Monitoring health and noise pollution in urban environments often entails deploying acoustic sensor networks to passively collect data in public spaces. Although spaces are technically public, people in the environment may not fully realize the degree to which they may be recorded by the sensor network, which may be perceived as a violation of expected privacy. Therefore, we propose a method to anonymize and blur the voices of people recorded in public spaces–a novel, yet increasingly important task as acoustic sensing becomes ubiquitous in sensor-equipped smart cities. This method is analogous to Google's face blurring in its Street View photographs, which arose from similar concerns in the visual domain. The proposed blurring method aims to anonymize voices by removing both the linguistic content and personal identity from voices, while preserving the rest of the acoustic scene.The method consists of a three-step process. First, voices are separated from non-voice content by a deep U-Net source separation model. Second, we evaluate two approaches to obscure the identity and intelligibility of the extracted voices: a low pass filter to remove most of the formants in the voices, and an inversion of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC). Finally, the blurred vocal content is mixed with the separated non-vocal signal to reconstruct the acoustic scene. Using background recordings from a real urban acoustic sensor network in New York City, we present a complete evaluation of our method, with automatic speech recognition, speaker identification, sound event detection, and human perceptual evaluation.


Earnings dynamics are much richer than those typically used in macro models with heterogenous agents. This paper provides multiple contributions. First, it proposes a simple non-parametric method to model rich earnings dynamics that is easy to estimate and introduce in structural models. Second, it applies our method to estimate a nonparametric earnings process using two data sets: the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and a large, synthetic, data set that matches the dynamics of the U.S. tax earnings. Third, it uses a life cycle model of consumption to compare the consumption and saving implications of our two estimated processes to those of a standard AR(1). We find that, unlike the standard AR(1) process, our estimated, richer earnings process generates an increase in consumption inequality over the life cycle that is consistent with the data and better fits the savings of the households at the bottom 60% of the wealth distribution.


Microbes are critical players in every geochemical cycle relevant to climate including carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and others. The sum total of microbial activity is enormous, but the net effect of microbial activities on the concentration of carbon dioxide and other climate-relevant gases is currently not known. In February of 2011, the American Academy of Microbiology convened a colloquium to discuss how to integrate microbiological processes and climate models. Based on that colloquium, this report examines our current understanding of how microbes influence climate and identifies key biogeochemical processes, heavily influenced by microbes, which offer attractive starting points to begin collaborations between the two fields. The report also recommends changes to data collection and accessibility, improved incentives for interdisciplinary collaborations, and the development of new technologies as important steps. While the challenge of integrating microbes into climate models is great, one thing is certain, microbes are a force in climate change that cannot be ignored.


Until recently, effective protection of human rights through the courts was virtually impossible in South Africa. The reason was that, under the guise of parliamentary sovereignty, there was no constitutional machinery to check dictatorial legislation passed by Parliament, which itself was seemingly above the law. Suddenly, from the ashes of apartheid emerged the floodlight of a democratic order with all the attractive ingredients that clothe human beings with dignity. One can therefore understand the euphoria that welcomed the final Constitution which, among other unique features, made ample provision for human rights - to wit, the Bill of Rights.


Phylogenetic comparative methods explore the relationships between quantitative traits adjusting for shared evolutionary history. This adjustment often occurs through a Brownian diffusion process along the branches of the phylogeny that generates model residuals or the traits themselves. For high-dimensional traits, inferring all pair-wise correlations within the multivariate diffusion is limiting. To circumvent this problem, we propose phylogenetic factor analysis (PFA) that assumes a small unknown number of independent evolutionary factors arise along the phylogeny and these factors generate clusters of dependent traits. Set in a Bayesian framework, PFA provides measures of uncertainty on the factor number and groupings, combines both continuous and discrete traits, integrates over missing measurements and incorporates phylogenetic uncertainty with the help of molecular sequences. We develop Gibbs samplers based on dynamic programming to estimate the PFA posterior distribution, over 3-fold faster than for multivariate diffusion and a further order-of-magnitude more efficiently in the presence of latent traits. We further propose a novel marginal likelihood estimator for previously impractical models with discrete data and find that PFA also provides a better fit than multivariate diffusion in evolutionary questions in columbine flower development, placental reproduction transitions and triggerfish fin morphometry.


Grivennikov et al. created transgenic mice with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) selectively deleted in specific leukocyte types to investigate differences in TNF function that depend on the cellular source. TNF, a cytokine that has been implicated in cell trafficking, inflammatory responses, and defense against pathogens, has both beneficial and deleterious effects. Thus, whereas inhibition of TNF activity may be beneficial in various inflammatory disorders, such inhibition may increase susceptibility to certain pathogens. Grivennikov et al. found that mice that did not express TNF in macrophages or neutrophils (MN-TNF KO mice) had reduced serum concentrations of TNF compared with those of wild-type mice after injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, which elicits TNF production through Toll-like receptor signaling). However, mice lacking T cell (T-TNF KO) or B cell (B-TNF KO) TNF did not. MN-TNF KO mice were resistant to septic shock produced by injection of LPS plus D-galactosamine, whereas T-TNF KO and B-TNF KO mice were not. When toxic shock was induced by superantigen from Staphylococcus aureus, however, T-TNF KO and MN-TNF KO mice were both resistant, whereas B-TNF KO mice were not. Macrophage- and neutrophil-derived TNF was required for resistance to infection with the intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, whereas B cell-derived TNF was dispensable and T cell-derived TNF was protective only under conditions of high bacterial load. Loss of either T cell-derived TNF or of macrophage- and neutrophil-derived TNF was protective in a mouse model of autoimmune hepatitis. Thus, the authors conclude that TNF derived from different sources plays distinct biological roles and suggest that selective inhibition of T cell-derived TNF production may be therapeutically preferable to systemic inhibition of TNF activity. S. I. Grivennikov, A. V. Tumanov, D. J. Liepinsh, A. A. Kruglov, B. I. Marakusha, A. N. Shakhov, T. Murakami, L. N. Drutskaya, I. Förster, B. E. Clausen, L. Tessarollo, B. Ryffel, D. V. Kuprash, S. A. Nedospasov, Distinct and nonredundant in vivo functions of TNF produced by T cells and macrophages/neutrophils: Protective and deleterious effects. Immunity 22, 93-104 (2005). [PubMed]


According to evolutionary theory, cooperation should evolve most easily in closely related groups. In colonies of ants, bees, and wasps, within-colony relatedness is maximized when all offspring are descended from a single queen mated with a single male. However, in many species colonies are not composed of strictly nuclear families, suggesting there may also be benefits to greater genetic diversity. To increase genetic diversity, a queen can mate with multiple males, termed polyandry, or join with other queens to cohabitate and raise offspring together, termed polygyny. Both options have associated costs, leading to an expected tradeoff in whether queens invest in polygyny or polyandry. In this project, I tested the polygyny/polyandry tradeoff hypothesis in the desert seed harvester ant Veromessor pergandei. This species forms three different types of colonies across its geographic range: single queen, polygynous, and a temporary form of polygyny where colonies begin with multiple queens but they aggressively compete until only one queen is left alive. If the polygyny/polyandry tradeoff hypothesis explains their mating behaviors, I predict that solofounding queens should mate with more males than polygynous queens, and polyandry would be higher in temporary groups than in permanent groups. Queens and their offspring from each geographic area were genotyped at six highly variable microsatellite loci to infer the number of males with which the queen had mated. Results showed tentative support for a tradeoff between polygyny and polyandry, but implicated a more complex array of factors then genetic variation only influencing mating frequency in V. pergandei.


The present study is based on research in teacher self-training in Education for Sustainable Development (Leitão, 2012). Water was the motivating theme. The priority of a fair distribution of water, guaranteeing the consumption, in quality and quantity, to all mankind and living beings is urgent. To respond to water-related sustainability challenges, people worldwide need to acquire "water literacy" about various aspects of water use and management in order to ensure safer water consumption and to contribute to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Three case studies were carried out in schools in three African countries: Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. A model of skills in education for sustainable development was applied (Sleurs, 2008). From the analysis of these case studies the theoretical assumptions of research were strengthened by the effective professional practice. But, on contrary, the results that the pillars of sustainable development presented in the basic research should be reviewed, placing the political dimension as transversal, thus strengthening education for sustainable development as fundamental for critical and responsible citizens of the present and of the future. This experience paves the way for future water-education and education for sustainable development projects; such as the follow-up of these three schools.


Background: Even though oxidative stress is intensively studied for its role in diabetic nephropathy, the effectiveness of first-line medication on diabetes in preventing oxidative stress and diabetic nephropathy is still unknown. This study aimed to analyze 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α, UACR, and their correlation on 114 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who consumed metformin and the combination of metformin-sulfonylurea. Material and Method: Urinary 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α was measured by ELISA and urinary albumin was measured by Bromocresol Green Albumin assay. Results: The results showed that HbA1c (p=0.038) and 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α level higher in the combination group than in metformin group, but not for UACR (p=0.838). However, subgroup analysis on albuminuric patients (UACR>30 mg/g, n=55) showed no different in HbA1c and 8-iso- Prostaglandin F2α level between the medication groups. Linear regression analysis showed HbA1c (β=0.402, p=0.002) and the combination of metformin-sulfonylurea (β=0.364, p=0.004) were the most predictive factors for increased UACR after controlled by age, gender, IMT, systolic blood pressure, 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α, smoking habit and exercise habit. Conclusion: In conclusion, metformin was more effective in decreasing 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α level, an oxidative stress marker. The increase of HbA1c and the use of a combination of metformin-sulfonylurea contributed in increased UACR in this study. Key words: Metformin, Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic nephropathy, Sulfonylurea, UACR, 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2α


An unexpected mechanism for fast reaction of Alnanoparticles covered by a thin oxide shell during fast heating is proposed and justified theoretically and experimentally. For nanoparticles, the melting of Al occurs before the oxide fracture. The volume change due to melting induces pressures of 1–2 GPa and causes dynamic spallation of the shell. The unbalanced pressure between the Al core and the exposed surface creates an unloading wave with high tensile pressures resulting in dispersion of atomic scale liquid Al clusters. These clusters fly at high velocity and their reaction is not limited by diffusion (this is the opposite of traditional mechanisms for micron particles and for nanoparticles at slow heating). Physical parameters controlling the melt dispersion mechanism are found by our analysis. In addition to an explanation of the extremely short reaction time, the following correspondence between our theory and experiments are obtained: (a) For the particle radius below some critical value, the flame propagation rate and the ignition time delay are independent of the radius; (b) damage of the oxide shell suppresses the melt dispersion mechanism and promotes the traditional diffusive oxidation mechanism; (c) nanoflakes react more like micron size (rather than nanosize) spherical particles. The reasons why the melt dispersion mechanism cannot operate for the micron particles or slow heating of nanoparticles are determined. Methods to promote the melt dispersion mechanism, to expand it to micron particles, and to improve efficiency of energetic metastable intermolecular composites are formulated. In particular, the following could promote the melt dispersion mechanism in micron particles: (a) Increasing the temperature at which the initial oxide shell is formed; (b) creating initial porosity in the Al; (c) mixing of the Al with a material with a low (even negative) thermal expansion coefficient or with a phase transformation accompanied by a volume reduction; (d) alloying the Al to decrease the cavitationpressure; (e) mixing nano- and micron particles; and (f) introducing gasifying or explosive inclusions in any fuel and oxidizer. A similar mechanism is expected for nitridation and fluorination of Al and may also be tailored for Ti and Mg fuel.


Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between doctoral students' candidacy examination scores and estimated time to degree completion, measured by dissertation progression.

Background: Time to degree completion in doctoral programs continues to be an issue and reasons for high attrition rates for doctoral students are broad and include varied core components of the academic pathway such as challenges with critical thinking during coursework, stress about passing comprehensive examinations, poor academic writing, and lack of knowledge around scholarly practitioner research.

Methodology: An ex post facto, correlational research design utilized quantitative data to determine whether a relationship existed between candidacy examination scores and time to doctoral degree completion.

Contribution: If student's ability to score higher on the candidacy examination increases their likelihood of dissertation activity, completion of specified benchmarks such as a pre-prospectus, prospectus, and final dissertation defenses, one year following the candidacy examination, programs have evidence-based support to retain a comprehensive examination.

Findings: The findings denoted a weak to moderate relationship between candidacy examination score and dissertation progression (defending pre-prospectus and/or prospectus) within one year from taking the candidacy examination. Thus, the researchers believe this identification of this relationship warrants further research to continue to examine how candidacy examination scores impact progress to degree completion with a focus on academic writing and scholarly practitioner research.

Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend for practitioners the continued implementation of the candidacy examination for students to aid in addressing any issues or misunderstandings students may have prior to the bulk of their data collection and analysis by assessing students' abilities in academic writing and scholarly practitioner research and in turn, improve time to degree completion.

Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend that future research is conducted to gather a longitudinal understanding of the implications of administering a comprehensive examination followed by a pre-prospectus and prospectus defense will positively impact student's progression through their research and result in the dissertation being completed in a more timely manner.

Impact on Society: Doctoral programs need to provide support to avoid students who are progressing through a doctoral program and successfully completing coursework, being halted at the All But Dissertation (ABD) stage and as a result fail to complete these programs due to poor academic writing and lack of knowledge around scholarly practitioner research.

Future Research: A longer analysis timeline and larger sample size would help in further understanding the true beneficial or potentially harmful implications this continued implementation of the candidacy examination has on individual students' progression through to degree completion.


A central challenge to using first-order methods for optimizing nonconvex problems is the presence of saddle points. First-order methods often get stuck at saddle points, greatly deteriorating their performance. Typically, to escape from saddles one has to use second-order methods. However, most works on second-order methods rely extensively on expensive Hessian-based computations, making them impractical in large-scale settings. To tackle this challenge, we introduce a generic framework that minimizes Hessian based computations while at the same time provably converging to second-order critical points. Our framework carefully alternates between a first-order and a second-order subroutine, using the latter only close to saddle points, and yields convergence results competitive to the state-of-the-art. Empirical results suggest that our strategy also enjoys a good practical performance.


Our specialist times, with everyone confined to their own discipline, have left little room for the age-old view that, however transmuted, the issues of art and life belong together, or that, for all their differences, the arts have shared concerns: yet realism demands just such an outlook. This book offers an informal attempt to re-open closed borders by the established writer on music, Christopher Wintle. Through a host of aphorisms and thoughts it first probes people, politics, learning and the Gods. It then sketches out a Poetics in terms of style and idea, artists, critics, theory, performers, ethics, opera, sculpture, cinema and sport, before ending with a pair of Urban Fables. The volume includes a collection of Works with Music by the well-known Brazilian artist Ana Maria Pacheco.


Growth in collaborative research raises challenges for those tasked with research evaluation, particularly in situations where outcomes are slow to emerge. This article presents the 'Diversity Approach to Research Evaluation' (DARE) as a novel way to assess how researchers, engaged in knowledge creation and application, work together as teams. DARE provides two important insights: Firstly it reveals the differences in background and experience between individual team members that can make research collaboration both valuable and challenging; secondly, DARE provides early insights into how these teams are working together. DARE achieves these insights by analysing team diversity and cohesiveness in five dimensions, building on Boschma's multidimensional concept of proximity. The method we propose combines narratives, maps, and indicators and is broadly applicable to the study of research collaboration. The article introduces the DARE method and pilots a proof-of-concept operationalisation through the study of two grant-funded biomedical research projects led by researchers in the UK. Suggestions for further development of the approach are discussed.


The hellish noise, the roaring, swelling and clamour, the stench and nastiness, an emblem of hell itself. - Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe. There have been more prisons in London than in any other European city. Of these, Newgate was the largest, most notorious and worst. Built during the twelfth century, it became a legendary place, the inspiration of more poems, plays and novels than any other building in London. It was a place of cruelty and wretchedness, at various times holding Dick Turpin, Titus Oates, Daniel Defoe, Jack Sheppard and Casanova. Because prisons were privately run, any time spent in prison had to be paid for by the prisoner. Housing varied from a private cell with a cleaning woman and a visiting prostitute, to simply lying on the floor with no cover. Those who died inside, and only a quarter of prisoners survived until their execution day, had to stay in Newgate as a rotting corpse until relatives found the money for the body to be released. Stephen Halliday tells the story of Newgate's origins, the criminals it held, the punishments meted out and its rebuilding and reform. This is a compelling slice of London's social and criminal history.


Background: This study is based on people dying at home relying on the care of unpaid family carers. There is growing recognition of the central role that family carers play and the burdens that they bear, but knowledge gaps remain around how to best support them. Aim: The aim of this study is to review the literature relating to the perspectives of family carers providing support to a person dying at home. Design: A narrative literature review was chosen to provide an overview and synthesis of findings. The following search terms were used: caregiver, carer, 'terminal care', 'supportive care', 'end of life care', 'palliative care', 'domiciliary care' AND home AND death OR dying. Data sources: During April–May 2013, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Pubmed, Cochrane Reviews and Citation Indexes were searched. Inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, empirical studies and literature reviews, adult carers, perspectives of family carers, articles focusing on family carers providing end-of-life care in the home and those published between 2000 and 2013. Results: A total of 28 studies were included. The overarching themes were family carers' views on the impact of the home as a setting for end-of-life care, support that made a home death possible, family carer's views on deficits and gaps in support and transformations to the social and emotional space of the home. Conclusion: Many studies focus on the support needs of people caring for a dying family member at home, but few studies have considered how the home space is affected. Given the increasing tendency for home deaths, greater understanding of the interplay of factors affecting family carers may help improve community services.


Significance Episodic memories are complex records of experience, consisting of "what" happened as well as "where" and "when" it happened. Animal studies have demonstrated distinct brain networks supporting memory for information about what experience occurred and information about where the experience occurred. However, such dissociations have been elusive in humans. Using a memory interference task that pits object (i.e., what) vs. spatial (i.e., where) memories against each other and high-resolution fMRI, we report evidence for two parallel but interacting networks in the human hippocampus and its input regions, supporting prior work in animals. We propose a conceptual model of how object and spatial interference are reduced in the regions providing input to the hippocampus, allowing rich, distinct memories to be built. Recent models of episodic memory propose a division of labor among medial temporal lobe cortices comprising the parahippocampal gyrus. Specifically, perirhinal and lateral entorhinal cortices are thought to comprise an object/item information pathway, whereas parahippocampal and medial entorhinal cortices are thought to comprise a spatial/contextual information pathway. Although several studies in human subjects have demonstrated a perirhinal/parahippocampal division, such a division among subregions of the human entorhinal cortex has been elusive. Other recent work has implicated pattern separation computations in the dentate gyrus and CA3 subregions of the hippocampus as a mechanism supporting the resolution of mnemonic interference. However, the nature of contributions of medial temporal lobe cortices to downstream hippocampal computations is largely unknown. We used high-resolution fMRI during a task selectively taxing mnemonic discrimination of object identity or spatial location, designed to differentially engage the two information pathways in the medial temporal lobes. Consistent with animal models, we demonstrate novel evidence for a domain-selective dissociation between lateral and medial entorhinal cortex in humans, and between perirhinal and parahippocampal cortex as a function of information content. Conversely, hippocampal dentate gyrus/CA3 demonstrated signals consistent with resolution of mnemonic interference across domains. These results provide insight into the information processing capacities and hierarchical interference resolution throughout the human medial temporal lobe.


Recommendation: Two-stage exchange arthroplasty is recommended in the majority of cases following infected TAA. One-stage arthroplasty is only indicated in a limited patient population with acute infection, preoperatively identified low-virulence organisms, and low-risk patient factors. Level of Evidence: Consensus. Delegate Vote: Agree: 92%, Disagree: 8%, Abstain: 0% (Super Majority, Strong Consensus).


The curriculum for an undergraduate developmental psychology course at a regional Australian university was redesigned, using the university's new curriculum design principles: learning centred, constructively aligned, standards based, and career and future focused. The new experientially-based curriculum was facilitated by using a technology-enabled, tiered learning space, which supported collaborative and blended learning, with applied activities to understand how a human lifespan grows and develops. Learning outcomes and assessment were constructively aligned, whilst a range of technologies supported blended learning for students. In addition to structured course activities, students made video vignettes (formative assessment) and wrote reflections (summative assessment) to demonstrate their understanding of adolescence and old age. The vignettes were innovative, creative, engaging, and insightful. The benefits of the authentic nature of the assessment was evident, as students who embraced the vignettes demonstrated greater depth of understanding and insight, and subsequently gained higher grades in their reflections. Curriculum renewal is an ongoing process. Whilst the student feedback was largely positive, variability in the weekly activities, and clarity surrounding the purpose of online lectures and formative tasks will enhance the course. Future research would benefit from exploring age and cohort effects longitudinally. For psychology students, this experiential approach allows for more 'real world' application of the content for career-readiness, and is also transferrable to various levels, courses, and disciplines. Overall, the curriculum design was successful according to all markers of achievement, and was an enjoyable experience for both facilitators and students alike.;


The Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, southern
England, has yielded one of the most diverse Early Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages in the world. While isolated theropod remains have been known from the Wessex Formation since the 1860s (Fox in Anon., 1866), it is only recently that associated specimens, and remains representing large-bodied taxa, have been described in the literature. Foremost among these is the allosauroid Neovenator salerii, which is represented by approximately
70% of the skeleton, making it the most complete large
theropod known from Europe (Hutt et al., 1996; Naish et al.,
2001; Brusatte et al., in press). Other large-bodied theropods from the Wessex Formation include the spinosauroid Baryonyx,which is represented by isolated teeth and vertebrae (Martill and Hutt, 1996; Hutt and Newbery, 2004; Naish and Martill, 2007), and the basal tyrannosauroid Eotyrannus lengi, which is known
from an associated specimen and referred material that indicates some individuals obtained large size (Hutt et al., 2001; Naish, 2006). Other Wessex Formation theropod remains pertain to mostly small-bodied coelurosaurs, and include the enigmatic taxa Aristosuchus pusillus, Calamosaurus foxi, Ornithodesmus cluniculus, and Thecocoelurus daviesi (Naish et al., 2001), as well
as isolated teeth that have been interpreted as belonging to
dromaeosaurids (Sweetman, 2004). Two large-bodied theropod
taxa, Becklespinax altispinax and Valdoraptor oweni, are known from the Hastings Beds Group, of somewhat older age than the Wessex Formation (Berriasian-Valanginian; Naish and
Martill, 2007).
Here we report remains collected by Keith Simmonds of
Brighstone from Chilton Chine, Brighstone Bay, Isle of Wight
in 1986, that represent an additional large-bodied Wessex Formation theropod (MIWG 6350). Although briefly listed as Theropoda indet. in a table of specimens published by Hutt (2001), MIWG 6350 has not yet been described in the literature. While this material is highly incomplete, it can be compared with contemporaneous theropods from the Wessex Formation and other Lower Cretaceous units worldwide. It is significant in indicating
the presence of a hitherto unrecognized large-bodied theropod from the Wessex Formation. This demonstrates that at least three large-bodied predators were present in theropod faunas of the Barremian of the United Kingdom.


To the Editor: A recent article by Chlebicki et al (1) described 4 patients hospitalized for dengue fever who were found to have retinal hemorrhages. These patients reported reduced visual acuity and metamorphopsia, i.e., distorted visual images attributable to intrinsic retinal disease involving the macula; macular hemorrhages and exudates were found on retinal examination. The authors concluded that the retinal hemorrhages were responsible for the patients' visual symptoms.

This conclusion is misleading because retinal hemorrhages alone cause scotomas. Rather, the accumulation of subretinal fluid in the macula results in metamorphopsia and blurring of vision. In previous reports of patients in whom macular changes developed from dengue fever, some were found to have macular hemorrhages (2–4). In addition, clinical examination and investigation of these patients showed vasculopathologic changes in the macular region that affected the retinal and choroidal blood vessels (5), although the tissues of the periphery tended to be spared. A fluorescein angiograph of the retina showed knobby hyperfluorescence of the retinal arterioles with minimal leakage, as well as some spots of leakage at the level of the retinal pigment epithelium. An indocyanine green angiograph showed diffuse hyperfluorescence of the choroid. These pathologic changes in the macula were the most likely cause of the blurring of vision in such patients, which has been the case in our experience.

The article by Chlebicki et al. did not state whether these procedures had been performed on their patients to confirm or exclude retinal or choroidal vasculopathy in the macula. Therefore, these authors would have had difficulty concluding that retinal hemorrhages caused blurring of vision and metamorphopsia in patients with dengue maculopathy.


Superscoops are large concave-up features associated with rocks deposited by eolian depositional systems. They can be tens of metres deep and several kilometres wide and are common in Pennsylvanian through Jurassic eolian sandstones of the Colorado Plateau. They are formed by wind deflation or water scouring and are filled with eolian or aqueous sediments. They are associated with entirely eolian sequences to mixed eolian and noneolian sequences. Formation of superscoops requires a pause in deposition followed by erosion. The surfaces are subsequently filled and preserved in the stratigraphic sequence. The preserved fill may contrast with enclosing deposits, thus providing information about ancient depositional systems not represented in enclosing deposits.


This book contains a diverse collection of essays on the notion of "Free Speech" in classical antiquity. The essays examine such concepts as "freedom of speech," "self-expression," and "censorship," in ancient Greek and Roman culture from historical, philosophical, and literary perspectives.


The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is proposing to introduce, in 2006, new risk-based requirements for internationally active (and other significant) banks. These will replace the relatively risk-invariant requirements in the current Accord. This article examines the implications of this new risk-based regime for procyclicality of minimum capital requirements – in particular whether the choice of particular loan rating system by the banks would significantly increase the likelihood of sharp increases in capital requirements in recessions, creating the potential for classic credit crunches. The paper finds that rating schemes that are designed to be more stable over the cycle, akin to those of the external rating agencies, would not increase procyclicality, but ratings that are conditioned on the current point in the cycle, akin in some respects to a Merton approach, could substantially increase procyclicality. This makes the question of which rating schemes banks will use very important. The paper uses a general equilibrium model of the financial system to explore whether banks would choose to use a countercyclical, procyclical or neutral rating scheme. The results indicate that banks would not choose a stable rating approach, which has important policy implications for the design of the Accord. It makes it important that banks are given incentives to adopt more stable rating schemes. This consideration has been reflected in the Committee's latest proposals, inOctober 2002.


Anthropogenic climate change may contribute to a mass extinction that would leave biodiversity depleted for millions of years—quite possibly longer than the duration of the human species. Such effects are arguably of ethical concern, but because established ethical theories are anthropocentric—that is, focused on the relatively short‐term interests of human beings—they offer no guidance on such vast temporal scales. There has been significant work in recent decades in both longer‐term intergenerational anthropocentric climate ethics and near‐term nonanthropocentric ethics, but so far these novel developments have not been integrated into a long‐term nonanthropocentric climate ethic. This article considers prospects for the development and justification of such an ethic, difficulties it would face, and its relevance to climate policy. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 701–711 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.131


Immunological alterations are discussed as potential pathomechanisms for multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) based on the systemic nature of the symptoms, known complex interactions between the immune system and other organ systems, as well as empirical evidence. However, there are theoretical reservations on immunologic mechanisms in MCS and methodological constraints on human trials. Aim of this paper is a critical presentation of immunological concepts of MCS and resulting future research. Clinical manifestations of allergy, pseudoallergy and MC'S are discussed as similar, closely related disorders where environmental exposure causes inflammation. In the case of allergy, foreign proteins bind to IgE on mast cells, which release inflammatory mediators. In pseudoallergy, initiating substances directly induce liberation of inflammatory mediators without involvement of antibodies. For MCS, low molecular weight chemicals may bind to chemoreceptors on sensory nerve fibers to release inflammatory mediators. Some proponents of these theories hold that this variable pattern can be attributed to various factors, including "total body burden", adaptation" and "biochemical individuality". Both "allergic and chemical irritant responses" may be subjected to conditioning, so that the response may be triggered by other stimuli. However, the lack of consistency in response patterns both between and within individual MCS patients limits the plausibility of this hypothesis. Therefore, no consistent pattern of immune dysfunction can be identified in MCS patients. It is recommended that clinical evaluation never be based on results of isolated in vitro assessment of quantity and function of immune system cellular components without considering all variables which apply to all different assays and without knowing the patient's complete history and physical examination.


As aids to human problem solving, CBR systems typically rely on feature matching to retrieve cases that are likely to be useful. Human experts in contrast provide much richer problem solving assistance. Experts not only can recall relevant experiences, they can provide a helpful interpretive framework of information. Because these kinds of information are highly interrelated, there are memory advantages to indexing them relative to one another--chiefly, making them more easily retrievable by human users. Therefore, we are studying the relative indexing of stories (elaborate cases) in the context of a type of hypermedia system called an ASK System. ASK Systems are designed to simulate conversations with experts. These systems provide access to manually indexed, multimedia databases of story units. Indexers (knowledge engineers) link these units together to form conversationally coherent threads. This paper discusses the theory of relative indexing employed in ASK Systems and the practical index-construction process that we have devised. However, as these system grow in size finding appropriate relative indices manually becomes increasingly difficult. We call this the iadezer saturation problem. Our solution is to provide automated assistance to indexers. We describe an approach that uses a theory of conversation to propose relative links between units, eliminating the need for exhaustive manual unit-to-unit comparison. Initial results suggest that the approach provides a practical solution to the saturation problem balancing the strengths of humans (e.g., feature extraction and categorization) and machines (e.g., rapid search and record keeping).


Sponges are abundant, diverse and functionally important components of aquatic biotopes with crucial associations for many reef fish and invertebrates. Sponges have strict temperature optima, and mass mortality events have occurred after unusually high temperatures. To assess how sponges may adapt to thermal stress associated with a changing climate, we applied gene expression profiling to both stages of their bipartite life cycles. Adult Rhopaloeides odorabile are highly sensitive to thermal stress (32 °C), yet their larvae can withstand temperatures up to 36 °C. Here, we reveal the molecular mechanisms that underpin these contrasting thermal tolerances, which may provide sponges with a means to successfully disperse into cooler waters. Heat shock protein 70 was induced by increasing temperature in adult sponges, and genes involved in important biological functions including cytoskeleton rearrangement, signal transduction, protein synthesis/degradation, oxidative stress and detoxification were all negatively correlated with temperature. Conversely, gene expression in larvae was not significantly affected until 36 °C when a stress response involving extremely rapid activation of heat shock proteins occurred. This study provides the first transcriptomic assessment of thermal stress on both life history stages of a marine invertebrate facilitating better predictions of the long‐term consequences of climate change for sponge population dynamics.


Weighted averaging (WA) regression and calibration methods are commonly used in paleoecology to infer environmental conditions in the past, but few stream studies have used these approaches on contemporary macroinvertebrate data sets. Here we examined if WA regression and calibration methods could better our understanding of the effects of acidification on Swedish stream ecosystems. Macroinvertebrate and water chemistry data from 232 stream sites in the northern and 154 stream sites in the southern parts of the country were used for model calibration. In addition, 42 randomly selected sites were used for model validation (25 in the north and 17 in the south). Inferred WA pH was compared to inferences of pH obtained using four commonly used acidity indices. Performance of the different methods was assessed using the r 2 -values and root mean square errors (RMSE) of regressions between inferred and observed pH. WA approaches were found to be slightly better than the four acidity indices studied here. However, both WA and the acidity indices performed poorly at the test sites in southern Sweden. This study shows that WA approaches could be useful for assessing acidity of Swedish streams, but the overall low r 2 -values indicate that factors other than pH also are affecting the macroinvertebrate assemblages confounding the pH-organism response relationship.


Bioaccumulation rates of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for the marine polychaete Neanthes arenaceodentata were characterized, including PCB uptake rates from water and sediment, and the effect of sorbent amendment to the sediment on PCB bioavailability, organism growth, and lipid content. Physiological parameters were incorporated into a biodynamic model to predict contaminant uptake. The results indicate rapid PCB uptake from contaminated sediment and significant organism growth dilution during time-series exposure studies. PCB uptake from the aqueous phase accounted for less than 3% of the total uptake for this deposit-feeder. Proportional increase of gut residence time and assimilation efficiency as a consequence of the organism's growth was assessed by PCB uptake and a reactor theory model of gut architecture. Pulse-chase feeding and multilabeled stable isotope tracing techniques proved high sediment ingestion rates (i.e., 6-10 times of dry body weight per day) indicating that such deposit-feeders are promising biological indicators for sediment risk assessment. Activated carbon amendment reduced PCB uptake by 95% in laboratory experiments with no observed adverse growth effects on the marine polychaete. Biodynamic modeling explained the observed PCB body burdens for N. arenaceodentata, with and without sorbent amendment.


The high-level conferences in agriculture of the late 1990s have provided the political impetus to mandate FAO to support urban agriculture across the world. The agency provides technical expertise and advice to national and local governments on food-related matters through key programs, initiatives and reports, while working closely with the private sector. FAO's holistic and systemic approach focuses on strengthening the complex linkages between urban, peri-urban and rural agriculture which characterize contemporary food systems, with the goal of enhancing the city region's food security and resilience. FAO also acknowledges the limitations and opportunities provided by contextual variables and the necessity to adapt programs according to the local populations' needs and aspirations. If food has not always been authorities' main priority in policy-making, current changes in the perception of food systems, pushed by societal demands to act against food waste and climate change, have fostered an increased attention to FAO's activities.


Using a sample of 102 trainee teachers from the Kuala Terengganu Teacher Training College, this study investigated the teaching effectiveness and the course content suitability pertaining to the KPLI English language program. As defined in Chapter 1,
KPLI refers to a one-year postgraduate diploma in education course meant to train basic degree holders for the teaching career. The sample is randomly drawn from amongst those who are being trained to become English language teachers in
Malaysian schools. The sample will be used to evaluate teaching effectiveness and course content suitability. In this study, the teaching effectiveness and course content suitability is considered adequate' if its total score exceeds the midpoint value. Teaching effectiveness obtained a total mean score of 53.7 and the midpoint value was only 37.5. The total mean score obtained for course content suitability is nearly 60 while the midpoint value is 42.5. Thus in this study the teaching effectiveness and
the course content suitability are largely considered adequate but the individual scores for variety of teaching aids and lecturer availability outside classroom hours was not very high. This implies that the relevant authorities need to give further thought to
these areas. The study also found a strong positive correlation, (r = .699, p < 0.05) between teaching effectiveness and course content suitability indicating the mutual dependence of the two variables. A t-test was carried out to find out if the English majors and non-English majors scored differently for teaching effectiveness. A significant difference was found between the scores of the two groups implying that lecturers have to customize the pedagogy according to the background and option of the student. The sample was also divided into two age groups, 22 - 26 years and 27 - 35 years. T-testing was also carried out to determine if this two age groups scored differently for teaching effectiveness and it was found that there was no significant
difference between this two groups pertaining to the score for teaching effectiveness showing that the age is independent of the pedagogy used by the lecturers.


To the surprise of many, China has taken a pro-active stance in negotiations on the post-2015 agenda for global development at the United Nations (UN). In September 2013, the government issued a comprehensive position paper that aptly addresses a wide range of global challenges, from poverty eradication, inclusive growth and ecological conservation to international trade and the reform of global economic governance. The statement also impresses with a candid assessment of domestic advances and deficiencies, for example, income disparities and environmental degradation. China's position converges with major UN reports in key aspects, such as the overriding concern for poverty eradication and sustainable development. The paper diverges from these documents by rejecting the integration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and by excluding political factors such as good governance and human rights. The position paper of September 2013 may not be China's final word on the post-2015 agenda. Shortly after its publication, the country demonstrated considerable flexibility by agreeing to a resolution of the UN General Assembly which emphasises the need for a single set of goals and underlines the significance of political framework conditions for development – positions which China had previously rejected. China's early intervention represents an exemplary case of articulating national priorities. The country should now move to the second stage of pro-active policy formulation by specifying its contributions and ambitions. Recent statements of the communist party leadership signal a heightened interest in global governance. The ongoing negotiations on post-2015 offer a historical opportunity for China to demonstrate its commitment by increasing material support for South-South development cooperation and the provision of global public goods. The government should support the integration of MDGs and SDGs and open up to the concerns of fragile and conflictaffected countries, as articulated by the African Union and the interstate alliance G7+. Also, China should use its influence in the global South to work for an ambitious post-2015 agenda, thus breaking the persistent gridlock in international affairs. In parallel, the country's leadership should accelerate domestic transformation towards a low-carbon, resource-light model of prosperity and overcome social disparities. Propelled by theses priorities, China's leadership could significantly enhance the country's soft power and international reputation. Acting as a bridge between the G77 and industrial countries, China could strengthen the authority of the United Nations as the legitimate guardian of global well-being. Advanced countries like Germany should follow the Chinese example by providing a comprehensive plan of action for international and domestic policies aligned to the post-2015 agenda.


In this paper, we obtain an energy-efficient power allocation technique for a Rayleigh block-fading channel with delay-limited applications. In particular, we consider a probabilistic delay constraint as the user quality-of-service (QoS) requirement, and incorporate the concept of effective capacity to obtain the maximum arrival rate, at which, the delay constraint is satisfied. We obtain the energy efficiency (EE), which is formulated as the ratio between the effective capacity and the total expenditure power, of this system and derive the power allocation strategy that maximizes the EE. Numerical results are conducted to corroborate our theoretical results. In addition, for comparison reasons, we plot the maximum achievable EE under two well-known power allocations schemes, namely, water-filling (wf) and constant power allocation (cons) when considering delay constraints. The results show that in stringent delay limited systems, adaptive power allocation improves the maximum achievable EE significantly.


This paper analyzes the role of external conflict as a force that can create social capital. Hostile inter-group interactions can help to resolve intra-group social dilemmas but these potential gains must be weighed against the insecurity of hostile relations with an out-group. Our central result is that the presence of an outside threat can induce higher levels of social capital either because a protective aspect of social capital comes into play and/ or as a reallocation of investments from private to social capital. Given that social capital is potentially subject to free-riding, the threat, by promoting a greater level of social capital, can be welfare improving. When the threat is severe, social capital and welfare are more likely to fall. This effect of an external threat on social capital is stronger in poor economies. These results can shed light on the sometimes contradicting empirical evidence on the relationship between conflict and social capital. "War gives a sense that we can rise above our smallness and divisiveness," Chris Hedges (2002).


A field survey was conducted in a highly degraded barren environment in Sicily in order to investigate herpetofaunal community composition and structure, habitat use (niche breadth and overlap) and relative abundance of a snake predator and two species of lizard prey. The site was chosen because it has a simple community structure and thus there is potentially less ecological complexity to cloud any patterns observed. We found an unexpectedly high overlap in habitat use between the two closely related lizards that might be explained either by a high competition for space or through predator-mediated co-existence i.e. the prevention of the competitive exclusion of one lizard over the other. We also found a strong positive correlation between predator density and tail damage in lizards and we suggest that tail damage is a direct consequence of snake activity (because no other natural predators occur in the area).


In this paper we address the automatic identification of indoor locations using a combination of WLAN and image sensing. Our motivation is the increasing prevalence of wearable cameras, some of which can also capture WLAN data. We propose to use image-based and WLAN-based localization individually and then fuse the results to obtain better performance overall. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our fusion algorithm for localisation to within a 8.9m2 room on very challenging data both for WLAN and image-based algorithms. We envisage the potential usefulness of our approach in a range of ambient assisted living applications.


Inhalational anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by exposure of the lungs to B. anthracis spores. Alveolar macrophages engulf spores causing them to germinate to the vegetative form of B. anthracis, which secretes edema toxin (ET)and lethal toxin (LT). The pathogenesis of inhalational anthrax is characterized by flu-like symptoms, respiratory distress, meningitis and shock, which is fatal in almost all cases.
The mechanism behind the respiratory distress is not well understood. Therefore, our goal was to determine the effects of lethal toxin in the human lung epithelium. To
study alterations in a more physiological setting, we developed a differentiated, polarized lung epithelial system. Lethal toxin exposure disrupted the lung barrier
function and wound healing. Assembly defects of junction proteins and additional multicellular junction sites resulted in a higher permeability. Pretreatment with
keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and dexamethasone increased the viability, resulting in the rescue of the permeability changes.
Upon LT treatment, a more rigid cytoskeleton was observed, evidenced by enhanced actin stress fiber formations and tubulin stabilization. Cytoskeleton and adhesion
alterations prevented the epithelial cells from polarization, directed migration, and wound healing. The MAPK pathway and Cdc42 activity might be partially responsible for these motility defects.
Lethal toxin is known to induce rapid cell death in murine macrophages. In contrast, human epithelial cells are more resistant to the cytotoxic effect of LT. By following
the growth of epithelial cells after LT treatment, we observed inhibited cell proliferation due to a cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase.
Surprisingly, biotinylated lethal factor did not induce cytotoxicity in murine macrophages. This is not due to an internalization or proteolytic activity defect; instead changes in the mitochondrial potential and proteasome activity were observed. Biotinylated LT did not reduce proteasome activity as seen in LT treated cells and caused hypopolarization of the mitochondria. However, it is possible that biotinylation of lethal toxin could prevent interaction of LT with proteins that induce cell death.
The major challenge for anthrax treatment is to find a treatment, which can act faster, is easy to use and can bring patient out of the dangerous physiological state
in late pathogenesis. Our study has implications in saving the viability and barrier function of lung epithelial cells. One can devise better dosage and delivery of KGF
and dexamethasone as treatment modality for post anthrax exposure to reduce respiratory distress. Furthermore, overcoming the cell cycle arrest by the development of a drug would reduce the damage of lung epithelial cells and induce proliferation. The discovery that biotinylated LT is non-toxic to murine macrophages could revolutionize treatment of anthrax infection. Exploring the types of posttranslational modifications of LT that decrease toxicity and finding the mechanism behind it might, lead to therapies that directly counteract the effects of the lethal toxin in vivo.


We demonstrate the generation of wideband frequency sweeps using a semiconductor laser in an optoelectronic feedback loop. The rate and shape of the optical frequency sweep is locked to and determined by the frequency of a reference electronic signal, leading to an agile, high coherence swept-frequency source for laser ranging and 3-D imaging applications. Using a reference signal of constant frequency, a transform-limited linear sweep of 100 GHz in 1 ms is achieved, and real-time ranging with a spatial resolution of 1.5 mm is demonstrated. Further, arbitrary frequency sweeps can be achieved by tuning the frequency of the input electronic signal. Broadband quadratic and exponential optical frequency sweeps are demonstrated using this technique.


In the first, mostly theoretical, part of this article, the author analyses the factors that affect the pass-through of exchange rate movements to consumer prices. In the second part, she studies the recent Canadian experience in this area, starting from 1992. The analysis in the first part of the article is used to investigate why the depreciation of the Canadian dollar by almost 20 per cent between 1992 and 1994 did not produce as much of an increase in the inflation rate as predicted by conventional estimates of the exchange rate pass-through. The author first explains this phenomenon using the factors described in the theoretical part of the article: demand conditions, the costs of adjusting prices, and expectations about the depreciation's duration. She then examines the role of more specific factors, such as the abolition of customs duties on trade between Canada and the United States and the restructuring of the retail market. It is clear that the latter two factors helped neutralize the effect of the depreciation on prices.


Three preservice teachers used virtual manipulatives during clinical interviews with students of elemen-tary school age. The technology exposed students' problem-solving strategies and mathematical understanding, promoting just-in-time teaching about the target content. The process of completing and reflecting on the interviews contributed to growth of the preservice teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge.


Coral reef ecosystems around the world are declining as a result of human impacts including overfishing, pollution and climate change. The coral reefs of South Sinai are significant because of their unique biodiversity, the income that they generate for Egypt through diving tourism and their importance as traditional fishing grounds for the Mzeina Bedu. This PhD takes a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate the status of coral reefs in South Sinai, with particular emphasis on Bedouin fishers and their fisheries. In Chapter 1, I examine the importance of culture and traditional knowledge in the successful management of coral reefs and natural resources in general. In Chapter 2, I focus on the Bedouin tribes of South Sinai to understand their history and socioeconomic status; investigating their fishing techniques and sites as well as their traditional understanding of coral reef biodiversity and ecology. Chapter 3 focusses on the ecological status of finfish populations at sites along the South Sinai coastline, evaluating the status of stocks and potential Bedouin fishery impacts. Chapter 4 examines the invertebrate fishery, which is mainly practised by Bedouin women and targets Tridacna clams. Chapter 5 takes a fishery-dependent approach to assess the catch of Bedouin fishers, to understand important biological and socioeconomic parameters that influence the fishery. In Chapter 6, I use statistical modelling techniques on long-term coral reef ecosystem data sets from the study area to analyse longer-term trends in the ecological status of reefs in South Sinai and likely causes for these trends. Coral reefs provide income, tourism, food and coastal protection to local communities and indigenous people throughout the tropics. The socio-cultural facets of the Mzeina Bedu have been inextricably connected to the reefs and associated fisheries of South Sinai for generations. However, exploited finfish and invertebrate communities have declined in both size and abundance with increased fishing pressure, resulting in ecosystem-wide impacts. The Mzeina themselves should be integral to any proposed fisheries monitoring or management initiatives, and technological approaches may provide useful cost-effective tools. Fisheries ecosystem-level declines have been apparent over at least the last decade and sustained monitoring is essential to ensure that the impact of management initiatives may be measured. If urgent collaborative management and enforcement actions are implemented alongside a programme to develop livelihood opportunities for the Mzeina, the reefs of South Sinai could return to a state that supports both the socioeconomic needs of the Bedu and continues to generate substantial tourism income.


The thesis is concerned with the contact mechanics behaviour of non-conforming solids.
The geometry of the solids considered gives rise to various contact configurations, from
concentrated contacts with circular and elliptical configuration to those of finite line
nature, as well as those of less concentrated form such as circular flat punches. The radii
of curvature of mating bodies in contact or impact give rise to these various nonconforming
contact configurations and affect their contact characteristics, from those
considered as semi-infinite solids in accord with the classical Hertzian theory to those that
deviate from it. Furthermore, layered solids have been considered, some with higher
elastic modulus than that of the substrate material (such as hard protective coatings) and
some with low elastic moduli, often employed as tribological coatings (such as solid
lubricants). Other bonded layered solids behave in viscoelastic manner, with creep
relaxation behaviour under load, and are often used to dampen structural vibration upon
impact.
Analytic models have been developed for all these solids to predict their contact and
impact behaviour and obtain pressure distribution, footprint shape and deformation under
both elastostatic and transient dynamic conditions. Only few solutions for thin bonded
layered elastic solids have been reported for elastostatic analysis. The analytical model
developed in this thesis is in accord with those reported in the literature and is extended to
the case of impact of balls, and employed for a number of practical applications. The
elastostatic impact of a roller against a semi-infinite elastic half-space is also treated by
analytic means, which has not been reported in literature.
Two and three-dimensional finite element models have been developed and compared
with all the derived analytic methods, and good agreement found in all cases. The finite
element approach used has been made into a generic tool for all the contact
configurations, elastic and viscoelastic.
The physics of the contact mechanical problems is fully explained by analytic, numerical
and supporting experimentation and agreement found between all these approaches to a
high level of conformance. This level of agreement, the development of various analytical
impact models for layered solids and finite line configuration, and the development of a
multi-layered viscoelastic transducer with agreed numerical predictions account for the
main contributions to knowledge.
There are a significant number of findings within the thesis, but the major findings relate
to the protective nature of hard coatings and high modulus bonded layered solids, and the
verified viscoelastic behaviour of low elastic modulus compressible thin bonded layers.
Most importantly, the thesis has created a rational framework for contact/impact of solids
of low contact contiguity.


Early diagnosis of Stroke is challenging due to a lack of dependable diagnostic tests. Currently, the mainstay in early detection is by monitoring health an individual through traditional risk factors such as hypertension. Seeking new determinants, relevant to millennial life style, is therefore warranted. This study reveals new Stroke Analysis Markers (SAM) including Phosphodiesterase-4D involved in cardioembolic stroke. In addition to traditional factors, new millennial risk factors such as molecular and cellular determinants were studied based on 68 years of stroke research data from 1951 to 2019. The rs152312 SNP from stroke patients of deCODE was queried in eNSEMBL, BLAST and other databases to study PDE4D isoforms. In addition, the role of infection, immune cells, inflammation, gut microbial dysbiosis, the prevalence pattern of stroke in geographically different populations were analyzed. This study identified five new millennial risk factors as potentially helpful Stroke Analysis Markers for stroke by conjoining them as a single set of five parasol factors. They include genomic, microbiologic, immunologic, socio-epigenetic factors including two contig and alternative splicing markers along with their prevalence patterns among various populations. Taking appropriate preventive management by monitoring these new risk factors in high-risk individuals during annual checkup could help physicians to make an informed decision. Though significant challenges remain to be solved further large-scale studies on parasol factors will certainly unlock the secrets of early prediction of stroke.


As far as the origins and the development of special collections are concerned, library history often focuses on institutions and the cultural property in writing they preserve. By contrast, the contributions in this volume on the history of the Oriental collections, a special department in the Berlin State Library since 1918, are devoted primarily to the actors involved. It is not so much the Oriental Department and its holdings that are examined, but rather the people in its environment: the collectors, in many cases scholars themselves, who gathered the material in the Orient, the busy antiquarians, mediators and sales agents on the spot, the political promoters in the Berlin ministries, as well as the academic librarians and the compilers of the manuscript catalogs. Academic researchers in their role as users of the Berlin collections are also featured prominently. The periods covered range from the beginnings of the library in the 17th century to its division after 1945 as a result of the removal of the holdings during World War II.


Since the dividend irrelevance theory of Miller and Modigliani (1961), academics and practitioners still have little understanding of the managerial incentives underpinning dividend policy. Black (1976) observed, "The harder we look at the dividend picture, the more it seems like a puzzle, with pieces that just don't fit together." This thesis aims to shed additional light on the dividend puzzle. Accordingly, two theoretical models have been developed to help explain why firms pay dividends or repurchase their own shares. The models consider the case in which the managers of a high-quality firm (firm H) and a low-quality firm (firm L) choose to use corporate cash flows to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or invest in a real project from which they can earn private benefits. I focus on the case in which firm H has a positive NPV project whereas firm L has a negative NPV project. In the first model, developed in spirit of Isagawa (2000), I show that paying dividends is a dominated strategy for firm H, regardless of the managerial weight parameter. If the manager is myopic, firm L will choose to repurchase shares at the detriment of existing shareholders. If the manager is farsighted, on the other hand, firm L will choose to pay dividends. I also consider the case in which investors are irrational in that they do not update their beliefs upon observing one firm repurchasing shares while the other firm paying dividends. The model shows that, in inefficient market, firm L will not mimic given that firm H repurchases shares since it cannot obtain any benefit from doing so. In the second model, built on Fairchild and Zhang's (2005) work, in which the managerial payout decisions depend on the relative magnitudes of dividend and repurchase catering premia, I demonstrate that a myopic manager of firm H may pass up a positive NPV project in order to cater to investor demand for dividends or share repurchases (an adverse selection problem). In addition, I show that the agency cost of free cash flow can be mitigated if the dividend-catering premium is sufficiently high. That is, firm L's manager will have a strong incentive to return excess cash to shareholders rather than invest it in a negative NPV project. Then, I investigate dividend changes in Thailand over the period 2002-2005. To test the signalling and free cash flow hypotheses, I first analyse profitability changes around dividend changes and benchmark them with control firms, and examine the relation between dividend changes and the past and future profitability. Consistent with Benartzi et al.'s (1997) evidence in the U.S., dividend changes in Thailand do not signal future profitability but rather the past performance. Then, I examine the determinants of dividend changes and firm's decision to change dividends. I also investigate the short-run and long-run stock price performance of dividend-changing firms, and the relation between announcement returns and hypothesised independent variables. Finally, I examine firms' investment behaviour following dividend changes. The results do not support the view that dividend changes signal future profitability. Overall, the findings are broadly consistent with the free cash flow hypothesis rather than the signalling hypothesis. Additionally, I provide preliminary evidence on open-market share repurchases (OMRs) in Thailand over the period December 2001 to January 2007. I find that stock prices react positively to OMR announcements and continue to increase in the longer term, suggesting that stock market underreacts to the signal conveyed by the managers of repurchasing firms. Comparing the actual repurchase cost with the costs of benchmark portfolios, I find that the actual repurchase cost is the lowest. This finding suggests that the managers of repurchasing firms have substantial ability to time the market.


This article examines the efficacy of labor representation on pension boards. Using existing literature and interviews with labor trustees, this article develops a model where a more formal approach to recruitment and selection, skill acquisition, and accountability is hypothesized to aid labor trustees in achieving effective integration and representation on pension boards. Data indicate that labor trustees are placed in a challenging environment with insufficient support from their union, other trustees, or the board. These findings have important implications for the selection, training, and integration of labor trustees and the success of a labor agenda on pension issues.


Uranium-lead ages and trace element compositions of zircon from a series of shallow porphyry intrusions document the temporal, chemical, and thermal magmatic evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal porphyry Cu (Mo-Au) ores in the El Salvador district, Chile. Zircons ( n = 240) from 15 Eocene age diorite, granodiorite, and granite porphyry intrusions were analyzed by SHRIMP-RG ion microprobe. The weighted means of 207 Pb-corrected 206 Pb/ 238 U zircon ages span 3 m.y. from about 44 to 41 Ma, with peak magmatic flux at 44 to 43 Ma. The granodiorite porphyries at the Turquoise Gulch copper deposit record waning stages of magmatism at 42.5 to 42.0 Ma and were followed by postmineral latite dikes at about 41.6 Ma. Porphyry copper ores formed contemporaneously with porphyry intrusion centers that progressed temporally from north to south, from the small deposits at Cerro Pelado (~44.2 Ma), Old Camp (~43.6 Ma), and at M Gulch-Copper Hill (~43.5–43.1 Ma) to the main ore deposit at Turquoise Gulch (~42 Ma). The Eocene porphyry intrusions contain a few Mesozoic ( n = 9) inherited zircons and numerous ( n ≥19) antecrystic zircons about 1 to 2 m.y. older than the host intrusion that provide evidence of extensive Eocene magmatic recycling. The Ti-in-zircon geothermometer provides estimates of 890° to 620°C for zircon crystallization and records both core to rim cooling and locally high-temperature rim overgrowths. Most zircon in ore-related K, L, and R porphyries yields near-solidus temperatures of 750° to 650°C and crystallized from compositionally diverse granodiorite porphyries that are a product of crystal fractionation of hornblende, apatite, and titanite with lesser crustal contamination and mixing with high-temperature deep-sourced mafic magma. During a 3-m.y. period, porphyry intrusions tapped an evolving granodioritic magma chamber that was periodically heated, locally remelted, and mixed with mafic magma during recharge events but cooled between recharge events to evolve ore fluids. Europium anomalies (chondrite-normalized Eu N /Eu N * ) in zircons become more pronounced with increased Hf content and cooling but display two distinct evolutionary paths: Eu N /Eu N * of early quartz porphyry evolves from 0.8 to 0.3, whereas the late synmineralization porphyries evolve from 0.8 to 0.65. The Eu N /Eu N * ratio of zircon reflects the Eu 3 +/Eu 2 + ratio of the melt, and therefore the granodiorite porphyries at Turquoise Gulch were the most strongly oxidized of the El Salvador magmas. The strongly oxidized trend porphyry magmas at Turquoise Gulch are apparently directly linked to magmatic degassing at ~700°C to produce large amounts of ore-forming copper, sulfur, and chlorine-enriched magmatic-hydrothermal aqueous fluids.


Based on existing research on Computer-Mediated Discourse, the present study examined the pragmalinguistic resources used by U.S. university-level students when writing e-mail requests in L1 English and L2 Spanish to faculty in cyber consultations. The focus of the study was the analysis of request head acts and lexical and syntactic modifiers used to write direct or indirect requests in four situations that ranged from low to high imposition, namely, requests for information, requests for validation, requests for feedback, and requests for action. 240 e-mail messages by learners of Spanish as a foreign language were examined (L2 Spanish [ n = 120]; L1 English [ n = 120]). Results are analysed for request type and level of imposition, internal modification, and e-politeness.


Recent reviews on musculoskeletal disorders have clearly pointed out the need for more good-quality original research. Both symptom-based and objective outcome assessment methods should be improved. A variety of methods exists to assess exposure for short-term outcomes, whereas exposure assessment strategies for outcomes with long induction times should be developed. The change in exposure patterns--less force demands, more static, visual, cognitive, psychological and social load--will continue during the next millennium, and a likely result is a change in the disease panorama. The pathomechanisms of the effects of low-level static contractions and adverse psychosocial conditions need clarification. Genetic epidemiology is an emerging field of research, and it will be particularly interesting to study the interaction between genetically determined susceptibility and occupational risk factors. Because degeneration of the spine starts in adolescence, the importance of studying the etiology of degenerative disorders among young populations is emphasized.


Passive-roof duplexes are important features for accommodating shortening in active orogens, but their occurrences have been previously demonstrated only with significant subsurface data or after their exhumation. In this study, we describe a series of thin-skinned passive-roof duplexes along the Subandean front in Colombia and compare them with potential analogues in southern Peru. We suggest type localities for this structural style, which display conditions favorable for formation of these structures. It appears that passive-roof duplexes in the Subandean zones are mostly late Miocene features. Our main data for placing temporal and thermokinematic constraints on their development are 25 apatite fission-track (AFT) analyses, including track-length distributions. We show that these areas require high shortening, surface erosion, and downstream sedimentation rates at the time of their formation, as well as two distinct low-friction detachments. These features, which have been previously described by analog models, appear to have been conditioned by a phase of late Miocene topographic growth and denudation in the hinterland and subsequent increase in accommodation as well as sedimentation rates in the foreland.


This thesis investigates the importance of circulation and heat transfer in crystallisation vacuum pans that produce raw sugar in the sugar mill. The driving force for circulation and heat transfer occurs in the calandria tubes within vacuum pans.

Numerical and CFD modelling is becoming a cost-effective and reliable way of developing vessel designs especially when there are complex physics and geometries involved, as is the case with vacuum pans. Currently, however, there are no working numerical models of vacuum pans that can be confidently used to design pans with improved circulation and boiling. If the operation of vacuum pans and specifically calandria tubes can be adequately modelled, the design of industrial vacuum pans can be improved to realise the benefits of obtaining more efficient circulation and heat transfer within the pan.

The research aims to provide data on heat transfer and circulation in factory crystallisation vacuum pans and provide data on an experimental rig simulating a single calandria tube for validation of numerical models. Factory trials were conducted to obtain data on heat transfer and circulation in factory pans. A method for measuring circulation speeds in massecuite solutions and vacuum pans was refined as part of this research. The data collected from the factory trials enabled the operating conditions for the single calandria tube boiling rig experimental trials to be determined.

The intention of the experimental rig was to simulate factory conditions to allow detailed examinations of the heat transfer process and vapour volume fraction profiles to be obtained. Natural and forced circulation conditions were investigated as both types of circulation are present in factory vacuum pans. The data gathered from these experiments were preliminary in nature as the rig did not adequately represent factory equipment.

The research highlights problems associated with the boiling of viscous fluids, such as molasses on a laboratory scale. Strategies and recommendations are provided to enable a more adequate representation of factory conditions in the experimental rig. These improvements will allow more accurate data to be obtained that can be used to develop improved models of calandria tubes and vacuum pans.

The experiments conducted on the single calandria tube detailed the physical changes and heat transfer characteristics for boiling in calandria tubes with changing material properties and heat input conditions. The experiments allowed fluid specific correlations to be obtained for heat transfer coefficients and vapour distribution during boiling in the calandria tubes. These correlations were used to develop numerical models of the boiling that occurs in calandria tubes. The numerical models provided a better understanding of the flow characteristics in the vessel and can facilitate the development of improved engineering designs.

The project shows the applicability of a pilot scale rig to provide data that can be used to improve the understanding and modelling of flow and heat transfer in the calandria tubes of crystallisation vacuum pans.


This thesis is an attempt to explain some of the factors impacting on e-mail adoption and use in undergraduates. It is an extended case study, and therefore real world based, spanning eight years from 1993 to 2001, the population under scrutiny being five cohorts of undergraduates studying Psychology at a Scottish University.

In a time of rapid technological advance, where computer experience is rising, access to computers is widespread, and IT training is compulsory for students in the institution under investigation, e-mail use has changed too. However, an unexpected drop in e-mail use during the 1996/97 session seemed to be atypical and led the original focus of the thesis away from individual differences such as computer experience, computer related attitudes, gender and personality, towards social and situational factors.

Careful observation of the 1993/94 and 1994/95 cohorts' e-mail behaviour, using surveys, e-mail logs, and examination of e-mail messages, provided insight into the unique nature of the e-mail environment for these groups. The final conclusions of the thesis are that what appeared to be small features of the e-mail system, and the nature of the computer laboratories where access was restricted to the class, provided the requirements for an e-mail community to form. Some significant results were found for individual differences, and these had some effect on the adoption of mail by the earliest users (those who really instigated the network) but a minimal effect on eventual e-mail use with the class. A group of enthusiastic e-mail users, with very little training in the system, began to mail either groups of classmates, or individuals, making use of the system's list of class e-mail addresses, and the list of users logged on to the system. These were speculative messages to unknown recipients but they were to individuals the senders knew they had some common interest with as they were in the same social group (the class). The mail was mainly of a social nature, often almost synchronous, and obviously enjoyable to those who adopted the novel technology. The e-mail messages revealed evidence of 'playfulness' in the exchanges ranging from the use of nicknames in headers, signatures, and distribution of poetry, song lyrics, jokes and graphics. The class was large and forming e-mail relationships was one way of 'meeting' others.

This behaviour was missing in the 1996/97 sample, when e-mail was not available in the computer laboratories. E-mail was available throughout the campus but the computer laboratory became a place for work only, and not for communication with classmates. In the 1999/00 and 2001/02 cohorts there is still no evidence of an electronic community forming in the class, despite even more computers being available for e-mail. Changeover to a university-wide e-mail system for students has removed the features that were so important to the formation of the network in the 1993/94 and 1994/95 cohorts.


The dissertation focuses on a building for one sole purpose: burial services. The aim is to understand the funeral chapel in both functional and representational terms; to chart the course of the architecture and artistic decoration. The presentation is chronologically structured into four periods. Parallel to this, there is a discussion regarding the consequences of studying such a wide selection of objects, with lesser-known objects presented side-by-side with prime examples of Swedish 20th-century art and architecture.The funeral chapel and crematorium – a funeral chapel with technical apparatus for cremation – is an ecclesiastical building. Its construction has predominantly been commissioned by the Church of Sweden. The study takes its starting point in how the funeral has become a service in its own right: it has moved indoors from the cemetery to the church or to a funeral chapel, and has gone from being a community ritual to a private ceremony. The prevalent funeral chapel at the beginning of the century can be characterized as a small country church, lending an authenticity of sorts to the new cemeteries. After 1930 the building of crematoriums entered an intensive phase. The Swedish Cremation Society persuaded the church to build crematoriums and produced guidelines regarding the modern crematorium with more than one chapel and a number of additional rooms for handling the dead body and the ashes. The layout can be seen as a way of promoting the benefits of cremation, but also demonstrates a commitment to make death lighter and cleaner. The crematoriums were often given a strictly modern appearance, the symbolism of the decoration made often reference to contemporary pastoral sceneries. From the 1950s the tendency was towards elementary shapes and sparsely decorated rooms using ancient church art as a model. In the last few decades, neutral representation has become the norm, making the funeral chapel accessible to different groups of society. Still almost 9 out of 10 funerals were conducted according to the canon law of the Church of Sweden. Simplicity in the realm of nature is a typical feature of the modern funeral chapel. Contrary to the view of the century as denying death, one can argue that an added dignity was introduced to the burial service with the advent of the funeral chapel. With modernism as the vantage point, it has surely been difficult to relate questions of motif and content, and to the church as the commissioning party. The funeral chapel shows public and ecclesiastical art and architecture in a commonplace reality.


ABSTRACT: Among many pharmaceuticals that have been tested for their effects on longevities of different animal rodents, deprenyl is unique in that its effects on longevity has been tested in at least four different animal species by independent research groups and that the effect has been postulated to be due to its effect of raising such antioxidant enzyme activities as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in selective brain regions. Thus far, in all four species of animals examined (rats, mice, hamsters, and dogs), a positive effect was demonstrated, although the extent of its effect is quite variable. Our group has examined the effect on longevities in rats and mice and on antioxidant enzymes in rats, mice, and dogs. Although in rats of both sexes, we have obtained positive effects on longevity, two studies with different doses in mice did not reveal a significantly positive effect. We have observed, however, significantly positive effects on SOD (in Cu, Zn‐, and Mn‐) as well as CAT (but not glutathione peroxidase) activities in the brain dopaminergic system such as in the S. nigra and striatum (but not in hippocampus) in all rats, mice, and dogs, although the effects were quite variable, depending on the doses used. In mice, however, a long‐term administration (3 x/w, 3 months) caused a remarkable decrease in the magnitude of activity as well as a narrowing of the effective dose range, which may explain a relatively weak effect of the drug on mouse longevity. Further, a recent study on aging beagle dogs by Ruehl et al. showed a remarkable effect on longevity, which agrees with our SOD study in dogs. Although deprenyl has been claimed to have several other effects, such as a radical scavenging effect and a neuroprotective effect, past reports on its effects on longevities and antioxidant defenses are compatible with the notion that the drug prolongs the life span of animals by reducing the oxidative damage to the brain dopaminergic system during aging. Further, our studies on F‐344 rats as well as a dog study by Ruehl et al. suggest that the drug may at least partially prolong the life span of animals by enhancing immune system function and preventing tumor development in animals.


OBJECTIVES
Assessment of perioperative risk of elderly patients in cardiac surgery is difficult, and most of the common risk scores show over- or underestimation. Two frailty scores, the comprehensive assessment of frailty (CAF) score and the Frailty predicts death One yeaR after CArdiac Surgery Test (FORECAST), were developed as additional tools to estimate the preoperative mortality risk, taking into consideration the frailty status of elderly patients.

METHODS
Four hundred and fifty patients who were referred for elective cardiac surgery were included. All the patients were assessed with the CAF test and the FORECAST. Thirty-day and 1-year mortality were evaluated by telephone interview. Univariate and bivariate logistic regression were performed to test the predictive power of the tests on mortality. Correlation of the scores with age was calculated with Spearman ranks. Three commensurate groups were built for each of the frailty scores and the outcome was compared between the groups. All analyses were performed for Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) accordingly.

RESULTS
A total of 227 male and 223 female patients were included. Thirty-day mortality was 6.1%, and 1-year mortality was 13.3%. Logistic regression showed that both scores are able to predict 30-day as well as 1-year mortality. Bivariate logistic regression showed that both frailty scores give relevant additional information to the STS and EuroSCORE for the prediction of 1-year mortality. The frailty scores were only weakly correlated with age in contrast to STS and EuroSCORE and therefore can be used as indicator of the biological age of patients besides the numerical age. Survival up to 1 year was relevantly reduced in the group of patients with the higher frailty scores.

CONCLUSIONS
CAF and FORECAST are additional tools to evaluate elderly patients adequately before elective cardiac surgery, and showed an association with short- and mid-term mortality independently of age.


INTRODUCTION
Species of the genera Psychotria and Palicourea are sources of indole alkaloids, however, the distribution of alkaloids within the plants is not known. Analysing the spatial distribution using desorption electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) has become attractive due to its simplicity and high selectivity compared to traditional histochemical techniques.

OBJECTIVES
To apply DESI-MSI to visualise the alkaloid distribution on the leaf surface of Psychotria prunifolia and Palicourea coriacea and to compare the distributions with HPLC-MS and histochemical analyses.

METHODOLOGY
Based upon previous structure elucidation studies, four alkaloids targeted in this study were identified using high resolution mass spectrometry by direct infusion of plant extracts, and their distributions were imaged by DESI-MSI via tissue imprints on a porous Teflon surface. Relative quantitation of the four alkaloids was obtained by HPLC-MS/MS analysis performed using multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer.

RESULTS
Alkaloids showed distinct distributions on the leaf surfaces. Prunifoleine was mainly present in the midrib, while 10-hydroxyisodeppeaninol was concentrated close to the petiole; a uniform distribution of 10-hydroxyantirhine was observed in the whole leaf of Psychotria prunifolia. The imprinted image from the Palicourea coriacea leaf also showed a homogeneous distribution of calycanthine throughout the leaf surface.

CONCLUSION
Different distributions were found for three alkaloids in Psychotria prunifolia, and the distributions found by MSI were in complete accordance with HPLC-MS analysis and histochemical results. The DESI-MSI technique was therefore demonstrated to provide reliable information about the spatial distribution of metabolites in plants. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The American South has always been a mythic land of contrast and juxtaposition—black and white, rich and poor, mountaineer and planter, hospitality and violence, unregulated development and a sense of place, greed and grace, illiteracy and great writing—and it remains so today. One of the more intriguing paradoxes is the image of the South as the Bible Belt, a place where fundamentalist zealots constantly damn deviant behavior, and as the land of the honky-tonk, a place where good ole boys and girls push the limits of drinking, dancing, dalliance, and debauchery. In this essay, we seek the clues to that puzzle in one of the region's principal cultural texts, the lyrics of commercial country music, and illuminate the larger social dynamic by focusing upon attitudes expressed about the pursuit of pleasures in the honky-tonks of the lyrical landscape, that liminal weekend window situated between


Personalized Immunosuppression in Transplantation: Role of Biomarker Monitoring and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring provides coverage of the various approaches to monitoring immunosuppressants in transplant patients, including the most recently developed biomarker monitoring methods, pharmacogenomics approaches, and traditional therapeutic drug monitoring. The book is written for pathologists, toxicologists, and transplant surgeons who are involved in the management of transplant patients, offering them in-depth coverage of the management of immunosuppressant therapy in transplant patients with the goal of maximum benefit from drug therapy and minimal risk of drug toxicity. This book also provides practical guidelines for managing immunosuppressant therapy, including the therapeutic ranges of various immunosuppressants, the pitfalls of methodologies used for determination of these immunosuppressants in whole blood or plasma, appropriate pharmacogenomics testing for organ transplant recipients, and when biomarker monitoring could be helpful. * Focuses on the personalized management of immunosuppression therapy in individual transplant patients* Presents information that applies to many areas, including gmass spectrometry, assay design, assay validation, clinical chemistry, and clinical pathology* Provides practical guidelines for the initial selection and subsequent modifications of immunosuppression therapy in individual transplant patients* Reviews the latest research in biomarker monitoring in personalizing immunosuppressant therapy, including potential new markers not currently used, but with great potential for future use * Explains how monitoring graft-derived, circulating, cell free DNA has shown promise in the early detection of transplant injury in liquid biopsy


Network lifetime is a crucial performance metric to evaluate data-gathering wireless sensor networks (WSNs) where battery-powered sensor nodes periodically sense the environment and forward collected samples to a sink node. In this project, we propose an analytic model to estimate the entire network lifetime from network initialization until it is completely disabled, and determine the boundary of energy hole in a data-gathering WSN. Specifically, we theoretically estimate the traffic load, energy consumption, and lifetime of sensor nodes during the entire network lifetime. Furthermore, we investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of energy hole, and apply our analytical results to WSN routing in order to balance the energy consumption and improve the network lifetime. Extensive simulation results are provided to demonstrate the validity of the proposed analytic model in estimating the network lifetime and energy hole evolution process.


Since the late 1980s, Vietnam, Cambodia, PDR Lao, and Myanmar have been opening their economies to international trade and investment. With the exception of Myanmar, the reforms have yielded impressive results, but the process is far from complete. In this enlightening book, a group of leading scholars outline the continuing reform efforts needed to survive the current global recession and place these economies in a competitive position on the recovery of the world economy.


AIM To compare the outcomes of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for gastric neoplasms using Clutch Cutter (ESD-C) or other knives (ESD-O). METHODS This was a single-center retrospective study. Gastric neoplasms treated by ESD between April 2016 and October 2017 at Kitakyushu Municipal Medical Center were reviewed. Multivariate analyses and propensity score matching were used to reduce biases. Covariates included factors that might affect outcomes of ESD, including age, sex, underlying disease, anti-thrombotic drugs use, tumor location, tumor position, tumor size, tumor depth, tumor morphology, tumor histology, ulcer (scar), and operator skill. The treatment outcomes were compared among two groups. The primary outcome was ESD procedure time. Secondary outcomes were en bloc, complete, and curative resection rates, and adverse events rates including perforation and delayed bleeding. RESULTS A total of 155 patients were included in this study; 44 pairs were created by propensity score matching. Background characteristics were quite similar among two groups after matching. Procedure time was significantly shorter for ESD-C (median; 49 min) than for ESD-O (median; 88.5 min) (P < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in treatment outcomes between ESD-C and ESD-O including en bloc resection rate (100% in both groups), complete resection rate (100% in both groups), curative resection rate (86.4% vs 88.6%, P = 0.730), delayed bleeding (2.3% vs 6.8%, P = 0.62) and perforation (0% in both groups). CONCLUSION ESD-C achieved shorter procedure time without an increase in complication risk. Therefore, ESD-C could become an effective ESD option for gastric neoplasms.