Many chemical, biological radiological and nuclear weapons (CBRN) including mustard gas, nerve agents, Aflatoxin, nuclear and radiological weapons are genotoxic, neurotoxic and carcinogenic. They damage deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), cells, tissues and organs. Almost every decade since World War I (WWI) has seen CBRN manufacture or use, killing and injuring many hundreds of thousands. Survivors of CBRN use (WWI victims, WWII manufacture in Germany, Japan, UK, US and of Conflicts involving CBRN use, such as Northern Iraq, Afghanistan) face increased risk of cancers, infertility, medical disorders and reproductive health effects. Each agent has specific effects, for example, Aflatoxin causes liver cancer and is embryotoxic, Mustard gas, Nuclear and Radiological weapons cause haematological malignancies and solid tumours. This indicates each type of weapon causes specific types of genomic damage. Knowledge of the mechanisms of action of CBRN is important in identifying CBRN use, developing therapies to aid victims and counteracting the threats from these weapons.

Key Concepts:

Despite the Geneva Convention of 1925 prohibiting their use, CBRN have been widely used over the past 100 years in wars and conflicts to subjugate populations, kill and injure.

CBRN are genotoxic and neurotoxic leading to long-term genomic damage and major risks for survivors of exposures.

There are currently few methods of identifying genomic damage in victims of CBRN; new methods such as next generation genome and transcriptome sequencing will allow the identification of damage and predict methods for screening, protection and treatment.

CBRN may be used by rogue governments or terrorist groups to kill, maim and cause long-term medical damage.

CBRN have been used in ethnic cleansing campaigns, against guerrilla forces in mountainous regions as well as conventional wars and conflicts resulting in lethality and premature deaths through cancers, medical disorders, embryonic, fetal and infant deaths, birth defects and infertility, leading to 'silent attrition' of targeted populations.

There are no known treatments for CBRN damage as these agents cause long-term irreversible genotoxic and neurotoxic damage; key elements for protection are to identify CBRN use, develop screening methods to identify those exposed, reduce ongoing contamination of food, water and environment, treat victims and develop therapies risks.

Keywords:

genotoxicity;
conflicts;
carcinogen;
mutagen;
genocide


This paper presents bitstream-based features for perceptual quality estimation of HEVC coded videos. Various factors including the impact of different sizes of block-partitions, use of reference-frames, the relative amount of various prediction modes, statistics of motion vectors and quantization parameters are taken into consideration for producing 52 features relevant for perceptual quality prediction. The used test stimuli constitutes 560 bitstreams that have been carefully extracted for this analysis from the 59, 520 bistreams of the large-scale database generated by the Joint Effort Group (JEG) of the Video Quality Experts Group (VQEG). The obtained results show the significance of the considered features through reasonably accurate and monotonic prediction of a number of objective quality metrics.


Schwann cell is a cell type that forms myelin sheath and provides trophic supports for neuronal cells by producing neurotrophic factors such as neurotrophins and neurokines in both normal and traumatic situations. It was recently reported that after lesion of sciatic nerve, mRNA for cholinergic differentiation factor (CDF)/leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is induced in nonneuronal cells in the nerve. However, the source of LIF-mRNA and the mechanism of LIF-mRNA regulation have remained largely unknown. In the present study, we searched for factors regulating the LIF-mRNA expression in cultured Schwann cells isolated from newborn rat sciatic nerve. Among various growth factors and cytokines tested, TGF beta-1 exerted the most prominent effect on the induction of LIF-mRNA in the cultured Schwann cells. The effect of TGF-beta 1 on the increase of LIF-mRNA levels was suppressed by either staurosporine or H-7 suggesting the role of PKC or PKC-like protein kinase activity in the induction of LIF-mRNA. The induction of LIF mRNA by TGF-beta 1 was suppressed in the co-culture of the Schwann cells with embryonic rat DRG neurons. The addition of ascorbic acid, which is known to promote myelination in this co-culture system, further suppressed the TGF-beta 1 induction of LIF-mRNA. These results suggest that Schwann cells respond to TGF-beta 1 in a lesion situation to produce LIF, which supports neuronal survival and regeneration. The re-establishment of neuron-Schwann cell interaction would in turn suppress the LIF production to terminate its action during the lesion situation.


Water is a ubiquitous component in heterogeneous catalysis over zeolites and can significantly influence the catalyst performance. However, the detailed mechanism insights into zeolite-catalyzed reactions under microscale aqueous environment remain elusive. Here, using multiple dimensional solid-state NMR experiments coupled with ultrahigh magic angle spinning technique and theoretical simulations, we establish a fundamental understanding of the role of water in benzene methylation over ZSM-5 zeolite under water vapor conditions. We show that water competes with benzene for the active sites of zeolite and facilitates the bimolecular reaction mechanism. The growth of water clusters induces micro-hydrophobic effect in zeolite pores, which reorients benzene molecules and drives their interactions with surface methoxy species (SMS) on zeolite. We identify the formation and evolution of active benzene-SMS complexes in microscale aqueous environment and demonstrate that their accumulation in zeolite pores boosts benzene conversion and methylation.


This paper presents the spatial transferability analysis of a micro-behavioral model from the residential mobility component of the integrated land use, transportation, and environment (ILUTE) modeling system developed and implemented in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Ontario, Canada. The study examined whether ILUTE could be spatially transferred with the current model components to a different geographic area: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The residential mobility component within ILUTE is a continuous-time, hazard-based duration model, developed with retrospective survey data from the Residential Mobility Survey 2 in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. This study developed a similar continuous-time, hazard-based duration model for the residential mobility decisions of households in Halifax on the basis of retrospective survey data from a household mobility and travel survey. The model results suggested that households in Halifax and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area exhibited profound differences in residential mobility decisions. Sociodemographic, dwelling, and neighborhood characteristics significantly affected residential mobility decisions in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The effects of land use and accessibility measures were noteworthy for Halifax. For instance, home-to-work distances in Halifax affected the decision to move; however, such an effect could not be confirmed in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Households' first periods of residence after household formation in a residential location were shorter in Halifax than in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. It was concluded that the direct transfer of micromodels from one spatial context to another could be difficult.


Adsorption on hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings with respect to boundary lubrication has been studied only very rarely, even though such adsorption has proved to be one of the main boundary-lubricating mechanisms for metal contacts. For this reason, we used atomic force microscopy (AFM) and tribotests to study the ability of hexadecanol and hexadecanoic acid to adsorb onto DLC and affect the tribological properties of DLC coatings, where steel was used as a reference. We have shown that alcohols and fatty acids can adsorb onto the DLC under static conditions. However, under dynamic tribocontact conditions, although alcohol and fatty acid molecules help to decrease the wear of the coatings, they are inefficient in reducing the friction. In all the experiments the fatty acid proved to have superior adsorption abilities compared to the corresponding alcohol. Based on our results and the existing literature, tentative adsorption mechanisms that include an environmental species effect, a temperature effect and a tribochemical effect are discussed for DLC surfaces.


In the traditional financial sector, players profited from information asymmetries. In the blockchain financial system, they profit from trust asymmetries. Transactions are a flow, trust is a stock. Even if the information asymmetries across the medium of exchange are close to zero (as it is expected in a decentralized financial system), there exists a "trust imbalance" in the perimeter. This fluid dynamic follows Hayek's concept of monetary policy: "What we find is rather a continuum in which objects of various degrees of liquidity, or with values which can fluctuate independently of each other, shade into each other in the degree to which they function as money". Trust-enabling structures are derived using Evolutionary Computing and Topological Data Analysis; trust dynamics are rendered using Fields Finance and the modeling of mass and information flows of Forrester's System Dynamics methodology. Since the levels of trust are computed from the rates of information flows (attention and transactions), trust asymmetries might be viewed as a particular case of information asymmetries – albeit one in which hidden information can be accessed, of the sort that neither price nor on-chain data can provide. The key discovery is the existence of a "belief consensus" with trust metrics as the possible fundamental source of intrinsic value in digital assets. This research is relevant to policymakers, investors, and businesses operating in the real economy, who are looking to understand the structure and dynamics of digital asset-based financial systems. Its contributions are also applicable to any socio-technical system of value-based attention flows.


Environmental monitoring is a rather new field in robotics. One of the main appealing tasks is gas mapping, i.e., the characterization of the chemical properties (concentration, dispersion, etc.) of the air within an environment. Current approaches rely on a robot using standard localization and mapping techniques to fuse gas measures with spatial features. These approaches require sophisticated sensors and/or high computational resources. We propose a minimalistic approach, in which one or multiple low-cost robots exploit the ability to store information in the environment, or "stigmergy", to effectively compute an artificial potential leading toward the likely location of the gas source, as indicated by a highest gas concentration or fluctuation. The potential is computed and stored directly on an array of RFID tags buried under the floor. Our approach has been validated in extensive experiments performed on real robots in a domestic environment.


This paper discusses how a small group of Aboriginal/ Indigenous adolescent girls, living away from their home communities and/or families, understood their lived experiences. These experiences were explored with photovoice, a participatory action research method using photography to capture and analyze participants' experiences and viewpoints, and educate/change the broader community. The participants identified both adversity and strength/resilience in their lived experiences. Despite feeling challenged by stereotypes; the experience of intergenerational trauma and loss; the suicide of friends and family members; peer pressure to smoke, drink, and use drugs; and the unfamiliar challenge of living away from their home communities, the participants conveyed a realistic and positive view of their life and development. They expected to make mistakes along the way as part of a life-long learning process. They expressed an interest in engaging with cultural traditions and practices; were willing to leave their home communities to access education; appreciated and accepted their families, seeking out support when required; found solace in nature; and supported and encouraged their friends and peers. The findings challenge negative stereotypes and essentialized notions about Aboriginal adolescent girls, peoples, and communities, and are consistent with an emphasis on strengths and resilience.


Wearing a crash helmet is essential to a motorcyclist's safety but could it actually be harming their health and affecting their riding? That is what academics from the two Bath universities are investigating in a new research project funded by The Leverhulme Trust. Leading the study are Dr Michael Carley, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath and Dr Nigel Holt from the Department of Psychology at Bath Spa University. With the help of Dr Ian Walker, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, the team will take on-road measurements to find how noise is transmitted through a helmet and how it affects the rider's hearing and ability to concentrate. Dr Carley said: "The noise inside the helmet at the legal speed of 70 mph is higher than the legal limit for noise at work – more than enough to cause serious hearing damage. "The issue isn't noisy engines or loud exhausts as you may think. The noise is simply from the airflow over the helmet. "Ear plugs won't help much either as the noise is transferred into the inner ear from the rider's bones. This has been known for 20 years yet little research has been done on the noise and its effects." The laboratory study will be split into two parts; the first will involve applying low level vibration to people's heads to examine how the noise is transmitted through the whole system of the helmet including the head. Dr Carley who will be directing this first study said: "We already know that the noise passes to the ear partly through air and partly through the rider's bones. To reduce hearing damage we must establish which route is more important and a higher priority to hearing protection measures." The second part includes playing noise back to participants while they do cognitive tests. Riding a motorcycle requires great attention and concentration; anything that reduces performance may lead to more accidents. Dr Holt said: "It is known that noise can affect perception and cognition but, so far, nobody has tried to examine how noise in motorcycling affects the performance of riders."


Larger foraminifera of the late Cretaceous (late Campanian) to middle Eocene (Lutetian) are recognized in the upper Cretaceous to Paleogene sedimentary rocks in the Haymana and Black Sea regions, Turkey. 114 diagnostic larger and benthonic foraminiferal species belonging to 66 genera including one new genus Chaldagia are identified, and 89 diagnostic species are documented as local ranges. Biostratigraphically useful 11 larger foraminiferal assemblage zones are described, and are correlated with two larger foraminiferal assemblage zones, NE India and Philippines in the Tethys region. Chaldagia haymanensis, n. gen., n. sp. and Scandonea samnitica De Castro are systematically described. Associated 52 planktonic foraminiferal species belonging to 23 genera are identified, and 90 larger and benthonic foraminifera and 40 planktonic foraminifera are illustrated. Some element concentrations of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary layers (28-37 cm thick with goethite layers) were found in the MedetlÏ section, Görpazari, Black Sea region by the author's research group. In there, Ir concentration was low and slightly elevated (0.24 ppb) in a sample of goethite layers, and foraminiferal taxa didn't yield. The K-T Ir layers are well correlated with those in the Meghalaya, NE India. Sr isotope values (87 Sr/86 Sr, 0.707885 – 0.707819) in the K-T boundary layers in the Devrekani section, Kastamonu, Black Sea region agreed well with those in the K-T boundary regions of the world by the author's research group.


Purpose: This research aims to study the influence of information technology applications, particularly electronic distribution channels, on success and failure factors that have been devoted to the handling of routine operational problems in the hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach: Reviewing personal interviews and surveys of structured questionnaires done by senior level managers of hotels. The collected data has been analyzed to generate the findings of this research. Findings: According to this analysis, IT applications were not used merely to replace the paper work and the traditional manual system but also to improve customer service and enhance management power. The results emphasize that the growing of online distribution channels have affected the ability of hotels to support employees, enhance the quality of service, improve communication and efficiencies, gain competitive advantage, maintain relationship with customers and increase profitability. Research limitations: Most of the findings in this study are based upon the data and interviews gathered by other fellow researchers. There is no testing for accuracy of these findings. The surveys and interviews used for this analysis were performed on selected hotel (rated three stars and above) in selected locations, which are not inclusive of all the hotels in one particular country; therefore the results may not be extensively applicable. In some of interviews there isn't clear cut differentiate between online distribution channels and travel agents that makes hard to bring out clear results from them. Originality/value: This research attempts to contribute to the knowledge of hotel owners and managers in relation to the decision-making processes for the implementation of IT infrastructures such as 'online distribution channels' in the context of hotel industry and facilitate hoteliers to incorporate IT into their efforts to remain competitive in the industry.


In the first page of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith described an apparently trivial issue, the making of a pin. In his search for ways to effectively fight poverty, he formulated the basis for a new view of economy based on the Industrial Revolution. Two centuries later, the perspective he developed remains intact and is largely outdated. It does not reflect the radical shift from an industrial to a service economy, which occurred during the later half of the 20th century and prevails today. Insurance, a very important component of the modern service economy, was and has been ignored or dismissed by past and contemporary economists. Founded on the principle of uncertainty, insurance now provides the basis for valuable insights into the unique characteristics of the service economy. A rethinking of economics is needed from this perspective. Adam Smith's analysis in The Wealth of Nations gave birth at the end of the eighteenth century to what is today called 'Economics'. A moral philosopher, Smith wanted to provide a better understanding of how to fight poverty. Most of his contemporaries insisted that wealth could only be developed from agriculture. Smith perceived that the beginning of the industrialisation process was the key and priority to promote human wealth and welfare in the future. He was right. This article proposes some unconventional considerations to promote the Wealth of Nations by a reconsideration of key economic issues. Economics did not start as a general social discipline concerning wealth in general, but as a consequence of the industrial revolution, an important historical event, which had a beginning, and had a glorious development for over two centuries. Contemporary economics is markedly different from the economics of the Industrial Revolution as Smith conceived it and has lost its initial and traditional connotations. We now live in a Service Economy, which implies that the economic theories and analyses built from the classical industrial framework need a serious, fundamental reappraisal. Many economists have long agreed that macroeconomics in particular is in a crisis. In addition, still today there are no clear economic explanations as to why after 1973 the rate of growth in GNP terms in the "industrialized * This article is a slightly modified version of the author's paper published in European Papers on the New Welfare issue no. 15, October 2010. CADMUS Volume 3 Issue 1, October 2016 Rethinking Economics, the Role of Insurance Orio Giarini 130 131 countries" fell from an average of 6% or more to an average of 2% or less. An understanding of these events is essential for understanding the real reasons for the recent financial and economic crises. Some basic reference issues have to be reconsidered to address the problem: what is economic value and how is it produced today? What is productivity and how is it measured? These along with the other main indicators used today still reflect the basic industrialized manufacturing system. For instance, one calculates value added on the basis of the remuneration of production factors, say cost of machines and labor for an automobile and productivity measures, say the possibility of producing two cars instead of one in the same time period. But all this is less and less relevant. Classical theory divided economic activity into three sectors: agricultural, industrial-manufacturing, and services. Now the services sector, as a consequence of technological development, has become the main production factor in ALL activities: in total about 70 to 80% of economic value produced (whatever the way to account for it). Services are the key production function today. It must be stressed, right away, that services do not exist without tools that are manufactured and manufacturing cannot exist without recourse to a wide range of services, so the two sectors are inextricably intertwined. The development of the modern Service Economy implies simply that there has been a reversal in dominance from manufacturing to services as the main contributor to the production of economic wealth. Today, what we call a "production" system consists very largely of service functions. It begins with investments in R&D, long before a new product is ever manufactured. Research requires management of a system in which a portfolio of projects with perceived commercial potential has to be proposed, approved and managed in order to achieve usable results in an uncertain period of time. The research period is uncertain, although a good professional manager will do his best to reduce the risk resulting from time overruns. The size and the nature of the portfolio itself have to conform to the characteristics of the sector under enquiry i.e. pharmaceutical industry, high speed trains etc. to determine whether several projects or only a few should be selected. Here too there are risks and uncertainties to be controlled and reduced as far as possible. Doesn't all this remind us of the management of an insurance contract? Services are becoming increasingly important within every phase and aspect of manufacturing activity such as control, design, planning, financing, security and safety, which are essential for storage, distribution, logistics and maintenance. The outcome of systems and products is measured with respect to time. Here it is the UTILISATION value that is important, which is based on real PERFORMANCE for a PERIOD of time. The utilization value of a physical product depends on both its utility, its lifespan, the liabilities for service and repair. The utilization value of a service such as education may depend on its relevance for employment or productive application. The last step involves disposal, an ex-post production cost. The length of time projected into the future is by definition uncertain. The magnitude of the value is subject to uncertainties regarding lifespan, service and warranty costs, product liability, etc. Furthermore, even the CADMUS Volume 3 Issue 1, October 2016 Rethinking Economics, the Role of Insurance Orio Giarini 130 131 best estimate of this period can be reduced by any sort of accidents or unanticipated interruption. Uncertainty and risk are therefore the rules of the game in the modern "service" economy. This reality conflicts with the idea held by many that the enormous advances in research should make reality more and more defined, predictable and foreseeable. This is simply not true, which appears paradoxical. If economic value is linked to performance in time, the future remains at least in part unpredictable. Many insurers themselves believed once that because of science, the market of insurable risks would disappear, as a result of the anticipated increase in predictability. The opposite has happened: the market for insurable risks is constantly increasing. There is also another basic reason well understood by engineers. As technology advances, the margins of error possible in any operating system producing destructive results tend to get more and more reduced. In an automobile one can drive with open windows, but what about in the airplane? Moreover, as the Fukushima nuclear accident, the BP Gulf of New Mexico oil rig accident and recent launch failures by SpaceX so dramatically illustrate, giant technological performances tend to produce what are referred to as uninsurable risks. It is also important to understand that the risks linked to the vulnerabilities of systems implicitly interconnected with the environment where one operates are not of the same kind as the so called entrepreneurial risks. One can take or refuse to take entrepreneurial risks, but the risks related to system vulnerability are unavoidable "acts of God". The notion of Risk Management today has to take into account two types of risk which are often confused: entrepreneurial risks and "pure risks". Since the time of the industrial revolution, insurance has been traditionally considered as secondary. At best it was sometimes wrongly identified with banking and finance. If an automobile company does important investments and financial activities, it still remains an automobile company. However, today insurance is at the center of the service economy, concerned with performance in time. Insurance is a necessary and an indispensable gear for the functioning of the modern world economy which reflects the centrality of risk and uncertainty in the modern service economy and the need for a serious reevaluation of many prevailing tenets of Economics. It is essential to remember that for over a century after Smith, knowledge of economics was considered a dispensable luxury. The emphasis after Smith was on the supply side, on how to produce wealth. During and after Keynes, it has been concentrated on the demand side (first in its solvable version, and then extended more and more into its insolvable version, hence the present financial crisis). The service economy requires an equal understanding of the supply side as well. The present indicators of the "value added" economy such as the GNP measure both positive productive activities and negative destructive activities such as war as if they were "Insurance is a necessary and in dispensable gear for the function ing of the modern world economy." CADMUS Volume 3 Issue 1, October 2016 Rethinking Economics, the Role of Insurance Orio Giarini 132 PB of similar and equal value. Instead a vital distinction needs to be made between positive contributions to wealth and the cost of conservation, remediation and recovery from natural disasters which do not reflect positive contributions to economic welfare. These costs should be deducted rather than added to GDP. Obvious examples of deducted value are the cost of disposal of wastes and controlling pollution. On the other side, advances in technology/ communications have resulted in many performance enhancements which are only partly accounted for by the "value added" system of accountin


Distinguishing invasive high-grade urothelial carcinoma (UC) from other carcinomas occurring in the genitourinary tract may be difficult. The differential diagnosis includes high-grade prostatic adenocarcinoma, spread from an anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), or spread from a uterine cervical SCC. In terms of metastatic UC, the most common problem is differentiating spread of UC to the lung from a primary pulmonary SCC. Immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) for GATA binding protein 3 (GATA3), thrombomodulin (THROMBO), and uroplakin III was performed on a tissue microarray (TMA) containing 35 cases of invasive high-grade UC. GATA3 IHC was also performed on TMAs containing 38 high-grade (Gleason score ≥8) prostatic adenocarcinomas, representative tissue sections from 15 invasive anal SCCs, representative tissue sections from 19 invasive cervical SCCs, and TMAs with 12 invasive cervical carcinomas of the cervix [SCC (n=10), SCC with neuroendocrine features (n=1), and adenosquamous carcinoma (n=1)]. In addition, GATA3 IHC was performed on representative tissue sections from 15 pulmonary UC metastases and a TMA with 25 SCCs of the lung and 5 pulmonary non–small cell carcinomas with squamous features. GATA3, THROMBO, and uroplakin III were positive in 28 (80%), 22 (63%), and 21 (60%) cases of high-grade UC, respectively. All cases of GATA3-positive staining were nonfocal; 25 (89%) cases demonstrated moderate to strong staining, and 3 (11%) demonstrated weak staining. Of the 7 cases that failed to express GATA3, 5 were positive for THROMBO and/or uroplakin III, whereas 2 were negative for all 3 markers. None of the 38 high-grade prostatic adenocarcinomas was positive for GATA3. Weak GATA3 staining was present in occasional basal cells of benign prostate glands, in a few benign atrophic glands, and in urothelial metaplasia. Of the 15 cases of anal SCCs, 2 (7%) cases showed focal weak staining, and 1 (3%) showed focal moderate staining. Weak staining was also rarely observed in the benign anal squamous epithelium. Of the 31 uterine cervical carcinomas, 6 (19%) showed weak GATA3 staining (3 nonfocal and 3 focal), and 2 (6%) demonstrated focal moderate staining. Twelve (80%) of the metastatic UCs to the lung were positive for GATA3, with 11 cases showing diffuse moderate or strong staining and 1 case showing focal moderate staining. None of the pulmonary SCCs or non–small cell carcinomas with squamous features was GATA3 positive. GATA3 IHC is a sensitive marker for UC, and positive staining in UC is typically nonfocal and moderate or strong in intensity. GATA3 is also highly specific in excluding high-grade prostate adenocarcinoma. Although some cervical and anal SCCs can be GATA3 positive, unlike in UC, staining is more commonly focal and weak. GATA3 is also a useful maker when diagnosing metastatic UC to the lung.


The first section of David Mitchell's genre-bending novel, Cloud Atlas (2004), purports to be set in 1850. Narrative clues approximately date the intra-diegetic diary object of this chapter to the period 1851–1910. This article argues for the construction of a stylistic historical imaginary of this period's language that is not based on mimetic etymological accuracy. Specifically, I show that of the 13,246 words in Part I of The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, there are at least three terms that have an etymological first-usage date from after 1910: spillage, variously attested from ~1934; latino, from ~1946; and lazy-eye, from ~1960. Instead, I show that racist and colonial terms occur with much greater frequency in Cloud Atlas than in a broader contemporary textual corpus (the Oxford English Corpus), indicating that the construction of imagined historical style likely rests more on infrequent word use and thematic terms from outmoded racist discourses than on etymological mimesis.


Background: Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP), issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, introduced in India after several years of deliberations. The UCPMP is to be voluntarily adopted and implemented by pharmaceutical companies. The main aim of study was to evaluate the scientific advertisements of pharmaceutical products as per uniform code of pharmaceutical marketing practices (UCPMP) draft guidelines Methodology: Printed copies of the journals in Manipal University Health Sciences Library were scrutinised to identify Indian journals containing advertisements. All the selected journals published during the time period from Jan, 2012 to Dec, 2014 were further scrutinised to identify advertisements for evaluation. All the selected advertisements were evaluated for its content as per the UCPMP guidelines and the observations were recorded in the data collection sheet prepared for the study. The collected data was coded and entered into SPSS software. The results are presented in the form of descriptive statistic. Results: Some parameters such as claims-safe (85.9%), no side effect (98.9%), no toxic hazards (99.2%), word new (96.3%), brand name of competitors (99.6%), name and address of company (93.8%), method of administration (71%), method of use (88%), additional information on request (65.5%) and name and photo of healthcare professionals (97.9%) for full ads almost adhere to guidelines. Whereas some parameter such as claims without references (56.8%), date of advertisement (25.3%), adverse reaction, warnings, precaution for use and contraindications (50.2%), recommended dose (55.6%) for full ads do not follow guidelines. Conclusion: The present study has clearly shown the discrepancies in the usage of references for the substantiation of claims made and recommended dose. Key words: UCPMP Guidelines, India, Scientific Advertisements, Journal, Claims, Pharmaceutical Marketing.


Stochastic hydrology is the study of the application of stochastic processes (their descriptionption, measurement, estimation and simulation) in engineering hydrology, which in itself is the study of the harnessing of water resources in the service of mankind. The term 'stochastic process' descriptionbes a random process observed discretely or continuously in time (or more unusually space). The essential character of a stochastic process is that the order in which events occur is important, in fact is an essential aspect of the phenomenon. This is because it is quite likely that there is a dependence structure in the process that it is important to measure and effectively preserve in any descriptionption or simulation. Typical examples of stochastic processes are the sequence of wet and dry days as measured by a rain-gauge or the arrivals of telephone calls at an exchange.


Background: Pterygium is a triangular fold of bulbar conjunctiva usually found in the nasal side of the interpalpebral fissure. It consists from apex and base. Its apex advancing progressively toward the cornea. The exact cause of pterygium is not well understood, but long-term exposure to sunlight, especially ultraviolet rays, wind, and chronic eye irritation from dry and dusty conditions seems to play an important causal role. It looks like scar, but it is not. The growth might spread slowly during a life or stop after a certain point. In extreme cases, pterygium can cover pupil and cause vision problems. Aim: The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of pterygium on corneal thickness, corneal curvature, tear volume, and intraocular pressure (IOP). Materials and Methods: A total of 100 patients have primary pterygium in one eye (unilateral) compared to their healthy (control) eye. The study was conducted in Makkah Eye Complex in Alkalakla branch between April 2016 and November 2017. The criteria of admission included individuals who have no history of systemic/chronic or other eye diseases. The patients whose pterygium enters the cornea within 2.0–3.0 mm and visual acuity at least 0.50 decimal (6/12) were selected. The data included age and gender, while the clinical procedures included testing vision and visual acuity (Snellen's type), autorefraction and autokeratometry, ultrasound pachymetry, applanation tonometry, and break-up time tear assessment. Frequency distribution tables and t-test were used to present the data. Results: The results showed that the pterygium was more apparent among male (53%) than female (47%). Significant decrease on visual acuity (77%) and tear volume (86%) of the pterygium eye (P < 0.0001) was observed as compared to healthy eye (HE). The primary pterygium caused meridional steepness in corneal curvature (98%). With-the-rule corneal astigmatism was dominant (61%) among other types. Statistically, there were little decrease on central corneal thickness and nonsignificant effect in IOP between the two eyes. Conclusions: Pterygium can cause significant change in ocular functions compared to HEs according to study parameters. Ocular dryness complications and vision impairment due to corneal astigmatism should be considered to make correct diagnoses for eye symptomatology.


There has always been interest in how animals live their lives - it is easy for us to identify with them. But there are many remarkable stories about plants that deserve to be told. "The Nature of Plants" tells how plants adapt to the challenges of their habitats. Plants may live in places that provide too little rainfall, yet they thrive, either by evading drought, like the animals that live in deserts, or by tolerating the scarcity. There are plants that use other plants, climbing on them, strangling some, living in their leafy canopies, or parasitizing them. And "The Nature of Plants" explores the love-hate relationships that plants have with animals, some feeding on plants but others drawn into serving plants by pollinating them, scattering their fruits and seeds, or being eaten themselves. The mostly hidden associations that plants have with bacteria and fungi are also revealed. Illustrated throughout with superb color photographs, it is written in a way that is clear to anyone who wishes to understand the life of plants.


Background: To investigate the IgG antibody titer against Helicobacter pylori CagA as a risk factor for future noncardia gastric cancer. Methods: A nested case-control study was done in the longitudinal cohort of atomic bomb survivors using stored sera before diagnosis (mean, 2.3 years). Enrolled were 299 cancer cases and 3 controls per case selected from cohort members matched on age, gender, city, and time and type of serum storage and countermatched on radiation dose. Results: H. pylori IgG seropositive with CagA IgG low titer was the strongest risk factor for noncardia gastric cancer [relative risk (RR), 3.9; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 2.1-7.0; P < 0.001], especially for intestinal-type tumor (RR, 9.9, 95% CI, 3.5-27.4; P < 0.001), compared with other risk factors, H. pylori IgG seropositive with CagA IgG negative (RR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.3-3.9; P = 0.0052), H. pylori IgG seropositive with CagA IgG high titer (RR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3-3.2; P = 0.0022), chronic atrophic gastritis (RR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.8-3.3; P < 0.001), current smoking (RR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.4-3.5; P < 0.001), or radiation dose (RR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.2-3.1; P = 0.00193). Current smoking showed significantly higher risk for diffuse-type than intestinal-type tumors (P = 0.0372). Radiation risk was significant only for nonsmokers, all noncardia, and diffuse-type gastric cancers. Conclusions: A low CagA IgG titer is a useful biomarker to identify a high-risk group and it also provides a clue to understanding host-pathogen interaction. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(6):1224–8)


Annual models for U.S. farm prices for corn and wheat are developed based on market factors as well as government agricultural commodity programs. The pricing relationships utilize a stocks-to-use modeling framework to capture the effects of market supply and demand factors on price determination. This formulation is augmented by factors that represent the changing role of agricultural policies, particularly government price support and stockholding programs. For wheat, international market effects as well as wheat feed use and related crosscommodity pricing considerations also are included. Model properties and model performance measures are presented. Additionally, recent price-forecasting applications of the models are discussed. The relatively simple structure of the estimated price models and their small data requirements lend themselves to use in price-forecasting applications in conjunction with market analysis of supply and demand conditions. In particular, the models have been implemented into USDAis short-term market analysis and long-term baseline projections. In these applications, the models provide an analytical framework to forecast prices and a vehicle for making consistency checks among the Departmentis supply, demand, and price forecasts.


PolyHIPE have proven to be useful in a large variety of applications included column filtration/separation, supported organic chemistry, as media for tissue engineering and 3D cell culture.1 The ability to conveniently modify pHIPE surfaces with functional groups is essential to opening new applications areas. The most promising method to conveniently modify pHIPE surface with a high density of functional groups is the "grafting from" approach. Stable polymer brushes covalently attached to the surface posses excellent mechanical and chemical robustness and offer the flexibility to introduce a large variety of functional monomers.2 We developed a new and unique pHIPE platform by incorporation of a polymerizable monomer with amino group into the HIPE available for different post in situ polymerization. The pHIPE with amino groups on the surface (pHIPE-NH2) can be directly used for the ring opening polymerization of amino acids N-carboxyanhydrates (NCAs) monomers to make pHIPE-g-polypeptide (such as pHIPE-g-poly(L-Benzyl Glutamate)) or easily converted to an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator for activators generated electron transfer (AGET) ATRP of tert-Butyl acrylate monomers. The polymers grafted can be deprotected to form pHIPE-g-poly(glutamic acid) or pHIPE-g-poly(acrylic acid) with reactive groups, on the surface of the pHIPE, available for further bioconjugation.


AIM
To examine whether polymorphisms in SULT1A1 and GSTP1 genes contribute to colorectal cancer development and whether they are associated with clinicopathological variables are not well identified.

METHODS
We examined the genotypes of 125 colorectal cancer patients and 666 healthy controls in a Swedish population by using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).

RESULTS
SULT1A1 *2/*2 genotype (OR=2.49, 95%CI=1.48-4.19, P=0.0002) and *2 allele (OR=1.56, 95%CI=1.16-2.10, P=0.002) had an effect on colorectal cancer susceptibility, while GSTP1 genotype was without effect. However, GSTP1 G-type predicted a worse prognosis in the patients independently of gender, age, Dukes' stage, growth pattern, and differentiation (P=0.03).

CONCLUSION
Polymorphism in SULT1A1 may predispose to colorectal cancer and GSTP1 may be a biological indicator of prognosis in the patients.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Alcohol use is a major risk factor for mortality and morbidity burden, and alcohol use disorders contribute markedly to this burden. Effective interventions for alcohol use disorders improve health, and are potentially cost-effective or even cost saving. Areas covered: We searched the literature for the cost-effectiveness of alcohol interventions. We included behavioral, pharmacological and combined interventions, and research from both a health care provider and a societal perspective. Overall, many economic research studies pointed towards existing cost-beneficial therapies from the perspective of a health care provider; i.e. the costs for interventions were smaller than the savings in services delivery in the years thereafter. Even if this was not the case, the interventions proved to be cost-effective with a threshold below $20,000 per quality-adjusted life year. Expert Commentary: While most of the economic research to date shows promising results, such research is relatively scarce and not always rigorous. More, and more rigorous economic research is needed to fully understand the potential impact of alcohol interventions. However, even with this research, something needs to be done to reduce stigmatization of alcohol use disorders in order to fully reap the benefits of alcohol interventions.


Cloud computing is the provision of IT resources (IaaS) on-demand using a pay as you go model over the internet. It is a broad and deep platform that helps customers builds sophisticated, scalable applications. To get the full benefits, research on a wide range of topics is needed. While resource over provisioning can cost users more than necessary, resource under provisioning hurts the application performance. The cost effectiveness of cloud computing highly depends on how well the customer can optimize the cost of renting resources (VMs) from cloud providers. The issue of resource provisioning optimization from cloud-consumer potential is a complicated optimization issue, which includes much uncertainty parameters. There is a much research avenue available for solving this problem as it is in the real-world. Here, in this paper we provide details about various optimization techniques for resource provisioning.


Purpose Real‐time dynamic control of the linear accelerator, couch, and imaging parameters during radiation delivery was investigated as a novel technique for acquiring tissue maximum ratio (TMR) data. Methods TrueBeam Developer Mode (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) was used to control the linear accelerator using the Extensible Markup Language (XML). A single XML file was used to dynamically manipulate the machine, couch, and imaging parameters during radiation delivery. A TG‐51 compliant 1D water tank was placed on the treatment couch, and used to position a detector at isocenter at a depth of 24.5 cm. A depth scan was performed towards the water surface. Via XML control, the treatment couch vertical position was simultaneously lowered at the same rate, maintaining the detector position at isocenter, allowing for the collection of TMR data. To ensure the detector remained at isocenter during the delivery, the in‐room camera was used to monitor the detector. Continuous kV fluoroscopic images during 10 test runs further confirmed this result. TMR data at multiple Source to Detector Distances (SDD) and scan speeds were acquired to investigate their impact on the TMR data. Percentage depth dose (PDD) scans (for conversion to TMR) along with traditional discrete TMR data were acquired as a standard for comparison. Results More than 99.8% of the measured points had a gamma value (1%/1 mm) < 1 when compared with discrete or PDD converted TMR data. Fluoroscopic images showed that the concurrent couch and tank movements resulted in SDD errors < 1 mm. TMRs acquired at SDDs of 99, 100, and 101 cm showed differences less than 0.004. Conclusion TrueBeam Developer Mode was used to collect continuous TMR data with the same accuracy as traditionally collected discrete data, but yielded higher sampled resolution and reduced acquisition time. This novel method does not require the modification of any equipment and does not use a 3D tank or reservoir.


The conventional view that product heterogeneity limits the scope for collusion among oligolpolists has been challenged in recent theoretical work. This paper provides an argument in support of the conventional view by emphasising the role of uncertainty. I introduce the idea that, with stochastic demand, an increase in the heterogeneity of products also leads to a decrease in the correlation of the firms? demand shocks. With imperfect monitoring, this makes collusion more difficult to sustain, as discriminating between random demand shocks and marginal deviations from the cartel strategy becomes more difficult. These effects are illustrated within a Hotelling-type duopoly model.


This study presents a methodology for the optimization of a monitoring network of sensors measuring the polluting substances in an urban urban-like environment with a view to estimate an unknown emission source. The methodology was presented by coupling the Simulated Annealing algorithm with the renormalization inversion technique and the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling approach. Performance of a an obtained optimal network was analyzed by reconstructing the unknown continuous point emissions emission using the concentration measurements from the sensors in that optimized 5 network. This approach was successfully applied and validated with 20 trials of the Mock Urban Setting Test (MUST) tracer field experiment in an urban-like environment. The optimal networks in the MUST urban region enabled are determined which makes it possible to reduce the size of original network (40-sensors) to ∼ 1/3 (13-sensors) and to 1/4 (10-sensors). The 10 and 13 sensors optimal networks have estimated the averaged location errors of 19.20 m and 17.42 m, respectively, which are comparable to 14.62 m from the original 40-sensors network. In 80% trials, emission rates with the 10 and 13 sensors 10 networks were estimated within a factor of two which are also comparable to 75% from the original network. This study presents the first an application of the renormalization data-assimilation approach for the optimal network design theory for determining the optimal monitoring networks to estimate a continuous point source emission in an urban-like environment.


On October 12-13, a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation was held at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa with a goal of identifying research needs related to coupled economic and biophysical models within the FEW system. Approximately 80 people attended the workshop with about half representing the social sciences (primarily economics) and the rest from the physical and natural sciences. The focus and attendees were chosen so that findings would be particularly relevant to SBE research needs while taking into account the critical connectivity needed between social sciences and other disciplines. We have identified several major gaps in existing scientific knowledge that present substantial impediments to understanding the FEW system. We especially recommend research in these areas as a priority for future funding: 1. Economic models of decision-making in coupled systems Deliberate human activity has been the dominant factor driving environmental and land-use changes for hundreds of years. While economists have made great strides in modeling and understanding these choices, the coupled systems modeling literature, with some important exceptions, has not reflected these contributions. Several paths forward seem fruitful. First, baseline economic models that assume rationality can be used much more widely than they are currently. Moreover, the current generation of IAMs that include rational agents have emphasized partial equilibrium studies appropriate for smaller systems. To allow this approach to be used to study larger systems, the potential for (and consequences of) general equilibrium effects should be studied as well. Second, it is important to address shortcomings in these models of economic decision-making. Valuable improvements could be gained from developing coupled models that draw insights from behavioral economics. Many decision-makers deviate systematically from actions that would be predicted by strict rationality, but very few IAMs incorporate this behavior, potentially leading to inaccurate predictions about the effects of policies and regulations. Improved models of human adaptation and induced technological change can also be incorporated into coupled models. Particularly for medium to long-run models, decisions about adaptation and technological change will have substantial effects on the conclusions and policy implications, but more compelling methods for incorporating these changes into modeling are sorely needed. In addition, some economic decisions are intrinsically dynamic yet few coupled models explicitly incorporate dynamic models. Economic models that address uncertainty in decision making are also underutilized in coupled models of the FEW system. 2. Coupling models across disciplines Despite much recent progress, established models for one component of the FEW system often cannot currently produce outcomes that can be used as inputs for models of other components. This misalignment makes integrated modeling difficult and is especially apparent in linking models of natural phenomena with models of economic decision-making. Economic agents typically act to maximize a form of utility or welfare that is not directly linked to physical processes, and they typically require probabilistic forecasts as an input to their decision-making that many models in the natural sciences cannot directly produce. We believe that an especially promising approach is the development of "bridge" models that convert outputs from one model into inputs for another. Such models can be viewed as application-specific, reduced-form distillations of a richer and more realistic underlying model. Ideally, these bridge models would be developed in collaborative research projects involving economists, statisticians, and disciplinary specialists, and would contribute to improved understanding in the scientific discipline as well. 3. Model validation and comparison There is little clarity on how models should be evaluated and compared to each other, both within individual disciplines and as components of larger IAMs. This challenge makes larger integrated modeling exercises extremely difficult. Some potential ways to advance are by developing statistical criteria that measure model performance along the dimensions suitable for inclusion in an IAM as well as infrastructure and procedures to facilitate model comparisons. Focusing on the models' out-of-sample distributional forecasting performance, as well as that of the IAM overall, is especially promising and of particular importance. Moreover, applications of IAMs tend to estimate the effect of hypothetical future policy actions, but there have been very few studies that have used these models to estimate the effect of past policy actions. These exercises should be encouraged. They offer a well-understood test bed for the IAMs, and also contribute to fundamental scientific knowledge through better understanding of the episode in question. The retrospective nature of this form of analysis also presents the opportunity to combine reduced-form estimation strategies with the IAMs as an additional method of validation.


The phylum-level meta-analysis approach has been proposed as a way of comparing geographically different areas along a common scale of disturbance. However, the training data set which establishes the scale of disturbance and all subsequent studies using the approach have been exposed to some sort of organic or inorganic pollution. Using macrobenthic communities subjected to a short-lived but intense physical disturbance from offshore mining off the west coast of Southern Africa, we tested the applicability of the meta-analysis approach for assessing the severity of disturbance in physically disturbed communities. The positioning of the original data set along a primary axis of disturbance was maintained; however, a second significant separation, along the vertical axis, distinguishes between macrobenthic assemblages from southern Africa and the NE Atlantic Shelf. The southern African samples are characterised by a larger proportion of Crustacea, and in the case of mined samples Mollusca, whereas the NE Atlantic data contain relatively more Echinodermata in the unpolluted samples and are dominated by Annelida in the organically enriched areas. The proportion of annelids decreased by about 50% in mined areas compared to the non-mined areas and the NE Atlantic samples. Conversely, bivalves and gastropods exhibited a notable increase in proportion in the mined patches compared to the adjacent non-mined areas, possibly as a result of their preferential ability to survive the mining process or their better ability to recolonise after mining, or an interplay of both factors. The mining activity may result in the selection of species for their physical robustness and tolerance to mining rather than their resistance to pollution in the conventional sense. The failure of the meta-analysis to ordinate the mined samples along the primary horizontal axis of disturbance, as defined by Warwick & Clarke¹s original study (Mar Ecol Prog Ser 92:221-231), does not reflect a failure of the meta-analysis to detect disturbance, but rather shows that the primary axis is strongly determined by the opportunistic species characteristic of organically enriched areas. It appears that phylum-level meta-analysis is better suited to assessing the impact of organic and chemical pollution on an ocean-basin scale than it is to physical disturbance caused by offshore mining.


Several ancient Mayan vessels from the Kislak Collection of the US Library of Congress were examined for the presence of alkaloids. One of them, a codex-style flask, bears a text that appears to read yo-'OTOT-ti 'u-MAY, spelling y-otoot 'u-may 'the home of its/his/her tobacco'. Samples extracted from this Late Classic period (600 to 900 AD) container were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) methods. Nicotine was identified as the major component of the extracts. LC/MS analyses also yielded signals due to nicotine mono-oxides. The identities of the compounds were determined by comparison of the chromatographic and/or mass spectral characteristics with those from standards and literature data. High-resolution high mass accuracy tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra of protonated nicotine and nicotine mono-oxides were measured to verify and to correct previous product ion assignments. These analyses provided positive evidence for nicotine from a Mayan vessel, indicating it as a likely holder of tobacco leafs. The result of this investigation is the first physical evidence of tobacco from a Mayan container, and only the second example where the vessel content recorded in a Mayan hieroglyphic text has been confirmed directly by chromatography/mass spectrometry trace analysis.


The link layer routing protocols  6lowpan Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing (LOAD) and Dynamic MANET On-demand for 6lowpan (DYMO-low) are integrated in 6lowpan stack. The stack is less complicated and it support IPv6 enabled packets route for biomedical data. Both routing protocols are modified and developed new approach for patient healthcare monitoring system. Thus, proposed integration method is more reliable speedily in healthcare monitoring system than  existing protocol in 6lowpans. Mesh routing components are  introduced to enable messages to deliver around the nodes. It's a new approach to monitor patients globally and analysis healthcare biomedical data, even though the doctors and patients both are fart in distance. During emergency cases, doctor able to monitor patient condition efficiently to reduce time consuming,  thus is provider more effective healthcare system. For real-time testing, dummy biomedical data are used in IP-based ubiquitous sensor nodes and gateway. Real-time implementation results are show for the integration protocol and it is more reliable in compare to other 6lowpan protocols.


The information transmission capabilities of a multifinger positional stimulator, called the Tactuator, were explored in a series of absolute identification experiments. Variations in the frequency of single sinewave stimuli evoked three relatively distinct perceptual attributes: smooth motion (up to about 6 Hz), a rough or fluttering sensation (about 10 to 70 Hz), and smooth vibration (above about 150 Hz). Multicomponent stimuli were formed by summing sinusoids from each of these three regions, with the intent that frequency (and amplitude) variations within each region could be identified independently. Stimulation was applied to either one of three digits (thumb, index, or middle) or to all three digits simultaneously. For stimulus durations of 500 and 250 ms, information transfer (IT) was 6.6 bits (corresponding to perfect identification of 97 stimuli); at 125 ms, IT was 6.0 bits. Estimates of potential IT rates were obtained by sequencing three random stimuli and (a) having the subject identify only the middle stimulus and (b) extrapolating this IT to that for continuous streams. Estimated IT rates were 13 bits/s, and the optimal stimulus presentation rate was approximately 3 items/s regardless of stimulus duration. This IT rate is roughly the same as that achieved by Tadoma users in tactual speech communication. [Work supported by NIDCD.]


Satellite remote sensing estimates of Gross Primary Production (GPP) have routinely been made using spectral Vegetation Indices (VIs) over the past two decades. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), the green band Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVIgreen), and the green band Chlorophyll Index (CIgreen) have been employed to estimate GPP under the assumption that GPP is proportional to the product of VI and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (where VI is one of four VIs: NDVI, EVI, WDRVIgreen, or CIgreen). However, the empirical regressions between VI*PAR and GPP measured locally at flux towers do not pass through the origin (i.e., the zero X-Y value for regressions). Therefore they are somewhat difficult to interpret and apply. This study investigates (1) what are the scaling factors and offsets (i.e., regression slopes and intercepts) between the fraction of PAR absorbed by chlorophyll of a canopy (fAPARchl) and the VIs, and (2) whether the scaled VIs developed in (1) can eliminate the deficiency and improve the accuracy of GPP estimates. Three AmeriFlux maize and soybean fields were selected for this study, two of which are irrigated and one is rainfed. The four VIs and fAPARchl of the fields were computed with the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images. The GPP estimation performance for the scaled VIs was compared to results obtained with the original VIs and evaluated with standard statistics: the coefficient of determination (R2), the root mean square error (RMSE), and the coefficient of variation (CV). Overall, the scaled EVI obtained the best performance. The performance of the scaled NDVI, EVI and WDRVIgreen was improved across sites, crop types and soil/background wetness conditions. The scaled CIgreen did not improve results, compared to the original CIgreen. The scaled green band indices (WDRVIgreen, CIgreen) did not exhibit superior performance to either the scaled EVI or NDVI in estimating crop daily GPP at these agricultural fields. The scaled VIs are more physiologically meaningful than original un-scaled VIs, but scaling factors and offsets may vary across crop types and surface conditions.


The demand for miniaturized parts and miniaturized semi-finished products is increasing nowadays, because microforming processes can improve production rate and minimize material waste due to less forming passes. However, traditional macro metal forming processes and modelling cannot be simply scaled down to produce miniaturized micro parts. In this study, a 2-Hi micro rolling mill has been successfully built. Experimental and numerical investigations on the micro rolling process for ultra-thin SUS 304 stainless steel strip have been conducted. The experimental results show that the micro rolling deformation of ultra-thin strip is influenced by size effect which results from the specimen size difference and this size effect is embodied in the flow stress and the friction coefficient. Analytical and finite element (FE) models in describing size effect related phenomena, such as flow stress, friction, rolling force and deformation behaviour, are proposed. The material surface constraint and the material deformation mode are critical in determination of material flow stress curve. The analysis of surface roughness evolution with rolling conditions has also been performed. The identified analysis on deformation mechanics provides a basis for further exploration of the material behaviour in plastic deformation of micro scale and the development of micro scale products via micro rolling.


Global environmental change, argues Michel Serres, has forced us to reconsider our relationship to nature. In this translation of his influential 1990 book Le Contrat Naturel , Serres calls for a natural contract to be negotiated between Earth and its inhabitants. World history is often referred to as the story of human conflict. Those struggles that are seen as our history must now include the uncontrolled violence that humanity perpetrates upon the earth, and the uncontrollable menace to human life posed by the earth in reaction to this violence. Just as a social contract once brought order to human relations, Serres believes that we must now sign a "natural contract" with the earth to bring balance and reciprocity to our relations with the planet that gives us life. Our survival depends on the extent to which humans join together and act globally, on an earth now conceived as an entity. Tracing the ancient beginnings of modernity, Serres examines the origins and possibilities of a natural contract through an extended meditation on the contractual foundations of law and science. By invoking a nonhuman, physical world, Serres asserts, science frees us from the oppressive confines of a purely social existence, but threatens to become a totalitarian order in its own right. The new legislator of the natural contract must bring science and law into balance. Serres ends his meditation by retelling the story of the natural contract as a series of parables. He sees humanity as a spacecraft that with the help of science and technology has cast off from familiar moorings. In place of the ties that modernity and analytic reason have severed, we find a network of relations both stranger and stronger than any we once knew, binding us to one another and to the world. The philosopher's harrowing and joyous task, Serres tells us, is that of comprehending and experiencing the bonds of violence and love that unite us in our spacewalk to the spaceship Mother Earth. "Wise, rich and poetic ...not simply a philosophical study of the Environment, or an ecological questioning of Philosophy ...Nature is acknowledged as an inside force which breaks [the philosopher's] discourse, and opens it up to a vigilant poetic meditation."--Substance: A Review of Theory and Literary Criticism


If a protocol expects to compare two strings and is prepared only for
those strings to be ASCII, then using Unicode code points in those
strings requires they be prepared somehow. Internationalizing Domain
Names in Applications (here called IDNA2003) defined and used
Stringprep and Nameprep. Other protocols subsequently defined
Stringprep profiles. A new approach different from Stringprep and
Nameprep is used for a revision of IDNA2003 (called IDNA2008). Other
Stringprep profiles need to be similarly updated, or a replacement of
Stringprep needs to be designed. This document outlines the issues to
be faced by those designing a Stringprep replacement.


Due to popular use of internet and fast progress of communications technology, the researches related to GIS in environmental models is being focused to use Geospatial Information System (GIS) in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). In this architecture, the geo service requesters can access the provided geo-services through the communication network by using client/server method. Effectiveness of the method depends on the existence of interoperability especially at semantic level. Lack of semantic interoperability makes obstacles for automated discovery of geo-services. The current article proposes a methodology based on ontology for discovering field-based geo-services. An ontological structure including the ontology of measurement theory, the core ontology of geo services and the upper ontology supports semantic framework for this methodology. In the other words, these ontologies provide required knowledge for describing ontologies of provided and requested geo-services. Sample ontologies have been built to test the implementation of the proposed methodology for discovering geo-services. In this regard, a geo-service discovery application has been developed by this research in order to implement a prototype of the methodology.


Implicit bias research indicates that despite our expressly endorsed values, Americans share a pervasive bias disfavoring Black Americans and favoring White Americans. This bias permeates legislative as well as judicial decision-making, leading to the possibility of verdicts against Black defendants that are tainted with racial bias. The Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado provides an ex post remedy for blatant racism that impacts jury verdicts, while jury nullification provides an ex ante remedy by empowering jurors to reject convicting Black defendants when to do so would reinforce racially biased laws. Both remedies exist alongside a trend limiting the role of the jury and ultimately indicate that we trust juries to keep racism out of the courtroom in the exceptions to our normal procedures.


Companies engaged in e-commerce (EC) activities are continually looking for more sophisticated and relevant capabilities and e-providers are beginning to respond with promised improvements and innovations. However it has been difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to perform comparative evaluations of e-providers prior to the adoption of their products. It is evident that an identification of critical provider evaluation criteria and attendant quantification of benefits would aid both EC users and e-providers. This study collects and analyses data from 103 companies to identify and prioritise evaluation criteria and provider characteristics that are associated with goal performance in EC projects. A set of anticipations are developed about the effects of project spend on evaluation process attributes, and about evaluation criteria and their association with goal performance. Significant differences were found between small and large e-projects in their ranking of evaluation criteria, as well as in how provider characteristics are associated with project performance outcomes in different sized projects. The implications of these findings are discussed at length.


ObjectivesThis paper estimates associations between long-term exposure to ambient particulate air pollution and 13 self-reported health outcomes including poor general health, chronic illness, experiencing long-running difficulties with breathing, and experiencing frequent periods of confusion or memory loss. It examines the extent to which these associations are explained by confounding factors.
ApproachLongitudinally-linked Census data from the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study linked to data on annual average particulate (PM2.5) concentrations at the 1km grid-square level over the period 2002-2010, exploiting complete residential histories, are used. The paper controls for potentially confounding factors at the neighbourhood, household and individual level, including for prior health, in a multivariate regression framework. Robustness to the presence of remaining unobserved confounders is assessed in two extensions, first by assuming selection on unobservables is proportional to selection on observables, and second through inclusion of an extensive set of fixed effects in the model.
ResultsThere are strong statistical associations between long-term exposure to ambient particulate pollution and all 13 health outcomes measured by the 2011 Northern Ireland Census. Most of these estimated associations survive conditioning on an extensive set of observable controls. Of these, however, only two associations – with chronic illness and with long-running breathing difficulties, where we might expect the strongest causal effects – survive further analysis designed to elicit robustness to selection on unobservables. The estimated magnitudes of these remaining effects are non-trivial. For example, a 5 µg/m3 difference in particulate exposure averaged over 9 years has a similar magnitude effect on the probability of reporting long-running breathing difficulties as the difference between those aged in their 20s and those in their 40s.
ConclusionsThis study provides evidence of substantial effects of long-term exposure to ambient particulates on the probabilities of experiencing chronic illness and long-running breathing difficulties. These are qualitatively robust to both observed and unobserved confounders. Associations between particulate exposure and other health outcomes in the study are shown to reflect confounders.


The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of an EU language and translation policy and the peculiarities of translation and term-creation in an EU context. I first present the legal basis for a language and translation policy, focusing on national-level involvement in corpus planning, and, secondly, I analyse how institutional translation policy and practice affect the linguistic (language, text) and extra-linguistic (translator, receiver) aspects of translation. Thirdly, by revealing the complexity of conceptual systems at an EU-level and extending the model of Sager (1990), I analyse the stages of multilingual primary and secondary term-creation in an EU context. In the creation of secondary terms I draw a distinction between intra-conceptual and inter-conceptual term-transfer. I finally outline the linguistic and conceptual variability of EU terms.


Abstract The technique of noble metal chemical addition (NMCA), accompanied by a low-level hydrogen water chemistry (HWC), is being employed by several U.S. nuclear power plants for mitigating intergranular stress corrosion cracking in the vessel internals of their boiling water reactors (BWRs). An improved computer model by the name of DEMACE was employed to evaluate the performance of NMCA throughout the primary coolant circuit (PCC) of a commercial BWR. The molar ratios of hydrogen to oxidizing species in the PCC under normal water chemistry and HWC are analyzed. The effectiveness of NMCA is justified by calculated electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) around the PCC and in a local power range monitoring (LPRM) housing tube, in which practical in-vessel ECP measurements are normally taken. Prior to the modeling work for the BWR, the Mixed Potential Model, which is embedded in DEMACE and responsible for ECP calculation, was calibrated against both laboratory and plant ECP data. After modeling for various HWC conditions, it is found that the effectiveness of NMCA in the PCC of the selected BWR varies from region to region. In particular, the predicted ECP in the LPRM housing tube is notably different from that in the nearby bulk environment under NMCA, indicating that cautions must be given to a possible, undesirable outcome due to a distinct ECP difference between a locally confined area and the actual bulk environment.


Land is again the subject of debate in Mozambique. The 1997 land law was passed following widespread consultation in one of the most democratic processes in Mozambique in the 1990s, and the law won praise for protecting peasant rights while creating space for outside investment. This balance is now being questioned. The law gives communities the right to delimit and register their land; once registered, potential investors need to negotiate with communities rather than merely consult them. About 100 communities have had land delimitations approved, but so far there have been no negotiations with investors. The international community and senior government officials argue that development in Mozambique will only come from private investors, mainly large foreign investors. They want greater emphasis on improving conditions for would-be investors, including speedingup the consultation process, and less stress on peasant land delimitation. Pressure to change the constitution to allow land privatisation has been rejected, but debate continues on permitting land 'titles' (effectively, leases) to be sold and mortgaged. This article argues that the land debate is actually a proxy for a debate about rural development. A minority see the need to actively promote some form of peasant-based development. However, most of the Mozambican eilite and the international community have become adherents of a 'cargo cult' which believes that development is something that flies in from outside- from the World Bank and foreign investors.


We consider the problem of choosing a linear classifier that minimizes misclassification probabilities in two-class classification, which is a bi-criterion problem, involving a trade-off between two objectives. We assume that the class-conditional distributions are Gaussian. This assumption makes it computationally tractable to find Pareto optimal linear classifiers whose classification capabilities are inferior to no other linear ones. The main purpose of this paper is to establish several robustness properties of those classifiers with respect to variations and uncertainties in the distributions. We also extend the results to kernel-based classification. Finally, we show how to carry out trade-off analysis empirically with a finite number of given labeled data.


Introduction Drug addiction is one of the most flagrant social damages that can easily enervate the socio-cultural foundation of a country as well as endanger human dynamism. One of the prevalent problems among most addicted people is their low hope and relapse of drug dependence. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of vocational consultation (for training on problem-solving skills) on hope and relapse rate of patients treated in methadone maintenance clinics. Methods This experiment was conducted on 60 drug abusers treated in a methadone maintenance program in drug addiction centers in Bojnurd, Iran, in 2014. The patients were randomly and equally allocated into two study and control groups. All patients completed the Miller Hope Questionnaire before and after the intervention. Ten sessions of vocational consultation were held for the study group while the control group received no special treatment. Patients were followed up on for relapses for six months. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 16) and the paired-samples t-test technique. Results The results indicated that the mean and standard deviation of hope on the pre-test in the study group increased on the post-test (from M=175.5, SD=31.8, to M=198.5, SD=20.4), while in the control group the mean of hope decreased from the pre-test to past-test stage (M=184.7, SD=27.7, to M=183.3, SD=26.1), showing a significant relationship, t(56)= 5.657, p<0.05. The relapse rate was not significantly different in the two groups. Conclusion The vocational consultation positively affects hope among drug dependents but did not affect their relapse rate during the six-month follow-up. Increasing the hope in these groups of patients may be effective in other aspects of treatment success in long-term follow-up.


"I fear each passing night that I will not receive my maintenance dose of suspense, and then I will cease to exist."--Whatever Gets You through the Night Whatever Gets You through the Night is an irreverent and deeply funny retelling of the Arabian Nights and a wildly inspired exploration of the timeless art of storytelling. Award-winning writer Andrei Codrescu reimagines how Sheherezade saved Baghdad's virgins and her own life through a heroic feat of storytelling--one that kept the Persian king Sharyar hanging in agonizing narrative and erotic suspense for 1001 nights. For Sheherezade, the end of either suspense or curiosity means death, but Codrescu keeps both alive in this entertaining tale of how she learned to hold a king in thrall, setting with her endless invention an unsurpassable example for all storytellers across the ages. Liberated and mischievous, Codrescu's Sheherezade is as charming as she is shrewd--and so is the story Codrescu tells.


Stigma-specific RNA silencing of exocyst genes impairs basal pollen responses in the stigma following compatible pollinations. Initial pollen-pistil interactions in the Brassicaceae are regulated by rapid communication between pollen grains and stigmatic papillae and are fundamentally important, as they are the first step toward successful fertilization. The goal of this study was to examine the requirement of exocyst subunits, which function in docking secretory vesicles to sites of polarized secretion, in the context of pollen-pistil interactions. One of the exocyst subunit genes, EXO70A1, was previously identified as an essential factor in the stigma for the acceptance of compatible pollen in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and Brassica napus. We hypothesized that EXO70A1, along with other exocyst subunits, functions in the Brassicaceae dry stigma to deliver cargo-bearing secretory vesicles to the stigmatic papillar plasma membrane, under the pollen attachment site, for pollen hydration and pollen tube entry. Here, we investigated the functions of exocyst complex genes encoding the remaining seven subunits, SECRETORY3 (SEC3), SEC5, SEC6, SEC8, SEC10, SEC15, and EXO84, in Arabidopsis stigmas following compatible pollinations. Stigma-specific RNA-silencing constructs were used to suppress the expression of each exocyst subunit individually. The early postpollination stages of pollen grain adhesion, pollen hydration, pollen tube penetration, seed set, and overall fertility were analyzed in the transgenic lines to evaluate the requirement of each exocyst subunit. Our findings provide comprehensive evidence that all eight exocyst subunits are necessary in the stigma for the acceptance of compatible pollen. Thus, this work implicates a fully functional exocyst complex as a component of the compatible pollen response pathway to promote pollen acceptance.


In this paper we propose new methods to blind exponents used in RSA and in elliptic curves based algorithms. Due to classical differential power analysis (DPA and CPA), a lot of countermeasures to protect exponents have been proposed since 1999 Kocher [20] and by Coron [13]. However, these blinding methods present some drawbacks regarding execution time and memory cost. It also got some weaknesses. Indeed they could also be targeted by some attacks such as The Carry Leakage on the Randomized Exponent proposed by P.A. Fouque et al. in [23] or inefficient against some others analysis such as Single Power Analysis. In this article, we explain how the most used method could be exploited when an attacker can access test samples. We target here new dynamic blinding methods in order to prevent from any learning phase and also to improve the resistance against the latest side channel analyses published.


The archaeological record is a time-averaged palimpsest of material variably influenced by postdepositional processes. The aim of archaeology is to elucidate and inform on past human behaviour, however, the palimpsest nature of the archaeological record limits the potential for events on the scale of the individual and day-to-day life to be preserved. While some perceive this lack of temporal resolution as a hindrance, it rather presents an opportunity to investigate environmental and behavioural processes at a larger, broader scale. The delimiting and constraining of palimpsests to access this spectrum of temporal scales poses methodological and conceptual complications. It is this challenge that forms the focus of this thesis. Shell middens, in many ways, magnify the effects of the palimpsest nature of the archaeological record through aspects such as their porosity and frequent lack of clearly visible stratigraphic differentiation. Complex and variable formation processes blur the spatial and temporal relationships of the material contained within a midden deposit. The vertical displacement of midden shell, the time-averaging of previously temporally distinct layers, as well as the muddying of the depositional patterning behind midden formation are all issues that complicate behavioural and palaeoenvironmental interpretations. The midden within the Brremangurey rockshelter, located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia's far north, embodies this conundrum. During excavation and analysis of the midden, clues were identified that pointed towards a far more complex formation and transformation history than initially thought. Precisely to what extent, though, would be problematic to determine using conventional techniques. The typical approach to refining the formation processes of shell middens relies on radiocarbon dating. Greater number of samples provide enhanced resolution, but at a considerable cost. Amino acid racemisation (AAR) is a low-cost relative dating technique that has not been widely incorporated into archaeological investigation. In the context of shell midden archaeology, the potential of AAR in resolving issues of site formation and transformation comes from the ability to analyse a large number of samples to establish a high resolution relative chronological sequence of a midden deposit. Recent refinements to the AAR method improve the technique's accuracy and precision, making it more amenable to the temporal scales at play within these specific archaeological contexts. To test the applicability of this novel use of AAR, this approach was applied to the material excavated from the Brremangurey rockshelter. The use of AAR dating to establish a high resolution relative chronology of the Brremangurey midden deposit managed to address a range of problems commonly encountered in shell midden archaeology. The temporality and spatial origins of vertically displaced shell could be recognised allowing the integration of ex situ material to the archaeological interpretations. A time-averaged layer was disentangled, and the relative contributions of each phase of deposition to be identified, adding more detail to the formation history of the midden deposit. Most importantly, the application of AAR and 'Temporal Packaging' presented a detailed picture of the depositional patterning of the Brremangurey midden deposit. A complicating aspect of the archaeological record is that the scales of temporal resolution recorded within a palimpsest are hidden. This denies the investigator the opportunity to appropriately adjust their scale of investigation to the scale of evidence the archaeological record can support. Not only were AAR and Temporal Packaging able to refine the chronology of a midden deposit, but also allowed the previously inaccessible temporal resolution contained within a deposit to be defined.


Observations show a clear vertical metallicity gradient in the Galactic bulge, which is often taken as a signature of dissipative processes in the formation of a classical bulge. Various evidence shows, however, that the Milky Way is a barred galaxy with a boxy bulge representing the inner three-dimensional part of the bar. Here we show with a secular evolution N-body model that a boxy bulge formed through bar and buckling instabilities can show vertical metallicity gradients similar to the observed gradient if the initial axisymmetric disk had a comparable radial metallicity gradient. In this framework, the range of metallicities in bulge fields constrains the chemical structure of the Galactic disk at early times before bar formation. Our secular evolution model was previously shown to reproduce inner Galaxy star counts and we show here that it also has cylindrical rotation. We use it to predict a full mean metallicity map across the Galactic bulge from a simple metallicity model for the initial disk. This map shows a general outward gradient on the sky as well as longitudinal perspective asymmetries. We also briefly comment on interpreting metallicity gradient observations in external boxy bulges.


Much anthropological research on narrative and violence treats their relationship as immanent and performative, an assumption shared by many media, legal, medical, and other professionals and lay persons. This view is predicated on constructing the production, circulation, and reception of knowledge about violence in particular ways. In this article, I examine newspaper accounts of infanticide in Venezuela, along with interviews with reporters, detectives and legal professionals and focus groups. This analysis suggests that these articles, which receive widespread attention, become stories about stories—specifically narratives that recount how the story of the crime unfolded naturally and automatically from material and corporeal evidence, and the words of relatives, neighbors, doctors, detectives, defendants, and the vox populi. These constructions of discourse about violence create a very limited range of subject positions, generate standardized scripts for persons interpellated in each slot, and make it difficult to advance counternarratives, thereby inscribing the legitimacy of state institutions during a period (the 1990s) when the nation-state project seemed to be collapsing.


Winner of 2002 Edward Goodwin Ballard Prize In a penetrating and lucid discussion of the enigmatic relationship between the work of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Steven Galt Crowell proposes that the distinguishing feature of twentieth-century philosophy is not so much its emphasis on language as its concern with meaning. Arguing that transcendental phenomenology is indispensable to the philosophical explanation of the space of meaning, Crowell shows how a proper understanding of both Husserl and Heidegger reveals the distinctive contributions of each to that ongoing phenomenological project.


Nanostructured boron carbide/C60 (B4C/C60) and cubic boron nitride/C60 (c-BN/C60) carbon-ceramic composites were prepared by a high-energy ball milled pre-treatment of the parent materials with the addition of a CS2 solvent followed by a highpressure/high-temperature (HPHT) treatment. Tthe elastic moduli were calculated based on the experimentally measured density and velocity values of the longitudinal and transverse bulk acoustic waves (BAW) in the specimens. The BAW velocities were measured with a pulse-echo method by laser optoacoustic excitation of ultrasonic pulses. Acoustic microscopy was used to visualize the bulk microstructure and internal defects and to measure the local values of BAW velocities of specimens on which the elastic moduli had been calculated and compared with the data defined by the pulse-echo method. The microhardness and flexural strength of the samples were measured also.


The present debate over the legal treatment of traditional knowledge (TK) and genetic resources tends to rationalize the precarious conditions in which Indigenous peoples and local communities live.  The debate is organized around the question whether TK should be treated as part of the public domain or whether property rights should apply.  Both sides presuppose either a robust utilitarianism or else a narrow conception of historical redress for past injustices.  This Article argues that both property and the public domain depend on the disruption of places, people, and cultures that may stand in the way of the material conditions industrialized societies use as a proxy for human welfare.  The TK debate tends to avoid fundamental moral and justice-related aspects of TK protection, including the centrality of TK to Indigenous peoples' cultural identities and ways (and quality) of life, as well as their long-term socioeconomic development.  The Article proposes a theological framework of "biblical stewardship" rooted in imago Dei—the foundational concept informing Jewish and Christian understandings of human nature and social interaction—to address the socio-moral dimensions that are constitutive of TK systems and the institutional context in which they unfold.  The biblical stewardship framework focuses on the cooperative and kinship arrangements that enable and sustain productive capacity for TK.  It centers the need for Indigenous peoples and local communities to be able to develop and protect their knowledge assets as a precondition for those communities' thriving, both in the present and the future. Moreover, biblical stewardship supplies a basis for accountability by Indigenous peoples and local communities for how their TK is managed, shared, and utilized within a broader framework of progress and the public good—including obligations that foreclose access and benefit-sharing agreements that may undermine conditions for flourishing of plant, animal, or human life.


OBJECTIVES
Older adults consistently report fewer experiences of mind wandering compared to younger adults. Aging is also associated with a shift in the emotional focus of our thoughts, with Older adults tending to experience an increase in attention towards positive information, or a "positivity bias," relative to younger adults. Here, we tested if the positivity bias associated with aging can also predict age-related changes in the content of older adults' mind wandering.

METHOD
Older adults and younger adults completed a go/no-go task with periodic thought probes to assess rates of emotionally valenced mind wandering.

RESULTS
Older adults reported significantly less negatively and neutrally valenced mind wandering compared to younger adults, but there was no age difference in reports of positively valenced mind wandering. Overall rates of mind wandering predicted poorer task performance for both age groups: Individuals who mind wandered more, performed worse, but this did not differ by the emotional valence. Both older adults and younger adults showed similar in-the-moment performance deficits with mind wandering reports being associated with worse immediate no-go accuracy and faster reaction times.

DISCUSSION
Focusing on different dimensions of thought content, such as emotional valence, can provide new insight into age-related differences in mind wandering. Older adults mind wandering reports were less negative and neutral compared to younger adults suggesting a positivity bias for older adults. However, this positivity bias does not seem to impact task performance. We discuss the implications of the findings for mind wandering theories and the positivity bias.


Word 2010 is a powerful word processing application that allows users to produce typed documents. In part I of this series, you have learned how to work with templates, forms and styles in Word 2010. In this ebook you learn how to create a table of contents, how to work with the mail merge feature and how to create footnotes and endnotes.

A table of contents lists headings and their corresponding page numbers. Word 2010 provides some preset table of contents layouts, which enable you to quickly insert a table in your document. The table can be based on standard Heading Level Styles, user-defined styles or a combination of both. In this ebook you learn how to create a table of content in Word 2010, how to create, update and delete cross-references. Furthermore you will learn how to build and maintain a bibliography and insert citations

Footnotes and Endnotes are used to provide additional information about a word or phrase within a document. The text is marked with a small, superscripted number. If you insert a footnote, the associated text can be placed either at the bottom of the page or beneath the last paragraph of text on the page. An endnote can be displayed either at the end of the section or at the end of the whole document. After reading the section about footnotes and endnotes, you will know how to insert footnotes and endnotes in a Word 2010 document. As well you will know how view, edit, delete and customize footnotes and endnotes.

 Mail merge is a very convenient feature in Word 2010. You use mail merge when you want to create a set of documents, such as a form letter that is sent to many customers or a sheet of address labels. Each letter or label has the same kind of information, yet the content is unique. In this ebook you learn how to use mail merge to create and print letters and other documents. Further you will learn how to setup a merge document and how to connect to a data source.


This paper emphasises on degradation of wood in cultural heritage structures at Svalbard. Nowhere else does global heating occur faster. Negative impacts of climate change will increase the strain on wooden structures and can daily be observed at Svalbard. The severe changes affect the degradation rate of wooden constructions, including cultural heritage. Certain microclimates, also in Polar areas, are favourable to fungal growth and decay. The probable enhancing effects climate change have on fungal degradation in wooden structures are however alarming. The paper displays findings of measurements from four different case study projects at Svalbard between 2009 and 2019. The results have been analysed separately, compiled and discussed in context, and towards relevant literature. We claim that impacts of climate change may not be generalized in order to predict effects in building materials. Further, that with extended knowledge on how climate change affects natural development of fungal decay, negative impacts may be reduced. Lessons learned from high Arctic areas might add longevity and sustainability to wooden cultural heritage constructions, also in different areas and environments. The paper is part of two of the authors' PhD work at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.