I have been interested in judicial administration for many years--since long before I was a judge--and I have been a judge for twenty-four years, all on the Seventh Circuit, and so I have experienced what I shall be talking about. I will offer some reflections based on that experience, but this is primarily a statistical study. I refer you to my book for greater detail on points sketchily covered here. (1) though the book is already somewhat dated. My discussion is keyed to a series of tables. Table 1 is a time series of cases filed in federal district courts and Table 2 is the same but for filings in state trial courts, this time series being abbreviated because the data are unavailable for the period before 1987. Note in Table 1 the inflection point around 1960 for the federal district courts, which initiates a huge growth that continues to the mid-1980s, with little growth since then. (In contrast, the caseload of the state trial courts has been growing uninterruptedly since the first data point, 1987.) Skipping ahead to Table 5, notice how easily the growth has been accommodated by the addition of federal judges, as a result of which the average caseload per district judge has not increased significantly. District judges and other first-instance judges can be added with little difficulty to absorb increases in caseload because there is no coordination problem; the judges are not a collective rulemaking body like appellate judges. [TABLES 1-2 & 5 OMITTED] But this raises a question: Why the vanishing-trials phenomenon depicted in Table 8, that is, the sharp decline in the percentage of cases that are resolved by judgment after trial? That sounds like an adaptation to heavier caseloads, yet caseloads per district judge aren't significantly heavier. [TABLE 8 OMITTED] Tables 3 and 4 are parallel to Tables 1 and 2 but their statistics are for federal and state appellate rather than trial courts. Notice the huge increase in the appeal rate (2) in the federal system, mysteriously coupled with an apparent fall in the appeal rate in the state system. A comparison with Table 2 reveals that the increase in the number of state-court appeals has been less than that in the number of cases at the trial-court level. In fact the number of appeals has been decreasing recently; but a limitation of the data, of course, is that they begin only in 1987. [TABLES 3-4 OMITTED] The steep increase in the federal appeal rate is a considerable puzzle only slightly explained by the increase in the percentage of prisoner cases (both habeas corpus and civil rights), as shown in Table 7. One possibility is that with more judges there is greater uncertainty about the outcome of an appeal, and uncertainty in outcome is a big factor in generating appeals. Another possibility is the vanishing-trials phenomenon: There is a fuller consideration of the issues at the trial-court level when there is a trial, and that greater consideration should reduce uncertainty about the merits of the parties' claims and therefore about the likely outcome of an appeal. Also, there is greater appellate reluctance to upset a judgment after a trial; the judges tend to feel that the loser had his shot. Knowing this, the loser is less likely to appeal. [TABLE 7 OMITTED] Table 6 depicts changes in the federal appellate caseload per judge. Because adding appellate judges to match caseload increase creates problems of increased paperwork, of coordination, and of coherence, it is resisted; and with the increase in the number of appellate judges thus lagging the increase in appellate caseload, one observes the dramatic increase in federal appellate caseloads per judge that is shown in this table. [TABLE 6 OMITTED] Yet the federal courts of appeals appear to have accommodated the steep increase in caseload per judge relatively painlessly. …


This research uses learner voice to explore low level disruption in level two classrooms in a college of further education. The aim of the research is to develop a better understanding of factors influencing classroom interaction and learner achievement, and to suggest ways in which the findings may be used to minimise disruption in the classroom.

The learners who took part in the research had been identified by teaching staff as persistent disrupters in level two vocational classes. The purpose of the research was explained to each individual and the research comprised of three stages: individual interviews were held with learners; a card sorting exercise, selected for its interactive qualities, was conducted with each learner; and college-held data was used to establish factors which affected behaviour in the classroom.

The research findings have been theoretically grounded in Giddens' structuration theory. Structuration theory facilitated recognition of changes in behaviour in classrooms, and the identification of explanatory patterns. It has been used to underpin the final argument; that reasons for disruption are complex, different for each learner, and can be critical to learner progression.

The findings demonstrate that individual, home and community and institutional factors have the capacity to influence learner behaviour in the classroom. Whilst the impact of these factors can vary from individual to individual, they can all be seen to be of significant relevance to achievement and progression. The value of learner voice can be seen in the insight gained into individual learner experiences and in the attempt taken to use this information to address the balance of power in the classroom.


Garment button industry uses unsaturated polyester based on ethylene glycol and maleic acid to produce thermoset plastic sheets using styrene (31-34 w/w%) as a cross-linking agent. Buttons are produced by casting process and remaining part of the sheet becomes an inherent waste. This research study evaluated the curing behaviour of the powdered thermoset polyester waste (PTPW) of garment button industry as an alternative for amine hardener in epoxy resin systems. Particle size distribution was analysed using the standard sieve analysis method. It indicated that majority (83 w/w%) of the particles were in the range of 125 – 500 µm. Set-to-touch drying time of the epoxy resin system was significantly improved when PTPW was blended with amine hardener. The fastest drying was observed with 30-70% of powdered waste in the blend of amine hardener and PTPW. When an amine molecule reacts with an epoxy ring, it combines to one end of the epoxy resin molecule. Since PTPW particle has more than one reactive and accessible COOH and OH group, each particle can chemically combine with a number of epoxy rings to initiate the cross-linking process. However the effect on set to touch drying time was marginal with the increase of PTPW above 70% and may be due to the initiation of ring opening reactions of epoxy resin with carboxylic groups and hydroxyl groups. PTPW was kept overnight in alkali medium to break the ester links and was acidified with sulphuric acid to generate –COOH and –OH groups. Hydrolysed powder was thoroughly washed to remove sulphuric residues and dried at 105 °C. FTIR spectra of PTPW before and after the hydrolysis reaction indicated the presence of hydrogen-bonded O-H stretching after hydrolysis. Matrix of PTPW particle is hydrophobic in nature since the chains are cross-linked by styrene units. The –COOH and –OH groups which are formed in the hydrolysis tend to form hydrogen-bonds with each other within the matrix itself.  Set-to-touch drying characteristics of PTPW and hydrolysed PTPW were very similar to amine hardener when used in the epoxy resin system. When hydrolysed PTPW was blended in proportion with amine hardener, no significant improvement of set to touch drying time was observed. Even though the hydrolysis generated more hydroxyl groups and carboxyl groups within the matrix of particles, number of freely accessible carboxylic and hydroxyl groups without steric hindrance to the epoxy ring structure may not be significant. Therefore the presence of excess number of functional groups per particle is not an advantage by means of drying characteristics. Keywords : Epoxy resin system / Plastic waste / Garment button industry / Hardener / Epoxy grout Acknowledgement : T and S Buttons Lanka (Pvt) Ltd provided a sample of waste in powder form.


Get your Web site to "show you the money" by using Google to draw more eyes--and wallets--to your content. In this friendly, four-color guide from veteran author and Web developer Eric Giguere, you'll learn all about Google's AdSense program and how you can use it to make your Web site or blog more profitable. Written in an easy-to-read, non-technical style, this book follows three average people--Claude, Stef, and Anita--as they learn to create money-making blogs and Web sites. Through their experiences, you'll learn: basic Web terminology; the Google Adsense nuts and bolts; how to host, build, and publish targeted ads and Google search boxes to your Web site; filter out inappropriate ads; track page performance; drive traffic to your site; and more. A four-part companion Web site features a blog, includes reader resources, and details the techniques discussed in the book. Online marketers agree that AdSense is one of the best tools you can use to draw dollars to your site. Let Giguere show you how to make the most of Google and have fun doing it!


Section I. Chapter 1. Overview. Yoshinori Mine, Kazuo Miyashita, Fereidoon Shahidi. Chapter 2. OMICS in Nutrition and Health Research. Martin Kussmann. Section II. Chapter 3. Toward Personalized Nutrition and Medicine: Promises and Challenges. Baitang Ning and Jim Kaput. Chapter 4. Obesity and Nuclear Receptors: Effective Genomic Strategies in Functional Foods. Teruo Kawada, Tsuyoshi Goto, Shizuka Hirai, Rina Yu, and Nobuyuki Takahashi. Chapter 5. Inflammatory Genes Involved in Obesity-induced Inflammatory Responses and Pathologies. Rina Yu. Chapter 6. Genomics and Proteomics in Allergy. Icy D'Silva and Yoshinori Mine. Section III. Chapter 7. Beneficial Effects of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). Kazunori Koba and Teruyoshi Yanagita. Chapter 8. Regulation of Gene Transcription by Fatty Acids. Jean-Paul Pegorier. Chapter 9. Non-nutrient Functionality of Amino Acids. Yoshinori Mine and Connie J. Kim. Chapter 10. Functional Bioactive Proteins and Peptides in Nutrigenomic. Denise Young and Yoshinori Mine. Chapter 11. Anti-obesity Effect of Allenic Carotenoid, Fucoxanthin. Kazuo Miyashita and Masashi Hosokawa. Chapter 12. Control of Systemic Inflammation and Chronic diseases - The Use of Turmeric and Curcuminoids. Stig Bengmark. Chapter 13. Alteration in Gene Expression and Proteomic Profiles by Soy Isoflavone. Fazlul H. Sarkar and Yiwei Li. Chapter 14. Green Tea Polyphenols Modulated Genome Functions for Protective Health Benefits. Molay K. Roy, Mahendra P. Kapoor, Lekh R. Juneja. Chapter 15. Oat Avenanthramides: A Novel Antioxidant. Li Li Ji, Ryan Koenig and Mitchell L. Wise . Chapter 16. Cancer-Preventive Effects and Molecular Actions of Anthocyanins. De-Xing Hou. Chapter 17. Food Components Activating Capsaicin Receptor TRPV1. Tatsuo Watanabe, Yusaku Iwasaki, Akihito Morita and Kenji Kobata. Chapter 18. New Therapeutic Effects of Anthocyanins: Anti-obesity Effect, Anti-diabetes Effect, and Vision Improvement. Takanori Tsuda and Hitoshi Matsumoto. Chapter 19. Licorice Flavonoids. Shinichi Honda, Yuji Tominaga, Shinichi Yokota. Chapter 20. Isoprenols. Tsuyoshi Goto, Nobuyuki Takahashi, Shizuka Hirai and Teruo Kawada. Chapter 21. Anti-inflammatory and Anti-carcinogenesis Potentials of Citrus Coumarins and Polymethylated Flavonoids. Akira Murakami and Hajime Ohigashi. Chapter 22. Probiotics: Food for Thought. Kingsley C Anukam, and Gregor Reid. Section IV. Chapter 23. Microarrays: A Powerful Tool for Studying the Functions of Food and Its Nutrients. Hiroshi MANO, Jun SHIMIZU, and Masahiro WADA. Chapter 24. Challenges and Current Solutions in Proteomic Sample Preparations. Feng Tao. Chapter 25. Computational Methods in Cancer Gene Networking. Edwin Wang. Chapter 26. Peptodomics. Anil Kumar Puttaswamy and Yoshinori Mine.


Benchmarking has become an important element of park management, as park managers increasingly use the resultant information to guide their activities and assist in the strategic allocation of diminishing management resources. It is also important in providing accountability and transparency for stakeholders who continue to be interested in the management activities and outcomes from park agencies. Benchmarking, when undertaken over time, allows the performance of an organisation or suite of organisations to be evaluated and the information used to extend best practice and improve poorly performing areas. The strategic use of information is a critical part of the 'solution' for park management across the entire sector. Such solutions will underpin the considerations of the IUCN World Parks Congress in November 2014 with its theme of Parks, People, Planet: Inspiring Solutions.

This report outlines the performance of park agencies in Australia and New Zealand as part of the ongoing Great Parks Network Benchmark Survey, initially developed by Parks Forum in 2007. Of the 43 full members of Parks Forum, 25 local government, government department, park agencies and regional bodies completed the 2013 survey (58% of Parks Forum members). This is the third benchmark survey, and the second survey since the methodology was refined for the 2010 survey. Included in this report are results from the three surveys, allowing for the identification of general trends over the period 2007 to 2013. The sources of information agencies used to answer the benchmark questions expanded in the 2013 survey to encompass planning documents, research and specialist opinion as well as staff experience, which predominantly informed earlier surveys.


onditions of Contract for Construction, which are recommended for building or engineering works designed by the Employer or by his representative, the Engineer. Under the usual arrangements for this type of contract, the Contractor constructs the works in accordance with a design provided by the Employer. However, the works may include some elements of Contractor-designed civil, mechanical, electrical and/or construction works


Global carbon budget studies indicate that the terrestrial ecosystems have remained a large sink for carbon despite widespread deforestation activities. CO 2 fertilization, N deposition and re-growth of mid-latitude forests are believed to be key drivers for land carbon uptake. In this study, we assess the importance of N deposition by performing idealized near-equilibrium simulations using the Community Land Model 4.0 (CLM4). In our equilibrium simulations, only 12–17% of the deposited nitrogen is assimilated into the ecosystem and the corresponding carbon uptake can be inferred from a C : N ratio of 20 : 1. We calculate the sensitivity of the terrestrial biosphere for CO 2 fertilization, climate warming and N deposition as changes in total ecosystem carbon for unit changes in global mean atmospheric CO 2 concentration, global mean temperature and Tera grams of nitrogen deposition per year, respectively. Based on these sensitivities, it is estimated that about 242 PgC could have been taken up by land due to the CO 2 fertilization effect and an additional 175 PgC taken up as a result of the increased N deposition since the pre-industrial period. Because of climate warming, the terrestrial ecosystem could have lost about 152 PgC during the same period. Therefore, since pre-industrial times terrestrial carbon losses due to warming may have been more or less compensated by effects of increased N deposition, whereas the effect of CO 2 fertilization is approximately indicative of the current increase in terrestrial carbon stock. Our simulations also suggest that the sensitivity of carbon storage to increased N deposition decreases beyond current levels, indicating that climate warming effects on carbon storage may overwhelm N deposition effects in the future.


Phrase break prediction is very important for speech synthesis. Traditional methods of phrase break prediction have used linguistic resources like part-of-speech (POS) sequence information for modeling these breaks. In the context of Indian languages, we propose to look at syllable level features and explore the use of word-terminal syllables to model phrase breaks. We hypothesize that these terminal syllables serve to discriminate words based on syntactic meaning, and can therefore be used to model phrase breaks. We utilize these terminal syllables in building models for automatic phrase break prediction from text and demonstrate by means of objective and subjective measures that these models perform as well as traditional models using POS sequence information. Thus the proposed method avoids the need for POS taggers for prosodic phrasing in Indian languages.


High time resolution broadband pump-probe experiments on CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr3 films are described. The improved time resolution delineates instantaneous and delayed relaxation related effects on sample absorption and assists in clarifying controversial assignment of the underlying mechanisms. Analysis of the data in terms of finite difference spectra and spectral band integrals reveals that photoexcitation is high in the inter-band continuum leading to partial bleaching and red-shifts of the exciton band just below the absorption-edge instantaneously. Increased pump intensity saturates the exciton bleach and progressively reduces inter-band absorption in a broad range extending from the band edge to higher photon energies. Both effects are attributed to reduced Coulomb enhancement due to hot carrier screening. The spectral extent of the inter-band absorption attenuation provides estimated binding energies in the range of 20–30 meV in both materials. Sub-picosecond carrier cooling reverses the initial exciton transition red-shift and induces transmission near the band edge due to state filling and stimulated emission. Finally, 1–100 ps signals are dominated by reverse state filling due to non-geminate recombination. These results demonstrate that both inter-band and exciton absorptions are essential for unraveling photo-induced dynamics in these materials, and that insights obtained from many-body theoretical analysis of dynamic screening are essential for correctly assigning the recorded spectral evolution.


The aim of this study is to reveal the influence of multiple leadership types on organizational
agility. For this purpose, data is collected through a survey and interviews from randomly
selected 333 managers in İzmir Dokuz Eylül Technology Development Zone. Mixed method
approach is used to analyze this study. The data obtained based on the sequential explanatory,
one of the mixed method design, was analyzed. Reliability, correlation, explanatory and
confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), path analysis and content
analysis were performed to reach the findings. Results show that transformational and
transactional leadership have significant while laissez faire has insignificant influence on
organizational agility. The quantitative analysis results of the study are also supported by the
qualitative analysis results.


This paper introduces and describes the goals, concept and overall approach of the European 7th Framework Programme's project named CLOSE-SEARCH, which stands for 'Accurate and safe EGNOS-SoL Navigation for UAV-based low-cost SAR operations'. The goal of CLOSE-SEARCH is to integrate in a helicopter-type Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), a thermal imaging sensor and a multi-sensor navigation system (based on the use of a Barometric Altimeter (BA), a Magnetometer (MAGN), a Redundant Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and an SBAS-enabled GNSS receiver) with an Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (AIM) capability, to support the search component of Search-And-Rescue (SAR) operations in remote, difficult-to-access areas and/or in time critical situations. The proposed integration will result in a Hardware and Software prototype that will demonstrate an end-to-end functionality, that is to fly in patterns over a region of interest (possibly inaccessible) during day or night and also under adverse weather conditions,and locate there disaster survivors or lost people through the detection of the body heat In other words, CLOSE-SEARCH strives to be a low-cost and robust system that searches for distressed people in situations where only an approximate knowledge of their whereabouts is available. Finally, it is also the goal of CLOSE-SEARCH to demonstrate the added value of a future multi-constellation augmented GNSS configuration (Galileo/GPS-EGNOS or Galileo/GPS-SoL). Two key target attributes of the proposed concept are first the overall low-cost in the context of SAR (so it can be massively implemented and integrated into existing SAR operation chains) and second the ultra-safe navigation. The latter concept is of the utmost importance when dealing with autonomous platforms, as in this case, enhanced system robustness against undesired failures is needed. In addition, nowadays the employment of UAVs is closely observed by the public as well as the state-authorities and therefore an accident might be socially harmful. Although we are aware that ultra-safe navigation is just a part if the problem -safety must be ensured at several levels (redundant communication links, duplicated mechanical components, etc. ) our primary focus is the navigational aspect. The ultra-safe concept is twofold: firstly, it embodies the necessary -though not sufficient, as already mentioned- condition of integrating a manifold of navigation sensors in a way that the precision, accuracy and reliability can be estimated. Secondly, the estimates of precision, accuracy and reliability shall meet some [rather demanding] criteria. Thus, the proposed prototype requires the integration of EGNOS and [future] Galileo/GPS SoL services, 3D geospatial databases (Digital Surface Model, DSM), RINS/GNSS close-coupling algorithms, as well as UAS, communications and remote-sensing technologies to achieve this goal. It also requires a mechanism to measure and manage the achieved reliability by this multi-sensor approach which is the so-called Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (AIM). This paper will identify the technical challenges of the proposed approach, from navigating with a BA/MAGN/RINS/GPS-EGNOS-based integrated system to the interpretation of thermal images for person identification. Moreover, the AIM approach will be described together with the proposed integrity requirements. Finally, this paper will show some results obtained in the project during the first test campaign performed on November, 25th 2010. On that day, a prototype was flown in three different missions to assess its high-level performance and to observe some fundamental mission parameters as the optimal flying height and flying speed to enable body recognition. The second test campaign is scheduled for early September, 2011. Hence, this paper will also describe the proposed tests and some preliminary results.


The Great East Japan Earthquake caused many casualties and radiation contamination from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and many problems still remain in the disaster area. The communication network was severely affected by the earthquake. The network disconnection greatly delayed the rescue work and isolated many residential areas. This lack of robust network connection has become one of the major topics for any discussion of a Disaster Information Network System. This paper proposes a Never Die Network (NDN) which will consist of a Cognitive Wireless Network (CWN) and a Satellite Network. The best possible wireless links and routes are selected out of multiple wireless networks. This proposal, first of all, puts forward a cognition cycle which has a continuous network and user changing environment. Secondly, the optimal link selection will adapt the extended Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method by a change of network environment and user policy during a disaster. Then, if the network environment or user environment can be changed, a proper route selection method can be conducted by the proposed extended Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) method with Min-Max AHP values. The simulation described in this paper contains an evaluation of the proposed methods by comparing a single ordinal wireless network system and a CWN for the disaster situations. The probable effectiveness of the proposed methods is discussed in this paper.


Efficacious but expensive new technology has contributed to the rapid escalation of health care costs. The CT Scanner has become a symbol of the technological imperative. The health planning process at its best has experienced only limited success with this problem. This article highlights the findings of the author's study of regional planning for CT Scanner diffusion, and draws the implication that the existing system of planning and certificate-of-need regulation has been only marginally successful because of the absence of a proper incentive system. Under the reform proposal, an annual dollar limit would be placed on the capital expenditures that could be approved for future Medicare-Medicaid reimbursement. This limitation would create a set of incentives leading to close community scrutiny of capital expenditures, and would allow changes in the institutional structure of regional planning to create greater public accountability.


Background: There are various types of sleep disorders, such as insomnia, hypersomnia, and rhythm disorder, which are attributed to diverse and complex background factors. Recently, many studies have reported that lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria, and lactoferrin, are related to fatigue and sleep. Considering these factors, we prepared a test food samples containing lactic acid bacteria ingredients (fermentation products, living bacteria, and ground bacteria) derived from the lactic acid bacterium strain Lactobacillus helveticus (LBH_MIKI-020) and theanine, which is known to have a relaxing effect, and subjectively and objectively tested its effects on the quality of sleep.Methods: In this placebo-controlled, double-blinded, randomized crossover study, we randomly selected 40 male and female subjects (aged 20-64 years) to consume for four weeks test food (lactic acid bacteria ingredients –containing) tablets and placebo control food. The physical examination and laboratory test, sleep electroencephalography, Ogri-Shirakawa-Azumi sleep questionnaire (OSA sleep questionnaire), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questionnaire were measured at during this study period.Results: Sleep electroencephalography: the intergroup comparison in changes until the 4th week showed a significant increase (improvements) compared with placebo control food group. In addition, the sleep efficiency (SE) was compared within the group. In the test food group, the SE increased (improved) significantly in 4 weeks. OSA sleep questionnaire: in intragroup analyses between week 0 and week 4, significant increases (improvements) were found in the test food group. PSQI: in intragroup comparisons between week 0 and week 4, significant decreases (improvements) were found in the test food group. VAS questionnaire: in intragroup comparisons between week 0 and week 4, significant decreases (improvements) were found in the test food group. Conclusion: The sleep efficiency (SE) is improved by continuous consumption of test food (lactic acid bacteria-containing food). Among various sleep disorders, a large population in Japan has trouble with the quality of sleep. Consumption of lactic acid bacteria-containing foods can be a useful means to safely improve the quality of sleep from the viewpoint of self-medication as well. Keywords: lactobacillus helveticus ; lactic acid bacteria; clinical trial; quality of sleep; sleep EEG; OSA sleep questionnaire; PSQI


The aspiration of government linked companies (GLCs) to be global and domestic champion in 2015 urged the need of effective leadership in transforming GLCs to attain breakthrough performance as well as to maintain industrial harmony. Hence, it
is essential to understand how leaders play important roles through examine the relationship between leadership styles and leadership effectiveness in Malaysian GLCs context. Another, as a developing country, diversity in Malaysia has increased, thus including demographic factors (gender, age, working experiences) in this study is also vital to understand what constitutes effective leaders. The study encompassed three styles of leaders as proposed by the full range of leadership (FRL) theory and the sample was strictly drawn from the employees of G20 (selection of largest GLCs participated in GLCs transformation programme) through multistage sampling method. As results, the study found that transformational leadership style was the most effective followed by transactional leadership style. As an integrative
approached of FRL theory, the injections of transformational character into transactional leadership style would makes GLCs leaders even more effective.Contrarily to passive/avoidant style, it was not significant to leadership effectiveness.Based on study's findings, GLCs leaders were most likely to practice transactional
leadership style, thus GLCs must take initiative to vaccinate more transformational leadership style on GLCs leaders. Another, the study has also found that working experience and leadership styles was significantly different but no significant differences found between gender and age in the linear combination of leadership styles. The study has brought awareness to GLCs leaders to play their important roles by practicing the right style to be more effective as well as sensitive to the differences
of employees' working experiences


The majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease have cerebral amyloid angiopathy, thus showing deposition of amyloid-β peptides in the walls of leptomeningeal and cortical arterioles. These deposits are believed to result from impaired clearance of parenchymal amyloid-β peptides. In the current work, we examined the changes in cortical microvascular structure and function in situ in TgCRND8, a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. In contrast to venules, cortical arterioles were shown to increase in tortuosity and decrease in calibre with amyloid-β peptide accumulation. These structural changes were accompanied by progressive functional compromise, reflected in higher dispersion of microvascular network transit times, elongation of the transit times, and impaired microvascular reactivity to hypercapnia in the transgenic mice. Moreover, inhibition of amyloid-β peptide oligomerization and fibrillization via post-weaning administration of scyllo-inositol, a naturally occurring stereoisomer of myo-inositol, rescued both structural and functional impairment of the cortical microvasculature in this Alzheimer's disease model. These results demonstrate that microvascular impairment is directly correlated with amyloid-β accumulation and highlight the importance of targeting cerebrovascular amyloid angiopathy clearance for effective diagnosis, monitoring of disease progression and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.


This article examines the potential contribution of archaeological human skeletal material, in particular craniometric data, to interpretations of the nature of the transition to farming in Europe. The material is discussed particularly in relation to recent debates about demographic variables and processes and modern genetic frequency patterns. It is suggested that biological morphometrics enables the comparison of ancient populations on a regional basis. Analysis of the material suggests that there was considerable morphological heterogeneity among the earliest farmers of the Levant belonging to the PrePottery Neolithic but that similar variability is generally not seen among the earliest mainland agriculturalists of southeastern Europe. We propose that this may be explained by the existence of a genetic bottleneck among Anatolian populations and that it supports models of the largely exogenous origin of many early Neolithic populations in this region. Regional comparisons further demonstrate a biologically more complex relationship between Mesolithic and Neolithic populations in the central and western Mediterranean. The regional and chronological variability of transitions to farming is stressed, and it is pointed out that different techniques highlight different aspects of the processes involved at a range of scales and resolutions.


Objectives Fibrosis is a predominant cause of death in systemic sclerosis (SSc). First epigenetic modifications have recently been shown to contribute to activation of SSc fibroblasts. Here, we investigated inhibition of sumoylation as a novel antifibrotic approach. Methods Sumoylation was inhibited by siRNA-mediated knockdown of the Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifiers (SUMO) E2-conjugating enzyme Ubc9, which is essential for sumoylation. The effects of knockdown of Ubc9 were analysed in bleomycin-induced dermal fibrosis, and in the model of fibrosis induced by overexpression of a constitutively active TGF-beta receptor type I (TBR). SUMO-1 and phosphorylated Smad3 were detected by immunohistochemistry. Results Increased staining for SUMO-1 was detected in patients with SSc and in experimental fibrosis. Inhibition of sumoylation exerted potent antifibrotic effects and prevented dermal thickening, myofibroblast differentiation and accumulation of collagen induced by bleomycin, or by overexpression of constitutively active TBR. Moreover, knockdown of Ubc9 reduced the accumulation of phosphorylated Smad3 in experimental fibrosis indicating that inhibition of sumoylation may normalise canonical TGF-β signalling in vivo. Conclusions We demonstrate that inhibition of sumoylation reduces canonical TGF-β signalling and prevents experimental fibrosis in different preclinical models. These data provide first evidence that targeting of aberrant sumoylation may be a novel therapeutic approach for fibrotic diseases.


Purpose. Explore the importance of residential mobility and use of services outside neighborhoods when interventions targeting low-income families are planned and implemented. Design. Analysis of cross-sectional telephone household survey data on childhood mobility and school enrollment in four large distressed cities. Setting. Baltimore, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Richmond, Virginia. Subjects. Total of 1723 teens aged 10 to 18 years and their parents. Measures. Continuous self-report of the number of years parents lived in the neighborhood of residence and city; self-report of whether the child attends school in their neighborhood; and categorical self report of parents' marital status, mother's education, parent race, family income, child's age, and child's sex. Analysis. Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression. Results. In this sample, 85.2% of teens reported living in the city where they were born. However, only 44.4% of black teens lived in neighborhoods where they were born, compared with 59.2% of white teens. Although 50.3% of black teens attended schools outside of their current neighborhoods, only 31.4% of whites did. Residential mobility was more common among black than white children (odds ratio = 1.82; p < .001), and black teens had 43% lesser odds of attending school in their home communities. Conclusions. Mobility among low-income and minority families challenges some assumptions of neighborhood interventions premised on years of exposure to enriched services and changes in the built environment.


The findings from a comprehensive study on oral corrective feedback show that the success of such feedback as measured in a subsequent test is affected by its format, the type of error corrected, and certain learner characteristics. The most successful format of correction, both for the learners receiving the feedback and for their peers, is feedback successfully eliciting self-correction in practice situations. Among the least successful formats for both groups are recasts without further comments or repetition by the corrected learner. The type of error corrected most successfully differs for the two groups. Those corrected learn most from the correction of their grammatical errors and least from correction of pronunciation errors. Peers score best on pronunciation items and gain least from correction of lexical errors. Of the learner characteristics taken into consideration, verbal intelligence, relative proficiency (within levels at school or university), and the learners' attitude towards correction proved to be most influential.


This is the fourth volume of Velmans, M. (ed.) (2018) Consciousness (Critical Concepts in Psychology), a 4-volume collection of Major Works on Consciousness commissioned by Routledge, London. The introduction and 22 readings begin with a review of mental influences on states of the body and brain (psychogenesis), which are often thought of as theoretically problematic for conventional materialist theories of mind. The evidence is nevertheless extensive, for example in psychosomatic illnesses and studies of the physiological consequences of meditation, imagery, biofeedback and hypnosis. Such effects are also central to developments in psychoneuroimmunology and studies of placebos, dealing not only with how to control for such effects in clinical trials, but with how such effects operate, and how to harness them for the benefit of patients. The volume then surveys altered states of consciousness, including the conditions for their emergence, their adaptive as well as maladaptive potential, and the influences of culture on how these are understood. The analysis deepens with reviews of the major ways in which consciousness can be usefully transformed, starting with the burgeoning literature on the nature and effects of meditation practices, including their effects on neural dynamics and the varied ways in which they have, in recent years, been incorporated into a range of psychological therapies, focusing particularly on mindfulness and its potential consequences for psychological health. The survey then turns to mystical experiences, which, of all the positive altered states of consciousness, are perhaps the most extraordinary and transformative. Reported over millennia and recognized by William James to combine ineffability with a noetic quality, their generation, effects and interpretation have, once more, become the subject of research. In this connection, we also review the resurgent interest in the use of drugs in the transformation of consciousness focusing particularly on recent research on the clinical and neurophysiological effects of major psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD. It will be apparent that the four volumes of this Collection cover a vast range of phenomena that cannot comfortably be accommodated into a materialist, reductionist worldview, and so this volume (and the entire collection) concludes with a diverse sample of non- reductive, integrative theories that offer unifying ways of understanding consciousness, drawing on information theory, neuropsychology, psychodynamics, physics, psychology, parapsychology, and philosophy.


It has been reported that aflatoxin contamination in soybean was relatively low, but it was not guaranteed that soybean products is free from aflatoxin contamination. Naturally, soybean containing phytic acid and it bound zinc and protein. Zinc (Zn) is an important mineral for aflatoxin biosynthesis. Previous research indicated that some soybean products such as kecap was contaminated by aflatoxin. It might be Aspergillus flavus involved during kecap fermentation and it produced phytase for phytic acid degradation. Zinc will be released and available for aflatoxin biosynthesis. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of phytic acid, Zn and soybean extract on the growth and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) production by Aspergillus flavus. Five kind of medium were used in the experiment, Glucose Ammonium Nitrate (GAN) medium, a special medium for aflatoxin production, GAN without Zn, GAN supplemented with phytic acid, GAN supplemented with soybean extract instead of glucose and soybean extract supplemented with phytic acid. Two and a half milliliter of spore suspension ��07spores/ml) was inoculated into 250 ml of each medium in 1 liter flask. Incuba�tion was done in shaker incubator at room temperature. The growth of mold and AFB� production were analy�ed on 3 and 6 days incubation time. The result indicated that phytic acid lowering the growth of mold in the early 3 days, but not at all after 6 days incubation. It seems that phytic acid delays the aflatoxin production. Lack of Zn in the medium brought about the lowering of aflatoxin production. Even glucose concentration in soybean extract medium was lower than in GAN medium, the growth of the mold was not inhibited but lower on glucose affect on decreasing of AFB1 production.


In 1998, a flyer was circulated announcing the appearance of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. On that leaflet, the publishers subjected readers to a test with five questions under this heading: "How Well Do You Know World Music?" The first of these questions in statement form was "American jazz borrows its harmonic structure from European classical music." Readers were supposed to mark whether the statement was true or false. The answer given on the back of the flyer for those still in doubt was "True." Thereby was endorsed one of the most tenacious stereotypes about jazz, the all-embracing notion that harmony in jazz and other African-American music was "European" in origin, while the rhythm was "African." Unfortunately, the facts are much more complex. Before the topic called "jazz theory" became part of the curriculum in jazz schools across the United States, harmonic practices in jazz were not always so Western or "European." Chord symbols such as [Gm.sup.9], [G.sup.09], [E.sup.o7], [E.sup.(7[flat]5)], and so on, with their implicit reference to Western music theory, had served jazz musicians as a useful notational set, just as the Roman alphabet is useful for writing English, French, Latin, and Kiswahili. These symbols are coins with a hidden face. Jazz chords and progressions have functioned like the system of the orixa in Brazil. To a Catholic, the orixa can be explained as a set of Catholic saints, but a Yoruba from Nigeria will recognize all of them as transcendental beings in the Yoruba religion, and Afro-Brazilians in the Candomble religious meetings will think both ways. Melville J. Herskovits (1941), to whom we owe much insight into the processes of culture contact, called such phenomena syncretism. Herskovits's terminology, embracing selection, retention, survival, reinterpretation, syncretism, and cultural focus, is still very useful (see Evans 1990, 1999), although occasionally with some necessary conceptual modification. Syncretism, for example, should not be understood as a blend or merger of different cognitive systems; rather, it is, at least originally, an attempt at a parallel, "bilingual" presentation of ideas that one can read in either of the two codes (Kubik 1991, 174-176). From a standpoint in Western music theory claiming universal applicability, it is often difficult to comprehend that jazz musicians have always converted the tonal-harmonic resources provided by the Western instruments that they played to suit their own concepts, strongly rooted in blues tonality. From my viewpoint, as someone who has spent a lifetime in African cultures and recorded some twenty-six thousand items of African music since 1959 in eighteen countries, jazz harmony at its structural and aesthetic level is based predominantly on African matrices, although it must be added that individual jazz performers, ensembles, and composers vary in the degree to which their harmonic practices and understandings are more African- or more European-derived. It may vary even from one work to another or one performer to another. I am not the only one who has gathered such a glimpse of the hidden side of the coin. Actually, it was Percival R. Kirby who in his article "A Study of Negro Harmony" (1930) first detected a structural principle of African provenance in the harmonic patterns of Negro spirituals. Later, in 1951, A. M. Jones wrote on "blue notes and hot rhythm"; and there was the eminent Richard A Waterman (1952, 209), who pointed to common evolutionary roots of harmony in European and African music: Harmony ... appears in aboriginal music nowhere but in the western one-third of the Old World, where it is common in European folk music and African tribal music.... [T]here exists a broad intrusive belt of Arabic and Arabic-influenced music which stretches across the middle of the western area, along both shores of the Mediterranean. Since the times of ancient history this alien musical outcropping has masked the fact of the previous existence of a continuous harmony-using bloc of cultures established earlier in the area. …


We report on the production of a 41K-87Rb dual-species Bose-Einstein condensate in a hybrid trap, consisting of a magnetic quadrupole and an optical dipole potential. After loading both atomic species in the trap, we cool down 87Rb first by magnetic and then by optical evaporation, while 41K is sympathetically cooled by elastic collisions with 87Rb. We eventually produce two-component condensates with more than 10^5 atoms and tunable species population imbalance. We observe the immiscibility of the quantum mixture by measuring the density profile of each species after releasing them from the trap.


This paper offers a comparative analysis of two public engagement exercises, conducted concurrently in the UK and Brazil. Following an account of how public engagement is situated in the political imaginary of the UK and Brazil, we set out a theoretical framework for such comparison, highlighting questions of narrative, political culture and civic epistemology. We then set out key differences in response, considering Brazilian citizen responses as prototypically more positive of (nano)technology, and as more amenable to and accepting of Enlightenment master narratives of technoscientific progress. UK citizen responses, by contrast, were more tragic, and more informed by resistant narratives of technoscientific failure. Although such distinctions are not absolute, they are nevertheless significant. We conclude by pointing to a set of analytical and normative challenges for how the science and technology studies analyst is to understand the politically contingent character of public engagement in the governance of science and technology.


In rotating systems with temperature gradients, convection may occur due to gravitational or centrifugal effects. In cases where rotation is strong enough so that the centrifugal acceleration is higher than gravity, the flow is induced by centrifugal buoyancy and gravitational effects can be neglected. The problem of flow induced by centrifugal buoyancy in a cylindrical annulus has been used as a canonical setup to investigate industrial configurations, such as buoyancy-driven flows occurring in gas turbine secondary air systems, as well as geophysical flows, such as convection in the core of planets and the global circulation of the atmosphere. Due to the constraints imposed by the Taylor-Proudman theorem, such flows are quasi-homogeneous along the axial direction, and heat transfer as well as turbulent fluctuations tend to be suppressed by the action of the Coriolis force. Previous work has demonstrated that when the annulus is bounded by parallel disks, boundary layers scaling consistently with laminar Ekman layers are formed near each of the disks, even though the flow is purely buoyancy-induced. Also, the Nusselt number measured on the outer cylindrical surface has been shown to scale with the Rayleigh number as in natural convection between horizontal plates. In the present work we use direct numerical simulation (DNS) to investigate buoyancy-induced flow in an air-filled cylindrical annulus bounded by two adiabatic parallel disks, with and without rotation around the axis. In both cases the outer cylindrical surface is at a higher temperature than the inner one, so that a radial acceleration directed outwards induces an unstable stratification. In the case with rotation, the flow is induced by the centrifugal acceleration in the radial direction, and Coriolis forces are considered. For the case without rotation, the Coriolis terms are suppressed in the calculations, whereas the radial acceleration is the same as in the rotating case. Statistics are obtained and compared in the two cases, including the time-averaged Nusselt number, mean temperature profiles, velocity and temperature fluctuations, as well as terms of the turbulent kinetic energy equation. By analysing such statistics, the extent to which rotation suppresses heat transfer and turbulent fluctuations, as well as the contribution of each term to the turbulent kinetic energy budget, can be assessed.


A laboratory experiment has been performed to determine the effect of soil pollution with the herbicides: Harpun 500 SC, Faworyt 300 SL, Akord 180 OF and Mocarz 75 WG on the course of ammonification. The soil material for the experiment consisted of loamy sand of pH 6.5. The experiment comprised five replications. Soil samples in particular objects were polluted with the herbicides at rates corresponding to the dose recommended by the manufacturer: 0 – control, 1 – a dose recommended by the producer, and the rates 50-, 100-, 150- and 200-fold higher than the recommended dose. Next, nitrogen was introduced to soil in the form of L-aspartic acid, DL-alanine, L-arginine and urea in the amounts of 0 and 300 mg N kg -1 soil. Having been thoroughly mixed with the additional substances, the soil was brought to moisture equal 60% capillary water capacity and incubated for 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours at 25oC. The study has demonstrated that the course of ammonification depended on the type and rate of a herbicide added to soil, type of an organic compound undergoing ammonification and duration of the trial. L-arginine was ammonified most rapidly, while ammonification of L-aspartic acid lasted the longest. Among the tested herbicides, the strongest inhibitory effect on ammonification process was produced by Mocarz 75 WG, which continued to exert negative influence on mineralisation of organic substances for 36 hours. The other preparations did not have such a considerable effect on the quantities of ammonified ni


During the Pliocene, the Taitao Peninsula was the locus of the subduction of the Chile active spreading ridge beneath the South American margin. New field data allow us to distinguish within the Taitao ophiolite a genuine ophiolitic body of undetermined age and two volcanic and volcaniclastic units. One unit shows evidence for deposition in a shallow-water environment, and it unconformably overlies the Chilean continental basement. Its established Pliocene age demonstrates that it was deposited during the subduction of the Chile ridge. Lavas from both units include enriched mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORBs) together with Nb-depleted basalts, andesites, and dacites. La/Nb ratios vary randomly from 1 to 4 in both units and are positively correlated with SiO 2 content. These chemical characteristics are consistent with upper-crustal contamination of MORB-type basalts by the Chilean crust as already suggested from isotopic data. We consider these volcanic suites to be the result of eruptions of MORB magmas that originated from the downgoing, shallowly buried, active spreading center and were contaminated during their rise through the Chilean continental basement.


The study examines the psycho- social effect of parental separation or divorces on adolescents and its implications for counselling. A descriptive research survey was used while stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting the population sample. The sample population used is 120 adolescent students randomly drawn from twelve secondary schools in Surulere local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The students responded to a well structured questionnaire which generated data for testing the hypotheses using the simple percentage and chi-square statistical method. The results of psycho-social effect of parental separation or divorce on adolescents include the poor academic performance, social development, interpersonal relation and pitiable emotional stability manifestations. A five point recommendations to reduce and eradicate divorce and separation of parents are made. Government, communities, courts, and religious organization should work jointly to ensure that all married couples as well as singles have access to child centred and affordable counselling services.

 Key words: Psycho-social, parental separation, divorce, adolescents, counselling and local government.


This paper presents results from a model intercomparison exercise among regionalized global energy-economy models conducted in the context of the RECIPE project. The economic adjustment effects of long-term climate policy aiming at stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 450 ppm are investigated based on the cross-comparison of the intertemporal optimization models REMIND-R and WITCH as well as the recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model IMACLIM-R. The models applied in the project differ in several respects and the comparison exercise tracks differences in the business as usual forecasts as well as in the mitigation scenarios to conceptual differences in the model structures and assumptions. In particular, the models have different representation of the sectoral structure of the energy system. A detailed sectoral analysis conducted as part of this study reveals that the sectoral representation is a crucial determinant of the mitigation strategy and costs. While all models project that the electricity sector can be decarbonized readily, emissions abatement in the non-electric sectors, particularly transport, is much more challenging. Mitigation costs and carbon prices were found to depend strongly on the availability of low-carbon options in the non-electric sectors.


The aim of this study was to describe experiences of acupuncture treatment among women with migraine. The study was based on narrative interviews with 10 women in the northern part of Sweden. The interview text was analysed using qualitative content analysis and the results were grouped into two categories: "experiences during acupuncture treatment" and "experiences after acupuncture treatment" and five subheadings. The experience of acupuncture during treatment varied between women, over time, and depending on external circumstances. Women stated that the patient–therapist relationship affected the experience both during and the outcome after acupuncture treatment. The results showed that acupuncture relieved pain, decreased the use of pharmaceuticals and increased emotional strength. When the migraine disappeared or was lessened, women felt that they could live life to the fullest again and felt that family and work did not suffer, as they did before the acupuncture treatment. Women felt a feeling of control over migraine and experienced safety in the effect of acupuncture. In conclusion, acupuncture seems to relieve the consequences of migraine and can be viewed as an alternative for physiotherapists in treating persons with migraine.


How do people remember bereavement? How do they find and refine the language to express it? And why do they agree to talk publicly about it, for a book and a drama-documentary?
I am an oral historian, a journalist and broadcaster. I am not a therapist or a sociologist. So this paper will not explore the psychological complexities of bereavement. Nor will it set out to offer a textual analysis of people's expressed feelings about the death of a close friend or family member. Instead, it will concentrate on the experience of interviewing people about death and bereavement, the language and imagery they use to express their grief, and how writers may use those experiences as the basis for both fiction and non-fiction.
Over the years, I have interviewed many bereaved people, for oral history projects, newspaper articles and radio programmes. Five years ago, together with my Radio 4 colleague, Judy Merry, I edited a collection of personal testimonies on the subject (Relative Grief, published by Jessica Kingsley, 2005).
Our interest stemmed from personal experience. Not unnaturally, both Judy and I have experienced bereavement. My father died 16 years ago of heart failure. Along with other family members, I was there at his bedside when he breathed his last. Three months later, I was with my husband in the hospital watching my mother-in-law die.


Meaning is not a given, but constructed. Transpersonal psychology focuses on the interconnectedness of the person to that which can give meaning, such as relatedness to others, the world as encountered, and the cosmos as a whole. Clinical approaches to transpersonal psychology involve assessments and psychotherapies. Transpersonal assessments provide a basis for grounding meaning in some consensual realms, while transpersonal psychotherapies provide ways to further develop meaning, either to address psychopathology or encourage growth toward greater holism. Categories of transpersonal psychotherapies are identified, including attentional, biochemical, depth psychological, existential, and somatic, and some of their common features are explored in regard to creating and enhancing meaning. Meaning is not an ontological given, but rather appears more as a socio-psychological and cultural construction. It serves the external adaptive purpose of unifying actions and the internal adaptive purpose of unifying cognition and affect. Meaning also appears always positioned in a relational framework that involves grounding persons as interconnected with something other than the individual self, namely others, the world as encountered, and the cosmos as a whole. One way to conceptualize a basis for meaning is from the perspective of transpersonal psychology, which provides a way to understand meaning in consensual ways through transpersonal assessments and to enhance meaning through transpersonal psychotherapies.


Subsequent to the October 1979 shift in monetary policy in the United States, interest rates in North America not only reached unprecedented levels,but also exhibited unprecedented volatility. This paper shows that the anticipated quarterly changes in long-term rates associated with the rational expectations model have remained small during this post-shift period. Recorded forecasts of long-term interest rates in Canada continue to prove inferior to the no-change prediction of the martingale model. The "perverse" relationship between the slope of the yield curve and the subsequent movementin long-term rates exists in the Canadian data, but is of only modest value in a forecasting context. The excess return on long-term bonds implicit in the recorded forecasts of the level of interest rates varies sharply, yet there is no evidence that forecasters have identified a predictable component of a time-varying term premium.


Cryptanalysis based on deep learning has become a hotspot in the international cryptography community since it was proposed. The key point of differential cryptanalysis based on deep learning is to find a neural differential distinguisher with longer rounds or higher probability. Therefore it is important to research how to improve the accuracy and the rounds of neural differential distinguisher. In this paper, we design SAT-based algorithms to find a good input difference so that the accuracy of the neural distinguisher can be improved as high as possible. As applications, we search and obtain the neural differential distinguishers of 9-round SIMON32/64, 10-round SIMON48/96 and 11-round SIMON64/128. For SIMON48/96, we choose (0x0, 0x100000) as the input difference and train 9-round and 10-round neural distinguishers of SIMON48/96. In addition, with the automatic search based on SAT, we extend the neural 9-round, 10-round distinguishers to 11-round, 12-round distinguishers by prepending the optimal 2-round differential transition (0x400000, 0x100001) 2−4 −−→ (0x0, 0x100000). Based on the 11-round and 12-round neural distinguisher, we complete a 14-round key recovery attack of SIMON48/96. Our attack takes about 1550s to recover the final subkey. Its average time complexity is no more than 2 14round encryption of SIMON48/96, and the data complexity is about 2. Similar to 14-round key recovery attack, we perform 13-round key recovery attack for SIMON32/64 with input difference (0x0, 0x80) with a success rate of more than 90%. It takes about 23s to complete an attack with the data complexity no more than 2 and the time complexity no more than 2. It is worth mentioning that the attacks are practical for 13-round SIMON32/64 and 14-round SIMON48/96.


BACKGROUND: The quoted risk of hemorrhage from dural arteriovenous fistulae with cortical venous reflux varies widely, and the influence of angiographic grade on clinical course has not previously been reported. OBJECTIVE: To assess the risk of hemorrhage and the influence of angiographic grade on this risk, compared with known predictors of hemorrhage such as presentation. METHODS: Seventy-five fistulae with cortical venous reflux identified in our arteriovenous malformations clinic between 1992 and 2007 were followed up clinically, and their angiograms were reviewed. RESULTS: There were 8 hemorrhages in 90 years of follow-up. The annual incidence of hemorrhage before any treatment was 13%, and 4.7% after partial treatment, giving an overall incidence of 8.9% before definitive treatment. Borden and Cognard grades were poor discriminators of risk for lesions with the exception of Cognard type IV lesions. These lesions, characterized by venous ectasia, had a 7-fold increase in the incidence of hemorrhage (3.5% no ectasia vs 27% with ectasia). Patients presenting with hemorrhage (20%) or nonhemorrhagic neurological deficit (22%) had a higher incidence of hemorrhage than those with a benign presentation (4.3%), but this may be directly linked to the presence of venous ectasia. CONCLUSION: In this series untreated dural arteriovenous fistulae with cortical venous reflux had a 13% annual incidence of hemorrhage after diagnosis. There was a significant difference between those with and without venous ectasia. This should be confirmed by further studies, but probably defines a high-risk subgroup of patients that requires rapid intervention.


In this work we report the results of both theoretical and experimental strain analysis of Silicon waveguides and couplers. Simulations of induced stress and strain distributions on photonic structures (waveguides with 450 × 220 nm cross section) have been performed taking into account a ~375 nm thick Si3N4 straining layer. The Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED) technique has also been employed to provide locally accurate strain measurements on fabricated silicon rib and coupling structures across the nitride-to-silicon interface, showing a good match between multiphysics simulations and measurements along the rib cross-section, resulting in notable attained strain levels.


The greatest obstacle in developing distance learning system is the lack of real-time interaction. This paper provides a real-time interactive shared system for distance learning that combines the audio, video and seminar. The remote learners can study and exchange opinions with the instructor through this system in real time. After the test between Waseda University and Guilin University, we find that the system can well simulate traditional classroom and improve interaction among participators, which not only saves learners' study time and improves their learning interests and efficiency, but also improves the teaching freedom of instructor for e-whiteboard is introducing


Alternative pasture species with the potential to supply quality forage during summer feed shortages, such as tall fescue (TF), are of interest to dairy farmers. A paddockscale study was undertaken to compare performance of TF managed on a shorter rotation similar to perennial ryegrass (RG) (TF-RG) with TF managed on a longer rotation more consistent with its morphology of 4 live leaves/tiller (TF-TF), and with RG (RG-RG). Accumulated dry matter (DM) yields were similar for the three treatments. Patch grazing was observed during the first spring, with more long patches in TFTF than in either TF-RG or RG-RG. Sown-species leaf area index (LAI) was greater in TF-TF compared with TF-RG and RG-RG (2.25, 1.56 and 0.90, respectively; P<0.05). The proportions of grass weeds were higher in the TF-RG (P<0.05) compared with TF-TF and RG-RG treatments (302, 207 and 164 g/kg DM, respectively). A soil fertility gradient with distance along the paddock away from the farm race was recorded, with Olsen P declining at 0.130 mg/kg/m with distance from the farm race. Tiller density, LAI and yield of sown species and total yield sampled were all positively correlated with Olsen P. Overall, this study highlights the importance of managing TF pastures according to its specific growth habits. However, attaining longer grazing rotations under field conditions whilst trying to maintain cow intakes, is likely to continue to prove elusive.


Summary The principal enzyme involved in coumarin metabolism is CYP2C9. Allelic variants of CYP2C9, CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3, code for enzymes with reduced activity. Despite increasing evidence that patients with these genetic variants require lower maintenance doses of anticoagulant therapy, there is lack of agreement among studies on the risk of bleeding and CYP2C9 polymorphisms. It was, therefore, our objective to study the effect of the CYP2C9 polymorphisms on bleeding complications during initiation and maintenance phases of coumarin anticoagulant therapy. The design of the study was a population-based cohort in a sample of the Rotterdam Study, a study in 7,983 subjects. All patients who started treatment with acenocoumarol or phenprocoumon in the study period from January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1998 and for whom INR data were available were included. Patients were followed until a bleeding complication, the end of their treatment, death or end of the study period. Proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate the risk of a bleeding complication in relation to CYP2C9 genotype after adjustment for several potentially confounding factors such as age, gender, target INR level, INR, time between INR measurements, and aspirin use. The effect of variant genotype on bleeding risk was separately examined during the initiation phase of 90 days after starting therapy with coumarins. The 996 patients with analysable data had a mean follow-up time of 481 days (1.3 years); 311 (31.2%) had at least 1 variant CYP2C9 allele and 685 (68.8%) had the wild type genotype. For patients with the wild type genotype, the rate of minor bleeding, major bleeding and fatal bleeding was 15.9, 3.4 and 0.2 per 100 treatmentyears, respectively. For patients with a variant genotype, the rate of minor, major and fatal bleeding was 14.6, 5.4 and 0.5 per 100 treatment-years. Patients with a variant genotype on acenocoumarol had a significantly increased risk for a major bleeding event (HR 1.83, 95% CI: 1.01-3.32). During the initiation phase of therapy we found no effect of variant genotype on bleeding risk. In this study among outpatients of an anticoagulation clinic using acenocoumarol or phenprocoumon, having a variant allele of CYP2C9 was associated with an increased risk of major bleeding events in patients on acenocoumarol, but not in patients on phenprocoumon. Although one might consider the assessment of the CYP2C9 genotype of a patient for dose adjustment before starting treatment with acenocoumarol, a prospective randomised trial should demonstrate whether this reduces the increased risk of major bleeding events.


This thesis presents findings from two randomised, controlled pilot studies, with nested sub-studies, an observational study, a compassionate release programme and a mortality audit. It aims to examine the effects, at a clinical and cellular level, of antiretroviral and immunotherapy in HIV-1 infection. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) enables quantitative and a degree of qualitative immune recovery; however this is neither universal nor complete. The first part of the thesis explores the effects of cART on surrogate immune markers (SIM), treatment outcomes, disease progression and death. Significant variations are observed and further re-inforced by the mortality audit. I describe for the first time patterns of SIM decline and treatment response from which a model predicting treatment outcome could be developed. This section concludes with an observational study describing a differential effect on immune restoration of different classes of cART. Together this data suggests additional therapeutic interventions will be required to address the current inadequacies of cART to fully restore HIV-1 associated immune deficiencies. Therefore, the second part of the thesis examines the effect of interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy in different settings; with and without cART, with therapeutic immunisation and in advanced disease. In the absence of cART, IL-2 increased CD4 T-cell counts without adversely affecting viral load or immune activation, potentially delaying the need for cART initiation. The compassionate release programme also demonstrated a 'delaying' effect which could be exploited in patients awaiting new therapies. The main therapeutic intervention study involved IL-2 and therapeutic immunisation in the context of cART, and reports novel findings of the acute effects of IL-2, including induction of HIV-1 specific responses. Overall increases were observed in CD4+, CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD25+ T-cells, the latter being of particular interest as the precise function of these cells in HIV-1 infection and following IL-2 therapy is still to be fully defined. As a pilot study these findings are preliminary but there is a trend for several effects to be more marked and more sustained in the arm combing all three treatments; suggesting therapeutic potential for combination immunisation and cytokine therapy which is worth pursuing. Despite the fact that the final IL-2 study in this thesis was completed in 2003, the recent publication of two large clinical outcome studies of IL-2, with somewhat unexpected results, makes these findings all the more pertinent today, and may afford some insight into the negative results observed in these large phase three trials. In summary, cART results in incomplete immune reconstitution, which can be enhanced by IL-2 and therapeutic immunisation at a cellular level. The challenge is to determine how, if at all, this can be translated into clinical benefit. Using additional SIM may help in targeting and monitoring therapy; the timing, scheduling and combination of which will be key and warrants further investigation.


Modern challenges in forensic and security domains require greater insight and flexibility into the ways deception can be identified and responded to. Deception is common across interactions and understanding how mindset, motive and context affects deception is critical. Research has focussed upon how deception manifests in interpersonal interactions and has sought to identify behaviours indicative of truth-telling and deceit. The growth of mediated communication has further increased challenges in ensuring information is credible. Deception in military environments has focussed on planning deception, where approaches have been developed to deceive others, but rarely examined from counter-deception perspectives. To address these challenges this thesis advocates a holistic approach to deception detection, whereby strategies will be tailored to match context. In accordance with an in vivo approach to research, a critical review of literature related to deception and related areas was conducted leading to the initial development of a theoretical holistic model of deception detection comprising a deception framework and an individual differences (deceiver and target) framework. Following model development, validation with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) was conducted. Explanatory thematic analysis of interviews conducted with SMEs (n=19) led to the development of meta-themes related to the 'deceiver', their 'intent; 'strategies and tactics' of deception, 'interpretation' by the target and 'target' decision-making strengths and vulnerabilities. These findings led to the development of the Holistic Model of Deception, an approach where detection strategies are tailored to match the context of an interaction, whether interpersonal or mediated. Understanding the impact of culture on decision-making in deception detection and in particular the cues used to detect deception in interpersonal and mediated environments is required for understanding human behaviour in a globalised world. Interviews were conducted with Western (n=22) and Eastern (n=16) participants before being subject to explanatory and comparative thematic analysis identified twelve cross-cultural strategies for assessing credibility and one culturally specific strategy used by Western participants. Risk assessment and management techniques have been used to assess risks posed in forensic and security environments; however, such approaches have not been applied to deception detection. The Deception Assessment Real-Time Nexus©2015 and Deception Risk Assessment Technique©2015 were developed as an early warning tool and a Structured Professional Judgement risk assessment and management technique. The Deception Risk Assessment Technique©2015 outlines multiple ways of identifying and
managing threats posed by deception and is employable across individuals and groups. In developing the futures-based approach to deception detection, reactive, active and proactive approaches to deception were reviewed, followed by an examination of scenario planning utility and methodology from futures and strategic forecasting research. Adopting the qualitative 'intuitive logics' methodology ten scenarios were developed of potential future threats involving deception. Risk assessment of two scenarios was conducted to show the value of a risk assessment approach to deception detection and management. In conclusion, this thesis has developed a Holistic Model of Deception, explored the links between interpersonal and mediated strategies for detecting deception, formulated a risk assessment and management approach to deception detection and developed future scenarios of threats involving deception.


Cheney Reservoir, constructed during 1962 to 1965, is the primary water supply for the city of Wichita, the largest city in Kansas. Sediment is an important concern for the reservoir as it degrades water quality and progressively decreases water storage capacity. Long-term data collection provided a unique opportunity to estimate the annual suspended sediment loads for the entire history of the reservoir. To quantify and characterize sediment loading to Cheney Reservoir, discrete suspended sediment samples and continuously measured streamflow data were collected from the North Fork Ninnescah River, the primary inflow to Cheney Reservoir, over a 48-year period. Continuous turbidity data also were collected over a 15-year period. These data were used together to develop simple linear regression models to compute continuous suspended sediment concentrations and loads from 1966 to 2013. The inclusion of turbidity as an additional explanatory variable with streamflow improved regression model diagnostics and increased the amount of variability in suspended sediment concentration explained by 14%. Using suspended sediment concentration from the streamflow-only model, the average annual suspended sediment load was 102,517 t (113,006 tn) and ranged from 4,826 t (5,320 tn) in 1966 to 967,569 t (1,066,562 tn) in 1979. The sediment load in 1979 accounted for about 20% of the total load over the 48-year history of the reservoir and 92% of the 1979 sediment load occurred in one 24-hour period during a 1% annual exceedance probability flow event (104-year flood). Nearly 60% of the reservoir sediment load during the 48-year study period occurred in 5 years with extreme flow events (9% to 1% annual exceedance probability, or 11- to 104-year flood events). A substantial portion (41%) of sediment was transported to the reservoir during five storm events spanning only eight 24-hour periods during 1966 to 2013. Annual suspended sediment load estimates based on streamflow were, on average, within ±20% of estimates based on streamflow and turbidity combined. Results demonstrate that large suspended sediment loads are delivered to Cheney Reservoir in very short time periods, indicating that sediment management plans eventually must address large, infrequent inflow events to be effective.


During the past two decades, several atmospheric and oceanic general circulation models (GCMs) have been enhanced by the capability to explicitly simulate the hydrological cycle of the two stable water isotopes H218O and HDO. A number of previous studies have demonstrated the possibility of an improved interpretation of observed isotope variability in terms of climate change by such isotope GCM simulations. Here, we report new results of the ECHAM5 atmosphere GCM enhanced by explicit water isotope diagnosis (named ECHAM5-wiso hereafter). Several climate simulations covering climate variability in the range of the last decade up to glacial-interglacial cycles have been performed to evaluate the overall capability of the ECHAM5-wiso model. In contrast to previous work, all simulations have been performed with a high spatial model resolution of approx. 1° (T106 spectral mode) or finer. It is shown that the refinement of the spatial resolution leads to a substantially better agreement with available present-day observations and isotopic paleorecords, e.g. Antarctic ice core data. Using this new set of paleoclimate simulations, we investigate if and how climate variability is imprinted in the isotopic composition of precipitation on different time scales. Special focus is given to the question how the temperature-isotope relation might has changed in different regions of the Earth on glacial-interglacial time scale. The atmospheric isotope GCM results will be complemented by first oceanic isotope GCM simulation results with the MPI-OM model as well as investigations of the influence of paleovegetation changes on the hydrological cycle and its isotopic composition.


To understand how sulphate-reducing bacteria respond to oxidative stresses, the responses of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough to H(2)O(2)-induced stresses were investigated with transcriptomic, proteomic and genetic approaches. H(2)O(2) and induced chemical species (e.g. polysulfide, ROS) and redox potential shift increased the expressions of the genes involved in detoxification, thioredoxin-dependent reduction system, protein and DNA repair, and decreased those involved in sulfate reduction, lactate oxidation and protein synthesis. A gene coexpression network analysis revealed complicated network interactions among differentially expressed genes, and suggested possible importance of several hypothetical genes in H(2)O(2) stress. Also, most of the genes in PerR and Fur regulons were highly induced, and the abundance of a Fur regulon protein increased. Mutant analysis suggested that PerR and Fur are functionally overlapped in response to stresses induced by H(2)O(2) and reaction products, and the upregulation of thioredoxin-dependent reduction genes was independent of PerR or Fur. It appears that induction of those stress response genes could contribute to the increased resistance of deletion mutants to H(2)O(2)-induced stresses. In addition, a conceptual cellular model of D. vulgaris responses to H(2)O(2) stress was constructed to illustrate that this bacterium may employ a complicated molecular mechanism to defend against the H(2)O(2)-induced stresses.


Social scientists become experts in their own disciplines but aren't always familiar with what is going on in neighboring fields. To foster a deeper understanding of the interconnection of the social sciences, economists should know where historical data come from, sociologists should know how to think like economists, political scientists would benefit from understanding how models are tested in psychology, historians should learn how political processes are studied, psychologists should understand sociological theories, and so forth. This overview by prominent social scientists gives an accessible, non-technical sense of how quantitative research is done in different areas. Readers will find out about models and ways of thinking in economics, history, sociology, political science, and psychology, which in turn they can bring back to their own work.


In the past two decades, the union of quantum mechanics and information science has led to significant progress in our understanding of the quantum world and in our ability to coherently control individual quantum systems. New technologies have appeared, and some of them, such as quantum key distribution (QKD), are now commercially available. We are now envisioning quantum networks that could allow us to communicate over intercontinental scales, as the internet does, but with a provable security. An open question in this framework is how to certify that a given quantum network performs well, i.e. how to detect entanglement between 2, 5, 10 or 100 nodes located far away from each other. Bell tests are appealing for such a task as they allow one to certify the presence of entanglement deviceindependently, i.e. without assumptions on the Hilbert space dimension or on the proper alignment of the measurement devices. In the first chapter, I start by examining in depth the most standard approach to perform a Bell test in which a source based on spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is used to create photon pairs entangled in polarization. I show, in particular, that in this case the Bell inequality violation is fundamentally limited by vacuum and multi-photon emissions. In the second part of this thesis, I show how to overcome this limitation by using the SPDC source to create single photon entanglement, i.e. entanglement between two paths sharing a single photon, or two-mode squeezed states. Here, the non local content of the states is revealed using photon counting techniques preceded by small displacements in phase space. In the third part, I show how these measurements can be used for an optomechanical Bell test. This opens the way for device-independent quantum information processing with optomechanical systems and might be relevant to test collapse models in a theory independent manner. In the fourth chapter, the same measurements are used to build up a witness that can reveal genuine path entanglement. This witness has triggered an experiment which highlights its potential for network certification. I conclude the thesis by showing how path entanglement can be revealed with the human eye by exploiting these displacement operations.


The paper aims to evaluate the main features of the creation and development of the integral cultural space in Europe and the main problems of provision of equal rights in the context of the transition processes in the Central and Eastern Europe. The paper has used the outcomes of the research conducted over the recent several years, dedicated to the diagnostics of the problems of transformations as well as economic and social development in Central and Eastern Europe with a special reference to the development of the integral cultural space and human rights. Major findings show that the creation and development of the integral cultural space in Europe is a very complex and controversial process and in this course various problems and conflicts arise. Therefore, to encourage the creation of the integral cultural space in Europe appropriate cultural policies are necessary to be implemented. These policies may embrace many priorities including: the preservation of cultural diversity, adaptation and dissemination of integrated European dimensions, elimination of inappropriate factors within humanism and democracy of all European countries, provision of equal rights in all groups of modern society. For implementation of key priorities of cultural policies the use of a number of panEuropean scale special programmes is suggested.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of auditory steady-state response (ASSR), determine the cut-off values for each frequency, and detect the best correlated frequencies when compared with the auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds in term babies under the age of 12 months.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In total, 88 term babies with a mean age of 2.98 (1-11) months (174 ears) underwent ASSR and ABR tests. The ASSR thresholds for the frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz were compared with the hearing level of the ABR thresholds. In the ABR test, a cut-off value of 30 dB nHL was selected for normal hearing. In addition, the best correlation between the ABR and ASSR thresholds and the estimated cut-off thresholds of ASSR for each of the abovementioned frequencies were obtained.

RESULTS
In total, 135 ears had values indicating normal hearing ability and 39 ears had hearing loss according to the ABR thresholds. Although statistically significant correlations were found between the ABR and ASSR thresholds at all frequencies in all groups, these correlations were not strong. On the other hand, a strong correlation was found between the responses of the ABR and ASSR thresholds at 4000 Hz in the hearing-impaired subjects.

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that ASSR may not be beneficial or reliable as a screening test. Thus, it is likely to be considered as a complementary test rather than an alternative to the ABR test.


Chemical and biological weapons represent two distinct types of munitions that share some common policy implications. While chemical weapons and biological weapons are different in terms of their development, manufacture, use, and the methods necessary to defend against them, they are commonly united in matters of policy as "weapons of mass destruction," along with nuclear and radiological weapons. Both chemical and biological weapons have the potential to cause mass casualties, require some technical expertise to produce, and can be employed effectively by both nation states and non-state actors. U.S. policies in the early 20th century were informed by preexisting taboos against poison weapons and the American Expeditionary Forces' experiences during World War I. The United States promoted restrictions in the use of chemical and biological weapons through World War II, but increased research and development work at the outset of the Cold War. In response to domestic and international pressures during the Vietnam War, the United States drastically curtailed its chemical and biological weapons programs and began supporting international arms control efforts such as the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. U.S. chemical and biological weapons policies significantly influence U.S. policies in the Middle East and the fight against terrorism.


When the mechanisms that ensure that the immune system does not attack self-antigens go awry, autoimmune disorders can occur. Vinuesa et al. screened the mouse genome for mutations that led to the production of ANAs (antibodies that recognize nuclear antigens), which are associated with autoimmune disorders such as lupus, and identified a strain of mice that developed ANAs within a few months of birth and had other features typical of lupus. The mice, which they called sanroque, exhibited increased abundance of a molecule known as inducible costimulatory molecule (ICOS, a costimulatory receptor expressed on T cells that is required for B cell isotype switching and for T cell activation and function) and developed lymphadenopathy, enlarged spleens, and excess production of T cell-dependent immunoglobulin isotypes. Experiments with bone marrow chimeras containing wild-type and san/san hematopoietic cells indicated that the primary dysregulation was in T cells. Further, experiments in which mice were immunized with foreign antigen or engineered to express foreign antigen in pancreatic islets indicated that sanroque mice specifically lacked the ability to repress both self-reactive helper T cells and T cell help to self-reactive B cells. Sanroque mice had increased numbers of germinal centers and excess follicular helper T cells (a class of ICOS-expressing T cells associated with germinal centers). The mutation was mapped to a gene that the authors named roquin (rc3h1), which encoded a protein, Roquin, with an amino-terminal RING-1 zinc-finger domain characteristic of an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a CCCH zinc-finger domain found in RNA binding proteins. Roquin localized to cytoplasmic granules associated with regulation of mRNA translation and stability, and transduction of wild-type Roquin into sanroque T cells corrected ICOS overexpression. Thus, Roquin appears to suppress inappropriate immune response to self-antigens through a mechanism that may involve repression of ICOS expression. C. G. Vinuesa, M. C. Cook, C. Angelucci, V. Athanasopoulos, L. Rui, K. M. Hill, D. Yu, H. Domaschenz, B. Whittle, T. Lambe, I. S. Roberts, R. R. Copley, J. I. Bell, R. J. Cornall, C. C. Goodnow, A RING-type ubiquitin ligase family member required to repress follicular helper T cells and autoimmunity. Nature 435, 452-458 (2005). [PubMed]


The stability of a hydraulically driven sill flow in a rotating channel with smoothly varying cross-section is considered. The smooth topography forces the thickness of the moving layer to vanish at its two edges. The basic flow is assumed to have zero potential vorticity, as is the case in elementary models of the hydraulic behaviour of deep ocean straits. Such flows are found to always satisfy Ripa's necessary condition for instability. Direct calculation of the linear growth rates and numerical simulation of finite-amplitude behaviour suggests that the flows are, in fact, always unstable. The growth rates and nonlinear evolution depend largely on the dimensionless channel curvature κ=2αg′/f2, where 2α is the dimensional curvature, g′ is the reduced gravity, and f is the Coriolis parameter. Very small positive (or negative) values of κ correspond to dynamically wide channels and are associated with strong instability and the breakup of the basic flow into a train of eddies. For moderate or large values of κ, the instability widens the flow and increases its potential vorticity but does not destroy its character as a coherent stream. Ripa's condition for stability suggests a theory for the final width and potential vorticity that works moderately well. The observed and predicted growth in these quantities are minimal for κ≥1, suggesting that the zero-potential-vorticity approximation holds when the channel is narrower than a Rossby radius based on the initial maximum depth. The instability results from a resonant interaction between two waves trapped on opposite edges of the stream. Interactions can occur between two Kelvin-like frontal waves, between two inertia–gravity waves, or between one wave of each type. The growing disturbance has zero energy and extracts zero energy from the mean. At the same time, there is an overall conversion of kinetic energy to potential energy for κ>0, with the reverse occurring for κ<0. When it acts on a hydraulically controlled basic state, the instability tends to eliminate the band of counterflow that is predicted by hydraulic theory and that confounds hydraulic-based estimates of volume fluxes in the field. Eddy generation downstream of the controlling sill occurs if the downstream value of κ is sufficiently small.


Pentaaryl[60]fullerene derivatives, C60(C6H4Ph)5Me, C60(C6H4OPh)5Me, C60(C6H4nBu)5Me, Fe[C60(C6H4nBu)5]Cp, and Ru[C60(C6H4nBu)5]Cp have been used as acceptor materials in bulk heterojunction-type organic photovoltaic cells in combination with poly(3-hexylthiophene) as a donor material. High open-circuit voltages (up to 0.76 V) were obtained, which are attributed to the high LUMO of the penta(organo)[60]fullerenes. Scanning electron microscopic analyses of the cross-section of the devices indicated a homogeneous distribution of the donor and the acceptor compounds, which accounts for the moderate short-circuit current and photocurrent conversion efficiency (η = 1.08).


Ecodriving, the concept of changing driving behavior and vehicle maintenance to affect fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in existing vehicles, has recently gained prominence in North America. One ecodriving strategy involves public education with information disseminated on the Internet. This paper presents the results of a study conducted from June to December 2010 that assessed the effectiveness of static, web-based information on ecodriving with controlled stated responses from approximately 100 faculty, staff, and students at the University of California, Berkeley. A comparison of the experimental and control groups revealed that exposure to ecodriving information influenced people's driving behavior and maintenance practices. The experimental group's distributional shift in behavior was statistically significant, particularly for key practices, including lower highway cruising speed, adjustment of driving behavior, and proper tire inflation. Within the experimental group (N = 51), only 16% of respondents significantly changed their maintenance practices whereas 71% altered some driving practices; these data suggest that intentional alteration of driving behavior is easier than is planning better maintenance practices. A comparison of before-and-after surveys revealed that 57% of the experimental group improved their ecodriving behavior and that 43% made no change or worsened. Key characteristics of the drivers who improved included being female, living in smaller households, and owning a newer car with higher fuel economy. Although it was evident that not everyone modified behavior as a result of reviewing the website, even small shifts in behavior attributable to inexpensive dissemination of information could be deemed cost-effective in reducing fuel consumption and emissions.


Maternofetal pathogen transmission is partially controlled at the level of the maternal uterine mucosa at the fetal implantation site (the decidua basalis), where maternal and fetal cells are in close contact. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may play an important role in initiating rapid immune responses against pathogens in the decidua basalis, however the tolerant microenvironment should be preserved in order to allow fetal development. Here we investigated the expression and functionality of TLRs expressed by decidual macrophages (dMs) and NK cells (dNKs), the major decidual immune cell populations. We report for the first time that both human dMs and dNK cells express mRNAs encoding TLRs 1-9, albeit with a higher expression level in dMs. TLR2, TLR3, and TLR4 protein expression checked by flow cytometry was positive for both dMs and dNK cells. In vitro treatment of primary dMs and dNK cells with specific TLR2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR7/8, and TLR9 agonists enhanced their secretion of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, as well as cytokines and chemokines involved in immune cell crosstalk. Only dNK cells released IFN-γ, whereas only dMs released IL-1β, IL-10, and IL-12. TLR9 activation of dMs resulted in a distinct pattern of cytokine expression compared to the other TLRs. The cytokine profiles expressed by dMs and dNK cells upon TLR activation are compatible with maintenance of the fetotolerant immune environment during initiation of immune responses to pathogens at the maternofetal interface.


Text no 1 Radio Recombination Lines (RRLs), discovered in the USSR in 1964, have become a powerful research tool for astronomers. Available throughout the radio spectrum, these lines carry information regarding the density, temperature, turbulence and velocity of thermal plasmas. Their very existance shows the presence of thermal gas. They also can carry information regarding magnetic fields if Zeeman splitting were to be detected. Containing the proceedings of an IAU Colloquium celebrating the 25th anniversary of their detection, this volume tells us what has happened since. It contains the story of the detection of RRLs and reviews of many areas of physics of the interstellargas from which stars form, HII regions excited by newly formed stars, planetary nebulae involving dying stars, and the structure of our Milky Way and other galaxies reflecting the large-scale morphology of the star formation process. In addition there is an article describing modern laboratory studies of Rydberg atoms to probe the basic physics of atomic structure, and articles describing the theory of collisions and radiation upon Rydberg atoms leading to observate effects to be used as diagnostic tools in astromony. This book focuses on the 25 years of astronomical research with radio recombination lines (RRLs) since their discovery in 1965. It covers a wide range of topics: papers dealing with research into Rydberg atoms both in the laboratory and in the interstellar medium of our galaxy and others; papers on the interaction of radiation and atomic systems, as well as with the effects of inadiabatic collisions between these atoms and both ions and electrons. It deals with astronomical observations of atoms with diameters' ranging from 0.08 to 50 mum a size factor of 625. It deals with RRLs in absorption, in emission and as true masers. And it deals with plasmas with temperatures ranging from 10 to greater than 104 kelvins, and with an even greater range of volume densities. Much new work is reported, including low frequency RRLs discovered in 1980 and the maser RRLs from the star MWC349, discovered in 1989. The advent of aperture synthesis telescopes and large single-element telescopes have made possible RRL studies with high angular resolution. The sum total of the work reported here will make the volume a platform from which to search new horizons in RRL research.