv, believed to be the SACCF [Orsi et al., 1995], placing the southern extent of the ACC in the region at 67°S. Copyright 1996 by the American Geophysical Union.


Critics have long noted the preponderance of astrological references in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine Part 1 (c. 1587) . They have found it difficult, however, to explain the stars' centrality to this famous early modern play. At the same time, scholars have largely focused on Tamburlaine's use of rhetoric to achieve his empery of Asia, and when they have attended to the role of his body in this project, they have turned their attention to the maimed, injured bodies within the play. In this article, I apply the largely overlooked context of astrological physiognomy to Tamburlaine Part 1 as a means of considering the relationship between and crucial role of the stars and the body in Tamburlaine's rise to power. Astrological physiognomy is a specific subset of physiognomy (the practice of discerning a person's nature through bodily features, especially the face) practiced in Renaissance England in which people examined signs and symbols inscribed by the stars upon the body, typically the face, in order to discern another's fortune. While the language and concepts of astrological physiognomy do not appear in Renaissance drama as prevalently as astrological or physiognomic concepts on their own, astrological physiognomic discourse and tenets are notable and central in Tamburlaine Part 1. Exploring the significance of astrological physiognomy to the play provides an additional tool for understanding and clarifying the role of the unmaimed body in the negotiation of interpersonal relations for social advancement, the play's engagement with concepts of fortune, and Tamburlaine's at times seemingly contradictory rhetoric.


Freehand gesture interaction has long been proposed as a 'natural' input method for Augmented Reality (AR) applications, yet has been little explored for intensive applications like multiscale navigation. In multiscale navigation, such as digital map navigation, pan and zoom are the predominant interactions. A position-based input mapping (e.g. grabbing metaphor) is intuitive for such interactions, but is prone to arm fatigue. This work focuses on improving digital map navigation in AR with mid-air hand gestures, using a horizontal intangible map display. First, we conducted a user study to explore the effects of handedness (unimanual and bimanual) and input mapping (position-based and rate-based). From these findings we designed DiveZoom and TerraceZoom, two novel hybrid techniques that smoothly transition between position- and rate-based mappings. A second user study evaluated these designs. Our results indicate that the introduced input-mapping transitions can reduce perceived arm fatigue with limited impact on performance.


To face the continuously intensifying conflicts surrounding large dam projects, the international World Commission on Dams (WCD) has developed a set of recommendations on how to attain the equitable and sustainable development of water and energy resources. One such recommendation emphasises the need to, in the first instance, carry out a comprehensive options assessment in which both positive and negative project impacts are taken into consideration. The WCD furthermore recommends that this necessary assessment be formalised through the use of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), although MCDA has up until now seldom been applied to the large dam context. This thesis will therefore pursue three aims: 1. To improve the understanding of the decision situation 2. To investigate the applicability of MCDA, its compatibility with the guiding principle of sustainable development and the significance of its results. 3. To recommend methodological improvements. This dissertation offers an understanding of large dams and their complex interactions with the natural environment and society's subsystems as a system and connects the MCDA theory to it. The thesis furthermore provides a link between the theoretical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses pertaining to MCDA – independent of its specific methods – and the findings of three analytical surveys, all of which bear direct relation to the comparison of large dam projects in practice. These surveys are: · A comparison of computer-aided MCDA-tools for the large dam context, regarding methodological and content-related strengths and weaknesses. · A retrospective quality analysis of a real-world application of one of the investigated tools for a large dam project in Laos. · A theoretical reproduction of the decision to build a large dam in Turkey in the 1970s, applying one of the investigated tools. The strengths of MCDA can be found in its formalisation of the procedure, while its weaknesses are caused by methodological problems posed by the individual steps of the analysis. It will be shown that MCDA can be used to support the comparison of large dam projects. Splitting the decision into several more manageable decisions formalises the procedure, improves the understanding of the decision situation, increases the transparency of the decision-making process for the public, and facilitates conflict management. In practice, the weaknesses of the procedure are considered to outweigh its strengths. This is in particular due to the formalised aggregation of objective and subjective information. MCDA methods can be misleading, due to their tendency to overemphasise numerical results. The significance of the results is limited by the complexity reduction required. In addition to this, the assumptions necessary to the methods are loaded with a high level of uncertainty and the many small decisions to be made transform meanings. These effects interact in an irreproducible manner when integrated into an overall result. At the same time, it is impossible to validate the methods and to compare the individual methods with each other. Therefore, even the choice of a particular aggregation algorithm contains subjective preference information. As regards future application, MCDA should be broadened to include a form of quality management and its methods should only be understood as one element of a wider, explorative analysis of the decision situation. It will furthermore be necessary to create decision-making structures which avoid the export of problems into other sectors and which mediate between different interests.


In Lewis rats, immunization with myelin basic protein induces two distinct encephalitogenic T cell populations, those responding to the immunodominant 72-89 epitope and those specific for a secondary epitope including residues 87-99. The 72-89 specific T cells were I-A restricted and preferentially expressed V beta 8.2 in their TCR. To determine the fine specificity, MHC restriction, and TCR V beta gene use in T cells reactive to the secondary epitope, we characterized 23 T cell clones from the lymph nodes (LN) and spinal cords (SC) of rats immunized with either whole basic protein or synthetic peptides S85-99 and S87-99 that were found to be functionally similar. The S85-99/S87-99 specific clones from LN and SC were all encephalitogenic despite differences in recognition of intact basic protein and class II MHC restriction. Unlike LN clones that overexpressed V beta 8 (46%+) and V beta 6 (31%+), however, SC clones were strongly biased (86%+) in their expression of V beta 6. This V gene bias raised the possibility of TCR peptide therapy using V beta 6 peptides. The V beta 6 sequence was similar to V beta 8.2 in the CDR2 region, and the corresponding peptides from this region were found to be cross-reactive in vivo. Moreover, both peptides were effective in the treatment of EAE induced with either S85-99, biased in V beta 6+ and V beta 8+ T cells, or guinea pig basic protein, biased only in V beta 8+ T cells. These data demonstrate the presence of common immunogenic epitopes among subsets of TCR V region gene families that possess important regulatory activity on effector T cell function.


The rainfed areas receive mean annual precipitation in range of 500-1500 mm with high degree of variability and are beset with problems of mid-season drought and associated impacts on the crop productivity. In this paper, analysis of weekly, monthly, annual rainfall and weekly rainfall probabilities in relation to crop productivity has been carried out for all the stations of the study area in West Bengal where rain-fed agriculture is predominant.  However, duration of dry spells and its probabilities, climatic derivatives like commencement and cessation of rainy season, length of growing period (LGP) and estimates of water balance parameters have been carried out, in respect of all blocks in the identified three districts in West Bengal. The mean productivity during kharif season indicated that, highest productivity values of 3 to 3.5 t/ha are noticed in the block of central districts of Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hoogly districts.  Perhaps, irrigation facilities in these districts might have helped in arriving at such high productivity rates.  Low productivity of 1 to 1.5 t/ha have been noticed in two to three blocks of South 24-Paraganas and in Jalpaiguri districts. The productivity levels of northern districts, viz., Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, West Dinajpur, South 24-Paranagas vary from 1.5 to 2.0 t/ha. The lowest productivity of 11.28 q /ha in Jaldha and 14.89 q /ha in Manbazar in 1996 can be due to heavy rainfall conditions in June and again in August. The mean productivity pattern of rice crop during kharif season in identified districts was analyzed with respect to occurrence of number of dry spells at different growth stages and average MAI values. The productivity was also related to monthly rainfall (July) and correlations have been mentioned for Jaldha block (0.22) and Manbazar block (0.64). The highest productivity of 2-3 t/ha are recorded in hot sub-humid to humid regions of West Bengal where LGP vary from 150 to 200 days. From the study of the probability of dry and wet spells and MAI during different crop phenophases, the most vulnerable phases can be identified in each region.


Active Learning Activities for Spoken English Material is an English course book for students at higher education. This book was developed based on need analysis. It covers varied and interesting activities to engage the students to participate actively in communicating in English and become active learners. To activate all of students in learning, this book was arranged systematically based on the levels of thinking in "Revised Bloom's Taxonomy" from the lower order thinking to the higher order thinking. Through the higher order thinking, the students are trained to think critically. Critical thinking is one of skills that must be had by the students based on the education goal in 21st century. This book consists of 14 (fourteen) units and a video is provided for each unit. We would like to express many thanks to validators and respondents who have given us their invaluable inputs and suggestions. Finally, we do hope this book is useful for learners and lecturers.


I draw on Witsuwit'en, Kaska and Gitksan landscape research to investigate similarities and differences in landscape terminologies, and ethnoecological implications of landscape kinds in northwestern British Columbia and the southern Yukon. Kaska and Witsuwit'en are Athapaskan languages while Gitksan is a Tsimshianic language. Gitksan and Witsuwit'en share similar landscapes and some aspects of social structure, though they are linguistically distinct, and Witsuwit'en and Kaska share some aspects of traditional economy and language, though there are differences in landscape and social structure. This three-way comparison allows exploration of the interaction of language, landscape and ecological perspectives.


The demand for better techniques in the field of multiuser detection for CDMA and WCDMA systems has grown especially in the last decade. This is due to the exponential growth in the number of subscribers and high data rate requirements due to multimedia and wireless internet services. However, there are many formidable limiting factors on the way to achieving this objective. One of the most challenging issue is the multiple access interference (MAI) in multiuser detection (MUD). Another issue is the computational complexity of the multiuser detector, which grows exponentially with the number of users for maximum likelihood detector (MLD). This will prohibit the use of MLD as multiuser detector unless its computational complexity is decreased substantially. These two major issues have been addressed in this dissertation. The problem of MAI has been tackled in a simple manner in this dissertation by using the concept of an additional redundant user, named as 'Pseudo-user', for DSCDMA systems. In this proposed scheme, the matched filters followed by minor linear processing have resulted in the removal of MAI completely. This scheme is
theoretically independent of the number of users. However, this has been achieved at the expense of a minor percentage loss in bandwidth and noise enhancement. The percentage loss of bandwidth can be decreased by increasing the number of users. The complexity issue of MLD has been addressed by using particle swarm optimization (PSO)technique. Two soft versions of PSO have been proposed. The results achieved are almost optimal, but at a much lower computational complexity as compared to that of conventional approach for MLD. The above two schemes, i.e. the pseudo-user scheme and PSO scheme along with multicarrier modulation, have been applied to WCDMA overloaded systems in order to assert their practical applicability. The proposed schemes were tried on two types of channels  simple additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and slowly flat fading channel. The results have been compared with some standard
techniques as well as recently reported techniques in the literature.


Ruthenium nanoparticles stabilised by polyaromatic amine-containing compounds (aminoethylcarbazole, aminoanthracene and aminoanthraquinone) were synthesised in solution using three different preparative methods, namely modified polyol reduction, borohydride reduction and phase-transfer method, respectively. Their product yields, particle sizes and size distributions were compared accordingly. The influence of stirring speed, amount of protecting agent, reduction temperature and ageing time were widely investigated. The phase transfer between polar and non-polar phases using these new polyaromatic stabilisers was optimised but found to be less efficient than those particles stabilised with alkylamine, due to the weaker mode of amine adsorption on the metal surface. The interactions of stabilisers with the metal surface were also analysed using infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX). These stabilised ruthenium nanocrystals were then preliminary studied as nanocatalysts for hydrogenation of cinnamylaldehyde which was employed as a reaction probe. Ruthenium nanoparticles prepared via modified polyol and borohydride reductions were both found to be highly active towards cinnamylaldehyde hydrogenation to hydro-cinnamylaldehyde in ethanol.


Ecuador suffers from a Spanish colonial legacy strongly antithetical to liberalism, which, alongside explicit slavery, included racially oriented peasant subjugation until the late 20th century. The Spanish economic system of trade mercantilism and pervasive clientelism continues to this day, albeit under new branding of 21st-century socialism. A history with twenty constitutions characterizes an unstable nation vulnerable to grandiose, illiberal populism, and the few liberal advances have tended to be top-down political calculations. One bright spot has been dollarization in 2000, which derived from the general populace and better protected earnings and wealth and stabilized the economy. The rise of the Citizen Revolution under President Rafael Correa (2007–2017), in solidarity with other socialist regimes in Latin America, has put Ecuador into a fiscal crisis and ushered in a modern authoritarian and corrupt regime, noted by many international human-rights and economic watchdog organizations. Despite an environment of intimidation with very limited free speech, liberal research and advocacy organizations continue their work and are gaining traction.


This paper outlines an innovative approach to the cooper-ative positioning of road vehicles by sharing GNSS informa-tion. Much like the children's fairy tale Hanzel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, GNSS receivers on road vehicles generate detailed VRS-like "breadcrumbs" as they accurately position themselves (in this case using a Network RTK GNSS technique). These breadcrumbs can then be shared with other vehicles in the locality to help position themselves, much like traditional RTK GNSS positioning. Similar to the breadcrumbs in the fairy tale that are eaten by birds shortly after being dropped, the VRS-like correction information is only valid for a short period of time. By using this technique, off-the-shelf GNSS receivers can be used without any major hardware or software adjustments, including those of different receiver brands or legacy receivers. The techniques employed in this paper aim to deliver absolute positions, to enable high-accuracy ITS applications that involve road agents and infrastructure alike. A much anticipated development in ITS technology is the use of vehicle to vehicle or vehicle to infrastructure commu-nication (collectively called V2X). Driven partly by the need to increase road safety, and perhaps heavily influenced by the infotainment needs of drivers and passengers, V2X technology will allow local vehicles to communicate with each other and with other road agents and fixed infrastructure. In the US, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently commented that connected vehicle technology "can transform the nation's surface transportation safety, mobility and environmental performance", with industry experts pre¬dicting the widespread uptake of the technology within 5-6 years. This provides an opportunity for road vehicles to share GNSS information. (As the V2X technology is not under test in this paper, any V2X communication is made using a local Wi-Fi P2P network). This is demonstrated in this paper by directly sharing Network RTK correction information for one receiver (in this case Virtual Reference Station (VRS) corrections) with a second receiver on a separate vehicle. This is done using an NTRIP client running on an Android cellular device at the end-user distributing the VRS corrections from the NTRIP server to both the primary and secondary receivers (in the same locality). Network RTK corrections are not always available, not least because it requires a subscription to a service provider. However, if a GNSS receiver on a road vehicle has access to raw GNSS observations and is capable of calculating its absolute position to a reasonable accuracy (perhaps using an integrated sensor approach), then it has the necessary ingredients to generate its own VRS-like RTK corrections. These VRSs are left like breadcrumbs in the road, ready for any other GNSS receiver in the vicinity to use. Any received VRS correction information will continue to be valid for up to 10 seconds. By utilising the open source RTKLIB GNSS processing software, and the most recent RTCM standard messages (RTCM v3.1) generated through software provided by BKG, one receiver can perform the task of a VRS or a moving base station. The position of the receiver is processed whilst separately recording the raw RINEX information, in order to generate an RTCM stream that simulates that of a Network RTK VRS correction service. Additional information about the source of the correction information is also transmitted, in-cluding the self-assessed quality of the position and hardware used, using the RTCM message types reserved for proprietary information from service providers. Sharing GNSS information between vehicles is shown to significantly increase the availability of ambiguity fixed so-lutions, for both dual and single frequency receivers; and improves the performance of DGNSS receivers. However there needs to be caution, as the use of a single epoch of raw observations from a moving base station is less reliable than traditional static base station Network RTK GNSS positioning. Fixing the integer ambiguity is more likely to be successful (passing the ratio test), but also more likely to be incorrect, and relies heavily on the initial position of the moving base station (i.e. the relative position or baseline may be accurate, but not necessarily the absolute position). Three control solutions are used to assess the performance of the cooperative positioning techniques in real world tests: An RTK GNSS control solution provided by a local static continuously operating reference station (CORS); a Network RTK GNSS solution based on the MAC standard; and an Applanix POS/RS dual frequency GPS inertial navigation system. The processing parameters are adjusted to assess the optimum configuration for successful cooperative positioning (delivering accuracy and reliability), and the limitations of the technique are addressed. It is shown that although the cooperative position may not match the positioning accuracy of the initial moving base station vehicle (<5 centimetre), the solution is valid for sub-decimetre accuracy for up to one minute using dual frequency GPS observations. A cooperative DGNSS solution is accurate to 20 centimetres over the same period.


Serverless computing paradigm has become more ingrained into the industry, as it offers a cheap alternative for application development and deployment. This new paradigm has also created new kinds of problems for the developer, who needs to tune memory configurations for balancing cost and performance. Many researchers have addressed the issue of minimizing cost and meeting Service Level Objective (SLO) requirements for a single FaaS function, but there has been a gap for solving the same problem for an application consisting of many FaaS functions, creating complex application workflows.In this work, we designed a tool called SLAM to address the issue. SLAM uses distributed tracing to detect the relationship among the FaaS functions within a serverless application. By modeling each of them, it estimates the execution time for the application at different memory configurations. Using these estimations, SLAM determines the optimal memory configuration for the given serverless application based on the specified SLO requirements and user-specified objectives (minimum cost or minimum execution time). We demonstrate the functionality of SLAM on AWS Lambda by testing on four applications. Our results show that the suggested memory configurations guarantee that more than 95% of requests are completed within the predefined SLOs.


The design of advanced engineering systems generally results in large-scale numerical problems, which require efficient computational electromagnetic (CEM) solutions. Among existing CEM methods, iterative methods have been a popular choice since conventional direct solutions are computationally expensive. The optimal complexity of an iterative solver is O(NNitNrhs) with N being matrix size, Nit the number of iterations and Nrhs the number of right hand sides. How to invert or factorize a dense matrix or a sparse matrix of size N in O(N) (optimal) complexity with explicitly controlled accuracy has been a challenging research problem. For solving a dense matrix of size N, the computational complexity of a conventional direct solution is O(N3); for solving a general sparse matrix arising from a 3-D EM analysis, the best computational complexity of a conventional direct solution is O(N2). Recently, an H2-matrix based mathematical framework has been developed to obtain fast dense matrix algebra. However, existing linear-complexity H2-based matrix-matrix multiplication and matrix inversion lack an explicit accuracy control. If the accuracy is to be controlled, the inverse as well as the matrix-matrix multiplication algorithm must be completely changed, as the original formatted framework does not offer a mechanism to control the accuracy without increasing complexity. In this work, we develop a series of new accuracy controlled fast H2 arithmetic, including matrix-matrix multiplication (MMP) without formatted multiplications, minimal-rank MMP, new accuracy controlled H2 factorization and inversion, new accuracy controlled H2 factorization and inversion with concurrent change of cluster bases, H2-based direct sparse solver and new HSS recursive inverse with directly controlled accuracy. For constant-rank H2-matrices, the proposed accuracy directly controlled H2 arithmetic has a strict O(N) complexity in both time and memory. For rank that linearly grows with the electrical size, the complexity of the proposed H2 arithmetic is O(NlogN) in factorization and inversion time, and O(N) in solution time and memory for solving volume IEs. Applications to large-scale interconnect extraction as well as large-scale scattering analysis, and comparisons with state-of-the-art solvers have demonstrated the clear advantages of the proposed new H2 arithmetic and resulting fast direct solutions with explicitly controlled accuracy. In addition to electromagnetic analysis, the new H2 arithmetic developed in this work can also be applied to other disciplines, where fast and large-scale numerical solutions are being pursued.


There is a paradox as First World governments provide decreasing levels of foreign aid despite apparently high levels of domestic public support for foreign aid. This article examines this issue as a case study in government response to public opinion: do governments in democracies pay any real attention to what the public think? The study's methodology is to compare trends in domestic public support for official foreign aid programmes over time in five selected aid donor countries with trends in foreign aid expenditure as a proportion of Gross National Income. There are mixed results: in some cases aid performance increased or decreased in accordance with public opinion; in other cases performance went against public opinion. The reasons can partly be explained by faulty public opinion polling techniques but there also appears to be a substantial problem for public policy making in democracies. Governments are paying little attention to public opinion, at least in so-called elite policy areas such as foreign aid.


In this work a novel approach based on differences of intensities is presented for vascular structures identification in MRI studies such as  the time of flight method (TOF). The plating method states that given the high intensities belonging to the vascular system, TOF images can be segmented by thresholding of the histogram. The enhancement of vascular structures is performed by applying a Vesselness filter, and upon completion of a decision based on fuzzy thresholding the error is minimized in the selection of vascular structures. A brief introduction to  vascular system problems and how images have helped diagnosis is summarized as well as the  history of the different imaging modalities and the evolution of digital images with computers. Segmentation and 3-D reconstruction became image type time of flight; these images are typically used in medical diagnosis of cerebrovascular diseases. The proposed method has less error in segmentation and reconstruction of volumes related to the vascular system, represented in clearer images and less noise compared to edge detection methods.


Learn how to quickly generate business intelligence, insights and create interactive dashboards for digital storytelling through various data sources with Redash
Key Features
Learn the best use of visualizations to build powerful interactive dashboards

Create and share visualizations and data in your organization

Work with different complexities of data from different data sources

Book Description
Data exploration and visualization is vital to Business Intelligence, the backbone of almost every enterprise or organization. Redash is a querying and visualization tool developed to simplify how marketing and business development departments are exposed to data. If you want to learn to create interactive dashboards with Redash, explore different visualizations, and share the insights with your peers, then this is the ideal book for you.

The book starts with essential Business Intelligence concepts that are at the heart of data visualizations. You will learn how to find your way round Redash and its rich array of data visualization options for building interactive dashboards. You will learn how to create data storytelling and share these with peers. You will see how to connect to different data sources to process complex data, and then visualize this data to reveal valuable insights.

By the end of this book, you will be confident with the Redash dashboarding tool to provide insight and communicate data storytelling.

What you will learn
Install Redash and troubleshoot installation errors

Manage user roles and permissions

Fetch data from various data sources

Visualize and present data with Redash

Create active alerts based on your data

Understand Redash administration and customization

Export, share and recount stories with Redash visualizations

Interact programmatically with Redash through the Redash API

Who this book is for
This book is intended for Data Analysts, BI professionals and Data Developers, but can be useful to anyone who has a basic knowledge of SQL and a creative mind. Familiarity with basic BI concepts will be helpful, but no knowledge of Redash is required.


The purpose of this study was to determine the acid dissociation constants (pKa) of meloxicam in the presence of various surfactants including sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) as an anionic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant and Triton® TX-100 (TX-100) as a non-ionic surfactant in different pre-determined concentrations. The related pKa was determined spectrophotometrically at a constant ionic strength of 0.1 M at 250°C. In order to investigate the effect of solvent on pKa of meloxicam, the pKa was also determined in different concentrations of ethanol, separately. The acid dissociation constant of all appropriate species were calculated using chemometric methods. In this study, DATAN® software was applied for analysis and interpretation of data. The acid dissociation constants (i.e. pKa) for meloxicam as poorly soluble drug were reported as 1.22±0.56 and 4.00±0.12 for pKa1 and pKa2, respectively. The obtained data showed that by increasing the concentration of SLS up to 0.05% (w/v), both the pKa1 and pKa2 of meloxicam were increased and to 2.67±0.054 and 5.73±0.029, respectively, while by increasing the concentration of CTAB, significant decrease was observed in pKa2 of meloxicam to 2.53 ± 0.16. Different concentrations of TX-100 posed non-significant changes in pKa1 and pKa2. It was also reported that by increasing the concentration of ethanol as a co-solvent, both pKa1 and pKa2 of meloxicam were increased to 2.42±0.083and 5.81±0.23, respectively.


New U–Pb zircon dating yields a crystallization age of 458±3 Ma for the largely gabbroic Grøndalsfjell Intrusive Complex in the Gjersvik Nappe of the Caledonian Upper Allochthon in Scandinavia. This is identical, within error, to the age of the adjacent Møklevatnet Complex that is dominated by quartz monzodiorite (456±2 Ma), and the two intrusive suites may be regarded as members of a composite intrusion here referred to as the Nesåa Batholith. Mafic members of this calc-alkaline batholith are characterized by slightly positive εNd–εSr values, marked enrichment of the light rare earth elements and high Th/Yb ratios suggestive of a subduction-modified mantle source. The I-type granitoids have similar isotope values and highly fractionated rare earth element patterns, and are interpreted as products from partial melting of garnet-bearing mafic rocks. The Nesåa Batholith intruded a previously deformed, 483 Ma or older, metavolcanic sequence of oceanic arc affinity. The margins of the pluton show evidence for synkinematic emplacement, which is tentatively interpreted in terms of magma ascent controlled by deep-seated shear zones. Further uplift and exhumation of the crystallized plutons was followed by rapid deposition of batholith-derived conglomerates and arkoses in a marginal basin represented by the Limingen Group. The age of the Nesåa Batholith fills the gap in reported ages for Caledonian magmatism, between the Early to Middle Ordovician, oceanic to continental margin type, arc sequences of Laurentian palaeotectonic affinity, and the Late Ordovician–Early Silurian batholith complexes of interpreted Laurentian margin affinity. It is interpreted as an early phase of the more extensive plutonism recorded in the Bindal Batholith of the Uppermost Allochthon to the west. Our model implies that the Early Ordovician oceanic arc sequences of the Gjersvik Nappe were deformed and accreted on to Laurentian margin lithologies prior to Late Ordovician times. This composite crustal assemblage was the source for the voluminous quartz monzodioritic intrusions of the Nesåa Batholith, which formed by partial melting due to ponding of subduction-related mantle derived mafic magmas either within or at the base of the active continental margin.


This dissertation motivates a new syntax and semantics for simplex and multiple whquestions, concentrating on English and German data. The proposed theory combines Cable's (2007; 2010) Q-based syntax for wh-movement and pied-piping with a new and simple semantics that combines ingredients familiar from the literature in a novel way. I model the pair-list reading of the question as denoting a family of questions (Roberts, 1996; Hagstrom, 1998; Krifka, 2001; Büring, 2003; Fox, 2012; Nicolae, 2013, a.o.), and derive the pair-list and single-pair readings of the question from minimally different LFs. This theory naturally fits with existing analyses of the presuppositions of questions and with Beck's (2006) theory of focus intervention effects. The proposed syntax-semantics leads to a new descriptive generalization for focus intervention effects. I present novel data that the previously assumed strict correlation between intervention and superiority in English (Pesetsky, 2000) is incorrect. Instead, intervention occurs whenever the relation between a wh-word and its associated Q-particle is disrupted at LF. This happens in superiority-violating questions, inside overt and covert pied-piping constituents, and in superiority-obeying questions whenever covert whmovement is restricted to a position below an intervener. Furthermore, intervention can be avoided in superiority-violating questions if the in-situ wh is given wide scope above an intervener through non-interrogative movement. Finally, I present arguments from offline judgments as well as from online sentence processing that in-situ wh-phrases in English superiority-obeying questions undergo covert movement, but in-situ wh-phrases in superiority-violating questions are truly in-situ at LF. I furthermore argue that the covert movement step of the in-situ wh should be modeled as covert scrambling instead of the unbounded movement to the interrogative complementizer that is traditionally assumed. Movement targets the first position where a wh is interpretable, and is only extended in extraordinary cases, for example in order to avoid a structure that would be an intervention effect, or in order to allow for ellipsis resolution. This makes the behavior of English parallel to that of German. I argue that this is advantageous for the acquisition of questions and intervention, and helps to account for our understanding of the cross-linguistic typology of multiple questions. Thesis Supervisor: Danny Fox Title: Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor: Martin Hackl Title: Associate Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor: Irene Heim Title: Professor of Linguistics Thesis Supervisor: David Pesetsky Title: Professor of Linguistics and Chair