Q. Can you tell us something about your company, and the number of different products you produce? A. Wyeth-Ayerst is the 9th largest Pharmaceutical Company in the world. In terms of revenue, Wyeth has roughly $12 billion in sales. I work in the ethical pharmaceutical division's global headquarters, Wyeth-Ayerst Global Pharmaceuticals, which works in conjunction with affiliate offices in many countries around the globe. Q. Where does the forecasting function reside? How many people work in this function and what are their titles? Whom does this group report to? A. We forecast sales at both global and country levels. At the country level, the sales forecasting function typically resides with the affiliate office marketing departments. Category, Product, or Brand Managers are responsible for developing the sales forecast. At the global level, the sales forecasting function resides with a recently formed group within Global Strategic Marketing (GSM), called Global Strategic Forecasting and Analysis (GSFA Forecast Analysts report to the Managers. Q. What is the background of people who work in the forecasting function? A. At the country level, almost all are marketing people trained in brand management, but most have little formal training in forecast modeling or statistics. Consequently, a pharmaceutical sales forecasting training program has been recently launched to improve the technical forecasting skills of the marketers. At the global level, almost all of the management and analysts in GSF&A have a master degree in Economics, Operations Management, Business or Statistics. As a group, GSF&A members are well trained in econometrics, time series forecast modeling, probability and statistics, and new product forecasting. Q. Can you describe in detail the forecasting process used at your company, and people who participate? A. Corporate Management has recently launched a global effort to standardize forecasting processes, Consequently, this program now underway will enhance both Short Term Forecasting Process and Long Term Strategic Forecasting Process. Forecasting best practices will be applied. Corporate managers in conjunction with affiliate representation and outside consultants designed and developed both processes. The Short Term Forecasting Process is focused on tactical forecasts for products that have already been launched and have sales history. The forecasting process is framed within the context of a formal monthly Sales and Operations Planning format. A cross functional team of managers and analysts from the major functional areas such as marketing, finance, supply chain and forecasting participate in the S&OP process. A Long Term Strategic Forecasting Process has been focused for new products with little or no sales history. Forecasts of this type are typically prepared once a year by GSF&A. Those who participate in the preparation of these forecasts are GSF&A forecast manager, forecast analyst, affiliate brand manager, GSM market researcher, and GSM global brand manager. Q. What types of forecasts do you prepare and how far ahead do you forecast? A. There are two types of forecasts prepared at Wyeth-Ayerst. Tactical forecasts are prepared by each affiliate by country, by month and by SKU, and are prepared both in units and local currency. Depending on the affiliate office capability, adjusted order history is used to create sales forecasts either judgmentally or statistically using time series methods. Regression analysis is also used though infrequently. Short Term Forecasts are developed for a rolling 24-month horizon for local marketing and supply chain management. Strategic forecasts, on the other hand, are typically generated by GSF&A. …


Every dynamic social system's adaptive capacity is finite. Eventually, the ability of the system's legal and institutional arrangements to adapt to the changing operational context is exhausted. At this point, unless the system is significantly reformed, it begins losing its legitimacy and efficacy.This article contends that the structure, operation and scale of the global economy has changed so dramatically that the current arrangements for global economic governance are approaching this crisis moment. They are failing to deliver an inclusive, sustainable and efficient international economic system that can contribute to peace, prosperity and human welfare. Their governance arrangements and operating practices and procedures have not been adequately adapted to the new realities of the international political economy. Key institutions are only slowly adjusting their current decision-making practices to the fact that the balance of economic power among their members has shifted. They have also been slow in responding to the growing importance of such non-state actors as corporations, civil society organizations and subnational governments in the governance of the global economy.However, the political will to make the necessary changes to the institutional arrangements for global economic governance is lacking. This means that in the short to medium term, absent a serious crisis, there is limited potential for reform. However, this does not mean that opportunities for meaningful partial reforms do not exist. Those actors that are interested in reform need to carefully seek out those opportunities and, once identified, use them to make the system more participatory, accountable and responsive to the concerns to all stakeholders in the system. This in turn should enhance the capacity of the system to respond productively to future opportunities for more profound changes in global economic governance.In making this case, the article first briefly describes the key features of the order established after World War II. Second, it discusses some of the changes that these institutions have undergone over the past 70 years. Third, it discusses the adjustments that, in fact, have been made in global economic governance. It also indicates some ways in which opportunities for making the system more inclusive, responsive and accountable can be identified. Finally, it offers suggestions regarding possible changes within the current order and on the role entities like the Group of 20 and the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa can play in promoting these changes.It should be noted that, due to space limitations, while this article discusses global economic governance in general, it concentrates primarily on the cases of the two most prominent institutions in global economic governance - the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (the World Bank). The reason for focusing on the IMF is that it is the most significant multilateral institution active in the governance of international financial and monetary affairs. The World Bank is an important funder of development activity even if it is not the largest such lender. It is the model that was used in setting up all of the regional multilateral development banks (MDBs) and it has had an influence on the structure and function of other MDBs as well, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. It has also been a thought leader in the area of development finance.


Looking at the present situation in Germany consortia show a considerable variety of organizational forms. Only in the case of the Friedrich-Althoff-Consortium in Berlin-Brandenburg a corporate body with deed of partnership does exist. In other German states consortia have been formed which are represented by an individual library (e.g. Baden-Wurttemberg) or by a central institution such as the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Bavaria or the Hochschulbibliothekszentrum NRW in North Rhine-Westphalia. Rarely contracts for nationwide consortia have been signed; resulting from an initiative of a professional society, the "Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker", an agreement was reached allowing for the use of the Beilstein-Crossfire-database in participating universities all over Germany.


Recently observed nonlinear-propagation and optical-limiting effects of nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses through a fiber are analyzed with a model that accounts for various molecular photonic-absorption processes including linear, two-photon, intermediate, and excited-state absorptions. Explicit expressions for the laser-induced molecular-level density changes, the thermal–density effects following photoabsorption, and their effects on the laser propagation transmission are obtained for conditions corresponding to the experimental situations. These theoretical considerations are found to correlate very well with experimental results for the transmission of picosecond and nanosecond laser pulses through the nonlinear fiber. Our analyses show that in the picosecond regime, nonlinear photonic absorptions are efficient optical-limiting processes, whereas in the nanosecond regime, thermal–density effects are the dominant contributor. We also identify a particular nonlinear core liquid that gives very low optical-limiting thresholds and clamped transmission for picosecond as well as nanosecond laser pulses.


In this dissertation, we study the problem of (i) routing and wavelength assignment, and (ii) traffic grooming for multicast traffic in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) based all-optical networks.
We focus on the static case where the set of multicast traffic requests is assumed to be known in advance. For the routing and wavelength assignment problem, we study the objective of minimizing the number of wavelengths required; and for the traffic grooming problem, we study the objectives of minimizing (i) the number of wavelengths required, and (ii) the number of electronic components required.
Both the problems are known to be hard for general fiber network topologies. Hence, it makes sense to study the problems under some restrictions on the network topology. We study the routing and wavelength assignment problem for bidirected trees, and the traffic grooming problem for unidirectional rings. The selected topologies are simple in the sense that the routing for any multicast traffic request is trivially determined, yet complex in the sense that the overall problems still remain hard. A motivation for selecting these topologies is that they are of practical interest since most of the deployed optical networks can be decomposed into these elemental topologies.
In the first part of the thesis, we study the problem of multicast routing and wavelength assignment in all-optical bidirected trees with the objective of minimizing the number of wavelengths required in the network. We give a 52 -approximation algorithm for the case when the degree of the bidirected tree is at most 3. We give another algorithm with approximation ratio 103 , 3 and 2 for the case when the degree of the bidirected tree is equal to 4, 3 and 2, respectively. The time complexity analysis for both these algorithms is also presented. Next we prove that the problem is hard even for the two restricted cases when the bidirected tree has (i) depth 2, and (ii) degree 2. Finally, we present another hardness result for a related problem of finding the clique number for a class for intersection graphs.
In the second part of the thesis, we study the problem of multicast traffic grooming in all-optical unidirectional rings. For the case when the objective is to minimize the number of wavelengths required in the network, given an α-approximation algorithm for the circular arc coloring problem, we give an algorithm having asymptotic approximation ratio α for the multicast traffic grooming problem. We develop an easy to calculate lower bound on the minimum number of electronic components required to support a given set of multicast traffic requests on a given unidirectional ring network. We use this lower bound to analyze the worst case performance of a pair of simple grooming schemes. We also study the case when no grooming is carried out in order to get an estimate on the maximum number of electronic components that can be saved by applying intelligent grooming. Finally, we present a new grooming scheme and compare its average performance against other grooming schemes via simulations. The time complexity analysis for all the grooming schemes is also presented.


Diagnosis of virus diseases of yams at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is based on the use of indicator plants, insect vectors, serological diagnostics, and electron microscopy (EM). Yam I (YVI), yam mosaic (YMV), and Dioscorea dumetorum (DdV) potyviruses can be identified even in mixed virus infection. Yam mosaic virus is mechanically transmissible to Nicotiana benthamiana and YV1 is vector-transmissible to Vigna unguiculata. The three viruses can be visualised by EM and their identities confirmed serologically. Dioscorea alata badnavirus (DaV) can be graft-transmitted to V. unguiculata and its presence confirmed by EM and serology. Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV), reported to occur in yams in West Africa, is readily mechanically transmissible to a range of indicator plants and can be detected serologically. Other isometric viruses have recently been found in Nigeria, and these can be isolated and differentiated by mechanical and vector transmission to indicator plants. These diagnostic techniques have enabled initiation of surveys of viruses of Dioscorea spp. in West Africa and substantial progress has been made on the production of virus-tested planting material for international distribution.


An "episode of light" in Canada sparked by Expo 67 when new art forms, innovative technologies, and novel institutional and policy frameworks emerged together. Understanding how experimental art catalyzes technological innovation is often prized yet typically reduced to the magic formula of "creativity." In Northern Sparks, Michael Century emphasizes the role of policy and institutions by showing how novel art forms and media technologies in Canada emerged during a period of political and social reinvention, starting in the 1960s with the energies unleashed by Expo 67. Debunking conventional wisdom, Century reclaims innovation from both its present-day devotees and detractors by revealing how experimental artists critically challenge as well as discover and extend the capacities of new technologies.
 Century offers a series of detailed cross-media case studies that illustrate the cross-fertilization of art, technology, and policy. These cases span animation, music, sound art and acoustic ecology, cybernetic cinema, interactive installation art, virtual reality, telecommunications art, software applications, and the emergent metadiscipline of human-computer interaction. They include Norman McLaren's "proto-computational" film animations; projects in which the computer itself became an agent, as in computer-aided musical composition and choreography; an ill-fated government foray into interactive networking, the videotext system Telidon; and the beginnings of virtual reality at the Banff Centre. Century shows how Canadian artists approached new media technologies as malleable creative materials, while Canada undertook a political reinvention alongside its centennial celebrations. Northern Sparks offers a uniquely nuanced account of innovation in art and technology illuminated by critical policy analysis.


I give an interpretation according to which Meno's paradox is an epistemic regress problem. The paradox is an argument for skepticism assuming that (1) acquired knowledge about an object X requires prior knowledge about what X is and (2) any knowledge must be acquired. (1) is a principle about having reasons for knowledge and about the epistemic priority of knowledge about what X is. (1) and (2) jointly imply a regress-generating principle which implies that knowledge always requires an infinite sequence of known reasons. Plato's response to the problem is to accept (1) but reject (2): some knowledge is innate. He argues from this to the conclusion that the soul is immortal. This argument can be understood as a response to an Eleatic problem about the possibility of coming into being that turns on a regress-generating causal principle analogous to the regress-generating principle presupposed by Meno's paradox.


: In this paper, an elastic viscoplastic (creep) model is incorporated into the consolidation equation to calculate settlements and excess pore pressures. A finite difference formulation for fully coupled axisymmetric consolidation is adopted to model both vertical and radial consolidation of a multi-layered soil. The effect of smear, non-linear stiffness and varying soil permeability with void ratio can be included in the analysis. The formulation is easily executed in an electronic spreadsheet such as Excel, and it is then validated by existing solutions. Finally, the analysis of a selected case history employing the writers' formulation is employed to analyse an embankment constructed on the Sunshine Motorway, Queensland, Australia stabilised with geosynthetics vertical drains. The embankment behaviour is analysed by the authors using an elastic viscoplastic model and compared with the field data. The analysis of this case history verifies the improved accuracy of the predictions due to creep effects, in contrast to the conventional predictions which disregarded creep.


© ISARC 2018 - 35th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction and International AEC/FM Hackathon: The Future of Building Things. All rights reserved. Freedom of design, customisation, automation, waste minimisation, reduced labour and building complex structures with cheaper materials are the main initiatives for developing 3D printed structures. The fresh properties of concrete are the most important aspects of a successful 3D printing. Concrete requires high workability for extrusion, optimum open time and high early strength in order to support the subsequent layers for 3D printing. Therefore, a mixture design that can satisfy these requirements is needed. Geopolymer concrete is a sustainable solution to traditional Portland cement-based concrete that uses waste materials. In addition, the controlled alkali-activation of geopolymer precursors in order to achieve optimum setting and workability compared to Portland cement provides freedom of mixture design for 3D printing. This paper will investigate the fresh properties of geopolymer mixtures in order to find an effective mixture that is compatible with 3D printing technology and can be also strong enough to stand as a structure. Rheology (workability), open time and compressive strength, as well as, printing parameters such as extrusion pressure and printhead speed was studied in order to achieve a successful geopolymer mixture for 3D printing.


ABSTRACT Monitoring programs have traditionally monitored legacy contaminants but are shifting focus to Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs). CECs present many challenges for monitoring and assessment, because measurement methods don't always exist nor have toxicological studies been fully conducted to place results in proper context. Also some CECs affect metabolic pathways to produce adverse outcomes that are not assessed through traditional toxicological evaluations. Antibiotics are CECs that pose significant environmental risks including development of both toxic effects at high doses and antibiotic resistance at doses well below the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) which kill bacteria and have been found in nearly half of all sites monitored in the US. Antimicrobial resistance has generally been attributed to the use of antibiotics in medicine for humans and livestock as well as aquaculture operations. The objective of this study was to assess the extent and magnitude of antibiotics in the environment and estimate their potential hazards in the environment. Antibiotics concentrations were measured in a number of monitoring studies which included Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) effluent, surface waters, sediments and biota. A number of studies reported levels of Antibiotic Resistant Microbes (ARM) in surface waters and some studies found specific ARM genes (e.g. the blaM-1 gene) in E. coli which may pose additional environmental risk. High levels of this gene were found to survive WWTP disinfection and accumulated in sediment at levels 100-1000 times higher than in the sewerage effluent, posing potential risks for gene transfer to other bacteria.in aquatic and marine ecosystems. Antibiotic risk assessment approaches were developed based on the use of MICs and MIC Ratios [High (Antibiotic Resistant)/Low (Antibiotic Sensitive) MIC] for each antibiotic indicating the range of bacterial adaptability to each antibiotic to help define the No Observable Effect Concentration (NOEC) for each antibiotic which were compared to maximum Measured Exposure Concentrations (MEC) in the environment to predict individual environmental risks. Four antibiotics had high MEC/NOEC and high MIC ratios and were identified as higher risks for concern based upon this approach, but only Triclosan had MEC/NOEC ratios >1 and was recommended for monitoring in future studies.


FM Radio broadcasting systems almost entirely have used the stereo system. A transmitter and receiver FM able to process the information signal with the frequency more than 75 kHz so that stereo system can be realized easily. Stereo broadcast bandwidth requirement is equal to 53 kHz, the rest bandwidth is applicable to be other that is by adding SCA system (Subsidiary Communications Authorization).
 SCA used to deliver and accept the text data. Bandwidth of SCA system requires being limited in order not to bother the main broadcast program. Band from the limited SCA system used to deliver the digital information, for the reason need a digital modulation to optimize the bandwidth. Speed of data also require to be paid attention because the limited bandwidth. Data delivered have the start code so that only just certain receiver able to accept the data.
 Information delivery of SCA system is by using frequency modulation with the 67 kHz carrier frequency. To limit the bandwidth hence require to be filtered before transmitted. Digital information beforehand converted to in the form of analogue with the digital modulation FSK. Baud rate of delivery and data acceptance is same that is equal to 600 bps. Data delivered use the start code in the form of certain character which not present at the computer keyboard. Data Acceptance method represent the process which have reverse from delivery process.
 System have earned realized that is data sent acceptable successful and not bother the main broadcast program. By adding this system, modulation signal from stereo signal have to be decrease 11,11 %.

 Keyword: SCA, asynchronous serial, FSK, FM, Broadcasting system


Information provision is a key element of government energy-efficiency policy, but the information that is provided is often too coarse to allow consumers to make efficient decisions. An important example is the ubiquitous yellow "EnergyGuide" label, which is required by law to be displayed on all major appliances sold in the United States. These labels report energy cost information based on average national usage and energy prices. We conduct an online stated-choice experiment to measure the potential welfare benefits from labels tailored to each household's state of residence. We find that state-specific labels lead to significantly better choices. Consumers choose to invest about the same amount overall in energy efficiency, but the allocation is much better with more investment in high-usage high-price states and less investment in low-usage low-price states.


Dear Editor: Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic autosomal dominant disorder arising from a de novo genetic mutation of the lamin A gene on chromosome 11.1 The estimated prevalence is approximately 1 in 8 million live births, with more than 100 known current living cases in the world.2 These patients show premature aging characteristics, linked with cardiovascular and central nervous system complications, growth impairment, skin abnormalities, bone development problems, and abnormal fat distribution patterns.3 The average life expectancy for patients is 13 years, and the most common causes of mortality are cardiovascular events. These patients frequently require pain management due to of common unintentional injuries, spontaneous fractures, and end-of-life/palliative care issues. To our knowledge, no literature has been published regarding safe prescription of opioid medications in patients with HGPS. In the present case, our treatment team faced the clinical challenge of adjusting pain medications for effective and safe analgesia. Case report. A 17-year-old woman with a history of progeria-like-syndrome, pulmonary embolism, decubitus ulcers, multiple contractures of the extremities, hip dislocation, osteoporosis, and knee chronic osteomyelitis was referred to us for pain management. The patient reported multiple areas of pain, including the hip, knee, hands, wrist, and forearm. Spasticity and contractures made her somatic pain worse. She also reported significant pain due to an open ulcer from osteomyelitis of the knee. Her medication regimen was evaluated. She was prescribed baclofen and nortriptyline for muscle spasms and neuropathic pain, respectively. A fentanyl patch, 25mcg once every 72 hours, was prescribed for acute pain, and an oxycodone tablet 5mg four times daily was prescribed for breakthrough pain. After starting the medications, her pain was under control for the first two days. On the third day, she complained of unbearable pain. Fentanyl patch frequency was increased to 25mcg every 48 hours and a slow taper of oxycodone was started. The patient reported better and more stable pain control with this regimen for several months. Discussion. Patients with HGPS frequently suffer from acute and chronic pain because of musculoskeletal abnormalities and unintentional injuries. These injuries occur because of bone deformities, malfunctioning joints, and gait problems.2 Opioid pain medications are frequently used to treat acute pain conditions and for palliative care management in these cases.4 Clinicians should be aware that, because of accelerated aging, individuals with HGPS differ in their response to specific opioid analgesics. The metabolism and the rate of elimination of opioids from the body could vary significantly in these patients. They might require higherthan-usual doses of some opioids for effective and safe analgesic effects, while other opioids should be avoided due to poor elimination and risk of toxicity. Primarily, the liver enzymes CYP2D6 and CYM3A4 metabolize opioids.5 With the early aging of the liver, HGPS patients might experience a reduced efficacy of codeine as the liver loses its ability to metabolize codeine into the active molecule morphine. In patients treated with oxycodone, poor metabolism can lead to an increase in noroxycodone levels and a reduction in active metabolite oxymorphone production. This could result in a poor efficacy of drugs and an unsatisfactory treatment response. Nortriptyline is a preferred drug to treat pain in patients with HGPS because it does not need to be metabolized in the liver to become active. Patients with HGPS have reduced stores of adipose tissue.3 This leads to reduced distribution and storage areas for lipophilic drugs such as opioids. This can cause a faster elimination of opioids, resulting in a shorter half-life. Patients might also require more frequent doses of the medication for sustained analgesic control. Effective and safe pain control in patients with HGPS requires knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of individual opioid medications. Because of the frequent use of opioids to treat common pain symptoms and end-of-life/palliative care issues, studies are urgently needed to understand the opioid metabolism among patients with HGPS.


Many studies of Walt Whitman's "Calamus" poems have explored the meaning of the calamus root. In "'Calamus': The Leaf and the Root," one of the most systematic investigations of this subject, James E. Miller argues that the root represents the corpse that nourishes the grass, "the heart, the organ from which love takes its origin," and "the phallus, ... a token of 'manly attachment'" (73-74). Russell A. Hunt complicates this last and most common interpretation when he notes that it is in fact "the blossom which has a phallic appearance," not the root. The calamus root is, he continues, "most remarkable for its odor and for its medicinal properties. Had Whitman desired an exclusively or obviously phallic object, he need not have chosen one so ambiguous or with so many other, more obvious, associations" (484-85). De-emphasizing a gendered reading, Hunt mentions the root's value as a medicine and, through this passing reference, acknowledges its ability to incite change in the body. He is silent, however, on the extent of the calamus root's power to alter physiological processes and, consequently, leaves the implications of this power for Whitman's vision of human relationships unexplored. Doctors and pharmacists of the early 1800s were aware of the effects of ingesting calamus root. A fluid extract of the root appeared as an official preparation in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America as early as 1830 (General Convention 23). Throughout the century, people ingested its oil for its carminative action, or its ability to expel gas and to relieve the discomfort that is associated with bloating. The root was also used to increase appetite and to aid digestion (Grieve 726-29). Whitman made statements to Horace Traubel indicating that he knew of the calamus root's health benefits. When Traubel informed him that J.W. Wallace, an English tourist, wanted to take a sample of calamus home as a memento from the States, Whitman replied, Well, that is easily done--there is plenty of it here.... But you must be careful how you look it up. There's counterfeit calamus, which is only a rush--has no root. But calamus itself, the real thing, has a thick bulby root--stretches out--this way--like the fingers spread. And it is a medicinal root--you know, of course--is often brought in town by the niggers--some people boiling it even, some chewing it. It always grows in damp places, along runs of water--low lands. You can easily get it--it pulls up. Oh! Yes! You will know it by the root, which is really the only way to know it. Wallace can undoubtedly have some to take home with him. (Traubel 37-38) As this passage demonstrates, Whitman was well acquainted with the characteristics of the calamus root--its location, appearance, and preparations. His knowledge on these subjects is matched only by his enthusiasm for them, and both seem strangely inappropriate given that he is describing a cure for flatulence. Yet, it seems that the curative aspects of the calamus root are not the true cause of Whitman's excitement: "And it is a medicinal root," he adds halfway through the paragraph, almost as an afterthought, as if there were another, more important, reason for valuing it. That reason might be the root's ability to alter the user's mental state. In the Psychedelics Encyclopedia, Peter Stafford notes that the oils in the calamus root "contain two psychoactive substances" "which are the natural precursors to TMA-2, a compound that has ten times the potency of mescaline" (286). If taken in small quantities, calamus root does not induce hallucinations; chewing two inches or less of the root, the user feels only a slight increase in physical strength and a mild mental excitement (Stafford 286; Hoffer and Osmond 55-56). In The Hallucinogens, however, Abram Hoffer and Humphrey Osmond offer an account of a subject who experimented with longer sections of the root: The informant and his wife, a trained psychiatric nurse, were both sophisticated subjects with hallucinogens. …


Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are rapidly activated in response to stimulation of diverse receptor types. MAPKs are positively regulated by phosphorylation on threonine and tyrosine by MAP kinase or extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) kinases (MEKs). MEK kinase (MEKK) is part of a family of serine-threonine protein kinases that phosphorylate and activate MEKs independently of Raf. MEKK was rapidly and persistently activated in response to stimulation of resting PC12 cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF). Nerve growth factor (NGF) and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) also activated MEKK, although to a lesser degree than did EGF. Activation of MEKK and B-Raf in response to EGF was inhibited by expression of dominant negative N17Ras. Expression of oncogenic Ras resulted in activation of MEKK. Stimulation of synthesis of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate abolished activation of MEKK and B-Raf by EGF, NGF, and TPA. Thus, Ras simultaneously controls the activation of members of the Raf and MEKK families of protein kinases.


An evaluation rubric was developed to assess instructional technology tools used within online business programs to enhance learner engagement and content presentation skills. The evaluation was designed to determine if the instructional technology within the lesson helped to engage the learner, impact the assessment of outcomes, and improve the ability to present the content of the learning material. In this case study example, an instructional lesson was developed to instruct learners in creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) using a project management software tool. This lesson was designed to be completed in 30 minutes or less. Step-by-step guides for obtaining a free copy of the project software application and creation of a WBS, including a visual example of a finished WBS, were built into this lesson. The lesson also included performance objective alignment to support future analysis of student performance across all courses in which this lesson existed within the Learning Management System (LMS). This evaluation rubric was built into the LMS for the evaluation team (n= 69) and yielded highly positive results of the training lesson across five categories of evaluation: (a) Technology Use (24.05/25), (b) Learner Engagement (19.05/20), (c) Goals and Objectives (19/20), (d) Assessment Value (19.05/20, and (e) Content Presentation (14.05/15). The rubric is one form of evaluation to address assessment elements within courseware development and will be validated in future research projects.


In binaural synthesis a virtual sound source is implemented by convolving an anechoic signal with a pair of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). In order to represent all possible directions of the sound source with respect to the listener a discrete number of HRTFs are measured and interpolations are made in between. A listening experiment was done to estimate the lowest directional resolution with which HRTFs have to be measured to ensure that interpolations between them do not introduce audible errors. In order to make this study the HRTFs of an artificial head were measured with a directional resolution of 2°. The measurements were used to create HRTF data sets with low resolution from which interpolations were made in the horizontal, frontal, and median planes. Measured and interpolated HRTFs were compared in a three-alternative forced-choice listening experiment for both stationary and moving sound sources. A criterion was found that predicts the experimental results. This criterion was used to estimate the directional resolution required in binaural synthesis for all directions on the sphere around the head.


The background of this paper comes from considering the lack of research and article about men and gender role conflict in Indonesia. As we know, the term of gender generally associated with gender injustice conditions experienced by women. Nevertheless, men also experiences gender inequality in their daily life, which led to the emergence of conflict within them that increased the possibilities of problems. Until now, research of gender role conflict experienced by men has been done in Europe and many other countries in Asia. Unfortunately in Indonesia, the research about gender role conflict experienced by men is still limited. Since the late 1970s concern for gender role conflict in men has begun to emerge. The gender role conflict in men rises many problems in man who is not only disturbing himself but also others. The conflict arose from the socialization of rigid gender roles in patriarchal society and masculine ideology. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the importance of research on gender role conflict in men in Indonesia. Author relates this paper to the Karo tribe cultural context which is one of the tribes with patrilineal kinship. Keywords: gender role conflict, gender role socialization, masculine ideology.


Since the autumn of 1997, the regional offices of the Bank of Canada have conducted quarterly consultations with businesses across Canada. These consultations, summarized in the Business Outlook Survey (BOS), are structured around a survey questionnaire that covers topics of importance to the Bank, notably business activity, pressures on production capacity, prices and inflation, and credit conditions. The author aims to enhance our understanding of the survey's information content by extending the early work of Martin and Papile (2004) in two key ways. First, since all BOS questions are designed to capture some aspect of economic activity and are therefore interrelated, various approaches were considered to extract the common underlying variations among the indicators: a subjective approach (a simple average), principal-component analysis and factor analysis. Second, the information content of these common movements is assessed, using regression analysis and a forecasting assessment. The results suggest that all approaches to extract the information from the BOS provide very similar measures of underlying common variations. This underlying variable appears to be a useful indicator of economic activity, particularly for providing information on investment spending. However, the balance of opinion on future sales growth remains a better indicator than any measures of common movements for the growth of real GDP.


Most cultivated tulips (Tulipa gesneriana) are produced in The Netherlands, which has a temperate climate resembling the Central Asian climate in which they originated. The growth cycle of cultivated tulips starts in autumn, when the bulbs are planted in the field. At that time, all organs, including the flower, are already present inside the bulb. A subsequent period of prolonged cold is required for rapid stem elongation as well as for internal preparation of the flower to bloom in spring. After this cold winter period, the stem elongates, the leaves stretch and unfold, and blooming occurs in April or May. The mother bulb is completely consumed after blooming, and the main daughter bulb replaces the mother bulb. Increasing temperatures in the spring are assumed to induce the vegetative-to-reproductive phase change (floral induction) at the shoot apical meristem in the daughter bulb, leading to the development of the floral organs and the induction of dormancy. Once the flower is completely developed inside the bulb, the life cycle starts anew. In The Netherlands, the warm winters and high temperatures during spring in recent years interfered with the floral induction process and induced an early transition from vegetative to reproductive development, resulting in dehydration of the flower (floral bud blasting) or low-quality tulip flowers. This problem calls for the development of new cultivars that are adapted to this climate change; hence, detailedmolecular knowledge of the process is required. To shed light on the gene network that controls flowering in tulip, Leeggangers et al. (pp. 1904–1919) undertook a genomewide approach to elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the floral induction and the integration of temperature responses in tulip. Their results indicate that long before morphological changes occur in the shoot apical meristem, the expression of floral repressors in tulip is suppressed by increased ambient temperatures, leading either directly or indirectly to the activation of potential flowering activators shortly before the commencement of the phase change.


Bone Marrow Edema Syndrome (BMES) is an uncommon, self-limited and with unknown etiology characterized by severe pain with no history of trauma. Due to low prevalence of BMES and its non-specific signs, correct diagnosis is often delayed intensifying bone pain and impairing patients' function and quality of life. In this study we treated a patient with bone marrow edema syndrome in right ankle with Iloprost successfully that suffered pain in this region almost 4 months and NSAID, physiotherapy and steroid treatments was not benefited.


Education and vocational training in prison are the main preconditions for a successful integration of ex-prisoners into society and the prevention of recidivism after release. There are many projects to improve the education of prisoners and most of them are practised with financial support of the European Union in the European Member States. In this regard the following subjects will be discussed :
The main international legal instruments concerning the education of prisoners
A view on education and training in general and on the effectiveness of the education of prisoners in relation to their resettlement in community
Some of the research results found recently in three Dutch prisons concerning the prisoners' views and experiences with education, vocational training and work during the execution of their prison sentence
Some results of the experiments with multi-media and e-learning in prison.


Residues of some heavy metals (HM) were monitored in vegetable, fruit and fish samples collected from local markets of Tanta and Ismailia cities, Egypt. The acidic digested samples were measured on Inductive Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Samples of vegetables and fruits collected from the vicinity of main roads had some higher levels than other samples. In case of catfish, HMs were monitored only in Tanta region since this fish species is not consumed much in Ismailia city. The mean values detected were 5.38, 0.62, 85.96, 6.41 and 55.05 mg/kg for Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Mn, respectively. Target hazard quotient (THQ) values were higher than unity for all metals at 50th and 90th percentile of ingestion. Meanwhile, hazard Index (HI) showed the following order: Cd?Mn?Cu?Zn?Pb. The present study indicated that the repetitive consumption of particular type fish might pose some undesirable health effects. The study also emphasized the need for regular monitoring program beside the need for awareness raising about the food contamination with heavy metals.


Despite its importance in bushfire propagation, firebrand transport and the spotting process are still poorly understood, and there is no definitive model that can adequately emulate the spotting process in general. The dynamics of firebrands are difficult to predict due to the complex flow structure resulting from the interaction of a buoyant plume with a boundary layer wind field. Understanding the nature of this flow structure, especially for complex terrain, is essential for determining the likely path of firebrands and subsequent distributions of new spot fires and risk levels on structures downwind from the fire. Although several prior computational modelling studies have carried out investigations of firebrand transport, the effect of the terrain has not previously been taken into account. It is well known that topography can significantly affect ember generation. For example, the enhanced intensity of a fire running up a steep slope can generate a large number of embers. More generally, terrain-modified flows and the strong turbulence associated with leeward slopes and flow around other prominent topographic features may have a pronounced effect on the transport of firebrands. Moreover, modes of dynamic fire propagation such as vorticity-driven lateral spread and eruptive fire spread in canyons involve a coupling between the fire, the terrain and the prevailing winds and so can affect the rate at which firebrands are produced as well as their subsequent transport. In this study we use a coupled computational fluid dynamic (CFD) and Lagrangian particle approach to model the transport of firebrands. The model is applied to two different terrain scenarios to investigate the flow dynamics, firebrand trajectories and landing patterns resulting from the interaction with the terrain. The first scenario is a line of fire on the lee slope of a ridge burning perpendicular to an incident wind flow. The second scenario is a fire burning in a canyon aligned with the wind. The simulations indicate that the addition of terrain adds a further level of complexity to the flows generated by interaction between the wind and the fire. The terrain appears to modify the counter-rotating vortex pair in the plume structure. For the fire in the lee of the ridge line, the wind-terrain interaction resulted in a flattening and tilting of the counter-rotating vortex pair and enhanced regions of recirculation at the edges of the fire, which were conducive to lateral transport of embers. For the fire in the canyon, the channelling of the winds up the canyon resulted in the formation of a single jet-like vortex transporting firebrands upwards and over the top of the canyon. We hypothesise that this effect is caused by the shape and alignment of the canyon, which forces the vortex pair to merge into a single vortex.


Sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) remain the favorite candidate in France for a Generation IV (Gen IV) reactor fleet to be deployed within this century. Compared with earlier generations (Phénix, Superphénix, and European fast reactor), Gen IV SFRs require attractive economics together with enhanced safety and nonproliferation criteria. An innovative approach named Mathematical Estimation of Transients for Reactor design Orientation (METRO) has been developed with the objective of taking into account both SFR core economic performance and SFR transient incident behavior at an early stage of the core design process. Loss-of-flow, loss-of-heat-sink, and overpower transients are evaluated. Simplified modeling of transients has been developed and benchmarked against reference calculations with satisfactory results. The METRO approach to assessing the efficiency of design orientations is described in the following and applied to a carbide-fueled reactor core.


Immortalisation is a hallmark of cancer commonly achieved by transcriptional reactivation of the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene TERT, leading to inappropriate telomere maintenance. Telomeres are capped by the multi-protein Shelterin complex which, along with multiple accessory proteins, regulates telomere end-processing, chromatin state, and prevents recognition of the chromosome ends as DNA damage. Telomere shortening is associated with normal cell division and loss of protection at critically shortened telomeres results in irreversible DNA damage signalling and replicative senescence. Targeting the telomere to induce senescence is a potential anti-cancer approach. However, mutational inactivation of components of the telomere complex also results in telomeropathies such as dyskeratosis which are associated with accelerated telomere shortening and premature aging syndromes. Agents that positively or negatively regulate telomere dysfunction pathways might have therapeutic application in these disease areas.

To identify small molecule regulators of telomere signalling, an adenoviral vector expressing a mutant version of the human telomerase RNA gene was generated (Ad-hTR-mut). The vector is based on that reported by Kim et al (2001; Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jul 3;98(14):7982-7). The native telomerase RNA sequence that ordinarily serves as template for reverse-transcription of telomere DNA is replaced with the sequence UAUAUAUAUAA. Expression of the RNA in human cells leads to telomerase-dependent synthesis of mutant telomere sequences lacking binding sites for proteins of the Shelterin complex and resulting in rapid telomere uncapping and cytotoxicity. Agents that modulate damage signalling from uncapped telomeres cause a shift in cytotoxicity after infection. Known modulators of telomere signalling suramin and BIBR1532 were tested in dose responses alongside CRT0063465, an optimised derivative of compound C430-0073, identified in screen TELO_01.


Find all the information you need to manage and maintain Active Directory in Mastering Active Directory for Windows Server 2008, an in-depth guide updated with over 300 pages of new material. Revised to address the new components, enhancements, and capabilities brought by Windows Server 2008 to the directory services, this book covers domain name system design, Active Directory forest and domain design, maintaining organizational units, managing group policy, implementing best practices, and more. Expect high-level coverage of the new version of Microsoft's powerful user authentication and authorization tool, fully updated for Windows Server 2008.


The price of sequencing all the DNA in a person's genome is falling so fast that, according to one biotech leader, soon it won't cost much more than flushing a toilet. Getting all that genomic data at an ever-lower cost excites the imaginations not only of biotech investors and researchers but also of the President and many members of Congress. They envision the data ushering in an age of "personalized medicine," where medical care is tailored to persons' genomes. The new name "precision medicine" should not distract us from the fact that the genomic information it depends on is more complex, uncertain, and ambiguous than anyone had hoped, nor should it distract us from an important ethical point. Unfortunately, several developments of the last fifteen years suggest that, in our excitement about the technological capacity to gather genomic data at an ever lower cost, we are drifting away from what has long been a basic ethical commitment: to offer persons a process that enables them to provide informed consent before they or anyone else accesses their genetic information.


Based on over 60 informal interviews conducted at two public basketball courts, this study utilizes grounded theory to trace classand race-based differences in the social interactions occurring at both parks. By comparing social interactions between a white, middle class basketball court, and a black, lower class basketball court, I argue that social engagement is not be declining for all segments of society as some theorists suggest. Moreover, I argue that the relationships forged at the basketball court in a predominantly black, working-class neighborhood prove to be more meaningful and have deeper benefits than those forged at a basketball court in a white, middle-class neighborhood. I show that public places serve as a source of social status for participants of pick-up basketball and that social status stemming from pick-up basketball varies in importance based on the socioeconomic status of the participants. Further, I contend that public places in low-income neighborhoods can serve as a vehicle for establishing social networks in the surrounding community, affirming and maintaining status, and realizing personal fulfillment.


A large and growing number of studies attempt to determine the important factors affecting firms' decisions with respect to price, output, and inventories. A striking feature of this literature is the embarassingly large number of alternative models all allegedly consistent with the principles of profit maximization-which are used to justify various reduced form or behavioral equations to be estimated with the appropriate firm or industry data. It is rare, however, that the equations to be estimated are derived rigorously from the underlying model. Because of this, the restrictions placed on the equations to be estimated are often limited at worst to nothing more than specifying which variables should be included in the regression, and at best to fixing the algebraic signs of some of the coefficients. As a consequence, it is frequently difficult or impossible to discriminate among different models involving the same list of variables. The present paper is concerned with these problems. In it, I derive the profit-maximizing decision rules implied by a variety of alternative cost structures. The goal of the study is to demonstrate that different assumptions about the cost structure, perhaps equally plausible on a priori grounds, imply differences in the corresponding optimizing behavior, and to point out specificallv what those differences are. In addition, since differences among the decision rules are interesting not only in themselves (for purposes of regression analysis) but also because of the differences they imply in the response of firms to changes in the environment, the decision rules corresponding to the various cost structures are subjected to a dynamic analysis in which various patterns of demand are simulated, and the different behavior patterns compared. The ultimate goal of the study is to lead to models of the firm that have superior explanatory and predictive power to those encountered to date. Even if that promise is not fulfilled, however, the study should lead to an increased understanding of the way various elements of the objective function interact to generate optimal decisions for the important variables over which the firm has control.


Modulation of protein phosphorylation activities by insulin was investigated in glioma and normal glial cells. Insulin suppressed the in vitro protein phosphorylation of glioma cells in a dose-dependent manner while it stimulated that of meningiomas, neurilemmomas and glial cells. Although gliomas and glial cells contained different species of tyrosyl phosphoproteins before treatment, they expressed similar kinds of tyrosyl phosphoproteins in response to insulin. Insulin increased the activities of casein kinase II and total protein kinase C (PKC) in glioma and normal glial cells. The membrane-bound PKC activity in U373-MG cells was elevated by insulin. The PKC isozymes, including subtypes alpha, beta, delta, epsilon and gamma, were detected in gliomas, but few were found in glial cells. Insulin down regulated the cytosolic PKC-gamma and the membrane-bound PKC-epsilon proteins in gliomas. These results indicate that an altered insulin signaling pathway exists in human gliomas, which might involve differential regulation of PKC isozymes.


This paper re-examines the relative importance of sector and regional effects in determining property returns. Using the largest property database currently available in the world, we decompose the returns on individual properties into a national effect, common to all properties, and a number of sector and regional factors. However, unlike previous studies, we categorise the individual property data into an ever-increasing number of property-types and regions, from a simple 3-by-3 classification, up to a 10 by 63 sector/region classification. In this way we can test the impact that a finer classification has on the sector and regional effects. We confirm the earlier findings of previous studies that sector-specific effects have a greater influence on property returns than regional effects. We also find that the impact of the sector effect is robust across different classifications of sectors and regions. Nonetheless, the more refined sector and regional partitions uncover some interesting sector and regional differences, which were obscured in previous studies. All of which has important implications for property portfolio construction and analysis.


Since 2010, international tax policymakers have proposed a variety of minimum taxes on excess returns, but every proposal has defined excess returns differently. This Article asks what excess returns are supposed to represent—and concludes that the answer is very different from what policymakers have suggested.
The trend of targeting so-called excess returns started in 2010 with a one-page idea in the Obama Treasury's proposed budget. Overthe next decade, this idea became the basis for one of the major international tax reform provisions in the 2017 U.S. tax reform and is now being considered as part of Pillar Two of the OECD's current digital tax project. The idea in question is a minimum tax on foreign excess returns. Yet even though the general idea of a minimum tax on foreign excess returns has stayed the same across administrations and jurisdictions, the specifics of this idea have changed with every iteration, and the proponents of this idea have justified each version differently and defined its various elements differently.
This Article tells the story of the many recent proposals for minimum taxes on foreign excess returns, starting with the Obama Treasury's brief proposal and ending with the OECD's two-pillar solution to the challenges of the digital economy. This Article highlights the common threads that link all of these rules, and it also shows how differently the drafters of each rule have understood the purpose and design of a minimum tax on foreign excess returns. This Article argues that, despite claims by the policymakers advocating for these minimum taxes, none of these taxes on excess returns is supported by the economic theory of excess returns. Instead, policymakers are using the term "excess returns" to mean different things in the context of different proposals, and they are masking the policy choices they are making by using a term that appears to have support in the economic literature.


Complex web applications are usually served by multi-tier web clusters. With the growing cost of energy, the importance of reducing power consumption in server systems is now well-known and has become a major research topic. However, most of previous works focused solely on homogeneous clusters. This paper addresses the challenge of power management in Heterogeneous Multi-tier Web Clusters. We apply Generalized Benders Decomposition (GBD) to decompose the global optimization problem into small sub-problems. This algorithm achieves the optimal solution in an iterative fashion. The simulation results show that our algorithm achieve more energy conservation than the previous works.


Protein synthesis by ribosomes normally requires that the messenger RNA (mRNA) template be capped at its 5′ end with a modified nucleotide. Starved yeast can undergo a developmental switch to an invasive phenotype, during which most mRNAs are decapped, which prevents their translation by ribosomes. The genes responsible for the switch must therefore be translated in a cap-independent manner. Gilbert et al. now show that invasive growth-specific genes have internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs) in the unusually long 5′ untranslated regions of their mRNAs that allow their translation. Unlike viral IRESs, these cellular IRESs seem to consist of an unstructured sequence of adenosines that recruits the poly-A binding protein, a configuration that can substitute for the 5′ cap. W. V. Gilbert, K. Zhou, T. K. Butler, J. A. Doudna, Cap-independent translation is required for starvation-induced differentiation in yeast. Science 317, 1224-1227 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This paper describes the design of the unit testing framework JUnit v3.8. The documentation technique employed is an enhanced version of collaboration-based design, also known as role modeling. In collaboration-based design, objects are viewed as playing multiple roles in different contexts, and different contexts are viewed as task specific collaborations. The documentation accounts for every method in the JUnit 3.8 framework by assigning it to a role. It thereby investigates whether roles and collaborations can serve as basic units of functionality provided by a design like a framework. Such a measure of functionality can serve multiple purposes, for example estimating implementation efforts or measuring complexity.


ABSTRACT The integration of planktonic foraminiferal assemblage, oxygen stable isotope values, and AMS 14C dating allows a more precise chronology of biostratigraphic events recorded in cores GL-74 and GL-75 collected from Campos Basin (southeastern Brazil). This study documents that the third event of disappearance of Pulleniatina plexus (Pulleniatina obliquiloculata biohorizon 3  =  YP.3) occurred simultaneously in Campos and Santos Basins around 43 ka. The results also show that the event of higher abundance of Globorotalia crassaformis, the so-called Globorotalia crassaformis Optimum Event (GcOE), occurred between ca. 84 and ca. 71 ka (ca. 13 ka duration), and was also simultaneous in both basins. This study supports the GcOE as an important biostratigraphic marker event in the southeastern Brazilian margin. We propose a revised subdivision of the last glacial Zone Y into subzones Y1, Y2, and Y3. Nevertheless, it is fundamental to establish the true geographic range, as well as building a more robust chronology for the GcOE, using other cores from other South Atlantic basins.


Glosses on Chancellor Angela Merkel: In ancient times the poets of Ireland and Scotland wrote satires on royals and chiefs they held to be administratively challenged and/or ungenerous to needy bards. The poems were not in strict form, but, generally, 17 line stanzas implied "should be put down", while 13 line stanzas connoted "harmless but dim". Walkure, whence Valkyrie, means "chooser of the slain" in Old German. In the bloodletting attending the formation of the present Grand Coalition in Germany, Edmund Stoiber was a casualty and withdrew, embittered, to lead Bavaria again. Angela is widely reported to find relief from the tensions of major political crises by baking cakes, a method more acceptable to the German middle-class than that once favoured by President Clinton. Prince Potemkin, lover and right-hand-man, of Czarina Catherine II, is – maybe slanderously – supposed to have had fake villages built in which actors mimed happy peasants as she drove past in her carriage. When Bush visited Angela's provincial electorate, the real locals were sent somewhere else, while blokes from Germany's security services replaced them, smiling, cheering and waving American flags. Consuming coffee and cake at 4 p.m. is the only Categorical Imperative that Germany absolutely obeys. The plot of Wagner's Twilight of the Gods resembles a stale lamington, as do Germany's present economic woes. The Grand Coalition is also looking crumbly and dry, despite Angela's keeping it in the fridge in glad-wrap.


I. THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION 570 II. WHY LITIGATION? A LOOK AT THE POLITICS OF SCHOOL FINANCE 573 III. SCHOOL FINANCE LITIGATION: A BRIEF OVERVIEW 576 A. The Search for Equity in School Finance 576 B. The Shift from Equity to Adequacy in School Finance Litigation 578 C. The "Third Wave" 581 D. What are the Results of School Finance Litigation? 584 IV. A LOOK AT RECENT CASE LAW 585 A. School Finance as a Nonjusticiable Issue? Committee for Educational Rights v. Edgar 586 B. Activism [and Equity] in Vermont--Brigham v. State 590 V. JUDICIAL ACTIVISM OR JUDICIAL ABDICATION? 593 VI. DEMARCATING THE LINE FOR COURT INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL FINANCE 597 A. Is there a Middle Ground? Ohio's Search for Adequacy 598 1. Balancing States' Responsibilities and Local Control 603 B. The Benefits of the Middle Ground Approach 605 VII. CONCLUSION 606 Although state and local governments devote significant resources toward primary and secondary education, more than forty states have faced some form of litigation aimed at increasing school funding. Such cases have focused on the interdistrict inequalities that stem from states' reliance on local property taxes and, more recently, on deprivations of various constitutionally required levels of educational opportunity. While it sometimes proves difficult for courts to properly balance the principles of judicial review and judicial restraint, few areas have been so vexing as school finance litigation. Indeed, these cases are notable not only for their practical impact but also for their jurisprudential extremes. Some courts have been hesitant to provide even adequate judicial review, while others have seemed almost uninhibited in their willingness to act as quasi-legislatures that set educational goals and states' fiscal policies. This Article examines the various approaches taken by state supreme courts in deciding school finance cases and rejects both jurisprudential extremes in favor of a more moderate approach that better balances the principles of judicial review and judicial restraint. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION The establishment and maintenance of schools is one of--if not the--most important functions of state and local governments. (1) Since the very founding of the Republic education has been seen as both a private and a public good. The United States Supreme Court acknowledged in Brown v. Board of Education that education is central to democracy and the success of civic republicanism. "[Education] is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities.... It is the very foundation of good citizenship." (2) Why is education so important? The economic benefits that a society gains from having well-trained and educated workers are well known. (3) Educated citizens are also better able to choose--and serve as--responsible and knowledgeable public officials, and citizens who are informed of their rights and responsibilities serve as a check against governmental abuse. Perhaps most importantly, though, the American social system rests on two goals that require access to education: the "melting pot" that absorbs diverse populations into a pluralistic society and the upward mobility that allows us to overcome class barriers. (4) State and local governments recognize the importance of these factors and therefore devote significant resources to education finance. Education budgets are staggering, and such expenditures make up the bulk of both state and local outlays. …


Ron Carlson's stories come at us from all directions. Sometimes wicked or bittersweet, often zany, they are rich with a hard-earned hopefulness frequently absent in contemporary fiction. In this generous gathering from collections no longer available, longtime fans and new readers alike can savor the development of a master of idiosyncrasy. In "Blazo" and other equally poignant tales, men and women are challenged when things don't work out as expected. Other stories deal with surprising transformations-for a baseball player turned killer-by-accident, for a nineteen-year-old who experiences an unsettling sexual awakening. Here is a man accusing Bigfoot of stealing his wife, followed by Bigfoot's incomparable response. Not least of the treasures is "The H Street Sledding Record," a story perfect for family holiday reading, in which a young father "creates" the magic of Santa by throwing manure on his roof on Christmas Eve. Prepare to be amused, moved, and disturbed by stories that make a difference.


A current issue in L2 reading research is whether extensive reading promotes vocabulary development. This study examined vocabulary acquisition in uninstructed silent reading of a short story with and without a vocabulary list followed by a story rewriting task. Time constraints of a public school setting prevented an extended period of study required for extensive reading research, but vocabulary learning strategies and outcomes of this study are applicable to extensive reading.
This study also explored Hinkel�s (2006) recommendation to modify the goal of extensive reading programs to meet the pedagogical ideal of integrated skills learning, that is, reading and vocabulary learning. Questioning the traditional goal of extensive reading to read relatively quickly for general ideas, Hinkel (2006) also proposes that it should draw learner attention to some aspect of language such as vocabulary. Similarly, Nation (2005) emphasizes need for deliberate vocabulary learning in extensive reading which should form a substantial and obligatory part of language courses (p.15). Due to the assumption that uninstructed sustained silent reading encourages students to read widely, I will refer to research on 'extensive reading,' using Hinkel�s (2006) and Day, Omura, and Hiramatsu�s (1991) operational definition of sustained silent reading as extensive reading for pleasure over time.


More than one hundred years ago, Thorstein Veblen wrote a powerful critique of neoclassical economics that castigated the discipline for turning the individual into a "lightning calculator of pleasures and pains, who oscillates like a homogeneous globule", or equivalently, for the individual's static maximization of utility based on exogenous preferences. His critique is relevant even today, since there are economists who still continue to criticize the assumptions of homo economicus and exogenous preferences, and insist on introducing more realism to economic theory. Furthermore, recent developments in game theory and experimental economics, which stand at the cutting-edge of economics today, are far more accommodating to the ideas of institutions that were central to Veblen's theory than neoclassical economics. The goal of this paper is to examine the strengths of the Veblenian critique of neoclassical economics. In particular, it investigates whether or not Veblen's rejection of the axiomatic approaches to economics is merely an attack on neoclassical economics which fails to provide an alternative positive theory. Starting with their conception of the individual, going through their theoretical frameworks, and ending with an investigation of how they approach a concrete issue, this paper offers a comparative exposition of the Veblenian and neoclassical approaches to economic theory. [excerpt]


Based on the analysis of the reinforcement learning and Markov games, the paper proposes a layered multi-agent coordination framework. Based on the multi-agent's interaction of competition and cooperation, this coordination framework adopts the zero-sum Markov game in higher layer to compete with opponent and adopts the team Markov game in lower layer to accomplish the team's cooperation. This coordination framework is applied to Robot Soccer. The results of the experiment illuminate that our proposed method is better than the traditional multi-agent learning.


Abstract Previous studies have shown differences in the psychosocial factors related to chronic localized pain (CLP) and chronic widespread pain (CWP). However, no studies have done an evaluation of differences between CLP and CWP from the viewpoint of family functioning. We did a cross-sectional study in a tertiary care setting to investigate possible differences in the relation of CWP and CLP to family functioning. Patients with CLP (N = 126) or CWP (N = 75) were assessed for family functioning by the Family Assessment Device (FAD) and a comparison was done. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate associations of family functioning subscales with pain status (CWP vs CLP), controlling for demographic variables, pain variables; pain duration, pain ratings, pain disability, and psychological factors; depression, anxiety, and catastrophizing. The odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of CWP were calculated. Compared to patients with CLP, patients with CWP showed a lower functional status for Roles and Affective Involvement. The ORs for CWP were significantly higher in lower functioning Roles (OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.21–4.65) and Affective Involvement (OR: 2.86, 95% CI: 1.56–5.24) after adjusting for demographic variables. The significant association of CWP to Roles and Affective Involvement remained after controlling for the pain variables and psychological factors. This study shows that the families of patients with CWP have poorer family functioning than those with CLP. Our findings suggest that early identification and interventions for the family dysfunction of chronic pain patients are important to the treatment and prevention of CWP.


Brooding, dark, and sardonic, the outsized heroes of Byron's great poems "Childe Harold" and "Manfred" are rebellious individuals who live by their own moral codes. The spawn of these Byronic heroes populate not only Victorian literature like Wuthering Heights and Melmoth the Wanderer but also films and television shows ranging from Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns to Star Trek and Angel. In this elegant literary and cultural study, the author traces the development of the Byronic hero from Byron's swaggering originals to Schwarzenegger's Terminator character and Anne Rices Vampire Lestat. With a stroke of genius, she extends her portrait to include Byronic heroines in novels ranging from Emily Bront's Catherine Earnshaw to Hardy's Eustacia Vye, plus Sarah Conner of Terminator 2 and Ellen Ripley of the Alien movies (she could have also included Tess of the d'Urbervilles). Stein teaches English at California State University, Fullerton; her articles on the development of the Byronic hero have appeared in Popular Culture Review, Philological Quarterly, and other periodicals. She opens this eloquent examination with a definition against which she measures all contemporary manifestations of this character: "The Byronic hero is an outlaw and an outsider who defines his own moral code, often defying oppressive institutional authority, and is able to do so because of his superhuman or supernatural powers, his self-sufficiency and independence, and his egotistical sense of his own superiority." Although this definition fits the heroes of Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies, by the time he made Unforgiven the film interpretation of the Byronic hero had changed. In that film, the hero had been thoroughly humanized and stripped of his outlaw glamour. Byronic heroes also strut the stages and recording studios of contemporary music, although their persona differs from the arrogant and blustering Manfred. Rock stars like Morrisey and the late Kurt Cobain display the moodiness, melancholy, self-absorption, and self-torment that form the underside of Byron's heroes. Finally, these heroic characters can be seen on the small screen. Stein compares the Q character from Star Trek: the Next Generation with some of Byron's most memorable heroes. "Like Manfred and Lucifer," she writes, "Q is completely contemptuous of humankind, deeming them inferior and puny in all respects." Like any good interdisciplinary work, Steins brilliant book captures the depth of a particular idea—in this case, the Byronic hero—and with careful attention to detail, style, and cultural context, she skillfully develops the ways that popular culture develops this idea. Steins exceptional study inspires not only a fresh reading of Byron but also a careful look at cultural forms to see where Byron's ideas continue to be reflected. HENRY L. CARRIGAN (August 18, 2009)


In this paper, we present the impact of a Radio over fiber (RoF) link on the transmission of a signal dedicated to wireless link. Comparison is given between OFDM and FBMC based wireless signal by simulation with the electrical modelling approach of O/E and E/O devices and optical components. The considered link concerns the Intensity Modulation - Direct Detection (IM-DD) architecture where the wireless signal is transmitted at the intermediate frequency. The simulation system includes the noise sources and nonlinearity of each component making thus the easy study of the impact of each one separately. It is then possible to quantify the degradation of the transmitted signal in term of error vector magnitude (EVM) or bit error rate (BER). Thus, the system architecture can be optimized for various applications and furthermore depending on the number of users.


OBJECTIVES
This study was carried out to investigate the potential of titanium to induce hypersensitivity in patients chronically exposed to titanium-based dental or endoprosthetic implants.

METHODS
Fifty-six patients who had developed clinical symptoms after receiving titanium-based implants were tested in the optimized lymphocyte transformation test MELISA against 10 metals including titanium. Out of 56 patients, 54 were patch-tested with titanium as well as with other metals. The implants were removed in 54 patients (2 declined explantation), and 15 patients were retested in MELISA.

RESULTS
Of the 56 patients tested in MELISA, 21 (37.5%) were positive, 16 (28.6%) ambiguous, and 19 (33.9%) negative to titanium. In the latter group, 11 (57.9%) showed lymphocyte reactivity to other metals, including nickel. All 54 patch-tested patients were negative to titanium. Following removal of the implants, all 54 patients showed remarkable clinical improvement. In the 15 retested patients, this clinical improvement correlated with normalization in MELISA reactivity.

CONCLUSION
These data clearly demonstrate that titanium can induce clinically-relevant hypersensitivity in a subgroup of patients chronically exposed via dental or endoprosthetic implants.


Each instance of language comparison requires observations on semantic equivalence. Meaning is by far the most popular tertium comparationis in contrastive and typological research. However, the question of how semantic equivalence is to be determined remains extremely difficult to solve. This paper presents an approach to detect semantic relatedness between a limited range of lexical items from different languages on the basis of monolingual data. Applying distributional similarity (Dagan et al. 1999) cross-linguistically, it identifies semantically related verbs governing embedded interrogatives by looking at the frequency of the question words (i.e. wh-items) that are used in the embedded interrogatives in monolingual corpora. Convincing results are obtained for six different language pairs: English-French, English-Dutch, English-Spanish, French-Dutch, French-Spanish and Dutch-Spanish.


Our society is undergoing a process of rapid change, moving toward what is called the information society, the knowledge society, the network society or the informational mode of development (Castells, 1996; Inglis et al, 2002: 17) refer to the following features of the current period: dynamic and continuous change and transformation; the failure of great theories such as Marxism to locate and predict directions of change; the discontinuous and erratic rather than evolutionary nature of social change; the juxtaposition of various images of social, economic and political life and the transformation of images like Disney world, TV sports and Web pages into the realities with which we deal. It is believed that information and knowledge are distinguishing features of this modern society and the main driver of this change is the growing use of information and communication technologies (ICT).


In this work we present a new fabrication technique to print thin dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), reducing the driving voltage below 300 V while keeping good actuation performance. With operation voltages in the kV-range, standard DEAs are limited in terms of potential applications. Using thinner membranes is one of the few existing methods to achieve lower operation voltages. Typical DEAs have membranes in the 20-100 μm range, values below which membrane fabrication becomes challenging and the membrane quality and uniformity degrade. Using pad printing we produced thin silicone elastomer membranes, on which we pad-printed compliant electrodes. We then fabricated DEAs by assembling two membranes back to back. We obtain an actuation strain of 7.5% at only 245 V on a 3 μm thick DEA. In order to investigate the stiffening impact of the electrodes we developed a simple DEA model that includes their mechanical properties. We also developed a strain-mapping algorithm based on optical correlation. The simulation results and the strain-mapping measurements confirm that the stiffening impact of the electrodes increases for thinner membranes. Electrodes are an important element that cannot be neglected in the design and optimization of ultra-thin DEAs.


The HathiTrust digital library contains over 7.3 million potentially in-copyright books. The complaint in this case has demanded that the court impound the in-copyright books in this repository and enjoin the use of all 7.3 million of these books, although the Authors Guild and its co-plaintiffs have identified only 116 works in which they claim to hold copyrights. Relying on an exceptionally broad conception of associational standing, the plaintiffs have asserted an entitlement to litigate this case and to attain injunctive relief that goes far beyond what the law allows.The Authors Guild's broad theory of associational standing is wrong for two reasons. First, the Copyright Act itself prohibits suits by non-rightsholders. The Guild does not claim to hold such an interest in its members' copyrights; the district court therefore correctly held that the Authors Guild does not have associational standing to bring broad claims of infringement under the Act. Second, the Authors Guild's theory of standing violates prudential limits on associational standing that have been developed carefully by courts over time. Article III courts have prohibited third party associations from pursuing claims when those claims would require more than the limited participation of individual association members. Because the works in the HathiTrust corpus likely implicate the rights of a very large number of third parties — including ourselves, co-authors, publishers, and other transferees — it would take involved participation by individual association members to prove who holds the rights in the works which the Guild claims to represent. Academic authors — whose works are likely more typical of those in the HathiTrust corpus than works of the Authors Guild and its members — would be harmed by the outcome that the Authors Guild seeks because we typically benefit from HathiTrust, both because it makes our books more accessible to the public than ever before and because we use HathiTrust in conducting our own research. HathiTrust's fair use defense is more persuasive to us than the Authors Guild's theory of infringement. If granted, the Guild's request for an injunction to stop HathiTrust from making its corpus available would directly harm academic author interests. In short, a "win" for the Authors Guild would be a "loss" for academic authors. This divergence in the interests of academic authors and of the Guild and its members, which may also affect the fair use calculus, is an additional reason why this Court should limit the Guild's standing to the copyrights it actually holds.


Exploring the properties and physical limits of nanometer scale
structures and devices, emerged with the advent of epitaxial techniques such
as Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). This has correspondingly created
challenges to the available characterisation techniques. Determination of
carrier concentration profiles in semiconductor structures is of vital
importance since the operation of devices depends on it. Of the commonly
used techniques, conventional capacitance-voltage (CV) has a major
drawback due to the breakdown voltage at high reverse bias particularly at
highly doped structures. The most competitive techniques for carrier
concentration profiling are the electrochemical CV (ECV) which does not
suffer from this limitation, Spreading Resistance Profiling (SRP) and Hall
combined with stripped measurement.
This thesis reports experimental investigations of the capability and
limitations of the ECV technique through comparisons with Secondary Ion
Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) and SRP on hitherto difficult profiling conditions in
Si and, for the first time, carrier profiling in SilSiGe structures. The ECV
technique is shown to be well capable of profiling Si structures doped with
boron up to the solid solubility limits. It is also demonstrated for the first time
that ECV is better suited to profiling ultra thin boron layers including deltalayers
in Si than the SRP technique. The first attempts to profile boron doped
Si/SiGe structures have revealed that this material system can be depthprofiled
with the electrolytes used to profile Si under optimised conditions,
providing that the Ge concentration is kept below 25%. The importance of
the electrolytes, leakage current, and the models used are also discussed
with specific samples. Also the changes in etch current density between Si
and SiGe enabled Ge profiles to be obtained in Si/SiGe heterostructures.
World record mobilities in strained SiGe channel MBE-grown normal
structures are obtained through the use of very high substrate temperatures
during growth whilst reducing the Ge concentration below 13% and limiting
the thickness of the alloy layer. The theoretical calculations related to
scattering mechanisms suggested that utilising high substrate temperatures
results in reduction of both interface charge and interface roughness
scattering, these being the dominant scattering mechanisms in the present
material system.


Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of device-associated healthcare-associated infections (DA-HAI) in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). In addition, the identities of the responsible micro-organisms and of their antibiotic sensitivities were determined.

Subjects and Methods
Patients who had been treated and followed-up in a PICU for more than 48 hours between January 2008 and December 2013 were included in the study. Device-associated nosocomial infections were defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria.

Results
Nosocomial infections were detected in 244 of the 7376 patients over the six-year period. A diagnosis of DA-HAI was made in 75 (30.7%) of these infections. The rates of device utilization were 26% for mechanical ventilators, 6% for central venous catheters and 0.9% for urethral catheters. The rate of device-associated infections was 30.7%, and their frequency was 1.9/1000 patient-days. The device-associated nosocomial infection rates for mechanic ventilators, central and urethral catheters were 5.6, 1.62 and 3.77 per 1000 patient-days, respectively. Of these infections, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most frequent pathogen. Patients who developed hospital infections had longer durations of ICU hospitalizations and more often had to use mechanical ventilators and central and urinary catheters.

Conclusions
The duration of hospitalization and the use of mechanical ventilators and central and urinary catheters were related to the increases in nosocomial infections. Therefore, target-oriented active surveillance should be regularly performed, and the superfluous employment of invasive devices should be avoided.


Objective: The most important desideratum of a provisional crown is an adequate marginal fit that is essential for maintaining optimal periodontal health, reducing the sensitivity of freshly prepared dentin and protection of the pulp. The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the vertical marginal accuracy of provisional crown materials using three different material systems (chemically activated PMMA powder-liquid system, light activated UDMA single paste system, and chemically activated Bis-GMA two paste auto mix system) and two different techniques (direct and indirect). Methods: Two customized stainless steel dies, simulating prepared and unprepared tooth were used to fabricate 40 provisional crowns. Additional silicone elastomeric impression and a vacuum-formed polypropylene sheet were used as a matrix. Ten crowns, each of the three material systems used in the study (n = 10 × 3) were fabricated using the direct technique and ten crowns from chemically activated PMMA powder-liquid system (n = 10 × 1) using an indirect technique. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to measure vertical marginal discrepancies at x100 magnification. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and comparisons between various groups were made using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) after checking the normality of data using Shapiro Wilk's Test. Post Hoc Tukey HSD Test was used to determine the statistical difference between the means of independent group pairs. Results: The mean marginal discrepancies of Bis-GMA composite resin, UDMA composite resin, and PMMA acrylic resin using direct technique were 67.15 µm, 71.01 µm, and 84.56 µm respectively. PMMA acrylic resin showed a mean marginal discrepancy of 103.03 µm using the indirect technique. Conclusion: This study has shown that provisional crowns fabricated with Bis-GMA composite resin material (two paste auto mix system) registered the best marginal accuracy. Provisional crowns fabricated with indirect technique recorded less marginal opening than with direct technique.


This dissertation is primarily concerned with developing an understanding of how the use of pre-recorded digital audio shapes and augments conventional notions of counterpoint. It outlines a theoretical framework for analyzing the contrapuntal elements in electronically and digitally composed musics, specifically music mashups, and Glenn Gould's Solitude Trilogy 'contrapuntal radio' works. Conventional studies of counterpoint encompass sixteenththrough early twentieth-century modernist and neoclassical materials but stop there. Composition by magnetic tape and computer software using pre-existing recorded audio offers the potential for a new study of music that displays clear contrapuntal elements but lacks the analytical models to outline the underlying musical systems. Central to these investigations is the assertion that counterpoint operates not only within the sphere of art music but also in the compositional logic of non-musical sound works (radio documentary) and in the harmonic and melodic underpinnings of popular music. The first chapter examines technological and cultural developments that contribute to the formation of digital contrapuntal music. The second and third chapters outline the traditional musical elements—harmony, form, and texture—of contrapuntal radio and mashups, respectively. Chapter Four explores how counterpoint exists in the sonic space of the stereo or mono sound field. Chapter Five presents the notion of program as a useful concept for analyzing interaction between lyric samples to form original narratives. These two final chapters present the original contributions from contrapuntal radio and mashups to a study of counterpoint. In each of these chapters, counterpoint forms the basis for how we perceive the underlying systems of musical works composed by traditional counterpoint or by assembling pre-existing recorded audio. The connection between the old and new is important, as one does not supplant but augment the other. As such, counterpoint is a fluid musical concept, rather than a fixed system of rules governing composition in a narrow musical palette.


COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains a threat to global health. The disease severity is mediated by cell death and inflammation, which regulate both the antiviral and the pathological innate immune responses. ZBP1, an interferon-induced cytosolic nucleic acid sensor, facilitates antiviral responses via RIPK3. Although ZBP1-mediated cell death is widely described, whether and how it promotes inflammatory signaling is unclear. Here, we report a ZBP1-induced inflammatory signaling pathway that depends on ubiquitination and RIPK3's scaffolding ability independently of cell death. In human cells, ZBP1 associates with RIPK1 and RIPK3 as well as ubiquitin ligases cIAP1 and LUBAC. RIPK1 and ZBP1 are ubiquitinated to promote TAK1- and IKK-mediated inflammatory signaling. Additionally, RIPK1 recruits the p43/41-caspase-8-p43-FLIP heterodimer to suppress RIPK3 kinase activity, which otherwise promotes inflammatory signaling in a kinase activity-dependent manner. Lastly, we show that ZBP1 contributes to SARS-CoV-2-induced cytokine production. Taken together, we describe a ZBP1-RIPK1-RIPK3-mediated inflammatory signaling pathway relayed by the scaffolding role of RIPKs and regulated by caspase-8. Our results suggest the ZBP1 pathway contributes to inflammation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.


From the Publisher:
Organizations are struggling for greater return on their multibillion-dollar technology and project-related investments. Individual projects may be useful, but when examined collectively, they often work at cross-purposes, duplicate each other's efforts, or aim for obsolescing business objectives. And all are competing for scarce resources. In today's earnings-driven business environment, companies must look to their portfolios to better deliver on objectives and propel the organization forward.

Based on their experience with a variety of companies, authors Cathleen Benko and distinguished professor F. Warren McFarlan have developed an alignment approach that better connects an organization's project portfolio to its corporate objectives in a manner responsive to today's unpredictable environment.
Connecting the Dots provides a scalable framework and practical tools for better aligning a company's: (1) project portfolio with its objectives; (2) individual projects with each other; and (3) portfolio and objectives with the volatile environment. Better-aligned companies enhance business/technology performance by increasing shareholder value and confidence and improving the portfolio's return on investment. This in-the-trenches guidebook helps companies capture this latent value while building a more adaptive organization.

Author Biography: Cathleen Benko is Braxton's Global e-Business Leader. F. Warren McFarlan is the Senior Associate Dean and Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.


Phenacyl bromides react with dimethylpalladium(I1) complexes PdMe2(L2) (L2 = bpy, phen) to form
the palladium(IV) complexes fac-PdBrMe2(CH2COAr)(L2) (Ar = Ph, p-C6H4Br), which have both methyl
groups trans to the bidentate nitrogen donor ligand. 1H NMR studies of the oxidative addition of phenacyl
bromides to PdMe2(bpy) in (CD3)2C0 at -5 C indicate the formation of two similar cationic intermediates,
prior to formation of the neutral product. As the cations have only one of the methyl groups trans to bpy,
configurational changes at palladium occur on cation formation and on conversion of the cations to the
neutral product. It is proposed that one of the cations may be stabilized via an intramolecularly coordinated
phenacyl group, [PdMe2(CH2COAr-C,0)(L2)]+. A single cation, exhibiting NMR spectra similar to those
of the cations of the bpy complexes, is detected as an intermediate in the reaction of PdMe2(phen) with
ArCOCH2Br. A cation has also been detected for the reaction of PdMe2(bpy) with CD3I in (CD3)2C0 at
-50 C, prior to formation of PdIMe2(CD3)(bpy). Both the cation, most likely [PdMe2(CD3)(bpy)((CD3)2CO)]+, and the neutral product display scrambled Me and CD3 groups, in contrast to the trans oxidative addition reported for the analogous reaction of PtMe2(bpy) with CD3I. Crystals of PdBrMe2(CH2COAr)(bpy) are orthorhombic, space group Pbca, with a = 19.554(3) A, b = 15.007(9) A, c = 13.282(4) 1, and Z = 8.


We propose a novel 3D segmentation method for RBGD stream data to deal with 3D object segmentation task in a generic scenario with frequent object interactions. It mainly contributes in two aspects, while being generic and not requiring initialization: firstly, a novel tree structure representation for the point cloud of the scene is proposed. Then, a dynamic manangement mechanism for connected component splits and merges exploits the tree structure representation.


— In this paper a Public Key Cryptosystem is proposed using the number theoretic transforms (NTT) over a ring of integer modulo a composite number. The key agreement is similar to ElGamal public key algorithm. The security of the system is based on solution of multivariate linear congruence equations and discrete logarithm problem. In the proposed cryptosystem only fixed numbers of multiplications are carried out (constant complexity) and hence the encryption and decryption can be done easily. At the same time, it is very difficult to attack the cryptosystem, since the cipher text is a sequence of integers which are interrelated. The system provides authentication also. Using Mathematica version 5.0 the proposed algorithm is justified with a numerical example.


Evolutionary responses to indirect selection pressures imposed by intensive harvesting are increasingly common. While artificial selection has shown that biochemical components can show rapid and dramatic evolution, it remains unclear as to whether intensive harvesting can inadvertently induce changes in the biochemistry of harvested populations. For applications such as algal culture, many of the desirable bioproducts could evolve in response to harvesting, reducing cost‐effectiveness, but experimental tests are lacking. We used an experimental evolution approach where we imposed heavy and light harvesting regimes on multiple lines of an alga of commercial interest for twelve cycles of harvesting and then placed all lines in a common garden regime for four cycles. We have previously shown that lines in a heavy harvesting regime evolve a "live fast" phenotype with higher growth rates relative to light harvesting regimes. Here, we show that algal biochemistry also shows evolutionary responses, although they were temporarily masked by differences in density under the different harvesting regimes. Heavy harvesting regimes, relative to light harvesting regimes, had reduced productivity of desirable bioproducts, particularly fatty acids. We suggest that commercial operators wishing to maximize productivity of desirable bioproducts should maintain mother cultures, kept at higher densities (which tend to select for desirable phenotypes), and periodically restart their intensively harvested cultures to minimize the negative consequences of biochemical evolution. Our study shows that the burgeoning algal culture industry should pay careful attention to the role of evolution in intensively harvested crops as these effects are nontrivial if subtle.


A ceasefire was agreed between Ukraine and separatist forces on 5 September, although it is unclear whether this will hold following shelling in the city of Mariupol and near Donetsk airport on Sunday. Ellie Knott writes on public opinion within Russia toward the conflict. She notes that while Vladimir Putin's approval ratings have increased during the Ukraine crisis, there is relatively low public support for the annexation of the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.