Influence of fenugreek gum on bread and in vitro physiological effects This thesis examined the effect of fenugreek gum, from Canadian grown fenugreek on bread quality, when substituted for wheat flour at 5 % and 10 %, and the in vitro physiological effects of these breads, based on models of acute and long-term feeding. Study I determined bread could be produced with 10 % fenugreek gum, while maintaining quality parameters of volume and texture, comparable to a control. This was accomplished through the development of a novel bread production method, using the lamination procedure for puff pastry production. The behavior of fenugreek gum and starch (wheat flour) was determined by rapid visco analysis (RVA), farinograph and dynamic rheological measurement, while scanning electron microscopy of bread found fenugreek gum could be identified within the bread matrix. Study 2 in vitro starch digestion found fenugreek gum at 5 % and 10 % reduced glucose liberated from bread, with 10 % fenugreek gum causing a reduction of over 30 %. RVA of fenugreek breads highlighted differences in viscosity between breads and wheat flour substituted with the gum. This was substantial as viscosity measurements by RVA are conducted on raw ingredients and not the food as consumed, which reflects the possible reduction in viscosity with food processing. This study also determined extruding fenugreek gum may have caused morphological changes to the gum, which may possibly contribute to attenuation of glucose liberated in vitro. Study 3 evaluated the accumulation of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) from the fermentation of three substrates: Extruded fenugreek gum, bread with 10 % extruded gum and control bread, based on ii fecal microbiota from three donors. SCFA profiles varied with substrates and donors, with fenugreek gum having the highest accumulation of SCFA after 12 hours. Donors were a caucuasian Canadian, a black Jamaican and a black Trinidadian who was the only donor culturally exposed to fenugreek. This Trinidadian's SCFA profiles were consistently higher for fenugreek gum than the other donors. These studies collectively showed fenugreek gum, though viscous could be successfully incorporated into bread and have potential as a functional food and nutraceutical.


Among pathogens causing diseases in Zea mays L., Fusarium proliferatum, disseminated by seeds and grain, causes deterioration, death, damping off, rot of roots, stem, stalk and grains. It is thus imperative to treat seeds and grain to preserve quality. The objective of this work was to test antifungal activity at different levels of Allium sativum L. and Cymbopogon citratus Stapf. extracts for F. proliferatum control on maize seeds and grain, and also to observe the effect of those products on seed germination and disease development and evolution in maize seedlings. The effect of A. sativum and C. citratus extracts was evaluated at levels of 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.5%, 5.0% and 10.0% for eight days, measuring the colonies' diameter. Fungus spores were immersed in extract solution at the levels described above, and were evaluated after 6, 12, 18 and 24 immersion hours for conidia germination. Maize seeds were treated with extract solution and inoculated with F. proliferatum, then evaluated forfungus survival, germination, damping off and stem rot of plantlets. Extracts decreased mycelial growth, spore germination and survival incidence of F. proliferatum on maize grain. Allium extract at 2,5% showed better results than other treatments. Natural extracts increased seed germination and controlled damping off and stem rot diseases in maize seedlings.


Canada is a federal state made up of thirteen entities, ten Provinces and three Territories. This article focuses on the funding mechanisms of the ten Provinces which induce solidarity in favor of some of them. The aim of this article is thus to describe the funding mechanisms of the Canadian Provinces and to measure the solidarity, based on the rules and formula provided by the Canadian law and on calculations for the year 2009-2010. This article underlines the redistributive character of the Canadian system and reveals in some cases a paradox of revenues, leading some poor provinces becoming wealthier than others which were initially wealthier.


This paper studies the effects of risk aversion on nonlinear pricing. It first develops a model of risk-averse principal, based on Mussa and Rosen (1978), and finds that the equilibrium allocation increases and approaches the efficient level as the principal's risk aversion increases and tends to infinity. The model is then extended to allow for random participation. It is found that the allocation moves towards the efficient level as the monopolistic principal becomes more risk averse. For the case of duopoly, the cost-based two-part tariff is optimal in the full participation equilibrium and the fixed fee component monotonically decreases to zero when the coefficient of absolute risk aversion of the principals tends to infinity.


In the Pacific, there have been startling news releases of governments making attempts at censoring the internet, a move seen to point towards silencing dissenting views on popular online forums. The conflicting trends between the new political forum ushered in by the new media on the one hand, and the restrictive mode of state censorship on the other hand, pose serious challenges to the broader framework of rights and freedom of expressions. The aim of this article is to examine the regulatory approaches being developed and/or proposed in response to the emergence of new media in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). This article reviews two ways in which Pacific island governments are attempting to regulate the internet: firstly through the development of legislation to prosecute cybercriminals, and secondly through the banning of certain internet sites, most notably Facebook. Despite the disparities in internet penetration levels, the article reveals that nearly all countries in the Pacific are increasingly regulating or are moving towards regulating the internet. The justifications for internet regulation and censorship are largely predicated around the rhetoric of protecting its citizens from the negative effects of the internet.  However, these regulations seem to be a response to Pacific Island governments' fears of growing criticism and dissent on social media platforms.


This paper investigates how involvement of university and students into industrial networks might gain both continuously development of education programs, and the learning outcomes of students within engineering education. Involvement of the Civil and Structural Engineering Education in the creation and early operation of an industrial network – the Agder division of "Young Professionals' Concrete Network" (YBN) - is used as case.

YBN are regional networks related to the Norwegian Concrete Association, organised and run by volunteers at a growing number of locations. The intension is to create networks for young professionals, focusing on all aspects of the use of concrete materials within engineering and construction. The Agder division of YBN was established during 2018, initiated and executed by stakeholders employed at the Civil and Structural Engineering Education, University of Agder in Norway, and from the local industry. Members are recruited amongst students and industrial employees in early stages of their career. Typical activities of YBN are lectures on requested topics, industrial demonstrations and excursions to construction sites. Industry is eager to deliver services without any cost for YBN. Members use the organisation to build competence, to participate in professional discussions and to create and maintain personal networks.

This paper is based on a survey executed amongst members of the Agder division of YBN. The scope of the survey was to identify dividends generated from engaging in the network. The participants were asked to answer questions regarding outcomes from participation in different types of activities.

The results from the survey identify learning outcomes and other dividends from participation in a network that includes students, university and young professionals from the industry. These findings are discussed to gain knowledge on how network engagement can be utilized to continuously improve the Civil and Structural Engineering Education, and to strengthen the competence of participating students and young professionals. As YBN is originating and run by stakeholders within the university, the generated knowledge is also used in a feed-back loop for improvement of the activities offered by the network.


Drug efflux machinery inherited asymmetrically In dividing bacterial cells, asymmetric distribution of cell wall constituents occurs between mother cells and their progeny. Asymmetric distribution of efflux machinery in a growing population of bacterial cells results in heterogeneity in antibiotic resistance. One consequence is that in the presence of low levels of antibiotic, older cells tend to live longer than younger cells. Using a microfluidic device to trap and measure dividing cells, Bergmiller et al. showed that AcrAB-TolC, the main multidrug efflux pump of Escherichia coli, clusters at the pole of older cells (see the Perspective by Barrett et al.). As cell division proceeds and daughter cells age, they too gradually accumulate polar efflux pumps. Science, this issue p. 311; see also p. 247 Skewed inheritance of drug-efflux machinery means older bacterial cells show greater antibiotic resistance than their daughters. The molecular mechanisms underlying phenotypic variation in isogenic bacterial populations remain poorly understood. We report that AcrAB-TolC, the main multidrug efflux pump of Escherichia coli, exhibits a strong partitioning bias for old cell poles by a segregation mechanism that is mediated by ternary AcrAB-TolC complex formation. Mother cells inheriting old poles are phenotypically distinct and display increased drug efflux activity relative to daughters. Consequently, we find systematic and long-lived growth differences between mother and daughter cells in the presence of subinhibitory drug concentrations. A simple model for biased partitioning predicts a population structure of long-lived and highly heterogeneous phenotypes. This straightforward mechanism of generating sustained growth rate differences at subinhibitory antibiotic concentrations has implications for understanding the emergence of multidrug resistance in bacteria.


The fabrication of solid-state p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-ssDSCs) using electron transport materials instead of the conventional I /I3 redox couple in liquid devices can completely eliminate the liquid phase and enhance the photovoltage. The performance of p-ssDSCs has been improved by optimizing the dyes and electron-transport materials. Moreover, p-ssDSCs provide a possibility to fabricate solid-state tandem dye-sensitized solar cells and show promising application in dye-sensitized solar fuel devices as well. Herein, the development of p-ssDSCs has been overviewed, their potential applications have been discussed, and the challenges remaining in p-ssDSCs have been highlighted.


In this paper we present a prototypical smart metering infrastructure (MI) as part of the "distributed nervous system of SmartGrid". Proposed MI is enabled with distributed programming infrastructure of the international standards IEC 61499, communication and design infrastructure of IEC 61850. The paper introduces IEC 61850 logical device for the smart meter. Based on this definition, the intelligent logical nodes architecture (iLN) is used to organize the distributed intelligence of a "swarm" of such smart meters. The proposed architecture has been applied to the novel Eaton PowerXpert intelligent commercial grade meter and tested in co-simulation environment.


The consumer-protection literature can be divided into two camps: laissez-faire libertarianism and paternalism. Paternalism, as advanced by behavioral law and economics, calls for nudging consumers toward their utility-maximizing preference. Laissez-faire libertarianism, instead, calls for relying on rational-choice theory and the free market to allocate consumer goods. Although each camp presents the other as its diametric opponent, this Note shows that this dichotomy is overstated. Neither camp is incompatible with the other, nor infallible on its own. Through an original behavioral study, this Note reveals flaws in the fundamental assumptions of both camps: that no information can be conveyed neutrally (behavioral law and economics) and that consumer-oriented regulation diminishes autonomy (rational-choice theory). It does so by focusing on an understudied form of consumer-protection regulation: mixed framing. Legal scholars and regulators have largely ignored this phenomenon, yet it offers a more robust and actionable regulatory approach than the existing literature and one that is distinct from both paternalism and libertarianism. By examining the case study of food-safety regulations, this Note sketches the analytic and normative case for why regulators should embrace mixed framing. Using a process of debiasing through mixed framing, agencies can promulgate rules that minimize the risk of deceptive advertising tactics and maximize the provision of neutral and complete information—without running afoul of the First Amendment or falling into paternalistic restrictions on autonomy. author. Yale Law School, J.D. 2018. I am immensely grateful to Christine Jolls for her feedback and encouragement, and to Douglas Kysar for his supervision during the inception of this project. I would also like to thank Guido Calabresi, Daryl Levinson, Allison Zieve, Patrick Baker, Yena Lee, Inho Andrew Mun, Stuart Shirrell, Sandro Romano, Anthony Sampson, and all of the participants in the 2017 Products Liability seminar for several insightful conversations. Additional thanks to the editors of the Yale Law Journal, and in particular Eliza Pan, for their careful editing. And, of course, I thank Erin Alexander, who disproves the self-interest assumption on a daily basis. This Note was awarded the Judge Ralph K. Winter Prize for the best student paper in law and economics, and it was made possible through the generous support of the Oscar M. Ruebhausen


This article argues that the red-ocher paintings (pictographs) in Coast Salish Tsleil-Waututh territory in Indian Arm, British Columbia, were made around the time of contact in specific response to demographic collapse caused by smallpox. Tsleil-Waututh people selected fifteen distinctive geological features along the shoreline of Indian Arm for marking. It is suggested that these locations were highly significant places to past Tsleil-Waututh people because they were physical embodiments of oral traditions (sxwoxwyiam) and associated with underwater-dwelling supernatural creatures (stl'aleqem). Relying on local oral traditions, regional archaeology, and local ethnographies, the article argues that these specific locations had very ancient roots in Tsleil-Waututh history but were marked in the early contact period with red paint by TsleilWaututh ritualists (shxwla:m, "Indian Doctor"). They did this to connect with supernatural powers in these locations, to preserve oral histories associated with them, and thus to contribute to the demographic revitalization of the TsleilWaututh people. The article contends that Tsleil-Waututh rock painting is not an essentialized cultural practice but a historically contingent one—a reflection of


We introduce the first software-based attestation approach with provable security properties, and argue for its importance as a component in a new Anti-Virus paradigm. Our new method is practical and efficient. It enables detection of any malware (that does not commit suicide to remain undetected) – even if the infection occurred before our security measure was loaded. Our new approach works independently of computing platform, and is eminently suited to address the threat of mobile malware, for which the current Anti-Virus paradigm is poorly suited. Our approach is based on memory-printing of client devices. Memory-printing is a novel and light-weight cryptographic construction whose core property is that it takes notably longer to compute a function if given less RAM than for which it was configured. This makes it impossible for a malware agent to remain active (e.g., in RAM) without being detected, when the function is configured to use all space that should be free after all active applications are swapped out. Our approach is based on inherent timing differences for random access of RAM, flash, and other storage; and the time to communicate with external devices.


Split keys offered a rather convenient way to exceed the limitations of restricted temperaments and tunings in keyboard instruments, since the essential features of these temperaments were kept, like for example the pure major thirds of meantone temperament. It seems to have been Italian organ builders of the mid-15th-C. who were the first to apply split keys in organ building. Italy was the main center of this development for the first 150 years. Shortly after 1600 however, Germany, which was dominated by musicians under Italian influence, took the central position. Split keys were promoted by the Wolfenbuttel ?Hofkapellmeister? Michael Praetorius and the Saxon court organ builder Gottfried Fritzsche. From this geographical area the idea spread to surrounding regions and countries. With the rise of circulating temperaments the practice disappeared soon after 1700. About 70 Instruments with 13-16 keys per octave are known to have been built in Italy, Spain (?), Germany, the Netherlands, England, Sweden and Denmark.


Falls and their consequences are arguably most important events for transition from independent living to institutional care for older adults. Information and communication technology (ICT)-based support of fall prevention and fall risk assessment under the control of the user has a tremendous potential to, over time, prevent falls and reduce associated harm and costs. Our research uses participative design and a persuasive health approach to allow for seamless integration of an ICT-based fall prevention system into older adults' everyday life. Based on a 6-month field study with 12 participants, we present qualitative results regarding the system use and provide insights into attitudes and practices of older adults concerning fall prevention and ICT-supported self-management of health. Our study demonstrates how it can lead to positive aspects of embodiment and health literacy through continuous monitoring of personal results, improved technical confidence, and quality of life. Implications are provided for designing similar systems.


MEK inhibition enhanced the antitumor activity of combined BRAF inhibition and immunotherapy. Melanoma's triple threat Combination therapy is the favored approach to fight drug-resistant cancer. For BRAF-mutated melanoma, combining a BRAF inhibitor and checkpoint inhibitors was hoped to improve the antitumor response; however, an early clinical trial was stopped because of liver toxicity. Hu-Lieskovan et al. test the addition of MEK [MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) kinase] inhibitors to this combination therapy in an effort to potentiate the MAPK inhibition of BRAF inhibitors while concurrently decreasing the toxicity. They show in a mouse model of BRAFV600E-driven melanoma that triple therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors together with adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy induced complete tumor regression in a manner consistent with immune activation. In addition, replacing ACT with anti-PD1 in the triple therapy had similar results, supporting the testing of MEK and BRAF inhibitions with various immunotherapies in patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma. Combining immunotherapy and BRAF targeted therapy may result in improved antitumor activity with the high response rates of targeted therapy and the durability of responses with immunotherapy. However, the first clinical trial testing the combination of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib and the CTLA4 antibody ipilimumab was terminated early because of substantial liver toxicities. MEK [MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) kinase] inhibitors can potentiate the MAPK inhibition in BRAF mutant cells while potentially alleviating the unwanted paradoxical MAPK activation in BRAF wild-type cells that lead to side effects when using BRAF inhibitors alone. However, there is the concern of MEK inhibitors being detrimental to T cell functionality. Using a mouse model of syngeneic BRAFV600E-driven melanoma, SM1, we tested whether addition of the MEK inhibitor trametinib would enhance the antitumor activity of combined immunotherapy with the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib. Combination of dabrafenib and trametinib with pmel-1 adoptive cell transfer (ACT) showed complete tumor regression, increased T cell infiltration into tumors, and improved in vivo cytotoxicity. Single-agent dabrafenib increased tumor-associated macrophages and T regulatory cells (Tregs) in tumors, which decreased with the addition of trametinib. The triple combination therapy resulted in increased melanosomal antigen and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression and global immune-related gene up-regulation. Given the up-regulation of PD-L1 seen with dabrafenib and/or trametinib combined with antigen-specific ACT, we tested the combination of dabrafenib, trametinib, and anti-PD1 therapy in SM1 tumors, and observed superior antitumor effect. Our findings support the testing of triple combination therapy of BRAF and MEK inhibitors with immunotherapy in patients with BRAFV600E mutant metastatic melanoma.


Urbanization, climate, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Although water systems are complex, a need exists for a generalized representation of these systems to identify important components and linkages to guide scientific inquiry and aid water management. We developed an integrated Structure‐Actor‐Water framework (iSAW) to facilitate the understanding of and transitions to sustainable water systems. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research that could address management challenges across scales (e.g., plot to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, transitioning, and urban landscapes). The framework was designed to be generalizable across all human–environment systems, yet with sufficient detail and flexibility to be customized to specific cases. iSAW includes three major components: structure (natural, built, and social), actors (individual and organizational), and water (quality and quantity). Key linkages among these components include: (1) ecological/hydrologic processes, (2) ecosystem/geomorphic feedbacks, (3) planning, design, and policy, (4) perceptions, information, and experience, (5) resource access and risk, and (6) operational water use and management. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of the iSAW framework by applying it to two research and management problems: understanding urban water supply and demand in a changing climate and expanding use of green storm water infrastructure in a semi‐arid environment. The applications demonstrate that a generalized conceptual model can identify important components and linkages in complex and diverse water systems and facilitate communication about those systems among researchers from diverse disciplines.


Abstract : The Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) recently published an Error Model Annex document (SAE AS-5506/1) to complement the SAE Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL) standard document (SAE AS5506) with capabilities for dependability modeling. The purpose of this report is to: (1) explain the capabilities of the Error Model Annex and (2) provide guidance on the use of the AADL and the error model in modeling dependability aspects of embedded system architectures. The focus of the guidance is the creation of error model libraries and the instantiation of these error models on AADL architecture models. In that context, the report discusses modeling of error propagation, error filtering and masking, the interactions between error models and systems with operational modes, and modeling of repair activities.


Building with Building Information Modelling (BIM) changes design and production processes. But can BIM be used to support process changes designed according to lean production and lean construction principles? To begin to answer this question we provide a conceptual analysis of the interaction of lean construction and BIM for improving construction. This was investigated by compiling a detailed listing of lean construction principles and BIM functionalities which are relevant from this perspective. These were drawn from a detailed literature survey. A research framework for analysis of the interaction between lean and BIM was then compiled. The goal of the framework is to both guide and stimulate research; as such, the approach adopted up to this point is constructive. Ongoing research has identified 55 such interactions, the majority of which show positive synergy between the two.


Human and mechanical simulations are used to teach and assess clinical competencies in medical education. In 2014, the National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners implemented the Clinical Skills Patient Encounter, an examination using standardized patients. Similar clinical skills examinations already existed as part of medical and osteopathic licensure examinations. The purpose of this study was to assess the use of simulation-based education in the nine colleges of podiatric medicine in the United States to inform podiatric clinical faculty and other stakeholders about current trends within the podiatric education system. In 2019, the Clinical Skills Patient Encounter committee of the National Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners developed a survey and contacted each podiatric school to voluntarily participate. The mailed survey instrument gathered information on patient simulation modalities, years used, clinical content application, simulation program administration, facilities and equipment available, and the role of simulation educators. All nine schools participated anonymously. The survey showed that simulation modalities were used in all of the schools during the first 3 years, although there was considerable variance in their use.


Radiative properties of interior surfaces can affect not only the building heat flux but also the indoor environment, the latter of which has not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this study is to analyse the effect of surface emissivity on indoor air and surface temperature distributions in a test cabin with reflective interior surfaces. This was done by comparing experimental and simulation data of the test cabin with that of a normal cabin. This study employs transient computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using re-normalisation group (RNG) k–ε model, surface-to-surface radiation model and an enhanced wall function. Boundary conditions were assigned to exterior surfaces under variable outdoor conditions. The numerical and the measurement results indicate that using interior reflective surfaces will affect the indoor air temperature distribution by increasing the vertical temperature gradient depending on the time of the day. CFD simulations with high spatial resolution results show increased interior surface temperature gradients consistent with the increased vertical air temperature gradient. The influence of reflective surfaces is potentially greater with higher indoor surface temperature asymmetry. The vertical indoor air temperature gradient and surface temperatures are important parameters for indoor thermal comfort.


Abstract A connection between microscopic structure and macroscopic properties is expected for almost all material systems. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy is a technique offering insight into the atomic structure, but the analysis of large image series can be time consuming. The present work describes a method to automatically estimate the atomic structure in two-dimensional materials. As an example graphene is chosen, in which the positions of the carbon atoms are reconstructed. Lattice parameters are extracted in the frequency domain and an initial atom positioning is estimated. Next, a plausible neighborhood structure is estimated. Finally, atom positions are adjusted by simulation of a Markov random field model, integrating image evidence and the strong geometric prior. A pristine sample with high regularity and a sample with an induced hole are analyzed. False discovery rate-controlled large-scale simultaneous hypothesis testing is used as a statistical framework for interpretation of results. The first sample yields, as expected, a homogeneous distribution of carbon–carbon (C–C) bond lengths. The second sample exhibits regions of shorter C–C bond lengths with a preferred orientation, suggesting either strain in the structure or a buckling of the graphene sheet. The precision of the method is demonstrated on simulated model structures and by its application to multiple exposures of the two graphene samples.


Situational awareness in a disaster is critical to effective response. Disaster responders require timely delivery of high volumes of accurate data to make correct decisions. To meet these needs, we present DistressNet, an ad hoc wireless architecture that supports disaster response with distributed collaborative sensing, topology-aware routing using a multichannel protocol, and accurate resource localization. Sensing suites use collaborative and distributed mechanisms to optimize data collection and minimize total energy use. Message delivery is aided by novel topology management, while congestion is minimized through the use of mediated multichannel radio protocols. Estimation techniques improve localization accuracy in difficult environments.


Two hundred eighty-eight serum specimens from 144 asymptomatic menopausal women were assayed two times each for CA 125. The specimens were randomly assigned to sixteen CA 125 kits. Our purpose was to quantitate the biological variability and the assay variability that occurs at low levels of this tumor marker. All of the subjects had CA 125 values less than 35 units/ml. The total error from all sources was about 13% of the observed values. These findings suggest that single, low CA 125 values are reliable indicators of a woman's true CA 125 value. Clinical trials of ovarian cancer screening that incorporate CA 125 measurements should evaluate the performance of this test at thresholds lower than the usual 35 units/ml.


Have you given serious thought to your individual ability to affect the high cost of health care? If so, you may have determined that the opportunity to have any meaningful effect on cost of services for patients with cancer is limited. You may believe that budgets are the responsibility of nursing leadership. Indeed, the development of the unit or department budget is an activity that many of us have no direct (or even indirect) role in completing. Once the budget is finalized, we are frequently given directives to control our costs and improve the financial bottom line for our employers. One could argue that this is a particularly difficult missive for oncology nurses with the soaring costs of chemotherapy and biotherapy drugs, the expenses incurred to provide supportive care needed by patients with cancer, and the need to provide services to the increasing number of cancer survivors.


This paper analyzes the convenience of adopting a structural fiscal balance rule in Mexico, and whether the necessary conditions exist in the country for the adoption of such a rule. Adjustments are made for cyclical factors and other sources of volatility, both on the revenue and the expenditure side, in order to estimate the structural fiscal balance and determine if an appropriate fiscal rule can be designed for Mexico's case. The analysis evaluates various possible oil production scenarios in Mexico and reaches the conclusion that adopting a rule that establishes a yearly structural fiscal surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP could be adequate to maintain sustainable levels of public debt.


Purpose

The purpose of this theoretical essay is to discuss recent scholarship in sociocultural studies of literacy – including two recent books by Peter Smagorinsky (2011) and Luis Moll (2013) and recent articles by Gutierrez and Engestrom – and to synthesize ideas from this scholarship into a coherent lens for understanding innovations in language and literacy education and in education more broadly, when language is seen as the means through which transformation of thought is achieved.

Design/methodology/approach

This essay uses ideas from Vygotskian theory, as interpreted by Moll, Smagorinsky, Gutierrez and Engestrom, to re-conceptualize innovation – a theme of current importance in literacy education and indeed education broadly – as culturally mediated. The author discusses specifically two examples of recent innovations in educational practice – the notion of multiliteracies and approaches to teacher education based on hybrid activity settings that link researchers and teachers, university and school.

Findings

As this is not an empirical study, there are no findings per se. However, the author's discussion of innovation through a sociocultural lens focuses on re-mediation and the deliberate, conscious setting of goals as a means for construction knowledge in, and about, innovations in literacy teaching and learning. Also, the author concludes the essay with several principles by which to evaluate innovations from a sociocultural perspective.

Research limitations/implications

This conceptual paper has the potential to contribute to new ways of applying sociocultural theory in literacy teaching and research, particularly research that involves the study of innovative, transformative practices in teaching and learning.

Originality/value

This essay offers a theory-driven reconceptualization of innovation for use in educational research and practice, which has a potential value as an antidote to shallow, narrow and/or prescriptive models of language and literacy innovations that are offered to practitioners. Put another way, it offers readers a new way to think about innovation in sustainable and culturally relevant terms.


Ultraviolet solar radiation (UVR) and atmospheric nutrient inputs associated with aerosols are major worldwide stressors that simultaneously affect species and the interaction among them. A 2 x 5 field experimental design was used to determine how variations in light regimes (presence and absence of UVR [+UVR and ‐UVR]) and nutrients might influence the strength of phytoplankton‐zooplankton coupling (PZC). We observed unimodal curves for zooplankton biomass in response to increased food supply from nutrient enrichment. These results challenge the "more is better (or at least never worse)" concept, since high food levels resulted in weakened PZC. The effect of UVR on zooplankton was nutrient dependent, significantly reducing zooplankton abundance at intermediate phosphorus (P) supplied levels but not at the two ends of the trophic gradient generated (control and highest P level). Neither food quantity nor food quality explained observed differences in zooplankton biomass between light treatments, suggesting a deleterious direct effect of UVR on zooplankton at intermediate food ranges, resulting in a weakening of PZC. The location of this lake in the Mediterranean region has shown an increasing intensity and frequency of aerosol depositions over the past three decades (1973‐2003), resulting in higher phytoplankton biomass. A combination of these higher atmospheric dust depositions with the high UVR levels characteristic of high mountain lakes might underlie the interannual decoupling between phytoplankton and zooplankton dynamics observed in these oligotrophic ecosystems.


The MR scans of six pediatric patients with apparent atypical callosal dysgenesis (presence of the dorsal corpus callosum in the absence of a rostral corpus callosum) were critically analyzed and correlated with developmental information in order to assess the anatomic, embryologic, and developmental implications of this unusual anomaly. Four patients had semilobar holoprosencephaly; the dorsal interhemispheric commissure in these four infants resembled a true callosal splenium. All patients in this group had severe developmental delay. The other two patients had complete callosal agenesis with an enlarged hippocampal commissure mimicking a callosal splenium; both were developmentally and neurologically normal. The embryologic implications of the presence of these atypical interhemispheric connections are discussed. Differentiation between semilobar holoprosencephaly and agenesis of the corpus callosum with enlarged hippocampal commissure--two types of apparent atypical callosal dysgenesis--can be made by obtaining coronal, short TR/TE MR images through the frontal lobes. Such differentiation has critical prognostic implications.


Learning good feature representations is important for deep reinforcement learning (RL). However, with limited experience, RL often suffers from data inefficiency for training. For un-experienced or less-experienced trajectories (i.e., state-action sequences), the lack of data limits the use of them for better feature learning. In this work, we propose a novel method, dubbed PlayVirtual, which augments cycle-consistent virtual trajectories to enhance the data efficiency for RL feature representation learning. Specifically, PlayVirtual predicts future states in the latent space based on the current state and action by a dynamics model and then predicts the previous states by a backward dynamics model, which forms a trajectory cycle. Based on this, we augment the actions to generate a large amount of virtual state-action trajectories. Being free of groudtruth state supervision, we enforce a trajectory to meet the cycle consistency constraint, which can significantly enhance the data efficiency. We validate the effectiveness of our designs on the Atari and DeepMind Control Suite benchmarks. Our method achieves the state-of-the-art performance on both benchmarks.


This study explores the likely effects of trade liberalization on the wheat value chain in Tunisia. The objectives are to: i) generate quantitative and qualitative information on the performance of wheat producers and the main constraints they face; ii) describe the institutional organisation of the Tunisian wheat value chain; iii) describe and examine the most important stakeholders in the cereal production chain: people in charge of the collection and storage, milling industry managers and pasta and couscous manufacturers; iv) describe and analyze the cereal policy implemented by the Tunisian government; and v) assess the possible impacts of multilateral trade liberalization on the wheat value chain and staple food affordability and livelihoods in rural and urban areas. The results of the analysis suggest that a multilateral trade liberalization represented by an increase in international wheat prices would be beneficial to Tunisian wheat growers. However, in order to take advantage of these changes, an institutional reform in the wheat value chain should be introduced. The Tunisian government has to redefine the role of the Cereal Office which has the legal monopoly on cereals collection, imports and distribution intended for human and animal consumption.


This research was jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). As such, its underpinning and innovative aim was to explore the use of Operational Research (OR) techniques, a research area traditionally associated with the EPSRC, to address key societal problems traditionally associated with the ESRC. The ageing population presents many significant challenges for social care services at both a national and local level, one of which is to meet the demand for long-term care. The population of people aged over 65 will continue to grow for some time as the ?baby boom? generation ages. The concern for policy planners is whether there will be enough resources in place to handle the expected strain on the system in the future. The research presented in this thesis addresses this key issue, and was carried out in collaboration with the Adult Services Department of Hampshire County Council (HCC). The overarching aim of this thesis was to develop computer models (using data local to Hampshire) which would be of practical use in estimating the future demand and planning the supply of long-term care in Hampshire. A cell-based model was built to forecast the demand for long-term care in Hampshire from people aged 65 and over for the period 2009 to 2026. An important part of this research was to understand the main drivers of future demand for long-term care and to predict the future number of people with a disability. Hampshire County Council has already tried to address these issues of demographic change through a modernisation programme. Part of this has been the establishment of a contact centre called Hantsdirect. A discrete-event simulation model of the contact centre was developed. The two models were combined to explore the short- and long-term performance of the contact centre in the light of demographic change. This hybrid model has enabled HCC to explore the short- and long-term performance of the contact centre. This study combines OR with Gerontology, Demography and Social Policy. This research is novel as it iteratively combines a compartmental population model with a discrete-event simulation model. From an OR perspective, the aim was not only to explore the use of modelling in social care (where, unlike healthcare, there has not hitherto been a lot of research), but also to investigate the potential for combining different modelling approaches in order to obtain additional value from the modelling. This novel approach in a social care setting is one of the main contributions of this thesis.


In this work, T. Scott Manor examines the sources supporting the view that the early church had opposed the Johannine corpus. In contrast to previous studies, Manor's work leads to the conclusion that no such Johannine Controversy ever existed.


Information Extraction (IE) is an emerging NLP technology, whose function is to process unstructured, natural language text, to locate specific pieces of information, or facts, in the text, and to use these facts to fill a database. IE systems today are commonly based on pattern matching. The core IE engine uses a cascade of sets of patterns of increasing linguistic complexity. Each pattern consists of a regular expression and an associated mapping from syntactic to logical form. The pattern sets are customized for each new topic, as defined by the set of facts to be extracted.
Construction of a pattern base for a new topic is recognized as a time-consuming and expensive process—a principal roadblock to wider use of IE technology in the large. An effective pattern base must be precise and have wide coverage. This thesis addresses the portability problem in two stages. First, we introduce a set of tools for building patterns manually from examples. To adapt the IE system to a new subject domain quickly, the user chooses a set of example sentences from a training text, and specifies how each example maps to the extracted event—its logical form. The system then applies meta-rules to transform the example automatically into a general set of patterns. This effectively shifts the portability bottleneck from building patterns to finding good examples. Second, we propose a novel methodology for discovering good examples automatically from a large un-annotated corpus of text. The system is initially seeded with a small set of good patterns given by the user. An incremental learning procedure then identifies new patterns and classes of related terms on successive iterations. We present experimental results, which confirm that the discovered patterns exhibit high quality, as measured in terms of precision and recall.


Readers of EU Regulation No 1257/2010, which might enter into force someday, learn that certain European patents granted by the European Patent Office should, at the request of the patent proprietor, benefit from 'unitary effect'. Such a 'European patent with unitary effect' shall provide 'uniform protection' and shall have 'equal effect in all the participating Member States'. However, as far as I can see, neither the EU Regulation nor any other part of the 'EU patent package' deals with the question of criminal measures in case of infringement. This, in my view, does not mean that infringement of a European patent with unitary effect could not have criminal consequences. According to Article 2 of the European Patent Convention, a European patent shall, in each of the contracting States for which it is granted, have the effect of a national patent granted by that State. Therefore, the national criminal law provisions that apply in case of infringement of a national patent should also apply in case of infringement of a European patent with unitary effect. However, the penal sanctions differ from State to State. In Germany, according to the statute, intentional patent infringement may be punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. In the UK, as I understand it, patent infringement is not a criminal offence. This means that the infringement of a European patent with unitary effect in Germany could be a crime, whereas the identical infringing act in the UK would have no criminal consequences. Does this mean that the European patent with unitary effect cannot provide the intended 'uniform protection' after all? Is the UK a better place for patent infringers than Germany because infringers in the UK are not subject to criminal sanctions? I cannot say. In 2001, when the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) studied the question of criminal law sanctions (Q169), the UK group of the AIPPI was of the opinion that penal sanctions should not be extended to patents (AIPPI UK Group Report Q169). Apparently, it is not at all clear whether or not the imposition of criminal liability on patent infringers enhances protection. In Germany, the practical impact of criminal sanctions is very low. I have not heard or read of any case of imprisonment. One reason might be that patent proprietors seldom file a request for criminal prosecution because they do not expect to achieve anything that could not be achieved—or achieved more quickly—by civil proceedings. Criminal prosecution can take a long time. This is probably because public prosecutors, due to the low number of cases, have little experience in patent matters which are typically technically and legally complex. In addition, proof of wilful intent can be difficult. However, there have been cases in Germany in which a request for criminal prosecution—justified or not justified—has caused a lot of trouble for the alleged infringer because alleged infringing products have been seized, especially during trade fairs in Germany. However, I doubt whether such cases are a good argument in favour of imposing criminal liability because it appears to me that the more appropriate measure of the patentee would be a request for a preliminary injunction or for a measure to preserve evidence by a civil court. The proprietors of patents in Germany do not seem to need an additional deterrent under criminal law in order to enhance protection. Therefore, I would assume that the abolishment of criminal liability for patent infringement would not have a noticeable effect. The differences within the EU lead to the question of harmonisation. According to Article 61 of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), World Trade Organization (WTO) members shall provide penal sanctions in cases of certain wilful trade mark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. WTO members may provide for criminal sanctions for patent infringement, but they are not obliged to do so. In 2005, the European Commission proposed a Directive on criminal measures (2005/0127/COD) which also applied to patents. However, in 2007, the European Parliament agreed that such a directive should not apply to patents. Finally, in 2010, the European Commission communicated the complete withdrawal of the proposal. The birth of the European patent with unitary effect and the hopefully effective Unified Patent Court system is a good time to reconsider harmonising the penal sanctions for patent infringement in Europe—maybe by abolishing them unitarily.


We extend here our inspection, via first-principles dynamical simulations supported by experiments, to the inhomogeneous photocatalytic RVO4 systems. At variance with our former paper, we limit the present analysis to the most promising photocatalysts (R = Y, Gd) for which the addition of a Ni-based cocatalyst provides the best activities. The specific role of Ni-based cocatalysts is elucidated, showing that a surface Ni doping, as opposed to a bulk one, is the most efficient way to enhance the catalytic activities of these compounds. This is a key step in the improvement of the photocatalysts and a roadmap to optimize the amount of Ni dopant needed for both hydrogen and oxygen generation.


Abstract As the physician assistant (PA) profession celebrates 5 decades of practice, questions about the future direction of PA education and practice persist. Conversations regarding prescribing privileges have given way to debate about PA certification and the necessary level of PA education. Most PA programs already confer master's degrees, but there has been at times vigorous debate on whether or not the PA profession should join pharmacy (PharmD), physical therapy (DPT), and advanced practice nursing (DNP) and standardize education at the clinical doctorate level. The primary aim of this article is to provide historical perspective on the evolution of the PA educational degree and to discuss the potential association between credential and PA practice autonomy.


Late antique and early medieval hagiographic texts present holy women as simultaneously pious and corrupt, hideous and beautiful, exemplars of depravity and models of sanctity. In Sacred Fictions Lynda Coon unpacks these paradoxical representations to reveal the construction and circumscription of women's roles in the early Christian centuries. Coon discerns three distinct paradigms for female sanctity in saints' lives and patristic and monastic writings. Women are recurrently figured as repentant desert hermits, wealthy widows, or cloistered ascetic nuns, and biblical discourse informs the narrative content, rhetorical strategies, and symbolic meanings of these texts in complex and multivalent ways. If hagiographers made their women saints walk on water, resurrect the dead, or consecrate the Eucharist, they also curbed the power of women by teaching that the daughters of Eve must make their bodies impenetrable through militant chastity or spiritual exile and must eradicate self-indulgence through ascetic attire or philanthropy. The windows the sacred fiction of holy women open on the past are far from transparent; driven by both literary invention and moral imperative, the stories they tell helped shape Western gender constructs that have survived into modern times.


My thesis seeks to address the continuity, change and the syncreticism of ideas
regarding post-mortem existence in the wake of the Reformation. Prior to reform, the
late Medieval world view of the afterlife was very straightforward. One either went to
Heaven via Purgatory, or straight to Hell. In the exempla literature of the period,
ghosts were seen to provide evidence of the purgatorial system. However, this
doctrine was dismantled by reformers who rejected Purgatory wholesale. Reformers
then put forth a multiplicity of eschatologies which included various strands of
mortalism, none of which allowed for the possibility that the dead could return to the
living. In theory therefore, the ghost should have disappeared from the mental
landscape, yet it not only survived, but it thrived in Protestant culture.

This raises three key questions which are absolutely central to this thesis. Firstly:
by what mechanisms did commitment to ghosts continue in lay and elite discourses in
early modern England, when religious authority denied the possibility of their
existence? Secondly: what opportunities were there to incorporate ghosts into
Anglican or wider Protestant belief? Finally: Why would many Protestant elites want
to elide the doctrinal problem of their existence and assert that ghosts existed? The
ghost must have served a purpose in a way that nothing else could. It is therefore the
purpose of the thesis to examine the shifting role of the ghost in early modern
Protestant England.


In order to examine the impact sound insulation performance of building floors against heavy and soft impacts such as those of children jumping and running, a method whereby a heavy and impact source (an automobile tire) is dropped is specified in JIS A 1418, in addition to the standard method of using the ISO tapping machine. In order to improve the latter method, a research project has been carried out in the Architectural Institute of Japan. After various trial experiments, a new heavy and soft impact source (a rubber ball, weight: 2.5 kg; size: 183 mm in diameter; impact time: 20 ms) has been developed. In this paper, the basic impact characteristics of the source and the experimental results obtained in field measurements are introduced in comparison to the existing impact sources (automobile tire and the tapping machine).


With nearly 400,000 synonyms and antonyms, the Penguin Thesaurus is the most extensive, authoritative and modern wordfinder currently available. Its alphabetical arrangement of the headwords means that it is very easy to use. In addition where a headword has more than one meaning or nuance there are examples to help the reader locate which group of synonyms are appropriate. The coverage is the most up-to-date (including many slang and informal usages) of any thesaurus available.


A large number of emerging applications such as IPTV, event broadcast, online games and distance learning require the support of live video streaming, yet, this is perhaps the greatest unfulfilled promise of the Internet. The root of the problem is that the Internet by nature, i.e., autonomous, heterogeneous, best-effort, can not provide the services required by streaming applications. The recent development in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technologies brings new momentum in live video streaming due to the inherent self-scaling property and easy deployment. In spite of its popularity, there is no consensus on how a large-scale P2P live streaming system works. There are two fundamental problems in the design space: topology formulation that relates to how a peer locates the video content from one another and content delivery. Further, there has been little study on the design trade-offs and large-scale measurements. This thesis fills this gap.
We leverage our earlier system, Coolstreaming, which was arguably the earliest large-scale P2P video streaming experiment and was widely referenced in the community as the benchmark (Google entries top 400,000). We have designed and implemented comprehensive logging tools to collect and analyze large sets of traces from real-world broadcasts, from which we establish a theoretical framework that (1) concretely demonstrate the fundamental system design trade-offs and further identify the main performance bottlenecks and key factors behind them. Specifically, we show (1) random topology formulation can lead to convergence and stability; (2) video streaming performance is critically affected by system dynamics, in particular churns; (3) the system exhibits excellent scaling property yet the uploading capacity contributions from peers are highly skewed, in which a small percentage of peers conbtribute most; (4) the scale and streaming performance is largely determined by how well the system can handle the flash crowd in live streaming event.


Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a global public health concern. New treatments are needed to combat resistant strains, among which phage therapy is a promising option. Probably the main advantages of phage therapy are its high specificity as well as rapid viral adaptability, which in principle allows using phage evolution to overcome resistance. Here, we have performed serial coevolution passages between Escherichia coli and its phage T7 to investigate the ability of coevolved phages to reduce the emergence of resistances. We find that the initial bacterial population is less likely to undergo resistance when challenged with experimentally coevolved phages than when challenged with the wild-type phage. Hence, our findings suggest that coevolved phage preparations could be used to increase the efficacy of phage therapy.


Many developing countries find it difficult to raise the revenue required to provide such basic public services as education, health care, and infrastructure. Complicating the policy challenges of taxation in developing countries are issues that most developed countries do not face, including widespread corruption, tax evasion and tax avoidance, and ineffective political structures. In this volume, experts investigate crucial challenges confronted by developing countries in raising revenue. After a comprehensive and insightful overview, each chapter uses modern empirical methods to study a single critical issue essential to understanding the effects of taxes on development. Topics addressed include the effect of taxation on foreign direct investment; forms of corruption, tax evasion, and tax avoidance that are specific to developing countries; and issues related to political structure, including the negative effects of fiscal decentralization on the effectiveness of developmental aid and the relationship between democracy and taxation in Asian, Latin American, and European Union countries that have recently experienced both political and economic transitions.


Acquiring lexical information is a complex problem, typically approached by relying on a number of contexts to contribute information for classificati on. One of the first issues to address in this doma in is the determination of such contexts. The work pre sented here proposes the use of automatically obtained FORMAL role descriptors as features used to draw nouns fr om the same lexical semantic class together in an unsupervised clustering task. We have dealt with three lexical semantic classes (HUMAN , LOCATION and EVENT ) in English. The results obtained show that it is possible to discriminate between elements from different lexica l semantic classes using only FORMAL role information, hence validating our initial hypothesi s. Also, iterating our method accurately accounts for fine-grained distinctions within lexical classe s, namely distinctions involving ambiguous expressions. Moreover, a filtering and bootstrappin g strategy employed in extracting FORMAL role descriptors proved to minimize effects of sparse da ta and noise in our task.


Mosses are one of the most diverse and widespread groups of plants and often form the dominant vegetation in montane, boreal and arctic ecosystems. However, unlike higher plants, mosses lack developed root and vascular systems, which is thought to limit their access to soil nutrients. Here, we test the ability of two physiologically and taxonomically distinct moss species to take up soil- and wet deposition-derived nitrogen (N) in natural intact turfs using stable isotopic techniques (15N). Both species exhibited increased concentrations of shoot 15N when exposed to either soil- or wet deposition-derived 15N, demonstrating conclusively and for the first time, that mosses derive N from the soil. Given the broad physiological and taxonomic differences between these moss species, we suggest soil N uptake may be common among mosses, although further studies are required to test this prediction. Soil N uptake by moss species may allow them to compete for soil N in a wide range of ecosystems. Moreover, since many terrestrial ecosystems are N limited, soil N uptake by mosses may have implications for plant community structure and nutrient cycling. Finally, soil N uptake may place some moss species at greater risk from N pollution than previously appreciated.


The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the 12 weeks experimental exercise program on the motor efficiency in young with mild intellectual disabilities. The study involved 41 pupils with mild intellectual disabilities (27 male and 14 female subjects, aged 17.44 ± 1.34 years), who attended special school "14th October " in Nis (Serbia) divided into two groups. The experimental group counted 21 students (14 males and 7 females), while the control group counted 20 students (13 male and 7 female). The experimental exercise program consisted of exercises which develop and improve balance, coordination, strength, manual dexterity, running speed and agility. It was implemented a number of ball games and various polygons. Experimental exercise program lasted 12 weeks, twice a week for 45 minutes. The control group subjects practiced a regular curriculum in physical education classes, in the same period of time and with the same pace. Fourteen tests from the short form of Bruinkins-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) were applied to determine the students' motor efficiency. The initial measuring was conducted before the experimental treatment, and the final one conducted after. The results of the two measurements were compared. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that the applied experimental exercise program had a statistically significant effect (p=0.001) on the motor skills improvement in young people with mild intellectual disability. The results provide useful information about optimizing training loads in physical education classes with young people with mild disabilities in intellectual functioning.


This paper evaluates factors affecting the decision by families that leave the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to participate in the Food Stamp Program (FSP). Linked Illinois State-level administrative data are combined with Census data and data from the Illinois Families Study survey to evaluate the FSP take-up decision of TANF leavers 3 years after leaving the welfare rolls. Results indicate that in Chicago, neighborhood characteristics and knowledge of FSP eligibility at the district office level are important factors in understanding the FSP participation decision of TANF leavers even after individual or familylevel demographic characteristics are taken into account. This evidence suggests that the density of social networks among the food-stamp-eligible population in the district office areas may mediate the effects of office outreach and communication strategies. E-FAN-04-011


: Scent stations usually are deployed in clusters to expedite data collection and increase the number of stations that can be operated for a given cost. Presumed benefits of cluster sampling may not be realized, however, unless clus- ter sizes are chosen with respect to sampling variation within and among clusters. To encourage and facilitate the use of efficient designs and reporting standards, we used data collected in Minnesota, USA, during 1986-1991 to (1) compare the performance of survey designs with various numbers of stations/cluster; (2) estimate relations between required sample sizes and visitation rates, changes in visitation rates, and error rates; and (3) compare 2 measures of carnivore response: proportions of scent stations (station index) and proportions of clusters (line index) visited by red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis). Despite broad ecological differences between the species, results were similar for foxes and skunks. Foxes visited 2-21% of stations and 15-84% of lines. Skunks visited 1-16% of stations and 3-54% of lines. Station and line indices were closely related (r2 > 0.86) and were similarly sensitive indi- cators of change in visitation rates. Low visitation rates greatly limited the potential usefulness of scent-station surveys because required minimum sample sizes increased exponentially as visitation rates decreased. For visitation rates below 5-10%, required minimum sample sizes were very large and difficult to anticipate. Relative to single-stage sampling, cluster sampling with 10 stations/cluster inflated sample variances, hence sample sizes required to achieve a fixed level of precision, by a factor of 1.6-2.2. Cluster sampling is advantageous only when cost savings permit increases in sample sizes that outweigh concomitant increases in sampling variability. Costs and sampling variation both should be considered when choosing survey designs, and designs should be evaluated and refined as data accumulate.


The study is hased on hydrographic and plankton data collected at intervals of two hours during 0630-1 830 hours from a fixed station in the surf zone of Moplah
Bay during April. July, August, December 1991 and March 1992. Water temperature ranged from 25.1 to 32.@C, salinity 18.9-35.8 ppt, dissolved oxygen 1.9-
4.3 ml/l and net primary productivity 0.01-1.26 g.C/m3/day. Monthwise mean values of temperature, salinity and dissolvedoxygen in water exhibited almost the
same trend of rise and fall during high and low tide periods. Seasonal average values of temperature were 220.127.116.11 and 27.5'C. salinity 18.104.22.168 and 34.5 ppt,
dissolved oxygen 188.8.131.52 and 3.1 ml/l and net primary productivity 610,447 and 573 mg.C/m3/day during March- April (premonsoon), July-August (southwest
monsoon) and December (postmonsoon) re?.pectively, with an average primary production of 543 mg.C/m3day in the hay. Wet displacement volumes of zooplankton
biomass during these periods were 13.5,20.3 and 22.9 ml respectively with an average of 18.9 ml per l00m" water which would mount to 2.82mg C/m3/day. The estimated mew turn-over fmm primary to secondary production level was less than I% in the bay. Results of the experiments pertaining to the
production potential and microbiochemical oxygen demand indicated that the shallow intertidal water zone in the Moplah Bay provides a self replenishing
autotrophic environment.


Background: With worldwide presence, Novel influenza virus (H1N1) carries great potential for causing a pandemic,there are limited studies about clinical profile of H1N1 in paediatric age group in India hence the present study was undertaken at Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital in Pune.
Methods: This was a prospective observational study, conducted during the time period from 01/03/2015 to 31/05/2016. Patients with influenza-like illness (Category B and C) aged 1 month to 16 yrs were included. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data was collected. For each patient one nasal and one throat swab was collected and sent to laboratory for RT-PCR (Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction). All cases were treated with oral Oseltamivir according to MOHFW (Ministry Of Health and Family Welfare) guidelines. Data was analyzed for patients with positive RT-PCR.
Results: Total 148 patients were enrolled in the study. H1N1 Influenza infection was confirmed on RT-PCR in 24.32% (n=36) patients. Majority of H1N1 infected patients (66.66%; n=24) were between 1-6 yrs and 22.22% were more than 6 yrs with mean age of 5.2 yrs. Male: Female ratio was 1.57:1. History of positive contact was obtained in 22.22% (n=8). In spite of earlier vaccination for H1N1 22.22% (n=8) suffered from infection.Common symptoms were fever (100%), cough (88.88%), rhinorrhoea (83.33%), vomitings (22.22%) and loose stools (22.22%). Normal chest X-ray was found in 38.88% of them, patchy consolidation in 33.33%, prominent broncho-vascular markings in 22.22% and pleural effusion in 5.55%. Fever lasted for more than 7 days in 33.33%. Secondary bacterial infection was found in 16.66% and 5.55% had evidence of myositis. 5.55% had evidence of encephalitis. Mechanical ventilation was required in 11% during the course of treatment. Mean duration of hospitalization was 4.1 days. One deaths occurred.


The Property Clause of the Constitution grants Congress the "Power to Dispose" of federal land. Congress uses this Clause to justify permanent federal landownership of approximately one-third of the land within the United States. Legal scholars, however, are divided as to whether the original understanding of the Clause supports this practice. While many scholars argue that the text and intent of the framers show that Congress has the power to permanently own land within the states, others contend that these sources demonstrate that Congress has a duty to dispose of all federal land not held pursuant to another enumerated purpose. This scholarly debate has become increasingly important in recent years, as a popular movement for state ownership of federal land has reemerged in the West.
This Article argues that the debate over the history of the Property Clause should move beyond the Founding. The original public meaning of the text, intent of the framers, and precedent of the early Supreme Court simply do not resolve the issue of whether Congress's Duty to Dispose includes the power to permanently retain land within the states. This Article therefore provides the first detailed examination of how Congress's Power to Dispose has been understood since the Founding. It concludes that, although western extremists have repeatedly challenged Congress's power when federal land policy has restricted western development, dominant opinion has always supported a broad construction of Congress's power. In fact, those who favor federal land ownership have long argued that giving land to individual states would violate a constitutional obligation for Congress to use the land for the common benefit. When constitutional history is properly applied to Congress's Power to Dispose, it therefore strongly supports federal land ownership.


Deep learning techniques, especially artificial neural networks, have become irreplaceable in almost every aspect of modern information science. Breakthrough technologies evolve rapidly, driven by researchers with both, scientific and economic backgrounds. This workshop is a platform for students, post-docs, innovative enterprises and experts from Germany who present their latest works and demo applications. Recent advanced in the field of deep learning and their impact on research projects and economic endeavors are at the center of submitted papers and presentations. An active debate focusing on current work-in-progress, future research as well as chances and opportunities of deep learning is complemented by the discussion regarding the generation, processing and publishing of large heterogeneous datasets for research purposes. The presented contributions span a wide variety of deep learning applications – from robotics to audio and text retrieval, from human pose estimation to medical data processing. This not only demonstrates how important deep learning techniques have become for almost every area of research, it also shows the importance of scientific transparency. Without the efforts of countless researchers around the globe who published their work and complemented it with code repositories and extensive documentation, some of the presented applications could not have been implemented. This reminds us: An active deep learning community is vital for the success of innovative data processing routines and with that, forms the foundation of a steady evolution powered by scientific research. We would like to thank everyone who participated in this workshop, especially the authors and presenters who contributed to the success of this novel format.


A diving survey and systematic sampling of live populations of flat oysters was done at 5 locations on the south coast of NSW. These were Merimbula Lake, Pambula Lake, the Bermagui River estuary, Wagonga Inlet at Narooma and the Clyde River estuary at Batemans Bay. At all locations live flat oysters were found on hard substrates projecting above sand, silt or mud sediments or on other vertical substrates especially oyster lease posts and rail structures, jetty piles, natural rocky outcrops and boulders of breakwaters near the mouths of these estuaries. The great majority of live flat oysters collected occurred within a sub-tidal depth band spanning 1 to 4 m below the low water mark.

A total of 474 oysters ranging from 80 to 120 mm were collected from the 5 locations. Samples from each oyster were examined to determine their gender, breeding condition and for the presence of disease agents, especially Bonamia that has decimated most wild populations of flat oysters elsewhere in southern Australia and overseas. These and additional flat oysters collected from wild populations in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Bicheno, Tasmania, Streaky Bay in South Australia, and Albany, Western Australia, were examined to determine genetic relationships throughout southern Australian distribution of this species.

A microscopic parasite, thought to be Bonamia, was detected in wild flat oysters from all 5 southern NSW sites. It occurred in 13% of oysters sampled from Pambula Lake, up to 44% for oysters sampled from Merimbula Lake, with an overall average of 26%. Several other parasites and microbial disease agents were also detected at varying levels. These included a possible viral infection in up to 10% of sampled oysters.

Results of the genetics research showed there are little or no differences between populations of flat oysters throughout southern NSW, nor throughout its distribution across southern Australia. Preliminary assessment suggests that the Australian flat oyster is also highly akin to its famous European cousin, the belon oyster. Further investigations into whether Australian and European flat oysters are the same species are underway. The extremely low level of genetic variation detected in this study suggests that the range of the Australian flat oyster has expanded to its current distribution relatively recently in evolutionary terms, perhaps following European settlement. Based on these data, there may be no genetic reason to limit movement of small seed oysters, commonly known as "spat", for culture among estuaries in NSW or to source breeding stock from particular areas to meet local spat requirements. As long as the genetic diversity of broodstock used in hatchery production is high, there should be little or no danger of transporting hatchery produced spat among estuaries in NSW and beyond.


An advanced control scheme for managing a hybrid energy generation system (HEGS) is presented in this paper. A hierarchical management and control architecture based on multi-agent systems (MAS) is discussed. MAS will account for the complex behavior of a hybrid energy supply system. The management and control strategies are implemented through a system of agents based on three tiers. The upper level agents develop overall energy management strategies for a hybrid energy supply system. The middle-level agents integrate coordinated switching controllers. The lower level agents are responsible for dealing with local control strategies. Coordinated switching controllers within the middle-level agents are designed as event-triggered hybrid controllers based on differential hybrid Petri-net (DHPN) models. The operation modes of distributed energy resources (DERs) can smoothly transfer in a coordinated manner due to the coordinated action of the switching controllers according to variation in operating conditions. Finally, simulation results from different scenarios verifying the feasibility of the proposed scheme are offered.


Expanding the photosensitivity spectrum of a single-junction GaAs-based solar cell to 1100 nm by using InGaAs hybrid quantum well dots (QWDs) multilayer media is reported. This nanostructure represents an In0.3Ga0.7As quantum wells with modulation of thickness and composition. Up to 15 QWD layers alternated with GaAs spacers can be inserted in an i-region of the GaAs p–i–n junction without impairing its crystal quality and quantum efficiency in spectral interval of GaAs absorption. The QWD layers are responsible for appearance of a longer wave spectral response (900–1100 nm). A photocurrent increment as high as 4.6 (5.2) mA/cm2 for terrestrial (space) spectrum is demonstrated.


Buried circular depressions and channels in Quaternary strata have been investigated by 3D seismic data and, less commonly, by high-resolution aeromagnetic data. Sub-glacial melt-water drainage channels of various dimensions are the most distinct morphological features. In the same strata, numerous crater-shaped depressions were found, some coinciding with the initiation of channels. The diameter ranges from 500 m to 3000 m and the depth from 20 to 300 m – appreciably larger than common pockmarks. It is argued here that the craters were generated by gas expulsion from melted gas hydrates, combined with melt-water expulsion and erosion. This is supported by: (1) a similarity with published seafloor craters that originate from melted gas hydrates; (2) appropriate physical conditions for the formation and melting of gas hydrates during glacial and interglacial periods; (3) correlation with shallow gas occurrences and seismic gas indications. An increased number of craters occurs above a major fault and some Tertiary hydrocarbon discoveries, which may indicate thermogenic gas. At such locations, an increase in high-frequency magnetic anomalies can be explained by deposition of sediments with contrasting magnetic susceptibilities. This is an alternative explanation for the occasionally increased shallow magnetic anomalies above hydrocarbon fields, otherwise attributed to secondary changes in the magnetic mineralogy.


Selection and Use of Pantoea dispersa Strain JFS as a Non-Pathogenic Surrogate for Salmonella Typhimurium Phage Type 42 in Flour James R. Fudge Department of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science, BYU Master of Science Salmonella, a common food pathogen, costs more than any other pathogen in the United States in terms of health care costs and loss of work due to the illnesses it causes. Low-moisture foods, especially flour, are susceptible to being contaminated by Salmonella. Food producers want flour to be pathogen-free but to also retain the same functionality of non-treated flour. Heat treatment is the most common method employed for lowering the concentration of pathogens in food. However, heating can result in the loss of the flour's functionality. Pantoea dispersa strain JFS has been isolated from flour as a nonpathogenic bacterial surrogate that closely matches the D-value of Salmonella in flour. Flour samples were subjected to dry heat (70, 75, and 80°C) and heat tolerance was determined by plating out at least four different time points for each temperature. The death rate of P. dispersa strain JFS was similar to (p<0.05) Salmonella. This strain of P. dispersa was then used as a surrogate for Salmonella in a continuous and batch heat treatment processes to determine the amount of kill achieved by each. The continuous process was conducted using varying levels of four independent variables: temperature, residence time, use of steam, and manipulation of initial water content. All 15 runs resulted in a reduction of at least 1.5 logs of the surrogate, with the greatest reduction being 2.5 logs. The batch process was conducted using one independent variable, temperature. All runs for the batch process resulted in a reduction of at least 2.5 logs of the surrogate, with the greatest reduction being 4.3 logs at 170°F. Both processes could be used to reduce any Salmonella present in flour.


Greywater systems are becoming more and more important as an alternative to main water due to the decreasing water resources. It is known that a third of main water demand can be substituted by the reuse of greywater. Most of actual greywater systems can reach this percentage of saving depending on the greywater sources available and the expected use. It has been determined that the more the water source matches to a specific demand, the more the system is efficient and worthy through its life expectancy considering both quantity and quality aspect of the water. It means that the efficiency of such systems is linked to a good sizing of greywater storage. But it has also been determined that the efficiency of a system depends on usage patterns and behaviour of people concerning water appliances, which lead to a randomness use of the water. This paper uses previous studies, works and papers to identify gaps on sizing of greywater systems, proposes a new model based on the flow rate rather than the volume in the previous studies in order to match the demand and the supply in a more realistic and reliable way. This report explains how the flow rate system has been developed on Excel, presents the results coming from this model and compares it to previous studies. The conclusion includes also recommendations for future changes in the program in order to improve it.


Chronic kidney disease (CKD) outcomes, including progression to end stage, is influenced by patient treatment and is known to be suboptimal. A commercial database was analyzed to assess practice patterns and conformance to clinical practice guidelines among nephrologists and non-nephrologists who care for patients with advanced CKD (estimated GFR [eGFR] < or = 30 ml/min per 1.73 m2). Data from 1933 adults with advanced CKD on the basis of prestipulated inclusion criteria were analyzed. Individuals were designated as in a nephrologist or non-nephrologist group depending on whether a nephrologist was involved in their care. With the use of published guidelines, conformance to 10 recommendations was assessed for all patients and separately for the nephrologist and non-nephrologist groups. The average eGFR of included individuals was 23.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2. A majority were female and older than 65 yr. Non-nephrologists treated approximately half of all patients and a greater number of women and patients who were older than 65 yr. Nephrologists treated patients with a lower eGFR, equal numbers of men and women, and an equal number of individuals younger and older than 65 yr. Nephrologist conformance to guidelines was systematically better than that of non-nephrologists. These analyses reveal that a large number of patients with advanced CKD are being treated solely by non-nephrologists and that nephrologists treat patients with more advanced disease. Management of advanced CKD is suboptimal for all patients but is particularly poor for patients who are treated solely by non-nephrologists.


Malignant melanoma (MM) is a life-threatening dermatological disease, the successful treatment of which relies heavily on early recovery and diagnosis. It is proposed that early MMs tend to have larger 3D topological magnitude and direction disruptions than benign lesions. With a view to capturing these 3D indications, a 6 light photometric stereo device has been developed to recover reliable 3D skin texture in the form of surface gradients. In order to characterise the 3D skin texture, two separate numerical methods have been proposed which quantify surface direction and magnitude disruption. A true 2D centroid which is the projection of the real 3D centroid on the image plane has been used to determine the reference angles and the surface direction disruption using minimum error estimation. This is a more accurate method than the conventionally defined centroid which is susceptible to intensity distortions. Preliminary studies on 30 lesions (of which 5 are MMs) have resulted in 80% specificity. This is better than those achieved through analysis of 2D skin line patterns 56% specificity providing the same sensitivity. This demonstrates the proposed 3D texture analysis can provide potentially very useful MM indicators in addition to existing 2D features.


Defending your web applications against hackers and attackersThe top-selling book Web Application Hacker's Handbook showed how attackers and hackers identify and attack vulnerable live web applications. This new Web Application Defender's Cookbook is the perfect counterpoint to that book: it shows you how to defend. Authored by a highly credentialed defensive security expert, this new book details defensive security methods and can be used as courseware for training network security personnel, web server administrators, and security consultants.Each "recipe" shows you a way to detect and defend against malicious behavior and provides working code examples for the ModSecurity web application firewall module. Topics include identifying vulnerabilities, setting hacker traps, defending different access points, enforcing application flows, and much more.Provides practical tactics for detecting web attacks and malicious behavior and defending against themWritten by a preeminent authority on web application firewall technology and web application defense tactics Offers a series of "recipes" that include working code examples for the open-source ModSecurity web application firewall moduleFind the tools, techniques, and expert information you need to detect and respond to web application attacks with Web Application Defender's Cookbook: Battling Hackers and Protecting Users.


This article follows the wake of the author's previous articles regarding framework (typology) and study languages (Slavic, Romance and Basque), although on this occasion, the subject of relative clauses gives way to one of equal fascination: causativity. The article is divided into two parts: in the first, some of the theoretical problems posed up to now are summarized (Bresnan 1982; Zubizarreta 1985; Baker 1988; Alsina 1992; Guasti 1998; Lopez 2001). In the second part, starting from the morphological typology of causativity offered by Nedialkov & Silnitskii (1973) and collected by Moreno Cabrera (1991), the author establishes a list of similarities and differences among the languages analyzed regarding causativity. The most important similarity is that, evidently, in all languages, a valency increase occurs. We find the most important difference in the so-called "derivational morphological opposition", non-existing in the Romance languages (which choose the syntagmatic opposite), but present in Basque and the Slavic languages. In Basque, it means a single morpheme of maximum productivity; in the Slavic languages it means three morphemes in complementary distribution, which have a very scarce productivity since they are only applicable to a reduced list of verbs. Unlike what occurs with the causative mood, the Slavic, Romance and Basque languages show a similar performance regarding the verbs of control and the permissive mood, ignoring a few peculiarities.


Histological transformation, a pivotal event in the natural history of cancers including lymphomas, is typically associated with more aggressive clinical behavior. L3055, a B lymphoma cell line of germinal center (GC) origin, is dependent on follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) for survival and proliferation, similar to GC-B cells. However, L3055 cells become less FDC-dependent after prolonged culture, which is analogous to transformation in vivo. Comparison of two L3055 subclones (i.e., the FDC-dependent indolent clone 12 and the FDC-independent aggressive clone 33) by DNA microarray revealed that CD9 was the most differentially expressed gene (P = 0.05). L3055-12 expresses high levels of CD9 while L3055-33 does not. Reduced levels or loss of CD9 expression is also observed in other CD9-positive B lymphoma cell lines. The resultant CD9-negative cells grow faster than CD9-positive cells due to their greater resistance to apoptosis. Furthermore, CD9-negative cells are less dependent on FDCs for their survival and growth compared with CD9-positive cells. CD9 down-regulation in B lymphomas appears to be controlled epigenetically, mainly through histone modifications. These findings imply that CD9 is inversely correlated with B lymphoma progression, and CD9 inactivation may play an important role in B lymphoma transformation.


WikiLeaks' rise to prominence in 2010, with its release of classified U.S. government and military documents, polarised opinion worldwide; some viewed it as a cyber-terrorist group, others saw it as journalism's saviour. This paper situates WikiLeaks within the framework of Yochai Benkler's networked public sphere. In the age of the Internet and networked communications, the role of information gathering, investigation and analysis regarding the powerful has extended beyond the boundaries of traditional news organisations and professional journalists in what Benkler theorises as the networked fourth estate. Benkler contends the emergent forms of the networked fourth estate are increasingly vulnerable to attacks from institutional media fearful of the decentralisation they represent. Placing WikiLeaks within the context of the networked fourth estate, the paper analyses WikiLeaks' depiction in two major political journals of record by identifying the construction and use of media frames in the editorial pages of _The New York Times_ and _The Washington Post_. As a technologically novel, politically reformist and internationally networked media entity, WikiLeaks can be considered as a form of alternative networked media that challenges hegemonic media and political power. The paper found the elite mainstream media news framing of WikiLeaks as transgressive and irresponsible, delegitimised the organisation's value to public sphere discourse and reasserted the mainstream media's central importance in the democratic public sphere. Dismissing the informational value of the disclosures denied WikiLeaks' capacity to exercise any political counterpower that might have meaningful consequences for policy or the mainstream networked public sphere.


The aim of the present study was to examine constitutive signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) phosphorylation in circulating leukocytes as a candidate biomarker in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). 25 patients with recent-onset, untreated RA provided samples for whole blood flow cytometric determination of intracellular STAT3 phosphorylation, expressed as relative fluorescence units. The occurrence of constitutive STAT3 phosphorylation was evaluated by determining proportion of STAT3-phosphorylated cells among different leukocyte subtypes. Plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17 and IL-21 were measured by immunoassay, radiographs of hands and feet were examined and disease activity score (DAS28) was determined. Biomarkers were restudied and treatment response (according to European League Against Rheumatism) was determined after 12 months of treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. At baseline, constitutive phosphorylation of STAT3 occurred in CD4+ T cells of 14 (56%) patients, CD8+ T cells of 13 (52%) patients, in CD19+ B cells of 7 (28%) patients, and in CD14+ monocytes of 12 (48%) patients. STAT3 phosphorylation levels of CD4+ T cells associated with DAS28, and those of all leukocyte subtypes studied associated with erosive disease. The presence of constitutive STAT3 phosphorylation in CD4+ T lymphocytes, pSTAT3 fluorescence intensity of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels at baseline associated with good treatment response. In conclusion, constitutive STAT3 phosphorylation in circulating CD4+ T cells is common in recent-onset untreated RA and associates with good treatment response in patients characterized by high disease activity and the presence of systemic inflammation.


This paper measures the extent of financial integration and interdependence among Asian equity markets over the period January 1993 to June 2006 using daily data. The analysis includes three developed markets (Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore) and eight emerging markets (China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand). The study uses panel unit root tests to test for non-stationarity, and conducts multivariate cointegration, Granger causality and level VAR procedures and variance decomposition are conducted to examine the equilibrium and causal relationships between these markets. The results indicate that there is a stationary long-run equilibrium relationship among, and significant and substantial short and long-run causal linkages between, these Asian equity markets. This evidence suggests that a high level of financial integration currently exists in the Asian region, notwithstanding the absence of extensive formal regional agreements aimed at promoting financial integration as found elsewhere, especially in the European Union.


This study takes a broader view of internationalization in retailing within the context of the cross-border transfer of business models based on the case of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd. The authors acknowledge that it is imperative to take a broader process based view of internationalization in a continually consumer driven global economy, with increasing convergence of information and communication technologies which enable effective management of large networked retail firms. Such a process based view of internationalization has implications through all the stages in the core value chain of the retailer, from sourcing through to logistics, store operations, property management to customer relationships. The research demonstrates how the internationalization of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd entailed across-the-board continuous adaptation covering all three systems of retail store formats and operating systems, product development and procurement, and supply chains. Accordingly, the study makes a contribution to the standardization versus localization debate in internationalization literature by applying the concept of 'continuous creative adaptation' to the case study.


Pollination is an important ecosystem service that is threatened and not very well studied in Norway. Interaction patterns and specialization is one important aspect of pollination that needs to be studied to better understand pollination networks. This study tries to map pollination interactions and the degree of specialization in a local and a national Norwegian pollination network. In addition, bumblebee tongue length, hoverfly flight length and species abundance, are investigated as possible factors correlated with specialization. The local network was from a hayfield and was sampled with transect walks. The national network was sampled from the user based public internet portal artsobsevasjoner.no and a part goal of this study is to evaluate the usability of this portal. Interactions in the networks where not randomly allocated and species had preferences for interaction partners. For instance bumblebees and Fabaceae plants did as expected interact much. Most species had many interactions, classically seen as generalist, but many species had non opportunistic interaction patterns, seen as specialization. Species varied in how specialized there interaction pattern were. For hoverflies from the national network specialization did as expected significantly increase with shorter flight period. Abundance of plants and pollinators showed a varying relationship with the specialization degree of plants and pollinators. Long tongued bumblebees were the most specialized, but this relationship was not significant. The data from the public internet portal was useful, although there are many problematic biases that one need to be aware of when using such data. That species have preferences for interaction partners and often were specialised should be taken into consideration when evaluating redundancy in pollination networks.


This is to point upper specific aspects of the Brazilian Nursing Association 85 Years of History (ABEn), an historical-evolutionary time that is quite a secular. The most objective intention is to emphasize the advances and remarkable conquests that distinguished the associative entity in the Brazilian reality. The thematic approach is of appreciative reflections referring to the idea of considering some changes accomplished in the associative development plan and social compromise, but with emphasis to reconsider some permanent challenges. The author's position is literary and experiential, of whom could learned to know her primate class entity in the own professional life activity as associate nurse and nursing teacher committed in the plan of several events engaging the ABen developmental progress in the social-scientific sceneries rooted throughout the idealistically continuing process to be developed future ahead. One not need to think on proposals aimed solution to possible rout deviation in the constitutive structure of the profession, neither even is pretended to resolve current crucial questions. But, the raising questioning idea emphasizes that the scope developmental sphere of the associative entity is tangible to the ideal of ensuring the advances of the professional class in relation to the care offered/provided to the clients and users of the health system.


OncoSimulR implements forward-in-time genetic simulations of diallelic loci in asexual populations with special focus on cancer progression. Fitness can be defined as an arbitrary function of genetic interactions between multiple genes or modules of genes, including epistasis, restrictions in the order of accumulation of mutations, and order effects. Mutation rates can be made to differ between genes, and can be affected by (anti)mutator genes. Also available are sampling from single or multiple simulations, including single-cell sampling, plotting the parent-child relationships of the clones and generating and plotting random fitness landscapes. Availability and implementation Implemented in R and C++, freely available from BioConductor for Linux, Mac, and Windows under the GNU GPL license. Version 2.3.12 or higher available from: http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/html/OncoSimulR.html. GitHub repository at: https://github.com/rdiaz02/OncoSimul.