In a previous study (Tsukui et al., Cancer Res., 56: 3967-3974, 1996), we observed an inverse association between degree of cervical neoplasia and interleukin (IL) 2 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 E6 and E7 peptides in vitro. This suggested that a Th1-mediated cellular immune response might be important in host immunological control of HPV infection and that a lack of such a response might predispose to progression of cervical disease. To follow up on these findings, we have conducted a cross-sectional study of women with various degrees of cervical neoplasia to investigate the association between overall immune activation and cervical disease. A total of 235 women were recruited into our study; 120 of these women were participants in our previous study in which IL-2 production in response to HPV-16-specific peptides was measured. The study population included 34 women with invasive cancer, 62 women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs), and 105 women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs). In addition, 34 cytologically normal women with no past history of squamous intraepithelial lesions despite confirmed HPV-16 infection in the 5 years preceding the study were selected as controls. As our measure of overall immune activation, serum samples obtained from study participants were tested for soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) level using an ELISA method. The mean sIL-2R levels were found to increase with increasing disease severity (Ptrend = 0.0002). Among cytologically normal, HPV-exposed women, the mean receptor level in serum was 465.8 units/ml compared to 467.6 units/ml among LSIL subjects, 514.9 units/ml among HSIL subjects, and 695.5 units/ml among women with invasive cervical cancer. Similarly, the proportion of women with elevated sIL-2R levels (defined as > or = 450 units/ml) increased with increasing disease severity from 35.2% among normal study subjects to 70.6% among cancer patients (Ptrend = 0.003). Among the subgroup of subjects for whom in vitro IL-2 production in response to HPV-16-specific peptides was measured, we examined the association between in vitro IL-2 production and serum levels of sIL-2R. sIL-2R levels were higher, on average, among those women who were positive in our IL-2 production assay compared to those who were negative, but the differences did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). We also observed a trend of increasing sIL-2R level with increasing disease severity both in women who were positive and in women who were negative for our IL-2 production assay, but the trend was only significant among those who were negative for IL-2 production (Ptrend = 0.01). Results from our studies suggest that although the immune system of women with cervical neoplasia is nonspecifically activated as disease severity increases, the ability of those women with HSILs or cancer to mount a Th1-mediated immune response to HPV peptides appears to decrease compared to women with LSILs or normal women infected with HPV. Increased overall activation along with decreased Th1 immune response among women with increasing cervical disease severity might be explained by an increased Th2-mediated immune response, a response that we hypothesize is ineffective in controlling the viral infection and its early cytological manifestations. Future studies should directly assess Th2-mediated responses to confirm this hypothesis. Also, future efforts should be aimed at determining whether the associations observed are causally related to disease progression or an effect of the disease.


Despite egalitarian aims, considerable social and ethnic segregation existed in countries with central planning. To date, however, research on residential segregation in the former state socialist countries of east central Europe and the former Soviet Union has been limited and has focused mainly on major metropolitan or capital-city areas and on social segregation. The aim of this study is to analyse ethnic post-Soviet segregation in housing in the medium-sized industrial city of Ust'-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. The paper uses data from the sample survey Cities of the Ruduyi Altay, and linear and logistic regression to analyse segregation by dwelling type, housing size and facilities between Kazakhs, Russians and other ethnic groups. The study reveals that the housing conditions of Kazakhs are considerably worse than those of both Russians and other ethnic groups.


The essay "The art of learning and art in learning; difference between informative and integral learning" makes a difference between the level of representations and the dimension of structural possibilities. Informative learning, he claims, moves on the level of representations, whereas integral learning focuses on those structures and drives that shape the representations; the dimension of structural possibilities precedes the level of representations and structures it. Traditionally teaching and learning have made use of informative learning or, to use Freirer's words, the banking education. The integral learning deals with the structural capacities of the mind, as they come to expression in the shaping of one's world-view. Art, it is argued, expresses the first-forms of the mind-world or the self-world interaction; art is essential to learning.


The Australian Government requires Higher Education Institutions to demonstrate the work-readiness of graduates. Consequently, Work Integrated Learning (WIL) has been adopted to enhance the workplace skills and professional networks of students to improve graduate employability. While WIL can take many forms, experiences located in workplaces (placements, internships) have been popular. The introduction of the Australian Government's Fair Work Act 2009 required that placements be tightly embedded within curriculum thereby presenting the challenge of how to enable WIL via placements and theoretical learning in already compact study programs. As a response, we present the pragmatic use of online theoretical instruction and online WIL assessment within an undergraduate core Capstone business subject, as an enabler of the WIL placement. We examine learner perspectives on, and grade outcomes from, undertaking online theoretical instruction concurrent with WIL placements to discuss the key WIL and online learning design implications for this cohort of learners. Our findings are increasingly pertinent given the 2017 Australian Government Higher Education Reform package incentivising the expansion of WIL into all degrees.


Background: Sleep plays an important role in health. Reduced levels of attention, learning and memory are of adverse outcomes of sleep disorders in students.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association of sleep disturbances with watching TV and satellite and playing video games in 14-17 years old high school students of Qazvin.
Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in 653 high school students (14-17 years old) in Qazvin that were selected by multistage cluster random sampling method (2013-2014). Data were collected through Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) and BEARS questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, T-test, ANOVA and logistic regression analysis.
Findings: From 653 students, 392 (60%) were female. The mean age was 15.73±0.99 years. The most prevalent sleep disturbances were waking up at night (74.4%), daytime sleepiness (69.8%), napping after school (66.6%), and nightmare (51.1%), respectively. Daytime sleepiness, nightmares, sleep after waking up, falling asleep in school, and nap after school time had significant association with watching satellite.
Conclusion: With regards to the results, prevalence of sleep disorders was high in high school students of Qazvin and sleep disturbances were associated with duration of watching satellite.


This multiple case study results from an ethnographic immersion in a local public high school, focusing on English language learners (ELLs) in content area classrooms. The primary goals were to 1) explore the language and literacy practices of ELLs within this setting, 2) gain an understanding of the complexity and multiplicity of the learners' schooling experiences, and 3) discuss implications pertaining to practice and research. Four focal students, each from a different country and each with different home or first languages, are discussed to provide a nuanced perspective of immigrant and refugee students. Importantly, the theoretical framework of "hyphenated reality" and interlanguage contributed to uncovering the ELLs' subterranean layers. The study was informed by qualitative research methodologies, including critical ethnography. Data collection namely included field observations in classrooms, interviews with students and teachers, and student work. Within-case and cross-case analysis was conducted through a general inductive analysis approach. Major findings include the need to view ELLs as theory constructors, who form sophisticated notions regarding second language acquisition and the linguistic features of the English language, given their unique position as learners of another language and their heightened metalinguistic awareness. ELLs also theorize schooling and act as rational agents within the structure of school. They enter school with a logical agenda and, according to their observations and experiences, adjust themselves and devise strategies for performing school. Finally, the concept of the micro-macro dialectic grew empirically from this study, thereby building upon existing scholarship. The micro-macro dialectic calls for intentionally juxtaposing a larger, contextual layer to understanding ELLs, such that their personal narratives become enriched by "official" facts and vice versa. This framework also complicates dichotomies that have been established to categorize students, academic fields, and pedagogical ideologies, such as the notion of ELLs compared to bilingual/multilingual learners. These supposedly irreconcilable differences exist in the academy and in theory but do not hold up in the hyphenated experiences of learners. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor H. Gerald Campano This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1103


ABSTRACT The morphological diversity of the Neotropical Cearacesaini Koçak & Kemal, 2010 (Grylloidea, Gryllidae, Hapithinae) is still poorly attested as it is known by only two genera very different in shape and morphology. A new genus and two new species are described: Najtaecesa aratayensis n. gen., n. sp., the type species of Najtaecesa n. gen., from French Guiana, and N. loretensis n. gen., n. sp. from Eastern Peru. Najtaecesa n. gen. is characterized by its very small size, trigonidiine-like body shape, and male genitalia.


Dissolved salts (salinity) adversely affect numerous urban and agricultural users of Colorado River water in California and Arizona. Congress in 1974 authorized a major salinity control program. Studies of general economic benefits from salinity abatement and the cost per unit of salinity reduction expected from specific proposed projects have been developed by the responsible federal agencies, but no project-by-project evaluation has been published. We find a conceptual basis for a substantial downward revision of prospective economic benefits of salinity abatement. Revised benefits are compared with estimated costs, and only for five of the nineteen projects do economic benefits appear to exceed costs.


A great deal of studies on the environmental fate and transport of legacy explosives such as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazoctane (HMX) has been conducted. However, less is known about the behaviour of Insensitive High Explosive (IHE) constituents being brought into military service such as 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) and 5-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-3-one (NTO) in soil and water environmental compartments. Typically fate and transport of explosives are often performed under controlled laboratory conditions. However, experimental data are often limited to a particular soil type under specific climatic conditions (i.e. pH, soil saturation, temperature), which are not always representative of genuine environments. For example, several studies have addressed the dissolution mechanisms of energetic compounds on soil surfaces; many, however, have addressed dissolution of individual IHE without considering formulations with multiple constituents. Such results may have limited applicability for dissolution of residues on soils at impact zones or firing ranges because IHE often contain mixtures of energetic materials e.g. DNAN, RDX, and NTO, as well as small quantities of other chemicals such as stabilisers, which may alter physico-chemical properties compared to the pure compound. Therefore, computational modelling software is increasingly being used as an additional tool to simulate real scenarios. However, models are limited by the quality of the empirical data used to predict the temporal and spatial behaviour e.g. rate of transport of IHE to an aquifer. This is a particular problem for the prediction of the behaviour of IHE in the environment where key experimental data has not been obtained for a wide variety of soils and environments, and whose compounds are frequently investigated in isolation even though they are used in combination in IHE formulations. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review and assess two predictive models including GoldSim Simulation Software and Hydrus-1D for a representative range of soil-IHE combinations, and to develop a standardised method for the prediction of the behaviour of IHE in the environment. To date the GoldSim simulations have been compared to soil columns under controlled laboratory conditions to estimate the accuracy of the model developed. GoldSim was initially chosen due to its flexibility, which enabled the use of experimentally determined empirical data for specific soil types and IHE constituents. Initial comparisons were undertaken with DNAN and a simple quartz sand medium to determine which empirical data gave the most accurate predictions e.g. soil adsorption coefficient, degradation rates and solubility. The comparisons will be extended to include mixtures of IHE constituents in a variety of soil types e.g. sandy, loamy, and silty under various climatic conditions.


Efficient methods for profiling proteins integral to the plasma membrane are highly desirable for the identification of overexpressed proteins in disease cells. Such methods will aid in both understanding basic biological processes and discovering protein targets for the design of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Avoiding contamination by subcellular organelles and cytosolic proteins is crucial to the successful proteomic analysis of integral plasma membrane proteins. Here we report a biotin-directed affinity purification (BDAP) method for the preparation of integral plasma membrane proteins, which involves (1) biotinylation of cell surface membrane proteins in viable cells, (2) affinity enrichment using streptavidin beads, and (3) depletion of plasma membrane-associated cytosolic proteins by harsh washes with high-salt and high-pH buffers. The integral plasma membrane proteins are then extracted and subjected to SDS-PAGE separation and HPLC/MS/MS for protein identification. We used the BDAP method to prepare integral plasma membrane proteins from a human lung cancer cell line. Western blotting analysis showed that the preparation was almost completely devoid of actin, a major cytosolic protein. Nano-HPLC/MS/MS analysis of only 30 microg of protein extracted from the affinity-enriched integral plasma membrane preparation led to the identification of 898 unique proteins, of which 781 were annotated with regard to their plasma membrane localization. Among the annotated proteins, at least 526 (67.3%) were integral plasma membrane proteins. Notable among them were 62 prenylated proteins and 45 Ras family proteins. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive proteomic analysis of integral plasma membrane proteins in mammalian cells to date. Given the importance of integral membrane proteins for drug design, the described approach will expedite the characterization of plasma membrane subproteomes and the discovery of plasma membrane protein drug targets.


In this paper, we propose an expert system for daylighting in architecture which is used to guide a goal-oriented, user-interactive design process. This system is supported by a knowledge-base which has been populated using a set of previously completed simulations using the Design of Experiments methodology. The knowledge-base contains information regarding the effects of a variety of design conditions on resultant daylighting performance. Eighty different design conditions are considered, encompassing two different values of ten design variables on four facades. Daylighting effects are considered for three times of day, for three seasons, and for five zones. The use of the knowledge-base as both a stand-alone resource and as a component of the expert system is considered. Within the expert system, the knowledge-base provides customized information based on user inputs and guides an iterative process which improves daylighting performance of the user's original design.


Motivation The highly portable Oxford Nanopore MinlON sequencer has enabled new applications of genome sequencing directly in the field. However, the MinlON currently relies on a cloud computing platform, Metrichor (metrichor.com), for translating locally generated sequencing data into basecalls. Results To allow offline and private analysis of MinlON data, we created Nanocall. Nanocall is the first freely-available, open-source basecaller for Oxford Nanopore sequencing data and does not require an internet connection. On two E.coli and two human samples, with natural as well as PCR-amplified DNA, Nanocall reads have ~68% identity, directly comparable to Metrichor "1D" data. Further, Nanocall is efficient, processing ~500Kbp of sequence per core hour, and fully parallelized. Using 8 cores, Nanocall could basecall a MinlON sequencing run in real time. Metrichor provides the ability to integrate the "1D" sequencing of template and complement strands of a single DNA molecule, and create a "2D" read. Nanocall does not currently integrate this technology, and addition of this capability will be an important future development. In summary, Nanocall is the first open-source, freely available, off-line basecaller for Oxford Nanopore sequencing data. Availability Nanocall is available at github.com/mateidavid/nanocall, released under the MIT license. Contact matei.david at oicr.on.ca


In Austria, 12% of all students in higher education report a disability that, at least somewhat, limits their study activities. As they still face many barriers throughout their studies, support services play a key part in their academic success. However, data from the Austrian Student Social Survey demonstrate that every second student with a disability is reluctant to contact fellow students, lecturers, or institutional support in case of study-related difficulties. One in four students with disabilities does not seek any assistance because of stigmatisation fear. With respect to these tendencies, our article examines factors that promote or inhibit the reluctance of students with disabilities to seek support due to fear of stigmatisation. For this purpose, we construct a binary indicator of stigma fear, which encompasses items concerning social isolation or drawbacks to academic opportunities, inhibitions about contacting people or disclosing one's disability. In a regression model, we identify influential factors such as noticeability of disability and degree of study-related limitations as well as social factors like the feeling of anonymity and sense of belonging.


Prochlorococcus is the most abundant phytoplankter throughout the photic zone in stratified marine waters and experiences distinct gradients of light and nitrogen nutrition. Physiologically and genetically distinct Prochlorococcus ecotypes partition the water column: high‐B/A (low‐light adapted) ecotypes are generally restricted to the deep euphotic zone near or at the nitracline. Low‐B/A (high‐light adapted) ecotypes predominate in, but are not limited to, NO3-‐depleted surface waters, where they outnumber coexisting Synechococcus populations. The niche partitioning by different Prochlorococcus ecotypes begs the question of whether they also differ in their nitrogen (N) utilization physiology, especially with respect to NO3- utilization. To explore this possibility, we studied the capabilities of different Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus strains to grow on a variety of N sources. We found that all the isolates grew well on NH4+ and all were capable of urea utilization, occasionally at a lower growth rate. None of the Prochlorococcus isolates were able to grow with NO3-. Four high‐B/A Prochlorococcus isolates grew on NO3-, but all others did not. Whole genome analysis of the low‐B/A Prochlorococcus MED4 revealed that the genes required for NO uptake and reduction were absent. The genome of the high‐B/A Prochlorococcus MIT 9313 also lacked the NO3- utilization genes but has homologs of genes required for NO3- utilization consistent with its physiology and ecology. Thus, the utilization of different N sources in the marine environment is partitioned among closely related ecotypes, each with adaptations optimized for the environment where these sources are available.


This Article argues that one aspect of the power to regulate "Commerce with foreign Nations … and with the Indian Tribes" is broader than the power over "Commerce … among the several States." If "Tribes" and "Nations" consist of people, but "States" of territory, then "Commerce … among the several States" must cross state lines, even though small, local transactions between Americans and non-citizens are commerce "with foreign Nations" or "with the Indian tribes."

Why think that? There is considerable evidence that the tribal commerce power replaces "trade … with the Indians" in the Articles of Confederation, but early direct definitions of the other two commerce powers are surprisingly rare. Antifederalists complained at length that the power to tax for the general welfare would make the federal government all-powerful, but not so about the commerce power which largely did the job after 1937. In January 1788, Federal Farmer 11 described the foreign commerce power as "trade and commerce between our citizens and foreigners." Elbridge Gerry restated it in 1790 as "trade with foreigners." Jefferson and Randolph's 1791 bank objections defined foreign and tribal commerce as commerce with non-citizens. Martens's 1788 international-law treatise explained "commerce … with foreign nations" as including "power over the foreigners living in its territories." The 20-year slave-trade protection presupposes broad foreign commerce power, but narrow interstate commerce power: Congress may control "migration," but not domestic slavery or other labor conditions. The earliest attacks on federal power over non-citizens' commerce discussing the 1794 Jay Treaty and 1798 Alien Act were internally inconsistent. Despite lots of its own inconsistency, the Supreme Court adopted this view in 1866 in United States v. Holliday.

Why care? Broad foreign and tribal commerce powers undermine the late-nineteenth-century motivation for unenumerated "plenary" powers over foreign affairs or tribes; a limited interstate commerce power allows "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution" to refer to something. The tribal commerce power likewise supports the Indian Child Welfare Act's regulation of the transfers of tribal-member custody. Congress's 1870 protection of non-citizens' occupational and contracting rights and 1986 prohibition on employment discrimination rest on its foreign commerce power, not the Fourteenth Amendment; Congress may regulate non-citizens' labor conditions, but not labor conditions generally. Antidiscrimination law can then refocus on equal citizenship — the Privileges or Immunities Clause for states and fiduciary principles for the federal government — instead of historically-less-plausible rights for all humanity. Cases like Graham v. Richardson would turn on pre-emption, and three gaps in antidiscrimination law — federal citizenship classifications in Mathews v. Diaz, governmental functions in Ambach v. Norwick, and tribal classifications in Morton v. Mancari — receive possible justification.


The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) detectors will begin operation in the coming years, with compact binary coalescence events a likely source for the first detections. The gravitational waveforms emitted directly encode information about the sources, including the masses and spins of the compact objects. Recovering the physical parameters of the sources from the GW observations is a key analysis task. This work describes the LALInference software library for Bayesian parameter estimation of compact binary signals, which builds on several previous methods to provide a well-tested toolkit which has already been used for several studies. We show that our implementation is able to correctly recover the parameters of compact binary signals from simulated data from the advanced GW detectors. We demonstrate this with a detailed comparison on three compact binary systems: a binary neutron star, a neutron star–black hole binary and a binary black hole, where we show a cross comparison of results obtained using three independent sampling algorithms. These systems were analyzed with nonspinning, aligned spin and generic spin configurations respectively, showing that consistent results can be obtained even with the full 15-dimensional parameter space of the generic spin configurations. We also demonstrate statistically that the Bayesian credible intervals we recover correspond to frequentist confidence intervals under correct prior assumptions by analyzing a set of 100 signals drawn from the prior. We discuss the computational cost of these algorithms, and describe the general and problem-specific sampling techniques we have used to improve the efficiency of sampling the compact binary coalescence parameter space.


For several decades Mennonites have laid claim to a clear, incontrovertible hermeneutical method. The most difficult of scriptures must yield their meaning to the body of believers who function within what is called the hermeneutical community. (1) When compared with other denominations' hermeneutical patterns, this method surely should be considered to be as sound and potentially as accurate as any other. But how do we explain the origin of this method? Mennonites claim to have inherited it from their religious forbears, the Anabaptists. But the sixteenth-century Anabaptist data for buttressing that claim is pitifully thin. Indirect evidence for that Anabaptist hermeneutical community as a singular functioning body seems more extensive than does direct evidence. At this juncture, one may fairly raise the question: How--if at all--did the earliest Anabaptists function as a hermeneutical community? The question is rendered more problematical because the earliest Anabaptists had to forge some clear method from a bewildering array of options. All reform-minded Christians were compelled to find some pattern to replace the Roman Catholic practice of locking their own hermeneutical system securely within the institutionalized church. Lutherans, Zwinglians and later Reformed--and also Anabaptists--floundered to find a replacement. Since Lutherans and Reformed settled on bases for determining their ecclesiology relatively early, they could attack and resolve their hermeneutical problems within only a few years of the beginning of the Reformation. No such luck for the Anabaptists, whose succession of prophets, wild-eyed or sober, kept the hermeneutical pot roiling for many years. (2) All Anabaptists had to contend with varieties of chiliasms, either their own immediate ones or those imputed to all of them by the reckless machinations of Anabaptist communities such as the one at Munster in Westphalia. The reputation of Munster's Anabaptist Kingdom plagued all Anabaptists for decades. It was a terrible blow to the entire Anabaptist movement. Even widely read, intelligent people today, it remains the only memorable remnant of Anabaptism and still threatens to turn the entire Anabaptist movement into a raging spectacle of the absurd. (3) Anabaptists could serve as a hermeneutical community by passing judgment on a sermon or admonition immediately after it was delivered. One method of reviewing a sermon freshly delivered was to rise and leave the room. No one could mistake that note of audacious disapproval. Augsburg Anabaptist leader Hans Leupold told his captors that he "with others" had used this maneuver to indicate their disapproval of Hans Hut's chiliastic views. (4) A variation on the same pattern of serving as hermeneutical community was to subject a newly preached sermon to an instant scriptural review and evaluation. Did the preacher's words accord with an accurate interpretation of scripture? Some self-selected Anabaptists seem to have subjected a sermon to immediate scrutiny and then, on the spot, made that particular scriptural interpretation the topic of a lively conversation. Let us examine two pieces of evidence, all the more significant because they are so rare. Hans Grad, one of the earliest indigenous leaders of Esslingen's Anabaptist congregation, seems to have referred to that form of immediate sermon review as settled Anabaptist practice. In March 1528 he tells us laconically that one of several of Anabaptist Hans Zuber's flaws was his utter unwillingness to submit his rambling efforts at preaching to scriptural analysis and approval by those present. Graci's offhand comment suggests that that congregation had developed a particular pattern of evaluating the scriptural validity of sermons, probably those of everyone who preached. Did they, in fact, have an early form of the "testimony" or Zeugnis immediately following a sermon--as exercised by Old Order Amish today and earlier by Mennonites as well--in which the "witness" would need to pass public judgment on the scriptural validity of the sermon? …


Dehorning is a common practice in cattle farming. Researchers suggest that pain during dehorning can be mitigated, although there is no conclusive evidence about the best technique and the best manner of pain relief. A systematic review-meta-analysis was performed to clarify the effect of dehorning on welfare indicators (cortisol concentration or average daily gain or vocalisation) in beef cattle up to 12 months of age. Five electronic databases were systematically searched, as well as conference proceedings and experts were contacted electronically. Pre-defined protocols were applied during all steps of the systematic review process. A random effect meta-analysis was conducted for each indicator separately with the mean of the control and treated groups. Four publications reporting seven studies and 69 trials were included in the MA involving 287 cattle. Heterogeneity between studies was observed for cortisol (I2
 = 50.5%), average daily gain (I2
 = 70.5%), and vocalisation (I2
 = 91.9%). When comparing the non-dehorned group with amputation dehorning, the cortisol concentration was lower 30 min (P < 0.0001) and 120 min (P = 0.023) after procedure (0.767 nmol/L and 0.680 nmol/L, respectively). Local anaesthesia did not show a reduction in cortisol concentration at 30 min after dehorning by amputation. Non-dehorned animals had a tendency to decrease the number of vocalisation (P = 0.081; MD = 0.929) compared with the group dehorned by amputation. These results suggest that dehorning is a painful experience and that local anaesthesia did not alleviate short-term pain following dehorning. Further investigation into pain relief is required to improve confident decision making under practical conditions.


Introduction: Long-term adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern has been recognized to contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost-benefit of the Mediterranean diet as compared to standard medication therapy in patients with chronic heart failure, in reducing cardiovascular events. The study endpoints were the incidence of combined CVD event (death and rehospitalization) at 6 and 12 months. Material & Methods: 263 consecutive, hospitalized patients (63 ± 13 years, 84% men) were enrolled. The total cost of the Mediterranean diet was calculated in €/month based on the diet pyramid's portion recommendations as outlined by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (1999). The level of adherence was measured with the MedDietScore dietary score. The cost of medication was calculated in €/month and included anticoagulants and antihypertensive agents, statins, beta-blockers, ACE-antagonists, diuretics and drugs for treating diabetes mellitus. Results: The average monthly cost of full adherence to the Mediterranean diet was 178.63€, while the average monthly cost of medication was 77.10€. Increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular episode 1-year post-hospitalization (0.96, 95%CI 0.92, 1.00). For every 10 more Euros spent to maintain the Mediterranean diet in relation to medication, the risk for CVD events was reduced by 19% (p = 0.09). Conclusions: The present analysis suggests that healthy eating is both an effective and economic model to reduce cardiovascular events in patients with chronic heart failure, under optimal medical therapy.


International arbitration, by its nature, raises conflict of laws issues because of the interaction between different legal systems. Parties to international arbitrations face more potential choice-of-law issues than international litigants, and such issues include: what law governs the arbitration agreement where the parties have not expressly agreed this?; what law governs capacity?; what is the lex arbitri?; and what law governs the granting of interim measures by a tribunal? The author analyzes the common law approach to the above issues, and argues that there is not enough consistency and guidance to navigate them.A lack of harmonization in relation to these issues leads to a lack of certainty for users which may, in turn, discourage users away from international arbitration as a dispute resolution process. The author therefore proposes reforms and preferred approaches to be adopted by the international arbitration community in order to lead to greater certainty in the outcome to these issues.


Theta rhythms are electroencephalogram (EEG) waveforms between 4-12 Hz and are correlated with arousal, orientation, exploration, attention, learning and memory, motivational drives and emotions and movements. The last sixty years have been witness to a greatly increasing understanding of the underlying anatomical pathways and mechanisms necessary for theta rhythms. Today, it is well established that cells of the medial septal area (MSA) fire in a rhythmic bursting pattern to pace the theta rhythm in the hippocampus (HPC) and that lesioning the MSA abolishes theta rhythm in the HPC. However, comparatively little is known about the anatomy driving the theta rhythm of non-hippocampal areas, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Therefore, this study examined whether the MSA also drives the theta rhythm in the PFC. Results indicated that selective infusions of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine into the MSA significantly decreased PFC theta power but had no effect on theta frequency. While this study has not been conducted before, these results coincide with other studies implicating the MSA as a widespread controller of theta power. Thus, it appears that the MSA affects PFC theta in the same manner as HPC theta with regards to both power and frequency.


Most recommender systems (RS) research assumes that a user's utility can be maximized independently of the utility of the other agents (e.g., other users, content providers). In realistic settings, this is often not true---the dynamics of an RS ecosystem couple the long-term utility of all agents. In this work, we explore settings in which content providers cannot remain viable unless they receive a certain level of user engagement. We formulate the recommendation problem in this setting as one of equilibrium selection in the induced dynamical system, and show that it can be solved as an optimal constrained matching problem. Our model ensures the system reaches an equilibrium with maximal social welfare supported by a sufficiently diverse set of viable providers. We demonstrate that even in a simple, stylized dynamical RS model, the standard myopic approach to recommendation---always matching a user to the best provider---performs poorly. We develop several scalable techniques to solve the matching problem, and also draw connections to various notions of user regret and fairness, arguing that these outcomes are fairer in a utilitarian sense.


A recent review of maintenance literature found that total productive maintenance (TPM), reliability-centred maintenance (RCM), and condition-based maintenance (CBM) were the most popular maintenance management models discussed in academic journals. In this paper, a comprehensive review of these three models is undertaken to identify empirical 'real world' examples of each model being used in industry. Further analysis is provided in the form of authors origin, research method, study country, sector and industry. The paper provides practitioners with a breakdown of the practical applications for each model in industry today, and academics, a point-of-reference for further empirical research efforts. For practitioners seeking to expand their knowledge of a particular model or how a maintenance management model may fit an organisation, listed references have been chosen for their practical links to present day organisations. In regards to the energy sector the review identified a number of power plants with RCM being the dominate maintenance model. In addition, the paper provides readers with a detailed description of the three models reviewed.


Now a days vehicle is an important part of everyone life. vehicle is needed to save a time. As the vehicle good aspects, it's having a emission but it becomes problem when is cross the threshold level. Due to the improper maintenance vehicle causes the partial combustion of fuel & it causes the pollution. This emission can be control by the automated control system for pollution detection in vehicle. This emission of hazards gases can be control by the sensor system sensors in the system detect the level of pollution & indicate it on the display. If the pollution level goes beyond the threshold level there will be buzz which indicates that vehicle will stop after some time & certain time is given for driver to park the vehicle. During this time GPS start locating nearest service station. After the time run out vehicle stop & has to be force to service station. This all process is control & executed by the microcontroller. If this paper when implemented in particle will benefit to the people & help to reduce air pollution. Index Terms : Automated, Air pollution, Sensor, GPS, GSM, Microcontroller, threshold level..


The relationship between a pregnant woman and her fetus is unlike any other in law, medicine, or ethics. This Article examines the complexity of the maternal-fetal conflict, focusing on the interests of the woman and the sometimes conflicting interests of her fetus. Part I discusses the typical analytical background of the conflict, explaining the various ethical principles, rights, and obligations involved such as autonomy, beneficence and nonmaleficence, and justice. Part II explores the various choices made by the pregnant woman, as well as the state's attempts to regulate those choices on behalf of the fetus. This Article concludes that, while the maternal-fetal relationship may give rise to certain moral rights in the fetus and obligations in the woman, these are not the same as legal rights and responsibilities on the basis of which the state can or should intervene. BIOETHICAL CONSIDERATION OF MATERNAL-FETAL ISSUES


This paper examines multi-factor productivity trends in the U.S. petroleum, coal, copper and logging industries since 1970. Measures of multi-factor productivity growth are negative for all four industries during the 1970s. At the time this led to fears that stocks of natural resources were being exhausted, and this might hinder future economic growth. However in retrospect the 1970s look like an exceptional period, rather than marking a change in long run productivity trends. The decline in measured multi-factor productivity in that decade appear to be explained by a number of special factors that generally have a transitory rather than a permanent effect on productivity growth. For example, the rise in natural resource prices encouraged the entry of relatively inefficient producers. New environmental and health & safety regulations were phased in during the period that also reduce measured multi-factor productivity. Over the last 15 years however, productivity measures have improved significantly in all the industries. For example, we estimate that the level of productivity in 1992 was around 75 percent higher in the petroleum industry than at the trough of the productivity slowdown, and around 60 percent higher in coal and copper. To some extent these improvements represent restructuring and consolidation in response to falling output prices. However, technological developments have also played an important role in all four industries.


In the past, conventional i-vectors based on a Universal Background Model (UBM) have been successfully used as input features to adapt a Deep Neural Network (DNN) Acoustic Model (AM) for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). In contrast, this paper introduces Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based ivectors that use HMM state alignment information from an ASR system for estimating i-vectors. Further, we propose passing these HMM based i-vectors though an explicit non-linear hidden layer of a DNN before combining them with standard acoustic features, such as log filter bank energies (LFBEs). To improve robustness to mismatched adaptation data, we also propose estimating i-vectors in a causal fashion for training the DNN, restricting the connectivity among hidden nodes in the DNN and applying a max-pool non-linearity at selected hidden nodes. In our experiments, these techniques yield about 5-7% relative word error rate (WER) improvement over the baseline speaker independent system in matched condition, and a substantial WER reduction for mismatched adaptation data.


Human emotions are the subject of "The Passions", a series of 20 video works made by the contemporary artist Bill Viola (b. 1951). Since the mid-1970s, Viola's video installations have dealt with themes of perception, memory and self-knowledge. In these new works he has grappled with one of the oldest problems in art: how to convey the power and complexity of emotion by depicting the facial expressions and body language of models or, in Viola's case, of performers. Written to accompany an exhibition on view at the Getty Museum from 24th January to 27th April 2003, and which will unveil "Emergence" - a new, commissioned work in the "Passions" series -this is an exploration of the genesis and meaning of this extraordinary suite of works. In an opening essay, John Walsh traces Viola's career and examines the intellectual and psychological concerns that have preoccupied Viola over the years. Walsh then offers a first-person account of Viola's filming of "Emergence". A conversation between Viola and Hans Belting reveals Viola's current interests and the role that older works of art have played in his development. Peter Sellars explores the spiritual foundation of Viola's work. In addition, Viola presents both images and texts that served as sources for many of the "Passions" works. Finally, selected frames from the "Passions" works are reproduced, with explanatory notes by the artist.


Low frequency spaceborne SAR configurations are favoured for global forest mapping applications and D-InSAR applications over natural terrain. Several missions have been scheduled to be launched / or proposed to be implemented in the next years: JAXA's ALOS-II (L-band), NASA's Destyni (L-band), DLR's Tandem-L (L-band) and ESA's BIOMASS (P-band) are some of them. A common challenge for all these missions is to control / compensate the disturbances induced by the ionosphere. At these lower frequencies the ionosphere effects several components of the SAR measurements performed: It delays the group velocity of the transmitting / receiving pulses, advances their phase(s) and rotates their polarisation state. Accordingly, it distorts not only intensity but also polarimetric, interferometric and polarimetric interferometric observation spaces.
The total electron content (TEC) is the most decisive parameter in the characterisation of the ionosphere. It is defined as the integrated electron number density per unit volume along the direction of propagation. Most of the free electrons are distributed within a relatively narrow altitude range allowing modelling the ionosphere as a thin layer at a fixed altitude. In this case the ionosphere can be characterised by a 2-D scalar field of TEC [1], [2].
Depending now on the SAR configuration and its observation space different correction approaches are possible leading to a wide range of calibration algorithms. In this paper we propose a concept towards the generalisation of ionospheric calibration methodology by integrating a number of individual approaches / algorithms. In this sense, a novel generic correction schema based on a combined (and improved) estimation of the 2-D TEC field (or the associated differential TEC field in the interferometric case) from a set of individual data based TEC and/or TEC gradient estimates is introduced and discussed.
As a special case a combined 2-D (differential) TEC field estimator based on (differential) TEC estimated from Faraday rotation measurements and (differential) TEC gradients obtained from the estimation of azimuth/range (differential) shifts is presented. Both observations are independent, allowing establishing an inverse problem for the (differential) TEC estimation. Geophysical knowledge as the anisotropic nature of the TEC distribution can be incorporated as a priori information in the "combined" (differential) TEC estimator.
The performance of the proposed approach is tested using ALOS quad-pol interferometric data sets over several test sites in Alaska. The achieved estimates are characterised by a significantly improved performance: While the FR based estimator suffers from the random granular deviation pattern of TEC after conversion, the proposed combined estimator effectively is free of such artefacts. Emphasis is given in the role of polarisation in the TEC estimation procedure [3] and on the calibration of Pol-InSAR data.
References
[1] Franz J. Meyer and Jeremy Nicoll, "Prediction, detection, and correction of Faraday rotation in full-polarimetric L-band SAR data", IEEE Trans. Geosci. And Remote Sensing, 46(10), Oct., 3076-3086, 2008
[2] Xiaoqing Pi, Anthony Freeman, Bruce Champman, Paul Rosen, and Zhenhong Li, "Imaging ionospheric inhomogeneities using spaceborne synthetic aperture radar", Jour. of Geophysical Research, 116, A04303, 2011
[3] Jun Su Kim, Konstantinos Papathanassiou, Shaun Quegan and Neil Rogers, "Estimation and correction of scintillation effects on spaceborne P-band SAR images", in Proceedings of IGARSS2012, 23-27. Jul., 2012


Eight titles in the popular "First Reading" series are re-issued with hardback covers with audio CDs inserted into a wallet inside the back cover, making this book and CD easy to store together. "The Young Reading" series is developed with reading expert Alison Kelly from Roehampton University to help young readers grow in confidence and ability.


Here we characterize new metal-functionalized amphiphilic diblock copolymers, developed for both surface and solution molecular recognition applications. Polybutadiene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) copolymers functionalized with nitrilotriacetic acid and tris(nitrilotriacetic acid) were complexed with nickel(II) to obtain coordination sites for oligohistidine residues of model proteins. Mixtures of functionalized polymers with the respective non-functionalized block copolymers self-assemble in aqueous solution into vesicular structures with a controlled density of the metal end-groups on their surface. In solution, binding of His6-tagged green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and red fluorescent protein (RFP) to the vesicle surface was quantified by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Small-angle X-ray scattering indicates an increase of the membrane thickness by 2–3 nm upon protein binding. Block copolymer monolayers at the air–water interface and on solid support served as a model system to characterize the protein-decorated membranes by Brewster angle microscopy and AFM. High resolution AFM of solid-supported, hydrated monolayers indicates that the proteins form densely packed and partially ordered arrays with the cylindrically shaped EGFP molecules lying flat on the surface of the films.


We have investigated how truncation of the cytoplasmic domain of the transmembrane (TM) glycoprotein of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) modulates the host range of this virus. Termination codons were introduced into the env gene of SIVmac239 which resulted in the truncation of the transmembrane protein from a wild-type 354 amino acids (TM354) to 207 (TM207) and 193 (TM193) amino acids. Expression of the wild-type and mutant env genes from a simian virus 40-based vector resulted in normal biosynthesis and processing of the glycoproteins to gp130 and gp41 or the truncated TM proteins (gp28 and gp27). When expressed on the surface of COS-1 cells, all three glycoproteins mediated fusion of both CEMX174 and HUT78 cells. Virions containing the wild-type and mutant glycoproteins were capable of efficient replication in macaque peripheral blood lymphocytes and CEMX174 cells; in contrast, only virions that contained TM207 were capable of rapid infection of HUT78 cells. Both truncated glycoproteins were capable of efficiently mediating infection of both CEMX174 and HUT78 cells by an env-deficient human immunodeficiency virus. The wild-type SIV glycoprotein, however, was unable to mediate human immunodeficiency virus infection of HUT78 cells when assayed with this system. An analysis of the protein composition of SIV released from infected CEMX174 cells showed that the mutant virions contained significantly higher levels of glycoprotein compared with the wild type. These results demonstrate that truncation of the SIV cytoplasmic domain removes a block at the level of glycoprotein-mediated virus entry into HUT78 cells and points to a role for glycoprotein density in determining virus tropism.


Sustained motivation is crucial to learning a second language (L2), and one way to support this can be through the mental visualisation of ideal L2 selves (D€ ornyei & Kubanyiova, 2014). This paper reports on an exploratory study which investigated the possibility of using technology to create representations of language learners' ideal L2 selves digitally. Nine Chinese learners of L2 English were invited to three semi-structured interviews to discuss their ideal L2 selves and their future language goals, as well as their opinions on several different technological approaches to representing their ideal L2 selves. Three approaches were shown to participants: (a) 2D and 3D animations, (b) Facial Overlay, and (c) Facial Mask. Within these, several iterations were also included (e.g. with/without background or context). Results indicate that 3D animation currently offers the best approach in terms of realism and animation of facial features, and improvements to Facial Overlay could lead to beneficial results in the future. Approaches using the 2D animations and the Facial Mask approach appeared to have little future potential. The descriptive details of learners' ideal L2 selves also provide preliminary directions for the development of content that might be included in future technology-based interventions. © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.


The first aim of the study was to investigate whether facial imitative responses and subjective experiences of emotional contagion (self-reported hedonic tone) can be evoked as a result of unconscious information processing or whether these responses rely on conscious, interpretative processing. As a second aim, the correspondence between the participants' self-reported hedonic tone and the magnitude of their facial responses was investigated. The third aim was to explore how increased involvement of conscious processing (longer exposure times) influenced facial imitative responses, self-reported hedonic tone, and the correspondence between these responses. Information-processing levels from unconscious (17–23 ms) to conscious (2,500 ms) levels were induced by successively prolonged presentations of facial stimuli. The 102 participants were exposed to masked pictures of happy, angry, and sad facial expressions. Facial responses (EMG) and self-reports of hedonic tone were measured after facial stimuli exposures. Verbally reported emotional contagion and zygomaticus imitative responses were observed at the subliminal exposure level, as well as correlations between these responses. These results were interpreted as being in line with a spontaneous, unconscious process involved in imitation and the subjective experiences of emotional contagion. Correlations between the participants' magnitude of facial responses and their degree of emotional contagion were found at all exposure levels, from subliminal to clearly supraliminal levels of exposure. At the supraliminal exposure, 26 of the participants responded with inverted zygomaticus responses ("smiles") toward angry expressions, a response that may be interpreted as a defensive response.


The last thirty years of cultural theory have seen a vigorous analytic focus on the human body both as the subject of cultural representations and as an escape from their repressive influence. Rare is the account that focuses on the most obvious fact about the body: it is the stuff out of which human beings are made.Generously and variously illustrated, this volume gathers together the work of literary critics and artists, classicists, art historians, and specialists on the history of the body, who survey the strangeness and variety with which the body has given human beings form. Richard Leppert traces how the representation of little girls responds directly to the cultural anxieties of modernity. Rene Girard plots how starvation becomes an art form, while Eric Gans surveys the contemporary phenomenon of body modification. Sander Gilman explores aesthetic surgery as a response to human unhappiness. Simon Goldhill discovers in the Roman empire the initial stirrings of institutions that focus on the spectacle of the body, and Cynthia S. Greig provides a glimpse of what the history of photography would look like if male nudes replaced female ones. Marion Jackson details how the different physical existence of the Inuit guides the way they make art. Joseph Grigely transforms aesthetics as usual by focusing on the disabled body, while Tobin Siebers describes the traumatic appeal in both fine art and the media of wounded flesh, whether human or animal."The Body Aesthetic" is a broad exercise in cultural studies and will address a variety of readers, from those interested in detailed, theoretical accounts of the body, to those interested in belles lettres, to those interested in fine art.Tobin Siebers is Professor of English, University of Michigan."


Abstract. Ecological studies about marine benthic communities received a major leap from the application of a variety of non-destructive sampling and mapping techniques based on underwater image and video recording. The well-established scientific diving practice consists in the acquisition of single path or 'round-trip' over elongated transects, with the imaging device oriented in a nadir looking direction. As it may be expected, the application of automatic image processing procedures to data not specifically acquired for 3D modelling can be risky, especially if proper tools for assessing the quality of the produced results are not employed. This paper, born from an international cooperation, focuses on this topic, which is of great interest for ecological and monitoring benthic studies in Antarctica. Several video footages recorded from different scientific teams in different years are processed with an automatic photogrammetric procedure and salient statistical features are reported to critically analyse the derived results. As expected, the inclusion of oblique images from additional lateral strips may improve the expected accuracy in the object space, without altering too much the current video recording practices.


While inequalities in school funding resulting from state and local policies have long been a source of concern to education researchers and policymakers, a recent report from the Center for American Progress examines a source of educational inequality that receives less attention: private fundraising by parents. It focuses on the 50 Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) that raised the most money in 2013-2014, with two main findings. First, the PTAs raising large amounts were located in schools and districts with low rates of student poverty. Second, while a PTA in a high-poverty community may raise only a few hundred dollars, PTAs in this sample raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Using case studies, the report considers district regulation of private fundraising. This review concludes that the report's findings about the scope and beneficiaries of private fundraising are credible and important—showing the impact successful PTAs can have. However, the focus on a small number of schools and districts, a lack of attention to school and community context, and problems with the case study design limit the report's overall relevance. In addition, it is important to note that most funding inequalities arise at the state level; funds raised by parents represent only a minute portion of overall school spending. Nevertheless, the report's recommendations, especially in support of equity grants, will be useful to district-level policymakers. NEPC REviEw: Hidden Money: THe ouTsized Role of PaRenT ConTRibuTions in sCHool finanCe


We present a learning algorithm for decision lists which allows features that are constructed from the data and allows a trade-off between accuracy and complexity. We provide bounds on the generalization error of this learning algorithm in terms of the number of errors and the size of the classifier it finds on the training data. We also compare its performance on some natural data sets with the set covering machine and the support vector machine. Furthermore, we show that the proposed bounds on the generalization error provide effective guides for model selection.


A flurry of studies in recent years has analyzed the role of media in climate change communication. This article provides a systematic, large-scale, and up-to-date overview of the objects and characteristics of this research field through a meta-analysis. It identifies 133 relevant studies and analyzes them empirically. The results show that research activity has risen strongly over time, and that the analytical spectrum has expanded to include an increasing number of countries, more types of media including online and social media, and different methodological approaches. The analysis also demonstrates, however, that scholarship in the field still concentrates strongly on Western countries and print media.


This study aims to analyze Turkey and the EMU countries in the light of criteria suggested by the optimum currency areas (OCA) theory and the Maastricht criteria. To this end, we follow a novel approach with an application of fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering. The results show that the application of FCM clustering to the OCA criteria produces better clustering structure compared to the Maastricht criteria. In addition, in the analysis with the Maastricht criteria, the control group countries, Canada and Japan, are not distinguished from the European countries. Furthermore, Turkey remains as a separate group than the European countries with respect to both the OCA criteria and the Maastricht criteria.


In June 2013 the Supreme Court held that naturally occurring human DNA cannot be patented, but synthetically created DNA is patent-eligible. Though a major victory for patients' rights, the holding of Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics appears to be the latest in a series of restrictions on patents and the human body, much to the annoyance of biotechnology companies. However, this case should not be viewed as the final word in patenting "natural phenomena." Patent claims of genetic material are still viable when the claim details a new and useful improvement on the naturally occurring product or an application of the product to a process. Furthermore, the Myriad Court noted that extending the natural products rule too far would be against public policy, giving litigators room to explore the contours of this rule. This Article examines the limits of the Supreme Court's decision and the avenues that potential patent seekers still have for making eligible patent claims on naturally occurring products and phenomena, as well as the processes for identifying such products and phenomena. It * Alex Boguniewicz, University of Washington School of Law, Class of 2015. Thank you to Professor Toshiko Takenaka for her guidance; to Dr. Jan B. Krauß for lending his invaluable expertise; and to Matthew Fredrickson for all his help and patience. 1 Boguniewicz: Discovering the Undiscoverable: Patent Eligibility of DNA and the Published by UW Law Digital Commons, 2014 36 WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF LAW, TECHNOLOGY & ARTS [VOL. 10:1 highlights the areas where the courts are likely to take a hard stance against patent eligibility and where opportunities still exist to claim a valid patent in three areas. First, though discovery of a natural process in its naturally-occurring state is now un-patentable, the Myriad holding signals that a variation on this natural state, no matter how slight, could make the product eligible for a patent under the "new and useful improvements" rule. Second, the "application of new processes" rule is unchanged by this case. Third, a public policy argument on the importance of protecting medical and genetic discoveries may be more relevant in light of Myriad's broad holding.


Fluoride application is an important strategy to reduce demineralization and enhance remineralization in human teeth. This study aimed to evaluate the effect on enamel hydroxyapatite (HA) crystallinity (C) of a sodium fluoride-releasing rubber cup compared to a non-fluoride rubber cup, using Fourier Transformed Mid Infrared Spectroscopy (FTMIR) analysis. First class direct composite restorations were performed in ten sound extracted molars. Teeth were then divided into two groups (n=5): Control group, polished with non-fluoride rubber cup (noFHA), for 10 s; Tested group, polished with a sodium fluoride-releasing rubber cup (FHA), for 10 s. Samples were scraped off on the treated surfaces with abrasive paper and the dust was analyzed using FTMIR. Spectra were acquired in the range of 4000-400 cm-1 and each spectrum represented the average of 5 measurements. Phosphate (PO4) vibration at 604 cm-1 was used to analyze C: the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of noFHA was lower than the one of FHA; thus, sodium fluoride, contained in the rubber cup, increased C. The absorption at 1090 cm-1 can be considered an additional marker of C, indeed the peak of FHA was higher than the one of HA and noFHA, thus suggesting increasing and stabilizing of the enamel C. In conclusion, the tested sodium fluoride-releasing rubber cup could be an effective polishing system since it not only allows to polish the tooth surface, but also improves the C of enamel HA, thanks to the quick bond done by fluoride.


This paper reviews published quantitative research on the mental health of HIV-infected adults in Africa. Twentyseven articles published between 1994 and 2008 reported the results of 23 studies. Most studies found that about half of HIV-infected adults sampled had some form of psychiatric disorder, with depression the most common individual problem. People living with HIV or AIDS (PLHIV) tended to have more mental health problems than non-HIV-infected individuals, with those experiencing less problems less likely to be poor and more likely to be employed, educated and receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). Being female, experiencing poor health, receiving poor-quality health services, and a lack of material and emotional support from family and friends were associated with greater psychiatric morbidity. While some key findings emerged from the studies, the knowledge base was diverse and the methodological quality uneven, thus studies lacked comparability and findings were not equally robust. Furthermore, more rigorous research is needed to put mental health services for PLHIV in Africa on the healthcare agenda. Priorities for future research should include replicating findings regarding common mental health problems among PLHIV, important issues among HIV-infected women, and the longer-term mental health needs of those on ART. Research is also needed into predictors of mental health outcomes and factors associated with adherence to ART, which can be targeted in interventions.


There is current concern that the younger generations of people in America have become, and are becoming, more disconnected and less exposed to natural resources in the great outdoors. This detachment from the natural world has resulted in the term 'nature deficit disorder' being used to describe this phenomenon (Louv, 2005). To help address this issue of nature deficit disorder, many school and summer programs have been developed to help reconnect and expose children to nature. However, while many school and summer programs have been shown to have a positive impact on children's environmental stewardship and confidence levels within the great outdoors, limited research has been conducted on university programs aimed at achieving the same goals. Hence, this exploratory study examined the effects of participation in the University of Georgia's Outdoor Adventure Activities Class (PEDB 1090) on participant's environmental stewardship and confidence levels within the great outdoors. A pre-post-test survey structure was used on the treatment group, which consisted of individuals who were participants in the class, and the control group, who were interested in the class but unable to join, in order to determine whether or not participating in the class altered environmental stewardship and confidence levels. In addition, reliability and validity tests were conducted on the survey instrument that was adapted from the New Environmental Paradigm scale to determine any altered levels of environmental stewardship or confidence. Overall, results suggested participation in the class did not have an effect on students' environmental stewardship, but did have a positive effect on students' levels of confidence within the great outdoors


Abstract Hapsidophyllas flexibilis new genus and species and Frondophyllas grandis new genus and species are rare Ediacaran (ca. 565 Ma) rangeomorph forms, herein termed "hapsidophyllids," which are endemic to Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Canada. These two taxa are highly disparate in overall morphology, the former being a low-level, multibranched "network of leaves" and the latter a meter-long frond. Despite their dissimilarity in gross morphology, the two genera share a unique flexible, leaflet-type structure with a fine-scale branching structure that resembles that of charnid rangeomorphs. These leaflet structures are unknown from any other rangeomorph or Ediacaran group, and are herein termed "hapsidophyllid leaflets." Hapsidophyllids grew by an iteration of structural units, with small rangeomorph modules making up the larger hapsidophyllid leaflets, which in turn composed the larger hapsidophyllid organism. The presence of hapsidophyllid leaflets in both Hapsidophyllas and Frondophyllas suggest the two genera were related taxonomically, with their very different gross morphologies reflecting ecological adaptations to exploit different suspension-feeding tiers.


The aim of this chapter is to critically reflect definitions of hazard, risk, and risk percep - tion and their assessments used in different scientific disciplines and give examples of the potential implications for scientific discussions, knowledge management, and risk communication. Scientists with backgrounds in public health, psychology, environmen - tal health, occupational health, engineering, sociology, and medicine were asked for a definition of hazard, risk, risk assessment, and risk perception seen from their specific scientific disciplines. Hazard is generally seen as an adverse event or condition. For most risk definitions, probability and severity are important aspects. Often a quantification of risk is desired, whereas risk perception is seen as a subjective appraisal and a cogni - tive construct. As risk perceptions are based on a combination of knowledge and indi - vidual values and affects, it may not provide a reliable guidance for risk management decisions on a societal level. Discipline differences are mainly connected to terminology and interpretation of key concepts, but the differences are based on different tasks and perspectives. For dealing with controversies in science across disciplines, an acceptance and appreciation of terminology and perspectives from different scientific disciplines are needed to ensure a transparent risk assessment process.


This study investigates what preschool staff include in the technology subject in preschool education, what content they view as relevant and how the teaching of this content can be organized. This is motivated by the fact that technology as subject have not been clearly defined, leaving the teachers insecure and unconfident about what to teach and how to teach it. In addition, preschool do not have a tradition of addressing teaching and learning the way they are now obliged to do according to the curriculum and many studies have shown subject teaching to be a challenge in preschool. Thus, the preschool staff's challenge is twofold regarding the teaching of technology.The aim is addressed by a mixed methods design, starting with questionnaires and followed by interviews with preschool staff (daycare attendants and preschool teachers). The questionnaire was completed by 102 preschool staff members and interviews were held with seven of these participants.A key results is that technology in preschool involves building and creating. Emphasized is that children should be offered much and varied materials and that it should be available in the environment and inspire creative activities. Another key result is that every-day use of artifacts is viewed as part of technology education. Children should learn to handle artifacts by using them, e.g. pulling up the zipper to close the jacket or cut with scissors. These are activities preschool have always engaged children in, which the staff now name technology. However, there are variations in the result and there are preschool staff members who express a more conscious teaching where children are able to learn about things like the purpose of technology, what parts an object consist of and how these parts are connected, and about technological systems, e.g. how the water get from the lake to the tap and how it is purified on the way. But there are also examples where technology activities are used as a means for working towards the striving goals of other areas, such as math, science and social behavior.Implications are that preschool staff need to develop their teaching in order to work in accordance with the curriculum. A relevant first step is to strengthen their content competence in technology, but also, they need tools for how to teach subject matter like technology in a practice characterized by children's own choice and influence.


A fundamental divide exists between what scientists do as scientists and what courts often ask them to do as expert witnesses. Whereas scientists almost invariably measure phenomena at the group level, trial courts typically need to resolve cases at the individual level. A basic challenge for trial courts that rely on scientific experts, therefore, concerns translating scientific knowledge derived from studying groups into information that can be helpful in the individual cases before them (what this article refers to as "G2i"). To aid in dealing with this challenge, this article proposes a distinction between two types of expert evidence: framework evidence that describes general scientific propositions and diagnostic evidence that applies the general propositions to individual cases. It then examines the evidentiary implications of that distinction. Most importantly, admissibility standards for expert testimony should differ depending on whether experts are proffering framework or diagnostic evidence. Judicial analysis of "fit," expert qualifications, testability, error rates, peer review, general acceptance, helpfulness and other traditional admissibility criteria for expert evidence will often vary, sometimes significantly, based on this distinction. The article provides general guidelines about the best practices judges should follow in sorting through these considerations. These guidelines will permit courts to manage G2i inferences in a more informed and coherent way than they do currently.


1 Dept. of Engineering The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601 2 Dept. of Mathematics The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona, Altoona, PA 16601 Abstract This paper describes a current effort at Penn State Altoona to address the issue of low retention of women in science and engineering. This effort also is designed to contribute to the long-term advancement of women in these fields throughout their careers. The approach taken is to challenge women students to recognize their beliefs and selfperceptions regarding their relationship with engineering and thus provide them with the opportunity for positive change. As a consequence, their actions have potential to change stereotypical attitudes towards women in the sciences. The particular method we chose to accomplish these goals is to design and teach a course to educate women in the area of computer problem diagnosis and repair. The course includes diagnosing and troubleshooting software and hardware problems, and upgrading and maintaining the systems as well as an introduction to component functionality and integration. Demonstration of the proficiency attained by the women in computer technology distinguishes them among colleagues. This distinction results from the well-recognized prestige associated with this level of knowledge of computer technology.


In this paper, the competencies suggested by Dulewicz and Higgs (1999, 2000, 2005) and expanded upon by Muller and Turner (2007, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c) were examined with relation to project managers in the Irish funds industry. 6 hypotheses were suggested to determine if there was any statistically significant differences in the competencies required. This included examining the competencies of male and female project managers (H1), the complexity (H2), contract type (H3), and strategic importance (H5) of the project, as well as the fund services segment (H4) where the project is taking place. An additional hypotheses (H6) was tested to identify the competencies required of project managers, where the importance of meeting the project's overall objectives was the definition of project success.

The identification of the of competencies of a success project manager can aid companies to appoint the correct person to the position. This type of research has never been conducted in Ireland, or the one fund services industry. The sectors chosen within the Irish funds industry were the custodian, fund accounting, transfer agency, and trustee segments. With the increased focus on the sector, due to increased regulation, and the looming exodus from the UK in the light of Brexit, there is an added need to determine the what competencies a project manager should have for different project combinations. Additionally, there has been no examination of Irish leaderships styles as a whole, using this approach.

The original methodology was to conduct a survey using the Leadership Dimensions' Questionnaire (LDQ) as devised by Dulewicz and Higgs (2005). However, this tool has been retired by the authors. As such, a survey tool was devised using the definitions of the competencies as the criteria to identify competency strengths. These were then examined against the 6 hypotheses to determine the which competencies were ranked higher for each test.

At p < 0.05 the results show that there are statistically significant differences in three competencies when gender is being tested, one when complexity is being tested, no differences for contract type, fund services segment, and strategic importance, and five differences in competencies when the project's objectives being met was tested. Of the statistically significant differences in competencies, only strategic perspective (an intelligence competency) appeared more than once (in H1, and H6), while the other competencies to appear were achieving, conscientiousness, emotional resilience, interpersonal sensitivity (all emotional intelligence competencies), developing and empowering (both managerial competencies).

At p < 0.1 the results showed slightly more statistically significant differences. As before, both fund services segment and strategic importance showed no statistical significant differences in competencies. For gender, an additional five competencies showed differences, including all three intelligence competencies; contract type and complexity showed an additional difference in competencies, while the project's objective being met showed an additional two. Developing (managerial competency) appeared thrice (in H!, H2, and H3), while critical analysis and judgement, vision and imagination, strategic perspective (all intelligence competencies), and conscientiousness appeared twice each. Motivation and influencing (both emotional intelligence competencies) appeared once each.

The research suggests that there are clear differences in competencies required of project managers working in the Irish funds sector. These differences occur both in the gender of the project manager, as well as the contract type and complexity of the project. However, the competencies of project managers, where meeting the project's overall objectives is considered a key criteria for project success, shows the most number of statistically significant differences in competencies.

A number of further research projects are suggested based on this initial work. These include a larger, and more encompassing survey of project managers in Ireland, a determination if there is an Irish leadership style, and how multiculturalism might affect it, and the development of a new tool to analyse the competencies in more detail.


This paper addresses the evaluation of the suitability of sunflower oil as a fuel for diesel engines by determining the physiochemical properties of sunflower oil, No. 2 and blends of both. This evaluation was accomplished by the American Petroleum Institute gravity rating, heat of combustion, kinematic viscosity, pour point, cloud point and water content of these fuels using methods specified by the American Society of Testing Materials for diesel fuels. These tests for petroleum products are designed to standardize results so comparisons can be made from one laboratory to another. If any comparison is made among the fuels, it must be considered that No.2 diesel is recommended for high speed engines in farm tractors under intermediate to heavy loads at ambient air temperatures above 41 degrees F. The fuel properties that determine a good compression ignition fuel are primarily cetane rating and volatility. The heat difference in heat of combustion of the sunflower oil is 4.7% lower than No.2 diesel fuel. The higher viscosity of the sunflower oil does not favor it's use in unmodified diesel engines. A 75% diesel fuel:25% sunflower oil blend should perform very close to No.2 diesel fuel when burned in the engine under similar conditions.


Based on the assumption that extended metaphor may constitute a case of deliberate metaphor and therefore has the potential to influence people's opinions, this paper investigates whether extending a metaphorical frame in a text leads people to perceive policy measures that are in line with that frame as more effective for solving a crime problem than other policy measures. The metaphorical frames 'Crime is a virus' and 'Crime is a beast' were extended in one experiment each via a series of additional conventional metaphorical expressions having crime as the target domain and beasts/viruses as the source domain. Participants (N = 354, Experiment 1; N = 361, Experiment 2) were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions with increasing numbers of sentences containing metaphorical expressions, and rated the effectiveness of a set of policy measures to solve the crime problem described in the text. The data yield limited support for our hypothesis. When controlling for political affiliation, the ratings for frame-consistent measures trended in the hypothesised direction in Experiment 2. Experiment 1 yielded a trend for frame-inconsistent measures. These results suggest that metaphorical framing effects may be more subtle than has been assumed.


Compounds (e.g. trans-isohumulone) derived from flowers of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus L.) protect beer from spoilage. Cells of Lactobacillus brevis IF0 3960 did not die when they were exposed to 40 pM-trans-isohumulone for up to 120 h. At higher concentrations (80, 120 p ~ ) death occurred after a lag period of about 30 h. transIsohumulone dissipated the transmembrane pH gradient of non-growing cells and reduced their ability to accumulate ~-[U-'~C]leucine. The membrane potential was dissipated to a smaller extent. Addition of transisohumulone to cells that had accumulated ~[U-l~Clleucine, under conditions in which no synthesis of protein took place, caused slow leakage of radiolabelled leucine. trans-Isohumulone did not inhibit the activity of the protontranslocating membrane ATPase. Potentiometric experiments with resting cell suspensions suggested that transisohumulone acted as an ionophore of the mobile-carrier type, causing electroneutral exchange of H' for divalent cations such as Mn2+. A second monovalent cation (e.g. K+) was essential for protonophoric activity.


Groundwater quality is deteriorating due to ongoing heavy pumping of groundwater in Punjab, Pakistan. A geoelectrical resistivity survey study using Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) were conducted at Chaj Doab (land between river Jehlum and Chenab, Pakistan) and Rachna Doab (land between river Chenab and Ravi, Pakistan), with the objectives to locate low salinity groundwater aquifer layers for tubewell installation, tubewells auditing and to categorize different low salinity groundwater zones. The resistivity meter (ABEM Terrameter SAS 4000, Sweden) was used to collect the VES data by employing Schlumberger electrode configuration, with the half current electrodes spacings (AB/2) ranging from 2 to 180 m and the potential electrodes (MN) from 1 to 40 m. The field data were interpreted in terms of resistivity and the corresponding thickness of various sub-surface layers using "Interpex IX1D" computer software. This research study was completed in three phases to achieve its specific objectives in each phase.In the first phase six sites were selected to with three sites in each Doab. A total of ten VES surveys were conducted with three soundings at one site, two at other site and the rest of four sites were surveyed by single VES each. The outputs of the VES interpretation were verified using borehole data at all these six sites. The bore hole data of lithological and groundwater samples were collected from ground surface to 30 m depth with an interval of 1.5 m at all these sites. The correlation between VES data and borehole data was found to be in close agreement with each other. The combination of the VES data with the borehole data provided useful information on subsurface hydrogeologic conditions for tubewell installation and for further geoelectrical studies in the next phase. It was observed that the groundwater in the aquifers was fresh having EC < 1.5 dS/m with geoelectrical resistivity greater than 45 -m, between 25 to 45 -m was marginally-fit and less than 25 -m was un-fit for irrigation. The results also showed that the effective depth of the current penetration ranged between 1/8th to 1/2 of the outer current electrode spacings (AB/2).Than in the second phase six more sites were selected with three sites in each Doab to audit the salinity of groundwater extracted by existing tubewells. These sites were also subjected to VES surveys near to existing tubewells to find the depths and thickness of various subsurface layers having different salinities of groundwater. A total of 21 wells were audited in this study. Out these 21 tubewells, 8 were in un-fit aquifers layer, 7 in marginally fit aquifers, 4 in fit groundwater aquifers and two partially in fresh-saline layers.Nine tubewells are working fine and twelve need careful attentions. Out of these twelve tubewells three tubewells could be abandoned as only be used for shandying.Two tubewells were using extra energy by deep extraction of groundwater without any quality benefit. The other seven can be usefully converted from saline and marginally-fit to fresh groundwater wells by changing their depths.In the third phase, a total of ninety VES interpreted data spatially distributed over Chaj and Rachna Doabs was used, including ten of the 1st and six of the 2nd soundings with 43 in Chaj and 47 in Rachna Doab. The outputs (VES interpretation) of subsurface layers with resistivities and thickness were presented in contour maps and 3-D views by using SURFER software.The zones with low salinity groundwater either in shallow or deep aquifer were differentiated from brackish and saline groundwater.A total of 102 groundwater samples from nearby hand pumps and tubewells at different depths were also collected to verify previously developed correlation (1st phase) and to get more closed approximation between the aquifer resistivity of VES and the Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the groundwater over the study area with R2=0.86.


While international trade and trade policy continue to be as controversial as ever, the United States has been committed for more than half a century to maintaining an open market. It was not always that way. For most of U.S. history, the United States imposed fairly substantial barriers to imports in an effort to protect domestic producers from foreign competition. For the past several years, I have been investigating the historical aspects of U.S. trade policy as part of the NBER's research on international trade and the development of the American economy. The purpose of this research has been to study the economic effects of past trade policies on the U.S. economy and understand the political and economic forces that have shaped those policies. (1) Early American Trade Policy To say much about the stance of a country's trade policy requires, at a minimum, data on the average tariff level. Unfortunately, standard U.S. trade statistics only started calculating average tariff figures from 1821. To fill the gap in the historical data, I gathered information from early government documents to calculate the average tariff on total and dutiable imports for the period from 1790 to 1820. (2) These figures reveal that tariffs started out at relatively low levels, about 15 percent in the 1790s, but rose thereafter to generate additional revenue and help finance the War of 1812. Because re-exports were a significant component of U.S. foreign trade at this time, my study suggests that it is important to adjust for drawbacks (rebated tariff revenue on re-exported goods) to determine the true level of the tariff. One of the classic, early statements on U.S. trade policy is Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures in 1791. This report called for government support of manufacturing through subsidies and import tariffs, but it is commonly believed that the report was never implemented. Although Hamilton's proposals for bounties (subsidies) failed to receive support, my research has shown that Congress adopted virtually every tariff recommendation put forward in the report by early 1792. (3) These tariffs were not highly protectionist duties, because Hamilton feared discouraging imports, the critical tax base on which he planned to fund the public debt. Indeed, because his policy toward manufacturing was one of limited encouragement and not protection, Hamilton was not as much of a protectionist as he is often made out to be. Hamilton's moderate tariff policies found support among merchants and traders, the backbone of the Federalist Party. But disappointed domestic manufacturers shifted their political allegiance to the Republican Party, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, both of whom were willing to consider much more draconian trade policies aimed at Britain. Indeed, as president, Jefferson was responsible for one of the most unusual policy experiments in the history of U.S. trade policy. At his request, Congress imposed a nearly complete embargo on international commerce from December 1807 to March 1809. The Jeffersonian trade embargo provides a rare opportunity (or natural experiment) to observe the effects of a nearly complete (albeit short-lived) elimination of international trade. Economists usually describe the gains from international trade by comparing welfare at a free-trade equilibrium with welfare at an autarky equilibrium. In practice, such a comparison is almost never feasible because the autarky equilibrium is almost never observed, except in unique cases such as this one. By mid-1808, the United States was about as close to being fully shut off from international commerce as it has ever been during peacetime. Monthly price data allow us to observe the dramatic impact of the embargo: the export-weighted average of the prices of raw cotton, flour, tobacco, and rice, which accounted for about two-thirds of U.S. exports in the United States, fell by one third within a month or two of the embargo. …


This paper studies gender interactions within hierarchical organizations using a large data set on the duration of Italian municipal governments elected between 1993 and 2003. A municipal government can be viewed as a hierarchy, whose stability over time depends on the degree of cooperation between and within ranks. We find that in municipalities headed by female mayors, the probability of early termination of the legislature is higher. This result persists and becomes stronger when we control for municipality fixed effects as well as non-random sorting of women into municipalities using regression discontinuity in gender-mixed electoral races decided by a narrow margin. The likelihood that a female mayor survives until the end of her term is lowest when the council is entirely male, and in regions with less favorable attitudes towards working women. The evidence is suggestive that female mayors are less able at fostering cooperation among men, or alternatively, that men are more reluctant to be headed by women. Other interpretations receive less support in the data. Our results may provide an alternative explanation for the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions.


Abstract Nearly 70 new Nd isotope analyses are presented for plutonic orthogneisses from the Grenvillian Central Metasedimentary Belt (CMB) in order to test a back-arc aulacogen model for its origin. Nd isotope signatures of metaplutonic rocks are used as probes of the formation age of the crust at depth, revealing sharp boundaries between old crustal blocks and juvenile (1.2–1.35 Ga) Elzevirian-age crust. Firstly, a hidden block of old crustal basement is revealed between areas of juvenile crust south of Douglas, Ontario. Secondly, TDM ages refine the boundary between juvenile crust and old basement (1.35–1.55 Ga) within the Weslemkoon batholith, showing this pluton to be a polygenetic stitching pluton that straddles a hidden crustal boundary. Finally, the CMB boundary zone is shown to form a sharp age boundary between juvenile and old crustal domains, and is interpreted as a reactivated rift-bounding normal fault. When the distribution of rift-related alkaline rocks is compared with these crustal boundaries, the Bancroft nepheline syenite suite is centrally located in a juvenile ensimatic zone between blocks of old basement. Such a location, near the axis of a juvenile crustal segment, implies emplacement late in the rifting process. Similarly, the Blue Mountain nepheline syenite appears to post-date an earlier rifting event to the southeast. Hence, a multi-stage model is proposed for the evolution of a back-arc aulacogen, which is consistent with the distribution of marble and volcanic/plutonic units in the CMB. The model places the Bancroft nepheline syenites in a precise plate tectonic context for the first time.


We view risk management as an integral part of good management. Risk management should take a balanced view of decision problems encompassing all significant risks and rewards. Operational risks are only one type of risks and therefore are only one piece in the jigsaw puzzle that only makes sense when all pieces are assembled. All risk analyses are based on the same general principles – generation of alternatives, quantification of uncertainties and preferences, modeling of consequences – but factors deserving the most attention vary from problem to problem. We distinguish three broad types of operational risks according to the frequencies of loss events: nominal, ordinary and exceptional. Depending on the type, uncertainties are negligible, similar or very large compared to expected losses. Nominal risks are the province of Total Quality Management, a well-developed discipline, but perhaps better known in manufacturing than in financial services. The analysis of ordinary and exceptional risks is illustrated by case studies from which we draw general lessons. With ordinary risks, it is crucial to understand the interaction among risks and with costs and rewards; risks do not add up, indeed operational risks may sometime reduce other uncertainties. With exceptional risks, we show the importance of quantifying the risk attitude of a financial institution in order to arrive at rational decisions such as mitigation or transfer of risks.


Abstract There is evidence that contact with the natural environment and green space promotes good health. It is also well known that participation in regular physical activity generates physical and psychological health benefits. The authors have hypothesised that 'green exercise' will improve health and psychological well-being, yet few studies have quantified these effects. This study measured the effects of 10 green exercise case studies (including walking, cycling, horse-riding, fishing, canal-boating and conservation activities) in four regions of the UK on 263 participants. Even though these participants were generally an active and healthy group, it was found that green exercise led to a significant improvement in self-esteem and total mood disturbance (with anger-hostility, confusion-bewilderment, depression-dejection and tension-anxiety all improving post-activity). Self-esteem and mood were found not to be affected by the type, intensity or duration of the green exercise, as the results were similar for all 10 case studies. Thus all these activities generated mental health benefits, indicating the potential for a wider health and well-being dividend from green exercise. Green exercise thus has important implications for public and environmental health, and for a wide range of policy sectors.