A method is presented for analyzing electromagnetic scattering from an echelette grating separating two contrasting homogeneous media and illuminated by a plane wave. The reduction of the general problem to a consideration of the fields over a suitably selected period, referred to as the unit cell, is facilitated by the Floquet theorem. The solution, in the p-polarization case (electric field parallel to the grooves), uses sets of spatially periodic and properly modulated fictitious electric-current strips to simulate the field scattered by the grating boundary surface and the field penetrated through the surface. In the s-polarization case (magnetic field parallel to the grooves), which is not examined in this paper, sets of fictitious magnetic-current strips, instead of electric ones, should be used. The fields radiated by the current strips are expressed in terms of Floquet modes and are adjusted to fit the continuity conditions for the tangential components of the electric and magnetic fields at a finite number of points on the grating surface within the unit cell. Special attention is given to the behavior of the fields at the corners. The procedure is simple to perform and is applicable to gratings of arbitrary cross section. Perfectly conducting gratings are treated as reduced cases of the general procedure. Results are given and compared with existing data. The efficiency of the suggested method is demonstrated.


Paul Farmer has battled AIDS in rural Haiti and deadly strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the slums of Peru. A physician-anthropologist with more than fifteen years in the field, Farmer writes from the front lines of the war against these modern plagues and shows why, even more than those of history, they target the poor. This 'peculiarly modern inequality' that permeates AIDS, TB, malaria, and typhoid in the modern world, and that feeds emerging (or re-emerging) infectious diseases such as Ebola and cholera, is laid bare in Farmer's harrowing stories of sickness and suffering. Challenging the accepted methodologies of epidemiology and international health, he points out that most current explanatory strategies, from 'cost-effectiveness' to patient 'noncompliance,' inevitably lead to blaming the victims. In reality, larger forces, global as well as local, determine why some people are sick and others are shielded from risk. Yet this moving account is far from a hopeless inventory of insoluble problems. Farmer writes of what can be done in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, by physicians determined to treat those in need. "Infections and Inequalities" weds meticulous scholarship with a passion for solutions - remedies for the plagues of the poor and the social maladies that have sustained them.


Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) in infancy is an extremely common self-limiting physiological condition that requires no pharmacological therapy. Despite this, it often causes great parental concern and anxiety. A rational and conservative (or non-pharmacological) approach to management will reassure parents in the majority of instances. Nonetheless, clinicians and nurse practitioners should be aware that GOR can cause complications in a very small proportion of infants, resulting in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). If GORD is suspected, infants should be referred to a paediatrician for diagnostic evaluation and specific treatment.


In bacterial DNA, there are specific sequences of nucleotides called promoters that can bind to the RNA polymerase. Sigma70 (σ70) is one of the most important promoter sequences due to it's presence in most of the DNA regulatory functions. In this thesis work, we have identified the most effective and optimal sequence-based features for prediction of σ70 promoter sequences in a bacterial genome. We have used both shortrange and long-range DNA sequences in our proposed method. A very small number of effective features have been selected from a large number of the extracted features using different sized multi-window within the DNA sequences. We call our prediction method iPro70-FMWin and have made it freely accessible online via a web application established at http://ipro70.pythonanywhere.com/server for the sake of convenience of the researchers. We have tested our method using a standard benchmark dataset. In the experiments, iPro70-FMWin has achieved an area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic and accuracy of 0.959 and 90.57% respectively which significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art predictors.


The ability to communicate in print and person is essential to the life of a successful scientist. But since writing is often secondary in scientific education and teaching, there remains a significant need for guides that teach scientists how best to convey their research to general and professional audiences. "The Craft of Scientific Communication" will teach science students and scientists alike how to improve the clarity, cogency, and communicative power of their words and images. In this remarkable guide, Joseph E. Harmon and Alan G. Gross have combined their many years of experience in the art of science writing to analyze published examples of how the best scientists communicate. Organized topically with information on the structural elements and the style of scientific communications, each chapter draws on models of past successes and failures to show students and practitioners how best to negotiate the world of print, online publication, and oral presentation.


Speleothems are important paleoclimate archives. Researchers typically compile measurements of stable isotopic ratios dated using high precision U-Th radiometric techniques to reconstruct regional and global climate. Magnetic material incorporated within speleothems can provide an independent means of connecting large-scale climatic changes with their impact on more localized processes in soils overlying cave systems. Under certain environmental conditions, pedogenic processes can produce magnetite nanoparticles. Enhancement of pedogenic magnetite in soil profiles depends strongly on local precipitation. Pedogenic magnetite can be subsequently transferred via drip-waters into underlying cave-systems and incorporated into speleothems as they grow. Here, we employ high-resolution magnetic methods to analyze a well-dated stalagmite from Buckeye Creek Cave, West Virginia (USA), and find that changes in magnetite concentration follow both changes in stable isotopes measured in the same stalagmite and global climate proxies. We interpret the changes in magnetite concentration as reflecting variations in local pedogenic processes, controlled by changes in regional precipitation. This record demonstrates how magnetic measurements on speleothems can constrain interpretations of speleothem climate proxies.


Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) I is a polypeptide hormone important in normal growth and development. Although IGF-I is a mitogen for many cancer cell lines, previous work has suggested that autocrine production of IGF-I is uncommon in cancers of epithelial origin. In this study, expression of IGF-I, its binding proteins, and its receptor were examined in ovarian cancer cell lines and tissues. Of 10 ovarian cancer cell lines, 3 (OVCAR-3, OVCAR-7, and PEO4) expressed IGF-I mRNA. RNase protection assays using probes derived from IGF-IA, IGF-IB, and alternate exon 1 IGF-I complementary DNAs demonstrated that these cells contained a predominant IGF-I transcript with an alternate first exon. RNA extracted from primary and metastatic ovarian cancer tissues also expressed IGF-I mRNAs (7 of 7) with the alternate first exon. IGF-I protein was detected in OVCAR-3-conditioned media; this activity was secreted in conjunction with several IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs). IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, an Mr 24,000 species, and an Mr 30,000 species could also be demonstrated in OVCAR-3. Type I IGF receptor mRNA was found in all 10 of the ovarian cancer cell lines and all 7 of the primary or metastatic ovarian cancer tissues. IGF-I was a mitogen for OVCAR-3, demonstrating the presence of a functional type I IGF receptor. These data show that all the necessary components for an IGF-I-mediated autocrine loop are expressed by ovarian cancer cells.


A large environmental restoration project designed to improve the hydrological conditions of the Florida Everglades and increase freshwater flow to Florida Bay is underway. Here we explore how changing freshwater inflow to the southern Everglades is likely to change the input of nutrients to Florida Bay. We calculated annual inputs of water, total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) to Everglades National Park (ENP) since the early 1980s. We also examined changes in these nutrient concentrations along transects through the wetland to Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. We found that the interannual variability of the water discharge into ENP greatly exceeded the interannual variability of flow-weighted mean nutrient concentrations in this water. Nutrient inputs to ENP were largely determined by discharge volume. These inputs were high in TN and low in TP; for two ENP watersheds TN averaged 1.5 mg l−1 (0.11 mM) and 0.9 mg l−1 (0.06 mM) and TP averaged 15 μg l−1 (0.47 μM) and 9 μg l−1 (0.28 μM). Both TP and DIN that flowed into ENP wetlands were rapidly removed from the water. Over a 3-km section of Taylor Slough, TP decreased from a flow-weighted mean of 11.6 μg l−1 (0.37 μM) (0.20 μM) and DIN decreased from 240 μg l−1 (17μM) to 36 μ l−1 (2.6 μM). In contrast, TN, which was generally 95% organic N, changed little as it passed through the wetland. This resulted in molar TN:TP ratios exceeding 400 in the wetland. Decreases in TN concentrations only occurred in areas with relatively high P availability, such as the wetlands to the north of ENP and in the mangrove streams of western ENP. Increasing freshwater flow to Florida Bay in an effort to restore the Everglades and Florida Bay ecosystems is thus not likely to increase P inputs from the freshwater Everglades but is likely to increase TN inputs. Based on a nutrient budget of Florida Bay, both N and P inputs from the Gulf of Mexico greatly exceed inputs from the Everglades, as well as inputs from the atmosphere and the Florida Keys. We estimate that the freshwater Everglades contribute <3% of all P inputs and <12% of all N inputs to the bay. Evaluating the effect of ecosystem restoration efforts on Florida Bay requires greater understanding of the interactions of the bay with the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent mangrove ecosystems.


The debate on the ethical, social and legal impact of technologies enhancing human capabilities has been largely fed by philosophy and ethics scholars. These contributions offer arguments in favour or against the use and distribution of more or less specific types of enhancing technologies. Since authors' positions drastically vary from 'trans-' or 'post-' humanist claims about the desirability of these technologies to 'conservative' views opposed to those technologies and showing their dangers and perils, this debate is often heated and confused. The distinction between therapy and enhancement itself is exemplary in this respect. The distinction is often not meant to merely serve the theoretical purpose of creating definitional clarity; it is also often implicitly used to depict one class of actions as morally unproblematic (therapy) and another class of actions as morally problematic (enhancement). The debate on human enhancement is not only a matter of philosophical concern but it is also a hot topic in public and political discussions, with an increasing demand of European institutions for grounded recommendation concerning policies and governance of technologies for human enhancement. Therefore, on the one hand we have a heated debate that is a core interest of political institutions and, on the other hand, we have little reflection on the terms and concepts of this debate. This volume aims to fill this gap by providing analysis and clarification of the main trends, concepts, and assumptions of the debate. The essays in this volume examine the debate from a meta-level, analysing the discussion and mapping its arguments and conclusions, shedding new light on the traditional distinctions and assumptions in the debate on human enhancement from different disciplinary perspectives: law, ethics, philosophy of technology, science and technology studies, social sciences, engineering science, technology assessment and general regulation studies. This volume is one of the results of the project Regulating Emerging Technologies in Europe: Robotics Facing Law and Ethics (RoboLaw), funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission, and building on the results of a workshop that took place in November 2012 at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society of Tilburg University, the Netherlands.


As muscle function deteriorates with age, the discovery of new ways to enhance the quality of human life by stunting inevitable aging processes, such as sarcopenia, is a subject of great interest to aging populations, to health care professionals and to nutritional companies. β-hydroxyβ -methylbutyrate (HMB) enhances muscle strength in humans and attenuates disease-induced and disuse-dependent atrophy in rodents. We investigated the feasibility of utilizing Drosophila as a model organism to study the biological effects of HMB in aging muscle. Using flight ability as an index of muscle function and monitoring the lifespan of flies, we found that normal food supplemented with 10 mg/mL HMB, supplied from eclosion through adulthood, attenuates the agedependent decline in flight ability and enhances longevity of flies. To further discern the dietary optimization of HMB supplementation, we examined the effect of 10 mg/mL HMB supplementation from the larval stages throughout adulthood under various dietary conditions. As dietary restriction without malnutrition and HMB supplementation independently increase longevity in flies, we investigated the relationship between dietary restriction and HMB supplementation. Flies were subject to non-restricted, reduced yeast (protein), or intermittently cycled feeding regimens, with or without HMB. Both modes of dietary restriction improved flight ability, while only cycling flies on and off food increased lifespan and improved survivorship of the flies. HMB supplementation increased flight ability later in life in all groups, but had differential effects on lifespan; HMB improved the survivorship of females fed a reduced yeast diet, but decreased the survivorship of both non-restricted and intermittently fed flies. This not only suggests that HMB may act via different pathways to influence fly flight and survivorship, but that these mechanisms may differ under various dietary conditions, in different sexes. Because HMB supplemented dietary restriction had different effects on flight ability and survival than dietary restriction alone, HMB likely acts via different mechanisms than dietary restriction. Sex specific effects were found, suggesting that future HMB and dietary restriction studies should make distinctions between effects in males and females. As the flight ability and longevity of D. melanogaster was affected by HMB supplementation under various dietary conditions, future studies may use D. melanogaster as a model organism to explore the effects of HMB on age-related muscle deterioration and to help uncover the biological mechanisms of such observations, as well as potential treatments for age-associated muscle dysfunction and disease.


Aesthetic literacy can be understood as a mode of cognition or a way of knowing. However, the concept of aesthetics is often absent from conversations about learning and curriculum, particularly in higher education settings. In this paper the nature of aesthetic education is discussed, as are the merits of its inclusion in a tertiary curriculum. The concept of aesthetic literacy is also discussed, along with the challenges associated with the inclusion of aesthetic learning in higher education settings. These issues are explored through the medium of a narrative inquiry study examining perspectives of lecturers who use aesthetic learning in their practices. In this study, all participants are teacher educators, lecturing in pre-service education disciplines. They discuss the aesthetic dimensions of their discipline areas, as well as the successes, challenges and limitations associated with introducing aesthetic learning strategies. The participants come from a range of subject disciplines and give us insight into the ways that aesthetic learning can be addressed in a range of tertiary settings.


What is art and where did it begin? Why do we make it and why does it change? These are some of the many questions that Julian Bell considers in his highly acclaimed book, now available in paperback. Bell, himself a painter, takes a global perspective and uses a wide range of objects to set up juxtapositions that will challenge and enlighten the reader: dancing bronze figures from southern India, Romanesque sculptures, Baroque ceilings and jewel-like Persian manuscripts are discussed side by side as testaments to mankind's universal creative instinct. Highly original in its ideas yet brilliantly straightforward in its prose, this book will appeal to everyone who wants or needs, for purposes of study, the whole picture of the history of art in one concise and authoritative volume.


A compact frequency-selective surface (FSS) having a quasi-elliptic bandpass response is presented in this paper. This was realized by vertically cascading substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavities. A single SIW cavity FSS has been fully studied and approximate analytical formulas are introduced to calculate its resonant frequencies. Two different resonances can be excited by a plane wave in the single SIW cavity FSS. According to theories of the cascading cavity filter and dual-mode filter, cross coupling can be realized in cascading SIW cavity FSSs, thus a compact FSS with a quasi-elliptic bandpass response is implemented. A Ka-band sample was fabricated by a printed circuit board (PCB) process. Experiments were carried out to validate this design method. Measured results are in agreement with predicted ones. The proposed quasi-elliptic FSS presents a number of advantages, namely, high selectivity, stable performance, and much reduced volume.


Urban gaming simulation (UGS) appeared in American universities in the early 1960s, following the successful applications of gaming simulations in military and financial fields, when urban structures were in crisis. This guest column, by a philosopher who has speculated about philosophy and other cultural endeavors as forms of play, points out conceptual traps that specialists in UGS should avoid and decisions they ought to consider making. In particular, the author warns against making too much of the distinction between "games" and "play" and advises UGS practitioners to conceive of their own activity as playful and exploratory. He argues that practitioners should approach clients not as "professionals" but rather as people with experience acquired from much play, on many different terrains. The essay concludes by suggesting that professionals in all fields—scientific and otherwise—ought to see themselves in much the same way.


More than fifty years ago, Congress enacted a prohibition against political campaign intervention for all charities, including churches and other houses of worship, as a condition for receiving tax deductible contributions. Yet the IRS has never taken a house of worship to court for alleged violation of the prohibition through political comments from the pulpit, presumably at least in part because of concerns about the constitutionality of doing so. This decision is surprising, because a careful review of Free Exercise Clause case law - both before and after the landmark Employment Division v. Smith decision - reveals that the prohibition almost certainly would have survived a constitutional challenge. Now, however, two changes to the relevant legal landscape may shift the balance toward houses of worship seeking to challenge the prohibition in the sermon context and generate new concerns for the federal government, even as the IRS begins to more aggressively investigate alleged violations. The first change was Congress' enactment of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which codified the substantial burden/strict scrutiny analysis articulated by the Supreme Court in pre-Smith Free Exercise Clause cases but rarely followed by that Court in practice. While no longer applicable to state and local laws, RFRA still applies to federal laws, including the prohibition. The second change is the growing support among both courts and scholars for an institutional approach to protecting constitutional rights, particularly in the context of religious organizations. This approach suggests that houses of worship challenging the prohibition may be able to argue successfully that the ability to speak to their members about matters of religious conviction is a necessary aspect of free exercise and so the government cannot, either constitutionally or under RFRA, discourage such speech by placing a condition on the receipt of a long-standing tax benefit. Part I of this Article briefly describes the prohibition and its history. Part II reviews current and past Free Exercise Clause case law and explains why the prohibition almost certainly would have withstood constitutional challenge under those decisions. Part III examines the legislative history and application of RFRA, including the difficult question of what that Act actually "restored," and then applies RFRA to the prohibition. This Part concludes that as applied to the specific context of a religiously motivated sermon the prohibition substantially burdens exercise of religion within the meaning of RFRA. Once that conclusion is reached, RFRA requires the government to demonstrate that the prohibition is the least restrictive means for furthering a compelling government interest. I argue that the government would find such a demonstration difficult if not impossible to make, even taking into account Establishment Clause concerns raised by creating a RFRA-based exception to the prohibition for houses of worship. Part IV explores the developing institutional view of free exercise and argues that a proper appreciation of that view would bar the government from applying the prohibition to not only sermons but also a broader range of internal communications from religious leaders to the members of their houses of worship on matters of religious importance, under both the Constitution and RFRA. Finally, Part V briefly addresses whether as a practical matter an exception to the prohibition could be appropriately defined and limited.


This article asks why it has been so difficult to explain the purpose and meaning of Pope John Paul II March 2000 Mea Culpa. In the author's opinion, three factors must be dealt with: I. The form in which the Mea Culpa took place (a liturgical service). 2. The material: in naming error then who are the guilty? Are they individuals? Or, is the Church itself, guilty? 3. The future. When all is said and done: then, what? How are matters rectified?.


Swords, Molly Elizabeth, M.A., May 2008 Anthropology A Clean Slate: The Archaeology of the Donner Party's Writing Slate Fragments Chairperson: Dr. Kelly Dixon Archaeological investigations into the whereabouts of the Alder Creek Donner family campsite yielded a number of artifacts. One type of artifact collected was writing slate fragments, the topic of this thesis. Why were writing slate fragments found at the Alder Creek camp? An investigation into writing slate in the historical record had to be conducted to address this question. The lack of pertinent research associated with writing slate posed a major obstacle, as it has been disregarded as a diagnostic artifact in historical archaeological literature. This paper addresses this problem by a history of writing slate and its uses, as well as including a discussion of precursors to writing slate, to provide a context for materials recovered from the Alder Creek site. It was first thought that writing slate was only used in the context of education, as might have provided a means of keeping the children busy during the Donner Party's snowbound experience. However, this research indicates that a number of other activities can be associated with writing slate; including messages and notes, record keeping and accounting, gaming and gambling. The writing slate recovered from the Donner family camp is analyzed here using the results of the historical overview of this material and a cognitive archaeological approach.


We develop a method for fabricating the nano-gaps directly by using just photolithography and wet etching processes without any nano lithography or difficult techniques. It shows that this resolution enhancement allows one to fabricate metal electrodes with separation from arbitrarily large to fewer than one hundred nanometers. Furthermore, because these nano-gaps are on a thin film, they can be imaged with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Efforts toward achieving electrical contact to nanostructures have been active for over a decade. Even though several devices based on "nano-gaps" – two gaps separated by a nanometer-scale distance - have been demonstrated, their realization has remained a significant challenge. Even the best methods are highly labor-intensive and suffer from low yield and poor geometrical control. Most nano-gaps are also incompatible with high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a consequence, the proof of the nano-gap quality and content in past studies has been indirect. High-resolution imaging is therefore required to ensure the quality of nano-gaps and to be able to identify possible artifacts. This project presents a unique vertical nano-gap biosensor that can detect changes in DNA structure. Using a size reduction to interrogate samples between the nano-scale gaps, this biosensor will be sensitive enough to record the conformational changes for ss-DNA.


The coordination between the cell cycle stages of nuclear donor cells and host oocytes has a critical effect on the development of embryos produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Here, we investigated (1) whether roscovitine, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) could arrest canine somatic cells at S/G2 phase of the cell cycle; (2) whether IVM metaphase II (MII) oocyte could be induced to telophase II (TII) after activation. Last, we investigated embryo development ability of nonactivated oocytes (MII) or activated oocytes (TII) fused with somatic cells at different stages of the cell cycle. Dog fetal fibroblasts were treated with roscovitine (30 or 60 μg mL-1 at 24, 48, or 72 h) and a control group of donor cells was cultured to reach confluency. The cells were then fixed and stained with 1 mg mL-1 propidium iodide for flow cytometric analysis. For SCNT, IVM dog oocytes were obtained by flushing (approximately 72 h after ovulation) from the oviducts of oocyte donor dog (Canis familiaris) and divided into 2 groups; nonactivated oocytes (MII) and activated oocytes (TII) by 10 μg mL-1 calcium ionophore for 4 min. Following preparation of each donor cell arrested in G0 and G2/M phase, cells of G0 stage were placed into enucleated MII oocytes (MII-G0) and cells of G2/M-phase were placed into enucleated TII oocytes (TII-G2/M). After fusion by electric stimulation, the MII-G0 group was chemically activated and cultured in modified SOF medium (mSOF), and the TII-G2/M group was cultured in mSOF without activation. The embryo developmental competence was estimated by assessing in vitro development under the microscope. Data were analyzed using a statistical analysis system program. Based on flow cytometry, the frequency of cells arrested at G2/M-phase in the 30 and 60 μg mL-1 roscovitine groups was significantly higher than that in control (31.95 and 25.99% v. 19.79%, respectively), but differences were not observed between the 30 and 60 μg mL-1 roscovitine groups (P > 0.05). Also, a significant increase in the proportion of cells at G2/M-phase was observed at 48 and 72 h in both roscovitine groups compared with the group not treated with roscovitine. The proportion of cells at G2/M-phase in the 60 μg mL-1 group at 48 h and the 30 μg mL-1 group at 72 h was the highest among all treatments. For the TII-G2/M group, we injected into enucleated TII oocyte and selected a large cell that arrested at G2/M-phase in cells cultured with 60 μg mL-1 roscovitine for 48 h. For the result of in vitro development of cloned embryo from MII-G0 and TII-G2/M, TII-G2/M group (39.4 and 7.8%) showed an increased cleavage rate and development to 8 cells compared with MII-G0 (23.5 and 2.9%). In the present study, we demonstrated that, in combination with nuclear donor cells at specific cell cycle stages, MII and TII dog oocytes are similarly effective in supporting the reprogramming of somatic cell nuclei. This study was supported by Korean MEST through KOSEF (grant # M10625030005-09N250300510) and BK21 program, RNL BIO, and Natural Balance Korea.


Effect of post-hatch (PH) feed deprivation (FD) for 6, 12, 24 and 36 hrs., on the performance, gut development and differential expression of nutrient transporter genes in egg type chickens (crosses of White Leghorn) was studied. Significant decrease (P=0.001) in yolk utilization (in all the FD chicks) and relative weight of gizzard, intestine, liver and pancreas was observed in 24 and 36 hrs FD chicks. The 36 hrs FD chicks recorded lower (P=0.001) body weight, lower feed intake and inferior FCR, decreased serum glucose, but higher cholesterol and uric acid level than the control (immediate fed group) or 6 hrs FD chicks. Villi height in duodenum, jejunum and ileum decreased (P=0.001) but villi width increased (P=0.001) with increase in FD period and significant changes were observed particularly in 24 or 36 hrs FD chicks. Relative expression of Cdx gene decreased with age of the bird and the feed restriction period. Expression of SGLT, FABP gene was not associated with the feed deprivation period, while that of EAAT3 gene increased in 24 or 36 hrs FD chicks. No difference was observed in bursa, spleen and thymus weight. In vivo humoral and cellular immune response was significantly better in chicks FD for 6, 12 and 24 hrs than control and 36 hrs FD chicks. Expression of immunity related genes IL-6 and TLR-2 increased as the FD period increased. It may concluded that PH feed deprival for first 12 hrs did not affect growth performance, intestinal morphology and immune response but feed withdrawal for 24 or 36 hrs adversely affect the intestinal morphology and few nutrient transporter genes expression in egg type chickens.


Research into the lives of children with acquired brain injury (ABI) often neglects to incorporate children as participants, preferring to obtain the opinions of the adult carer (e.g. McKinlay et al., 2002). There has been a concerted attempt to move away from this position by those working in children's research with current etiquette highlighting the inclusion of children and the use of a child-friendly methodology (Chappell, 2000). Children with disabilities can represent a challenge to the qualitative researcher due to the combination of maintaining the child's attention and the demands placed on them by their disability. The focus of this article is to discuss possible impediments to interviewing children with acquired brain injury (ABI) and provide an insight into how the qualitative researcher may address these.


This paper examines the relevance of knowledge and ignorance in the governance of global finance. First, it will show that the intense innovation dynamics of financial busi-ness are creating regulatory problems that are not only of a normative and monetary na-ture, but also of a cognitive one. Taking the field of banking as an example, a growing uncertainty regarding the outcome of financial decisions becomes discernable, which not only results from the globalization and increasing knowledge intensity of transactions but also from the market actors' tendency to engage in a more active treatment of ignorance. Next, attention will be drawn to concepts of knowledge politics and corresponding regu-latory strategies which have the potential to transcend not only national boundaries but also to enable collective learning between heterogeneous actors. On the basis of this, the emergence of a cognitive approach in the governance of global banking will be illus-trated. Finally, attention will be shifted to the revised capital adequacy framework for global banking, commonly known as Basle II, and an analysis of the extent to which conditions for an effective combination of private and public expertise are being created.


In the months before the January earthquake, Haiti and its criminal justice institutions were the subject of an unprecedented effort by two UN agencies to measure the state of the Rule of Law. Drawing on the results of that pre-quake assessment as well as on post-quake assessments of the justice sector, this paper raises four questions that should guide recovery and further development of the police, courts, and prisons in Haiti--questions that focus attention on the meaning of justice sector reform for the people of Haiti, especially the poor. (1) What is the goal of justice sector reform in Haiti and how would we know if we are achieving it? (2) From whose perspective will specific reforms to the police, courts, and prisons be prioritized? (3) How is the police enforcement mission changing in Haiti in the post-quake period, and what are the implications for the courts and prisons? (4) Where are the immediate opportunities for signal reforms that could be achieved quickly and demonstrate to a wide audience the direction in which longer term reforms are heading? The paper frames alternative answers to each of these questions and, in the process, suggests how the Rule of Law Indicators piloted just before the earthquake could be used to assess Haiti's criminal justice system in the years ahead.


Objective: To determine prospectively gait-related risk factors for lower leg overuse injury (LLOI). Design: A prospective cohort study. Setting: Male and female recruits from a start-to-run (STR) programme during a 10-week training period. Participants: 131 healthy subjects (20 men and 111 women), without a history of any lower leg complaint, participated in the study. Interventions: Before the start of the 10-week STR programme, plantar force measurements during running were performed. During STR, lower leg injuries were diagnosed and registered by a sports physician. Main Outcome Measures: Plantar force measurements during running were performed using a footscan pressure plate. Results: During the STR, 27 subjects (five men and 22 women) developed a LLOI. Logistic regression analysis revealed that subjects who developed a LLOI had a significantly more laterally directed force distribution at first metatarsal contact and forefoot flat, a more laterally directed force displacement in the forefoot contact phase, foot flat phase and at heel-off. These subjects also had a delayed change of the centre of force (COF) at forefoot flat, a higher force and loading underneath the lateral border of the foot, and a significantly higher directed force displacement of the COF at forefoot flat. Conclusions: These findings suggest that a less pronated heel strike and a more laterally directed roll-off can be considered as risk factors for LLOI. Clinically, the results of this study can be considered important in identifying individuals at risk of LLOI.


ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study examines the language ideologies of 28 preschool educators in their first month transitioning from English-only to dual language education (DLE). Using the language ideology survey developed by [Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2011). "Language ideology dimensions of politically active Arizona voters: an exploratory study." Language Awareness 20 (4): 295–314; Fitzsimmons-Doolan, S. (2014). "Language ideologies of Arizona voters, language managers, and teachers." Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 13 (1): 34–52], we analyzed the preschool teachers' language ideologies, as well as the relationships between the ideologies and demographic and experiential variables. We found that teachers generally held pro-multilingual ideologies, but that particular ideologies correlated with different teacher experiences. For instance, while teachers' level of education and having studied a language other than English were positive correlates of pro-multilingual beliefs, years of teaching overall was instead positively associated with viewing English as a tool and years at the current placement was positively related to viewing multiple languages as a problem. Neither general teaching experience nor experience having a home language other than English was a significant predictor of pro-multilingual beliefs. Qualitative analysis of transcripts from teacher focus groups reflected teachers' pro-multilingual beliefs, but also showed teachers' concerns with DLE implementation. We found, however, that these concerns were practical – balancing district priorities; managing new divisions of labor in the classroom – rather than ideological. Our findings highlight the theoretical and methodological importance of viewing teachers' experiences, ideologies, and classroom language policies as connected.


The publication of the final volume of the OED Supplement marks the completion of a "work which will last longer and prove more influential than anything else published this half-century" (The Times of London). It is the final piece of a great jigsaw that provides the fullest possible treatment of the English language from the middle of the twelfth century to 1980s. Within the alphabetical range of Se to Z, this volume contains all the new words that have come into use during the twentieth century and includes as well the countless new meanings that have been applied to older words. The advent of the electronic age is certainly reflected in this volume. Words like SNOBOL, transputer, and wysiwyg draw attention both to the wizardry of the green screen and to the way the computer wizards themselves embrace the techniques of modern word-formation. The book abounds with new vocabulary taken from all walks of life and from many countries, and presented with the full etymological apparatus for which the OED is famous. Self-fulfilling prophecy, smokefall (from T.S. Eliot), software, Sputnik, test-tube baby, wind of change, Yerkish (the sign language of chimpanzees), yogibogeybox (from James Joyce), and Zen Buddhism--they're all here, along with more than 15,000 other words and phrases, whose meanings and historical origins will prove an endless source of delight of word lovers throughout the English-speaking world. It is estimated that new words enter the language at the rate of 400 a year; the OED and it Supplement constitute the best record available of this constantly developing organism. Altogether about 62,750 words are treated in the four volumes of the Supplement, described by Newsweek as "like the work from which it depends...the present last word, the indispensable addendum to what is, in all probability, the greatest continuing work of scholarship that this century has produced." About the Author: Robert Burchfield, Chief Editor of the Oxford University Press Dictionaries Department and a Senior Research Fellow at St. Peter's College, Oxford, is also the author of The Spoken Word and The English Language. At last--the completion of one of the century's great scholarly undertakings


Introduction: The hip arthroplasty has become a very common practice. It concerns young population. The osteoarthritis is the most common indication for total hip prosthesis. Moroccans patients with osteoarthritis often related an alteration of their prayer and are worried about this. Nevertheless, the hip arthroplasty allows restoration.
Objectives: The proposal of our studies is to determine what Moroccans patients with total hip prosthesis become.
Methodology: A cross-sectional, prospective study has been conducted at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in collaboration with the Department of Traumatology of University Hospital, IbnRochd, Casablanca, Morocco. Patients who took advantage of rehabilitation sessions before and after total hip prosthesis have been included. Patients with secondary prosthesis, post traumatic total hip prosthesis or cognitive impairment have been excluded. The socio demographic characteristics, the prosthesis indications, and complications have been gathered using a questionnaire. Patients mentioned their style of prayer. The style of prayer has been classified in three groups: non difficult standard prayer, difficult standard prayer and impossible (prayer is done at sit position on a chair). An assessment has been carried out before and six months after total hip replacement. For mobility assessment, passive hip movements have been performed and measured with the universal goniometer. Current pain intensity has been assessed using a 101-point numerical rating scale ranging from 0 (non pain) to 100 (the worst imaginable pain). Disability has been assessed using the Western Ontario and Mac Master (WOMAC) Universities Arthritis Index, the Postel-Merle and Aubigne Index (PMA).
Results: 79 patients have been included. Average age was 47.7 years. Sex ratio was 0.61. Eighty-two percent (82%) patients were manual laborers against 18% of office workers. All patients were Muslims. The main causes of hip disease were ankylosing spondylitis (25.3%), rheumatoid arthritis (19%), infection (7.6%), hip osteoarthritis (27.8%), and aseptic osteonecrosis (6.3%). All the operations have been performed through the posterior lateral approach. The total hip replacement has improved pain (p=0.0004), mobility (p<0.05), function (p=0.006). Before the prosthesis, the prayer was impossible in 48.4% and difficult in 31.6% of cases. Eleven point four percent patients after total hip prosthesis could not perform the prayer. Discussion: Total hip prosthesis is a successful surgical procedure for relieving pain, improving function and mobility. In Moroccan patients, total hip prosthesis restored style of prayer and improved the functional capacity. Conclusion: The hip arthropalsty helps improve the quality of life which is strongly influenced by prayer style. Thus, the indication for total hip prosthesis in Morocco must consider the aspect of prayer


At a time when most Americans are growing increasingly disillusioned with U.S. politics, four trends have emerged that could have significant implications for social workers interested in political action: (1) development of an anti-incumbency movement; (2) increased voter apathy, partly in response to candidates who do not appeal to voters' or potential voters' interests; (3) growing lack of identification or affiliation with any one political party, as shown by Ross Perot's independent candidacy for president in 1992; and (4) broad distrust of elected and appointed officials. Although these trends do not speak well of U.S. political affairs, they may offer opportunities for social workers to enter the political arena in a way that could both increase public recognition of the profession and provide a conscience to the world of politics. This article examines some of the confusing issues and barriers that have historically discouraged social workers from getting involved in politics, including the federal Hatch Political Activity Act and Internal Revenue Code limitations on employee and agencies' political activities. Furthermore, the article offers suggestions to increase the political opportunities for social workers. Price of Inaction It is old news that since its beginnings the social work profession has been at war with itself about the extent to which it should engage in matters of social justice and reform. Drawn by the need to gain both professional status and public recognition, social workers' efforts toward major social reforms were usually dampened by politically conservative times. Thus, the tendency to turn inward and away from both advocacy and controversy may have slowed the profession down in gaining any real political leverage. Haynes and Mickelson (1991) noted that social workers faced hard times during the Reagan and Bush presidencies of the 1980s: The failure of the social work profession to assume a position of leadership in the movement for social reform is inconsistent with its historical and philosophical background. The relatively nonactivist professional of the 1980s exists in stark contrast with the turn-of-the-century reformers. A major characteristic of social workers of yesteryear were their efforts to direct the public toward social injustice, whereas a frequently noted characteristic of social work since the 1970s is its failure to speak out about the inadequacies of welfare and other programs in urban communities as well as in the rest of the United States. Clearly, the profession's apparent reticence to address social problems that undermine the self-respect and morale of the individual is incongruent with its belief in the dignity and worth of human beings. Regardless of the reasons for it, the price of the inaction of the 1980s was a bitter one to pay in terms of cumulative effects, as evidenced by the following examples: * Between 1981 and 1989 federal expenditures for subsidized housing and the number of federal housing starts decreased more than 80 percent (Applebaum, 1989). * In 1981 the federal government spent $7 on defense for every $1 spent on housing; by the end of President Ronald Reagan's second term, $46 went toward defense for every $1 going toward housing, an increase of 557 percent (Applebaum, 1989). * Tax law changes implemented in 1981 doubled the tax rates for poor Americans (Gottschalk, 1984). * Between 1978 and 1990 the total number of people living in poverty increased from 25.5 million to 33.6 million, representing an increase of almost 32 percent (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992). Add to these facts the state of the U.S. economy: 1982 marked the greatest recession since the Great Depression, its depth "leaving a legacy of reduced family incomes, higher poverty rates, damaged economic status of historically disadvantaged groups, and decreased job opportunities in the traditionally high-paying manufacturing sector" (Fox, 1989, p. …


The Effectiveness of Utilizing the Treatment Support Measure for Treatment Planning in Youth Mental Health Services Adam D. Garland Department of Psychology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The use of treatment support tools to enhance client outcomes is not well understood in the youth treatment literature. Adult outcome researchers have found that the use of Clinical Support Tools (CST) leads to improved outcomes with clients identified as at risk for treatment failure. However, the American Psychological Association (APA) has noted that understanding important client factors that influence treatment is critical during the clinical formulation and treatment planning phase of therapy. No studies to date have evaluated the effectiveness of utilizing a CST as a treatment planning tool with youth clients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Treatment Support Measure, a CST, for the purpose of treatment planning rather than as a reaction to clients who became at-risk for treatment failure. Two hundred and eight youth participants and their caregivers from three outpatient community mental health clinics were randomly assigned to a feedback (TSM-FB) or Non-FB condition. All participants completed the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y-OQ) at each session. The TSM was administered to clients in the TSM-FB condition during the intake session. Only therapists whose clients were in the TSM-FB condition received TSM and Y-OQ data. A multilevel model was created to evaluate for differences between conditions on the dependent variable. The initial randomization failed to create similar groups at intake and a statistically and clinically significant difference was detected on the Y-OQ at intake. As such, no conclusions can be drawn for hypotheses tied to the primary dependent variable. Premature termination (PT) rates were significantly lower for the TSM-FB condition when defined as attending more than one session. Contrastingly, there was no difference between conditions on PT when defining PT based on the therapist's opinion. A significant minority of therapists (40%) found that the TSM was useful for treatment planning compared to 10% which did not.


It is widely believed that IP over optical networks will be a major component of the next generation Internet However, it is not efficient to map a single multicast IP flow into one light-tree, since the bandwidth of an IP flow required is usually much less than that of a light-tree. In this paper, we study the problem of multicast flow aggregation (MFA) in the IP over optical two-layered networks under the overlay model, which can be defined as follows: given a set of head ends (i.e. optical multicasting sources), each of which can provide a set of contents (i.e. multicast IP flows) with different required transmission bandwidth, and a set of requested content at the access routers (i.e. optical multicasting destinations), find a set of light-trees as well as the optimal aggregation of multicast IP flows in each light-tree. We model MFA by a tri-partite graph with multiple criteria and show that the problem is NP-complete. Optimal solutions are designed by exploiting MFA to formulate an integer linear programming (ILP), with two parameters: the multicast receiving index alpha and the redundant transmitting index beta. We also propose a heuristic algorithm. Finally, we compare the performance of MFA for different combination of alpha and beta via experiments and show our heuristic algorithm is effective for large-scale network in numerical results


In this article, we investigate the relevance of the glass ceiling hypothesis in France, according to which there exist larger gender wage gaps at the upper tail of the wage distribution. Using a matched worker-firm data set of about 1 30 000 employees and 14 000 employers, we estimate quantile regressions and rely on a principal component analysis to summarize information specific to the firms. Our different results show that accounting for firm-related characteristics reduces the gender earnings gap at the top of the distribution, but the latter still remains much higher at the top than at the bottom. Furthermore, a quantile decomposition shows that the gender wage gap is mainly due to differences in the returns to observed characteristics rather than in differences in characteristics between men and women.


It would be valuable to consumer research to increase understanding of marginalized communities and their consumption experiences. This paper advances postcolonial analysis as useful in this respect. A review of postcolonialism shows a perspective that encompasses the experience of the subordinated and marginalized. Hybridity, an alternative version, the self/other divide and power of both the colonizing and colonized positions are key concepts in this lens. Shifting from the dominating view of imperialism, a postcolonial oeuvre offers a nuanced stance that gives voice to the history of the Other and recognition to their stories. Variations within this stream of theory are drawn out and the key aim of this paper is to explicate the value of the postcolonial view to consumer research. To this end two illustrative case studies of postcolonial African experience are offered: one French and one American. Sneaker consumption in African‐American street culture traces themes of social alienation, self‐identity, criminality and fanatical consumption through the acquisition of sneakers. This experience is contrasted with the experience of postcolonial African communities in France who use other forms of consumption to define their street identity. We conclude that a more nuanced reading of sneaker consumption is available through postcolonialism shedding new light on interpreting symbolic consumption, meaning making and identity expression in traditionally marginalized groups.


In this work, we present a novel parallelization scheme for a highly efficient evaluation of the Hartree-Fock exact exchange (HFX) in ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, specifically tailored for condensed phase simulations. Our developments allow one to achieve the necessary accuracy for the evaluation of the HFX in a highly controllable manner. We show here that our solutions can take great advantage of the latest trends in HPC platforms, such as extreme threading, short vector instructions and highly dimensional interconnection networks. Indeed, all these trends are evident in the IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. We demonstrate an unprecedented scalability up to 6,291,456 threads (96 BG/Q racks) with a near perfect parallel efficiency, which represents a more than 20-fold improvement as compared to the current state of the art. In terms of reduction of time to solution, we achieved an improvement that can surpass a 10-fold decrease in runtime with respect to directly comparable approaches. We exploit this development to enhance the accuracy of DFT based molecular dynamics by using the PBE0 hybrid functional. This approach allowed us to investigate the chemical behavior of organic solvents in one of the most challenging research topics in energy storage, lithium/air batteries, and to propose alternative solvents with enhanced stability to ensure an appropriate reversible electrochemical reaction. This step is key for the development of a viable lithium/air storage technology, which would have been a daunting computational task using standard methods. Recent research has shown that the electrolyte plays a key role in non-aqueous lithium/air batteries in producing the appropriate reversible electrochemical reduction. In particular, the chemical degradation of propylene carbonate, the typical electrolyte used, by lithium peroxide has been demonstrated by molecular dynamics simulations of highly realistic models. Reaching the necessary high accuracy in these simulations is a daunting computational task using standard methods.


Much research aiming to design practical algorithms to support Byzantine Fault-Tolerant distributed applications has been made in recent years. These solutions are designed to make the applications resistant to successful attacks against the system, thereby making services tolerant to intrusions. Recently, some of these studies have considered the use of virtual machines for building a trusted computing environment. This paper presents SMIT (Shared Memory based Intrusion Tolerance), an architecture for Intrusion Tolerance using virtual machines that benefits from a shared memory to simplify the consensus protocol.


In recent decades countries have gone through unprecedented growth in human development. In 1980 there were 2 countries with a human development index near to or higher than 0.90, now there are 22. It is a well-established fact that growth in human development is positively related with economic growth. Largely as a result of this correspondence, Ranis posited a positive feedback loop between countries with high economic growth and human development (a 'virtuous cycle') and countries with stagnant or negative economic growth and human development (a 'vicious' cycle). Using longitudinal statistical analysis we show that there is an 'old model' of the relationship between human development and economic growth that supports the existence of these cycles and a 'new model' that refutes them. This is good news since the vicious-virtuous cycles imply that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer whereas the 'new model' shows a conditional and eventual absolute convergence between rich and poor countries in terms of human development. We show that this change is due to two factors: the rise in middle and high developed countries and the high rates of economic growth and human development among somewhat poor and mid-level countries. Our findings correspond to those published in Nature by Myrskyla, Kohler and Billari (2009) demonstrating that for countries at the high end of the human development index (HDI), between 0.85 and 0.95, there occurs a reversal of the previously well-established negative, development-fertility relationship. Our research, supportive of Myrskyla et. al's findings, demonstrates a more complex relationship between HDI and economic growth rates than previously thought and that socio-cultural factors independent of economic or human development should be taken into account to construct a fuller model of rates of change in economic and human development.


We perform linear stability calculations for horizontal bilayers of a two-component fluid that can undergo a phase transformation, taking into account both buoyancy effects and thermocapillary effects in the presence of a vertical temperature gradient. Critical values for the applied temperature difference across the system that is necessary to produce instability are obtained by a linear stability analysis, using both numerical computations and small wavenumber approximations. Thermophysical properties are taken from the aluminum–indium monotectic system, which includes a liquid–liquid miscibility gap. In addition to buoyant and thermocapillary modes of instability, we find an oscillatory phase-change instability due to the combined effects of solute diffusion and fluid flow that persists at small wavenumbers. This mode is sensitive to the ratio of the layer depths, and for certain layer depths can occur for heating from either above or below.


This article discusses the selection of the domain for a knowledge-based expert system for a corporate application. The selection of the domain is a critical task in an expert system development. At the start of a project looking into the development of an expert system, the knowledge engineering project team must investigate one or several possible expert system domains. They must decide whether the selected application(s) are best suited to solution by present expert system technology, or if there might be a better way (or, possibly, no way) to attack the problems. If there are several possibilities, the team must also rank the potential applications and select the best available. To evaluate the potential of possible application domains, it has proved very useful to have a set of desired attributes for good expert domain. This article presents such a set of attributes. The attribute set was developed as part of a major expert system development project at GTE Laboratories. It was used recurrently (and modified and expanded continually) throughout an extensive application domain evaluation and selection process.


It is widely regarded that the amnesic deficits associated with diencephalic amnesia and medial temporal lobe amnesia are similar. However, the neural basis of diencephalic amnesia and the contributions of different medial thalamic nuclei continue to prove a contentious issue. Contrary to the view that specific medial thalamic nuclei are responsible for profound amnesia after diencephalic injury in humans, the neural connections associated with three aggregates of thalamic nuclei suggest that they each contribute to independent memory systems. These three aggregates were identified by a review of the neuroanatomical tracing studies from the research literature. One thalamic aggregate comprised of the anterior thalamic nucleus (AT), while the other two consisted of less conventional groupings of medial thalamic nuclei, namely a lateral thalamic group (LT) and a posteromedial thalamic group (MT). The LT aggregate was identified as the rostral intralaminar nuclei (paracentral, centrolateral, and rostral central medial) and the lateral and paralamellar segments of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus. The MT aggregate was identified as the central and medial segments of the mediodorsal nucleus as well as the intermediodorsal nucleus. The functional contributions to specific attributes of memory were assessed in rats across a variety of behavioural tasks. Highly localised lesions to the MT produced deficits on a reward magnitude task, which previously has been found to be sensitive to amygdala and lateral prefrontal lesions, which supports the view that the MT contributes to an amygdala-based memory system. Only AT lesions produced deficits in spatial memory tasks, which are also sensitive to hippocampal lesions, which confirms earlier evidence that the AT contributes to an extended hippocampal system responsible for spatial memory processing. Only LT lesions produced deficits in an egocentric response memory task, which is also disrupted by dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and dorsal striatum lesions, and which thus supports the notion that the LT is a functional component of a dorsal striatum memory system. In addition, LT and MT lesions, but not AT lesions, impaired temporal order memory, while no lesion impaired object recognition or sustained attention. These new dissociations indicate that distributed neural circuits incorporating many brain structures including the medial thalamus can be identified as contributing to independent learning and memory processes.


In an era of high technology and instant communication, the role of geography in the formation of strategy and politics in international relations can be undervalued. But the mountains of Afghanistan and the scorching sand storms of Iraq have provided stark reminders that geographical rea lities continue to have a profound impact on the success of military campaigns. Here, political scientist Jakub J. Grygiel brings to light the importance of incorporating geography into grand strategy. He argues that states can increase and maintain their position of power by pursuing a geostrategy that focuses on control of resources and lines of communication. Grygiel examines case studies of Venice, the Ottoman Empire, and China in the global fifteenth century-all great powers that faced a dramatic change in geopolitics when new routes and continents were discovered. The location of resources, the layout of trade networks, and the stability of state boundaries played a large role in the success or failure of these three powers. Grygiel asserts that, though many other aspects of foreign policy have changed throughout history, strategic response to geographical features remains one of the most salient factors in establishing and maintaining power in the international arena.


Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) represent a tunable model one-dimensional system with exceptional optical and electronic properties. High-throughput separation and purification strategies have enabled the integration of s-SWCNTs into a number of optoelectronic applications, including photovoltaics (PVs). In this Perspective, we discuss the fundamental underpinnings of two model PV interfaces involving s-SWCNTs. We first discuss s-SWCNT–fullerene heterojunctions where exciton dissociation at the donor–acceptor interface drives solar energy conversion. Next, we discuss charge extraction at the interface between s-SWCNTs and a photoexcited perovskite active layer. In each case, the use of highly enriched semiconducting SWCNT samples enables fundamental insights into the thermodynamic and kinetic mechanisms that drive the efficient conversion of solar photons into long-lived separated charges. These model systems help to establish design rules for next-generation PV devices containing...


The occurrence of maximum quantum or thermal detection efficiency (defined here as the ratio of utilized photons or energy to the total emitted by a Planckian radiator) was determined theoretically as a function of the absorption edge and bandwidth of the detector, and the temperature of the Planckian radiator. It is assumed that the quantum or thermal efficiency of the detector is constant within the bandwidth in question and zero elsewhere. The application of the specific results derived here is limited to source–detector combinations where the source spectral energy or photon distribution approximates that of a Planckian radiator. A "noise level" and its effect on the efficiency are not considered in the present analysis. The outcome of the analysis is a series of "displacement laws" which are similar to the Wien displacement law, λmT=0.2898 cm °K.It is shown that the temperature should be increased for maximum efficiency as the bandwidth of the detector is increased.


This combined dictionary and thesaurus is the smallest hardback in the Oxford range. The Little Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus is a convenient, compact, and portable reference book to help with studies or to solve everyday language problems and puzzles, wherever you are. This second edition features a brand new layout. The thesaurus entry for a word sits directly alongside the dictionary entry so that you do not have to hunt around the page to find the word you are looking for. A new centre section gives encyclopedic information such as lists of countries and capitals, rivers and lakes, kings, queens, and prime ministers, as well as collective nouns, helping you to broaden your knowledge. Packed with help and information, the Little Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus is the ideal small reference book for home, school, or work.Explore our language resources on oxforddictionaries.com, Oxford's home for dictionaries and language reference. Updated regularly with the latest changes to words and meanings, the site provides hundreds of thousands of definitions, synonyms, and pronunciations in a range of languages. Access the highest quality language content, built from our extensive research, for free on your desktop or device.


The Wnt family of secreted proteins regulates various cellular processes through cell surface receptors of the Frizzled family. The best understood canonical Wnt-Frizzled pathway induces the translocation of cytosolic β-catenin to the nucleus to regulate gene expression. However, less is known about an alternative non-canonical Wnt pathway that involves an increase in intracellular calcium. Saneyoshi et al. demonstrate that in early Xenopus embryos, a transcription factor previously implicated in immune cell regulation called nuclear factor of activated T cells (NF-AT), is activated by the Wnt-calcium pathway. Activation of this noncanonical pathway caused translocation of NF-AT to the nucleus in embryonic cells. Inhibition of this pathway perturbed cell movement during gastrulation, altering ventral side formation by promoting a dorsal fate instead. NF-AT was also dephosphorylated by the phosphastase calcineurin in response to a rise in intracellular calcium. By showing that NFAT inhibits the canonical Wnt pathway upstream of β-catenin, the authors suggest that cross talk between the two Wnt signaling cascades may be necessary for establishing dorsal-ventral polarity of the developing embryo. T. Saneyoshi, S. Kume, Y. Amasaki, K. Mikoshiba, The Wnt/calcium pathway activates NF-AT and promotes ventral cell fate in Xenopus embryos. Nature 417, 295-299 (2002). [Online Journal]


Magnetic resonance has long demonstrated its tremendous versatility in many areas of science. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in food science, where problems encountered in a variety of situations can be resolved using one of the many techniques available to the magnetic resonance practitioner. From structural studies and investigations of molecules in frozen sugar solutions, to identifying the origins of salmon and detecting free radicals in irradiated food, magnetic resonance techniques can provide useful information. Divided into four sections entitled A View Towards the Next Century; Food Safety and Health; Structure and Dynamics; and Analysis, Monitoring and Authentication, the book consists of top quality contributions from renowned international scientists, and looks at what magnetic resonance techniques can offer both now and in the future. Offering state-of-the-art material, Magnetic Resonance in Food Science: A View to the Future is essential reading for both academics and industrialists in food science.


In recent years, gas companies have shown an increasing interest in the possible use of higher grade steel pipes (Yield Strength ≥ 690 MPa, equivalent to X100 steel grade) for the construction of long distance gas pipelines. As a result, research programs sponsored by both gas companies and steel pipe producers, investigated the suitability of the equivalent of X100 grade steels for high pressure pipeline use, with the main emphasis placed on establishing their fracture behavior. One of the essential points was dealing with ductile fracture arrest capability, in order to consolidate existing know-how regarding the definition of the minimum toughness requirement to control the ductile fracture propagation event. Toughness evaluations were carried out to determine Charpy V-notch shelf energy, DWTT shelf energy, and new promising toughness parameters such as the DWTT specific total/propagation energy values, and a measure of the Crack Tip Opening Angle (CTOA). To achieve this general aim extensive use of the full scale burst tests was also necessary. The results of full scale tests, in terms of arrest/propagation conditions, discussed together with available results in the literature on API X80 and X100 pipes, show that X100 large diameter pipes are operating at the upper bound of the arrest/propagation ductile fracture propagation conditions; moreover also the applicability of the "Battelle Two Step Analysis", and their straightforward extrapolation from API X80 pipes to X100 grade operating at very high hoop stress values (≥500MPa) is highly questionable. So a devoted or specific "design" is mandatory to prevent/control the ductile fracture propagation event in long distance X100 grade large diameter onshore gas pipeline. On specific fracture issues this paper presents also some conclusions useful for the safe design of long distance X100 grade gas pipelines; with regard to this specific issue the CSM proprietary code PICPRO is presented as a valid tool for enlarging the information gathered from a single full scale burst test, to provide a solution to overcome the problems connected with the lack of a reliable procedure to transfer laboratory toughness results to the real pipe case and finally to achieve a new safe design criteria for crack arrestors. International Symposium on Microalloyed Steels for the Oil and Gas Industry Edited by W.J. Fazackerley, P. Bordignon, K. Hulka, and F. Siciliano TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society), 2007


This anthology by Christian ethicists and ecclesial groups is concerned with the justice of war in the twentieth century. Included are writings from Pope Pius XII, the Niebuhrs, the Calhoun Commission, John Ford, Elizabeth Anscombe, Paul Ramsey, Ralph Potter, the U.S. Catholic bishops, and the U.S. Methodist bishops. These authors, whose ideas reflect diverse trends in Roman Catholic and Protestant ethics, have sought to sharpen our moral literacy about the ethics of war and address ethical issues relevant to modern warfare--obliteration bombing, selective conscientious objection, and nuclear deterrence. The Library of Theological Ethics series focuses on what it means to think theologically and ethically. It presents a selection of important and otherwise unavailable texts in easily accessible form. Volumes in this series will enable sustained dialogue with predecessors though reflection on classic works in the field.


In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized


The legitimacy of the World Bank's dispute resolution body - The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - is a matter of heated debate. Some states have alleged that ICSID is biased, withdrawn from the ICSID Convention, and advocated creating alternative arbitration systems. Using pre-2007 archival data of the population of then- known arbitration awards, this Article quantitatively assesses whether ICSID arbitration awards were substantially different from arbitration awards rendered in other forums. The Article examines variation in the amounts claimed and outcomes reached to evaluate indicators of bias. The results indicated that there was no reliable statistical relationship between ICSID arbitrations and either amounts claimed or ultimate outcomes. The results generally did not show a statistical difference when controlling for (1) the presence of an Energy dispute, (2) the presence of a Latin American respondent, or (3) the respondent's Development Status. Nevertheless, although outcomes were not statistically different for Latin American and non-Latin American respondents, amounts claimed against Latin American states were higher - but only for non-ICSID arbitration. While the arguably higher initial arbitration risk may contribute to concerns related to perception of bias, the results provide initial evidence that those criticisms may have been misattributed to ICSID. Results suggested, on the whole, that ICSID arbitration awards were not statistically different from other arbitral processes, which is preliminary evidence that ICSID arbitration was not necessarily biased or that investment arbitration operated in reasonably equivalent ways across forums. Caution about this finding is appropriate given the size of the pre-2007 population and as one analysis suggested that for the subset comprised only of ICSID Convention awards as compared to all other awards (including ICSID Additional Facility awards), awards against Low Income respondents were statistically higher than awards against High Income respondents. Qualitative commonalities in that small subset of awards revealed the presence of certain types of law firms (or the lack thereof) or recent civil war in African states. In light of the initial quantitative findings for a pre-2007 population of arbitration awards, but recognizing the need for replication and methods to facilitate qualitative and normative assessments of ICSID, this Article concludes by suggesting that there may be value in implementing tailored reforms and structural safeguards to address arguable concerns of bias, improve the management of international economic conflict, and minimize a potential backlash to the international investment system.


The classical development of neural networks has primarily focused on learning mappings between finite dimensional Euclidean spaces or finite sets. We propose a generalization of neural networks to learn operators, termed neural operators, that map between infinite dimensional function spaces. We formulate the neural operator as a composition of linear integral operators and nonlinear activation functions. We prove a universal approximation theorem for our proposed neural operator, showing that it can approximate any given nonlinear continuous operator. The proposed neural operators are also discretization-invariant, i.e., they share the same model parameters among different discretization of the underlying function spaces. Furthermore, we introduce four classes of efficient parameterization, viz., graph neural operators, multi-pole graph neural operators, low-rank neural operators, and Fourier neural operators. An important application for neural operators is learning surrogate maps for the solution operators of partial differential equations (PDEs). We consider standard PDEs such as the Burgers, Darcy subsurface flow, and the Navier-Stokes equations, and show that the proposed neural operators have superior performance compared to existing machine learning based methodologies, while being several orders of magnitude faster than conventional PDE solvers.


Sequence generation with reinforcement learning (RL) has received significant attention recently. However, a challenge with such methods is the sparse-reward problem in the RL training process, in which a scalar guiding signal is often only available after an entire sequence has been generated. This type of sparse reward tends to ignore the global structural information of a sequence, causing generation of sequences that are semantically inconsistent. In this paper, we present a model-based RL approach to overcome this issue. Specifically, we propose a novel guider network to model the sequence-generation environment, which can assist next-word prediction and provide intermediate rewards for generator optimization. Extensive experiments show that the proposed method leads to improved performance for both unconditional and conditional sequence-generation tasks.


Theories of absolute identification and categorization established over past decades have revealed people's inability to classify
or judge perceived objects independently of their context. Our series of experiments shows that judged frequencies of sequentially encountered stimuli are affected by certain properties of the sequence configuration: Representations of a category do not only depend on (1) the number of stimuli/chunks in the sequence (2) the relation of the current stimulus to the immediately preceding stimulus, and (3) relations between stimuli further back versus recent stimuli but also on (4) simple sequence characteristics. Specifically, a first-run effect occurs whereby people overestimate the frequency of a given category
of event when that category is the first repeated category to occur in the sequence. While current theories of absolute identification and categorization cannot account for these results, the simplicity framework, suggested in this paper, accounts for this and other context effects on judgment tasks.


Many technologies that produce electricity from renewable energy sources are currently not competitive. This is due to the fact that their generation cost is higher than that of conventional thermal power plants. Nevertheless, since using renewable energies has a number of positive effects, these installations have been supported by German public policy for many years. This support is currently demonstrated very successfully by the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which provides for fixed feed-in tariffs (FITs). The costs of this support scheme are distributed to the electricity consumers. Due to the so-called EEG levy, electricity costs of industry are increased and as a result their competitiveness is decreased. Consequently, electricity intensive enterprises have protested against the levy on a regular basis and finally achieved a reduction of the levy. However, the potential effect of the EEG on the wholesale price for ele ctricity has not yet been considered. Against this background, we analyze the effect of the EEG on electricity prices in a perfect market. We will show that the support of electricity production from renewable energy decreases the wholesale price of electricity. Consequently, electricity costs of companies that are subject to the reduced EEG levy may decrease too.


Interactions between sympatric carnivores are among the key factors influencing community structure and function, and strongly affecting the population dynamics, distribution and behaviour of the interacting species. Interspecific competition occurs in two ways: exploitation competition occurs when a resource unit is consumed by one species so it cannot be consumed by another; interference competition involves direct aggressive encounters (e.g. fighting) or the threat of aggression, thereby excluding a competitor from a resource. The strength of competition between carnivores varies with factors such as body size, diet and population density. Interspecific competition is often asymmetrical such that the smaller carnivore is most affected. Due to the competitive effects that apex predators can have on sympatric carnivores, their removal from a system can result in a 'mesopredator release', which in turn can lead to increased predation on smaller prey species.
To minimise competition and facilitate coexistence, the subordinate species can either avoid spatial overlap with the dominant species or modify temporal or behavioural patterns to reduce the chance of encounters and interactions, but still allow for spatial overlap. The intensity of competition can be reduced in species that have co-existed for a long time through coevolution of divergent ecomorphological and behavioural traits that influence the size and type of prey that are eaten. Current competition can be difficult to measure, as competition may only occur when resources are severely limited such as during drought, and can be subtle where there is a long coevolutionary history among the species. As interspecific competition between carnivores can strongly influence abundance and distribution, understanding how carnivores interact and the extent that competition might influence their ecology and demography is crucial in managing and conserving them.
The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is Tasmania's largest marsupial carnivore (5 - 14kg) and coexists with the smaller spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) (0.9 - 5kg). The devil population is currently declining due to a fatal transmissible cancer (devil facial tumour disease, or DFTD) and it has been hypothesized that this could result in a mesopredator release of quolls. There is a paucity of evidence on the mechanisms by which these species coexist and how interactions may influence distribution, habitat use and temporal activity of the smaller carnivore. I investigated the feeding ecology, movement behaviour, habitat utilisation and interactions between devils and quolls to aid the management and conservation of both species in the wild.
First, I investigated diet composition and overlap of devils and quolls by analysing scats from several sites across Tasmania. Devils and quolls prey predominately on Tasmanian pademelon (Thylogale billardierii), Bennett's wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus) and birds but also consume a wide range of prey species at lower frequencies. This suggests that they are flexible and opportunistic foragers. Diet overlap was very high (Pianka index: 0.92).
Second, I investigated whether there was temporal separation or spatial separation at the home-range level between devils and quolls. I did this at a site that is still free of DFTD and where devil and quoll densities are high. Using GPS collars, I found little spatial segregation at the home-range and core-area level between devils and quolls. Devils and quolls exhibited different activity patterns during the night. Devils were active from dusk until 4am, while quolls were most active in the early and latter parts of the night. This pattern of activity could allow quolls to avoid agonistic encounters with devils, but could also reflect the different hunting modes of the two species.
Third, I investigated the selection of habitat types and linear features by both devils and quolls in the same landscape. I found that both species respond to moderate anthropogenic modification of intact habitats to enhance movement and facilitate prey acquisition. They used the pasture/cover interface for foraging and roads for movement and foraging. Devils utilised fence lines, while quolls showed little preference for them. Devils and quolls used all vegetation types and did not avoid the agricultural matrix. However, living in these landscapes makes them susceptible to human persecution and collision with vehicles. Human tolerance and mitigation measures to reduce the effect of road kill combined with maintaining connectivity in the agricultural matrix should be the focus of management strategies in these habitats. While moderate landscape alteration can enhance the natural features that devils and quolls use to forage, there is likely to be a threshold of fragmentation beyond which devils and quolls may not be able to exist.
Fourth, I assessed the behavioural responses of free-living devils and quolls to one other's odour to help understand their behavioural interactions and test mechanisms of competitive interaction. Behavioural responses exhibited by devils and quolls are indicative of a dominant predator-mesopredator relationship and suggest the potential for interspecific competition.
This study found an extensive overlap of resource use, which suggests that current competition is not occurring at my study site. Bennett's wallaby and Tasmanian pademelons, which are the preferred prey species of devils and quolls, both reach high population densities in fragmented areas, such as my study site, and could facilitate coexistence. When resources are abundant, losing devils from an ecosystem is unlikely to result in a mesopredator release of quolls. This study also enhances our understanding of devil and quoll spatial ecology and reveals several conservation and management implications in fragmented areas.


Abstract Drought is the major constraint to rice production in rainfed areas across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In the context of current and predicted water scarcity, increasing irrigation is generally not a viable option for alleviating drought problems in rainfed rice-growing systems. It is therefore critical that genetic management strategies for drought focus on maximum extraction of available soil moisture and its efficient use in crop establishment and growth to maximize biomass and yield. Extensive genetic variation for drought resistance exists in rice germplasm. However, the current challenge is to decipher the complexities of drought resistance in rice and exploit all available genetic resources to produce rice varieties combining drought adaptation with high yield potential, quality, and resistance to biotic stresses. The strategy described here aims at developing a pipeline for elite breeding lines and hybrids that can be integrated with efficient management practices and delivered to rice farmers. This involves the development of high-throughput, high-precision phenotyping systems to allow genes for yield components under stress to be efficiently mapped and their effects assessed on a range of drought-related traits, and then moving the most promising genes into widely grown rice mega-varieties, while scaling up gene detection and delivery for use in marker-aided breeding.


Pluripotent stem cells offer unique opportunities for curing debilitating diseases. However, further comprehensive research is needed to better understand cell signaling during the differentiation of pluripotent cells into different cell lineages and accordingly to develop clinically applicable protocols. One of the limiting steps for differentiation studies is proper culture and expansion of pluripotent stem cells, which is labor intensive, expensive, and requires a great deal of expertise. This limiting step can be overcome by successful banking and distribution of embryoid bodies (EBs), which are aggregates of pluripotent stem cells and typically the starting point of differentiation protocols. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of EB banking by studying survival and functionality of cryopreserved EBs. To this end, EBs were formed by culturing mouse 129 embryonic stem (ES) cells in the absence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in hanging drops and then subjected to different cryopreservation protocols. In a series of experiments, we first tested the postthaw survival of EBs as a function of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and extracellular trehalose concentrations and cooling rates. Next, we studied the functionality of cryopreserved EBs by assessing their postthaw attachment, growth, and differentiation into various cell types. Higher (≥5%) DMSO concentrations alone or in combination with trehalose (0.1 M and 0.2 M) yielded good postthaw survival rates of >80%, whereas cooling of EBs at 1°C/min in the presence of 5% DMSO +0.1 M trehalose gave the best attachment and growth rates, with differentiation into cell lineages of three germ layers. Taken together, our results suggest that EBs are tolerant to cryopreservation-associated stresses and retain their differentiation potential after freezing and thawing. Furthermore, our experiments with dissociated EB cells and nondissociated EBs suggest that the extracellular matrix may play a beneficial role in the cryotolerance of EBs. Overall, our data support the feasibility of EB banking, which would facilitate advancement of cell-based therapies.


Financial performance evaluation of firms is one of the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The aim of this study is to evaluate and rank banking firms which are traded in ISE with respect to overall financial performances. One of the promising methods VIKOR (Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) which is a compromise ranking method used as a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques in this study. By the application of VIKOR banks are ranked with respect to their overall performances.


Military unit cohesion has been shown to correlate with physical and psychological outcomes. However, little is known about the development of cohesion in the early days of military service during Basic Combat Training (BCT) and how it relates to positive support and the negative stressors of training. The current study assessed the development of unit cohesion across the 10-week BCT period (N = 1,939), and the relation of cohesion to stress, resilience, mental health measures, and BCT outcomes (graduation, passing the Army Physical Fitness Test, and final Basic Rifle Marksmanship scores). The sample was primarily male (62%), under age 25 (88%), and unmarried (88%). All putative mediators showed significant change over time. Unit cohesion increased over time (slope 0.22; p < .001), and these increases were associated with decreases in psychological distress (p < .001), sleep problems (p < .001), and tolerance of BCT stressors (p < .001), as well as increases in resilience (p < .001), confidence managing stress reactions (p < .001), and positive states of mind (p < .001). Unit cohesion was indirectly associated with successful graduation and passing the Army Physical Fitness Test through cohesion-related improvement in psychological distress, resilience, and confidence managing reactions to stress. Sleep problems also mediated BCT graduation. Cohesion effects on the Basic Rifle Marksmanship scores were mediated by psychological distress and tolerance of BCT stressors only. These results suggest that unit cohesion may play a key role in the development of psychological health among new soldiers.


Hepatocytes are the foreign legionnaires in our body. They are exposed to various xenobiotics, which invigorates them and when transformed into malignant cells, renders them drug resistant. So far, treatment with the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib, which blocks Raf, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and platelet-derived growth factor receptor signalling, is the only approved targeted therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, sorafenib extends the average life expectancy of patients only 2.8 months over the placebo,1 which offers room for improvement. Unfortunately, several other drugs and combinatorial therapies, such as sorafenib plus erlotinib failed in clinical trials.1 ,2 In this issue of Gut , Bollard et al 3 tested the combination of sorafenib with palbociclib in preclinical HCC mouse models. Palbociclib (or PD0332991) is a reversible and orally bioavailable low-molecular-weight cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)4/6 inhibitor without significant off-target effects.4 The history of palbociclib is tightly linked to the decipherment of G1 cell cycle checkpoint regulation that started in 1991 with the discovery of D-type cyclins. CDK4 and CDK6 were discovered soon thereafter. They bind physically to and are enzymatically activated by D-type cyclins, which leads to phosphorylation and inactivation of retinoblastoma (RB1), the key gatekeeper of G1/S transition. Given the importance RB1 in cancer development, pharmacists started to develop CDK4/6 inhibitors such as palbociclib (Pfizer), ribociclib (Novartis) and abemaciclib (Elli Lilly). However, early clinical trials with palbociclib monotherapy dampened the initial enthusiasm for this drug, although tumour regression was observed in some patients with liposarcoma. A breakthrough was achieved when palbociclib was combined with letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, for the treatment of oestrogen receptor-positive breast …


Sound waves in water have both a pressure and a particle‐motion component, yet few studies of underwater acoustic ecology have measured the particle‐motion component of sound. While mammal hearing is based on detection of sound pressure, fish and invertebrates (i.e. most aquatic animals) primarily sense sound using particle motion. Particle motion can be calculated indirectly from sound pressure measurements under certain conditions, but these conditions are rarely met in the shelf‐sea and shallow‐water habitats that most aquatic organisms inhabit. Direct measurements of particle motion have been hampered by the availability of instrumentation and a lack of guidance on data analysis methods. Here, we provide an introduction to the topic of underwater particle motion, including the physics and physiology of particle‐motion reception. We include a simple computer program for users to determine whether they are working in conditions where measurement of particle motion may be relevant. We discuss instruments that can be used to measure particle motion and the types of analysis appropriate for data collected. A supplemental tutorial and template computer code in matlab will allow users to analyse impulsive, continuous and fluctuating sounds from both pressure and particle‐motion recordings. A growing body of research is investigating the role of sound in the functioning of aquatic ecosystems, and the ways in which sound influences animal behaviour, physiology and development. This work has particular urgency for policymakers and environmental managers, who have a responsibility to assess and mitigate the risks posed by rising levels of anthropogenic noise in aquatic ecosystems. As this paper makes clear, because many aquatic animals senses sound using particle motion, this component of the sound field must be addressed if acoustic habitats are to be managed effectively.


Between June and October 2005, a CTD profiler with mounted fluorometer identified the presence and extent of plankton-rich layers (PRLs), i.e. horizontal patches of high plankton con- centrations bordered by steep gradients, in East Sound, a shallow fjord in Washington, USA. The suit- ability of this profiling approach for identifying the meter-scale plankton layers was verified through correlation analysis, which showed that in situ fluorescence was significantly correlated with all sub- sequent proxy measurements of phytoplankton abundance, including extracted chlorophyll a con- centration and plankton biomass. Species abundance and community composition within and outside the layers were analyzed during peak layer occurrence in July 2005. Layers contained up to an order of magnitude more phytoplankton biomass than surrounding waters. Furthermore, this analysis showed that (1) plankton layers were horizontally coherent, because the species composition of sam- ples from within PRLs from up to 5 stations collected on any given day were statistically indistinguish- able; (2) layers were not continuous in time, since species composition changed significantly between sampling days; and (3) layers could have formed within East Sound, since no differences were observed in species composition among samples collected at any depth. Phytoplankton biomass was dominated by the diatom genus Chaetoceros (up to 95%), whereas heterotrophic protists (5 to 200 µm) were dominated by thecate dinoflagellates (up to 80% of biomass), with oligotrich ciliates and athecate dinoflagellates at times abundant (up to 40% of biomass). Motile heterotrophic protists were significantly aggregated within phytoplankton prey layers, which confirmed predictions from prior laboratory and modeling work. Biomass of phytoplankton prey species within PRLs uniformly exceeded the dominant predator's survival threshold, whereas prey concentrations outside PRLs would not support growth in all but 3 samples. These observations suggest that PRLs may be bio- logical hot spots where trophic and demographic rates are enhanced and that biological processes could drive plankton layer formation, persistence, and decline.