Primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSLs) are rare cancers of the central nervous system (CNS) and are predominantly diffuse large B-cell lymphomas of the activated B-cell (ABC) subtype. They typically present in the sixth and seventh decade of life, with the highest incidence among patients aged >75 years. Although many different regimens have demonstrated efficacy in newly diagnosed and relapsed or refractory PCNSL, there have been few randomized prospective trials, and most recommendations and treatment decisions are based on single-arm phase II trials or even retrospective studies. High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX; 3-8 g/m2) is the backbone of preferred standard induction regimens. Various effective regimens with different toxicity profiles can be considered that combine other chemotherapies and/or rituximab with HD-MTX, but there is currently no consensus for a single preferred regimen. There is controversy about the role of various consolidation therapies for patients who respond to HD-MTX-based induction therapy. For patients with relapsed or refractory PCNSL who previously experienced response to HD-MTX, repeat treatment with HD-MTX-based therapy can be considered depending on the timing of recurrence. Other more novel and less toxic regimens have been developed that show efficacy in recurrent disease, including ibrutinib, or lenalidomide ± rituximab. There is uniform agreement to delay or avoid whole-brain radiation therapy due to concerns for significant neurotoxicity if a reasonable systemic treatment option exists. This article aims to provide a clinically practical approach to PCNSL, including special considerations for older patients and those with impaired renal function. The benefits and risks of HD-MTX or high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation versus other, better tolerated strategies are also discussed. In all settings, the preferred treatment is always enrollment in a clinical trial if one is available.


Selective inhibition of CDK1 is sufficient to induce endoreduplication in mammalian trophoblast giant cells. The development of polyploid cells has been most extensively studied in model invertebrates such as the fruit fly and nematode, where polyploidy is more common than it is in mammals. Trophoblast giant (TG) cells, which are required for embryonic implantation and give rise to the placenta, are one of only two mammalian cell types that undergo endoreduplication. Cultured murine trophoblast stem (TS) cells differentiate into TG cells when they are deprived of fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4). Ullah et al. report that inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) in TS cells with the CDK1 inhibitor RO3306 caused the cells to increase in size, undergo endoreduplication, and initiate TG cell-specific gene expression. RO3306 treatment was not sufficient to induce endoreduplication in embryonic stem cells; therefore, some developmental programming was required to make TS cells competent for endoreduplication. The switch to endocycles was not simply a result of mitotic arrest, because treating TS cells with nocodazole was not sufficient to induce endoreduplication. The activity of CDK1 immunoprecipitated from TS cell extracts decreased after FGF4 deprivation, as determined by a histone H1 phosphorylation assay. Western blotting indicated that the amount of the CDK1 inhibitors p21 (CIP1) and p57 (KIP2) increased during endoreduplication induced by FGF4 deprivation. Both p21-CDK and p57-CDK1 complexes were immunoprecipitated from TG, but not TS, cells, which suggests that one or both of these proteins could be responsible for inhibiting CDK1 activity to induce endocycling. p57 was required for endoreduplication in response to FGF4 deprivation but not for endoreduplication induced by RO3660. p21 was not required for FGF4 deprivation-induced endoreduplication but instead appeared to play a role in suppressing activation of the DNA damage response in endocycling cells. These data suggest a model in which endoreduplication in mammals is triggered by p57 inhibition of CDK1 and maintained by p21. Inhibition of CDK1 activity induces endoreplication in both flies and mammals, but the mechanisms by which it is inhibited differ. Z. Ullah, M. J. Kohn, R. Yagi, L. T. Vassilev, M. L. DePamphilis, Differentiation of trophoblast stem cells into giant cells is triggered by p57/Kip2 inhibition of CDK1 activity. Genes Dev. 22, 3024-3036 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Abstract We present the detection of an additional pulsation mode (7.35 mHz) of a subdwarf B star, PG 1613+426, and periodic Observed minus Calculated (O-C) variations for two existing pulsations. PG 1613+426 is near the hot end of the sdB instability strip. One pulsation mode (6.94 mHz) was detected so far by Bonanno et al. (2002) and another pulsation mode candidate (7.05 mHz) was proposed with a confidence level above 90% by Kuassivi and Ferlet (2005). To constrain sdB star evolutional scenarios, this star was monitored in 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2017 as a part of a project for finding companions to sdB stars using the pulsation timing method. The photometric analysis of those data shows an additional 7.35 mHz pulsation mode as well as the previously detected 6.93 mHz mode. However the 7.05 mHz mode was not detected. Nightly amplitude changes of 7.35 mHz mode were observed in the 2011 data, however the 2017 data did not show nightly amplitude shifts. O-C variations were detected in both 6.93 mHz and 7.35 mHz pulsations, indicating that PG 1613+426 may have a low mass companion star. However, more observations are needed to confirm it.


Article history: Received: February 1, 2017 Received in revised format: July 6, 2017 Accepted: July 24, 2017 Available online: July 24, 2017 Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. This on-going research considers the affections generated by consumers towards the chocolate brand which is endorsed by a celebrity. The Dual Mediation Hypothesis Model (DMH) is used to ascertain the ad effectiveness of the product/ brand, in this research advertisement featuring the celebrity. The affections generated by the ad leads to generation of affection towards the brand leading to purchase a product/ brand. The chocolate brand selected for the research has high market share and manufactures chocolate based products catering to all classes of consumers. The research primarily focuses on the significance of affections generated by the advertisement for the product. The purchase decision for such products is usually based on consumer impulses and attitudes towards the product/ brand. A convenience sample of 116 individuals was considered for the research and the survey was done using questionnaire method. The findings from the analysis revealed that the consumers purchased the products due to the impulses and affections generated by the ad and brand. There was no clear linkage between the celebrity and brand which lead to purchase intentions of the product/ brand. The Dual Mediation Model was found to be applicable as the affections towards the brand and the ad resulted in purchase intention. © 2017 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


Background Insomnia is the most commonly reported sleep problem in industrialized countries worldwide being present in about 36.8% of the general population. In Italy, such a percentage seems to be even higher. Although insomnia can be an independent disorder, it is most frequently observed as a comorbid condition and may precipitate, exacerbate, or prolong a broad range of comorbid conditions including physical and mental illnesses. Evaluating and targeting insomnia in the Italian clinical practice should be a priority. Methods The present expert options and recommendations development process was based on the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method for conceptualizing, designing, and carrying out the appropriateness of procedures for the diagnosis and treatment. Only available options in Italy were taken into considerations. Results We evaluated 12 international guidelines and 12 most recent systematic reviews for insomnia evaluation and treatment produced in the last 10 years. Conclusions Our findings suggested that symptoms of insomnia must always be assessed in the Italian clinical practice by evaluating nocturnal and daytime symptoms, comorbid conditions and lifestyle. In a patient with chronic insomnia with and without comorbidity, insomnia treatment should be always initiated. CBT-Insomnia therapy should be the first option accordingly to availability. The choice of the drug should be based on different factors such as type of insomnia, age, comorbidities, and potential side effects. Melatonin 2 mg prolonged release should be the first choice in subjects >55 years. If the choice would be a Z-drug or a short-acting benzodiazepine (in subjects <65 years old) or a sedating antidepressant, the use should be in the short term (≤4 weeks) and then proceeds to tapering under clinical monitoring


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fluvastatin on the pharmacokinetics of repaglinide in rats. The effect of fluvastatin on P-glycoprotein and CYP3A4 activity was evaluated. The pharmacokinetic parameters and blood glucose concentrations were also determined after oral and intravenous administration of repaglinide to rats in the presence and absence of fluvastatin. Fluvastatin inhibited CYP3A4 activity in a concentration-dependent manner with a 50% inhibition concentration(IC50) of 4.1 µM and P-gp activity. Compared to the oral control group, fluvastatin significantly increased the AUC and the peak plasma level of repaglinide by 45.9% and 22.7%, respectively. Fluvastatin significantly decreased the total body clearance (TBC) of repaglinide compared to the control. Fluvastatin also significantly increased the absolute bioavailability (BA) of repaglinide by 46.1% compared to the control group. Moreover, the relative BA of repaglinide was 1.14- to 1.46-fold greater than that of the control. Compared to the i.v. control, fluvastatin significantly increased the AUC0-∞ of i.v. administered repaglinide. The blood glucose concentrations showed significant differences compared to the oral controls. Fluvastatin enhanced the oral BA of repaglinide, which may be mainly attributable to the inhibition of the CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of repaglinide in the small intestine and/or liver, to the inhibition of the P-gp efflux transporter in the small intestine and/or to the reduction of TBC of repaglinide by fluvastatin. The study has raised the awareness of potential interactions during concomitant use of repaglinide with fluvastatin. Therefore, the concurrent use of repaglinide and fluvastatin may require close monitoring for potential drug interactions.


Of the approximately fifty percent of Americans who believe in UFOs, a fraction are devotees of one of the numerous UFO-based new religious movements. The Unarius Academy of Science is one of the oldest of these groups. Founded in 1954 by "Cosmic Visionaries" Ruth and Ernest Norman (also known, respectively, as Archangels Uriel and Raphiel), Unarius is devoted to teaching the all-encompassing Uranian Science. Combining elements of pop psychology, new age thought, and science fiction, the Science asks its students to channel messages from the infinitely intelligent Space Brothers and to heal themselves through the practice of past-life therapy. Unarians await the arrival of spaceships, manned by the Space Brothers, that will bring to earth advanced intergalactic technology that will benefit all humankind. Tumminia has been conducting research on Unarius for over a decade - attending meetings, inteviewing members, and studying official Unarian literature and videos. Here she offers an inside look at this fascinating movement. She pays particular attention to the ways Unarians adapt when their prophecies - and particularly their prediction that the Space Brothers would land in 2001 - don't materialize. This is the first in-depth study of any UFO religion.


Abstract. The study reviews the emission estimates of sulphur oxides (SOx) and primary particulate matter (PM) from the major industrial sources of Kola Peninsula. Analysis of the disagreements between the existing emission inventories for the Kola region combined with forward and inverse ensemble dispersion modelling, analysis of observation time-series and model-measurement comparison showed that the emission of the Nikel metallurgy plant was missing or strongly under-estimated in the major European emission inventories, such as EMEP, EDGAR, TNO-GEMS, and PAREST-MEGAPOLI. In some cases it was misplaced or mis-attributed to other sources of the region. A more consistent inventory of the anthropogenic emissions of SOx and PM has been compiled for the Peninsula, compared with the existing estimates and verified by means of dispersion modelling. In particular, the SILAM model simulations for 2003 and 2006 with the revised emission data showed much smaller under-estimation of SO2 concentrations at 8 Finnish and Norwegian observational stations. For the nearest site to the plant the 10-fold underestimation turned to a 1.5-fold over-prediction. Temporal correlation improved more moderately (up to 45% for concentrations, up to 3 times for deposition). The study demonstrates the value of a combined usage of forward and inverse ensemble modelling for source apportionment in case of limited observational data.


This article presents the results of qualitative and quantitative composition of biologically active substances of green mass 6 recognized varieties of soybean, soybean seeds, soybean meal after oil extraction and biologically active complex of soy. The presence of 21 amino acids, 7 flavones, 6 isoflavones, 2 coumarin, 4 phenolcarbonic acid, tannins, vitamins (E, K, P, B), polysaccharides was determined. The resource-saving technology of oil production, biologically active complex and protein were developed.


Network Management FundamentalsA guide to understanding how network management technology really worksAlexander Clemm, Ph.D.Network management is an essential factor in successfully operating a network. As a company becomes increasingly dependent on networking services, keeping those services running is synonymous with keeping the business running. Network Management Fundamentals provides you with an accessible overview of network management covering management not just of networks themselves but also of services running over those networks.Network Management Fundamentals explains the different technologies that are used in network management and how they relate to each other. The book focuses on fundamental concepts and principles. It provides a solid technical foundation for the practitioner to successfully navigate network management topics and apply those concepts to particular situations.The book is divided into four parts: Part I provides an overview of what network management is about and why it is relevant. It also conveys an informal understanding of the functions, tools, and activities that are associated with it. Part II examines network management from several different angles, culminating in a discussion of how these aspects are combined into management reference models. Part III provides more detail into different building blocks of network management introduced in Part II, such as management protocols, management organization, and management communication patterns.i¾ Part IV rounds out the book with a number of management topics of general interest, including management integration and service-level management.Dr. Alexander Clemm is a senior architect with Cisco®. He has been involved with integrated management of networked systems and services since 1990. He has provided technical leadership for many leading-edge network management development, architecture, and engineering efforts from original conception to delivery to the customer, and he has also served as technical program co-chair of the 2005 IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management. Grasp the business implications of network management Examine different management reference models, such as Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS) Understand the building blocks of network management and their purposes Assess the implications and impact of management technologies and put them in perspective Prepare for decisions about network management that require an understanding of the "big picture"This book is part of the Cisco Press® Fundamentals Series. Books in this series introduce networking professionals to new networking technologies, covering network topologies, example deployment concepts, protocols, and management techniques.Category: NetworkingCovers: Network Management$55.00 USA / $69.00 CAN


BACKGROUND
Spinal cord injury (SCI) and multiple sclerosis (MS) are associated with increased risks of depression. Acute exercise may improve mood in these populations via its affect on inflammation.

OBJECTIVE
To determine if acute exercise can positively affect mood in individuals with SCI and MS, and whether exercise-induced changes in inflammation contribute to such improvements.

METHODS
Thirteen participants completed 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise. Mood data (POMS questionnaire) and blood samples were taken before and after exercise, and blood was analyzed for inflammatory mediators and kynurenine pathway metabolites.

RESULTS
There was a significant reduction in total mood disturbance (TMD) pre to post-exercise, and pre to one-hour post-exercise. There was a significant decrease in TNF-α from pre to post-exercise, with further reductions one-hour post-exercise. There were no correlations between changes in TMD and changes in inflammation. However, changes in certain cytokines showed significant or trending correlations with changes in subsets of the POMS. Likewise, there was a trend for a correlation between exercise-induced changes in KYN/TRP and depression (p = 0.096).

CONCLUSIONS
Acute exercise can positively affect mood after SCI and MS, and this change may be partially accounted for by exercise-induced changes in inflammation. This relationship may be, in part, kynurenine pathway-dependent.


This book explains the process of property investment appraisal – estimating both the most likely selling price (market value) and the worth of property investments to individual or groups of investors (investment value).

Valuations are important: they are used as a surrogate for transactions in the construction of investment performance and they influence investors and other market operators when transacting property. Valuations need to be trusted by their clients and valuers therefore need to produce rational and objective solutions.

In a style that makes the theory as well as the practice of valuation accessible to students and practitioners, the authors provide a valuable critique of conventional valuation methods and argue for the adoption of more contemporary cash-flow methods. They explain how such valuation models are constructed and give useful examples throughout.

The UK property investment market has been through periods of both boom and bust since the first edition of this text was produced in 1988 and the book includes examples generated by the different market states: for example, complex reversions, over-rented situations and leasehold examples are in ready supply and are examined fully by the authors. They have retained the book's basic structure and thrust, setting out fundamental investment and appraisal theory in Part One of the book, but adding a new chapter on building and modelling cash flows as a precursor to the investment material in Part Three.

The heart of the book remains the critical examination of market valuation models addressed in Part Two – it remains the case that no other book addresses this issue in detail.


[About the book]

This original book explores the importance of geographical processes for policies and professional practices related to childhood and youth. Contributors from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds explore how concepts such as place, scale, mobility and boundary-making are important for policies and practices in diverse contexts. Chapters present both comprehensive cutting-edge academic research and critical reflections by practitioners working in diverse contexts, giving the volume wide appeal. The focus on the role of geographical processes in policies and professional practices that affect young people provides new, critical insights into contemporary issues and debates. The contributions show how local and national concerns remain central to many youth programmes; they also highlight how youth policies are becoming increasingly globalised. Examples are taken from the UK, the Americas and Africa. The chapters are informed by and advance contemporary theoretical approaches in human geography, sociology, anthropology and youth work, and will be of interest to academics and higher-level students in those disciplines. The book will also appeal to policy-makers and professionals who work with young people, encouraging them to critically reflect upon the role of geographical processes in their own work.


In 2003, a dictionary data structure called jumplist has been introduced by Bronnimann, Cazals and Durand. It is based on a circularly closed (singly) linked list, but additional jump-pointers are added to provide shortcuts to parts further ahead in the list.
The original jump-and-walk data structure by Bronnimann, Cazals and Durand only introduces one jump-pointer per node. In this thesis, I add one more-jump pointer to each node and present algorithms for generation, insertion and search for the resulting data structure.
Furthermore, I try to evaluate the effects on the expected search costs and the complexity of the generation and insertion.
It turns out that the two-jump-pointer variant of the jumplist has a slightly better prefactor (1.2 vs. 2) in the leading term of the expected internal path length than the original version and despite the more complex structure of the two-jump-pointer variant compared to the regular jumplist, the complexity of generation and insertion remains linearithmic.


The Hippocratic Aphorisms is a well-known treatise which was very popular throughout the ages. This paper studies the Arabic translation of [Hdotu]unayn ibn Ishaq, the renowned Arab translator, of the first book of the Aphorisms as well as the commentary of Ibn al-Nafīs, the thirteenth-century Arab doctor, on the same book. This study highlights the difficulties that occasionally confronted the Arab commentator while commenting. The obscurity of a few Hippocratic sentences as well as [Hdotu]unayn's interpretation and alteration in meaning were probable sources for those difficulties. Ibn al-Nafīs, however, was unaware of the role played by [Hdotu]unayn in shaping the Arabic text. Ibn al-Nafīs reflected a deep trust in the Arabic text to the degree of commenting on every single word. He used both his intellect and his knowledge of other commentaries to solve those problematic phrases. He did not exhibit an interest in philological matters to help explain the text. His commentaries reflect his respect and appreciation for both Hippocrates and Galen, the latter of whom exercised some influence on [Hdotu]unayn and Ibn al-Nafīs in their understanding of the work. Nonetheless both [Hdotu]unayn and Ibn al-Nafīs showed traces of independence from Galen's influence.


OBJECTIVE: Present first published data detailing high-risk behaviors of adolescent high school students (HSS) with extreme obesity (BMI ≥ 99th percentile for age and gender) compared with healthy weight peers (5th–84th percentile). METHODS: The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was used to compare HSS with extreme obesity (N = 410) and healthy weight peers (N = 8669) in their engagement in (1) tobacco use, (2) alcohol/other drug use, (3) high-risk sexual behaviors, and (4) suicidal behaviors. Logistic regression was used to calculate gender-stratified odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), controlling for age and race. RESULTS: HSS with extreme obesity were similar to healthy weight peers in the prevalence of most behaviors related to alcohol/drug use, high-risk sexual activities, and suicide, with the following exceptions: relative to healthy weight HSS, both male and female students with extreme obesity more frequently reported ever trying cigarettes (female students, adjusted OR: 2.0 [95% CI: 1.3–3.2]; male students, OR: 1.5 [CI: 1.2–2.0]). Compared with healthy weight female students, female students with extreme obesity had lower odds of ever having sex (OR: 0.5 [CI: 0.3–0.9]), but greater odds of drinking alcohol/using drugs before their last sexual encounter (OR: 4.6 [CI: 1.2–17.6]), currently smoking (OR: 2.3 [CI: 1.2–4.4]), and using smokeless tobacco (OR: 4.6 [CI: 1.2–17.2]). Compared with healthy weight male students, male students with extreme obesity had greater odds of smoking before age 13 (OR: 1.4 [CI: 1.0–2.0]). CONCLUSIONS: With few exceptions, HSS with extreme obesity engage in high-risk behaviors at rates comparable with healthy weight peers, sometimes in even more dangerous ways. Health care providers should assess risk-taking behaviors in this cohort.


Soil CO2 efflux (Fsoil) represents a significant source of ecosystem CO2 emissions that is rarely quantified with high‐temporal‐resolution data in carbon flux studies. Fsoil estimates can be obtained by the low‐cost gradient method (GM), but the utility of the method is hindered by uncertainties in the application of published models for the diffusion coefficient. Therefore, to address and resolve these uncertainties, we compared Fsoil measured by 2 soil CO2 efflux chambers and Fsoil estimated by 16 gas transport models using the GM across 1 year. We used 14 published empirical gas diffusion models and 2 in situ models: (1) a gas transfer model called "Chamber model" obtained using a calibration between the chamber and the gradient method and (2) a diffusion model called "SF6 model" obtained through an interwell conservative tracer experiment. Most of the published models using the GM underestimated cumulative annual Fsoil by 55% to 361%, while the Chamber model closely approximated cumulative Fsoil (0.6% error). Surprisingly, the SF6 model combined with the GM underestimated Fsoil by 32%. Differences between in situ models could stem from the Chamber model implicitly accounting for production of soil CO2, while the conservative tracer model does not. Therefore, we recommend using the GM only after calibration with chamber measurements to generate reliable long‐term ecosystem Fsoil measurements. Accurate estimates of Fsoil will improve our understanding of soil respiration's contribution to ecosystem fluxes.


Every leader has a number! Millions of people around the world use the nine-point Enneagram system to analyze their personality strengths. Now for the first time, renowned Enneagram expert Ginger Lapid-Bogda shows how to use this personality typing system to reach your full potential as a leader and to pinpoint your core leadership style. "A unique combination of business savvy, organization development, and in-depth self-development perspectives."-Colleen Gentry, senior vice president for Executive Development, Wachovia Corporation "Chock-full of excellent suggestions and astute examples that ...provide readers with a multitude of teachable moments."-Beverly Kaye, Ph.D., founder/CEO of Career Systems International and coauthor of Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay "Dr. Lapid-Bogda adroitly describes how different types of people fulfill the core competencies of leadership in their own ways."-Helen Palmer, author of The Enneagram and The Enneagram in Love and Work "We recommend this book for anyone in leadership wishing to use the superbly insightful tool of the Enneagram to access their innate gifts, identify their biases, and become truly great leaders." -Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, The Enneagram Institute, authors of Personality Types and The Wisdom of the Enneagram


Abstract We investigate the origin of the scalar gradient skewness in isotropic turbulence on which a mean scalar gradient is imposed. The problem of the advection of an anisotropic scalar field is reformulated in terms of the advection of an isotropic vector field. For this field, triadic closure equations are derived. It is shown how the scaling of the scalar gradient skewness depends on the choice of the time scale used for the Lagrangian decorrelation of the vector field. The persistent anisotropy in the small scales for the third-order statistics is shown to be perfectly compatible with Corrsin–Obukhov scaling for second-order quantities, since second- and third-order scalar quantities are governed by a different triad correlation time scale. Whereas the inertial range dynamics of second-order scalar quantities is governed by the Lagrangian velocity correlation time, the third-order quantities remain correlated over a time related to the large-scale dynamics of the scalar field. It is argued that this time is determined by the average time it takes for a fluid particle to travel between ramp-cliff scalar structures.


Jews in Germany after the Holocaust: Memory, Identity, and Jewish German Relations, by Lynn RapaportA few years back I received a DAAD grant to do research in Germany. I told an older colleague the news and his reaction surprised me. He said that I could take such a grant, I was young enough, but he couldn't take money from Germans or spend a year in Germany. The reason for the difference in our attitudes was the Holocaust. For him, it was an event of first-hand experience, whereas for me it was inevitably history.This story is relevant, since the difference in attitudes of two generations frames the subject of this book, which focuses its attention on the views of Germany, Germans, and Jewry in Germany of second-generation Jews, i.e., children of survivors. From interviews carried out by Ms. Rapaport, we find a similar pattern. The parents, who experienced the Holocaust and are now in their sixties and seventies, have a more restrictive conception of relations between Jews and Germans. They do not want their children to socialize with Germans, preferring their children to take Jewish spouses and bring up Jewish children. Nevertheless, the majority of young adult Jews living in Germany have friendships with Germans and interact with them extensively, often intermarrying.Despite the dramatic title, which evokes stirrings of anxiety and consternation -- Jews, Germany, Holocaust -- the issues brought up here are actually mundane. One reads the testimony of a man who wonders if he got good grades in school because he was a Jew (p. 114), a man who bickers with his parents over going out with non-Jewish girls (p. 210), and a woman who feels embarrassed about her Jewishness in front of strangers (p. 181).The narrative gets a wee bit racier with the statement of a Jewish man who found out his girlfriend's father was in the SS, and the viewpoint of a Jewish girl who prefers non-Jewish guys for sex (p. 229). Outside of these unusual testimonies, the vast majority tell a repetitive story: parents do not approve of socializing with non-Jews; young Jews, despite their successful entrance into German life, harbor feelings of alienation, feel uncomfortable with German citizenship, and desire Jewish spouses.The rigor of the author -- interviews with 84 individuals in 1984 and reinterviewing in 1994 -- is praiseworthy. Although she apparently tried to elicit controversial subjects, again and again the interviewees return to issues from their daily life. Thus, instead of a problematic, dangerous, and diseased society in which neo-Nazis run amok or Germans humiliate their Jewish neighbors, we see a sanguine picture of normality. We are introduced to very nice people facing the uneventful problems of living as a national minority in a very rich but ethnically homogenized land. Furthermore, this book seems to show that the denazification of West Germany (the interviewees are from Frankfurt) enjoyed success; most of the stories about German colleagues and friends reflect positive values -- condemnation of German aggression, guilt for the Holocaust, and a healthy tolerance of Jews. …


Efficient methods of content characterization for the browsing, retrieval or filtering of vast amount of digital video content has become a necessity. Still, there is a gap between the computationally available measures of content characteristics and the semantic interpretations of these characteristics. We want to establish connections between motion activity characteristics of video segments and the semantic characterization of them. For this purpose, two simple descriptors for motion activity of video content is used to infer high-level semantic features of video in certain contexts. One of these descriptors, monotonous activity, is defined as the average block-based motion vector magnitude. The second descriptor, nonmonotonous activity, is an approximation to the average temporal derivative of motion vectors. Simulation results for browsing and retrieval applications show that by using the two measures together, object motions that occur close to the camera can be distinguished from distant ones. Also by using the two descriptors together, we are able to differentiate between high activity due to camera motion and high activity due to dancing people. Hence, these simple descriptors, especially when used to complete each other, promise to provide important clues about semantics of a video.


While America has pushed the pedal to the metal and with alarming speed has accelerated its productivity growth, it would seem that Europe on the other hand is experiencing a lack of progress in its labour markets and a deceleration in labour productivity. In this third annual report by the CEPS Macroeconomic Policy Group (MPG), distinguished economists from across Europe consider the state of the European economy, particularly with respect to three main issues: 1) Has the 'new economy' arrived in Europe? 2) What is the state of European labour markets? And 3) Was the ECB's policy stance appropriate and does it have a sensible strategy that can be communicated clearly to the markets?


This paper attempts to describe some housing issues pertaining to religious and cultural practices in Malaysia. As a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, residential arrangements are used as a tool to achieve greater social and ethnic mix as envisioned by the government under the New Economic Policy and its Housing Policy. While the aim is for social integration among its population, living with people who do not share similar cultural and religious practices may cause problems too, especially that related to the use of space. This is especially true in urban housing areas where space is scarce and thus does not always cater to the residents' needs. Using a sample of 400 respondents from four urbanized areas of Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Johor Bahru, we try to understand the respondents' views about their neighbours' religious and cultural practices that differ from theirs. Our findings will be discussed within the framework of cultural acceptance and tolerance as well as to gauge whether the government's policy is translated well by the population.


Purpose – The paper aims to report initial empirical research that examines UK employees'
perceptions of the changing nature of work since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to consider how the
financial context may have constrained HRD practice and more sustainable approaches.
Design/methodology/approach – Focus group research was facilitated through collective group
discussion. Through template analysis of the findings, thematic analysis was undertaken to extend
prior research. Themes used by Hassard et al. (2009) in terms of the changing nature of the workplace
between 2000 and 2008, were used to provide new data on HRD realities.
Findings – Participants reported diminishing personal control over changes within the workplace and
a cultural shift towards a harsher work climate. HRD was considered as silenced or absent and
associated solely with low cost-based e-learning rather than acting in strategic role supporting
sustainable business objectives.
Research limitations/implications – Whilst providing only indications from employee
perceptions, the research identifies a weakened HRD function. The key contribution of this paper lies
with empirical evidence of post-GFC constraints placed upon HRD strategies. It further identifies
whether alternative development approaches, mediated by organisational learning capabilities, might
emancipate UK HRD.
Social implications – This paper engenders a debate around the status of HRD within the UK
organisations, further to the global financial crisis (GFC), where HRD might be viewed as at a juncture
to argue a need for a shift from a financialised mode for people management towards one of greater
people focus.
Originality/value – This research provides initial findings of the impact of the economic climate. It
considers new approaches which might resolve expiring HRD through more sustainable practices.


We develop photoacoustic imaging technologies for in vivo early-cancer detection and functional imaging by physically combining non-ionizing electromagnetic and ultrasonic waves. Unlike ionizing x-ray radiation, non-ionizing electromagnetic waves, such as optical and radio waves, pose no health hazard and, at the same time, reveal new contrast mechanisms. Unfortunately, electromagnetic waves in the non-ionizing spectral region do not penetrate biological tissue in straight paths as x-rays do. Consequently, high-resolution tomography based on non-ionizing electromagnetic waves alone, as demonstrated by confocal microscopy and two-photon microscopy as well as optical coherence tomography, is limited to superficial imaging within about one optical transport mean free path (∼1 mm in the skin) of the surface of biological tissue. Ultrasonic imaging, on the contrary, provides good image resolution but has strong speckle artifacts as well as poor contrast in early-stage tumors. We have developed ultrasound-mediated imaging modalities by combining electromagnetic and ultrasonic waves synergistically to overcome the above limitations. The hybrid modalities provide relatively deep penetration at high ultrasonic resolution and yield speckle-free images with high electromagnetic contrast.


This paper presents a two-phase study of spill and leakage of antibiotics in hospitals. The first phase was a screening of spill and leakage at 21 hospital wards in 16 hospitals. Phase two was an extended investigation, where different measures to reduce spill and leakage were implemented and a follow-up screening was made to evaluate the effect of the measures. At the screening, 206 samples were collected. The result was used to classify the wards into four classes: Low, Mean, High, and Very high. Spatial distribution patterns and the effect of compounding systems were also investigated. The screening showed that spill and leakage occur at all wards. Eleven of the 21 wards had High or Very high contamination level. This result also showed that the substances were distributed according to three possible patterns. The compounding systems also had an impact on the spill and leakage. All four wards that used a closed system were found among the six wards with the lowest spill and leakage, while all three wards that used open venting systems were found among the six wards with the highest spill and leakage. The result also showed that it is possible to handle antibiotics with only insignificant spill and leakage, i.e., by using closed systems. Three wards, classified as Very high, were included in the second phase. Measures to decrease spill and leakage and reduce the distribution the substances were implemented. After two month, a follow-up screening was carried out. The result showed lower contamination levels at all three wards and the implemented measures had some effect. Simple and easy-to-do measures can contribute to reduce the spill and leakage that occur. There is still, however, a need to discuss how to handle antibiotics in a safe way to reduce possible spill and leakage and to prevent the distribution of this spill and leakage.


Vibrio cholerae causes fatal diarrheal disease cholera in humans due to consumption of contaminated water and food. To instigate the disease, the bacterium must evade the host intestinal innate immune system; penetrate the mucus layer of the small intestine, adhere and multiply on the surface of microvilli and produce toxin(s) through the action of virulence associated genes. V. cholerae O1 that has caused a major cholera outbreak in Haiti contained several unique genetic signatures. These novel traits are used to differentiate them from the canonical El Tor strains. Several studies reported the spread of these Haitian variant strains in different parts of the world including Asia and Africa, but there is a paucity of information on the clinical consequence of these genetic changes. To understand the impact of these changes, we undertook a study involving mice and rabbit models to evaluate the pathogenesis. The colonization ability of Haitian variant strain in comparison to canonical El Tor strain was found to be significantly more in both suckling mice and rabbit model. Adult mice also displayed the same results. Besides that, infection patterns of Haitian variant strains showed a completely different picture. Increased mucosal damaging, colonization, and inflammatory changes were observed through hematoxylin-eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy. Fluid accumulation ability was also significantly higher in rabbit model. Our study indicated that these virulence features of the Haitian variant strain may have some association with the severe clinical outcome of the cholera patients in different parts of the world.


This article asks whether it is possible to diversify investments through time—a hotly debated topic, and one that divides academics and practitioners perhaps like no other financial paradigm. In the late 1960s, Samuelson first argued strongly against the existence of time diversification. Since then, other academics have raised a theoretical challenge to the notion of time diversification. On the other hand, empirical evidence has hardly supported their view. To date, the question still remains wide open: Does time diversification exist? If so, what are the policy implications for asset allocation? This article addresses the gap between theory and empirical evidence by reexamining these issues using a time series framework. Three time series models are fitted with historical data on S&P 500 Index and T-bill and T-bond returns over the period 1802–2002. Although both T-bill and T-bond returns are found to evolve in different serial correlated stationary processes, stock returns are consistent with a mean-reversion process. The change in relative riskiness of stock over bill and bond returns as a result of different time diversification effects strongly supports the conventional recommendation on asset allocation policy with different investment horizons.


Selected from papers presented at the 2000 Citadel Conference on the South, this collection of essays casts additional light on the southern experience and illuminates some of the directions its formal study may take in the new century. Emory Thomas opens the collection with a meditation on the shortcomings of the historical literature on the Civil War era. Essays by James McMillin, Kirsten Wood, and Patrick Breen revise estimates about the volume of the African slave trade, reveal how white widows embraced paternalism, and explore new ramifications of the fear of slave insurrection. Essays by Christopher Phillips on the birth of southern identity and by Brian Dirck and Christopher Waldrep on the key role language played in waging and in resolving the Civil War round out the discussion of the "Old South." Turning to the "New South," the next groups of essays examine religion and race relations during the Jim Crow era. Paul Harvey, Joan Marie Johnson, James O. Farmer Jr., and William Glass show how the beliefs of various Protestant churches - Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist - produced surprising episodes of racial interaction, gave rise to at least one vocal champion of women's rights, and facilitated a slow healing of denominational schisms between North and South. John Wertheimer, Michael Daly, and Peter Wallenstein then document unusual twists in the rise and fall of segregation in North Carolina, while Rod Andrew Jr. and Alexander S. Macaulay Jr. do the same for southern military colleges. The final essays survey patterns in southern self-understanding. W. Fitzhugh Brundage traces how a black historical memory rose to challenge its white counterpart's view of the first Reconstruction. Glenn Eskew discusses how the ways in which both blacks and whites remembered the Second Reconstruction sometimes impeded progress toward the very objectives it sought. Such ironies, Sheldon Hackney argues in the volume's concluding essay, are proof of the South's ability to change and, simultaneously, to remain distinctive.


Finite Element Methods (FEM) are ubiquitous in science and engineering where they are used in fields as diverse as structural analysis, ocean modeling and bioengineering. FEM allow us to find approximate solutions to a system of partial differential equations over an unstructured mesh. The first phase of solving a FEM problem, local assembly, involves computing a tensor for every element in the mesh. Local assembly is extremely data-parallel, each entry in each tensor may be computed independently, making local assembly an excellent target for General Purpose Graphics Processing Units. We systematically investigate optimisations to improve the performance of the local assembly phase of FEM on GPUs for a broad range of problems. We look at four classes of optimisations: effective use of constant memory, tuning the kernel launch parameters, using multiple threads per element and loop unrolling. The optimisations are implemented in the Firedrake toolchain, particularly in PyOP2 and COFFEE, and the performance improvement of each optimisation is measured using three representative benchmarks. In order to ensure our results are robust we consider each of these benchmarks in the context of a variety of element shapes and polynomial degrees of the basis functions. Combining these optimisations, we achieve speed increases of up to 35 times compared to Firedrake's current performance on some benchmarks and an average increase of 13 times across all benchmarks. Finally, we measure the absolute performance of the combined optimisations, showing that we achieve up to 78% of peak FLOPs on some benchmarks and an average of 57% of peak FLOPs across all benchmarks on an NVIDA GRID K520.


Authoring tools routinely include a timeline representation to allow the author to specify the sequence of animations and interactions. However, traditional static timelines are best suited for static, linear sequences (such MIDI sequencers) and do not lend themselves to interactive content. This forces authors to supplement their timelines with scripted actions which are not represented. Timelines also force frame-accuracy on the author, which interferes with rapid exploration of different designs. We present a redesign of the timeline in which users can specify the relative ordering and causality of events without specifying exact times or durations. This effectively enables users to "work rough" in time. We then implement a prototype and perform a user study to investigate its efficiency.


The DNA-binding domain (DBD) of progesterone receptor (PR) is bipartite containing a zinc module core that interacts with progesterone response elements (PRE), and a short flexible carboxyl terminal extension (CTE) that interacts with the minor groove flanking the PRE. The chromosomal high-mobility group B proteins (HMGB), defined as DNA architectural proteins capable of bending DNA, also function as auxiliary factors that increase the DNA-binding affinity of PR and other steroid receptors by mechanisms that are not well defined. Here we show that the CTE of PR contains a specific binding site for HMGB that is required for stimulation of PR-PRE binding, whereas the DNA architectural properties of HMGB are dispensable. Specific PRE DNA inhibited HMGB binding to the CTE, indicating that DNA and HMGB–CTE interactions are mutually exclusive. Exogenous CTE peptide increased PR-binding affinity for PRE as did deletion of the CTE. In a PR-binding site selection assay, A/T sequences flanking the PRE were enriched by HMGB, indicating that PR DNA-binding specificity is also altered by HMGB. We conclude that a transient HMGB–CTE interaction alters a repressive conformation of the flexible CTE enabling it to bind to preferred sequences flanking the PRE.


Accurate memory for faces is important for numerous social interactions, but is modulated by physiognomic characteristics. Recently, it was shown that attractive faces are remembered less accurately than unattractive faces when distinctiveness is controlled for (Wiese, Altmann, & Schweinberger, 2014). It is still unclear, however, if this effect is constituted by a disadvantage for attractive faces, a benefit for unattractive faces, or both. To clarify, we conducted a recognition memory experiment including attractive, mid-attractive and unattractive faces, matched for deviation-based distinctiveness (Wickham & Morris, 2003). In addition to behavioural measures, event-related potentials were analysed. Memory was most accurate for unattractive faces, followed by attractive faces, with poorest performance for mid-attractive faces. Item analyses confirmed that this effect remained significant when emotional valence was taken into account. Furthermore, participants responded less conservatively to attractive compared to both mid- and unattractive faces. Replicating earlier findings, an attractiveness effect in the early posterior negativity (EPN) during learning, with larger amplitudes for attractive than unattractive faces, correlated significantly with the memory advantage for unattractive faces. Higher amplitudes with increasing attractiveness were found both in the EPN at test and in the late positive component (LPC) during both experimental phases. Finally, an old/new-effect with larger amplitudes for hits than correct rejections (Rugg & Curran, 2007) was found between 500-700 ms at test, but did not interact with attractiveness. Our findings show an effect of attractiveness on face memory beyond distinctiveness and emotional valence. As the EPN is typically enhanced for affective stimuli, processing of emotionally relevant attractive faces during learning could hamper their encoding into memory. This, however, cannot explain poor performance for emotionally neutral mid-attractive faces. We suggest an explanation based on a modified face-space model, in which mid-attractive faces are more frequent, and hence less well distinguishable, than both attractive and unattractive faces. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


The most serious problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina today are linked to the political practices of conflicting visions of nationhood and statehood. The international intervention in the country was expected to create self-sustaining political institutions and then withdraw. However, the fact that the intervention is ongoing shows its failure to do so. Many scholars have engaged this issue, but this article shows that some of the analyses that have been most critical of the international intervention also bring problems of their own. The article focuses on the encounters between collective Subjects and the ways they have been constituted in relation to one another. It warns that without carefully identifying these Subjects we risk serious misinterpretations, such as equating Bosnian Muslims, Bosniaks, and Bosnians. This misinterpretation occurs in two major critical works in IR's 'poststructuralist canon' that purport to critically engage the situation and, particularly, the international intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina – David Campbell's National Deconstruction and Lene Hansen's Security as Practice. Campbell and Hansen rightly criticize the International Community's ethno-cultural essentialism, but in their critique they apply Campbell's radical-idealist version of multiculturalism. Based upon the ideal of a community without essence and the principle of affirming cultural diversity without situating it, this approach is not able to identify the Subjects involved or the unwelcome radicalization of the excluded Subjects, which leads to flawed conclusions as to how to sustainably resolve their conflict. In providing an academic corrective to such a hyper-liberal bias, this article seeks to increase the room-for-manoeuvre of those who seek to create self-sustaining political institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Abstract This article analyses existing biases – whether due to misinterpretation, culture or politics – in the application of women's rights under Islamic Shari'a law. The paper argues that though in its inception, one purpose of Islamic law may have aimed at elevating the status of women in pre-Islamic Arabia, biases in interpreting such teachings have failed to free women from discrimination and have even added "divinity" to their persistent subjugation. By examining two case studies – Saudi Arabia and Egypt – the article shows that interpretative biases that differ in application from one country to the other further subject women to the selective application of rights. Dictated by norms, culture and tradition rather than a unified Islamic law, the paper shows how culture and politics have contributed to such biases under the pre-text of Islamic dictate. As such, it proposes a re-examination of "personal status" laws across the region in light of international human rights norms.


We discuss a planar nematic liquid-crystal structure with the director periodically twisted in the light propagation direction (periodically twisted nematic) as a medium, which exhibits bandgap and strong reflection for any polarization at normal incidence. This is in contrast to the cholesteric liquid crystals, which reflect only one of the two circular polarizations. The size of the bandgap depends on the modulation profile and amplitude, and its maximal magnitude is smaller, but of the same order as the bandgap of cholesterics with similar material parameters (refractive indices and pitch). The second-order bandgap reflection exhibits polarization universality only for large enough modulation.


Although consuming adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of developing
chronic diseases, it is widely recognized that young adults' intakes are currently well
below the Department of Health's recommended five portions a day, with men consuming
even less than women. One approach in the UK has been to introduce health campaigns
such as the 5 A DAY programme; however, little is currently known about how well their
messages are understood amongst young adults. This study examined current knowledge of
the 5 A DAY message in young adults, as well as the perceived benefits and remaining
barriers towards consuming more fruits and vegetables. In total, four focus groups were
conducted using male (n = 22) and female (n = 18) students at the University of Reading.
Content analysis revealed that while participants were aware of the 5 A DAY recommendation,
there was widespread confusion regarding the detail. In addition, men were less
accepting of the message than women, reporting greater disbelief and a lack of motivation
to increase intake. Finally, a range of barriers was reported by participants of both genders,
despite the perceived beneficial effects for health and appearance. The results illustrate a
considerable gap between awareness and knowledge of the 5 A DAY message, and underscore
the challenge that changing behaviour in young adults represents. As well as stepping
up education- and skill-based health campaigns, more targeted gender specific interventions
will be needed to achieve sustained increases in fruit and vegetable intake.


Recent decades have marked growing academic and scientific attention to the role of indigenous knowledge in climate change adaptation, mitigation, and detection strategies. However, how indigenous knowledge is incorporated is a point of contention between self-identifying indigenous groups and existing institutions which combat climate change. In this thesis, I argue that the full inclusion of indigenous knowledge is deterred by certain aspects of modernity. In order to overcome the problems of modernity, I argue that a recognition theory of justice is needed as it regards to indigenous knowledge. Recognition justice calls for indigenous groups to retain meaningful control over how and when their indigenous knowledge is shared. To supplement this, I use the Marshall Islands as a case study. The Marshall Islands afford a nice particular case because of their longstanding colonial relationship with the United States and the impending danger they face of rising sea levels. Despite this danger, the Republic of the Marshall Islands calls for increased recognition as leaders in addressing climate change.


Background: Helicobacter pylorus is one of the most harmful human pathogens & carcinogen. Of the world's population, more than 50% has H. pylori in their upper gastrointestinal tracts. It has been linked to a variety of extra gastric disorders. In correlation to hepatobiliary diseases; recently, the bacterium has been implicated as a risk factor for various diseases ranging from chronic cholecystitis and primary biliary sclerosing cholangitis to gall bladder cancer and primary hepatic carcinomas. However, the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and gallbladder diseases is still vague and is controversial.
Aim of study: To elucidate the association of H pylori and gallbladder diseases (calculus, acalculous, polyp), the feasibility of using rapid urease test in post-operative diagnosis, and many factors related bacterium.
Subjects & methods: This case series study was conducted in Al-Kindy Teaching hospital - surgical unit during a period extended for 2 years from September 2016 to September 2018, where patients suffered from signs and symptoms of gallbladder disease were interviewed using a predesigned questionnaire including age, gender, occupation, residency and whether the drinking water was safe (purified) or not. Physical examination was done including weight status, BMI was calculated (BMI=wt. (kg)/ height (M) [2]. Provisional diagnosis of gallbladder disease was confirmed by examination, necessary laboratory investigations (Hematology, Biochemistry, and radiology).
Cholecystectomy was done by using Laparoscopic cholecystectomy or open surgery.
The presence of H.pylori in the mucosa of excised gallbladder was studied by using:
1) Rapid urease kit (HNAN C., LTD)
2) Histopathology & chemical analysis of associated gallstone
Results: Seventy-eight patients undergoing cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallbladder disease, the gallbladder mucosa of 30 patients were tested positive for H. pylori with any one of the tests used in this study. The rapid urease test was sensitive 57.1% and specific 58.3 % of the cholecystectomies performed in our study. The mean age of studied patients was (34 ± 4 years). Females constitute 73.1% (57 out of the total 78 of patients). Of the studied cases; 26 patients (33.3%) were obese. Employee patients constitute 43 (55.1%) of patients, and 53 patients (67.9%) lived in urban areas. Purified water consumed by 61 (78.2%) of the studied population.
Gallstones were detected in 56 (71.8%) of studied cases, acalculus chronically inflamed gallbladder was found in 20 (25.64%), and 2 cases (2.56%). were found to have gallbladder polyp. pylori infection was diagnosed in 30 (38.5%) of total cases (of the 56 calculus confirmed cases 48.2% were H.pylori positive, and of the 22 acalculus cases 13.6% H.pylori positive).
Conclusion:
Significant association is found between chronic calculus cholecystitis and H.pylori infection. While no significant association was found in correlation with acalculus cholecystitis and other gallbladder pathology. In regard to feasibility of using urease kit test, it is found that this test is sensitive 57.1%, and specific 58.3%, as such it is less accurate than histopathology study. Significant correlation was found between age, gender, weight status, and non-purified water source with H.pylori infection..


Aspergillus niger is a black-spored filamentous fungus that forms asexual spores called conidospores ('conidia'). Germination of conidia, leading to the formation of hyphae, is initiated by conidial swelling and mobilisation of endogenous carbon and energy stores, followed by polarisation and emergence of a hyphal germ tube. These morphological and biochemical changes which define the model of germination have been studied with the aim of understanding how conidia sense and utilise different soluble carbon sources for germination. Microscopy and flow cytometry were used to track the morphological changes and results showed that the germination of A. niger conidia was quicker and more homogenous in rich media than in minimal media. The germination of conidia was also shown to be quicker in the presence of D-glucose than D-xylose. In the absence of a carbohydrate, no visual indicators of germination were evident. Added to this, the metabolism of internal storage compounds was shown to only occur in the presence of a suitable carbon source. Specific environmental carbon sources may therefore serve as triggers of germination, i.e. to initiate the catabolism of stores such as D-trehalose and the swelling of conidia. Studies carried out using D-glucose analogues identified the structural features of sugars that trigger or support conidial germination. These studies showed that the arrangement of atoms on carbons 3 and 4, on the pyranose ring structure of D-glucose, are essential to serve as a trigger of germination. The trigger step preceeds, and is separate from, the energy generation step that supports the continued outgrowth. Transcriptomic studies found that the most significant changes were associated with the breaking of dormancy. The data also revealed that fermentative metabolism present at the early stages of spore germination is rapidly replaced by respiratory metabolism.


This original and persuasive book examines the moral and religious revival led by the Church of England before and after the Glorious Revolution, and shows how that revival laid the groundwork for a burgeoning civil society in Britain. After outlining the Church of England's key role in the increase of voluntary, charitable, and religious societies, Brent Sirota examines how these groups drove the modernization of Britain through such activities as settling immigrants throughout the empire, founding charity schools, distributing devotional literature, and evangelizing and educating merchants, seamen, and slaves throughout the British empire-all leading to what has been termed the "age of benevolence."


Two results are proved concerning the global convergence of reciprocal discrete-time cellular neural networks (DTCNNs). The first result regards DTCNNs with a piecewise-linear nonlinearity and is an extension of a theorem by N. Fruehauf et al. (1992). The second result regards DTCNNs with threshold-type nonlinearity. Here, convergence is proved under mild conditions assuming a semiparallel operation, that is, only noninteracting cells are updated all at once. >


Abstract Background: The Infectious Disease Clinic of Worcester Hospital introduced an integrated tuberculosis/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) service in July 2009 to provide comprehensive management to patients who were co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV. Method: In a retrospective cohort study that was carried out from 1 July 2009 to 31 March 2010, the tuberculosis outcomes of co-infected patients attending the Infectious Disease Clinic for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and receiving their tuberculosis medication at the Infectious Disease Clinic, were compared with those of patients receiving ARV treatment at the Infectious Disease Clinic and tuberculosis treatment at their local clinic. Results: Seventy-four per cent of patients completed their treatment and 26% were cured, with no defaults or deaths, in the tubercuolosis/HIV integrated cohort. Thirty-eight per cent completed their treatment, 45% were cured, 9% died and another 9% defaulted in the cohort receiving their tuberculosis treatment at a local clinic. This indicates that there was a significantly better tuberculosis outcome in the tuberculosis/HIV cohort (p-value < 0.05). Conclusion: The significantly better tuberculosis outcome that resulted when tuberculosis and HIV services were integrated led to services being integrated in the Breede Valley subdistrict.


The research project has investigated what strategies specific sectors of industry develop to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In an USA-Europe co-operation, researchers have analysed emerging climate strategies in the oil industry, the automobile industry, the chemical industry and the bank and insurance sector. These sectors are the most important players in the climate policy debate. Special attention has been paid to the questions whether strategies of EU based corporations differ systematically from USA based corporations. Results show rather sectorial specific developments. In most sectors, i.e. oil, automobile and banks, European corporations generally tend to have more advanced policies than their USA counterparts, but this does not
apply to chemical companies. Corporate strategies appear to be highly determined by a combination of market situation in the home country and of access to alternative technologies. Objective of the study was to provide information of relevance to the COP (Sixth Session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties) 2000 conference, November 2000 in The Hague.


The development and evaluation of the design of a Micro-Ram Air Turbine (µRAT), a device being developed to provide power for an autonomous boundary layer measurement system, has been undertaken. The design tools consist of a rotor model and a generator model. The primary focus was on developing and evaluating the generator model for the prediction of generator brake power and output electrical power with and without rectification as a function of shaft speed and electrical load, with only basic manufacturer specifications given as inputs. A series of motored generator evaluation test were conducted at speeds ranging from 9,000 to 25,000 rpm for loads varying between 1 and 3.02 Ohms with output power of up to 80 Watts. Results demonstrated that predicted generated power was at or below 3% error when compared to measured results with about 1% uncertainty. A rotor model was also developed using basic blade element theory. This model neglected induced flow effects and was therefore expected to over predict rotor torque and power. A second rotor model that includes induced flow effects, the open source program X-Rotor, was also used to predict rotor power and for comparison to the blade element rotor model results. Both rotor models were evaluated through wind tunnel validation tests conducted on a turbine generator with two different 3.25 in diameter rotors, rotor-1 (untwisted blades) and rotor-2 (twisted blades). Wind tunnel validation test airspeeds varied between 71-110 mph with electrical loads ranging from 1-20 ohms. Results indicated power predictions to be 50-75% higher for the blade element model and 20-30% for X-Rotor results. The blade element rotor model was modified by applying the Prandtl tip-loss factor to approximately account for the induced flow effects; this addition brought predictions much closer to X-Rotor results. Based on the motor-driven generator test results, it is believed that most of the discrepancy in baseline rotor/generator validation test between predicted and observed power generated is due to inaccuracy in the rotor performance modeling with likely contributors to error being induced flow effects, crude section lift/drag modeling, and aero-elastic deformation. It is concluded that the proposed generator model is sufficient although direct torque measurements may be desired and further development of the µRAT design tools should focus on an improved rotor performance model. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special thanks to the Northrop Grumman Corporation for their support of the BLDS. I would like to extend a sincere thank you …


In scleractinian reef-building corals, patterns of cell self-renewal, migration and death remain virtually unknown, limiting our understanding of cellular mechanisms underlying initiation of calcification, and ontogenesis of the endosymbiotic dinoflagellate relationship. In this study, we pulse-labelled the coral Stylophora pistillata for 24 h with BrdU at four life stages (planula, early metamorphosis, primary polyp and adult colony) to investigate coral and endosymbiont cell proliferation during development, while simultaneously recording TUNEL-positive (i.e. apoptotic) nuclei. In the primary polyp, the fate of BrdU-labelled cells was tracked during a 3-day chase. The pharynx and gastrodermis were identified as the most proliferative tissues in the developing polyp, and BrdU-labelled cells accumulated in the surface pseudostratified epithelium and the skeletogenic calicodermis during the chase, revealing cell migration to these epithelia. Surprisingly, the lowest cell turnover was recorded in the calicodermis at all stages, despite active, ongoing skeletal deposition. In dinoflagellate symbionts, DNA synthesis was systematically higher than coral host gastrodermis, especially in planula and early metamorphosis. The symbiont to host cell ratio remained constant, however, indicating successive post-mitotic control mechanisms by the host of its dinoflagellate density in early life stages, increasingly shifting to apoptosis in the growing primary polyp.


If 2009 was a watershed year in terms of recessionary issues and impact, it has to be said that 2010 has not exactly been easy either. Demand was below expectations for heavy production digital printing devices. Light production devices accounted for most sales and this market continues to grow. Financing held up the market, and it will continue to do so. Many deals were either delayed or aborted due to onerous terms and conditions imposed by financial institutions. But life goes on. 2010 had some highlights, of which IPEX Birmingham was number one for the digital printing world.


OBJECTIVE
This review builds on the innovative research synthesis of Holder and his colleagues, addresses some of the limitations of the box-score approach to assessing treatment effectiveness that they used and provides a second approximation of the cost-effectiveness of treatment for alcoholism.

METHOD
For each of 141 comparative treatment studies, we determined whether or not it found at least one statistically significant positive effect on a drinking-related outcome variable for each of the modalities examined in a paired contrast with one other condition. We next calculated the predicted probability of each study yielding at least one statistically significant treatment effect, based on the number of tests for treatment effects conducted. Following that, for each study of a particular treatment modality, the strength of the "weakest competitor" against which the modality had been compared was determined. For each modality, we used the average predicted probability of the relevant studies finding a significant effect and the average effectiveness of the weakest competitor to predict the modality's effectiveness.

RESULTS
We calculated an Adjusted Effectiveness Index (AEIn) for each modality, which was the difference between its predicted and actual effectiveness score. Our AEIn results were consistent with those of Holder et al. in suggesting that some of the same modalities appear to be effective or ineffective. Our results differed from their findings with respect to other modalities, however. Using data presented by Holder and his colleagues on the minimum estimated cost of providing different modalities, we offer a second approximation of the modalities' cost-effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, we found a smaller range of effectiveness across modalities than did Holder and his colleagues and a nonsignificant relationship between cost and effectiveness. Like Holder et al., we do not believe major treatment provision or funding decisions should be based solely on this type of review.


Learning objects strive for reusability in e‐Learning to reduce cost and allow personalization of content. We show why learning objects require adapted Information Retrieval systems. In the spirit of the Semantic Web, we discuss the semantic description, discovery, and composition of learning objects. As part of our project, we tag learning objects with both objective (e.g., title, date, and author) and subjective (e.g., quality and relevance) metadata. We present the RACOFI (Rule‐Applying Collaborative Filtering) Composer prototype with its novel combination of two libraries and their associated engines: a collaborative filtering system and an inference rule system. We developed RACOFI to generate context‐aware recommendation lists. Context is handled by multidimensional predictions produced from a database‐driven scalable collaborative filtering algorithm. Rules are then applied to the predictions to customize the recommendations according to user profiles. The RACOFI Composer architecture has been deve...


This article analyzes the characteristic features of social dialogue in the Baltic states. The methodology of the current research is based on an intensive analysis of literature and statistical data. The aim of the present research is to address some gaps that were identified during the literature review. Firstly, why does the social dialogue develop so slowly in the Baltic states? Secondly, what was the role of social partners in that process? We find that the main achievement in social dialogue have been reached by social partners on the national level and, despite the painful austerity measures, the Baltic states showed the benchmark of advanced crisis management.


Measurements and simulations of the radial distribution of the thermal birefringence components, Δn and nθθ − nrr, and the average birefringence, , in free quenched tubes and rods of polystyrene (PS) and polycarbonate (PC) at different initial temperatures were carried out. The thermal stress and birefringence components were simulated using the linear viscoelastic and photoviscoelastic constitutive equations combined with the first-order rate equation for volume relaxation and the master curves for the Young's relaxation modulus and strain-optical coefficient functions of polymers. The numerical procedures used to discretize the governing equations using finite difference method were described. The obtained numerical results provided the evolution of stress and birefringence components with time during and after quenching and an explanation of the measured residual birefringence distribution in quenched tubes and rods. It was also found that the thickness of the slices removed from the samples to measure the thermal birefringence components, Δn and nθθ − nrr, was critical, in particular, when the initial temperatures were close to the glass transition temperature of polymers. With an increase of the initial temperature during quenching, a better agreement between the simulated and measured birefringence components was obtained. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers


The thesis examines Greek short stories written and published since the fall of the dictatorship in Greece in 1974, a year marking the beginning of the country's increasing opening to western lifestyles, mentalities and preoccupations. The present research explores two questions: How do Greek short stories of this period respond to the challenges of the postmodern condition, and what is the picture of the postmodern that one could draw from these texts. To this goal more than a hundred short stories are examined, by Sotiris Dimitriou, Michel Fais, Rhea Galanaki, E. Ch. Gonatas, Yiorgos loannou, Christophoros Milionis, Dimitris Nollas, I. Ch. Papadimitrakopoulos, Ersi Sotiropoulou, Christos Vakalopoulos, and Zyranna Zateli. The thesis is structured on a thematic basis, studying the major themes of reality and the subject, in order to evaluate the kind and degree of subversion that this fundamental bipolar axis of modern thought is undergoing in the postmodern condition. The readings are informed by contemporary theory, ranging from microhistory and Bakhtinian dialogism to poststructuralism and deconstruction, Levinas's ethical theory and Wittgensteinian language games. The textual analysis reveals that the traditional notion of reality as a unified totality is coming under severe strain; the critique mounted by the texts ranges from negative recognition of cosmological plurality through epistemological failure to an increasingly positive recognition of multiple incommensurate universes, be that by means of metafiction or, more radically still, a magic realism that transcends the world of the text to imbue performatively the world of the reader. The reality of the past in the form of historical truth is another target of scrutiny, as the unearthing of multiple insignificant, private and a-systemic events undermines the formerly dominant monolithic representations of the past and uncover its discursive construction, thereby facilitating the emergence of marginal historical subjects by means of fictional terms. Accordingly, the subject is no longer represented as a dominant and autonomous agent but as discursively constructed within a web of power relations. Yet this predicament creates the potential for a narrative identity and an alternative ethics founded on the acknowledgment of difference and interpersonal relations. Lastly, games, and especially language games, as a particular trope of merging reality and the subject, signal the cultural determination of irredeemable difference and plurality that is a constant in postmodern critique. Apart from suggesting the significance of the texts studied and proposing novel approaches to them, the thesis also promotes the re-evaluation of the short story as a genre in the study of the contemporary, while at the same time offering a detailed account of particular instances of postmodern critique on the fundaments of modern thought.


Several past studies have demonstrated the effects of anthropogenic noise on populations of animals. Yet, differing effects of noise by age and subsequent changes in the age structure of populations are poorly understood. We experimentally tested the effects of traffic noise alone on the age structure of a community of migrating birds at a fall stopover site in south‐western Idaho using an array of speakers – creating a phantom road – that replicated the sound of a roadway without other confounding aspects of roads. Both hatch‐year and adult birds were negatively affected by noise – having lower capture rates, lower body condition and lower stopover efficiency along the phantom road when the noise was on compared to control conditions. However, hatch‐year birds responded more strongly which lead to a significant shift in the ratio of hatch‐year to adult birds under noisy conditions. Our previous work using the phantom road demonstrated that traffic noise can degrade the quality of a stopover site by affecting the ability of migrating birds to gain body condition. Here, we demonstrate differences between age classes such that although noise degrades habitat for both hatch‐year and adult migrants, there are still differences in responses to noise between age groups. Despite alternative explanations of our results such as changes in behavior affecting capture likelihood, evidence suggests that younger birds avoided the phantom road more than adult birds perhaps because of different tradeoffs between foraging and predation risk and differing strategies of site selection during migration.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions


Semantic Role Labeling (SRL) plays a key role in many NLP applications. The development of SRL systems for the biomedical domain is frustrated by the lack of large domain-specific corpora that are labeled with semantic roles. Corpus development has been very expensive and time-consuming. In this paper we propose a method for building frame-based corpus on the basis of domain knowledge provided by ontologies. We believe that ontologies, as a structured and semantic representation of domain knowledge, can instruct and ease the tasks in building the corpora. In the paper we present a corpus built by using the method. We compared it to BioFrameNet, and examined the gaps between the semantic classification of the target words in the domain-specific corpus and in FrameNet and Prop-Bank/VerbNet.


Taking a global and multidisciplinary approach, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Travel and Tourism brings together a team of international scholars to examine the travel and tourism industry, which is expected to grow at an annual rate of four percent for the next decade. In more than 500 entries spanning four comprehensive volumes, the Encyclopedia examines the business of tourism around the world paying particular attention to the social, economic, environmental, and policy issues at play. The book examines global, regional, national, and local issues including transportation, infrastructure, the environment, and business promotion. By looking at travel trends and countries large and small, the Encyclopedia analyses a wide variety of challenges and opportunities facing the industry. In taking a comprehensive and global approach, the Encyclopedia approaches the field of travel and tourism through the numerous disciplines it reaches, including the traditional tourism administration curriculum within schools of business and management, economics, public policy, as well as social science disciplines such as the anthropology and sociology. [Book Synopsis]


Inspector, an expert system, was implemented to assist foreign exchange management in the monitoring of trader activity and the compliance of risk management policies. The knowledge of senior foreign exchange managers, traders, controllers, and auditors is contained in an expert system shell, Nexpert Object. The foreign exchange deals from all Manufacturer's Hanover Trust (MHT) branches are recorded every day in a relational database, Oracle. Combining these systems with local area networks (LANs), global communications, and resident C programs provides a daily review of all worldwide MHT foreign exchange activity. The success of Inspector is directly attributable to the successful combination of traditional technologies, worldwide coverage, and a robust knowledge base. This success demonstrates that expert system technology, coupled with traditional technologies, can be effective in monitoring transaction-oriented financial activities.


The transition from a well-mixed convective boundary layer to a residual layer overlying a stabilized nocturnal layer raises several issues, which remain difficult to address from both modeling and observational perspectives. The well mixed convective boundary layer is mainly forced by buoyancy, with fully developed turbulence. The daily decrease of the surface buoyancy flux leads to the decay of the turbulence kinetic energy, and a possible change of the structure of the turbulence before it reaches the stable regime, with more anisotropy and intermittency. It is important to better understand these processes, as it can impact on the dispersion of tracers in the atmosphere, and on the development of the nocturnal and daytime boundary layers of the following days.

The turbulence decay has been studied with laboratory experiments (Monin and Yaglom, 1975, Cole and Fernando 1998), numerical studies (Nieuwstadt and Brost 1986, Sorbjan 1997) and observations (Fitzarrald et al 2004, Grant 1997). The decay is related to the decrease of the surface buoyancy flux, but with complexity gained with shear-driven boundary layers (Pino et al 2006, Goulart et al 2003), which slow the decay. The evolution of the structure of turbulence during its decay remains unclear, with results on the evolution of characteristic scales that vary with the considered approaches and conditions.

An observational and numerical study is proposed to address this related issue, based on the BLLAST (Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence) dataset. BLLAST aims at better understanding the turbulent processes of the late afternoon transition, and leans on a field experiment that took place in summer 2011 in South-West France. A well-documented cloud-free weak wind day is considered here to analyze in details the evolution of the turbulence along the day, from midday to sunset. In particular, the decay is studied as a function of height, and the evolution of the turbulence kinetic energy is described with a thorough analysis of the turbulence spectra.

The case study combines observations of the mean structure by radiosondes and remote sensing, and observations of the turbulence with surface stations, tethered balloon and aircraft. It is the base of a complementary idealized numerical study with a large eddy simulation. From both observations and numerical simulations, the turbulence is described with the characteristics of the spectral energy density, especially the typical turbulence lengthscales and the sharpness of the transition from energy-containing eddies to the inertial subrange. An analytical model proposed by Kristensen and Lenschow (1988) for homogeneous non-isotropic turbulence is used to approximate the observed and LES-modeled spectra and estimate their characteristics.

Our analysis enables us to (1) test the capability of the large eddy simulation to represent the turbulence structure of the afternoon decay, (2) evaluate the evolution of integral scales, turbulent kinetic energy, shape of the spectra in both observations and numerical simulation, and as a function of height, (3) further understand the potential decoupling with height that occurs when the surface fluxes get too weak to maintain fully developed turbulence within the entire depth of the convective boundary layer, (4) put into evidence the limitations of the spectral approach for this critical period of the planetary boundary layer diurnal cycle.


Analysis of Methylation and Expression Profiles of CPT1-A and APOE Genes in Patients with NAFLD
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of abnormal hepatic steatosis in the absence of alcohol abuse worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of promoter methylation of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT1) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genes on the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: The promoter methylation of APOE and CPT-1A were
analyzed using a methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR) in blood samples taken from 80 NAFLD individuals and 100 healthy controls. The expression levels of APOE and CPT- 1A were also assessed in 10 blood mRNA samples from NAFLD patients. These cases were compared to the blood samplesof healthy controls (n=10) with real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Results: The percentage of methylation for CPT-1A gene was significant between normal individuals and patients. The APOE gene methylation was not significant between cases and controls. A statistically significant relationship was found for methylation of CPT-1A between cases and controls (p<0.001). The relative expression of CPT-1A and APOE mRNA in NAFLD blood was no significantly different in comparison of blood samples between healthy controls and cases. The present outcomes indicate that the methylation status of the CPT-1A gene has a significant function in the process of NAFLD and suggest further study with a large sample size for this reason.


This Article uses the history of equal employment rulemaking at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Power Commission (FPC) to document and analyze, for the first time, how administrative agencies interpret the Constitution. Although it is widely recognized that administrators must implement policy with an eye on the Constitution, neither constitutional nor administrative law scholarship has examined how administrators approach constitutional interpretation. Indeed, there is limited understanding of agencies' core task of interpreting statutes, let alone of their constitutional practice.During the 1960s and 1970s, officials at the FCC relied on a strikingly broad and affirmative interpretation of the Constitution's equal protection guarantees to adopt and enforce rules requiring equal employment in the FCC's regulated industries. Meanwhile, administrators at the FPC relied on a quite different understanding of equal protection to reject similar rules.Federal officials' differing views of whether the Constitution authorized, perhaps even required, them to regulate workplace discrimination illuminates an unexamined aspect of constitutional governance that I call administrative constitutionalism: administrators' interpretation and implementation of the Constitution. For the most part, administrative constitutionalism involves administrators' creative extension or narrowing of court doctrine in the absence of clear judicially defined rules. However, it also includes administrators selectively ignoring clearly relevant precedent or resisting judicial interpretations by acquiescing to a reviewing court's judgment but not to the constitutional principle on which that judgment is based.The history of equal employment rulemaking at the FCC and the FPC supports three conclusions. First, equal protection followed a notably different path in administrative agencies than it did in the courts. Second, this example of administrative constitutionalism suggests some general features of administrators' constitutional practice, particularly that administrators are guided, but not always bound, by court doctrine. Third, administrative constitutionalism is likely a recurring and persistent feature of the modern American state. To the extent that administrative constitutionalism differs from court constitutionalism, a complete account of the substance and scope of constitutional governance must consider the constitutional practice of administrative agencies.


We present a corpus-based analysis of the Afrikaans, English, Xhosa and Zulu languages, comparing these in terms of phonetic content, diversity and mutual overlap. Our aim is to shed light on the fundamental phonetic interrelationships between these languages, with a view to furthering progress in multilingual automatic speech recognition in general, and in the South African region in particular.


Let $u$ and $b$ be two weight functions on $(0,\infty)$. Assume that u is continuous on $(0,\infty)$ and that $b$ is such that the function $B(t)=\int_0^t b(s)\,ds$ satisfies $0<B(t)<\infty$ for every $t\in (0,\infty)$. Let the operator $T_{u,b}$ be given at a measurable non-negative function $g$ on $(0,\infty)$ by $$ (T_{u,b}g)(t)=\sup_{t\leq \tau<\infty}\frac{u(\tau)}{B(\tau)}\int_0^\tau g(s)b(s)\,ds. $$ We give necessary and sufficient conditions on weights $v,w$ on $(0,\infty)$ for which there exists a positive constant $C$ such that the inequality $$\left(\int_0^\infty [(T_{u,b}g)(t)]^qw(t)\,dt\right)^{1/q}\leq C\left(\int_0^\infty [g(t)]^p v(t)\,dt\right)^{1/p}$$ holds for every measurable non-negative function $g$ on $(0,\infty)$, where $p, q\in (0,\infty)$. satisfy certain restrictions. We also characterize weights $v, w\in (0,\infty)$ for which there exists a positive constant $C$ such that the inequality $$\left(\int_0^\infty [(T_{u,b}\varphi)(t)]^qw(t)\,dt\right)^{1/q}\leq C\left(\int_0^\infty [\varphi(t)]^p v(t)\,dt\right)^{1/p}$$


Scholarship is now a requirement for promotion and tenure at most institutions with Engineering Technology (ET) programs. ET faculty that have previously focused only on teaching are now required to demonstrate evidence of scholarly activity on an annual basis. To underscore the importance of the scholarship issue, the Engineering Technology Council (ETC) of ASEE states in its 2003-2006 Strategic Plan's Goal # 5: "The ETC will develop guidelines and promote appropriate scholarship for engineering technology educators." Many ET educators sincerely want to engage in scholarly activities, but lack the experience in this arena because of the nonexistence of the scholarship culture within many ET programs. It is, therefore, incumbent on the ET community to develop strategies to facilitate the growth of scholarly activities among ET faculty. Indeed, the mantra for the ET community with regards to scholarship should be: "Scholarship, You can do it, we can help!" In a recent paper, the author and his collaborators, as members of the ETC Task Force on Scholarship, developed guidelines for scholarship in ET and proposed a faculty workload model. The current paper focuses on strategies that will encourage, facilitate, and provide support for the growth of scholarship in ET. Some of the "ways and means" for increasing scholarly productivity that are currently being implemented in the College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) are discussed. These include: developing a college scholarship website, developing a scholarship mentoring program, developing web-based venues of dissemination and peer review, developing grant proposal and scholarly writing workshops, and identification and cultivation of support resources for scholarship. The early results and experiences from implementing some of these strategies at RIT are discussed and recommendations are offered that would be of help to other ET programs interested in cultivating the scholarship culture within their programs.


In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Latinos represented 12.6% of the total population in the United States. It is projected that by 2010 Latinos will account for 15.5% of the population (1,2). Latinos account for 32% of the population in Texas, and specifically in Corpus Christi, Latinos represent 54% of the population (3). The purpose of this study was to compare reported versus actual physical activity among limited resource Latina mothers. This study also aimed to explore the validity of the existing Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall (PAR) physical activity assessment tools. Fifty-five Latina mothers from a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic in Corpus Christi, Texas were recruited to participate in this study. Data were collected through a combined (BRFSS and PAR) physical activity questionnaire as well as through step counts using pedometers. BRFSS and PAR reported significantly different levels of moderate physical activity (p=0.0312) using Chi Square tests when appropriate. The response rate in PAR for all levels of activity intensity was higher than BRFSS. There were significant trends between the number of steps reported and BRFSS and PAR moderate physical activity. Further, the majority of subjects who averaged greater than 5,000 steps per day did not perceive themselves to be moderately active in either BRFSS or PAR. These findings question the validity of these physical activity assessment tools with this population.


Representing shapes as level sets of neural networks has been recently proved to be useful for different shape analysis and reconstruction tasks. So far, such representations were computed using either: (i) pre-computed implicit shape representations; or (ii) loss functions explicitly defined over the neural level sets. In this paper we offer a new paradigm for computing high fidelity implicit neural representations directly from raw data (i.e., point clouds, with or without normal information). We observe that a rather simple loss function, encouraging the neural network to vanish on the input point cloud and to have a unit norm gradient, possesses an implicit geometric regularization property that favors smooth and natural zero level set surfaces, avoiding bad zero-loss solutions. We provide a theoretical analysis of this property for the linear case, and show that, in practice, our method leads to state of the art implicit neural representations with higher level-of-details and fidelity compared to previous methods.


Individual differences in semantics and beliefs have up to now been identified primarily by questioning people. However, semantics and beliefs can also be observed in concrete, quantifiable contexts such as reaction-time experiments. Here we demonstrate an automatic mechanism which can replicate such semantics by observing regularities in language use through statistical text analysis. We postulate that human children, who are fantastic pattern recognizers, may also exploit this same information, thus our mechanism may be an essential module in a human-like cognitive system. In this article we first review the underlying theories and existing results, then present the tool itself. We validate the tool against existing semantic priming reaction-time results. Finally we use the tool to explore the evolution of beliefs extracted from three sources: the Bible, the works of Shakespeare and the contemporary British National Corpus.


This study scrutinizes a case of adaptive globalisation at the interface of colonized India and post-war colonial Europe. It examines Muslim missionaries who, after World War I, made missionary efforts in Germany. Originating from British India, the missionaries' determination was firmly rooted in the Indian colonial past. They saw their mission as a further step in the process of adaptive globalisation, that is, the drive to adapt to and to reverse Western domination. The paper retraces missionary competition in Weimar Berlin, revealing an amalgam of pan-Islamic ideas, political strategies, and reformist religious imagery. These attempts at winning Western converts were a knife that cut both ways: Missionaries approached German 'moderns' in their own symbolic language, while the latter steered between the different mission offers and adapted Islam to their own needs. Making use of fresh sources, the contribution offers three perspectives: (1) the Sunnī mission with its revolutionary tinge; (2) the Ahmadiyya mission, and (3) the interface.