Anthropogenic climate change is a major threat to global biodiversity, threatening many ecosystems and taxa with extinction. An understanding of the factors influencing species distribution and diversity is vital for assessing their vulnerability to climate change. This is particularly the case for tropical rainforest insects that constitute the bulk of all known biodiversity, provide many ecosystem services, and yet, remain poorly studied. Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) are a keystone insect taxon of great ecological and economical importance. Their feeding and nesting behaviour contributes towards many ecological functions, such as the removal and recycling of animal waste. Thus, climate change induced alterations in dung beetle biodiversity have the potential to disrupt such ecosystem services, negatively impacting proper ecosystem functioning.

This thesis investigates the drivers of, and predicts the impacts of future climate change on, endemic dung beetle biodiversity in the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT) rainforest. Specifically, the aims of the thesis were to: (1) derive accurate estimations of dung beetle "realised" distributions and species richness within the AWT, (2) identify and understand patterns and drivers of dung beetle biodiversity in the AWT bioregion and (3) along elevational gradients, and (4) predict the impacts of climate change on the endemic dung beetles of the AWT.

Dung beetle distributions and patterns of biodiversity throughout the AWT were determined from standardised surveys and external databases. Targeted dung beetle surveys included dung–baited pitfall–traps across 20 sampling sites along four elevational gradients, between 2007 – 2009. The locality records from these surveys were supplemented with a large dung beetle database developed by Dr Geoff Monteith at the Queensland Museum.

As patterns of biodiversity arise due to the overlap of species distributions, an accurate estimation of the distributional extent of each species was required. The potential distribution of a species generated by a species distribution model (SDM) is often larger than that of its realised distribution; this is widely acknowledged in the literature but is rarely accounted for. In Chapter 3 (Aim 1) I quantified SDM over– prediction and derived accurate representations of species "realised" distributions and overall AWT dung beetle species richness, by using expert knowledge to clip "potential" species distributions to well known biogeographic limits. Potential distributions were, on average, 10 times larger than the realised distributions for flightless species and 1.2 times larger for winged species. A realised species richness model was generated by summing individual realised SDMs, which attained a higher correlation between observed and predicted, subregional and local species richness and composition, compared to the potential species richness model.

Using the realised species richness maps, I subsequently investigated patterns of dung beetle species richness and composition within well-known biogeographic subregions of the AWT (Chapter 4; Aim 2). Dung beetle subregional community structure has been influenced by historical rainforest refugia formed from climatic fluctuations of the Pleistocene. Subregions that maintained refugia during rainforest contraction events harboured distinct, species rich dung beetle assemblages, with subregionally endemic flightless species. Patterns of AWT β–diversity were due to species turnover, rather than nestedness, indicating species replacement between subregions. Patterns in AWT dung beetle species richness were mostly driven by a positive relationship with mammal species richness, indicating the importance of a functional trophic relationship. However, both dung beetle and mammal species richness were driven by similar responses to historical habitat stability (refugia) and climate variables associated with refugia, such as cooler temperatures and decreased seasonality.

As rainforest refugia occurred at higher elevations I then investigated patterns of dung beetle biodiversity along elevational gradients using standardised sampling techniques (Chapter 5; Aim 3). Isolation, persistence, and speciation within upland refugia resulted in distinct, cool-adapted, upland species assemblages that are generally more species rich, more abundant, have greater biomass, and have narrower elevational ranges compared to lowland assemblages. Greater mammal species richness and biomass at higher elevations, also associated with rainforest refugia, contributed towards the persistence and increased abundance and biomass of upland dung beetle species by providing greater dung resources. On some mountaintops these resources were dominated by high elevation, subregionally endemic, small bodied, flightless species that competitively excluded other species, thus decreasing species richness and diversity at higher elevations. Upland species have narrow elevational ranges indicating adaptation to the cool upland conditions with intolerance to high temperatures making them particularly vulnerable to future climate change.

To investigate the effects of climate change on the endemic dung beetles of the AWT (n = 70) I used SDMs to project their future distribution and population size at 10- year time steps up to 2085, using the future climate projections of the latest four Representative Concentration Pathways (Chapter 6; Aim 4). By 2085, 57 (81%) of the dung beetle species modelled are predicted to become threatened by losing ≥50% of their current distribution area. Additionally, 62 (88%) species are projected to lose ≥50% of their current population size, based on worst-case concentration pathway RCP8.5. Dung beetle species richness within the AWT is predicted to drastically decrease with current species hotspots losing up to 33 species by 2085 based on RCP8.5. These results are expected to be exacerbated by taking into consideration climate change induced mammal (dung beetle food resource providers) defaunation, as predicted by other studies.

Decreases in dung beetle abundance and species richness are predicted to alter the many ecosystem services provided by dung beetles, thus negatively influencing the overall ecosystem health of the AWT rainforest. However, the results of this study also suggest that the negative impacts of climate change on dung beetle diversity can be reduced by increasing worldwide use of green technology and applying climate policies, as predicted by emission pathway RCP3-PD.


The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of continued education and multiprofessional care for type 1 diabetes mellitus patients as a strategy for long-term glycemic control evaluated by glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) levels. This study is a retrospective, observational study of the Diabetes Objective Control and Education (DOCE) Project. A group of 74 patients accompanied by family member attended multiprofessional appointments and an epidemiologic profile of the group was created. The analyzed variables were age, body mass index (BMI), height, duration of disease, age at diagnosis, duration of follow-up, current and baseline A1C, and the relationship between the period of follow-up and the variation in A1C. Mean age at diagnosis was 10.4±7.3 years, and duration of disease was 5.6±6.3 years. Mean age was 16±9.3 years, while mean BMI was 20.3±5.3. Mean duration of follow-up was 27.5±15.6 months. Baseline and current A1C were 10.5±1.8 and 8.2±1.7, respectively. A significant reduction in A1C was observed with the follow-up by the DOCE Project (p=0.00436). Other significant correlations were found between duration of treatment and reduction of current A1C (p=0.00000001) and duration follow-up and A1C reduction (p=0.00000003). Continued education and multiprofessional care for type 1 diabetes mellitus patients is an effective method for long-term glycemic control.

 Key words: Diabetes mellitus, glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C), education, glycemic control.


This report provides operating statistics for and describes structural changes in the Farm Credit System (FCS) banks and associations for 1986-91. In addition, statistics on FCS district loan portfolios are provided. The 1986-91 period was characterized by significant downsizing and restructuring of system institutions. Loan portfolios shifted away from long-term farm lending. Short-and intermediate-term lending increased as a percentage of total loans. Profitability of FCS institutions generally improved over the period as the agricultural economy strengthened and a favorable interest rate environment persisted. Improved profitability enabled FCS institutions to strengthen their capital positions. Rural residence loans did not approach their statutory limit of 15 percent of total loans in any district, but constituted more than 5 percent of total loans in three districts.


This book offers a systematic introduction to the areas, methods and problems of studying theatre. It is aimed at theatre studies students and all those interested in the workings of theatre. How was, and how is, the term theatre used? Students and other readers interested in theatre should look to their own experiences as a starting point for widening their own horizons, and not to elaborate theories. This textbook for critical study is intended to accompany this process, and explains theoretical approaches using both contemporary and historical European examples. Since 1992 Andreas Kotte is director of the Institute for Theatre Studies (ITW) at the University of Berne and editor of the publication series Theatrum Helveticum and Materialien des ITW Bern (21 volumes so far).


Purpose: The aim was to document the prevalence and predictors of anxiety and depression 5 years after stroke, across four European centres. Method: A cohort of 220 stroke patients was assessed at 2, 4 and 6 months and 5 years after stroke. Patients were assessed on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and measures of motor function and independence in activities of daily living. Results: At 5 years, the prevalence of anxiety was 29% and depression 33%, with no significant differences between centres. The severity of anxiety and depression increased significantly between 6 months and 5 years. Higher anxiety at 6 months and centre were significantly associated with anxiety at 5 years, but not measures of functional recovery. Higher depression scores at 6 months, older age and centre, but not measures of functional recovery, were associated with depression at 5 years. Conclusions: Anxiety and depression were more frequent at 5 years after stroke than at 6 months. There were significant differences between four European centres in the severity of anxiety and depression. Although the main determinant of anxiety or depression scores at 5 years was the level of anxiety or depression at 6 months, this accounted for little of the variance. Centre was also a significant predictor of mood at 5 years. There needs to be greater recognition of the development of mood disorders late after stroke and evaluation of variation in management policies across centres. Implications for Rehabilitation Depression and anxiety persisted up to 5 years after stroke in about a third of patients. Variation in the rates of anxiety and depression between different European centres suggest management policies rather than stroke related factors may determine their persistence. The effect of variations in stroke management policies should be investigated. Patients' mood should be monitored over time in order to detect those with late onset mood disorders after stroke.


Worldwide literature shows that the potential for electricity generation of every geothermal source is depended on the local condition, so the exploration phase is an important step in the geothermal power development to identify the site, structural feature and temperature parameters of a geothermal system-reservoir. The paper presents some results of the first experiment carried out by using a combination of geological, geochemical, geophysical methods, and temperature measurements in shallow drilling hole (depth 250 m) were applied for investigation in the Bang hot water spring area, Quang Binh province, during the period from 2012 to 2015. The location and structural feature of geothermal reservoir identified by the resistivity model obtained from the magneto-telluric survey and geochemical analysis was a good consistency with the existent reservoirs of a typical hydro-geothermal system of magmatic origin. The temperature gradient and heat flow at the shallow drilling hole are reached 4.1°C/100m and 83.4 mW/m 2 , respectively. The reservoir temperatures estimated by both geochemical thermometer and temperature modeling are varied in a range 167-200°C at the depth >2 km. The obtained results allow to determine the suitable location for test drilling to the reservoir and to propose for the next phase of the Geothermal Program in the area. References Arnorsson S., 1985. The use of mixing models and chemical geothermometers for estimating underground temperatures in geothermal systems. J. Volcan. Geoth. Res., 23, 209-335. Bertani R, 2015. Geothermal Power Generation in the World 2010-2014 Update Report. Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2015 Melbourne, Australia, 19-25, April, 19p. Brikowski T., Norton D., Blackwell D., 2001. Final Report: Natural State Models of The Geysers Geothermal System, DOE Contract DE-FG07-98ID13677. December 31. Bui Cong Que, Nguyen Kim Lap, 1992. 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IGA report, 2013. Geothermal Exploration best practices: A Guide to resource data collection, analysis, and presentation for Geothermal projects. Lucak C.V., 1988. Heat flow in the Continental rift zones. Publish House " Nauka"  Soviet Union Academy of Science, Novosibirsk Branch, 1988, 198 pp. ( in Russian language ). Munoz, G., 2014. Exploring for Geothermal Resources with Electromagnetic Methods, Surv Geophys, 35, 101-122. Nguyen Hoang, Flower M., Pham Tich Xuan, 1996. The petrology of Late Kainozoic Basalts in Vietnam. In monography "Geology and Natural resource", P.H. Science and Technology, Ha Noi, 142-155 (in Vietnamese). Nguyen Xuan Han et al., 1991. Young volcano activity in Vietnam East Sea. In monography "Geology and Natural resource", PH Science and Technology, Ha Noi, 84-96 (in Vietnamese). Phan Cu Tien et al., 1991. Geology of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Geological survey of Vietnam, 2-nd edition. Hanoi, 158p. Powell T. and Cumming, M. 2010. Spreadsheets for  Geothermal Water and gas geochemistry. Proceedings, Thirty-Fifth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, February 1-3, SGP-TR-188, 10p. Tran Anh Vu, Dinh Van Toan, Doan Van Tuyen, Lai Hop Phong, Duong Thi Ninh, Nguyen Thi Hong Quang, Pham Ngoc Dat, 2016. Utilization of seismic refraction data for study of structure of Bang Hot-water source, Le Thuy, Quang Binh. Vietnam Journal of Earth Sciences, 38(4), 393-408. DOI:  10.15625/0866-7187/38/4/8994 . Tran Huyen, Truong Minh, Nguyen Tien Bao, 1999. On the geothermal regime in the sedimentary basins, continental shelf of Vietnam. Journal of economic geology and mineral materials, Publication of  of the Department of geology and minerals 18, 16-25 (in Vietnamese ). Tran Van Tri (Project manager), et al., 2004. Map of geology and mineral resources of Vietnam on scale  1:1,000,000. Publication of the Department of Geology and mineral recources of Vietnam, Hanoi  (in Vietnamese). Truesdell, A.H. and Fournier R.O., 1977. Procedure for estimating the tempera-ture of a hot water component in a mixed water using a plot of dissolved silica vs enthalpy. US Geol. Survey J. Res., 5, 49-52. Truong Thu Huong (Ed.), Vo Bich ngoc, Nguyen Duc Thang, Pham Toan, Nguyen Huu Tri, 2006. Online Handbook: "Physical properties of Rocks and Minerals in Vietnam. Publication of Northern Vietnam Geological Maping Division, Ha Noi, 546p (in Vietnamese). Vo Cong Nghiep (Ed.), 1998. Geothermal resource in Vietnam and perspectives of their use for energy purposes. Monography Published by Vietnam Department for Geological and mineral resource. Hanoi, 300p (in Vietnamese). Wang C.T., and Horne R.N., 1999. Boiling Flow in a Horizontal Fracture, Geothermics, 29, 759-772. Williams C.F., M.J. Reed and R.H. Mariner, 2008. A review of methods ap-plied by the U.S. Geological Survey in the assessment of identified geothermal resources, U.S. Geol. Survey Open-File Report 2008-1296, 27p., [http://pubs. usgs.gov/ of/2008/ 1296/].


The Chicago Delay Task Force recommended the construction of nine largescale, flow-through hold pads at Chicago O'Hare International Airport to reduce the potential for airfield gridlock. Each of the nine proposed hold pad locations will enable air traffic controllers to hold outbound aircraft awaiting departure clearance or inbound aircraft awaiting gate availability without interfering with the flow of airport surface traffic. The size of these hold pads, each capable of holding between five and ten wide-body aircraft, introduce not only significant construction costs, but also unique operational considerations. Use of each hold pad will reduce controller workload and will save the airlines as much as five million dollars annually in aircraft delay cost.


The use of pay-back period analysis for economic evaluation of solar photovoltaic (PV) system reinforces the importance of the duration of the system. In a dynamic economic environment, the cost of energy increases at a faster rate than the common inflation rate. A time can be ascertained at which the market entry of the PV system will be profitable, i.e. at which the pay-back time drops below a value considered as the market threshold, provided the parameters describing the dynamic economic system remain unchanged. The market penetration of the PV system has been determined in Indian economic conditions and found to depend mainly on PV array costs and energy income reinvestment rate. The low PV array cost, high-energy income reinvestment rate, high solar cell reference efficiency and high battery efficiency have a substantial effect on the reduction of the energy price and pay-back period with early market penetration by the PV system.


Glycoproteomic analyses of tryptic (glyco)peptides from wild-type (WT) porcine IgG were performed. In a first protocol, intact antibody was digested with trypsin, followed by glycopeptide enrichment and liquid chromatography-tandem MS (HPLC–MS/MS). This procedure allowed to detect N -glycopeptides observed previously (Lopez, P. G. et al., Glycoconj. J. 2016, 33 (1), 79), plus other non-reported N -glycopeptides. The method provided useful information but did not allow to discern between Fab (antigen-binding region) and Fc (constant region, fragment crystallizable) peptides/glycopeptides. In a second scheme, glycoproteomic analysis was attempted for Fab and Fc fragments obtained by papain and Fabulous™ hydrolysis. Usually employed for milligram amounts of antibodies, the papain and Fabulous™ protocols were adapted to 200 μ g of WT IgG. Fab and Fc fragments were separated by size-exclusion (SEC) HPLC. Fractions collected were reanalyzed by gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Bands were excised, and fragments digested in-gel, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS and HPLC/MS–MS. In the protocol no glycopeptide enrichment was involved, that is, whole tryptic digests were analyzed. Fc N -glycopeptides were identified, and greater numbers of non-glycosylated peptides were tabulated. Very few peptides overlapped between Fc and Fab, as most peptides were clearly from Fc or Fab. HPLC-MS/MS detected more sialylated glycoforms than MALDI-TOF-MS. Sections of Fab and Fc were assigned de novo, through a database search or manually.


Social interaction starts with perception of the world around you. This study investigated two fundamental issues regarding the development of discrimination of higher spatial frequencies, which are important building blocks of perception. Firstly, it mapped the typical developmental trajectory of higher spatial frequency discrimination. Secondly, it developed and validated a novel design that could be applied to improve atypically developed vision. Specifically, this study examined the effect of age and reward on task performance, practice effects, and motivation (i.e., number of trials completed) in a higher spatial frequency (reference frequency: 6 cycles per degree) discrimination task. We measured discrimination thresholds in children aged between 7 to 12 years and adults (N = 135). Reward was manipulated by presenting either positive reinforcement or punishment. Results showed a decrease in discrimination thresholds with age, thus revealing that higher spatial frequency discrimination continues to develop after 12 years of age. This development continues longer than previously shown for discrimination of lower spatial frequencies. Moreover, thresholds decreased during the run, indicating that discrimination abilities improved. Reward did not affect performance or improvement. However, in an additional group of 5–6 year-olds (N = 28) punishments resulted in the completion of fewer trials compared to reinforcements. In both reward conditions children aged 5–6 years completed only a fourth or half of the run (64 to 128 out of 254 trials) and were not motivated to continue. The design thus needs further adaptation before it can be applied to this age group. Children aged 7–12 years and adults completed the run, suggesting that the design is successful and motivating for children aged 7–12 years. This study thus presents developmental differences in higher spatial frequency discrimination thresholds. Furthermore, it presents a design that can be used in future developmental studies that require multiple stimulus presentations such as visual perceptual learning.


The characterization of the fracture toughness of polyolefin composites filled with inorganic particles is commonly solved by means of standardized testing procedures based wherther on the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) and the Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics approaches. Fracture parameters as Kc, Gc and Jc are obtained and managed as "material" parameters in plain strain conditions. Nevertheless, particulate polyolefin composites are often in form of film or sheet, making difficult to achieve the specimen size criteria for fracture toughness characterization under plain strain conditions. In such cases, the concept os Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) is nowadays being increasingly applied and considered as a reliable way of fracture toughness determination for this kind of composites. The EWF has traditionally been used for fracture characterization of metals and ductile polymers under plain stress conditions, and most recently applied to ductile particulate composites. In the present chapter, the application of the EWF testing method to the particulate polyolefin composites is reviewed analyzed with regard to the variables of the testing method and the composite characteristics, such as the polyolefin nature and its ductility , the reinforcing particle characteristics and concentration, and the interfacial adhesion level, among others.


Instant messaging (IM) is a popular internet application. In China, there are more than ten IM products competing with each other. Of them, Tencent's QQ owned and managed by a young Chinese entrepreneur is in a dominant position taking about 90% of the market share. This paper identifies the factors that determine the wide adoption of QQ by students and staffs in a Chinese university, which are social influence, enjoyment and communications effectiveness associated with this IM. Practical implications for young entrepreneurs as the main forces of IM business are offered.


The blood flow in the ascending aorta comes to rest after the aortic valve closure until the next ejection phase starts, and the flow in the aortic arch is close to an intermittent flow rather than an oscillatory flow. In order to reveal the nature of turbulence in the aorta, the measurements of turbulence in the intermittent air flow in a straight tube were made by a hot-film anemometer. The periodically intermittent flow was generated by the piston connected with a step-rod. The resting period was varied in a range of between 0.3 and 10 sec, but the velocity wave patern of the piston was fixed. The turbulence intensity, skewness and kurtosis for the intermittent flow depend entirely on the resting period. For the resting period of 0.3 sec, the nature of turbulence resembles that of pure oscillatory flow. As the resting period becomes larger, a significant intermittence of turbulence appears in the longer range of phase. The turbulence in the intermittent flow with a relatively long resting period turns out to be close to that in the ascending aorta.


We report the crystal structure at 1.59 A and the proposed amino acid sequence of an endo-1,4-beta-xylanase (PVX) from the thermophilic fungus Paecilomyces varioti Bainier (PvB), stable up to 75 degrees C. This fungus is attracting clinical attention as a pathogen causing post-surgical infections. Its xylanase, known as a skin-contact allergen, is the first protein from this fungus whose three-dimensional structure has been elucidated. The crystals of PVX conform to the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1 )with a=38.76 A, b=54.06 A and c=90.06 A. The structure was solved by molecular replacement techniques using polyalanine coordinates of the Thermomyces lanuginosus xylanase (PDB code 1YNA) and a careful model building based on the amino acid sequence known for two trypsin-digested peptide fragments (17 residues), the sequence and structural alignment of family-11 xylanases and electron density maps. The final refined model has 194 amino acid residues and 128 water molecules, with a crystallographic R-factor of 19.07 % and a free R-factor of 21.94 %. The structure belongs to an all-beta fold, with two curved beta-sheets, forming the cylindrical active-site cleft, and a lone alpha-helix, as present in other family-11 xylanases. We have carried out a quantitative comparison of the structure and sequence of the present thermophilic xylanase (PVX) with other available native structures of mesophiles and thermophiles, the first such detailed analysis to be carried out on family-11 xylanases. The analysis provides a basis for the rationalisation of the idea that the "hinge" region is made more compact in thermophiles by the addition of a disulphide bridge between Cys110 and Cys154 and a N-H.O hydrogen bond between Trp159 near the extremity of the lone alpha-helix and Trp138 on beta-strand B8. This work brings out explicitly the presence of the C-H.O and the C-H.pi type interactions in these enzymes. A complete description of structural stability of these enzymes needs to take account of these weaker interactions.


Fast and accurate algorithms are necessary for Content based image retrieval (CBIR) systems to perform operations on compressed images databases such as jpeg or through compressive sensing. Feature extraction and feature matching are two important steps in any CBIR system. Wrong matching may affect the accuracy rate of CBIR systems. The matching of query image which is in uncompressed form to image in database which is in compressed form is very challenging. However, existing algorithms suffer from a flawed tradeoff between accuracy and speed. In this research work, shape based image retrieval is carried out using modified standard DCT approach and parallelized it on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). The main goal of this research work is to make CBIR faster for processing a large number of images database using parallel implementation of algorithms on GPU. GPUs are emerging as powerful parallel systems at a cheaper cost. Our work employs extensive usage of highly multithreaded architecture and shared memory of multi-cored GPU. An efficient use of shared memory is required to optimize parallel reduction in Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA). Experimental results show that our method can achieve a speedup of about 15x over the serial implementation when running on a GPU named GeForce 9500 GT having 32 cores. Shape based retrieval method of CBIR is also evaluated using Recall, Precision, F-measure, True Negative rate, and Accuracy evaluation measures


Contemporary tort theory is dominated by a debate between legal economists and corrective-justice theorists. Legal economists suppose that tortfeasors and tortious wrongs are false targets for cheapest cost-avoiders and avoidable future losses. Corrective-justice theorists argue powerfully that the economic account of tort as search for cheapest cost-avoiders with respect to future accidents does not capture the most fundamental fact about tort adjudication, namely, that the reason we hold defendants liable in tort is that they have wronged their victims and should therefore repair the harm they have done. Deterring cheapest cost-avoiders from committing future harms no more justifies imposing liability in tort than deterring future crime justifies hanging the innocent. This is a powerful critique of the economic theory of tort, but it overshoots the mark. As an account of tort law, corrective justice puts the cart before the horse Tort is a law of wrongs, not just a law of redress for wrongs. Repairing harm wrongly done is the next best way of complying with an obligation not to do harm wrongly in the first place. Rights and remedies form a unity in which rights have priority. Corrective justice is thus an essential but subordinate aspect of tort. This paper develops this line of criticism of corrective-justice theory and offers an alternative account of tort that places primary norms of harm avoidance and respect for rights at its center. On this conception, tort is—as the corrective-justice theorists rightly insist—a law of wrongs, but its distinctiveness lies in the content and character of the wrongs with which it is concerned. At its core, tort is concerned with protecting essential conditions of individual agency.


Patients with chronic pain exhibit altered default mode network (DMN) activity. This preliminary project questioned whether comorbid disease states are associated with further brain alterations. Thirteen women with fibromyalgia (FM) only and 26 women with fibromyalgia with comorbid chronic insomnia (FMI) underwent a single night of ambulatory polysomnography and completed a sleep diary each morning for 14 days prior to performing a neuroimaging protocol. Novel imaging analyses were utilized to identify regions associated with significantly disordered sleep that were more active in task-negative periods than task-oriented periods in participants with FMI, when compared to participants with FM. It was hypothesized that core DMN areas (ie, cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobule, medial prefrontal cortex, medial temporal cortex, precuneus) would exhibit increased activity during task-negative periods. Analyses revealed that significantly disordered sleep significantly contributed to group differences in the right cingulate gyrus, left lentiform nucleus, left anterior cingulate, left superior gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, right caudate, and the left inferior parietal lobules. Results suggest that FMI may alter some brain areas of the DMN, above and beyond FM. However, future work will need to investigate these results further by controlling for chronic insomnia only before conclusions can be made regarding the effect of FMI comorbidity on the DMN.


This paper considers the emergence and evolution of punitive and compensatory remedies in ancient law. I describe how ancient practices of retaliation gradually evolved, through four general phases, into rules requiring victim's compensation. I suggest that the Biblical lex talionis (eye for an eye ... life for a life) and similar rules that emerged in other ancient legal systems triggered an important change in the ancient law of wrongs, marking the end of a system of retaliatory justice and the emergence of a system based on victim's compensation. The paper addresses four related questions: (1) Why was a single limit of 1:1 to talionic penalties introduced across all categories of wrongdoing, replacing older customary practices which had different multipliers according to the circumstances of the case? (2) In the presence of imperfect enforcement, did the 1:1 limit to retaliation result in under-deterrence? (3) Why did the practices of literal talionis rapidly fall into disuse after their written formalization? and (4) Were the kofer and blood-money payments made under a threat of literal retaliation likely to generate over-extraction from the wrongdoer and excessive deterrence?


One important source of variability in the performance and success of products designed for use by people is the people themselves. In many cases, the acceptability of the design is affected more by the variability in the human users than by the variability attributable to the hardware from which the product is constructed. Designing for human variability as an inherent part of the product optimization process can improve the overall performance of the product. This paper presents a new approach to artifact design that applies population sampling and stochastic posture prediction in an optimization environment to achieve optimal designs that are robust to variability among users, including differences in age, physical size, strength, and cognitive capability. A case study involving the layout of the interior of a heavy truck cab is presented, focusing on simultaneous placement of the seat and steering-wheel adjustment ranges. Trade-offs between adjustability (an indicator of cost), driver accommodation, and safety are explored under this paradigm.


In Chicago, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard discussed a possible strategy for extending the U.S. economic expansion. He said his preferred approach relies on placing more weight on financial market signals, such as the slope of the yield curve and market-based inflation expectations, than has been customary in past U.S. monetary policy strategy. He explained that the empirical relationship between inflation and unemployment (the so-called Phillips curve) has largely broken down over the last two decades, leaving monetary policymakers without a clear guidepost for action. ?Handled properly, current financial market information can provide the basis for a better forward-looking monetary policy strategy,? he told the CFA Society Chicago. He also noted that these signals could help the FOMC better identify the neutral policy rate. ?The flattening yield curve and subdued market-based inflation expectations suggest that the current monetary policy stance is already neutral or possibly somewhat restrictive,? he said.


In 2004 The Australia Institute led a survey of the non-government sector and produced the report Silencing Dissent: Non-government organisations and Australian democracy. It concluded that NGOs felt the government was undermining their credibility, shutting them out of civic discourse, defunding (or threatening to defund) organisations that were considered uncooperative, and micromanaging NGO activities by dismantling peak bodies.
The report detailed the growing fears across the NGO sector concerning their right to advocate in the public policy domains of most concern to them, and more broadly about their changing role in the democratic process.
A lot has happened in the 13 years since this report was published including changes to the political and regulatory landscape, the formation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission, the passing of the Charities Act and advances in the digital landscape.
However the threat to advocacy remains a concern.
Civil Voices set out to re-examine NGO perceptions about their capacity to participate in public debate and see how public debate and advocacy has changed since the last study.
What we found is that not for profits are on a path of quiet advocacy. To a greater or lesser degree civil society organisations are engaging in various forms of "self silencing" – treading very carefully in their advocacy work less they risk financial security and political retribution.
Australian civil society needs to be supported, and encouraged to engage in frank and fearless advocacy. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent in this regard.
The more the silencing of civil society is normalised the higher the risk becomes to the overall quality of Australian democracy.


Geological and structural analyses integrated with stratigraphic and sedimentological data allowed for a reconstruction of the architecture of the Tortonian-Messinian chain-foreland system in the outer zone of the Central Apennines. Facies and thickness variations of the siliciclastic deposits belonging to the Tortonian-Messinian Camerino (Calamita et alii, 1979a e b) and Messinian Laga Basins (Centamore et alii, 1991 cum bibl.) indicate the presence of NW-SE trending synsedimentary normal faults which controlled the architecture of the synorogenic basins. These are characterized by troughs, where the greater thickness (about 1000 meters) of the siliciclastic deposits succession (Tortonian p.p.-Messinian in age) are present, bounded on the inner side by structural highs, in which the deposition of hemipelagic sediments (Schlier Formation sedimented until late Tortonian in the Camerino Basin, or Messinian p.p. in the Laga Basin) and Messinian deposits with reduced thickness occurred. Messinian siliciclastic and or evaporitic deposits sealed the normal fault activity in the Camerino Basin, where the main structure is represented by the NE-dipping Camerino fault, bounding the inner side of the siliciclastic basin depocenter. The Camerino Basin architecture is confined to the western limb of the M. S. Vicino-M. d9Aria anticline, related to the M. Sibillini thrust which developed during Neogene, and is a blind structure that does not involve the Oligocene-Miocene sequence located below the Laga basin siliciclastic deposits and shortened by minor detachment folds and related thrusts. The Laga Basin is connected to NE-dipping normal faults recognized along the forelimb of the M. S. Vicino-M. d9Aria anticline, which was also active during deposition of the post-evaporitic member of Laga Fm. This fold nucleated in correspondence with the synsedimentary structural high between the Camerino and Laga Basins. During the Neogene compression, an inversion of the synsedimentary normal faults, and their rotation in correspondence of the forelimbs, occurred. The architecture of the siliciclastic basins is represented in the restored geological cross-sections, where the reconstructed templates show a sort of domino model, typical of an extensional regime, which progressively involved the Apulian foreland, and controlled the depocenter of the synorogenic troughs in front of the Apenninic chain. The reconstructed flexural geometry of the Apenninic chain-Apulian foreland system is characterized by the presence of bulges localized near the front of the chain. They are displaced by foreland dipping normal faults which localize the Tortonian-Messinian siliciclastic basin troughs, that can be interpreted as back-bulge basins. This geometry is in agreement with the flexural model characterized by the presence of a weakness (Waschbusch & Royden, 1992; de Celles & Giles, 1996), inherited and/or developed by a flexural process, which reduced the elastic thickness of the Apulian foreland. Finally, the correspondence of the Umbro-Marchean ridge with the Tortonian-Messinian flexural bulge of the Apulian foreland in roll-back below the Apenninic chain evidences its thrust system geometry heritage.


Using Active Thermography defects such as cracks can be detected fast and reliably. Choosing from a wide range of excitation techniques the method can be adapted to a number of tasks in non‐destructive evaluation. Induction thermography is ideally suited for testing metallic components for cracks at or close to the surface. In power generation a number of components are subjected to high loads and stresses—therefore defect detection is crucial for a safe operation of the engines. Apart from combustion turbines this also applies to generators: At regular inspection intervals even small cracks have to be detected to avoid crack growth and consequently failure of the component. As an imaging technique thermography allows for a fast 100% testing of the complete surface of all relevant parts. An automated setup increases the cost effectiveness of induction thermography significantly. Time needed to test a single part is reduced, the number of tested parts per shift is increased, and cost for testing is reduced significantly. In addition, automation guarantees a reliable testing procedure which detects all critical defects. We present how non‐destructive testing can be automated using as an example an industrial application at the Siemens sector Energy, and a new induction thermography setup for generator components.


In this paper, a 60-GHz photonic millimeter-wave link system for short- to medium-range broadband wireless data transmission is investigated. The system employs advanced mm-wave photonic components and radio-over-fiber (RoF) techniques for the generation of a DSB-SC optical mm-wave carrier and its subsequent on-off-keying modulation and transmission. For short-range applications, we have constructed a compact wireless RoF transmitter consisting of a high-frequency photodiode and a mm-wave antenna only. This system achieved error-free (BER=10-9, 231-1 PRBS, NRZ) in-door transmission of 12.5-Gb/s signals over wireless distances up to 3.1 m with a receiver sensitivity as low as - 45.4 dBm . For fixed wireless access (FWA) requiring a bit error rate of 10-4, the maximum transmission distance for 12.5 Gb/s is increased up to 5.8 m. For medium-range broadband wireless transmission an electrical radio-frequency (RF) amplifier was employed in the RoF transmitter. Here we achieved 7.5-Gb/s error-free transmission in out-door line-of-sight experiments over wireless distances of up to 36 m. Based upon the experimental results, we expect that the maximum wireless distance the system could accommodate for 12.5 Gb/s is in the kilometer range when using high-gain antennas and an RF transmitter amplifier with a sufficient bandwidth.


In this project, it was investigated if well-being in frail elderly patients (hospital and family practitioners patients) can be increased by means of increasing their Self-Management Ability (SMA). Frail elderly people have suffered interacting losses in physical, social, and psychological domains of functioning. These losses lead to a decreased reserve capacity for dealing with these and new losses. As such, frail elderly people have a risk of declining well-being. To counteract or mitigate these negative consequences of frailty, an intervention was proposed to increase frail elderly people's adaptive abilities (self-management abilities) to realize well-being. The intervention consisted of six home visits by a geriatric nurse. The visits were psycho-educational and contained information and assignments. Effects of the intervention were tested by comparing an experimental and a control group, both about 50 persons. Besides, some theoretical models about the expected relations between frailty, self-management abilities and well-being were tested in several samples. These samples consisted of elderly people with different levels of frailty. Main results and conclusions: - Using frailty to select older people at risk for interventions may, therefore, be a large improvement compared to selecting people using chronological age. - Both self-management abilities and well-being can be increased in frail elderly hospital patients by means of a general intervention that does not focus on the consequences of specific diseases, but on elderly people's general capacity for realizing well-being. - The intervention increased overall well-being, which includes physical, social, and psychological well-being. - The intervention increased the self-management abilities and via these, well-being. - The increase in self-management abilities and well-being was found in the short term (directly after the intervention) and in the longer term (4 months after the intervention). - We were able to give our intervention a clear theoretical basis that connected the problem, the working mechanism, and the outcomes. Using the theoretical, we were able to design an intervention that increased the theoretical mechanism of self-management abilities and thereby appeared to lead to the expected outcome (increased well-being). - Most of our theoretical propositions predicted positive well-being well. Other theorizing might be required to capture relevant predictors for negative well-being. Well-being must be considered multidimensionally. - Self-management abilities are mostly related to positive aspects of well-being; frailty is mostly related to negative aspects of well-being. - The SMA intervention can be implemented in transmural care for frail elderly hospital patients, but additional criteria for selecting the patients have to be used.


Language is communication on several discourse levels. The target of teaching a language and the literature of a foreign language is to communicate a message. Reading, appreciating, analysing, and interpreting poetry as a sophisticated rhetorical expression of human thoughts, emotions, and philosophical messages is more feasible through the use of linguistic pragmatic tools from a communicative discourse perspective. The poet's intention, speech act, illocutionary act, and perlocutionary goal can be better understood when communicative situational context as well as linguistic discourse structure theories are employed. The use of linguistic theories in the teaching of poetry is, therefore, intrinsic to students' comprehension, interpretation, and appreciation of poetry of the different ages. It is the purpose of this study to show how both teachers as well as students can apply these linguistic theories and tools to dramatic poetic texts for an engaging, enlightening, and effective interpretation and appreciation of the language. Theories drawn from areas of pragmatics, discourse analysis, embedded discourse level, communicative situational context, and other linguistic approaches were applied to selected poetry texts from the different centuries. Further, in a simple statistical count of the number of poems with dialogic dramatic discourse with embedded two or three levels of discourse in different anthologies outweighs the number of descriptive poems with a one level of discourse, between the poet and the reader. Poetry is thus discourse on one, two, or three levels. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers and students in the area of ESL/EFL use the linguistics theories for a better understanding of poetry as communicative discourse. The practice of applying these linguistic theories in classrooms and in research will allow them to perceive the language and its linguistic, social, and cultural aspect. Texts will become live illocutionary acts with a perlocutionary acts goal rather than mere literary texts in anthologies. Keywords—Coda, commissives, communicative situation, context of culture, context of reference, context of utterance, dialogue, directives, discourse analysis, dramatic discourse interaction, duologue, embedded discourse levels, language for communication, linguistic structures, literary texts, poetry, pragmatic theories, reader response, speech acts (macro/micro), stylistics, teaching literature, TEFL, terms of address, turn-taking.


Before new interventions can be used in disease control programmes, it is essential that they are carefully evaluated in "field trials", which may be complex and expensive undertakings. Descriptions of the detailed procedures and methods used in trials that have been conducted in the past have generally not been published. As a consequence, those planning such trials have few guidelines available and little access to previously accumulated knowledge. In this book the practical issues of trial design and conduct are discussed fully and in sufficient detail for the text to be used as a "toolbox" by field investigators. The toolbox has now been extensively tested through use of the first two editions and this third edition is a comprehensive revision, incorporating the many developments that have taken place with respect to trials since 1996 and involving more than 30 contributors. Most of the chapters have been extensively revised and 7 new chapters have been added.


Summary
Since age distribution analysis has shown that the prevalence of infection by Entamoeba histolytica reaches a maximum during school age and adolescence, the hypothesis that examinations of school children might yield evidence indicative of the prevalence of the infection in the community appeared justifiable. Such an investigation of a competent sample of the school population in Forsyth County, North Carolina revealed a prevalence of 6.1 per cent in the 1,934 school children examined. No significant differences in prevalence were observed with respect to racial distribution or residence. One group of infected urban children served as probands to the positive families and a second group of apparently uninfected urban children served as probands to the negative control families.
Examination of these two groups revealed a prevalence of E. histolytica of 20.7 per cent among members of the positive families and a prevalence of 0.6 per cent among the members of the negative control families.
These two comparable groups resided within the city limits of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. However, the observed prevalence of infection by E. histolytica was almost twice as great in the Negro families as in the white families. Since there is no evidence to indicate a special racial predilection to amebiasis among Negroes, this statistically significant difference may be attributable to greater exposure to infection and a poorer sanitary environment.


A new type of carbonaceous chondrite, the Tagish Lake meteorite, exhibits a reflectance spectrum similar to spectra observed from the D-type asteroids, which are relatively abundant in the outer solar system beyond the main asteroid belt and have been inferred to be more primitive than any known meteorite. Until the Tagish Lake fall, these asteroids had no analog in the meteorite collections. The Tagish Lake meteorite is a carbon-rich (4 to 5 weight %), aqueously altered carbonaceous chondrite and contains high concentrations of presolar grains and carbonate minerals, which is consistent with the expectation that the D-type asteroids were originally made of primitive materials and did not experience any extensive heating.


The social realities of old age have undergone profound changes since the middle ages. This study shows, however, that the images, attitudes and expectations of old people have changed for less. Shulamith Shahar shows how the status and social participation of the elderly varied according to gender, social stratum, economic resources, position, level of functioning, and personality, as well as according to regional custom. The book offers a broad cultural history of old age in medieval western Europe. Shahar examines the images, attitudes and advocated norms used in relation to the elderly and looks at the elderly in various social strata: churchmen and nuns, rulers, small office holders and soldiers, town dwellers and peasants. A valuable insight into life and society in the Middle Ages, this will prove an invaluable addition to history reading lists.


BACKGROUND
Type III hyperlipidaemia (T3HL) is characterised by equimolar increases in plasma triglycerides (TG) and cholesterol in <10% of APOE22 carriers conveying high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We investigate the role of a weighted triglyceride-raising polygenic score (TG.PS) precipitating T3HL.

METHODS
The TG.PS (restricted to genome-wide significance and weighted by published independent effect estimates) was applied to the Oxford Biobank (OBB, n = 6952) and the UK Biobank (UKB, n = 460,037), to analyse effects on plasma lipid phenotypes. Fasting plasma lipid, lipoprotein biochemistry and NMR lipoprotein profiles were analysed in OBB. CVD prevalence/incidence was examined in UKB.

RESULTS
One TG.PS standard-deviation (SD) was associated with 13.0% (95% confidence-interval 12.0-14.0%) greater TG in OBB and 15.2% (15.0-15.4%) in UKB. APOE22 carriers had 19.0% (1.0-39.0%) greater TG in UKB. Males were more susceptible to TG.PS effects (4.0% (2.0-6.0%) greater TG with 1 TG.PS SD in OBB, 1.6% (1.3-1.9%) in UKB) than females. There was no interaction between APOE22 and TG.PS, BMI, sex or age on TG. APOE22 carriers had lower apolipoprotein B (apoB) (OBB; -0.35 (-0.29 to -0.40)g/L, UKB; -0.41 (-0.405 to -0.42)g/L). NMR lipoprotein lipid concentrations were discordant to conventional biochemistry in APOE22 carriers. In APOE22 compared with APOE33, CVD was no more prevalent in similarly hypertriglyceridaemic participants (OR 0.97 95%CI 0.76-1.25), but was less prevalent in normolipidaemia (OR 0.81, 95%CI 0.69-0.95); no differences were observed in CVD incidence.

CONCLUSIONS
TG.PS confers an additive risk for developing T3HL, that is of comparable effect size to conventional risk factors. The protective effect of APOE22 for prevalent CVD is consistent with lower apoB in APOE22 carriers.


This paper focuses on Engineering Education Research on Technology Enhanced Learning carried out at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), and on its current focus on personal and collaborative learning. After some thoughts on the distinctive nature of Engineering Education Research, the interplay between engineering education practice and professional engineering practice is analyzed. In particular, it is demonstrated how the actual engineering practice of the faculty members influenced the acceptance and the success of new learning approaches and solutions. Finally, the impact on the current Web 2.0 paradigm is discussed and illustrated with the example of project-based collaborative learning activities supported by innovative social software that can be considered as a Personal Learning Environment. A vision of how to shape and exploit personal learning environments to tackle engineering education research challenges is also presented; this deals especially with the importance of user-driven recommendation mechanisms relying of proper trust models.


When investors commit capital to a private equity fund, the money is not immediately invested but is called by the fund manager throughout an investment period of up to five years. This business model allows private equity fund managers to invest the committed capital at their own discretion, which gives them the flexibility to time the markets. Based on 5,366 private equity deals, which are benchmarked against around 11,000 transaction market multiples and 170,000 trading market multiples, we find evidence that on average private equity funds are able to add value by timing the markets. Throughout the holding period, private equity funds achieve on average a 0.5 EBITDA market multiple expansion. Market timing ability is not captured by performance measures such as the PME, yet it is a potential source of returns for investors.


The development of additional methods for detecting and identifying Babesia and Plasmodium infections may be useful in disease monitoring, management and control efforts. The preliminary evaluate synthetic peptide-based serodiagnosis, a hydrophilic sequence (DDESEFDKEK) was selected from the published BabR gene of B. bovis. Immunization of rabbits and cattle with the hemocyanin-conjugated peptide elicited antibody responses that specifically detected both P. falciparum and B. bovis antigens by immunofluorescence and Western blots. Using a dot-ELISA with this peptide, antisera from immunized and naturally-infected cattle, and immunized rodents, were specifically detected. Reactivity was weak and correlated with peptide immunization or infection. DNA-based detection using repetitive DNA was species-specific in dot-blot formats for B. bovis DNA, and in both dot-blot and in situ formats for P. falciparum; a streamlined enzyme-linked synthetic DNA assay for P. falciparum detected 30 parasites/mm3 from patient blood using either colorimetric (2-15 h color development) or chemiluminescent detection (0.5-6-min exposures). Serodiagnostic and DNA hybridization methods may be complementary in the respective detection of both chronic and acute infections. However, recent improvements in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) make feasible a more sensitive and uniform approach to the diagnosis of these and other infectious disease complexes, with appropriate primers and processing methods. An analysis of ribosomal DNA genes of Plasmodium and Toxoplasma identified Apicomplexa-conserved sequence regions. Specific and distinctive PCR profiles were obtained for primers spanning the internal transcribed spacer locus for each of several Plasmodium and Babesia species.


The efficacy of combined radiation and fluorouracil as adjuvant therapy for pancreatic cancer is suggested by a prospective randomized study conducted by the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG). Twenty-two patients randomized to no adjuvant treatment and 21 to combined therapy were analyzed. Neither life-threatening toxic reaction nor death due to toxic effect was encountered. The study was terminated prematurely because of an unacceptably low rate of accrual combined with the observation of increasingly large survival differences between the study arms. Median survival for the treatment group (20 months) was significantly longer than that observed for the control group (11 months). Four patients, three in the treated and one in the control group, have survived five years or longer following surgery. The extent of the tumor and initial performance status were significantly and independently related to survival.


BACKGROUND
 Google Flu Trends (GFT) is a novel Internet-based influenza surveillance system that uses search engine query data to estimate influenza activity and is available in near real time. This study assesses the temporal correlation of city GFT data to cases of influenza and standard crowding indices from an inner-city emergency department (ED).

METHODS
 This study was performed during a 21-month period (from January 2009 through October 2010) at an urban academic hospital with physically and administratively separate adult and pediatric EDs. We collected weekly data from GFT for Baltimore, Maryland; ED Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-reported standardized influenzalike illness (ILI) data; laboratory-confirmed influenza data; and ED crowding indices (patient volume, number of patients who left without being seen, waiting room time, and length of stay for admitted and discharged patients). Pediatric and adult data were analyzed separately using cross-correlation with GFT.

RESULTS
 GFT correlated with both number of positive influenza test results (adult ED, r = 0.876; pediatric ED, r = 0.718) and number of ED patients presenting with ILI (adult ED, r = 0.885; pediatric ED, r = 0.652). Pediatric but not adult crowding measures, such as total ED volume (r = 0.649) and leaving without being seen (r = 0.641), also had good correlation with GFT. Adult crowding measures for low-acuity patients, such as waiting room time (r = 0.421) and length of stay for discharged patients (r = 0.548), had moderate correlation with GFT.

CONCLUSIONS
 City-level GFT shows strong correlation with influenza cases and ED ILI visits, validating its use as an ED surveillance tool. GFT correlated with several pediatric ED crowding measures and those for low-acuity adult patients.


The original contribution of this thesis to knowledge is the concept of seasideness. That is, this thesis presents an in-depth exploration and analysis of the contemporary sense of place at a traditional British seaside resort. Due to the research focussing on issues of place, the study has been framed within human geography.

Coastal resorts were amongst the earliest and remain the most important tourism destinations in Britain. However, many medium-sized traditional seaside resorts have in recent decades faced a number of significant challenges, not least Morecambe, a resort located on the Lancashire coast in north-west England. Indeed, few resorts have suffered a greater loss in terms of infrastructure, visitor numbers and reputation than Morecambe. Nevertheless, the resort has benefitted recently from a new promenade adorned with statues and a restored art deco hotel, and has staged a modest recovery from the lows of the late-twentieth century.

In the context of its turbulent history, this study considers present day tourists' experience of Morecambe, a place that has been on the margins for some time. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to establish if a seaside-specific sense of place exists for these visitors and, indeed, for visitors to the seaside more generally. Following a review of the 'rise and fall' of the British seaside resort and specifically Morecambe, the thesis explores the factors that may contribute to a sense of place at the seaside, in so doing establishing a conceptual framework for the subsequent research which deliberately employs a mixed methods approach. Firstly, a questionnaire survey amongst visitors to Morecambe establishes a foundation for identifying and understanding touristic behaviour and views. Building on these results, the second stage of the research comprises in-depth interviews with a small purposive sample of older Northern visitors –the largest market as identified at the first stage. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is employed to offer a rigorous and systematic analysis of these interviews. This approach aims to represent a perspective rather than a population and is considered an appropriate method to understand the visitor experience of place and to generate theory.

This thesis reveals how space, specifically blue space, informs the touristic reaction to place through a variety of perceived characteristics. Most of these reactions can be grouped into the broad themes of identity, wellness, spirituality and nostalgia for childhood. A seasideness model is proposed which clarifies these inter-related findings. Taken together, these themes and findings paint a picture of a place which holds significant meaning for these visitors. First and foremost, this 'place' is the seaside, rather than Morecambe specifically; that is, people visit Morecambe for the natural coastal environment and the enduring socio-cultural construction that is the British Seaside. The thesis concludes by exploring the implications of this research for the future of Morecambe and, implicitly, other resorts.


Certain mouse strains (e.g., DBA/2) contain two renin genes (termed Ren-1 and Ren-2) and express higher renin levels in nonkidney tissues than strains with a single renin gene. The 5'-flanking regions of the Ren-1 and Ren-2 genes contain several TATA boxes preceding putative transcriptional start sites. These initiators are termed P1a, P1, P2 (from 5' to 3'), and their function (with the exception of P2) is largely unknown. In this study, we mapped the renin transcriptional start sites in renal and extrarenal tissues [adrenal, brain, testis, heart, and submandibular gland (SMG)] and examined the effect of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) on tissue specific promoter usage. Our results showed that, in the unstimulated state, P2 (the predicted initiator) is active in all DBA/2 mouse tissues. Additional transcriptional start sites were detected in the adrenal and testis (originated by P1a and P2) and the SMG (originated by P1a, P1, and P2). The administration of 8-bromoadenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate led to selective stimulation of P1a in the adrenal but did not affect the selective usage of initiation sites in other organs. A locus-specific ddNTP primer extension assay was used to verify which renin gene is induced by cAMP. Results indicated that both Ren-1 and Ren-2 responded to cAMP treatment in identical fashion. Taken together, these data indicate that more than one form of renin transcript is present in several mouse tissues. There is tissue specificity in promoter usage in the unstimulated state and in response to cAMP.


Ocular dominance columns were examined by a variety of techniques in juvenile macaque monkeys in which one eye had been removed or sutured closed soon after birth. In two monkeys the removal was done at 2 weeks and the cortex studied at 1\frac{1}{2} years. Physiological recordings showed continuous responses as an electrode advanced along layer IVC in a direction parallel to the surface. Examination of the cortex with the Fink-Heimer modification of the Nauta method after lesions confined to single lateral-geniculate layers showed a marked increase, in layer IVC, in the widths of columns belonging to the surviving eye, and a corresponding shrinkage of those belonging to the removed eye. Monocular lid closures were made in one monkey at 2 weeks of age, for a period of 18 months, in another at 3 weeks for 7 months, and in a third at 2 days for 7 weeks. Recordings from the lateral geniculate body showed brisk activity from the deprived layers and the usual abrupt eye transitions at the boundaries between layers. Cell shrinkage in the deprived layers was moderate - far less severe than that following eye removal, more marked ipsilaterally than contralaterally, and more marked the earlier the onset of the deprivation. In autoradiographs following eye injection with a mixture of tritiated proline and tritiated fucose the labelling of terminals was confined to geniculate layers corresponding to the injected eye. Animals in which the open eye was injected showed no hint of invasion of terminals into the deprived layers. Similarly in the tectum there was no indication of any change in the distribution of terminals from the two eyes. The autoradiographs of the lateral geniculates provide evidence for several previously undescribed zones of optic nerve terminals, in addition to the six classical subdivisions. In the cortex four independent methods, physiological recording, transneuronal autoradiography, Nauta degeneration, and a reduced-silver stain for normal fibres, all agreed in showing a marked shrinkage of deprived-eye columns and expansion of those of the normal eye, with preservation of the normal repeat distance (left-eye column plus right-eye column). There was a suggestion that changes in the columns were more severe when closure was done at 2 weeks as opposed to 3, and more severe on the side ipsilateral to the closure. The temporal crescent representation in layer IVC of the hemisphere opposite the closure showed no obvious adverse effects. Cell size and packing density in the shrunken IVth layer columns seemed normal. In one normal monkey in which an eye was injected the day after birth, autoradiographs of the cortex at 1 week indicated only a very mild degree of segregation of input from the two eyes; this had the form of parallel bands. Tangential recordings in layer IVC at 8 days likewise showed considerable overlap of inputs, though some segregation was clearly present; at 30 days the segregation was much more advanced. These preliminary experiments thus suggest that the layer IVC columns are not fully developed until some weeks after birth. Two alternate possibilities are considered to account for the changes in the ocular dominance columns in layer IVC following deprivation. If one ignores the above evidence in the newborn and assumes that the columns are fully formed at birth, then after eye closure the afferents from the normal eye must extend their territory, invading the deprived-eye columns perhaps by a process of sprouting of terminals. On the other hand, if at birth the fibres from each eye indeed occupy all of lay IVC, retracting to form the columns only during the first 6 weeks or so, perhaps by a process of competition, then closure of one eye may result in a competitive disadvantage of the terminals from that eye, so that they retract more than they would normally. This second possibility has the advantage that it explains the critical period for deprivation effects in the layer IV columns, this being the time after birth during which retraction is completed. It would also explain the greater severity of the changes in the earlier closures, and would provide an interpretation of both cortical and geniculate effects in terms of of competition of terminals in layer IVC for territory on postsynaptic cells.


When introducing automated driving systems (ADS), it is imperative that there exist mutual agreements between the ADS and stakeholders-such as the ADS equipped vehicle user, other road users, and society at large-on how the ADS should behave. Lacking such agreements, the ADS may antagonize stakeholders and, even worse, pose severe safety risks. The ADS needs a complete and unambiguous set of machine-interpretable properties describing these interactions, while the human stakeholders need to understand and accept how the ADS is designed to behave. We propose to make these considerations explicit in the form of agreements. The completeness problem is tackled by cataloguing and categorizing all agreements that need to be considered during the lifetime of an ADS in a systematic way.


Two groups of experiments are discussed in this thesis, (a) procedural memory consolidation
during sleep and wakefulness, to study the contribution of emotion in consolidation of
procedural skill learning, and (b) memory modulation using electrical brain stimulation, to
study the effects of long‐ and short‐duration stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
(DLPFC) on verbal episodic memory.
Memory consolidation; The first study showed that participants who were trained in a mirror
tracing task with negative emotional stimuli benefited more compared to the participants who
were trained with neutral or positive emotional stimuli. The second experiment aimed to
investigate the modulatory effect of stimuli with emotional content in a modified serial
reaction time task (SRTT). This experiment failed to achieve any main effect of emotional
content, retention type, their interaction or their interaction with session number. The only
significant effect was found for the session number in which participants showed significantly
higher performance in the second session. It is more likely that this outcome is due to the
training effects over blocks.
Brain stimulation; The first study showed that 20min anodal stimulation enhanced memory
performance while the stimulation was delivered during the encoding phase, 20min cathodal
stimulation impaired memory performance for the words that were encoded prior to the
stimulation and impaired the recognition performance while it was delivered during the
testing phase. The second study was similar to the first experiment with the exception that stimulation was delivered for 1.6s for each presented word in three different conditions: no
stimulation, early‐stimulation and late‐stimulation. Results showed that early stimulation has
significantly stronger effects on the memory performance of the participants compared to nostimulation
and late‐stimulation in both anodal and cathodal stimulation types. Results also
showed that early anodal stimulation enhanced the memory performance and early cathodal
stimulation impaired the memory performance.


Transgenic strategies offer potential solutions for major problems facing Florida citrus. Intragenics, in which all transgene components are from the target species' gene pool, may alleviate consumer concerns and might also facilitate deregulation, providing growers with consumer-accepted transgenic solutions more quickly. Resistance to antibiotics is typically used as a selectable marker for plant transformation and this project was initiated as a proof of concept to test a plant gene as a visual screenable marker alternative to antibiotic-resistance. Transformation with Vitis MybA1 has been demonstrated to produce purple shoots in grape and was tested as a surrogate for a citrus Myb that might be used as an intragenic plant-pigmentation marker in citrus transformation. 'Hamlin' and Carrizo epicotyls segments were exposed to A. tumefaciens EHA105 containing the DAT or DEAT vector with Vitis MybA1 driven by the D35S promoter and neomycin phosphotransferase II ( NptII , conferring kanamycin resistance, originally isolated from E. coli ), driven by the Nos promoter. Transformation was compared with and without kanamycin (100 mg·L –1 = 0.00083 lb/gal) in the shoot regeneration medium with the DEAT vector. In sum, over 16 separate experiments, more than 1300 explants each of Carrizo and 'Hamlin' were treated. In all cases, 6–20 fold more shoots resulted when kanamycin was excluded from the medium, since there was no negative selection against non-transformed shoots, but no shoots with red pigmentation were recovered. When kanamycin was included, 28% of resulting 'Hamlin' shoots (6 out of 21) and 57% of Carrizo shoots (321/405) displayed anthocyanins. Phenotypes recovered included plants with blotchy reddish leaves and plants with cupped leaves. Pigmented 'Hamlin' shoots were very weak and subsequently died. Several deep red Carrizo transformants resulted with potential as research tools and ornamentals.


The overall scope of this thesis is to document the relevance of health capital
investments for development, as well as highlighting barriers for the
accumulation of health capital in the context of policies and programmes aimed
to this.
In order to promote development, Mexico decided to focus its social policy
on generating incentives for human capital investments. For this approach to
work, returns to human capital, part of which is health, have to be positive and
sufficiently high. Using data from a national representative survey, I found that
returns to health in Mexico are positive and in order of magnitude similar to
those reported for other countries, and that social mobility is present, although
still there is an important intergenerational transmission of educational
attainments.
One key assumption for interventions and policies aiming promote development
through increasing the accumulation of human capital, and in particular health
capital is that increasing access and utilization of health services will translate
into health capital. The capacity of health services to generate health is related
to its quality. Structural quality is a necessary but not sufficient factor for quality.
I present results for primary health services in Mexico, showing that magnitude
of heterogeneity on structural quality is large, and that is negatively correlated
with locality marginalization.
One key element for development is the accumulation of appropriate levels of
human capital. Insufficient attention has been paid to factors that may
counterbalance investments in human capital. Risk behaviours such as smoking
and unprotected sex may reduce both creation of human capital and
accumulated stock. Analyzing data from the Mexican CeT programme
Oportunidades, I found that this programme may decrease participation in risk
behaviours, although among its target population (poor households) they are
still highly prevalent.
The analysis reported in this thesis makes the case for increasing investments
in health capital among the means through which to increase the accumulation
of human capital, but at the same time devoting resources to increase the
chances of these investments in translating effectively to human capital. That is,
increasing quality of health services and promoting healthy behaviours.


This paper describes a framework for computer-aided conceptual design of building structures that results from building architectural considerations. The central task that is carried out during conceptual design is the synthesis of the structural system. This paper proposes a methodology for the synthesis of structural solutions. Given the nature of architectural constraints, user-model interactivity is devised as the most suitable computer methodology for driving the structural synthesis process. Taking advantage of the hierarchical organization of the structural system, this research proposes a top-down approach for structural synthesis. Through hierarchical refinement, the approach lends itself to the synthesis of global and local structural solutions. The components required for implementing the proposed methodology are briefly described. The main components have been incorporated in a proof-of-concept prototype that is being tested and validated with actual buildings.


Local wisdom is a very interesting culture of a society in Indonesia. One of the local wisdom in Indonesia is the Sumbawa community. The values of the wisdom of the Sumbawa people can be found in Sumbawa proverb. The Sumbawa proverb that is present in the Sumbawa community cannot be separated from the cultural background of the Sumbawa people. The cultural background of the community can affect the process of creating local wisdom. Semiotic linguistic studies can be used to examine the values of local wisdom in society. Semiotic is also very suitable for explaining culture. The method used in this study is qualitative. The theory used in this study is a semiotic theory of Rolland Barthes about denotation and connotation. The object of the study is Sumbawa's proverb in two levels based on Barthes's semiotics' theory: (1) Denotation: the most obvious meaning of the sign; (2) Connotation: the interaction between the sign that meets the feelings or emotions of the audience and its culture. Based on the results of Roland Barthes's semiotics through the process of denotation and connotation can be concluded that in Sumbawa proverb can be found the values of local wisdom such as the values of hard work, a relationship between human beings, a male and female character, and how is the relationship between men and women.


We consider a political economy model in which agents have the possibility to hide part of their earnings in order to avoid taxation. Taxation is exclusively used to finance a pension system. If the pension system is implemented, agents in their old age receive a benefit which includes both a Bismarkian and a Beveridgian component. We show that in the absence of compliance costs, agents are indifferent to the tax rate level as in response, they can perfectly adapt their level of compliance. The public pension system is found to be at least partially contributory in order to increase compliance and thus to increase the tax base. When compliance costs are introduced, perfect substitutability between compliance and taxation breaks down. Depending on the relative returns from public pensions and private savings as well as on the elasticity of compliance to income, we obtain that the preferred tax rate should be increasing or decreasing in income. The majority voting tax rate is more likely to be positive when the median income is low and when the return from public pensions dominates that of private savings. The level of the Bismarkian pillar will now be chosen so as to account for increased political support, for increased direct redistribution toward the worst-off agent, and increased tax base.


This study describes plant assemblages associated with the edges of peatland pools. We conducted inventories in six natural peatlands in the province of Quebec (Canada) in order to measure the contribution of pools to species diversity in climatic regions where peatlands are used for peat extraction. We also carried out vegetation surveys in a peatland that has been restored after peat extraction/harvesting to determine whether pool vegetation establishes along the edges of created pools when dry surface restoration techniques only are used. Pools enhanced plant species richness in natural peatlands. Around created pools, species associated with natural pools were still absent, and non-bog species were present, six years after restoration. On this basis, we emphasise the importance of preserving natural peatlands with pools. In order to restore fully the plant diversity associated with peatlands at harvested sites, it may be necessary to modify pool excavation techniques so that created pools resemble more closely those in natural peatlands. Active introduction of the plant species or communities associated with natural pools may also be needed; candidate species for North America include Andromeda glaucophylla, Cladopodiella fluitans, Carex limosa, Eriophorum virginicum, Rhynchospora alba and Sphagnum cuspidatum.


The unprecedented and unanticipated economic and financial shocks of the past couple of years have led parties to look for contractual escapes from deals. Some parties exercise options embedded in their contracts by paying liquidated damages or cancellation fees. Others invoke excuse provisions such as force majeure, material adverse change or market-out clauses, to terminate at no cost. Under either set of circumstances, disputes arise, are litigated and typically settled either by a termination of the deals or adjustments to their terms. The increased attention paid to these provisions has illuminated the vague language with which these options and excuses are framed, and their uncertain interpretation. One instance in which this has been noted is the common use of material adverse event or change (MAE/MAC) conditions in corporate acquisition contracts.As the current crisis works its way through our economic system, attention will be shifted from the collapsed deals to the design of future transactions. The vague language of past agreements has fueled disputes and threatened costly and uncertain litigation. Should future parties, in corporate acquisition deals and other commercial contracts, inject greater precision in their agreements? There are many proponents of this advice. However, we lack a theoretical framework for setting out the costs and benefits of vague and precise provisions. In this paper, we provide such a framework in order to improve awareness of the strategic use of vagueness in contracting.The conventional rules-standards analysis suggests that vague terms are justified when the expected larger litigation costs in enforcing standards are outweighed by the lower costs of drafting. In acquisition agreements, this would suggest that vague MAC clauses yield benefits only by reducing front-end drafting costs. Yet, some proxies for material adverse change, such as quantitative thresholds in stock price, revenues or accounting earnings, are easy to draft and can be verified at low cost. They are usually noisy proxies, however, and therefore are not perfect.We demonstrate that litigation costs, when properly harnessed, can in fact improve contracting by operating as a screen on the seller's decision to sue. We review three possible goals of MAC clauses: (a) to provide efficient incentives for investment and precautions against future contingencies by the seller between the time of the agreement and closing; (b) to allow the seller to better signal its private information to the acquirer at the time of contracting; and (c) to enable the seller to better signal private information at the time of closing, in order to promote ex post efficiency in terminating or executing the acquisition. We show that, in achieving these goals, vague provisions may work better than precise and even less noisy proxies.


O-Tolidine plus potassium iodide, p-nitrobenzene-diazonium-fluoroborate bioassay with enzyme sources, silver nitrate plus ultraviolet radiation, and p-dimethyl-aminobenzaldehyde and photosynthesis inhibition modes of de-tection were selected for Thin Layer Chromatography screening of pesticides residues of reference origin. Sing-le solvents were used for elution and indicator compounds used for controlling the proper conditions for the det-ection. The detectability of 34 pesticide compounds was tested and the minimum detectable amounts were dete-rmined. The linear range of some of the pesticides relative to the detection methods used is also presented. Re-sults indicate that the linear range of a particular chemical depends on the method of detection used. The range was found to be wider for chemicals that had very low limits of detection with particular methods.
(Journal of Applied Science and Technology: 2001 6(1-2): 108-115)


We theoretically demonstrate the generation of extreme ultraviolet supercontinua in an orthogonally polarized two-color few-cycle laser field. We show that the ionized electrons can be driven back to their parent ion after traveling along curved trajectories in a plane perpendicular to the beam propagation direction, giving rise to a train of attosecond pulses at different polarization angles. A single isolated attosecond pulse can be obtained by blocking the low-order high harmonics, which contribute to the formation of the satellite pulses.


Investigations into brain connectivity aim to recover networks of brain regions connected by anatomical tracts or by functional associations. The inference of brain networks has recently attracted much interest due to the increasing availability of high-resolution brain imaging data. Sparse inverse covariance estimation with lasso and group lasso penalty has been demonstrated to be a powerful approach to discover brain networks. Motivated by the hierarchical structure of the brain networks, we consider the problem of estimating a graphical model with tree-structural regularization in this paper. The regularization encourages the graphical model to exhibit a brain-like structure. Specifically, in this hierarchical structure, hundreds of thousands of voxels serve as the leaf nodes of the tree. A node in the intermediate layer represents a region formed by voxels in the subtree rooted at that node. The whole brain is considered as the root of the tree. We propose to apply the tree-structural regularized graphical model to estimate the mouse brain network. However, the dimensionality of whole-brain data, usually on the order of hundreds of thousands, poses significant computational challenges. Efficient algorithms that are capable of estimating networks from high-dimensional data are highly desired. To address the computational challenge, we develop a screening rule which can quickly identify many zero blocks in the estimated graphical model, thereby dramatically reducing the computational cost of solving the proposed model. It is based on a novel insight on the relationship between screening and the so-called proximal operator that we first establish in this paper. We perform experiments on both synthetic data and real data from the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas; results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.


BACKGROUND
Secondary prevention of breast cancer, cervix and colon is performed by screening. Spain in the last decade has presented a major wave of migration; it is known that immigrants have more inequalities in access to health services compared to the native population. The objective is to review the published studies and identify gaps in research on cancer prevention among immigrants living in Spain.

METHODS
We have conducted a scoping review. The sources of information were the databases Medline (Pubmed) and MEDES - medicine in Spanish (1998-2012). We used three thematic filters: concerning to Cancer, immigration and geographic. Inclusion criteria were studies of cancer prevention and health of immigrants from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe and developed in Spain. We developed an ad hoc data collection protocol.

RESULTS
We included five studies of 237 reviewed. The included studies are written in English and published in journals with impact factor. Most studies have used country of origin as the immigration variable 80 % of the studies conducted cross-sectional surveys. Immigrant population had a lower participation of early detection of breast and cervical cancer. Women reported to be sex workers were more likely to be human papillomavirus positive for high risk types.

CONCLUSION
There is little information on cancer prevention through screening programs in the immigrant population. It is important to evaluate and improve the screening circuits and registries to implement programs to better identify the most vulnerable population groups.


The new labrid species, Cirrhilabrus efatensis, is described from six specimens, 42.7–69.4 mm SL, collected from Éfaté Island in Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean. The new species, along with C. bathyphilus and C. nahackyi, form a small complex of allopatric closely related species in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, distinguished by a combination of features of the color pattern of terminal-phase males: black anteriormost dorsal-fin spines and membranes, a relatively uniform red-to-orange body color, a yellow anal fin with a blue-violet outer margin, and a dusky nape. The new species differs from C. bathyphilus and C. nahackyi in having a bright-red head and anterior body delimited abruptly from the orange posterior body. The mtDNA barcode COI sequence for C. efatensis is the same as that of C. bathyphilus and C. nahackyi, not surprising in view of the prevalence of shared haplotypes among some members of species complexes in Cirrhilabrus and Paracheilinus. The new species is apparently endemic to Vanuatu, adjacent to the range of C. bathyphilus in the Coral Sea, but not overlapping, and is likely another example of microendemism for the genus.


OBJECTIVE
To look at the clinical presentations, spectrum and site of isolation of the organisms, sensitivity patterns of the organisms and the antibiotic prescribing practices for the treatment of febrile neutropenic patients at our hospital.

METHODS
The data were collected retrospectively from the records of all neutropenic patients with an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of less than 500/ml admitted during the period of 3 years from August 1999 to July 2002 at AKUH.

RESULTS
Out of the total of 404 patients, 65% had hematological malignancies and around half of them had leukaemia, 86% of the patients presented with fever. A total of 124 bacterial organisms were isolated from 96 patients among which 47% were gram positive and 53% were gram negative organisms; 16.1% of the patients had septicaemia. Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (CoNS) were the most common gram positive and E. coli was the most commonly isolated gram negative organism. Most of the gram positive organisms were isolated from blood (67%). There was emerging resistance to all commonly used antibiotics including imipenem, cloxacillin, vancomycin and amikacin. The average duration of neutropenia was 6.4 days. The mortality rate was 6%.

CONCLUSION
There is increasing trend of gram negative organisms developing resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Gram positive bacteria including Enterococcus spp. and CoNS are also showing emerging resistance to vancomycin.


We studied the subcellular and subnuclear distributions of the partially cross‐resistant anthracycline Annamycin (Ann) in KB‐3‐1 and multi‐drug resistant KB‐V1 cells. Subcellular drug localization was assessed qualitatively by fluorescence microscopy and quantitatively by cell fractionation and fluorescence measurements. Doxorubicin (Dox) localized predominantly in the nucleus in KB‐3‐1 cells and in the membranes in KB‐V1 cells. In contrast, the subcellular distribution of Ann was identical in both cell lines, with preferential drug localization in the perinuclear region, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum and endosomes. Dox rate of efflux from the nucleus was negligible in KB‐3‐1 cells but markedly enhanced in KB‐V1 cells, whereas Ann was lost at a similar rate from the nucleus in both cell lines. In KB‐3‐1 cells Dox levels in the nuclear non‐matrix were about 2‐fold higher than those of Ann, while in the matrix the inverse relationship was observed. In spite of these differences, Dox and Ann had a similar inhibitory effect on new DNA synthesis in the nuclear matrix and non‐matrix of KB‐3‐1 cells. Dox levels were reduced by 10‐fold in the nuclear non‐matrix and 2‐fold in the matrix in KB‐V1 cells compared with KB‐3‐1 cells, whereas Ann levels were reduced by about 2‐ to 3‐fold in the non‐matrix and were unchanged in the matrix. In correlation with these findings, Dox did not cause inhibition of new DNA synthesis in either nuclear fraction in KB‐V1 cells, whereas inhibition of new DNA synthesis in the matrix by Ann was similar in both cell lines. Our results indicate that Ann's partial circumvention of multi‐drug resistance is associated with its ability to cause comparable new DNA synthesis inhibition in the nuclear matrix of sensitive and resistant cells. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.