Microfluidics and its applications to Lab-on-a-Chip have attracted a lot of attention. Because of the small length scale, the flow is characterized by a low Re number. The governing equations become linear. Boundary element method (BEM) is a very good option for simulating the fluid flow with high accuracy. In this paper, we present a 2D numerical modeling of the electrothermal flow using BEM.In electrothermal flow the volumetric force is caused by electric field and temperature gradient. The physics is mathematically modeled by (i) Laplace equation for the electrical potential, (ii) Poisson equation for the heat conduction caused by Joule heating, (iii) continuity and Stokes equation for the low Reynolds number flow. We begin by solving the electrical potential and electric field. The heat conduction is caused by the Joule heating as the heat generation term. Superposition principle is used to solve for the temperature field. The Coulomb and dielectric forces are generated by the electrical field and temperature gradient of the system. We analyze the Stokes flow problem by superposition of fundamental solution for free-space velocity caused by body force and BEM for the corresponding homogeneous Stokes equation. It is well known that a singularity integral arises when the source point approaches the field point. To overcome this problem, we solve the free-space velocity analytically. For the BEM part, we also calculate all the integral terms analytically. With this effort, our solution is more accurate. In addition, we improve the robustness of the matrix system by combining the velocity integral equation with the traction integral equation.Our purpose is to design a pump for the microfluidics system. Since the system is a long channel, the flow is fully developed in the area far away from the electrodes. With this assumption, the velocity profile is parabolic at the inlet and outlet of the channel. So we can get appropriate boundary conditions for the BEM part of Stokes equation. Consequently, we can simulate the electrothermal flow in an open channel.In this paper, we will present the formulation and implementation of BEM to model electrothermal flow. Results of electrical potential, temperature field, Joule heating, electrothermal force, and velocity field will be presented.© 2013 ASME


Polycyclic fully conjugated hydrocarbons in which aromatics are fused to aromatics - or aromatics to antiaromatics - are important as potential organic semiconductors. Herein we explore the only remaining fusion pattern of antiaromatics to antiaromatics. It is shown computationally that the central antiaromatic unit (cyclobutadiene or pentalene) in such a three-unit polycyclic hydrocarbon, generated by fusion of three antiaromatic molecules, turns aromatic according to magnetic shielding (NICS) criteria. The resulting neutral 4N electron molecules possess a 4N π electron perimeter with pronounced CC bond length equalization (as indicated by the HOMA geometric index) and significant aromatic stabilization energies (computed using the isomerization-stabilization method) and could be promising synthetic targets with small HOMO-LUMO gaps.


Several of the authors question the efficacy of copyright, which is increasingly regarded as benefiting multinational organisations rather than individual authors and performers. Others are less critical of copyright per se, but question its ability to meet the new challenges of a digital era. Some of the specific issues covered include: law and international transactions of copyrighted material; economic analysis of copyright and freedom of expression; music licensing in the digital age; the role of copyright in stimulating cultural development; internet distribution of copyright material; and the problems of licensing museum images.


We present a simple, yet powerful data-augmentation technique to enable data-efficient learning from parametric experts for reinforcement and imitation learning. We focus on what we call the policy cloning setting, in which we use online or offline queries of an expert or expert policy to inform the behavior of a student policy. This setting arises naturally in a number of problems, for instance as variants of behavior cloning, or as a component of other algorithms such as DAGGER, policy distillation or KL-regularized RL. Our approach, augmented policy cloning (APC), uses synthetic states to induce feedback-sensitivity in a region around sampled trajectories, thus dramatically reducing the environment interactions required for successful cloning of the expert. We achieve highly data-efficient transfer of behavior from an expert to a student policy for high-degrees-of-freedom control problems. We demonstrate the benefit of our method in the context of several existing and widely used algorithms that include policy cloning as a constituent part. Moreover, we highlight the benefits of our approach in two practically relevant settings (a) expert compression, i.e. transfer to a student with fewer parameters; and (b) transfer from privileged experts, i.e. where the expert has a different observation space than the student, usually including access to privileged information.


Nights with clear skies and weak winds are common in the western Mediterranean area when pressure gradients are weak, usually associated with anticyclones that have their center over southwestern Europe. In such conditions, local factors predominate and nights are calm, with possible intense cooling in valleys and plains. Fog, dew or frost could appear. This study analyzes, through the application of some selection filters, the characteristics of stable nights during the period of 1997-2005 in the agrometeorological station of Gimenells, located in the eastern half of the Ebro basin. It shows the typical evolution of wind, humidity and temperature in stable conditions, identifying its principal directions and relating them to the topography of the Ebro basin.


Predictions of the flow over a wall-mounted hump are obtained using solutions of the Reynolds-averaged Navier‐ Stokes (RANS) equations and detached-eddy simulation (DES). The upstream solution is characterized by a two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer with a thickness approximately half of the maximum hump thickness measured at a location about two chord lengths upstream of the leading edge. The Reynolds number based on the hump chord length is 9.75 × 10 5 . A slot at approximately 65% chord C is used for flow control via a spatially uniform (with respect to the spanwise coordinate) steady suction and with alternating suction/blowing. Solutions of the two- and three-dimensional RANS equations are obtained using the Spalart‐Allmaras (S-A) and shear-stresstransport (SST) turbulence models. DES is applied to a three-dimensional geometry corresponding to an extruded section of the hump. DES predictions of the baseline case exhibit a three-dimensional chaotic structure in the wake, with a mean reverse-flow region that is 20% shorter than predicted by the two-dimensional RANS computations and a mean reattachment length that is in good agreement with measurements. DES predictions of the pressure coefficient in the separated-flow region for the baseline case also exhibit good agreement with measurements and are more accurate than either the S-A or SST RANS results. The simulations also show that blockage effects in the experiments used to assess the predictions are important: three-dimensional RANS predictions more accurately predict the pressure distribution upstream and over the front portion of the hump. Predictions of the steady suction case show a reduction in the length of the reverse-flow region, though are less accurate compared to the baseline configuration. Unsteady two-dimensional RANS predictions of the sinusoidal suction/blowing case are used to investigate impedance affects associated with increases in the driving velocity. The simulations show that a factor of four increase in the cavity driving velocity increases the average velocity through the slot by only a factor of 2.7.


Current evidence-based guidelines recommend that 2% (w/v) chlorhexidine digluconate (CHG), preferentially in 70% (v/v) isopropyl alcohol (IIPA), is used for skin antisepsis prior to incision of the skin. In this current study, the antimicrobial efficacy of CHG, six essential oils [tea tree oil (TTO), thymol, eucalyptus oil (EO), juniper oil, lavender oil and citronella] and novel benzylidenecarboxamidrazone and thiosemicarbazone compounds were determined against a panel of microorganisms commonly associated with skin infection (Staphylococcus epidermidis, S. aureus, meticillin-resistant S. aureus, Propionibacterium acnes, Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans) The results demonstrated synergistic activity of CHG in combination with EO against biofilm cultures of S. epidermidis, with significantly reduced concentrations of CHG and EO required to inhibit biofilm growth compared to CHG or EO alone. Skin permeation of CHG was subsequently investigated using an in vitro human skin model (Franz cell) and the penetration profile was determined by serial sectioning of the full thickness human skin. Two percent (w/v) CHG in aqueous solution and in 70% (v/v) IPA demonstrated poor skin permeation; however, the skin permeation was significantly enhanced in combination with 5% - 50% (v/v) EO. Detectable levels of CHG did not permeate through full thickness skin in 24 h. Skin permeation of 2% (w/v) CHG in 70% (v/v) IPA in the presence of 10% (v/v) EO was subsequently studied. The results demonstrated a significantly enhanced skin penetration of CHG after a 2 min application, with CHG detected at significant levels to a depth of 600 m with CHG in combination with EO and IPA compared to 100 m with IPA alone. Combination antisepsis comprising CHG and EO may be beneficial for skin antisepsis prior to invasive procedures to reduce the number of microorganisms on and within the skin due to enhanced skin penetration of CHG and improved efficacy against S. epidermidis in a biofilm mode of growth.


The Atmospheric Composition Processing System (ACPS) is a Community-Oriented Measurement-based Processing System that builds on the heritage mission-based processing used for MODIS, Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, and Ozone Monitoring Instrument missions. The ACPS features key changes in scalability, interfaces, and provenance capture that will increase access to NASA's Earth Science data and processing capabilities as well as improve the overall system's usefulness as compared with its predecessors. The ACPS consolidates measurement-based processing into a highly reusable suite that will also serve as the platform for NASA's evaluation of the operational ozone products from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project satellite planned to launch in 2010.


Although researchers have proposed a skill deficit account for observed gender differences in the provision of emotional support, few studies have directly tested the claim that men are less capable of providing effective support. This study advances an alternative account for gender differences in the effectiveness of supportive communication, arguing that gender differences may emerge because men and women respond differently to situational factors that influence the motivation to provide sensitive emotional support. Participants produced emotional support messages in response to scenarios varying in target gender, target responsibility for the problem, and target effort to resolve the problem, as well as in response to the problem itself (a replication factor included to increase generalizability). Women produced messages exhibiting greater emotional sensitivity than those of men across the other factors examined, providing support for the skill deficit account and failing to provide evidence of differential motivation.


Since the Last Glacial Maximum (~19 ka), coastal inundation from sea‐level rise has been thawing thick subsea permafrost across the Arctic. Although subsea permafrost has been mapped on several Arctic continental shelves, permafrost distribution in the South Kara Sea and the extent to which it is acting as an impermeable seal to seabed methane escape remains poorly understood. Here we use >1300 km of high‐resolution seismic data to map hydroacoustic anomalies, interpreted to record seabed gas release, on the West Yamal shelf. Gas flares are widespread over an area of at least 7500 km2 in water depths >20 m. We propose that continuous subsea permafrost extends to water depths of ~20 m offshore and creates a seal through which gas cannot migrate. This Arctic shelf region where seafloor gas release is widespread suggests that permafrost has degraded more significantly than previously thought.


A theoretical model is proposed to approximately describe an anomalous hollow beam of elliptical symmetry with an elliptical solid core, which was observed in experiment recently [Phys. Rev. Lett.94, 134802 (2005)]. Expressions for the propagation factor and effective beam spot size for the anomalous hollow beam are derived. Based on the Collins integral formula, an analytical propagation formula for the anomalous hollow beam passing through a paraxial ABCD optical system is derived. The propagation properties in free space are studied graphically.


SUMMARY: Organic and inorganic pollution can impact organisms directly and affect condition, growth and survival of juvenile fish which use estuaries as nurseries, and thereby affect marine adult populations quantitatively and qualitatively. Trace element contamination (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb) in juveniles of commercial fish Solea solea, Solea senegalensis, Platichthys flesus, Diplodus vulgaris and Dicentrarchus labrax collected in putative nurseries of the main Portuguese estuaries (with diverse intensities and sources of anthropogenic pressures) was determined via atomic absorption spectrometry. Contamination was significantly different among species. Similar levels of contamination were found among estuaries, except for D. vulgaris. Cu and Zn concentrations ranged from 1.0 to 2.1 and 14 to 59 µg g -1 muscle dry weight respectively; while Cd and Pb concentrations were very low. The results indicate that juvenile migration to off-shore habitats is associated with low export of contamination, and no particular estuary increases the potential contamination of adult stocks. This knowledge is of the utmost importance in view of the ecological and economical value of these species and their use of estuarine areas as nurseries.


Carrier solvents are used frequently in toxicity testing to assist hydrophobic chemicals into solution, but such solvents may have toxic effects on test subjects. Amphibians are model organisms in toxicity studies; however, little is known about the direct effects of solvents on native amphibians. Following modifications to standardized guidelines for native species, we used acute 96‐hour exposures to assess the direct effects of three common solvents on survival, differences in morphology and occurrence of abnormalities of northern leopard frog larvae (Lithobates pipiens). The solvents, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol (ETOH) and acetone (ACE) were used at nominal concentrations ranging from 1 to 100 μL/L. We also conducted a 30‐day exposure to assess the direct chronic effects of DMSO at 1 and 5 μL/L, on larval growth, development and sex differentiation, but found no effects. Acute exposure to solvents also had no effect on the survival of larvae, but we found significant abnormalities in tadpoles acutely exposed to 100 μL/L ACE. Acute exposure to DMSO and ETOH had further concentration‐dependent effects on larval morphological traits. Our study suggests that DMSO and ETOH at ≤20 μL/L may be used as solvents in amphibian ecotoxicological studies, but ACE should be limited to ≤50 μL/L in ecotoxicity studies and perhaps much less (≤10 μL/L) in studies with other amphibians, based on a review of existing literature. We emphasize pilot studies when using solvents on acute and chronic ecotoxicity tests, using native amphibians.


Structural reforms that increase competition in product and labor markets are often indicated as the main policy option available for peripheral Europe to regain competitiveness and boost output. We show that, in a crisis that pushes the nominal interest rate to its lower bound, these reforms do not support economic activity in the short run, and may well be contractionary. In the absence of the appropriate monetary stimulus, reforms fuel expectations of prolonged deflation, increase the real interest rate, and depress aggregate demand. Our findings carry important implications for the current debate on the timing and the design of structural reforms in Europe.


Benchmarks set standards for innovation in computer architecture research and industry product development. Consequently, it is of paramount importance that the benchmarks used in computer architecture research and development are representative of real-world applications. However, composing such representative workloads poses practical challenges to application analysis teams and benchmark developers - (1) Benchmarks that are standardized are open-source whereas applications of interest are typically proprietary, (2) Benchmarks are rigid, measure single-point performance, and only represent a sample of the application behavior space, (3) Benchmark suites take several years to develop, but applications evolve at a faster rate, and (4) Benchmarks geared towards temperature and power characterization are difficult to develop and standardize. The objective of this dissertation is to develop an adaptive benchmark generation strategy to construct synthetic benchmarks to address these benchmarking challenges.
We propose an approach for automatically distilling key hardware-independent performance attributes of a proprietary workload and capture them into a miniature synthetic benchmark clone. The advantage of the benchmark clone is that it hides the functional meaning of the code, but exhibits similar performance and power characteristics as the target application across a wide range of microarchitecture configurations. Moreover, the dynamic instruction count of the synthetic benchmark clone is substantially shorter than the proprietary application, greatly reducing overall simulation time—for the SPEC CPU 2000 suite, the simulation time reduction is over five orders of magnitude compared to the entire benchmark execution.
We develop an adaptive benchmark generation strategy that trades off accuracy to provide the flexibility to easily alter program characteristics. The parameterization of workload metrics makes it possible to succinctly describe an application's behavior using a limited number of fundamental program characteristics. This provides the ability to alter workload characteristics and construct scalable benchmarks that allows researchers to explore a wider range of the application behavior space, conduct program behavior studies, and model emerging workloads.
The parameterized workload model is the foundation for automatically constructing power and temperature oriented synthetic workloads. We show that machine learning algorithms can be effectively used to search the application behavior space to automatically construct benchmarks for evaluating the power and temperature characteristics of a computer architecture design.
The need for a scientific approach to construct synthetic benchmarks, to complement application benchmarks, has long been recognized by the computer architecture research community, and this dissertation work is a significant step towards achieving that goal.


Abstract Across the political spectrum of different historical periods, welfare deterrence has shaped social security and immigration policy in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Deterrence discourages access to state welfare through the production and mobilization of negative affect to deter specific groups from claiming state support, and by crafting public affect (of fear and disgust) about these target populations in order to garner consent for punitive policies. In this paper, we argue that deterrence works as a human technology where the crafting of negative affect operates as a technology of statecraft. Through critical juxtaposition and multiple genealogies of deterrence, this paper meshes time and space, and colony/colonizer and metropole, to show the historical and contemporary connectivity of the affective nature of deterrence. We identify five main operations that produce the 'feel' of deterrence: stigmatization by design, destitution by design, deterrent architecture, the control of movement, and the centrality of labour; as well as tracing the political economy of deterrence.


Companionship, emotional support, assistance for disabled family members, and general health benefits are just a few examples of why people choose to keep pets in their homes. This article explores the major legal issues that arise when people desire to keep companion animals in various types of housing. The Author examines the effects of federal, state, and local laws, as well as common contracts clauses.


The Coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic in the United States is without a vaccine or cure to prevent its spread. Social distancing and stay at home orders have created financial turmoil while mandatory mask requirements have created other controversies. This paper presents a simple agent-based SEIR model developed to explore the use of homemade masks of various quality in a representative United States population. The goal of the model is to determine if a non-pharmaceutical herd immunity can be achieved using homemade masks. Doing so without vaccines can lower even the small risk posed by an eventual vaccination. The model demonstrates that at high levels of adoption even a mix of questionable quality homemade masks can "flatten the curve" for the pandemic and could do so without the immediate, sever economic cost of staying at home. The model suggests it is possible for a herd immunity effect to cause an early end to the pandemic resulting in fewer affected individuals.


A pilot tank study was carried out to determine the nutrient removal efficiency of the common reed Phragmites karka and tube sedge Lepironia articulata. The replicate planted tanks were continuously fed with a nutrient solution at a rate of 50.0 mg l-1 N and 5.0 mg l-1 P and control planted tanks were set up without nutrient supplements. The plant growth rate, plant nutrient removal efficiency and nutrient content in the substrate were analysed. In addition, a field study at the 3 wetland cells Upper North 4-6 in Putrajaya Wetlands was carried out to assess the plant nutrient removal efficiency and the nutrient removal rates along the 3 wetland cells.
In the pilot study, the growth rate and total harvested biomass of treated wetland plants were significantly higher than of those in the control tanks. The treated samples of the common reed experienced a long growth period before they experienced senescence. However no flowering stage was observed throughout the 30-week experimental period. The treated tube sedge stands collapsed after 8 weeks in the first experimental period, probably due to nutrient overload conditions. In the second experimental period, the plant collapsed after 16 weeks under half nutrient concentration.
Nutrient removal through nutrient accumulation by the common reed was higher than those in tube sedge at 42.12% N; 28.92% P and 17.43% N; 26.08% P respectively, and the differences were significant.
The field study in Putrajaya Wetlands showed that water quality normally improved with flow length along the wetland cells. However the improvement is reduced during periods of rainfall where levels of Total Suspended Solids, Nitrate and Phosphate were highly variable. Nutrient removal performance was 82.11% Total Nitrogen (70.74% Nitrate-Nitrogen); and 84.32% Phosphate from UN 6 to UN 1 (2025 m) from April to December 2004.
Both the pilot and field studies indicated that these two selected wetland plants grew well in the field and in the pilot tank study. Thus, both plant species are good examples of emergent plant species for constructed wetlands.


Summary
A micromanipulator of original design was used for transfer of single amebae from the S-F medium in test tubes to microcultures. Quantitative data collected on the growth of the organisms under these circumstances revealed considerable variation in the total progeny after incubation of the microcultures even though all possible efforts were made to standardize the conditions. Attempts to transfer single amebae to test tube cultures failed to produce successful cultures, but it was found relatively easy to establish test tube cultures by transferring the microcultures to test tubes of S-F medium. Certain refinements were made in the microtechnique in the course of these experiments. It is suggested that microisolation of single trophozoites offers a good means of studying genetic and metabolic characteristics of Entamoeba histolytica.


Islamic banking deposits are fundamentally structured in a different way than the conventional banking deposits. Each type of Islamic banking deposits, such as savings, demand, and timed deposits, is devised using the approved Shari'ah contracts such as qard, wadiah, murabahah, and mudarabah. These contracts are opposed to the conventional concepts, as they are based on the concept of a 'lender-borrower' relationship. In addition, the Shari'ah-approved contracts are unique as they feature a different nature of risk and return. This is especially the case for mudarabah contracts (henceforth referred to as profit-sharing contracts). The uniqueness of profit-sharing contracts in deposit products has been given due recognition in theory and also in practice, as most of the Islamic banks in Malaysia offered this product. In addition, the unique features and characteristics of profit-sharing based deposit accounts are also highlighted in the prudential standards issued by prominent regulatory bodies such as AAOIFI and IFSB which, have been adopted by the Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia).

Nevertheless, it is argued by many Islamic banks practitioners, especially in Malaysia, that the concept of profit-sharing in deposits products is not practical in reality, because the depositors do not behave according to, nor accept the principles that have been laid down in the Shari'ah. Thus it is argued that both the depositors and the Islamic bankers have treated the product similar to any other conventional banking deposits products.

The main aim of this study, hence, is to explore and examine the level of awareness, knowledge, perceptions, and attitude of the Islamic banking depositors in Malaysia towards characteristics of profit-sharing deposits accounts in accordance with the fundamental Shari'ah principles but also the regulations prevailing. In addition, this research also attempts to explore the significant determinant factors that encourage the depositors to engage with Islamic banking deposits accounts in general and profit-sharing deposits accounts in particular.

In fulfilling the aim of the study, primary data collection research was adopted through a survey questionnaire technique. The questionnaires were distributed to eight Islamic banks representing various types of Islamic banks in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The questionnaire asked various pertinent questions, which intended to elicit the depositors' opinions, perceptions, and attitudes towards the unique characteristics of profit-sharing contract as specified in Shari'ah muamalah principles. The characteristics among others are: (i) concept of uncertain deposits returns; (ii) concept of non-guarantee for the deposits; (iii) concept of profit equalization reserve. A total 649 of the returned questionnaires were complete and fit for analysis purpose. The data were analysed using various statistical analysis techniques ranging from simple frequency distribution analysis to the more advanced analyses such as non-parametric statistical analysis, factor analysis, and logistic regression.

In general, the results of the study show that the level of awareness of the need to have Islamic banking deposits accounts because of religious reasons is considered as high among the Malaysian depositors. Nevertheless, the results also indicate that a high level of awareness is not being translated into a high level of understanding concerning the objectives of the products which are structured in accordance to the Shari'ah-compliant contracts. This can be seen in the major findings of this study: the characteristics of profit-sharing contracts, which arguably are the most desirable Shari'ah-compliant contracts, are not acceptable to the depositors. This indirectly implies that they are still strongly influenced by the nature of conventional banking products. In addition, the logistics regression results further proved that related factors ('financial services' and 'income') emerged as the main determinants in creating demand for profit-sharing deposits accounts.

The results of the research should draw the attention of the Islamic bankers and also the regulators to finding ways for improving the level of understanding among the depositors. However, the critical successful factor in educating the depositors is highly dependent on the level of knowledge exhibited by the Islamic bankers themselves, which can be a real concern as highlighted by the findings of this study.


SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Primo Movimento : Il minore nel contesto familiare e nel gruppo religioso - 3. Secondo Movimento : Il ruolo del giudice, tra autodeterminazione in materia sanitaria e best interests of the child - 4. Terzo Movimento : Conclusioni. L'evoluzione del minore in una societa plurale. The Children Act: Finding the best interests of the child between family, religious community and the court ABSTRACT: Connections that bring together law and literature unceasingly prove to be very meaningful. Ian McEwan's novel, The Children Act, offers an intriguing example of law in literature, cannily managing the complex theme of religion and justice. A young Jehovah's Witness affected by a severe disease refuses to have his life saved by a blood transfusion. The Family Court finds in favour of the medical treatment against the child and his family's convictions but the ruling triggers an unpredictable chain of events culminating in a tragic epilogue. Similarities between the novel and real law cases about refusals of medical treatments on religious grounds are traced throughout the article, which aims at analysing the controversial relations among the subjects and interests involved when dealing with a child medical consent and conscientious objections, mainly the duties of the family, the rights of the child and the responsibilities of the state. Concluding remarks will highlight that, in order for the child to express an autonomous and informed consent, a thorough and critical education is needed, provided through a pluralistic learning environment and an inclusive social framework, as international bodies - like the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child - clearly suggest.


OBJECTIVE
We studied, as a physiological benchmark, acute effects of right ventricular (RV) apical, RV outflow, and left ventricular (LV) pacing in children with normal cardiac function on LV and RV function and ventricular-ventricular interactions.

DESIGN
The design of the study was a prospective, acute intervention.

SETTING
The study was conducted in a tertiary care electrophysiology laboratory. Population and Methods. Seven children (mean +/- SD, 12 +/- 4 years) were paced after accessory pathway ablation, at baseline (AOO), and with atrioventricular pacing (DOO) from the RV apex, RV outflow, and left ventricle.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Right ventricular dP/dT(max) and RV dP/dT(neg) (high-fidelity transducer-tipped catheters, Millar Instruments, Houston, TX, USA), cardiac index (Fick), blood pressure, and QRS duration were measured at each pacing condition. Intra- and interventricular mechanical dyssynchrony, systolic- and diastolic peak tissue velocities, and isovolumic acceleration were recorded by tissue Doppler imaging at the lateral mitral, septal, and tricuspid annuli at each condition. Results at each pacing condition were compared by repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results. Pacing prolonged QRS duration, causing electrical dyssynchrony (86 +/- 19 ms [baseline], 141 +/- 44 ms [RV apex], 121 +/- 18 ms [RV outflow], and 136 +/- 34 ms [LV], P < .01). Right ventricular outflow pacing caused LV intraventricular delay (63 +/- 52 vs. 12 +/- 7 ms, P < .05). Right ventricular apical pacing caused interventricular delay (61 +/- 29 vs. 25 +/- 18 ms, P < .05). There were no significant changes in blood pressure, cardiac index, RV dp/dT(max), RV dP/dT(neg), regional tissue velocities, or isovolumic acceleration during any of the pacing conditions, indicating preserved ventricular function and hemodynamics. No important ventricular-ventricular interactions were seen.

CONCLUSIONS
In children with normal cardiac anatomy and function, single-site RV apical, RV outflow, and LV pacing induce electromechanical dyssynchrony without significantly changing ventricular function or hemodynamics, or adversely affecting ventricular-ventricular interactions.


Large suffusion and cover-collapse sinkholes, of up to 100 m in diameter, developed in the Lar valley in Iran. The sinkholes formed through overburden several hundred metres thick comprising coarse- and fine-grained deposits. The formation mechanism for these large sinkholes was studied based on the topography of the bedrock and on deep borehole log data. It could be determined that the large cover-collapse sinkholes are located above permeable bedrock berms and that they formed through a layer of fine-grained, cohesive soil that was both underlain and overlain by coarse-grained soil layers. The data analysis showed that suffusion from the coarse-grained layer at the bedrock and subsequent erosion of these particles through permeable zones in the bedrock to the karst channels caused settlement of these coarse-grained layers and the formation of open caverns above them, at the interface with the fine-grained layer. With continuing erosion, the caverns widened until the limit equilibrium of the fine-grained layer was reached and then collapsed to form a depression with a horizontal bottom surface, termed a cover-collapse sinkhole. An analytical model was developed for this mechanism, considering cohesive and non-cohesive soil layers. This analytical model confirmed that, for the given composition of the overburden, cover-collapse sinkholes of 80–100 m in diameter can be expected. The paper also analysed the formation mechanism of the suffusion sinkholes and it was shown that their formation took place through coarse-grained, non-cohesive formations, in this case alluvium and slope talus. Finally, it was analysed whether the formation of new cover-collapse and suffusion sinkholes after the rehabilitation of the reservoir leakage is likely.


BACKGROUND
The present study examined whether aerobic fitness training of older humans can increase brain volume in regions associated with age-related decline in both brain structure and cognition.

METHODS
Fifty-nine healthy but sedentary community-dwelling volunteers, aged 60-79 years, participated in the 6-month randomized clinical trial. Half of the older adults served in the aerobic training group, the other half of the older adults participated in the toning and stretching control group. Twenty young adults served as controls for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and did not participate in the exercise intervention. High spatial resolution estimates of gray and white matter volume, derived from 3D spoiled gradient recalled acquisition MRI images, were collected before and after the 6-month fitness intervention. Estimates of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2) were also obtained.

RESULTS
Significant increases in brain volume, in both gray and white matter regions, were found as a function of fitness training for the older adults who participated in the aerobic fitness training but not for the older adults who participated in the stretching and toning (nonaerobic) control group. As predicted, no significant changes in either gray or white matter volume were detected for our younger participants.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that cardiovascular fitness is associated with the sparing of brain tissue in aging humans. Furthermore, these results suggest a strong biological basis for the role of aerobic fitness in maintaining and enhancing central nervous system health and cognitive functioning in older adults.


This paper reports on three-dimensional numerical simulations of dynamics and thermodynamics in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). Our models are local, account for sheared galactic rotation, magnetic fields, and realistic cooling, and resolve scales ≈1-200 pc. This combination permits the study of quasi-steady state turbulence in a cloudy medium representing the warm/cold atomic ISM. Turbulence is driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI); our models are the first to study the saturated state of MRI under strongly inhomogeneous conditions, with cloud/intercloud density and temperature contrasts of ~100. For volume-averaged densities = 0.25-4 cm-3, the mean saturated-state velocity dispersion ranges from 8 to 1 km s-1, with a scaling δv ∝ -0.77. The MRI is therefore likely quite important in driving turbulence in low-density regions of the ISM, both away from the midplane in the inner Galaxy (as observed at high latitudes) and throughout the far outer Galaxy (where the mean density drops and the disk flares). The MRI may even be key to suppressing star formation at large radii in spiral galaxies, where the pressure can be high enough that without MRI-driven turbulence, a gravitationally unstable cold layer would form. As expected, we find that turbulence affects the thermal structure of the ISM. In all our simulations, the fraction of thermally unstable gas increases as the MRI develops and in the saturated state is largest in high-δv models. The mass fractions of warm stable and unstable gas are typically comparable, in agreement with observations. While inclusion of resistive dissipation of magnetic fields could enhance the amount of thermally unstable gas compared to current models, our present results indicate that even high levels of turbulence cannot wipe out the signature of thermal instability and that a shift to a "phase continuum" description is probably unwarranted. Instead, we find that temperature and density PDFs are broadened (and include extreme departures from equilibrium), but retain the bimodal character of the classical two-phase description. Our presentation also includes results on the distribution of clump masses (the mass spectrum peaks at ~100 M☉), comparisons of saturated-state MRI scalings with single-phase simulation results (we find that ⟨B2⟩ is independent of ), and examples of synthetic H I line profile maps (showing that physical clumps are not easily distinguished in velocity components and vice versa).


Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling from the primary cilium drives cerebellar granule cell precursor (GCP) proliferation. Mutations of hedgehog (Hh) pathway repressors commonly cause medulloblastoma, the most prevalent and malignant childhood brain tumor that arises from aberrant GCP proliferation. We demonstrate that Nestin Cre-driven conditional knock-out (CKO) of a Shh pathway repressor-Rab23 in the mouse brain of both genders caused mis-patterning of cerebellar folia and elevated GCP proliferation during early development, but with no prevalent occurrence of medulloblastoma at adult stage. Strikingly, Rab23-depleted GCPs exhibited upregulated basal level of Shh pathway activities despite showing an abnormal ciliogenesis of primary cilia. In line with the compromised ciliation, Rab23-depleted GCPs were desensitized against Hh pathway activity stimulations by Shh ligand and Smoothened (Smo) agonist-SAG, and exhibited attenuated stimulation of Smo-localization on the primary cilium in response to SAG. These results implicate multidimensional actions of Rab23 on Hh signaling cascade. Rab23 represses the basal level of Shh signaling, while facilitating primary cilium-dependent extrinsic Shh signaling activation. Collectively, our findings unravel instrumental roles of Rab23 in GCP proliferation and ciliogenesis. Furthermore, Rab23's potentiation of Shh signaling pathway through the primary cilium and Smo suggests a potential new therapeutic strategy for Smo/primary cilium-driven medulloblastoma. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Primary cilium and Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling are known to regulate granule cell precursor (GCP) proliferation. Aberrant overactivation of Shh signaling pathway ectopically increases GCP proliferation and causes malignant childhood tumor called medulloblastoma. However, the genetic and molecular regulatory cascade of GCP tumorigenesis remains incompletely understood. Our finding uncovers Rab23 as a novel regulator of hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway activity and cell proliferation in GCP. Intriguingly, we demonstrated that Rab23 confers dual functions in regulating Shh signaling; it potentiates primary cilium and Shh/Smoothened (Smo)-dependent signaling activation, while antagonizes basal level Hh activity. Our data present a previously underappreciated aspect of Rab23 in mediating extrinsic Shh signaling upstream of Smo. This study sheds new light on the mechanistic insights underpinning Shh signaling-mediated GCP proliferation and tumorigenesis.


BACKGROUND AND HISTORY It's the middle of the clinic. Your next patient has a bulging set of case notes and struggles in to the room on two elbow crutches with a hand-written list of 15 somatic complaints. The worst symptom is progressive right leg weakness that has become so bad that any work has been impossible for six months. You have already noted some physical signs. The right leg is dragged like a sack of potatoes and when the patient climbs on the bed the leg is hauled on with both hands. On direct testing there is some 'collapsing weakness' even after you've cajoled and encouraged the patient. The refl exes are normal. How are you going to clinch the diagnosis of functional weakness? Can Hoover's sign help you? Time to get some defi nitions straight. In this article we will use the term functional weakness to refer to medically unexplained weakness of the type that was formerly labelled 'hysterical', i.e. the patient is unaware or largely unaware of any degree of control over the symptom. As we will comment later, Hoover's sign does not help differentiate this type of Hoover's sign


SAES St909 getter beds are used to condition the gas feed to certain tritium stripper systems in the Tritium Facilities at the Savannah River Site. Low-oxygen and low-moisture waste gas containing nitrogen, helium or argon is pre-conditioned by the St909 getter prior to tritium stripping and discharge to the environment. SRS has recently built and tested a full-scale St909 Prototype Getter Bed to replace an existing design. The Bed was activated, loaded with nitrogen and tested for effectiveness in gettering oxygen and cracking water, methane and carbon dioxide at two temperatures, three pressures and three flow rates (residence times). Tests have been conducted using carrier gases of nitrogen and helium. This paper will discuss the new St909 getter bed design and test results.


The simulation of the fast ions dynamics experiment in the TORPEX device is presented. The experiment consists of a fast particles source that injects lithium ions in the TORPEX plasma, characterized by interchange-driven turbulence. The simulations are performed by integrating the particles equations of motion in the turbulent fields provided by the simulations of Dr. Ricci et al. [15]. The accuracy of the integration of the eq. of motion has been established by testing the conservation of energy, and comparing the trajectories computed by the simulation with the predictions of the guiding center model. The study of a single particle motion has revealed chaotic behavior, and especially high sensitivity to the initial conditions. An approximation for the motion of the center of mass of a distribution of a statistically meaningful number of particles has been obtained for specific conditions. Finally the dependence of the spreading of the distribution on the fast particles energy, on the spreading in the initial velocities of the particles and on the spreading in the initial angles of the particles has been studied. It has revealed that the effects of turbulence on the spreading of a distribution are visible in the vertical and parallel directions as long as the spreading in the initial velocities is small (else, the effect of turbulence is masked by the effect of the magnetic field geometry) and in the radial direction for any values of the spreading in the initial velocities.


Objective To identify perinatal and neonatal risk factors associated with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in very low birthweight children (VLBW: <1250 g). Design Retrospective design with prospectively collected cohort. Setting Neonatal Follow-Up Program, Vancouver, Canada. Patients 157 VLBW children assessed at 4–5 years who were free of cerebral palsy or major neurological impairment and had full-scale IQ >70. Main outcome measure Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). Results Using ≤15th percentile on the MABC as the cut-off, 42% of our cohort developed DCD. Perinatal variables significantly associated with DCD were male sex, lower gestational age and lower birth weight, but only male sex and low birth weight independently predicted DCD, accounting for 20% of the variance in MABC scores. Compared with children without motor impairment, children with DCD had greater postnatal steroid exposure, longer duration of ventilation, more days on oxygen and significant retinopathy of prematurity, but only postnatal steroid exposure was significant, accounting for an additional 3% of the variance in MABC scores. Boys performed more poorly than girls on all subtests of the MABC. Conclusions Male sex and low birth weight were significant predictors of DCD, suggesting that these infants should be followed for detection of this common, but under-recognised disorder. Future research aimed at identifying neural underpinnings of DCD and possible antecedents to the disorder is warranted.


Education researchers have suggested that the academic challenges faced by many ethnic minority students are linked to perceived cultural discontinuity between students' home- and school-based experiences. However, there has been very little empirical inquiry into the existence and effects of cultural discontinuity for these students. The purpose of this article is to offer a definition and methodology to be used in the quantitative investigation of cultural discontinuity. A description of the cultural values and corresponding behaviors of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American students, along with those values and behaviors salient in most public schools, is offered. Next, a method for investigating cultural discontinuity is proposed. Finally, future research directions to further examine cultural discontinuity are offered.


Decentralized decision making under uncertainty has been shown to be intractable when each agent has different partial information about the domain. Thus, improving the applicability and scalability of planning algorithms is an important challenge. We present the first memory-bounded dynamic programming algorithm for finite-horizon decentralized POMDPs. A set of heuristics is used to identify relevant points of the infinitely large belief space. Using these belief points, the algorithm successively selects the best joint policies for each horizon. The algorithm is extremely efficient, having linear time and space complexity with respect to the horizon length. Experimental results show that it can handle horizons that are multiple orders of magnitude larger than what was previously possible, while achieving the same or better solution quality. These results significantly increase the applicability of decentralized decision-making techniques.


This article discusses the rhetorical aspects of avatars, or virtual selves, within multiuser graphical virtual realities (GVRs). In both text-based and graphical virtual worlds, users are represented in the world by discursive or visual avatars. Because the manner in which users in a synchronous shared environment are represented affects how they are able to communicate, the design of an avatar affects the communicative possibilities within a virtual world. This essay examines the development of GVRs in order to question how representations of selves in these newer versions of cyberspace relate to on-linecommunication. The focus here is particularly on how bodies in GVRs are gendered, and how differing modes of gender inscription might affect online interaction. Ultimately, GVRs raise the issue of how the visual affects the verbal when both are mediated by technology.


The central premise of this research is that blind and visually impaired (BVI) people cannot use the Internet effectively due to accessibility and usability problems. Use of the Internet is indispensable in today's education system that relies on Web-enhanced instruction (WEI). Therefore, BVI students cannot participate effectively in WEI. Extant literature recognizes that non-visual Web interaction is inherently challenging. However, it does not explain where, how and why BVI students face accessibility and usability problems in performing academic tasks in WEI. This knowledge is necessary to adequately inform the development of interventions that improve the functional and academic outcomes of BVI students in WEI. The purpose of this doctoral research is to understand the nature of accessibility and usability problems BVI students face in WEI environments. It adopts a novel user-centered, task-oriented, cognitive approach to develop an in-depth, contextually-situated, observational and experiential knowledge of these problems. The context of WEI experience under investigation is an online exam over a typical course management system. Research design is a qualitative field study that involves a multimethod evaluation of the WEI environment. The core component of this multimethod evaluation is BVI students' assessment of the WEI environment. This is triangulated through assessments made by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and Web developers. The BVI student assessment employs an integrated problem solving model, in combination with verbal protocol analysis, to identify and understand where, how and why BVI students face a problem in completing the exam. The WCAG assessment employs automated accessibility testing and WCAG textual analysis to identify interface objects that violate accessibility standards and characterizes a problem. The Web developer assessment involves open-ended interviews to identify the source of a problem. Results show that the WEI environment consisted of innumerable interface objects that violated WCAG's standards on Web accessibility and usability. BVI participants faced many accessibility and usability problems that posed significant challenges completing the online exam. These problems fall into six major problem types as described below: 1. Confusion while navigating across WEI environment due to its frame-based page structure without unique frame names; 2. Susceptibility to submitting incomplete work when a new question page does not provide location and contextual information; 3. Difficulty understanding how to submit work when the selection controls for multiple option questions lack a consistent keyboard navigation procedure; 4. Inability to negotiate security information pop-up when the WEI environment uses an alert dialogue box; 5. Ambiguity in essay-type question page that lack meaningful labels for interface objects, including text area and text formatting toolbar; 6. Vulnerability of losing work when Backspace behaves as browser's Back button inside text area. This doctoral research contributes in three ways. It fills the knowledge gap about the nature of problems BVI students face in Web interactions for academic tasks. This kind of knowledge is necessary to determine accessibility and usability requirements for WEI. Another contribution is a set of mental model representations that explicate the thought processes of BVI students. Such representations are useful in developing user instruction and design of more accessible and usable Web sites. A third contribution is a user-centered, task-based, cognitive and multi-method approach to evaluate Web accessibility and usability.


Persistent systemic inflammatory response syndrome is a serious health condition that may
lead to multiple organ dysfunction, organ failure, and ultimately death. It leads to both
acute inflammation, caused by either infective (microbes or lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) or
non-infective (chemicals) sources, and sepsis, an infection caused by a lethal dose of LPS
(endotoxemia). These conditions have similar inflammatory mediators such as cytokines,
nitric oxide (NO), high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1), and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1),
suggesting that they may result from similar pathogenic mechanisms. Previous studies have
investigated the applications of natural products in targeting these inflammatory mediators.
Honey, for example, is used to treat inflammation and heal wounds. Gelam honey is most
commonly in Malaysia. The floral source of Gelam honey is Melaleuca cajuputi Powell,
traditional Melaleuca cajuputi Powell has been used to treat many diseases and it has
medicinal antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anodyne properties. However, it
is currently unknown whether Gelam honey has a protective effect against systemic
inflammatory response during acute inflammation and sepsis. We first investigated the
effects of honey, honey methanol extract (HME), and honey ethyl acetate extract (HEAE)
on acute inflammation, using animal models. These products inhibited edema and pain, in
correlation with their potent inhibitory activities against NO and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)
in all models. Phenolic compounds have been implicated in these inhibitory activities. We
also evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of Gelam honey extracts using High-
Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography–mass
spectrometry (LC-MS). Subsequently, HME and HEAE were tested in vitro for their effect
on NO production in stimulated macrophages, as well as for their effects on tumor necrosis
iii
factor-α (TNF-α) cytotoxicity in L929 cells. These extracts protected cells against TNF
cytotoxicity and inhibited NO production, with HEAE exhibiting greater activity.
Moreover, we investigated the effect of the intravenous injection of honey in rats with LPSinduced
endotoxemia. We found that cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-10), HMGB1, and
NO levels decreased, and HO-1 levels increased significantly in the honey-treated groups.
We also found that Gelam honey protects organs from lethal doses of LPS, as evidenced by
improved blood parameters, reduced neutrophil infiltration, and decreased myeloperoxidase
activity, as well as reduced mortality in honey-treated groups compared with untreated
groups. We also examined the ability of Gelam honey to scavenge peroxynitrite during
immune responses mounted by the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. Significantly,
improved viability of LPS/IFN-γ-treated RAW 264.7 cells and significant inhibition of NO
production were observed, similar to those observed with an inhibitor of inducible NOS. In
addition, Gelam honey inhibited peroxynitrite production from the synthetic substrate SIN-
1 as well as peroxynitrite synthesis in LPS-treated rats (endotoxemia). Thus, by suppressing
the production of cytotoxic molecules such as NO and peroxynitrite, honey may attenuate
the inflammatory responses that lead to cell damage and, potentially, to cell death. The
results therefore suggest that honey has therapeutic uses for a wide range of inflammatory
disorders.


PURPOSE
To understand the perceptions of patients with cancer regarding the role and purpose of a survivorship care plan (SCP) to inform content and delivery opportunities.

PARTICIPANTS & SETTING
A mixed-methods evaluation was conducted among patients at a survivorship clinic for high-risk survivors of sarcomas in an academic medical center.

METHODOLOGIC APPROACH
An electronic survey was administered, followed by qualitative telephone interviews.

FINDINGS
51 surveys were delivered, and 23 surveys were completed. Eight telephone interviews were completed. Content analysis revealed that participants value the SCP as a health management tool to address information needs and reduce fear of recurrence. Few participants shared their SCP with other healthcare providers.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Patients use their SCP as a health management tool to understand the details of their cancer history and treatment and to manage their health concerns. Nurses who care for patients with cancer are well positioned to use the SCP as a patient education tool.


Where does courtly literature come from? What is the meaning of "courtly love"? What is the relation between religious and secular culture in the Middle Ages, and why does it matter? This book addresses these questions, as its title indicates, by way of contradiction. Contradiction is central both to medieval logic and to most modern protocols of reading; it therefore informs both the production and the reception of medieval texts. Yet contradiction itself is rarely analyzed, serving more often as a spur to interpretation than as its object. This book works between the complex philosophical culture of the twelfth century (principally the traditions of Aristotle and of philosophical Neoplatonism, which diverge significantly in their treatment of contradiction) and the no less complex thought of Lacan (which is just as bound up with contradictoriness). Situating twelfth-century Anglo-Norman, French, and Occitan literature within this philosophical embrace, the author studies the interaction of three major literary genres-hagiography, troubadour lyric, and romance-an interaction that, in the course of the century, generates what we now call "courtly literature." She shows how preferences for different ways of dealing with contradiction migrate from one genre to another during the twelfth century. She also shows how this movement resulted, by about 1170, in different traditions converging to produce the complex artifacts that canonized literary "courtliness," not only for the Middle Ages but for us as well. Coinciding with this convergence, there is a shift in the locus of contradiction from subject to object. This crucial development not only privileges the object within texts, it also cements the value of texts themselves as object. In a series of comparisons between religious and courtly texts that draws on the writings of Lacan and Kristeva, the author explores how these objects can be variously described in terms of the psychoanalytical concepts of abjection, sublimation, or perversion. The book concludes by suggesting that the historical importance of courtly literature lies in its capacity to mediate, through the centrality accorded to the contradictory object, this transfer from medieval to modern structures of thought and thereby to shape modern forms of enjoyment.


In North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners, the Court refused to exempt the board from the second element of Parker immunity (active supervision by the state) because the Board was made up largely of "active market participants." This paper argues that the "active market participant" rule laid out in North Carolina State Board, while intuitively appealing, ignores important political values represented by antitrust law, values most evident in the context of state action immunity. By focusing on the potential market harm from self-interested regulators, the Court ignored a series of political harms inherent in the structure of the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners, harms having little to do with whether the members of the board were market participants. The result in North Carolina State Board is misguided, but should not be surprising. It is the natural result of the Court's reliance on an economically oriented test – the Midcal/Hallie framework – for what is a political rather than an economic problem. Thus, North Carolina State Board is not so much a mis-application of the modern antitrust law of state action as it is a demonstration of how state action law has gone awry and how the Court can return the doctrine to its political roots.


Philosophy of language is one of the hardest areas for the beginning student; it is full of difficult questions technical arguments, and jargon. Written in a straightforward and explanatory way and filled with examples, this text provides a comprehensive introduction to the field, suitable for students with no background in the philosophy of language or formal logic.The eleven chapters in the book's first part take up a variety of matters connected to questions about what language is for - what meaning has to do with people's ideas and intentions, and with social communication. Included are chapters on the innateness controversy, the private language argument, the possibility of animal and machine language, language as rule-governed or conventional behavior, and the speech act theory.In the second part, thirteen chapters concentrate on what language is about; treating sense and reference, extensionality, truth conditions, and the theories of proper names, definite descriptions, indexicals, general terms, and psychological attributions.Many recent books and courses in the philosophy of language treat the issues and approaches covered in the first or second part of this book; however, this is the first time they are presented together (although either part may be read and/or taught independently). The book's style is pedagogic, not polemical. It shows students how much has been accomplished by philosophers of language in this century while making them keenly aware of the fundamental controversies that remain.Robert Martin is an associate professor of philosophy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A Bradford Book.


ABSTRACT Recombination is currently recognized as a factor for high genetic diversity, but the frequency of such recombination events and the genome segments involved are not well known. In the present study, we initially focused on the detection of recombinant porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) isolates by examining previously published data sets of ORF5 sequences (genotypes 1 and 2) obtained worldwide. We then examined full-length genome sequences in order to determine potential recombination breakpoints along the viral genome. For ORF5, 11 sets of genotype 1 sequences from different geographical areas, including 2 Asian, 1 American, and 7 European regions, and three sets of genotype 2, including sets from China, Mexico, and the United States, were analyzed separately. Potential recombination breakpoints were detected in 10/11 genotype 1 sets, including 9 cases in which the clustering of at least one isolate was different before and after the breakpoints. In genotype 2, potential breakpoints and different tree clustering of at least one strain before and after the breakpoint were observed in 2 out of 3 sets. The results indicated that most of the ORF5 data sets contained at least one recombinant sequence. When the full-length genome sequences were examined, both genotype 1 and 2 sets presented breakpoints (10 and 9, respectively), resulting in significantly different topologies before and after the breakpoints. Mosaic genomes were detected in genotype 1 sequences. These results may have significant implications for the understanding of the molecular epidemiology of PRRSV. IMPORTANCE PRRSV is one of the most important viruses affecting swine production worldwide, causing big economic losses and sanitary problems. One of the key questions on PRRSV arises from its genetic diversity, which is thought to have a direct impact on immunobiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and vaccine efficacy. One of the causes of this genetic diversity is recombination among strains. This study provides evidence that recombinant PRRSV isolates are common in most of the countries with significant swine production, especially PRRSV genotype 1. This observation has implications in the proper characterization of PRRSV strains, in the future development of phylogenetic studies, and in the development of new PRRSV control strategies. Moreover, the present paper emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and circumstances involved in the generation of genetic diversity of PRRSV.


Ground (Charles Peirce's concept) – regardless whether it be taken as motivation or abstractness – affords the proposition that some abstract categories of meaning have acquired their qualities via bodily experience. In order to show this to be the case, the concept of ground will be drawn together with the division (according to Julia Kristeva) between the symbolic and the semiotic, the semiotic chora will be shown to function as an axiologizing thymic category as regard reception of perception (following Algirdas Greimas), and finally it will be proposed that it is this foundation that enables the coherence and inevitability of culture as a whole, being responsible for its stereoscopic quality as well. This procedure will further the haply sacrilegious march towards the emergence of modal semiotics, which allows us to dispense of signs in order to gain an anachronistically novel understanding of our own being.


Using a grounded-theory approach this study critically examines a development education program of an NGO, the Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP) in Balochistan, Pakistan. IDSP's Academic Development Program (ADP) is influenced by critical pedagogy, and post-colonial and post-modern studies. IDSP targets out-of-school youth and young adults of marginalized communities who are politically and socially conscious and looking for openings, inspirations, and direction to solve the issues confronting their communities. In addition to grounded theory itself, theoretical perspectives used in this study include: postmodern critical theory, transformative learning theory, critical pedagogy, and post-colonial studies. Data sources include ADP-related documents and open-ended interviews with four IDSP administrators, three teachers, six female students, and eight male students. I used convenience, purposive, and theoretical sampling techniques to select my research participants. To analyze my data, I utilized two major analytical tools, "content analysis" and "constant comparison" throughout the research process. The research findings reveal that ADP has developed critical consciousness in marginalized youth, improved their cultural self-esteem, enabled them to reclaim elements of their history and self-worth, and developed in them a sense of ownership and responsibility for their own knowledge. It has given them civic courage to raise their voice against exploitation, nepotism, and corruption and it has motivated them to connect with the world beyond their local region. Finally, it has enhanced their professional development capabilities. This study traces a model of epistemic empowerment of indigenous youth across eight categories: (i) fostering critical imagination and analytical skills, (ii) strengthening connections with local culture, (iii) mastering professional skills, (iv) initiating praxis, (v) breaking the culture of silence, (vi) embracing ethically and socially responsible knowledge, (vii) encountering resistance in applying emancipatory ideas, and (viii) becoming "universal." Case studies, particularly single case studies, are not generalizable in any sense to different contexts and time. However, the IDSP experience chronicled in this study through the eyes of direct stakeholders offers potential lessons for those who find themselves similarly situated in potentially comparable circumstances.


A basic problem with processing biomass in the woods is that the machinery must be matched to the final product. If a logging business owner invests in a machine to produce a specific type of biomass product for a limited market, the opportunity for that logging business owner to diversify products to take advantage of market opportunities may also be limited. When woody biomass material is densified into a composite log, the material preserves some of its physical characteristics while controlling transportation costs. Although different types of bundlers and balers are being investigated in the southern states, the John Deere Slash Bundler is one of the few that is commercially available. Studies performed on this machine in 2003 and 2008 resulted in production and cost data for a variety of sites and applications. This project furthers that research by mounting the bundler onto a motorized trailer rather than a forwarder. Because southern logging operations often pile logging residues at the deck, the bundler does not need to be self-propelled for typical logging contractors in the region. This paper describes the equipment modifications and discusses the advantages of this new equipment type.


Introduction: Vertigo is a common complaint which can lead to a broad spectrum of diagnoses from benign to mortal etiologies. The diagnosis of vertigo can be challenging for Emergency Department (ED) specialists. Aim of the study is to guide clinicians in regard to the most commonly used screening techniques for differential diagnoses.
Methods: The study was conducted by evaluating the Cranial Computerized Tomography (CCT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) results of patients who were referred and admitted to an Emergency Department (ED) with complaints of vertigo. In total, 63 patients matching these criteria were included in this study. The age, sex, chief complaint, accompanying disease, physical examination findings, cranial computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging results and admission diagnosis data were recorded for each patient. The correct diagnosis ratio of cranial computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were compared.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 65.1 ± 13.4 years. Regarding the last diagnosis of the patients, the most common was noted as cerebrovascular disease with a rate of 61.9%. The correct diagnosis rates were 31.9% and 82.5% for cranial computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging respectively. When cranial computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings were evaluated together, the rate of correct diagnosis was not statistically different from magnetic resonance imaging results (82.5%). Thus, it was found that cranial computerized tomography didn't contribute to the results.
Conclusion: According to our findings, magnetic resonance imaging provided better results than cranial computerized tomography for evaluation of patients with vertigo. In addition, clinical detection of patients with the risk of central vertigo, following the planning of magnetic resonance imaging directly, would be useful for clinicians.


The poor acoustic comfort of usual commercial products is often perceived as annoying. Today, more and more companies have realized that sound can be an important component of product attributes and image. They are interested in having acoustic guidelines for enhancing their products sound quality. The objective of this research is to quantify the objective and subjective noise production of computer keyboards, and hence to translate the pleasantness in an objective way. Our strategy consists in developing both benchmarks and listening tests to ensure that sound design process never looses sight of the end-users expectations. The presented work proposes an original methodology to define what keystroke sound matches the image of a pleasant keyboard. We also approach what acoustic characteristics have a significant influence on the global appreciation of keystroke sounds. Good results have been obtained showing a strong correlation between perceptive cues and metrics.


ABSTRACT CD8+ T cells are critical for the clearance of acute polyomavirus infection and the prevention of polyomavirus-induced tumors, but the antigen-presenting cell(s) involved in generating polyomavirus-specific CD8+ T cells have not been defined. We investigated whether dendritic cells and macrophages are permissive for polyomavirus infection and examined their potential for inducing antiviral CD8+ T cells. Although dendritic cells and macrophages both supported productive polyomavirus infection, dendritic cells were markedly more efficient at presenting the immunodominant viral epitope to CD8+ T cells. Additionally, infected dendritic cells, but not infected macrophages, primed anti-polyomavirus CD8+ T cells in vivo. Treatment with Flt3 ligand, a hematopoietic growth factor that dramatically expands the number of dendritic cells, markedly enhanced the magnitude of virus-specific CD8+ T-cell responses during acute infection and the pool of memory anti-polyomavirus CD8+ T cells. These findings suggest that virus-infected dendritic cells induce polyomavirus-specific CD8+ T cells in vivo and raise the potential for their use as cellular adjuvants to promote CD8+ T cell surveillance against polyomavirus-induced tumors.


In clear and elegant prose, Music of the Common Tongue, first published in 1987, argues that by any reasonable reckoning of the function of music in human life the African American tradition, that which stems from the collision between African and European ways of doing music which occurred in the Americas and the Caribbean during and after slavery, is the major western music of the twentieth century. In showing why this is so, the author presents not only an account of African American music from its origins but also a more general consideration of the nature of the music act and of its function in human life. The two streams of discussion occupy alternate chapters so that each casts light on the other. The author offers also an answer to what the Musical Times called the "seldom posed though glaringly obtrusive" question: "why is it that the music of an alienated, oppressed, often persecuted black minority should have made so powerful an impact on the entire industrialized world, whatever the color of its skin or economic status?"


These have been hard times for the Transatlantic alliance. One has come to expect rough patches in Franco-American relations, but the policies of the second Bush Presidency, clashing with Chancellor Schroder's anti-war reelection campaign in 2002, have seemingly plunged relations between the United States and Germany, stalwart Cold War allies, into crisis as well. For some, the "grosser Teich" ("big pond," as many Germans were once fond of referring to the Atlantic Ocean) is looking more oceanic by the day. No one has insisted upon the widening gulf as clamorously as Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But this impression is wrong for at least two reasons. First, and most significantly, because it depends upon the gulf that has opened up between the U.S. and Germany on a number of policy issues, which are subject to shifts in the popular mood, while neglecting more fundamental commonalities. Second, this conclusion relies upon a willful blindness to the comparative sample that gives it force. As to the first critique, Kagan and many other commentators seem persuaded that divergence and disagreement over policy and in popular culture are adequate measures of the rot that has supposedly gotten into the Transatlantic alliance. Thus, the death penalty, gun ownership and social welfare come in for consideration. So, too, does the popularity of Michael Moore in Europe. Of course, the Iraq war is the policy agenda dejour that serves as the definitive diagnostic device leading to the conclusion that the United States and Germany are drifting apart. With respect to the second critique, in remarking upon the dramatic differences between the United States and Europe, Transatlantic pessimists do not dwell on the determinative character of their self-selected comparative sample. But the dissimilarities between the United States and Europe fade from nearly any other comparative perspective. What if, for example, the focus shifted away from distinctions within the Transatlantic alliance (including the United States and Germany) to a consideration of the distinctions between the Transatlantic alliance and (perhaps more appropriate for today's geopolitical climate) the Arab world? Human stem cell research, the focus of the present proceedings, simply adds grist to this mill. Taking the United States and Germany, one finds totally dichotomous policies. The United States liberally permits the practice and only imposes restrictions on the availability of federal funds for projects involving human stem cell research.' Germany, on the other hand, which only recently softened its comprehensive ban on the practice, still tightly regulates the limited exception to that ban. Accepting the respective policies on this issue as exceptionally indicative of the state of the Transatlantic alliance, it would seem to be difficult to dispute that, in considering the United States and Germany today, we are talking about countries as different as "Mars and Venus." I beg to differ. Underlying the countries' diametrical approaches toward human stem cell research is a shared brand of liberal constitutionalism that transcends matters of malleable policy. I believe that an examination of this fundamental common ground is a better test of the firmness of the foundations of Transatlanticism. Ironically, Kagan seems to agree: "after all, it is more than a cliche that the United States and Europe share a set of common Western beliefs. Their aspirations for humanity are much the same, even if their vast disparity of power has now put them in very different places." In this paper, I argue that the tensions plaguing the Transatlantic alliance, and the intensity of the alarm they have triggered, are overblown. Washington and Berlin may not see exactly eye-to-eye these days, but Americans and Germans occupy decidedly the same world. This conclusion rests on my examination of a shared Transatlantic constitutionalism, as exemplified by probable United States and German constitutional responses to human stem cell research. A constitutional analysis of this issue does not support the conclusion that "the United States and Europe are fundamentally different today." To the contrary, it reveals that, even on an issue for which they reach such conflicting conclusions, the United States and Germany have the most important things in common.


INTRODUCTION It is widely recognized that feed represents a major component of the total cost of pork production. Therefore, feed intake (FI) and efficiency of lean growth are important components of the swine breeding objective and selection toward that objective may be enhanced by measurement of FI on individual pigs. In the past, the most common method to record FI was to pen pigs individually. This method had several drawbacks: it does not reflect the group housing condition commonly found in production units, genotype by environmental interaction may affect the selection of superior genotypes, and it is labor intensive and expensive. The advent of electronic feeders allows for accurate measurement of individual feed intake, body weight and feeding patterns of group-housed pigs. If modeling the trajectory of daily feed intake (DFI) of individuals is of interest, repeated measurement analyses using covariance functions, random regression models or character process models using mixed model methodology may be most appropriate and practical. This approach requires that pigs be on a continuous feeding regime, which may not be feasible due to limited test capacity. However, if the purpose is to measure feed efficiency traits for the entire performance test period, alternating continuous and conventional group feeding can be considered in order to make optimal use of the number of feeders available. Eissen et al. (1999), using complete data (feed intake records for each test day) and a first-order degree polynomial to estimate average daily feed intake (ADFI), concluded that biweekly deletions of DFI records did not greatly affect the accuracy of estimation. Schulze et al. (2001), using records from pigs under either periodic or continuous electronic feeding, showed that biweekly periodic feeding underestimated DFI. In their study, the first period on test was always in the electronic feeder, which would not be possible in an all-in-all-out system. Another factor to be considered is how the data quantity and quality might affect the selection strategy chosen, since collecting high quality electronic FI data on a large number of animals is not a trivial task (Buttram, 2001). The objectives of the present study were to estimate the effects of biweekly alternating feeding on electronic and conventional feeders on data quality, accuracy of ADFI, and the relationship of ADFI with average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR), with particular application to an allin, all-out testing system. The feeding strategies compared were switch feeding or biweekly switch from electronic to conventional feeders (S) and continuous feeding on electronic feeders (N).


Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks (REDD+) is gaining traction in Cameroon. However, given the deep-rooted trans-sectoral drivers of forest loss, enforcing REDD+ policies will require major policy change and reform both within and beyond the forestry sector. In this paper, we view the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon within a political economy framework and conduct policy network analysis to explore the factors that will enable or hinder efforts to implement the broad policy change required to realize REDD+. As the REDD+ context is shaped by the history of Cameroon's forestry sector, we draw lessons for REDD+ from the forestry law reform undertaken in 1994. We focus our analysis on three factors considered necessary for REDD+ success: (i) autonomy of the nation state from interests behind deforestation and forest degradation, (ii) national ownership over reform processes, and (iii) inclusiveness of policy processes. We find that the REDD+ policy process in Cameroon is repeating the weaknesses of the earlier forestry law reform, as seen in the minimal ownership of REDD+ by national actor groups and low inclusiveness among domestic actors at both national and local levels, as well as the absence of a national coalition for REDD+. Furthermore, politics and private agendas are compromising state agencies' autonomy in making decisions about forest resources. Our findings suggest that responses to these weaknesses, as well as to inconsistencies between sectoral policies and to competition over forest resources, will determine whether REDD+ can induce change within and beyond Cameroon's forestry sector.


Abstract. We present three-dimensional (3-D) models that describe the present-day thermal and rheological state of the lithosphere of the greater Kenya rift region aiming at a better understanding of the rift evolution, with a particular focus on plume–lithosphere interactions. The key methodology applied is the 3-D integration of diverse geological and geophysical observations using gravity modelling. Accordingly, the resulting lithospheric-scale 3-D density model is consistent with (i) reviewed descriptions of lithological variations in the sedimentary and volcanic cover, (ii) known trends in crust and mantle seismic velocities as revealed by seismic and seismological data and (iii) the observed gravity field. This data-based model is the first to image a 3-D density configuration of the crystalline crust for the entire region of Kenya and northern Tanzania. An upper and a basal crustal layer are differentiated, each composed of several domains of different average densities. We interpret these domains to trace back to the Precambrian terrane amalgamation associated with the East African Orogeny and to magmatic processes during Mesozoic and Cenozoic rifting phases. In combination with seismic velocities, the densities of these crustal domains indicate compositional differences. The derived lithological trends have been used to parameterise steady-state thermal and rheological models. These models indicate that crustal and mantle temperatures decrease from the Kenya rift in the west to eastern Kenya, while the integrated strength of the lithosphere increases. Thereby, the detailed strength configuration appears strongly controlled by the complex inherited crustal structure, which may have been decisive for the onset, localisation and propagation of rifting.


Let $P$ and $Q$ be finite sets of points in the plane. In this note we consider the largest cardinality of a subset of the Minkowski sum $S\subseteq P \oplus Q$ which consist of convexly independent points. We show that, if $|P| = m$ and $|Q| = n$ then $|S| = O(m^{2/3} n^{2/3} + m + n)$.


This paper introduces modern readers to the basic understanding of the banking system that was held by academics and practitioners in the early years of the 20th century – that is, to traditional banking theory. This theory is completely inconsistent with the theoretic framework that views banks as financial intermediaries that receive deposits and invest those deposits in assets. Thus, this paper first sets forth in detail the basic elements of traditional banking theory and then relates those elements to the modern network effects literature. From this a bank-centered view of the money market is derived: all demand and short-term bank liabilities, including contingent liabilities, are potential money and near-money assets, and any non-bank liabilities that have monetary properties will derive them from their relationship with the banking system. This framework is then used to evaluate modern money markets, and this paper finds that indeed the so-called market-based money market in fact functions as a means of reallocating the bank liabilities held (indirectly) by the public from deposits to wholesale and contingent bank liabilities. This paper proposes that bank liability-based measures of the money supply be developed, and that regulators recognize that contingent bank liabilities often function as a substitute for deposits and should be regulated similarly.


Socio-ecological models combine environmental and social factors to explain the formation of animal groups. In anurans, tadpole aggregations have been reported in numerous species, but the factors driving this behaviour remain unclear. We conducted controlled choice experiments in the lab to determine whether green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) tadpoles are directly attracted to conspecifics (social factors) in the absence of environmental cues. Using repeated measures, we found that individual tadpoles strongly preferred associating with conspecifics compared to being alone. Furthermore, this preference was body size dependent, and associating tadpoles were significantly smaller than non-associating tadpoles. We suggest that small tadpoles are more vulnerable to predation and therefore more likely to form aggregations as an anti-predator behaviour. We demonstrate that tadpoles present an ideal model system for investigating how social and ecological factors influence group formation in vertebrates.


We analyze the localized setting of learning kernels also known as localized multiple kernel learning. This problem has been addressed in the past using rather heuristic approaches based on approximately optimizing non-convex problem formulations, of which up to now no theoretical learning bounds are known. In this paper, we show generalization error bounds for learning localized kernel classes where the localities are coupled using graph-based regularization. We propose a novel learning localized kernels algorithm based on this hypothesis class that is formulated as a convex optimization problem using a pre-obtained cluster structure of the data. We derive dual representations using Fenchel conjugation theory, based on which we give a simple yet efficient wrapper-based optimization algorithm. We apply the method to problems involving multiple heterogeneous data sources, taken from domains of computational biology and computer vision. The results show that the proposed convex approach to learning localized kernels can achieve higher prediction accuracies than its global and non-convex local counterparts.


This paper considers the factors that determine Indonesian bank risk both before and after the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC). In the pre-AFC period, bank capital holdings are positively associated with bank revenue risk, which is attributed to a combination of regulatory laxity as well as laxity of enforcement. In the post-AFC period, capital is found to reduce bank risk in a non-linear manner. Franchise value is associated with lower bank risk, but in a non-linear manner; low levels of franchise value are associated with increased bank risk, while higher levels of franchise value result in lower bank risk. It is also concluded the low-to-medium levels of bank loan growth are associated with lower bank risk; however, high levels of loan growth are risk increasing. These results point to the importance of enforcement of regulatory oversight in reducing bank risk.


Society's growing dependence on computers and information technologies has been matched by an escalation of the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks committed by criminals operating from the Darknet. As a result, security researchers have taken an interest in scrutinizing the Darknet and other underground web communities to develop a better understanding of cybercriminals and emerging threats. However, many scholars lack the capability or expertise to operationalize Darknet research and are thus unable to contribute to this increasingly impactful body of literature. This article introduces a framework for guiding such research, called Darknet Identification, Collection, Evaluation, with Ethics (DICE-E). The DICE-E framework provides a focused reference point and detailed guidelines for scholars wishing to become active in the Darknet research stream. Four steps to conducting Darknet forum research are outlined: (1) identification of Darknet data sources, (2) data collection strategies, (3) evaluation of Darknet data, and (4) ethical concerns related to Darknet research. To illustrate how DICE-E can be utilized, an example empirical study is reported. This exemplar illustrates how DICE-E can guide scholars through key decision points when attempting to incorporate the Darknet within their research.


Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the value of a new gap detection procedure called Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) for assessment of temporal resolution in a clinical population. Design: The test consists of 0 to 3 silent intervals ranging from 2 to 20 msec embedded in 6-sec segments of white noise. The location, number, and duration of the gaps per noise segment vary throughout the test for a total of 60 gaps presented in each of four lists. The GIN procedure was administered to 50 normal-hearing listeners (group I) and 18 subjects with confirmed neurological involvement of the central auditory nervous system (group II). Results: Results showed mean approximated gap detection thresholds of 4.8 msec for the left ear and 4.9 msec for the right ear for group I. In comparison, results for group II demonstrated a statistically significant increase in gap detection thresholds, with approximated thresholds of 7.8 msec and 8.5 msec being noted for the left and right ears, respectively. Significant mean differences were also observed in the overall performance scores (i.e., the identification of the presence of the gaps within the noise segments) of the two groups of subjects. Finally, psychometric functions, although similar for short and long duration gaps, were highly different for gaps in the 4- to 10-msec range for the two groups. Conclusions: A variety of psychoacoustic procedures are available to assess temporal resolution; however, the clinical use of these procedures is minimal at best. Results of the present study show that the GIN test holds promise as a clinically useful tool in the assessment of temporal resolution in the clinical arena.


A newborn separated from his mother at birth and relinquished for adoption is susceptible to a primal wounding (Verrier 1993). This construct describes the deep psychic scarring and the lasting emotional impact caused in adoption by the sudden severing of the inutero bond with one's biological mother. The results of the trauma are believed to be substantial and to carry major long-term developmental effects yet the nature of those implications remains poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to address the relationship between the degree of prenatal attachment felt by the birthmother during her pregnancy, and the subsequent emotional and mental development/wellbeing of the adopted individual.


The interest in animal welfare and welfare-friendly food products has been increasing in Europe over the last 10 years. The media, highlighting traditional farming methods and food scares such as those related to salmonella, bovine spongiform encephalopathy/variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (BSE) and avian influenza, have brought the methods of animal farming to public attention. Concerns about farm animal welfare are reflected in the increase in the number of vegetarians and vegans and an increase in consumers wishing to purchase food which is more animal welfare-friendly. This paper considers consumers' attitudes to animal welfare and to marketing practices, such as product labelling, welfare grading systems and food assurance marks using comparative data collected in a survey of around 1500 consumers in each of Great Britain, Italy and Sweden as part of the EU-funded Welfare Quality research project. The findings suggest a need for the provision of improved consumer information on the welfare provenance of food using appropriate product labelling and other methods.


Through this paper the author discusses the phenomenon of excessive Government borrowing and the factors that lead Governments to be so dependent on financial markets. It is argued that the combined effect of unregulated financial intermediaries, hedge funds and Credit Rating Agencies in managing investment risk and the expanded role of banks in investment and private banking as well as their own involvement in financial derivatives has led towards a situation of systematic gross misallocation of capital whereby money is channelled to Governments and other unproductive uses outside the real productive economy. To break this vicious circle it is necessary to check and constrain Government borrowing, confine the role of banks to that of traditional savings and loans and control and regulate financial derivatives and the activities of financial intermediaries and hedge funds.


One critical function that news narratives perform is orienting action: Providing a selective, coherent account of events, they suggest what needs to be done, coordinating and motivating public agendas. The importance of news narratives' agendas for action has been particularly salient in the coverage of conflict 1 (Wolfsfeld 1997, Robinson et al. 2010): Conflict spurns heated debates wherein advocated courses of action collide, while audiences rely heavily on various media to comprehend ongoing events. Keeping track of the cacophony of agendas advanced in print and online newspapers and magazines, social media, and other public discourse confronts news readers, journalists, decision makers, and scholars alike with a major challenge. Computer assisted analyses have the potential to help comprehending conflict news, distilling agendas for action and possibly predicting the mobilization of consensus and collective action (Snow and Benford 1988). This paper presents the INFOCORE consortium's ongoing efforts at automatically capturing agendas in conflict discourse, employing NLP technology and statistical analysis. We demonstrate the utility and potential of our approach using coverage of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis in 2013.


Religion/spirituality is a salient facet of identity for many college students, yet addressing issues related to spirituality/religion is contentious in many higher education institutions. Prior research has shown that various other facets of identity, including race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, affect a student's perception of campus climate, but religious/spiritual identity has not been examined in the same manner. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, this study empirically tests the addition of religion/spirituality to the campus climate theory developed by Hurtado et al. (1999). Data came from the 2010 College Senior Survey administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Results indicate that religious and spiritual identity have significant direct effects on the perception and other aspects of campus climate. Future research is needed to extend the understanding between religious and spiritual identity and the perception of campus climate.


This paper describes critical implementation issues that must be addressed to develop a fully automatic inliner. These issues are: integration into a compiler, program representation, hazard prevention, expansion sequence control, and program modification. An automatic inter‐file inliner that uses profile information has been implemented and integrated into an optimizing C compiler. The experimental results show that this inliner achieves significant speedups for production C programs.