Vani Hari, also known as the Food Babe, isn't a food scientist or a chemist. But her 4 million-strong blog following gives her a formidable constituency. The food industry is paying attention. This year, the Subway sandwich chain pulled azodicarbonamide after one of Hari's campaigns. A dough conditioner, azodicarbonamide is deemed safe by the Food & Drug Administration. But it is also a polyurethane blowing agent, and Hari claims guilt by association. "Water is also a foaming agent in polyurethane, so maybe we should ban water from bread, too," reader John Spevacek commented on a C&EN story. Undeterred by feverish criticism from scientists, Hari continues to challenge food and beverage makers to be more transparent about the ingredients they use. For instance, she wants ingredient labels on beer bottles. Hari has a book, "The Food Babe Way," that will be out next year. ...


It was with deep sadness that we mourned the sudden departure to the great beyond of Dr Douw Greeff, who was the director of Medpharm Publications. Medpharm is a medical and pharmaceutical scholarly journal publishing company, established in 1988, which has since grown to publish prominent scholarly titles. My first contact with Douw was at Elsie Ballot Hospital, Amersfoort, Mpumalanga, as a young energetic community service doctor while I was coordinating the Extended Programme on Immunisation for Mpumalanga province as a specialist family physician. It was later on in 2004 that our paths once again crossed at the Medpharm offices when I was appointed associate editor of the South African Family Practice journal and he was the publisher of the journal.


All three articles in my dissertation gather information from individuals, analyze it, and aggregate that information into forecasts of upcoming events. The motivation is to make forecasts more efficient (accurate and timely), more versatile (provide the most useful information for each stakeholder), and more economically efficient (equally or more efficient and versatile for less time and/or money). The first article looks at prediction markets and polls and concludes that prediction market-based forecasts are more efficient. The two methods, polling versus prediction markets, vary in four key ways: sample selection (a random sample of representative group versus a self-selected group), question type (intention versus expectation), aggregation method (average versus weighted by money, a proxy for confidence), and incentive (not incentive compatible versus incentive compatible). The second article isolates the second aspect of that list by comparing the efficiency of forecasts created by polling the respondents on their expectations versus intentions. Expectation-based forecasts are more efficient, even using non-random samples for the expectation. Asking the expectation question to one respondent is the equivalent of asking several respondents the intention question. Further, the expectation question helps adjust the sample to be more representative of the target group. The third article tests a new interactive web-based interface that captures both "best estimate" point-estimates and probability distributions from non-experts. In contrast to standard methods of directly asking respondents to state their confidence, using my method, which induces the respondents to reveal confidence, there is a sizable and statically significant positive relationship between confidence and the accuracy of individual-level expectations. This positive correlation between confidence and accuracy can be utilized to create confidence-weighted aggregated forecasts that are more efficient than the standard "consensus forecasts."


Fraud is increasing dramatically with the expansion of modem technology and the global superhighways of communication, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars worldwide each year. Although prevention technologies are the best way to reduce fraud, fraudsters are adaptive and, given time, will usually find ways to circumvent such measures. Methodologies for the detection of fraud are essential if we are to catch fraudsters once fraud prevention has failed. Statistics and machine learning provide effective technologies for fraud detection and have been applied successfully to detect activities such as money laundering, e-commerce credit card fraud, telecommunications fraud and computer intrusion, to name but a few. We describe the tools available for statistical fraud detection and the areas in which fraud detection technologies are most used.


This article examines the ideological implications of different interpretations of the statement "Humans are animals." It contrasts theories that regard humans as literally sophisticated animals with those who interpret the statement metaphorically. Sociobiological theories, bolstered by metaphors in the dictionary of English emphasize competitiveness and aggression as features shared by humans and nonhuman animals. Other theories emphasize symbiosis and cooperation. Some of these theories are prescriptive—metaphor patterns in English reflect the strong tendency to regard animal behavior as something for humans to avoid. Conversely, sociobiologists suggest it is natural and right to behave like animals, the naturalistic fallacy. Other cultural theories suggest that the statement is only metaphorical; our differences from animals are what make us most human. The article notes the tendency to metaphorically project the values and structures of current human society onto the animals being studied, serving the interest of those who, in power, benefit from the status quo.


A regional variational inverse modeling system for the estimation of European biogenic CO2 fluxes is presented. This system is based on a 50 km horizontal resolution configuration of a mesoscale atmospheric transport model and on the adjoint of its tracer transport code. It exploits hourly CO2 in situ data from 15 CarboEurope-Integrated Project stations. Particular attention in the inversion setup is paid to characterizing the transport model error and to selecting the observations to be assimilated as a function of this error. Comparisons between simulations and data of CO2 and Rn-222 concentrations indicate that the model errors should have a standard deviation which is less than 7 ppm when simulating the hourly variability of CO2 at low altitude during the afternoon and evening or at high altitude at night. Synthetic data are used to estimate the uncertainty reduction for the fluxes using this inverse modeling system. The improvement brought by the inversion to the prior estimate of the fluxes for both the mean diurnal cycle and the monthly to synoptic variability in the fluxes and associated mixing ratios are checked against independent atmospheric data and eddy covariance flux measurements. Inverse modeling is conducted for summers 2002-2007 which should reduce the uncertainty in the biogenic fluxes by similar to 60% during this period. The trend in the mean flux corrections between June and September is to increase the uptake of CO2 by similar to 12 gCm(-2). Corrections at higher resolution are also diagnosed that reveal some limitations of the underlying prior model of the terrestrial biosphere. (Less)


This study is part of the project entitled "Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Countries" for the European Commission1. The study was written by Luca Barbone (CASE) Mikhail Bonch- Osmolovskiy (CASE) and Matthias Luecke (Kiel). It is based on the six country studies for the Eastern Partnership countries commissioned under this project and prepared by Mihran Galstyan and Gagik Makaryan (Armenia), Azer Allahveranov and Emin Huseynov (Azerbaijan), Aleksander Chubrik and Aliaksei Kazlou (Belarus), Lasha Labadze and Mirjan Tukhashvili (Georgia), Vasile Cantarji and Georgeta Mincu (Moldova), Tom CoupA© and Hanna Vakhitova (Ukraine). The authors would like to thank for their comments and suggestions Kathryn Anderson, Martin Kahanec, Costanza Biavaschi, Lucia Kurekova, Monica Bucurenciu, Borbala Szegeli, Giovanni Cremonini and Ummuhan Bardak, as well as the dbaretailed review provided by IOM. The views in this study are those of the authors' only, and should not e interpreted as representing the official position of the European Commission and its institutions.


This article is based on reviewing literature as well as experiences in the fields of Radiography and Biochemistry. Major changes have occurred in the Higher Education environment over the recent past. The concept of learner-centeredness emerged with the implementation of OBET. Adaptations to traditional teaching methods will be necessary to prevent lowering of standards in teaching and learning. Mass-lecture, multiple choice questions and using the marking machine has so far been the response from the academe, thus very little deep, meaningful learning is taking place. Good facilitation should narrow the gap caused by student diversity. Facilitating improved learning requires a great deal of professional development as a facilitator. The learning process should strive to attain learning through a deep approach addressing the specific needs of the learners. To assist you to effectively facilitate learning, the article addresses some factors associated with academic achievement. Practical examples are also provided to facilitate effective learning in the classroom. The philosophy driving a good facilitator is also expounded. It is concluded that an excellent facilitator will not only make effort, but will make waves in facilitating his/her subject.


In state-of-the-art Software Transactional Memory (STM) systems, threads carry out the execution of transactions as non-interruptible tasks. Hence, a thread can react to the injection of a higher priority transactional task and take care of its processing only at the end of the currently executed transaction. In this article we pursue a paradigm shift where the execution of an in-memory transaction is carried out as a preemptable task, so that a thread can start processing a higher priority transactional task before finalizing its current transaction. We achieve this goal in an application-transparent manner, by only relying on Operating System facilities we include in our preemptive STM architecture. With our approach we are able to re-evaluate CPU assignment across transactions along a same thread every few tens of microseconds. This is mandatory for an effective priority-aware architecture given the typically finer-grain nature of in-memory transactions compared to their counterpart in database systems. We integrated our preemptive STM architecture with the TinySTM package, and released it as open source. We also provide the results of an experimental assessment of our proposal based on running a port of the TPC-C benchmark to the STM environment.


Several mathematical and standard epidemiological models have been proposed in studying infectious disease dynamics. These models help to understand the spread of disease infections. However, most of these models are not able to estimate other relevant disease metrics such as probability of first infection and recovery as well as the expected time to infection and recovery for both susceptible and infected individuals. That is, most of the standard epidemiological models used in estimating transition probabilities (TPs) are not able to generalize the transition estimates of disease outcomes at discrete time steps for future predictions. This paper seeks to address the aforementioned problems through a discrete-time Markov chain model. Secondary datasets from cohort studies were collected on HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and hepatitis B (HB) cases from a regional hospital in Ghana. The Markov chain model revealed that hepatitis B was more infectious over time than tuberculosis and HIV even though the probability of first infection of these diseases was relatively low within the study population. However, individuals infected with HIV had comparatively lower life expectancies than those infected with tuberculosis and hepatitis B. Discrete-time Markov chain technique is recommended as viable for modeling disease dynamics in Ghana.


Microfinance investment funds are a recent development that will grow in importance. These funds expand the range of opportunities for
financing microfinance institutions, enabling them to offer greater outreach and diversity of products for microentrepreneurs and small
businesses. Microfinance now spans the range of finance, from the most simple enterprise to the complexity of capital markets. KfW actively promotes microfinance investment funds and other activities that facilitate the growth of microfinance. This book is an expression of KfW's role as information broker and trend setter. The
authors who contributed to this collection offer a comprehensive range of perspectives and themes related to microfinance investment and its promotion.


The goal of Private Information Retrieval (PIR) is the ability to query a database successfully without the operator of the database server discovering which record(s) of the database the querier is interested in. There are two main classes of PIR protocols: those that provide privacy guarantees based on the computational limitations of servers, called computational PIR or CPIR, and those that rely on multiple servers not colluding for privacy, called information-theoretic PIR or IT-PIR. These two classes have different advantages and disadvantages that make them more or less attractive to designers of PIRenabled privacy enhancing technologies. We present a hybrid PIR protocol that combines two PIR protocols: one CPIR protocol and one IT-PIR protocol. Our protocol inherits many positive aspects of both classes and mitigates some of the negative aspects. For example, our hybrid protocol maintains partial privacy when the security assumptions of one of the component protocols is broken, mitigating the privacy loss in such an event. We have implemented our protocol as an extension of the Percy++ library so that it combines a PIR protocol by Aguilar Melchor and Gaborit with one by Goldberg. We show that our hybrid protocol uses less communication than either of these component protocols and that our scheme is particularly beneficial when the number of records in a database is large compared to the size of the records. This situation arises in applications such as TLS certificate verification, anonymous communications systems, private LDAP lookups, and others. The server-side computation involved in the PIR protocols that we discuss in this thesis all lend themselves to parallelization. As an extension to the Percy++ library we have implemented parallelized server computation for each of these protocols using both multithreading and distributed computation. We show that using parallelization allows the servers to reduce the latency involved in serving PIR queries.


People routinely infer the goals of others by observing their actions over time. Remarkably, we can do so even when those actions lead to failure, enabling us to assist others when we detect that they might not achieve their goals. How might we endow machines with similar capabilities? Here we present an architecture capable of inferring an agent's goals online from both optimal and non-optimal sequences of actions. Our architecture models agents as boundedly-rational planners that interleave search with execution by replanning, thereby accounting for sub-optimal behavior. These models are specified as probabilistic programs, allowing us to represent and perform efficient Bayesian inference over an agent's goals and internal planning processes. To perform such inference, we develop Sequential Inverse Plan Search (SIPS), a sequential Monte Carlo algorithm that exploits the online replanning assumption of these models, limiting computation by incrementally extending inferred plans as new actions are observed. We present experiments showing that this modeling and inference architecture outperforms Bayesian inverse reinforcement learning baselines, accurately inferring goals from both optimal and non-optimal trajectories involving failure and back-tracking, while generalizing across domains with compositional structure and sparse rewards.


PURPOSE
To describe the neurologic and neurosensory deficits in children with brain tumors (BTs), compare incidence of these deficits with that of a sibling control group, and evaluate the factors associated with the development of these deficits.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Detailed questionnaires were completed on 1,607 patients diagnosed between 1970 and 1986 with a primary CNS tumor. Neurosensory and neurologic dysfunctions were assessed and results compared with those of a sibling control group. Medical records on all patients were abstracted, including radiotherapy dose and volume.

RESULTS
Seventeen percent of patients developed neurosensory impairment. Relative to the sibling comparison group, patients surviving BTs were at elevated risk for hearing impairments (relative risk [RR], 17.3; P = <.0001), legal blindness in one or both eyes (RR, 14.8; P = <.0001), cataracts (RR, 11.9; P = <.0001), and double vision (RR, 8.8; P = <.0001). Radiation exposure greater than 50 Gy to the posterior fossa was associated with a higher likelihood of developing any hearing impairment. Coordination and motor control problems were reported in 49% and 26%, respectively, of survivors. Children receiving at least 50 Gy to the frontal brain regions had a moderately elevated risk for motor problems (RR, 2.0; P <.05). Seizure disorders were reported in 25% of patients, including 6.5% who had a late first occurrence. Radiation dose of 30 Gy or more to any cortical segment of the brain was associated with a two-fold elevated risk for a late seizure disorder.

CONCLUSION
Children surviving BTs are at significant risk for both early and late neurologic or neurosensory sequelae. These sequelae need to be prospectively monitored.


This report presents an examination of the history of research on engine knocking and the various types of fuels used in the investigations of this phenomenon. According to this report, the spontaneous ignition of hydrocarbons doped with oxygen follows the logarithmic law within a certain temperature range, but not above 920 degrees K. Having extended the scope of investigations to prove hydrocarbons, the curves of the mixtures burned by air should then be established by progressive replacement of pure iso-octane with heptane. Pentane was also examined in this report.


Abstract In this article, I argue that to capture ASEAN's importance in the promotion and protection of human rights requires embedding the analysis of what ASEAN says and does into an awareness of the broader human rights space of which it is a part. The Southeast Asian human rights space has four dimensions: ASEAN, domestic institutions, civil society, and the global United Nations system, all of which are increasingly linked together in a complex whole. Revealing this human rights space suggests three conclusions. First, ASEAN is important as an educator, enabler, standard setter, and mobiliser of human rights, often despite its flawed institutional design. This importance is the product of its own activities and how it is used by other actors. Second, ASEAN member states engage with each other on questions of human rights broadly, and not only through ASEAN, which illustrates the limits and resilience of the 'ASEAN Way' as a set of procedural norms. Third, ASEAN, despite its growing importance to human rights promotion, has become increasingly de-centred in that field, with serious consequences for its own security agenda.


This paper presents the design and implementation of an analog-to-information converter (AIC) based on compressed sensing. The core of the AIC is an edge-triggered charge-sharing SAR ADC. Compressed sensing is achieved through random sampling and asynchronous successive approximation conversion using the ADC core. Implemented in 90nm CMOS, the prototype SAR ADC core achieves a maximum sample rate of 9.5MS/s, an ENOB of 9.3 bits, and consumes 550μW from a 1.2V supply. Measurement results of the compressed sensing AIC demonstrate effective sub-Nyquist random sampling and reconstruction of signals with sparse frequency support suitable for wideband spectrum sensing applications. When accounting for the increased input bandwidth compared to Nyquist, the AIC achieves an effective FOM of 10.2fJ/conversion-step.


Scientists and engineers working with embedded networked sensing systems in the environmental sciences are acquiring data at unprecedented rates. Scientific data do not emerge from a vacuum. There is considerable contextual information that surrounds the process of data acquisition that is critical to interpret and analyze data. Current techniques for data sharing involve considerable manual effort to prepare, describe, and transfer this contextual information along with the data itself. This paper reports on a study of the UCLA-based Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), an interdisciplinary NSF research center that supports collaborations to develop and implement innovative wireless sensor networks. We report here on the development of the CENS Deployment Center, a database for CENS deployment information. The goals of the CENSDC are to facilitate better deployment organization, and to provide a central location for key information that describes the context of data capture. We also describe our plans within CENS to use a tri-partite approach to capture and share sensor data resources using technical recommendations currently being developed within the context of the Open Archive Initiative for Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE).


Heralded as the catalyst of the sexual revolution and the solution to global overpopulation, the contraceptive pill was one of the twentieth century's most important inventions. It has not only transformed the lives of millions of women but has also pushed the limits of drug monitoring and regulation across the world. This deeply-researched new history of the oral contraceptive shows how its development and use have raised crucial questions about the relationship between science, medicine, technology, and society. Lara Marks traces the scientific origins of the pill to Europe and Mexico in the early years of the twentieth century, challenging previous accounts that championed it as a North American product. She explores the reasons why the pill took so long to be developed and explains why it did not prove to be the social panacea envisioned by its inventors. Unacceptable to the Catholic Church, rejected by countries such as India and Japan, too expensive for women in poor countries, it has, more recently, been linked to cardiovascular problems. Reviewing the positive effects of the pill, Marks shows how it has been transformed from a tool for the prevention of conception to a major weapon in the fight against cancer.


The temperature programmed decomposition results of methanol, formaldehyde, and formic acid on an O-polar (0001) surface of ZnO are presented. From these results, and similar ones for the Zn-polar (0001) and the nonpolar (1010) and (5051) surfaces, a comparison of the properties of the different ZnO surfaces are made. Oxygen-containing molecules that possess strong dipole moments, such as alcohols, formaldehyde, acetone, and formic acid, interact most strongly with the Zn-polar face, less strongly with the nonpolar face, and least strongly with the O-polar face. This leads to the observed differences in the desorption temperature of molecular desorption, temperature of evolution of the decomposition products, and the fraction of methanol decomposed. These differences are explained by the different magnitudes and orientations of surface dipole moments, a different degree of ionicity of the surface Zn ions, and a different degree of steric hindrance of surface Zn ions for the different surfaces. Desorption of other molecules, such as propene and CO, whose adsorption is dominated by different types of interaction than the alcohols and aldehydes, shows different dependence on the surface structure. 37 references, 5 figures, 3 tables.


Minors lack the legal capacity to execute wills. Subject to limited exceptions in some states, a will executed by a child is void. Because this testamentary age requirement conflicts with the primary objective of the law of wills, which is to allow decedents to freely choose how their estates will be distributed, this rule should be founded upon a coherent and compelling policy rationale. Nonetheless, it is not.Three potential rationales might explain the testamentary incapacity of minors. First, the age requirement could represent a categorical capacity threshold that is aimed at protecting children from their immaturity and indiscretion. Second, the age requirement could be seen as a proxy for the minimum mental competency that the law requires of all testators. Finally, the age requirement could implement forced parental inheritance, under which the estates of minors are funneled into intestacy and are distributed to their parents.This article explains how each of these potential rationales fails to adequately align with the mechanics of the current testamentary age requirement. The article ultimately calls for the elimination of the categorical age restriction on testamentary capacity. It also proposes additional reforms that would better serve the policy objectives of the testamentary age restriction but that would allow children to more frequently execute wills.


Product archaeology refers to the process of reconstructing the lifecycle of a product to understand the decisions that led to its development and has been used as an educational framework for promoting students' consideration of the broader impacts of engineering on people, economics, and the environment. As a result, product archaeology offers students an opportunity to reconstruct and understand the customer requirements, design specifications, and manufacturing processes that led to the development and production of a product. This paper describes: 1) the identification and development of assessment tools for evaluating the impact of product archaeology, 2) the implementation of the product archaeology framework during two recent academic year semesters in undergraduate engineering courses at all levels across six universities, and 3) assessment results with evidence of the effectiveness of the product archaeology framework. This project uses existing survey instruments, including the Engineer of 2020 survey and the engineering design self-efficacy instrument to assess positive student attitudes and perceptions about engineering. Our assessment plan also uses two newly-developed design scenarios. These scenarios require students to respond to open-ended descriptions of real-world engineering problems to assess students' ability to extend and refine knowledge of broader contexts. Emerging pre-test/post-test comparison data reveal that the product archaeology activities lead to more positive student ratings of both their own knowledge of broader contexts and their self-efficacy regarding engineering design. Analysis of the design scenarios (used to assess students' ability to apply contextual knowledge to engineering design situations) includes results from the Spring and Fall 2013 semesters.


Inefficient governance and maladministration of a sectional title scheme can lead to serious disharmony within a scheme and a major decline in the amount of money invested in units in the scheme. Sectional owners who are part of the management structure of the scheme should take prompt steps in order to avoid its collapse. They can arrange for a special general meeting to be held to discuss the situation; they can replace inefficient, dishonest or autocratic trustees at the next annual general meeting; or they can appoint a managing agent to defuse arguments within the community and to ameliorate the finances of the scheme (see Williams v Nathan 2006 JOL 18414 (W)). Only if these measures are unsuccessful can owners, the body corporate, the local authority, creditors with a claim of at least R500 or the holders of real rights in the scheme (s 46(1) of the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986) approach the court for the appointment of an administrator to revive the scheme. In this way the appointment of an administrator is considered a measure of last resort.
The rationale underlying this is that the appointment of an administrator is a drastic step because it removes control of the affairs of the body corporate from the trustees elected by its members and places it in the hands of the administrator (see also the recent case of Grundler NO v Rambadursing (13500/2010) 2011 ZAKZDHC 24 (20 May 2011) par 11-12). An administrator should therefore only be appointed when the trustees are not in a position to properly perform the functions assigned to them, when the body corporate has not elected trustees, or where for some other reason the affairs of the body corporate are not being, or are not capable of being, administered in the manner envisaged by the act. The purpose of appointing an administrator is remedial in that the management of the affairs of the scheme should subsequently be restored to the members of the body corporate. The enquiry into the need for the appointment of an administrator will inevitably turn on whether the affairs of the body corporate need to be taken out of the hands of the trustees and members of the body corporate in order to address and resolve the problems giving rise to the application (see also Wallis J in Herald Investments Share Block (Pty) Ltd v Meer; Meer v Body Corporate of Belmont Arcade 2010 6 SA 599 (KZD) par 46).
The Dempa Investments case is the most illustrative case to date dealing with the precise point at which an administrator should be appointed in an endeavour to prevent a sectional title scheme from descending into financial ruin and social disharmony.


In the present work, a silver nanoparticle/delphinidin modified glassy carbon electrode (AgNP/Delph/GCE) was fabricated as a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for gallic acid (GA) determination. Cyclic voltammetry experiments indicated a higher sensitivity and better selectivity for gallic acid when using the AgNP/Delph/GCE as compared with the bare GCE surface, which were attributed to AgNPs and delphinidin, respectively. Moreover, the calculated surface electron transfer rate constant (ks), and the electron transfer coefficient (α) between the GCE and the electrodeposited delphinidin demonstrated that delphinidin is an excellent electron transfer mediator for the electrocatalytic process. The average catalytic rate constant (k′) of the overall process was also estimated to be 7.40 × 10−4 cm s−1 for the AgNP/Delph/GCE in the presence of 1.50 mmol L−1 of GA. Amperometry experiments were used to determine the limit of detection of the AgNP/Delph/GCE electrochemical sensor, which was 0.28 μmol L−1 of GA. Finally, two linear ranges were found, i.e. 0.60–8.68 μmol L−1 and 8.68–625.80 μmol L−1 for GA. The activity of the modified electrode was eventually investigated to assess the potential quantification of GA in real foods.


This paper documents the results we obtained and the lessons we learned in the design, implementation, and execution of a simulated real-time application on a simulated parallel processor. Specifically, our parallel program ran 100 times faster on a 100-processor multiprocessor. The machine architecture is a distributed-memory multiprocessor. The target machine consists of 10 to 1000 processors, but because of simulator limitations, we ran simulations of machines consisting of 1 to 100 processors. Each processor is a computer with its own local memory, executing an independent instruction stream. There is no global shared memory; all processes communicate by message passing. The target programming environment, called Lamina, encourages a programming style that stresses performance gains through problem decomposition, allowing many processors to be brought to bear on a problem. THe key is to distribute the processing load over replicated objects, and to incresase throughput by building pipelined sequences of objects that handle stages of problem solving. We focused on a knowledge-based application that simulates real-time understanding of radar tracks, called Airtrac. This paper describes a portion of the Airtrac application implemented in Lamina and a set of experiments that we performed. We confirmed the following hypotheses: 1) Performance of our concurrent program improves with additional processors, and thereby attains a significant level of speedup. 2) Correctness of our concurrent program can be maintained despite a high degree of problem decomposition and highly overloaded input data conditions.


To elucidate the role of the kidney dopamine system on blood pressure regulation, we investigated the developmental change of kidney dopamine receptors in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. The autoradiogram of [3H]-SCH23390, a specific DA1 receptor antagonist, showed that DA1 receptors were localized mainly in the rat renal cortex. The radiolabeled receptor assay (RRA) of [3H]-spiperone was performed on 3-, 7-, and 18-week-old SHR using the homogenate of renal cortex. Neither dissociation constant (Kd) nor maximum binding capacity (Bmax) were different between SHR and WKY rats at the age of 3 and 7 weeks. Nevertheless, Kd and Bmax were significantly low in 18-week-old SHR. The systolic blood pressure of 7-, and 18-week-old SHR was significantly higher than that of age matched WKY rats. The urinary dopamine excretion in 16-week-old SHR was significantly higher than that in age-matched WKY rats, although urine volume and urinary sodium excretion were the same as those in the control in both sodium-loaded and -restricted state. In summary, although renal dopamine production was enhanced in SHR in the hypertensive state, dopamine was found not to contribute to natriuresis since the number of dopamine receptors was reduced in these rats. We also found that enhanced dopamine production in response to a salt load was lacking in these rats. These two pathological phenomena noted in the renal dopamine system play a role in the progression of hypertension in SHR.


A group of experts associated with the Economists for Peace and Security and the Initiative for Rethinking the Economy met recently in Paris to discuss financial and monetary issues; their viewpoints, summarized here by Senior Scholar James K. Galbraith, are largely at odds with the global political and economic establishment. Despite noting some success in averting a catastrophic collapse of liquidity and a decline in output, the Paris group was pessimistic that there would be sustained economic recovery and a return of high employment. There was general consensus that the precrisis financial system should not be restored, that reviving the financial sector first was not the way to revive the economy, and that governments should not pursue exit strategies that permit a return to the status quo. Rather, the crisis exposes the need for profound reform to meet a range of physical and social objectives.


The new concept of Multi-Level Current Reinjection (MLCR) combines the advantages of DC ripple reinjection, multi-level conversion and soft-switching technique. Taking advantage of the soft-switching technique which uses zero current switching for the main bridge switches, thyristor based MLCR current source converter (CSC) is proposed. This concept adds selfcommutation capability to thyristors and produces high quality line current waveforms. Various thyristor based MLCR CSC topologies have been simulated extensively using PSCAD/EMTDC in this thesis and their performance characteristics investigated. Questions have been raised about the ability to force the main thyristors off using the reinjection bridge in a real-world implementation, where there are inevitable stray capacitances and inductances which may influence the thyristor turn-off; and simulation switching models may not represent the switching characteristics fully or accurately. For this proof of concept, a smallscale prototype has been built in the laboratory. The 3-level MLCR CSC, which increases the pulse number from 12 to 24, is chosen to verify the concept. The experimental investigation of the 3-level MLCR CSC, under steady-state conditions, verified the following: • The reinjection current allows the main bridge thyristors to be switched at negative firing angles. • This current reinjection technique allows self-commutation capability in a practical system despite the finite turn-off times of the thyristor. • This current reinjection technique improves the harmonic characteristics of the thyristor based converter. • It is observed that the deviation of the actual waveforms from the theoretical waveforms is mainly due to the snubber across the reinjection switch, and a trade-off in the choice of snubber components is required.


Objectives
To assess prospective association between circulating biomarkers of individual trans fatty acids (TFAs) and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) in diverse populations.

Methods
A harmonized analysis of individual level data was conducted for TFA biomarkers and incident T2D by pooling ten prospective cohort or nested-case-control studies from five countries (Australia, Germany, Iceland, UK, and USA). Fatty acids (FAs) were measured in plasma phospholipid, red blood cell membrane phospholipid, or total plasma collected between 1990-2008 from 22,711 participants aged ≥18 years without prevalent diabetes. Evaluated TFAs included trans-16:1n-9, sum of trans-18:1 isomers (trans-18:1n6 to trans-18:1n12), sum of trans-18:2 isomers (cis/trans-18:2, trans/cis-18:2, trans/trans-18:2), and individual trans-18:2 isomers. The multivariable-adjusted relative risk or odds ratio was estimated in each cohort by lipid compartments using a pre-specified protocol for definitions of exposures, covariates, and outcomes for statistical analysis. Association estimates were pooled using fixed-effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis.

Results
During an average maximum of 14 years of follow-up, 2244 cases of incident T2D were identified. Median levels of TFAs across cohorts were 0.05-0.18% total FAs for trans-16:1n-9, 0.09-2.05% for total trans-18:1, 0.10-0.73% for total trans-18:2, and 0.01-0.36% for individual trans-18:2 isomers. In overall pooled analysis, TFAs evaluated per inter-quintile range were not significantly associated with risk of T2D (Figure 1). Findings were consistent when TFAs were assessed categorically in study specific-quintiles, and when associations were pooled within lipid compartment (i.e., phospholipids vs. total plasma).

Conclusions
Overall, biomarker levels of TFAs were not significantly associated with risk of incident T2D in this international pooling project. Findings may be due to mixed TFA sources (industrial vs. ruminant), a general decline in TFA exposure during this period, or no effect of circulating TFA on diabetes. Associations of TFA biomarkers with T2D at higher exposures should be investigated.

Funding Sources
See Table 1.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Migration and health share a complex relationship and interactions. The increasing urbanization and rural to urban migration provides a scope to analyze the health and nutrition status of migrants living in urban India. The present study tries to understand disparities in child immunization and nutritional status among children by migration status in urban India using the most recent available data of National Family Health Survey (2005-06). Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression models were used to study the levels and factors associated with child nutrition and immunization by migration status. Results suggest that malnutrition and no immunization are very high among children of rural to urban migrants and full immunization is lower than urban non-migrants and urban-urban migrants. More than half of the children from of marginalised households suffer from the problem of undernutrition among rural-urban migrants. Multivariate results show economic status economic status, age of the mother, education, caste and media exposure are negatively associated with malnutrition and positively associated with immunization. Children from south, north-east and east have lesser chance of being malnourished than north region of


Research in developmental psychology consistently shows that children explore the world thoroughly and efficiently and that this exploration allows them to learn. In turn, this early learning supports more robust generalization and intelligent behavior later in life. While much work has gone into developing methods for exploration in machine learning, artificial agents have not yet reached the high standard set by their human counterparts. In this work we propose using DeepMind Lab (Beattie et al., 2016) as a platform to directly compare child and agent behaviors and to develop new exploration techniques. We outline two ongoing experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of a direct comparison, and outline a number of open research questions that we believe can be tested using this methodology.


A cycle-by-cycle analysis of HC emissions from each cylinder of a four-stroke V-6, 3.3 L production engine was made during cold start. The HC emissions were measured in the exhaust port using a high frequency flame ionization detector (FID). The effect of the initial startup position of the piston and valves in the cycle on combustion and HC emissions from each cylinder was examined. The mass of fuel injected, burned and emitted was calculated for each cycle. The equivalence ratio of the charge in the firing cycles was determined. The analysis covered the first 120 cycles and included the effect of engine transients on HC emissions.


ABSTRACT Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototypical systemic autoimmune disease (AD). Precision medicine gives clinicians and society access to the information needed to create individually tailored programs to predict, prevent, and treat SLE. Although several biomarkers have been described for SLE, current expansion of knowledge on lupus genetics makes the implementation of genetic biomarkers possible. Herein, a comprehensive description of relevant SLE genetic biomarkers from the precision medicine perspective is offered. National inception cohorts should be created and the implementation of translational programs for the control of ADs such as SLE should be put into practice. Factors that are predictive of developing these conditions should be examined at the population level in order to establish preventive measures in at-risk individuals for whom healthcare should be personalized/precise and participatory. The implementation of such a program will allow the discovery of new mechanisms and a new taxonomy of ADs. The translational model should also involve educational and training programs together with digital participatory surveillance systems. Healthcare's one-size-fits-all approach to treating patients will be replaced with a personalized/precision approach to medicine that focuses on individuals and each family member.


The problem of numerous, persistent vacancies in the federal judiciary continues to undermine expeditious, inexpensive, and fair case resolution. As the Obama administration is still in its early stages, the process for nominating and securing the confirmation of federal judges merits consideration. This Essay chronicles the origins and development of the appointments conundrum. Although enhanced federal jurisdiction and growing caseloads are partially to blame, partisan politics has also prevented swift nomination and confirmation for over twenty years. The Essay then describes the processes employed by the Obama administration during its nascency. Finally, the Essay offers suggestions to facilitate the judicial selection process, targeted at both the Obama administration


This paper uses a large-scale two-level randomized experiment to study direct and displacement effects of job search assistance. Our findings show that the assistance reduces unemployment among the treated, but also creates substantial displacement leading to higher unemployment for the non-treated. By using detailed information on caseworker and job seeker behavior we show that vacancy referrals passed on from caseworkers to job seekers is the driving mechanism behind the positive direct effect. We also examine explanations for the displacement effect and show that displacement is not due to constrained resources, but arises in the labor market. A comparison between different meeting formats suggests that face-to-face meetings and distance meetings are more effective than group meetings. Despite the existence of displacement effects, when we incorporate our results into an equilibrium search model we find that a complete roll-out of the program would lead to lower unemployment and reduced government spending.


Although there had been a many studies that shows the impact of air pollution on physical health, comparatively less was known of human behavioral responses and annoyance impacts. Annoyance caused by air pollution is a public health problem because it can be an ambient stressor causing stress and disease and can affect quality of life. The objective of this work is to evaluate the annoyance caused by air pollution in two different industrialized urban areas, Dunkirk (France) and Vitoria (Brazil). The populations of these cities often report feeling annoyed by dust. Surveys were conducted, and the collected data were analyzed using statistical analyses. The results show that sociodemographic variables, importance of air quality, perceived industrial risk, perceived air pollution and occurrence of health problems play important roles in the perceived annoyance. These results show the existence of a common problem in geographically distant areas and allow stakeholders to develop prevention strategies. Keywords—Air pollution, annoyance, industrial risks, perception of pollution, public health, settled dust.


This important study introduces the conceptual premise that families, like firms, analyze their circumstances, make decisions, and pursue courses of action on the basis of what they perceive to be the most efficient methods for producing and reproducing survival. Combining this premise with an extraordinary assemblage of facts gleaned over the period of a decade from the streets, markets and homes of Port-au-Prince, the author weaves a tapestry of despair and hope which only an unusual degree of intimacy with the details of everyday life in the city could provide. The result is a considerable deepening of understanding about the politics and economics by which family members earn their livelihoods, distribute resources within and between households, produce life and labor from food and water, provide shelter and schooling for themselves, and borrow money to finance these and other activities. These different dimensions of daily existence form a web of interdependency in which change in any one dimension causes change in all the others. As Professor Pass's work demonstrates, research and development assistance practices of public and private organizations, in such areas as employment, health, housing, education and credit are often irrelevant. This is because they are necessarily guided by prevailing concepts and theories with respect to the circumstances of the urban poor, which sometimes do the poor considerable disservice. With the additional insight provided by a decade of participation in the design of policies, programs and projects serving as a tempering influence, the author does not leap to easy criticism of prevailing views and practices. He notes that ideas and interventions change in response to new understanding, sometimes in ways that the producers of such understanding could never have imagined. The problem is that change is painfully slow, and in desperately poor countries like Haiti, waiting for change exacts an almost intolerable price from the poor. This book is a provocative yet highly original contribution which will require serious attention from scholars and practitioners of development. Appearing as it does soon after the great seaward exodus of Haitians and urban unrest culminating in the flight of the Duvalier family, this timely volume will provide illumination for those seeking to understand the circumstances that press people to risk all in the name of survival.


A group of permutations $G$ of a set $V$ is $k$- distinguishable  if there exists a partition of $V$ into $k$ cells such that only the identity permutation in $G$ fixes setwise all of the cells of the partition. The least cardinal number $k$ such that $(G,V)$ is $k$-distinguishable is its  distinguishing number  $D(G,V)$. In particular, a graph $\Gamma$ is $k$- distinguishable  if its automorphism group $\rm{Aut}(\Gamma)$ satisfies $D(\rm{Aut}(\Gamma),V\Gamma)\leq k$. Various results in the literature demonstrate that when an infinite graph fails to have some property, then often some finite subgraph is similarly deficient. In this paper we show that whenever an infinite connected graph $\Gamma$ is not $k$-distinguishable (for a given cardinal $k$), then it contains a ball of finite radius whose distinguishing number is at least $k$. Moreover, this lower bound cannot be sharpened, since for any integer $k \geq 3$ there exists an infinite, locally finite, connected graph $\Gamma$ that is not $k$-distinguishable but in which every ball of finite radius is $k$-distinguishable. In the second half of this paper we show that a large distinguishing number for an imprimitive group $G$ is traceable to a high distinguishing number either of a block of imprimitivity or of the induced action by $G$ on the corresponding system of imprimitivity. An immediate application is to automorphism groups of infinite imprimitive graphs. These results are companion to the study of the distinguishing number of infinite primitive groups and graphs in a previous paper by the authors together with T. W. Tucker.


Systems biology approaches, leveraging multi-omics measurements, are needed to capture the complexity of biological networks while identifying the key molecular drivers of disease mechanisms. We present DIABLO, a novel integrative method to identify multi-omics biomarker panels that can discriminate between multiple phenotypic groups. In the multi-omics analyses of simulated and real-world datasets, DIABLO resulted in superior biological enrichment compared to other integrative methods, and achieved comparable predictive performance with existing multi-step classification schemes. DIABLO is a versatile approach that will benefit a diverse range of research areas, where multiple high dimensional datasets are available for the same set of specimens. DIABLO is implemented along with tools for model selection, and validation, as well as graphical outputs to assist in the interpretation of these integrative analyses (http://mixomics.org/).


The wave of uprisings known as the Arab Spring that swept over the Middle East and North Africa from December 2010 to early 2013 left its imprint on political and social life in the countries concerned. This ephemeral moment also marked a change in various forms of artistic expression. Street art, graffiti, and calligraffiti are among the most striking art forms of this short period. Artists recorded and commented on events and developments in the political situation. They drew upon their people's cultural memory to impart their messages and expressed dissension, civil disobedience, and resistance by combining images and scripts. This article is about the materiality of visual art and the translation of political contestation into street art, graffiti, and calligraffiti in Egypt. It probes the ways slogans were visualised, drawn, and inscribed on the walls of the urban space in Cairo and then disseminated on the internet and social media. Translation relates here to transcultural contacts and the interplay between texts, images, and contexts from the vantage point of intermediality.


Realignment expectations which measure exchange rate credibility are analyzed for European exchange rates, using daily financial data since the inception of the EMS. It is difficult to find economically meaningful relationships between realignment expectations and macroeconomic variables, although there are signs that lower inflation improves credibility. Statistically, many movements to realignment expectations are common to ERM participants. There were few indications of poor ERM credibility before late August 1992; the dimensions of the currency crisis of September 1992 appear to have taken both policy-makers and private agents largely by surprise.


This review summarizes the roles of CAFs in forming a "cancerized" fibrotic stroma favorable to tumor initiation and dissemination, in particular highlighting the functions of the extracellular matrix component hyaluronan (HA) in these processes. The structural complexity of the tumor and its host microenvironment is now well appreciated to be an important contributing factor to malignant progression and resistance-to-therapy. There are multiple components of this complexity, which include an extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and associated biomechanical changes in tumor stroma. Tumor stroma is often fibrotic and rich in fibrillar type I collagen and hyaluronan (HA). Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a major source of this fibrotic ECM. CAFs organize collagen fibrils and these biomechanical alterations provide highways for invading carcinoma cells either under the guidance of CAFs or following their epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The increased HA metabolism of a tumor microenvironment instructs carcinoma initiation and dissemination by performing multiple functions. The key effects of HA reviewed here are its role in activating CAFs in pre-malignant and malignant stroma, and facilitating invasion by promoting motility of both CAFs and tumor cells, thus facilitating their invasion. Circulating CAFs (cCAFs) also form heterotypic clusters with circulating tumor cells (CTC), which are considered to be pre-cursors of metastatic colonies. cCAFs are likely required for extravasation of tumors cells and to form a metastatic niche suitable for new tumor colony growth. Therapeutic interventions designed to target both HA and CAFs in order to limit tumor spread and increase response to current therapies are discussed.


Using sets of rules for classification of examples usually involves checking a number of conditions to see if they hold or not. If the rule set is large the time to make the classification can be lengthy. In this paper we propose an indexing algorithm to decrease the classification time when dealing with large rule sets. Unordered rule sets have a high time complexity when conducting classification; we hence conduct experiments comparing our novel indexing algorithm with the standard way of classifying ensembles of unordered rule sets. The result of the experiment shows decreased classification times for the novel method that are ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 of that of the standard approach averaged over all experimental datasets. This time gain is obtained while retaining an accuracy ranging from 0.84 to 0.99 with regard to the standard classification method. The index bit size used with the indexing algorithm influence both the classification accuracy and time needed for conducting the classification task.


Physical vapour deposition technologies have been on the fast track of development for the last two decades due to their ability to meet demands for special materials and performance tools. The ever increasing complexity of the required coating microstructure and chemical composition can be achieved only by the development of PVD technology and in particular plasma sources for vapour generation that can provide the necessary tools.This thesis describes plasma diagnostic studies of plasma discharges, developments of plasma sources and deposition of CrN coatings. Initially the project investigated vacuum arc plasma discharges used in the Hauzer HTC1000/ABS industrially sized coater. The attention was concentrated to the plasma pretreatment by low energy (1200 - 3600 eV) Cr ion implantation into substrates, which contributed to an enhanced adhesion of subsequently deposited TiAIN coatings. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES), electrostatic probes, and time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy were used to study the interactions of the arc plasma with the gas atmosphere in the chamber. It was shown that increasing the pressure of Ar gas had a strong effect on the composition of the generated metal ion flux as the density of highly charged metal species reduced significantly to the benefit of gas ionisation. The mechanisms behind these observations are discussed and supported by further experiments. Based on the plasma diagnostic results, a novel two-stage pretreatment method was developed which allowed an enhanced adhesion due to faster sputter cleaning of the substrate surface and more efficient metal ion incorporation in the substrate material.In the final stages of the project a novel high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) process utilising peak power densities of 3000 Wcm[-2] was investigated. OES studies showed the first evidence of doubly charged Cr and Ti ions generated by the HIPIMS discharge. Peak plasma densities of 10[13] cm[-3] were measured and, in the case of Cr, metal ions were found to constitute 30% of the total deposition flux to substrates. The influence of power on the plasma density, plasma composition and time evolution of the plasma was studied in detail using OES and electrostatic probes. The conditions for glow-to-arc transition were investigated. CrN coatings (thickness 2 mum) were deposited for the first time using HIPIMS of Cr in a nitrogen atmosphere. The microstructure observed in transmission electron microscopy cross sections was highly dense and droplet free and contributed to an excellent corrosion and wear resistance superior to 20 mum thick electroplated hard Cr, and CrN coatings deposited by arc and unbalanced magnetron sputtering. The HIPIMS discharge was used also for pretreatment of substrates with metal ions analogous to the one performed previously with arc discharge. High adhesion was achieved as indicated by the scratch test critical load value Lc = 85 N.Finally, at an intermediate stage of the PhD project, an alternative source providing metal ionisation was studied. It was based on a radio frequency (RF) powered coil that was inductively coupled to a magnetron sputtering discharge. Energy resolved mass spectroscopy and OES in a laboratory-sized version of the plasma source revealed elevated metal ion densities and high ion energies of the order of 60 eV. This source was upscaled, installed, and tested successfully in the industrially sized Hauzer coater. The ion-to-neutral ratio at the substrate position could be increased 5-fold for a similar increase in RF power.


The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded Medicaid eligibility to adults with incomes under 138% of the federal poverty level, leading to substantial reductions in uninsured rates among low-income adults. Despite large gains in coverage, studies suggest that Latinos may be less likely than other racial/ethnic groups to apply and enroll in health insurance, and they remain the group with the highest uninsured rate in the United States. We explore two potential factors related to racial/ethnic differences in ACA enrollment—awareness of the law and receipt of application assistance such as navigator services. Using a survey of nearly 3000 low-income U.S. citizens (aged 19-64) in 3 states in late 2014, we find that Latinos had significantly lower levels of awareness of the ACA relative to other groups, even after adjusting for demographic covariates. Higher education was the strongest positive predictor of ACA awareness. In contrast, Latinos were much more likely to receive assistance from navigators or social workers when applying, relative to other racial/ethnic groups. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of ACA outreach efforts to increase awareness among low-income and less educated populations, two groups that are overrepresented in the Latino population, to close existing disparities in coverage.


After 21 years, a new MBBS curriculum has been released by the Medical Council of India (MCI), titled "Competency-based UG Curriculum for the Indian Medical Graduates." This curriculum is to be rolled out from August 2019 across India. The curriculum document runs through 890 pages in three volumes. Overall, 2939 competencies have been proposed to be acquired by trainee MBBS doctors. The parliament of India in one of its reports (2016) noted that the medical education system is designed in a way that the concept of family physicians has been ignored. Not to mention a formal introduction as discipline, the new MCI MBBS curriculum does not even mention the words "General Practice" or "Family Medicine" or "Family Physicians" throughout the voluminous document. The curriculum committee has also ignored the recommendations of National Health Policies (NHPs) of 2002 and 2017 of the Government of India (GOI). In practicality, it leaves the MBBS students in the road of no return of specialist and tertiary level hospitalist care. It deliberately deprives thousands of medical graduates an invaluable autonomous career in community setting as practicing family doctors. Simultaneously, this new curriculum drafting exposes a treacherous hierarchical monopoly of hospital based specialists doctors over generalist community based primary care physicians within the healthcare delivery system of India. Keeping out family physicians and general practitioners from the health system means a free flow of patients from community to expensive tertiary care facilities in the absence of any structured referral system. Family medicine and general practice are independent medical disciplines/specialties across world. The curriculum neither meets the national public health aspirations nor the GOI policies on medical education. If implemented, it will be disastrous to the healthcare delivery system and public good in general. The new MBBS curriculum deserves to be outright rejected for the inherent fallacies.


The tectonic evolution of the North American Gulf of Mexico continental margin is characterized by two Wilson cycles, i.e., repeated episodes of opening and closing of ocean basins along the same structural trend. This evolution includes (1) the Precambrian Grenville orogeny; (2) formation of a rift-transform margin during late Precambrian opening of the Iapetus Ocean; (3) the late Paleozoic Ouachita orogeny during assembly of Pangea; and (4) Mesozoic rifting during opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike the Atlantic margins, where Wilson cycles were first recognized, breakup in the Gulf of Mexico did not initially focus within the orogen, but was instead accommodated within a diffuse region adjacent to the orogen. This variation in location of rifting is a consequence of variations in the prerift architecture of the orogens. The Appalachian-Caledonian orogeny involved substantial crustal shortening and formation of a thick crustal root. In contrast, the Ouachita orogeny resulted in minimal crustal shortening and thickening. In addition, rather than a crustal root, the Ouachita orogen was underlain by the lower plate of a relatively pristine Paleozoic subduction system that is characterized by a shallow mantle. A finite element model simulating extension on the margin demonstrates that this preexisting structure exerted fundamental controls on the style of Mesozoic rifting. The shallow mantle created a strong lithosphere beneath the orogen, causing extension to initiate adjacent to, rather than within, the orogen. On the Atlantic margins, the thick crustal root resulted in a weak lithosphere and initiation of extension within the interior of the orogen. Major features of the modern Gulf of Mexico margin, including the Interior Salt Basin, outboard unextended Wiggins arch, and an unusually broad region of extension beneath the coastal plain and continental shelf, are direct consequences of the prerift structure of the margin.


Climatic change in the western Mediterranean basin over the last 140 ka has been investigated from sediment and soil sequences along the coast of the northeastern part of Mallorca, Spain. Palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironments are reconstructed from sediment and soil structures, marine and terrestrial molluscan fauna, grain size distributions, mineral magnetics, sediment and soil chemistry, SEM and oxygen isotope values. Dating is by OSL and amino acid geochronometry along with marine molluscan faunal assemblages. All Oxygen Isotope stages and substages from OIS 6 to 1 are recorded. Mean annual temperatures (m.a.t.) of c. 19.2°C for the climatic optimum of the Last Interglacial compare with c. 17.3°C for the present, and are associated with high sea level, extensive woodland and stable soils, although wide temperature ranges are detected during this stage with values as low as c. 10.3°C. Through OIS 5d to 5a m.a.t. fluctuated from 8.2°C to 17.9°C. Low sea level, open vegetation, effective river activity and aeolian sand and dust deposition characterize 5d and 5b while relatively high sea-level and soil development on stable landscapes dominate OIS 5c and 5a. OIS 4 is represented by m.a.t. of c. 4.9°C with aeolian sand and loess deposition, limited river activity and weak soil development. Loess deposition persisted into OIS 3, but at this time the m.a.t. was c. 13°C and with higher humidity and vegetation growth. During the LGM (OIS 2) m.a.t. was c. 8.1°C and effective river, slope and aeolian processes, along with associated with limited vegetation cover, were responsible for the most extensive changes in the landscape. Major rates of change occur during periods of climatic deterioration when the high levels of geomorphic energy were imposed on a landscape undergoing a breakdown of vegetation cover.


Solid tumors require neovascularization for growth and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a well-characterized inducer of angiogenesis, while, thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is thought to be an antiangiogenic factor. In this study, we examined the expressions of these antigens and their relationship with microvessel density, and determined their prognostic significance. One hundred specimens resected from patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were examined using immunohistochemical methods. Microvessel density, determined by immunostaining for factor VIII-related antigen, was significantly higher in tumors that were VEGF-positive and TSP-1-negative than in other tumors. Patients with VEGF-positive tumors had a significantly worse prognosis than did those with VEGF-negative tumors, and TSP-1 expression was inversely correlated with prognosis. The frequency of hepatic recurrence was significantly higher in patients with tumors that were VEGF-positive and TSP-1-negative than in all other patients. In conclusion, VEGF and TSP-1 are important regulators of tumor angiogenesis, and combined analysis of VEGF and TSP-1 may be useful for predicting recurrence in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma.


The research objective aims to evaluate the problems about the implementation of financial inclusion for the economic development especially in the area of South Tangerang and find solutions for the development financial inclusion. The research is qualitative research that using primary data and the data collection methods is in the questionnaires, interviews, and observations through the official website and Annual Report. The object of this research is OJK of Financial Services Authority as the regulator, five conventional banks are BRI, Mandiri, BNI, BCA and CIMB Niaga as supply side, and the micro and small category of Small Medium Enterprise in Tangerang Selatan area as the demand side. Using testing questionnaire data with validity and reliability test. The conclusion of the research is the OJK and banks have done enough support to improve the financial inclusion program to the micro and small category of SMEs. The majority of services and facilities available have been by the needs of SMEs, but there are still obstacles in marketing (marketing exclusion). Thus, an efficient solution is to educate and socialize more evenly and more vigorously, and invite other banks to participate in supporting OJK programs in increasing financial inclusion.


TPX2 has multiple functions during mitosis, including microtubule nucleation around the chromosomes and the targeting of Xklp2 and Aurora A to the spindle. We have performed a detailed domain functional analysis of TPX2 and found that a large N-terminal domain containing the Aurora A binding peptide interacts directly with and nucleates microtubules in pure tubulin solutions. However, it cannot substitute the endogenous TPX2 to support microtubule nucleation in response to Ran guanosine triphosphate (GTP) and spindle assembly in egg extracts. By contrast, a large C-terminal domain of TPX2 that does not bind directly to pure microtubules and does not bind Aurora A kinase rescues microtubule nucleation in response to RanGTP and spindle assembly in TPX2-depleted extract. These and previous results suggest that under physiological conditions, TPX2 is essential for microtubule nucleation around chromatin and functions in a network of other molecules, some of which also are regulated by RanGTP.


A variety of patterns for delivery of rural veterinary services during the past 200 years demonst rate that, for no country have purely or largely curative services been economically viable without direct or  indirect govermental subsidization. Te impact of such efforts upon overall productivity were rarely, if ever convincingly demonstrated ; yet veterinary curricula still continue to emphasize practice skills solely applicable to individual animal curative medicine. At the same time, govermental disease control programmes on a population level were almost exclusively mass campaigns conducted without benefit of sufficient baseline information on relevant distributions of diseases of causally related variables, therefore not optimally focused for best uses of scarce resources, not seldom able to accurately reflect their economic advantages in terms of benefits and costs.


As a file system ages, it can experience multiple forms of fragmentation. Fragmentation of the free space in the file system can lower write performance and subsequent read performance. Client operations as well as internal operations, such as deduplication, can fragment the layout of an individual file, which also impacts file read performance. File systems that allow sub-block granular addressing can gather intra-block fragmentation, which leads to wasted free space. Similarly, wasted space can also occur when a file system writes a collection of blocks out to object storage as a single large object, because the constituent blocks can become free at different times. The impact of fragmentation also depends on the underlying storage media. This article studies each form of fragmentation in the NetApp® WAFL®file system, and explains how the file system leverages a storage virtualization layer for defragmentation techniques that physically relocate blocks efficiently, including those in read-only snapshots. The article analyzes the effectiveness of these techniques at reducing fragmentation and improving overall performance across various storage media.


Viljandi 's St. Catherine's Chapel During the Middle Ages, St. Catherine's Chapel in Viljandi (Fellin) was located outside the town walls, and it was demolished in 1558, upon the outbreak of the Livonian War. In 1908, archaeological excavations were conducted in the vicinity of the former chapel under the direction of Karl Lowis of Menar. An octagonal limestone capital (now located in the Viljandi Museum) was found in the course of the excavations. Its facets are decorated with slightly raised fantastical animals and plant motifs. The capitals in the Great Guild Hall (currently the Estonian History Museum) in Tallinn that date from 1410 are very similar to the Viljandi capital. Apparently, they are the work of the same master. Therefore, we can date the Viljandi capital to the early 15th century. However, other sculptural medieval elements, which are not related to St. Catherine's Chapel, have also been found in its vicinity. Apparently, they have ended up there with the waste from subsequent centuries. So, we cannot say with certainty whether the capital with the relief decorations is from St. Catherine's Chapel. A large number of brick rib stones have also been found in the vicinity of the chapel. A similar form was in wide use in Livonia (Southern Estonia and also Riga) throughout the 15th century. Apparently, Viljandi's St. Catherine's Chapel was also built at that time. With the research that has been conducted to date, it is not possible to be sure about the dating of the chapel.


Measuring fidgeting is an important goal for the psychology of mind-wandering and for human computer interaction (HCI). Previous work measuring the movement of the head, torso and thigh during HCI has shown that engaging screen content leads to non-instrumental movement inhibition (NIMI). Camera-based methods for measuring wrist movements are limited by occlusions. Here we used a high pass filtered magnitude of wearable tri-axial accelerometer recordings during 2-minute passive HCI stimuli as a surrogate for movement of the wrists and ankles. With 24 seated, healthy volunteers experiencing HCI, this metric showed that wrists moved significantly more than ankles. We found that NIMI could be detected in the wrists and ankles; it distinguished extremes of interest and boredom via restlessness. We conclude that both free-willed and forced screen engagement can elicit NIMI of the wrists and ankles.


Changes in the beekeeping sector in Poland in the years 2010 to 2015 with particular focus on regional differences are discussed. The situation of amateur and professional beekeepers in terms of their socioeconomic statuses with regard to number of bee colonies, productivity, number of hives per 1 km sq., losses in the bee colonies is presented. The main sources of information, including the Central Statistical Office (CSO), FAOSTAT 2016, the reports and studies of S. Pieniążek Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice Division of Apiculture in Puławy, the materials of the Polish Association of Beekeepers. The comparative and descriptive methods have been applied in the analysis of the research problem. The article shows who is the beekeepers, how is the situation in the number and structure of bee colonies by province, inform about average size of an apiary, and density of honeybee colonies (number of colonies per 2 km sq.). The fragmentation of apiaries in Poland is a factor that has direct impact on the low profitability of production, while the associated high costs, small scale of production, and lack of investment capital, significantly reduce the economic results and hinder further development.


The authors examine how the use of extreme value theory yields collateral requirements that are robust to extreme fluctuations in the market price of the asset used as collateral. In particular, they study the risk and cost attributes of market risk measures by constructing a risk-cost frontier for the collateral pledged to cover exposures in a securities settlement system. The frontier can be used as a diagnostic tool to understand the risk-cost trade-off of different methodologies to calculate collateral value (haircuts) and select the most efficient alternative in a variety of settings.


In this paper, we consider the max-min signal-to- interference plus noise ratio (SINR) problem for the uplink transmission of a cell-free Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. Assuming that the central processing unit (CPU) and the users exploit only the knowledge of the channel statistics, we first derive a closed-form expression for uplink rate. In particular, we enhance (or maximize) user fairness by solving the max-min optimization problem for user rate, by power allocation and choice of receiver coefficients, where the minimum uplink rate of the users is maximized with available transmit power at the particular user. Based on the derived closed-form expression for the uplink rate, we formulate the original user max-min problem to design the optimal receiver coefficients and user power allocations. However, this max-min SINR problem is not jointly convex in terms of design variables and therefore we decompose this original problem into two sub- problems, namely, receiver coefficient design and user power allocation. By iteratively solving these sub-problems, we develop an iterative algorithm to obtain the optimal receiver coefficient and user power allocations. In particular, the receiver coefficients design for a fixed user power allocation is formulated as generalized eigenvalue problem whereas a geometric programming (GP) approach is utilized to solve the power allocation problem for a given set of receiver coefficients. Numerical results confirm a three-fold increase in system rate over existing schemes in the literature.


Oil pollution presents significant risks to living organism and human health because it can alter the ecosystem in rivers, seas, oceans, and pollutes air and soil. Oil, for example, can even reduce the efficiency of drinking water plants. Iraq suffers a lot from oil pollution as a result of wars that not only damage the oil infrastructures but also cause loss of thousand hectare of agriculture lands. In addition, oil pollution become primary factor that contribute to the electricity, fuel shortage and traffic jam problems. Oil pollution can be easily found in many parts of Iraq, even in main streets, houses and gardens due to the residents mismanagement and misuse of oily products. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to focus in detail about the sources and dangers of oil pollution on the environment and soil, as well as to provide some suggestions and measurements that can help in limiting the impact of oil pollution in Iraq.


More than any other period, the last hundred years have witnessed a rise in the accessibility of information through books, media, and the internet. This introduced new ways of learning and sharing Islamic knowledge. In this article, I consider how traditional Islamic knowledge and pedagogical techniques are challenged by the growing number of lay Muslims participating in religious discussions through print and the internet. I explain why the ʿulamā' perceive self-learning as a threat not only to the ostensibly proper understanding of religion but also to the redefinition and reinvention of their authority. I observe how print and digital media caused a shift away from the necessity of the teacher and facilitated autodidactic learning and claims to authority. Despite their criticism of self-learning, Traditionalists have embraced the internet in order to remain relevant and to compete with non-experts.


What might a sense of decolonisation (not)/be? Or, what comes after the logic of the coloniser? This question is at the centre of many debates in South Africa and extends to all countries worldwide who are faced with the challenge of self-determination by rethinking the world we live in after the domination of the world by the so-called "all enclosing Western world-view" incarnated in various oppressive political, economic, social and intellectual practices. The challenge of rethinking the world following the demotion of the West from its centre, as will be argued, is not only for those who are particularly living in a previously colonised world, but also for those who were/ still are in the position of dominance, which is a universal task. It is at this point where the various philosophical traditions meet, more precisely that of continental philosophy of religion and African philosophy. Accordingly, this article seeks to explore the question in two parts by way of an inter-cultural approach. Part one retraces the critique of (a certain) Western metaphysics in terms of its onto-theological constitution. Subsequently, this onto-theological constitution is discussed in relation to the notions of identity and political to outline what a sense of decolonisation might not be, that is a re-enforcement of the logic of the coloniser, which denies the full existence of an-other. In part two, four suggestions are made on what a sense of decolonisation might be in dialogue with Jean-Luc Nancy and Achille Mbembe. The suggestions include a two-sided attitude of reticence/dissidence against falling back into the problematic logic. A move to consider decolonisation as the dis-enclosure of the world, which in turn, opens up a space for an alternative ontology that acknowledges our existence as always being-in-the-word with others. The fourth suggestion concerns the implications of this alternative ontology regarding a non-substantialist notion of identity as melee, which is the action of constant struggle within the re-opened space for what it means to live in the world. Finally, it is concluded that the alternative ontology of decolonisation as dis-enclosure implies a universal task of taking responsibility for the reparation of the dignity of the whole of humanity within our shared world.


Wireless sensor networks are widely applied to many fields such as animal habitat monitoring, air traffic control, and health monitoring. One of the current problems with wireless sensor networks is the ability to overcome communication failures due to hardware failure, distributing sensors in an uneven geographic area, or unexpected obstacles between sensors. One common solution to overcome this problem is to place a minimum number of relay nodes among sensors so that the communication among sensors is guaranteed. This is called Relay Node Placement Problem (RNP). This problem has been proved as NP-hard for a simple connected graph. Therefore, many algorithms have been developed based on Steiner graphs. Since RNP for a connected graph is NP-hard, the RNP for a survivable network has been conjectured as NP-hard and the algorithms for a survivable network have also been developed based on Steiner graphs. In this study, we show the new approximation bound for the survivable wireless sensor networks using the Steiner graphs based algorithm. We prove that the approximation bound is guaranteed in an environment where some obstacles are laid, and also propose the newly developed algorithm which places fewer relay nodes than the existing algorithms. Consequently, the main purpose of this study is to find the minimum number of relay nodes in order to meet the survivability requirements of wireless sensor networks.


Abstract A multi-institutional study HAPL (High Average Power Laser) is investigating a relatively near term conceptual design of a laser driven inertial confinement reactor. A primary focus of the study is the protection of the first wall (FW) from the target emanations. This paper gives a brief analysis of one of several possible blankets that can be integrated with the chosen FW protection scheme. The structural material is conventional ferritic steel (FS) F82H cooled with liquid lithium. The maximum average temperature is constrained to 550°C. The chamber radius is 6.5 m at midplane, tapering to 2.5 m at the ends, and is surrounded by a cylindrical vacuum vessel. The first wall (FW) is 0.35 cm FS, which has a 0.1 cm thick layer of tungsten bonded to it facing the target. The FW is cooled with Li admitted at the bottom of the blanket, flows through a gap between 0.25-0.5 cm to the top, then returns through the center of the blanket channel to the bottom. There are 60 laser beam ports situated around the chamber. The tritium breeding ratio (TBR) is 1.124. A Brayton cycle is envisaged with an efficiency in the range of 42-44%.


Tantalum, a key element in the electronics industry, is produced mainly from rare element granitic pegmatites. Although their internal structure, mineralogy, and petrogenesis have been extensively investigated, the processes that control tantalum mineralization remain poorly understood, in particular the role of fluids in the crystallization of tantalum ore. One of the major problems arises from the difficulty in distinguishing primary magmatic from secondary, hydrothermal textures in such complex rocks. In the Tanco pegmatite, Manitoba, Canada, tantalum mineralization shows a complexity that reflects the complex petrogenesis of its host pegmatite. Eight different families of tantalum oxides occur in various associations and compositions. The Tanco Lower pegmatite is an isolated body beneath the main pegmatite body that contains abundant tantalum associated with mica alteration. Tantalum mineralization in the Tanco Lower pegmatite occurs as three different styles. Facies 1 is hosted by the wall zone and hosts primary magmatic Ta oxides with simple textures (progressive and oscillatory zoning). Facies 2 is hosted by the lower and upper intermediate zones where most mineralization occurs with dendritic amblygonite. Facies 3 is hosted by the central zone, which is affected by mica alteration. In this latter facies, the oxides show particularly complex textures evident from X-ray mapping. By combining information obtained from textural observations and chemical analyses, we are able to determine the paragenesis for each Ta oxide-bearing mineral assemblage and hence to evaluate the relative contributions of magmatic versus hydrothermal processes. In complex associations, we observe relics of primary Ta phases that are replaced or overgrown by secondary Ta phases. We propose the paragenetic sequence: columbite group minerals + microlite (early primary magmatic) → columbite + wodginite group minerals + microlite (late primary magmatic) → wodginite group minerals + microlite (secondary magmatic) → ferrotapiolite (secondary magmatic). In addition, chemical variations were identified in the columbite and wodginite group minerals, both at the crystal scale and at the pegmatite scale. Columbite and wodginite group minerals show the typical Ta* = Ta/(Ta + Nb) and Mn* = Mn/(Mn + Fe) (atomic ratios) increase from earlier to later zones. At the crystal scale, the increase in Ta* and Mn* with fractionation in the columbite group is explained by the higher solubility of the Ta end member relative to the Nb end member and the crystallization of other minerals that shift the melt composition toward Mn* enrichment. The fractionation trend in the wodginite group shows Fe enrichment, which is consistent with experimental results that show a higher solubility of the Fe end member relative to the Mn end member in columbite group minerals. Considering the available experimental data, as well as the intimate association of Ta oxides with zircon observed in this study, we conclude that tantalum mineralization is a product of direct crystallization from the melt rather than hydrothermal in origin. Fluids are attributed an indirect role only, as they could have brought minor elements (Fe, Mn, or Ca) into the melt, which resulted in the crystallization of secondary Ta phases. Textural evidence shows that the late secondary phases were formed at the same time as mica alteration. We suggest that mica alteration was due to a late melt, rather than a hydrothermal fluid, that reacted with the blocky K-feldspar of the central zone. During the alteration event, tantalum was remobilized from primary phases and incorporated in new, secondary Ta oxide species.


Both the Republican and Democratic parties have recently released platforms that offer insights into their views on research-related matters. The two presidential contenders, President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, have set out positions on thorny challenges such as returning American astronauts to space and enabling foreign-born scientists to work and live in the United States. They've also answered 14 questions posed by a coalition of pro-science organizations, including AAAS, which publishes Science . Taken together, the outpouring reveals some striking differences between the two candidates, as well as how their parties have shifted since 2008.


The extension of a segregated DC microgrid with different voltage levels to a fully bidirectional grid is surveyed in this paper. The approach offers efficient implementation of small sources of regenerative energies and distributed energy storage systems as well as the possibility to even include electric vehicles as sources with high capacity. Furthermore, energy stored in any part of the grid, regardless of the voltage domain, is accessible. The use of local SELV sub-units diminishes safety measures otherwise necessary in the LVDC domain. The concept with its assets and drawbacks is presented as well as hardware, requirements, and challenges concerning the realization. An analytical model to estimate the benefit is introduced and sample data for an existing microgrid are showcased.


The Article begins a systematic examination of race and torts. Despite the barriers posed by racist exclusionary structures and violence, many African-Americans sued for and received compensation for personal injuries in the first half of the twentieth century, winning verdicts and appellate decisions in all regions. However, the fact that black plaintiffs sometimes won does not mean that they were treated equally with whites. Examples from all stages of the litigation process demonstrate that race and racism have been significant in devaluing injuries to black plaintiffs. The process of racial categorization was a significant mechanism in devaluing black plaintiffs' claims. Powerful actors in the tort system focused on the race of black people in the course of measuring their injuries, finding that their race made their injuries from torts worth less than injuries to whites. Some judges even measured harm caused by the deaths of black family members based only on earlier cases involving deaths of blacks; in other words they used segregated precedents to measure blacks' injuries. This categorization process was one way that decisionmakers ignored the principle that like cases should be treated alike. The torts system's individualized focus, with no exacting requirement that results in cases be compared, gave free rein to whites' bias and unfavorable treatment of blacks' claims, and also made such bias very difficult to detect. Aggregate analysis of awards in dozens of fatality cases shows that awards to black families for the loss of a loved one were less than half of those to white families in similar situations. Tort cases both reflected and reinforced racial inequality. Going forward, although race is no longer on the surface of tort law, it is important to be mindful of the ways that different aspects of the tort system may contribute to devaluing tort claims of African-Americans and other racial minorities.


An efficient protocol for synthesis of indenyl rhodium complexes with arene ligands has been developed. The hexafluoroantimonate salts [(η5-indenyl)Rh(arene)](SbF6)2 (arene = benzene (2a), o-xylene (2b), mesitylene (2c), durene (2d), hexamethylbenzene (2e), and [2.2]paracyclophane (2g)) were obtained by iodide abstraction from [(η5-indenyl)RhI2]n (1) with AgSbF6 in the presence of benzene and its derivatives. The procedure is also suitable for the synthesis of the dirhodium arene complex [(μ-η:η′-1,3-dimesitylpropane){Rh(η5-indenyl)}2](SbF6)4 (3) starting from 1,3-dimesitylpropane. The structures of [2e](SbF6)2, [2g](SbF6)2, and [3](SbF6)4 were determined by X-ray diffraction. The last species has a sterically unfavorable conformation, in which the bridgehead carbon atoms of the indenyl ligand are arranged close to the propane linker between two mesitylene moieties. Experimental and DFT calculation data revealed that the benzene ligand in 2a is more labile than that in the related cyclopentadienyl complex...


ABSTRACT A key concern when crafting sustainable development policy is maximizing the benefits that derive from economic growth, such as increases in life-expectancy, while also reducing the negative impact that such growth has on environmental systems. In order to explore such tradeoffs research in environmental sociology has focused on a measurement of socio-environmental intensity known as the carbon intensity of well-being (CIWB). We explore the asymmetrical relationship between economic activity and CIWB for 153 nations from 1961–2013, as well as the theoretical implications of such a relationship. We initially find that in developed nations economic growth has no significant relationship to CWIB, however, declines in economic activity do significantly reduce CIWB. In less developed nations we find that increases and decreases in economic development are both significantly associated to CIWB and have associations which are not distinguishable from one another in magnitude. In an attempt to better understand these differences, we take financial processes into account, finding that such considerations account for the finding of asymmetry. Taken together, the findings of this study demonstrate the importance of considering the possibility of directional asymmetry, as well as the theoretical implications of such asymmetry, when specifying statistical models for regression analyses.


This article presents a new teaching methodology implemented on a basic mathematics course for Engineering students at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). The experience of its implementation in the 2010/11 academic year is described and the results are discussed. This methodology is based on formative assessment. As well as doing the activities contained in the course materials, students take weekly practice and assessment quizzes and receive automatic feedback. Not only are they told whether their answers are correct, but they also receive suggestions and comments on the possible sources of their errors. The results suggest that this teaching methodology gives students the opportunity to regulate their own learning processes while allowing lecturers to identify and react to problems in a responsive, timely manner. They also suggest that it fosters interaction among students and between students and lecturers. Moreover, since the teaching methodology was introduced, the number of students dropping out of the subject has fallen considerably.


Metal-free carbon catalysts have attracted great interest because of their high electrical conductivity, tailorable porosity and surface area, affordability, and sustainability. In particular, their bifunctional activity for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER) is attractive for electrochemical splitting of water. However, pristine carbon materials have low activities for HER/OER. Here, a high-performance carbon electrocatalyst is demonstrated by first pyrolyzing a metal–organic framework (MOF), i.e., zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), followed by optimized cathodic polarization treatment (CPT). Pyrolyzing ZIF-8 produces a highly N-doped (8.4 at%) carbon material having a large specific surface area of 1017 m2 g−1 with micro and mesopores. CPT in 0.5 M H2SO4 for up to 8 hours modulates the composition of N- and O-containing surface functional groups of the pyrolyzed ZIF-8 without sacrificing its large surface area and pore size distribution. After the 6-hour CPT, this material shows an excellent HER activity in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte with an overpotential of 155 mV, a Tafel slope of 54.7 mV dec−1, and an exchange current density of 0.063 mA cm−2. And the 4-hour CPT results in excellent OER activity in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte with an overpotential of 476 mV and a Tafel slope of 78.5 mV dec−1. In a demonstration, these two carbon electrocatalysts steadily run a two-electrode water electrolyzer at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 over 8 hours under a potential of 1.82 V with a Faradaic efficiency of 98.0–99.1% in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte. The superior activity of the designed carbon electrocatalysts can be attributed to the functional group composition modulation achieved by CPT. High-performance metal-free carbon electrocatalysts derived from MOFs show excellent potentials for energy and environmental applications.


The College of Letters (COL) is a three-year interdisciplinary major for the study of European literature, history, and philosophy, from antiquity to the present. During these three years, students participate as a cohort in a series of five colloquia in which they read and discuss (in English) major literary, philosophical, and historical texts and concepts drawn from the three disciplinary fields, and also from monotheistic religious traditions. Majors are invited to think critically about texts in relation to their contexts and influences—both European and nonEuropean—and in relation to the disciplines that shape and are shaped by those texts. Majors also become proficient in a foreign language and study abroad to deepen their knowledge of another culture. As a unique college within the University, the COL has its own library and workspace where students can study together, attend talks, and meet informally with their professors, whose offices surround the library.


BACKGROUND: The final step in the creation of the neo-breast is reconstruction of the nipple-areolar complex (NAC), which is aimed toward bringing the appearance of the NAC closer to that of the contralateral breast following mastectomy. NAC restoration has historically been a stepwise procedure, in which reconstruction of the nipple by the use of grafts or local flaps was followed by reconstruction of the areola to achieve the correct color. Currently, the popularity of the areolar tattoo is increasing compared to traditional techniques. The aim of this study was to describe the technique and equipment used for intra-dermal tattooing in mastectomized patients at the Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery Service of the Walter Cantidio University Hospital (Fortaleza, CE, Brazil). METHODS: This study describes the steps of the repair procedure by using permanent areolar tattooing with conventional equipment from a professional tattoo artist. The procedure was used in 10 patients undergoing post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. RESULTS: The advantages of this method included the technical simplicity of the procedure, the ability to use this procedure in outpatients, and the lack of morbidity of the donor areas. CONCLUSIONS: Tattooing the NAC is a safe, fast procedure with low morbidity and good results of breast reconstruction.