PURPOSE
Frameless techniques have not been able to match or achieve spatial target accuracies better than traditional frame based SRS. This is due to the fact that decreased invasiveness will lead to decreased accuracy. Here, relaxation of the immobilization parameter by replacement of the head ring (strong immobilization) with a more comfortable immobilization device (weak immobilization) will lead to expression of a patient's natural intrinsic small sub-millimeter involuntary motions. Current frameless techniques do not offer a means for correcting this intrinsic motion. To address this issue, we propose a novel non-immobilization SRS approach based on continuous cancellation of a patient's intrinsic head motion throughout the radiation delivery process. The work presents for the first time a system where both translational (XYZ) and rotational (pitch) head motion cancellation is performed.

METHODS
A 4D (xyz+pitch) robotic motion cancellation device was constructed using 4 stepper motors and a 4 axis motor controller (PCI-7344, National Instruments). Real-time 6D head motion was optically monitored using either IR markers (Polaris, NDI) or a 3D surface camera (AlignRT, VisionRT). The measured head motion was inputted into a Labview algorithm based on a proportional-integrative-derivative (PID) controller used to guide the motors for performing real-time head motion cancellation.

RESULTS
The real-time (15 fps) 6D head motion of a human volunteer was monitored with and without the use of robotic cancellation. For all axes where motion cancellation was applied (XYZ+pitch), the mean translational and rotational motion never exceeded 0.001mm and 0.01deg., respectively (essentially reduced to small fluctuations around zero). Without cancellation, this increased to 0.8mm and 0.4deg., respectively.

CONCLUSION
It is found that substantial reductions in both translational and rotational head motion can be realized through real-time robotic motion cancellation. This has potential to allow frameless SRS to be performed at accuracies equal or greater than frame based SRS.


Hydroxy quinolin-2yl-methyl) thiourea ligand (HTF) was synthesized from 8-hydroxyquinoline and thiourea with formaldehyde by condensation method in N,N-dimethyl foramide medium. The metal complexes Zn(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) were prepared using the 1-(8-hydroxy quinolin-2yl-methyl) thiourea as ligand. The ligand and its metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV-Visible, cyclic voltammetry, Mass spectra and NMR spectroscopy. The ligand and its metal complexes possess antibacterial activity for certain bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomona aeruginosa and C.tropicalis.


Recent research advocates volatility diversification for long equity investors. It can even be justified when short-term expected returns are highly negative, but only when its equilibrium return is ignored. Its advantages during stock market crises are clear but we show that the high transactions costs and negative carry and roll yield on volatility futures during normal periods would outweigh any benefits gained unless volatility trades are carefully timed. Our analysis highlights the difficulty of predicting when volatility diversification is optimal. Hence insitutional investors should be sceptical of studies that extol its benefits. Volatility is better left to experienced traders such as speculators, vega hedgers and hedge funds.


Catalytic pyrolysis technology is one of the thermochemical platforms used to produce high quality bio-oil and chemicals from biomass feedstocks. In the catalytic pyrolysis process, the biomass is rapidly heated under inert atmosphere in the presence of an acid catalyst or zeolite to promote deoxygenation and cracking of the primary vapors into hydrocarbons and small oxygenates. This dissertation examines the utilization of conventional fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst in the fractional catalytic pyrolysis of hybrid poplar wood. The influence of Y-zeolite content, steam treatment, addition of ZSM-5 additive, process conditions (temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and vapor residence time) and recycling of the non-condensable gases (NCG) on the product distribution and the quality of the bio-oil were investigated. The first part of the study demonstrates the influence of catalytic property of FCC catalyst on the product distribution and quality of the bio-oil. It was found that FCC catalyst with higher Y-zeolite content produces higher coke yield and lower organic liquid fraction (OLF). Conversely, FCC catalyst with lower Y-zeolite content results in lower coke yield and higher OLF. The results showed that higher Yzeolite content extensively cracks dehydrated products from cellulose decomposition and demethoxylates phenolic compounds from lignin degradation. The Y-zeolite promoted both deoxygenation and coke forming reactions due to its high catalytic activity and large pore size. Higher Yzeolite content increased the quality of the bio-oil with respect to higher heating value (HHV), pH, density, and viscosity. The steam treatment at 732 C and 788 C decreased the total BET surface area of the FCC catalyst. The findings suggest that steam treatment reduces the coking tendency of the FCC iii catalyst and enhances the yield of the OLF. Analysis of the bio-oils showed that the steamed FCC catalyst produces bio-oil with lower viscosity and density. Gas chromatography and C-NMR spectrometry suggest that steam treatment affect the catalyst selectivity in the formation of CO, CO2, H2, CH4, C2-C5 hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons. The addition of ZSM-5 additive to the FCC catalyst was found to alter the characteristic/functionality of the catalytic medium. The product slate showed decrease in coke yield and increase in OLF with increase in ZSM-5 additive. The FCC/ZSM-5 additive hybrid catalysts produced bio-oils with relatively lower viscosity and higher pH value. The formation of CO2, CH4, and H2 decreased whilst C5 and aromatic hydrocarbons increased with increase in ZSM-5 additive level. The second part of the work assesses the effect of operating conditions on the catalytic pyrolysis process. The response surface methodology study showed reaction temperature to be the most influential statistically significant independent variable on char/coke yield, concentration of noncondensable gases, carbon content, oxygen content, pH and viscosity of the bio-oils. The WHSV was the most important statistically significant independent variable that affects the yield of organic liquid and water. Adequate and statistically significant models were generated for the prediction of the responses with the exception of viscosity. Recycling of the NCG in the process was found to potentially increase the liquid yield and decrease char/coke yield. The experiments with the model fluidizing gases showed that CO/N2, CO2/N2, CO/CO2/N2 and H2/N2 increase the liquid yield and CO2/N2 decrease char/coke yield. The results showed that recycling of NCG increases the higher heating value and the pH of the bio-oil as well as decreases the viscosity and density. The concept of recycling the NCG in the catalytic cracking of biomass vapors with FCC catalyst improved the overall process. The evaluation of the reactivity of conventional FCC catalyst towards bio-based molecules provide essential direction for FCC catalyst formulation and design for the production of high quality bio-oils from catalytic pyrolysis of biomass.


Zn-Ir-O thin films on glass and Ti substrates were deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Structural and electrical properties were investigated as a function of iridium concentration in the films. Raman spectrum of Zn-Ir-O (61.5 at.% Ir) resembles the spectrum of rutile IrO2, without any distinct features of wurtzite ZnO structure. SEM images indicated that morphology of the films surface improves with the iridium content. EDX spectroscopy and cross-section SEM images revealed that the films growing process is homogeneous. Crystallites with approximately 2-5 nm size were discovered in the TEM images. Thermally activated conductivity related to the variable range hopping changes to the non-thermally activated before iridium concentration reaches the 45 at.%.


The nature of the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) process necessitates the use of pipe products that are capable of being pulled into final alignment via a tensile force, as opposed to being pushed or jacked by segmental means. While steel and high density polyethylene pipes have been historically used with HDD methodology, a fusible polyvinylchloride pipe (FPVCP) product has been one relatively recent addition to the materials available for the installation of water, wastewater, pressure, and non-pressure infrastructure. Maximum safe pull load criteria have been developed for this material, and recent research was focused on aligning current predictive pull force modeling with this material for use in HDD application. Recent work has presented the predictive model and general validation of its use with FPVCP. One particular set of monitored HDD installations that was gathered during the field validation stage of the research provided unique insight into the use of the predictive model to calculate the required pulling force for use in HDD installation methodology. An overview of the model background, field validation study, and specific case study will be reviewed. Specific conclusions regarding this case study relate to the importance of drilling fluid accuracy in the model.


Over an 8-year period, 8 beef cattle with mesothelioma were admitted to the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Louisiana State School of Veterinary Medicine. Diagnosis was confirmed by histologic examination of affected tissues. Five bulls, 1 steer, and 2 cows were affected. Four of the bulls had scrotal swelling; 2 cows and 1 bull had ventral abdominal swelling. The peritoneal cavity was involved in 5 cases, the pleural cavity was affected in 2 cases, and in 2 cases, disease was apparently confined to the vaginal cavity. Of the 8 cattle, 6 died or were euthanatized; only cattle with tumor apparently confined to the vaginal cavity survived.


A combination of the sparse coding and transfer learning techniques was shown to be accurate and robust in classification tasks where training and testing objects have a shared feature space but are sampled from different underlying distributions, i.e., belong to different domains. The key assumption in such case is that in spite of the domain disparity, samples from different domains share some common hidden factors. Previous methods often assumed that all the objects in the target domain are unlabeled, and thus the training set solely comprised objects from the source domain. However, in real world applications, the target domain often has some labeled objects, or one can always manually label a small number of them. In this paper, we explore such possibility and show how a small number of labeled data in the target domain can significantly leverage classification accuracy of the state-of-the-art transfer sparse coding methods. We further propose a unified framework named supervised transfer sparse coding (STSC) which simultaneously optimizes sparse representation, domain transfer and classification. Experimental results on three applications demonstrate that a little manual labeling and then learning the model in a supervised fashion can significantly improve classification accuracy.


Nummulitoidea are larger benthic foraminifera, and were major reef-forming organisms from the Middle Paleogene to Early Neogene. Today, porous nummulitoid limestones, which occur globally from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific, form potentially valuable oil reservoirs. Until now the origin, evolution and palaeogeographic development of the nummulitoids have not been fully articulated, but new material allows here the first systematic, global biostratigraphic comparison and correlation of the nummulitoids to be made. It is suggested that the nummulitoids originated in the Americas during the Middle Paleocene (Selandian). These early nummulitoids are inferred to have migrated across theAtlantic in the Late Paleocene (Thanetian) following two paths: south towards SW Africa, and northeastward through the Tethyan corridor. The Tethyan forms evolved during the Eocene into many lineages,which in turn migrated, within a few million years of their first appearance, into the Indo-Pacific, where they became isolated and diversified further. Meanwhile the SW African forms remained small and similar to the original American stock until the Early Miocene (Burdigalian), when assemblages were augmented by forms that migrated from Tethys, an event tablished by the discovery of new Mediterranean-derived species of Planostegina in SW Africa: africana, mcmillania, southernia, langhiana. Climatic and tectonic processes contributed to the Middle Oligocene disappearance of Nummulites and the Early Miocene global extinction of Spiroclypeus and of Cycloclypeus in the Mediterranean. Morphologically small nummulitoids persisted however, and are still present in all provinces to this day.


The research problem of this article is the Game AI agent of StarCraft II based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). StarCraft II is viewed as the most challenging Real-time Strategy (RTS) game for now, and it is also the most popular game where researchers are developing and improving AI agents. Building AI agents of StarCraft II can help researchers on machine learning figure out the weakness of DRL and improve this series of algorithms. In 2018, DeepMind and Blizzard developed the StarCraft II Learning Environment (PySC2) to enable researchers to promote the development of AI agents. DeepMind started to develop a new project called AlphaStar after AlphaGo based on DRL, while several laboratories also published articles about the AI agents of StarCraft II. Most of them are researching on the AI agents of Terran and Zerg, which are two of three races in StarCraft II. AI agents show high-level performance compared with most StarCraft II players. However, the performance is far from defeating E-sport players because Game AI for StarCraft II has large observation space and large action space. However, there is no publication on Protoss, which is the remaining and most complicated race to deal with (larger action space, larger observation space) for AI agents due to its characteristics. Thus, in this paper, the research question is whether the AI agent of Protoss, which is developed by the model based on DRL, for a full-length game on a particular map can defeat the high-level built-in cheating AI. The population of this research design is the StarCraft II AI agents that researchers built based on their DRL models, while the sample is the Protoss AI agent in this paper. The raw data is from the game matches between the Protoss AI agent and built-in AI agents. PySC2 can capture features and numerical variables in each match to obtain the training data. The expected outcome is the model based on DRL, which can train a Protoss AI agent to defeat high-level game AI agents with the win rate. The model includes the action space of Protoss, the observation space and the realization of DRL algorithms. Meanwhile, the model is built on PySC2 v2.0, which provides additional action functions. Due to the complexity and the unique characteristics of Protoss in StarCraft II, the model cannot be applied to other games or platforms. However, how the model trains a Protoss AI agent can show the limitation of DRL and push DRL algorithm a little forward.


The recent invasion by Mnemiopsis in northern European waters has lead to concerns for fishery interests especially in the central Baltic Sea, where it overlaps with commercially important cod recruits on their spawning grounds. We present laboratory feeding rate experiments along with video recordings, in situ reproduction rates and distribution data to investigate the direct and indirect effect on the Baltic cod population. Feeding rates on cod larvae were low and negligible for eggs under the hydrographic conditions characteristic for the spawning grounds. Further, Mnemiopsis passively selected against cod eggs. Application of our clearance rates to in situ abundances confirmed that Mnemiopsis has a negligible direct predation impact on cod offspring. Further, due to drastically reduced reproduction rates at low salinities, occurrence of Mnemiopsis in the central Baltic appears to be dependent on advection, and is unlikely to reach large population sizes. Hence, Mnemiopsis constitutes neither
a direct nor a potential indirect threat to the cod population in the central Baltic. However, its large reproduction potential in high saline areas with 11,500 eggs ind-1 d-1 and observed high abundances in parts of northern Europe make Mnemiopsis a severe potential food competitor with fish in these higher saline systems


Many techniques have been proposed for visualizing uncertainty in geospatial data. Previous empirical research on the effectiveness of visualizations of geospatial uncertainty has focused primarily on user intuitions rather than objective measures of performance when reasoning under uncertainty. Framed in the context of Google's blue dot, we examined the effectiveness of four alternative visualizations for representing positional uncertainty when reasoning about self-location data. Our task presents a mobile mapping scenario in which GPS satellite location readings produce location estimates with varying levels of uncertainty. Given a known location and two smartphone estimates of that known location, participants were asked to judge which smartphone produces the better location reading, taking uncertainty into account. We produced visualizations that vary by glyph type (uniform blue circle with border vs. Gaussian fade) and visibility of a centroid dot (visible vs. not visible) to produce the four visualization formats. Participants viewing the uniform blue circle are most likely to respond in accordance with the actual probability density of points sampled from bivariate normal distributions and additionally respond most rapidly. Participants reported a number of simple heuristics on which they based their judgments, and consistency with these heuristics was highly predictive of their judgments.


The aim of our paper is to offer a reading of the systemic significance of Hegel's inclusion of the concept of the sign in the 'Psychology' of his Philosophy of Mind. We hope to explain why it is that the Hegelian system positions a specific form of sign, the meaningless utterance, at the point of Mind's transition from 'mechanical memory' to 'Thinking'. Rather than analyse the subtle advancements in the unfolding of the self-determining activity of 'Theoretical Mind', our strategy will be to focus attention on what we take to be some central aspects of the philosophical system's wider developmental logic and of the general treatment of language in speculative philosophy. We do this by arguing that, according to Hegel's Logic, language provides the element in which persons are drawn together out of their independent subjectivity into a unity that gives expression to their universal nature as in process and, ultimately, as a project to be realized. This argument is supplemented by a reading of the general nature of the movement of Spirit within Hegel's system that draws attention to the significance of what we call 'the absolute potentiality' of Spirit. We argue that the transition from Mechanical Memory to 'Thinking' relies upon the activity of producing the meaningless utterance because this product of Mind reveals its universal nature to be its essential unity with its object. This transition allows us to show how Mind must be understood to return to itself out of its self-loss in Mechanical Memory. Finally we argue that the production of the meaningless utterance fulfils the requirement of reformulating the elementary idea of Spirit through an incorporation of the naturalness of the natural.


The use of musical instruments and interfaces that involve animals in the interaction process is an emerging, yet not widespread practice. The projects that have been implemented in this unusual field are raising questions concerning ethical principles, animal-centered design processes, and the possible benefits and risks for the animals involved. Animal–Computer Interaction is a novel field of research that offers a framework (ACI manifesto) for implementing interactive technology for animals. Based on this framework, we have examined several projects focusing on the interplay between animals and music technology in order to arrive at a better understanding of animal-based musical projects. Building on this, we will discuss how the implementation of new musical instruments and interfaces could provide new opportunities for improving the quality of life for grey parrots living in captivity.


Atrial myxomas are the most common primary and benign cardiac tumours. They are believed to originate from multipotential mesenchymal cells (1, 2). Cardiac myxomas have been rarely reported to have various neurological manifestations including embolic stroke (3, 4), intracranial aneurysms and cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) (5, 6). Due to the rarity of the disease, optimal treatment has yet to be determined. It has been reported that myxomatous aneurysms can remain static over 15 years with observation (7). Surgical methods are limited by invasiveness especially for multiple recurring aneurysms. Chemotherapy alone has had equivocal results (8). Positive results have been reported with whole brain or focal irradiation followed by chemotherapy (9, 10). We report the first case where stereotactic SRT was used alone to treat metastatic myxomatous aneurysms. SRT offers the advantages of being less invasive than endovascular or open surgery, avoids the systemic effects of chemotherapy, and limits toxicity to surrounding brain parenchyma compared to whole brain irradiation. CASE PRESENTATION


Disruption of axonal transport leads to a disorganized distribution of mitochondria and other organelles and is thought to be responsible for some types of neuronal disease. The reason for bidirectional transport of mitochondria is unknown. We have developed and applied a set of statistical methods and found that axonal mitochondria are uniformly distributed. Analysis of fast axonal transport showed that the uniform distribution arose from the clustering of the stopping events of fast axonal transport in the middle of the gaps between stationary mitochondria. To test whether transport was correlated with ATP production, we added metabolic inhibitors locally by micropipette. Whereas applying CCCP (a mitochondrial uncoupler) blocked mitochondrial transport, as has been previously reported, treatment with antimycin (an inhibitor of electron transport at complex III) caused increases in retrograde mitochondrial transport. Application of 2-deoxyglucose did not decrease transport compared with the mannitol control. To determine whether mitochondrial transport was correlated with mitochondrial potential, we stained the neurons with the mitochondrial potential-sensing dye JC-1. We found that ∼90% of mitochondria with high potential were transported towards the growth cone and ∼80% of mitochondria with low potential were transported towards the cell body. These experiments show for the first time that a uniform mitochondrial distribution is generated by local regulation of the stopping events of fast mitochondrial transport, and that the direction of mitochondrial transport is correlated with mitochondrial potential. These results have implications for axonal clogging, autophagy, apoptosis and Alzheimer's disease.


Abstract Objective: To test the hypothesis that amphotericin B deoxycholate is less toxic when given by continuous infusion than by conventional rapid infusion. Design: Randomised, controlled, non-blinded, single centre study. Setting: University hospital providing tertiary clinical care. Patients: 80 mostly neutropenic patients with refractory fever and suspected or proved invasive fungal infections. Intervention: Patients were randomised to receive 0.97 mg/kg amphotericin B by continuous infusion over 24 hours or 0.95 mg/kg by rapid infusion over four hours. Main outcome measures: Patients were evaluated for side effects related to infusion, nephrotoxicity, and mortality up to three months after treatment. Analysis was on an intention to treat basis. Results: Patients in the continuous infusion group had fewer side effects and significantly reduced nephrotoxicity than those in the rapid infusion group. Overall mortality was higher during treatment and after three months' follow up in the rapid infusion than in the continuous infusion group. Conclusion: Continuous infusions of amphotericin B reduce nephrotoxicity and side effects related to infusion without increasing mortality


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how influencers' visual content affects consumer attitudinal and behavioral responses to influencer advertising. The proposed model includes smile intensity of influencers as the independent variable, warmth and admiration as the mediators and product category (Study 1) and orientation of advertising messages (self vs social, Study 2) as the moderators.Design/methodology/approachTwo experimental studies (Study 1 and 2) were conducted. A total of 337 online panelists were collected via Qualtrics in Study 1 and responses from 409 online panelists were collected via Qualtrics in Study 2.FindingsThe results of two experimental studies showed that smiling influencers increased perceptions of warmth and feelings of admiration, thereby evoking positive consumer attitudes and behavioral intention. The strong positive impact of smiling on responses to influencer advertising was present regardless of product categories (Study 1) and the orientation of advertising messages (Study 2).Originality/valueThis study empirically examined the role of visual content on consumers' attitudinal, emotional and behavioral responses to influencer advertising by adopting theoretical models in social psychology. This paper also provides strong managerial implications for marketers who seek the most effective strategies for leading consumers to evaluate influencers positively and ultimately, accepting marketing messages favorably.


Previous research using the dual-task paradigm to assess the time course of attention has been conducted with many sport-specific movements, such as a tennis serve, a volleyball set, a horseshoe pitch, and a basketball free-throw. However, this line of research has not been applied to a golf putting stroke which differs from previous sport skills because it requires that participants strike the ball with a club rather than propelling it directly from their hands. In the current study, a dual-task paradigm was used to investigate the time course of attention during two golf putts: one from 6 feet (easy condition) and one from 12 feet (difficult condition). A sample of experienced golfers (N = 20) with a handicap of 17 or less participated in the study. Participants were asked to respond verbally to an auditory tone presented at three probe positions during the two putts. The order of the putts and the presentation of the auditory cue at each probe position were randomized and catch trials were used to prevent anticipatory effects. The first hypothesis of this study stated that the time course of attention would follow a similar pattern for both shots. Specifically, it was hypothesized that attentional demand would be greatest just before the putter contacted the golf ball. The second hypothesis of this study stated that the increased task difficulty of the 12-foot putt would result in greater overall attentional demand during this putt than during the 6-foot putt. The results of a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for putting performance indicated no significant differences in the level of performance (p > .05) for probe positions across the short putt. However, a repeated-measures ANOVA for putting performance on the long putt indicated that participants' level of performance changed based on probe position (p .05), indicating that attentional demand remains constant throughout the putting stroke. The results of a repeated-measures ANOVA for reaction time also indicated that reaction times on the long putt were significantly higher than reaction times for the short putt (p < .05), indicating that the long putt required an overall higher level of attentional demand than the short putt. These findings suggest that experienced golfers demonstrate a constant level of attentional demand throughout the putting stroke on a 6-foot putt. These findings also suggest that experienced golfers were unable to maintain primary task performance on the 12-foot putt and that the 12-foot putt required higher attentional demand than the 6-foot putt as a result of increased task difficulty.


INTRODUCTION
Autoimmune pancreatitis is now a defined entity and it could mimic a pancreatic malignancy. True oncological emergencies in pregnant patients are rare.

CASE REPORT
A 39 years-old pregnant woman was admitted to our emergency unit due to right upper quadrant abdominal pain and evidence of obstructive jaundice. Since computed tomography-scan and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography are contraindicated in pregnant woman, a cholangio-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance was performed, confirming the biliary tract dilatation with stenosis of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct and a shaded image of a mass in the pancreatic head. An endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration biopsy were performed. US-guided external percutaneous trans-hepatic biliary drainage was successfully performed. The cytological examination showed the presence of erythrocytes, granulocytes, histiocytes and rare lymphocytes; a diagnosis of AIP was supposed, and steroid therapy with metilprednisolone was started. Laboratory tests and jaundice were normalized within 15 days, and the fetus was born in very good health, 22 weeks after. The follow-up was uneventful and a CT-scan confirmed the complete normalization of the pancreatic gland, 12 months after hospital discharge.

CONCLUSION
Autoimmune pancreatitis should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of a not well defined pancreatic mass; in the event of pancreatic mass-forming disease in pregnancy, the differential diagnosis should be early and accurate, because destructive surgery involves an high rate of morbidity and may interrupt pregnancy. A US-guided FNAB and the response to the corticosteroid therapy should lead to a correct diagnosis.


We have constructed a comprehensive database of 117 spatially explicit econometric studies of deforestation published in peer-reviewed academic journals from 1996-2013. We present a metaanalysis of what drives deforestation and what stops it, based on the signs and significance of 5909 coefficients in 554 multivariate analyses. We find that forests are more likely to be cleared where economic returns to agriculture and pasture are higher, either due to more favorable climatological and topographic conditions, or due to lower costs of clearing forest and transporting products to market. Timber activity, land tenure security, and community demographics do not show a consistent association with either higher or lower deforestation. Population is consistently associated with greater deforestation, and poverty is consistently associated with lower deforestation, but in both cases endogeneity makes a causal link difficult to infer. Promising approaches for stopping deforestation include reducing the intrusion of road networks into remote forested areas; targeting protected areas to regions where forests face higher threat; tying rural income support to the maintenance of forest resources through payments for ecosystem services; and insulating the forest frontier from the price effects of demand for agricultural commodities.


OPTIMUM DESIGN THEORY IN CONTINUOUS CHROMATOGRAPHY by Luiz Arthur Ribeiro Briones This work is a theoretical evaluation of a proposed con¬ tinuous, plant scale, chromatographic apparatus to perform difficult separations of binary gaseous mixtures. The design of the rotating bed equipment is outlined, after which a specific optimisation problem is stated and solved. The optimum column length and angular velocity are defined through two separation factors, longitudinal disper¬ sion coefficient and other design parameters. The first optimization problem is then generalized and solved to yield a performance chart for binary separations, relating feed composition and desired product purity to column length and angular velocity.


This study argues for a reinterpretation of the linguistic evolution of personal pronouns in the history of Japanese, with special focus on the second person form omae . While prior research has found certain syntactic and semantic differences between Japanese pronouns and Western counterparts, no research projects have analyzed Japanese pronouns from the perspective of grammatical distribution. This study takes a frequency-based approach to reveal the distributional patterns of omae at several historical stages, and shows that frequency serves as a cause of semantic change, providing evidence for the correlations between referential shifting and grammatical roles on the one hand and between frequency and semantic depreciation on the other.


The widespread adoption of deep learning models places demands on their robustness. In this paper, we consider the robustness of deep neural networks on videos, which comprise both the spatial features of individual frames extracted by a convolutional neural network and the temporal dynamics between adjacent frames captured by a recurrent neural network. To measure robustness, we study the maximum safe radius problem, which computes the minimum distance from the optical flow sequence obtained from a given input to that of an adversarial example in the neighbourhood of the input. We demonstrate that, under the assumption of Lipschitz continuity, the problem can be approximated using finite optimisation via discretising the optical flow space, and the approximation has provable guarantees. We then show that the finite optimisation problem can be solved by utilising a two-player turn-based game in a cooperative setting, where the first player selects the optical flows and the second player determines the dimensions to be manipulated in the chosen flow. We employ an anytime approach to solve the game, in the sense of approximating the value of the game by monotonically improving its upper and lower bounds. We exploit a gradient-based search algorithm to compute the upper bounds, and the admissible A* algorithm to update the lower bounds. Finally, we evaluate our framework on the UCF101 video dataset.


The solution of a differential equation contains the forward model and the inverse problem. The finite element method (FEM) and the iterative approach based on FEM are extensively used to solve varied differential equations. Although FEM could obtain an accurate solution, the shortcoming of the approach is the high computational costs. This paper proposes an improved finite-element neural network (FENN) embedding a FEM in a neural network structure for solving the forward model while a conjugate gradient (CG) method is employed as the learning algorithm. Taking the 3-D magnetic field analysis in magnetic flux leakage (MFL) testing as an example, the comparison between CG algorithm and the gradient descent (GD) algorithm is presented. The vector plot of magnetic field intensity is obtained, and the vertical components of magnetic flux density are respectively analyzed. The iterative approach based on FENN and parallel radial wavelet basis function neural network is also adopted to solve the inverse problem. This approach iteratively adjusts weights of the inverse network to minimize the error between the measured and predicted values of MFL signals. The forward and inverse results indicate that FENN and the iterative approach are feasible methods with rapidness, accuracy and stability associated with 3-D different equations in MFL testing.


IT governance is one of the top concerns of organizations today seeking to gain value from their IT investments and create competitive advantage. Organizational culture on the other hand is one of the various factors influencing IT governance performance. However there is not much research conducted to understand this topic deeply. This research thus, is exploring the influence of organizational culture on four IT governance performance outcomes through a case study in IT department of a large Swedish company. The results provide evidence that organizational culture is influencing IT governance performance. Specifically the current clan culture orientation of the IT department has led to a successful IT governance performance in cost-effective use of IT. Furthermore adhocracy as the preferred culture is identified to influence IT governance in effective use of IT for growth which is not so successful with the current clan culture.


To succeed in the current business environment, organizations need to be innovative, flexible and faster in the face of uncertainty, complexity and change. As the perspective has moved from products to services, enterprises have componentized their structures to operate in the newly emerging collaborative ecosystems. Service-oriented information technology approaches have proven to be well suited to this business transformation. Increasingly, IT capabilities also drive business strategy. To create a 'big picture' that brings together different viewpoints and their relations and helps positioning and comparing various approaches to service systems, we put forth a new artifact, the Map to Service-Oriented Business and IT. The map uses a layered approach and is divided to four viewpoints along two dimensions: business-IT continuum and distinction between internal and external aspects. The layering is grounded in the Stratified Systems Theory, a cognitively motivated theory on organizations.


We consider the quantum birth of a hot FRW universe from a vacuum-dominated quantum fluctuation with admixture of radiation and strings, which corresponds to quantum tunnelling from a discrete energy level with a non-zero temperature. The presence of strings with the equation of state p = −ε/3 mimics a positive curvature term which makes it possible, in the case of a negative deficit angle, the quantum birth of an open and flat universe. In the pre-de-Sitter domain radiation energy levels are quantized. We calculate the temperature spectrum and estimate the range of the model parameters restricting temperature fluctuations by the observational constraint on the CMB anisotropy. For the GUT scale of initial de Sitter vacuum the lower limit on the temperature at the start of classical evolution is close to the values as predicted by reheating theories, while the upper limit is far from the threshold for a monopole rest mass. PACS numbers: 04.70.Bw, 04.20.Dw


This thesis studies the development of bilateral relations in two pairs of states (dyads); Argentina-Brazil and Argentina-Chile. It takes on a moderate constructivist approach that incorporates into the analysis of international relations the role of identities, ideas and perceptions as well as of material forces, and understands that the former are affected and change during interaction. It also resorts to securitization theory to explain how issues come or cease to be considered security matters through social construction. Using this framework, the thesis analyses how states within the dyads have gradually stopped viewing each other as threats to their security. For most of their history, they have defined their relationships in terms of rivalry, and have perceived one another accordingly. In turn, this has resulted in a situation of negative regional peace in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Since the late 1970s, however, mutual images have shifted, and the Southern Cone has evolved, alongside the dyads, toward a situation of positive peace. The thesis argues that these bilateral rapprochement processes were set out by changes in domestic and international material situations, encouraging key actors in each state to reassess their interests and needs. These reassessed material considerations, coupled with particular ideologies and foreign policy traditions, reshaped the actors' awareness of the scope of possible bilateral foreign policy actions. Thus, new political options came to be viewed as plausible, old ones were ruled out, or existing political trends were reinforced. Despite differences between the dyads, in time these processes led to the desecuritization of both bilateral relationships. Once the processes of desecuritization and rapprochement were set in motion in each dyad, they promoted changes in the perceptions of themselves, the other, and the relationship; a fact that has redounded to growth of mutual trust and the stabilisation of regional peace.


Much of the social science literature on judicial behavior has focused on the impact of ideology on how judges vote. For the most part, however, legal scholars have been reluctant to embrace empirical scholarship that fails to address the impact of legal constraints and the means by which judges reason their way to particular outcomes. This Article attempts to integrate and address the concerns of both audiences by way of an empirical examination of the Supreme Court's use of a particular interpretive technique – namely, the use of legislative history to determine the purpose and meaning of a statute. We analyzed every opinion in every Supreme Court statutory interpretation case from 1953 through 2006 that involved a frequently interpreted federal statute. We also collected original data on the characteristics of each statute, including its age, length, complexity, obscurity, and the number of times that it had been amended. We then used our data on these statutory characteristics - together with information on the ideological tilt of the justices, the case outcomes, and the legislators who enacted the statute - in a logit regression analysis to determine the relative impact of each variable on the likelihood that a justice would cite legislative history in a given opinion. We find overall that the use of legislative history is driven by a combination of legal and ideological factors. On the whole, the legal variables have a significantly larger impact on the likelihood of legislative history usage than the ideological variables, but the impact of the ideological variables cannot be dismissed. Statutes that are longer or more complex increase the likelihood of legislative history usage, whereas frequent amendment of a statute decreases that likelihood. The age of the statute also matters, but its effect is neither linear nor monotonic: very new and very old statutes are more likely to elicit legislative history usage than statutes of intermediate age. Majority opinions are significantly more likely to cite legislative history than dissenting opinions, which are in turn more than twice as likely to cite legislative history as concurring opinions. Our findings also suggest that the use of legislative history by one justice prompts other justices to respond in kind with legislative history arguments of their own. We found no evidence, however, that the Court's adoption in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council of the doctrine that reviewing courts should defer to reasonable agency interpretations affected the overall propensity of the justices to cite legislative history. With respect to the impact of ideological factors, liberal justices are generally more likely than conservative justices to cite legislative history. In addition, the justices are more likely to consult legislative history when they are ideologically sympathetic to the purposes of the enacting Congress. At the same time, however, legislative history usage is not correlated with more ideological decision making. Although the decision to use legislative history is influenced by ideological factors, the actual use of legislative history does not make it more likely that a justice will arrive at his or her ideologically preferred outcome. Moreover, contrary to what some scholars have suggested, we also found no evidence that Justice Scalia has persuaded other justices to refrain from citing legislative history in their own opinions. Rather, the decline in the overall use of legislative history since the mid-1980s reflects a rightward shift in the ideological composition of the Court, as liberal justices who were inclined to cite legislative history have been replaced by conservative justices who are not inclined to do so.


While "inclusion" has been seen as a central mode of redressing ongoing injustices against communities of color in the US, Indigenous political experiences feature more complex legacies of contesting US citizenship. Turning to an important episode of contestation, this essay examines the relation between inclusion and the politics of eliminating Indigenous nations that was part of a shared policy shift toward "Termination" in the Anglo-settler world of the 1950s and 1960s. Through a reading of Indigenous activist-intellectual Vine Deloria Jr.'s Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1969), it demonstrates how the construction of what I call the "civic inclusion narrative" in post–World War II American political discourse disavowed practices of empire-formation. Widely considered a foundational text of the Indigenous Sovereignty Movement, the work repositioned Indigenous peoples not as passive recipients of civil rights and incorporation into the nation-state but as colonized peoples actively demanding decolonization. Deloria's work provides an exemplary counterpoint to the enduring thread of civic inclusion in American political thought and an alternative tradition of decolonization—an imperative that continues to resonate in today's North American and global Indigenous struggles over land, jurisdiction, and sovereignty.


Digital wave-front measuring interferometry is a well-established technique but only few investigations of systematic error sources have been carried out so far. In this work three especially serious error sources are discussed in some detail: inaccuracies of the reference phase values needed for this type of evaluation technique; disturbances due to extraneous fringes; and spatially high frequency noise on the wave fronts caused by dust particles, inhomogeneities, etc. For the first two error sources formulas of the resulting phase deviation are derived and compensation possibilities discussed and experimentally verified. To study the occurrence of wave-front irregularities caused by dust particles a model has been developed and countermeasures derived which assure sufficient regularity of contour line plots. The repeatability of the present experimental setup was better than λ/200 within the 3σ limits.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis from medical centres across Canada.

METHODS
Fifty laboratories from across Canada were asked to collect up to 25 consecutive clinical isolates of S pneumoniae, H influenzae and M catarrhalis at some time between September 1994 and May 1995, and then again between September and December of 1996. A total of 2364 S pneumoniae, 575 H influenzae and 200 M catarrhalis samples were collected. H influenzae and M catarrhalis isolates were tested for the production of beta-lactamase. S pneumoniae isolates were characterized as penicillin susceptible, intermediately resistant or high level penicillin-resistant. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined using a microbroth dilution technique described by the National Committee of Clinical Laboratory Standards.

RESULTS
Between the two collection periods, there was a significant increase in highly penicillin-resistant S pneumoniae from 2.1% to 4.4% (P<0.05) and an increase in intermediately penicillin-resistant strains from 6.4% to 8.9% (P<0.05). A significant increase in high level penicillin-resistant S pneumoniae was noted among paediatric isolates. No significant difference in the susceptibilities of comparator agents was detected. A significant increase in the number of beta-lactamase producing H influenzae, 34% to 43% (P<0.05) was observed. Ninety-five per cent of M catarrhalis isolates were beta-lactamase producers in both time periods.

CONCLUSIONS
During the course of this study, the incidence of penicillin resistance in S pneumoniae doubled. As a result of this increase, infections due to this organism in sites where poor penetration of beta-lactam antibiotics occur may become increasingly difficult to manage.


Engineering system architectures for complex systems involves the tasks of analyzing architectural drivers, identifying architectural concerns, identifying valid architecture candidates, and evaluation of alternatives. One problem to overcome when architecting a system is the identification of valid of architectural candidates. We have developed a step-wise method for performing system architecture analysis and tested it on a sub-system in a project developing a drive system for heavy automotive applications. In this paper we present the complete method of nine steps for engineering an architecture and we elaborate in detail on the procedure to identify architectural candidates based on previously identified architectural drivers. We present a diagram depicting the proposed information model, its concepts and their relationships. In addition, the expectations on such a method as expressed by practitioners have been elicited, and we elaborate on the validity by examining how well the method indicate fulfillment. Our conclusion is that the proposed method does not fail to deliver on any of the needs and this gives an indication of usefulness. When identifying architectural candidates it is important to use proper criteria in the process. Our conclusion is that the practitioners should focus on candidates that affect the system at hand (within system boundaries), and on the candidates that address the architecturally significant system use. This is reflected in our method where we prescribe evaluation of the design candidates by validating that they solve only the right problem and by ensuring that they address the system at hand.


Infertility has affected about 10–15 per cent married couples. Almost half of infertility cases have been attributed to men with low sperm motility ( asthenozoospermia ), low sperm count ( oligozoospermia ), and abnormal sperm morphology ( teratozoospermia ). Sperm motility is one of the major determinants of male fertility and is required for successful fertilization. Mitochondrion and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) play an important role in a variety of physiological processes. The mitochondrial function is controlled by a collaboration of nDNA and mtDNA. The accumulation of mtDNA mutations has been suggested to be an important contributor to human aging and degenerative diseases, and it can also impair the formation of sperm dysfunction. As mitochondria supply energy by oxidative phosphorilation system (OXPHOS), any mutation in mtDNA will disrupt ATP production and thus result in an impaired spermatogenesis and flagellar movement. More than 100 point mutations have been known to be associated with various human mitochondrial diseases, but so far only a few studies have reported mutations in mtDNA of the spermatozoa. An mtDNA mutation will comprise point mutation, microdeletion, multiple deletion, translocation, and haplogroup mtDNA.


In 2009, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) launched "Visiting Fellows Program (VFP)" with the view of advancing cross-border exchanges of knowledge, information, insights and expertise.
Since its inception, the VFP has demonstrated that sharing thoughts and ideas through face-to-face contacts and dialogue works as a catalyst for enhancing mutual understanding among scholars and professionals with diverse background.
By successfully implementing the VFP for the past 8 years, KIEP has been motivated to assume the role as a hub for international economic research in the region. As a host of the program, KIEP has many mandates. One of those tasks is to let more people know what has been accomplished through the program and how valuable it is.
In an effort to do so, KIEP has published series of research every year. This volume, the 8th of its series, contains eight research papers contributed by 2016 Visiting Fellows.
Publication owes many debts. Here I acknowledge just a few of them. First of all, I must express my deepest gratitude to the 2016 visiting fellows for their outstanding performances. My special thanks also goes to the Outreach Team and the staffs of the KIEP Publishing Team who worked very hard for the publication of this volume.
The views expressed in this publication are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of KIEP. KIEP does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in the publication.


Students are experts at sizing up instructors, but many do not extend this analysis to non-instructor audiences, which can reduce their effectiveness in new communication situations. Audience, therefore, is a crucial threshold concept not only in Rhetoric and Composition, but in any discipline that values communication skills. How can instructors help students develop a deeper understanding of audience in the disciplines and begin to cross the threshold? In this article, I describe how a group of Professional Writing and Rhetoric students engaged the audience threshold through a semester-long, client-based project. Drawing on data collected via reflections and portfolios, written deliverables, client feedback, and instructor notes, analysis shows the students were initially overconfident in their ability to assess audiences, worked through valid emotional responses to substantive client feedback, and learned to negotiate the dynamics of multiple audiences more carefully over the course of the semester.


Danish Public Service Broadcasting has gone through two consecutive transitions. Th e fi rst in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a transition from a paternalistic public service monopoly, Danmarks Radio, to a so-called Danish model with two dominating non-profi t public service stations in a competitive television system. Th e second is an ongoing transition from public service broadcast- ing in an increasingly politicised and competitive television system to public service media in a com- plex digital media environment. Th e article analyses the transition processes in a media system and media policy approach with focus on political, juridical, economic, and institutional perspectives. Th e article presents two main arguments. Firstly, the institution Danmarks Radio, the politicians, and most of the national cultural elite experienced the fi rst transition as revolutionary, and in respect to agenda setting, mode of address, and institutional changes the transition was revolutionary, but the 'real' revolutionary transition is the current transition to a digital media environment where the original idea of broadcasting is challenged by fundamental changes in the relation between media institutions and media users. Hence the whole concept of public service has to be reconsidered, and the public service institutions will have to reinvent new positions for themselves. Secondly, Danish media policy in general and public service broadcasting in particular has historically been dominated by a national cultural and political paradigm, but in the current situation are (national) cultural issues marginalised and the media policy is governed within international economic and legal paradigms.


Telemedicine is advocated for its potential to improve the accessibility and quality of health care delivery while lowering costs. Although the potential benefits of telemedicine have long been a subject of research and intense discussion, the results of actual implementations have been far from conclusive. Most current research, which views telemedicine as a substitute for travel and a basis for economies of scale, is rather limited in exploring the full potential of telemedicine. In this paper, we develop a new framework in which organizational learning is the theoretical basis for explaining the development and potential benefits of telemedicine. We conceptualize telemedicine as an integrated IT-enabled health care network of collaborative relationships. A well-developed telemedicine network is high in density, maintains a balance of strong and weak network ties, and is comprised of a diverse set of relationships. This type of network facilitates learning through the exchange, transfer and distribution of medical information/knowledge, the generation and dissemination of new knowledge about how to collaborate effectively via telemedicine, and the application of this knowledge in telemedicine practice. Viewing telemedicine in this light directs our attention to outcomes not emphasized in most prior research, including the diffusion of medical knowledge and expertise, and the development of collaborative knowledge shared by the health care parties. This paper develops a research model to explain how learning occurs in telemedicine practice, identify factors influencing the learning process, and indicate how thriving telemedicine networks can be built. The model focuses on flexibility of information technology, network density, strength of network ties, and network diversity as key factors having impacts on learning. It also views the acquisition, transfer and sharing of medical knowledge and the development of telemedicine collaborative knowledge as two learning processes occurring simultaneously and recursively, and reinforcing each other. Ultimately, learning is the core process that helps realize the potential of telemedicine.


Inspired by the practice turn in the field of international relations, this article contributes to the growing interest in the sociological and potentially transformative nature of the concept of human security, with a specific emphasis on the protection of civilians affected by armed conflict. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Cambodia and Myanmar on the protection of children affected by armed conflict, it argues for a fresh analysis of human security through the lens of a 'politics of protection'. By mapping the work of international, government, and non-governmental actors involved in the protection of conflict-affected populations, the article shows that the distinction between welfare/development-oriented approaches and security-oriented approaches creates a protection gap for vulnerable populations in practice. This brings into question the salience of a security–development nexus conceptualization of human security. Instead, a politics of protection lens offers an alternative starting point for the study of security practices in conflict-affected societies, and facilitates a reconceptualization of human security as a transformative approach to contesting the politics and practice of civilian protection.


In many Western countries, researchers have documented ambitious educational choices among students of immigrant origin, for example, the tendency to choose academically more demanding routes than others at given levels of school achievement (e.g. grades, GPA). While this may indicate integration, some warn against an 'immigrant optimism trap', because choosing more demanding tracks at lower levels of GPA may increase risks of non-completion. Using longitudinal Swedish population data (n ≈ 90,000), we estimate an upper secondary 'ethnic completion gap' of 12 per cent to the detriment of students of immigrant background. We then address the 'trap hypothesis' via two analyses. The first shows that if students of immigration background would make similar educational choices as other students at the same GPA, the completion gap would shrink by 3.4 percentage points. The second analysis, based on simulations, suggests that restricting admission to academic programmes based on prior GPA, would lead to a massive relocation of low- and mid-GPA students to—usually less demanding—vocational programmes, but would only reduce the completion gap by 2.2 percentage points. These changes must be considered marginal in view of the substantial restrictions of choice that either of these measures would entail. We conclude that completion gaps are not primarily a result of unfounded immigrant optimism, and that optimistic choices are likely to be a net positive for integration by improving the chances of immigrant youth to reach tertiary-level qualifications and professional occupations.


In the context of antitrust, technology is not the driver of anticompetitive conduct in digital markets, nor is punishing big companies the solution. It is most likely that markets will shift from centralized closed platforms into decentralized, open networks based on blockchain technologies. Blockchain technology built on a consensus mechanism can make intermediaries [or third parties] unnecessary. Antitrust enforcers should encourage the innovation process simply by deterring those intermediaries from engaging in anticompetitive conduct that might slow the innovation process down while providing support to those companies as they often have the best resources and knowledge to increase innovation. On the other hand, although blockchain technology presents the potential for future opportunities, it is far from being perfect; the risk of collusion, for example, is particularly high in private blockchains. Therefore, the success of blockchain relies on the trust of people in this new technology, which if not used appropriately can damage instead of benefit markets and consumers. Similar to the Internet, antitrust enforcers and regulators are essential in developing trust in blockchain and to make decentralized system of democratic markets based on blockchain technology viable.


A combination of Dynamical System Method(DSM) and a regularization method has been considered for obtaining a stable approximate solution for ill-posed Hammerstein type operator equations. By choosing the regularization parameter according to an adaptive scheme considered by Pereverzev and Schock (2005) an order optimal error estimate has been obtained. Moreover the method that we consider converges exponentially compared to the linear convergence obtained by George and Nair (2008).


The purpose of the paper is the pinpointing of the role and importance of museums in the cultural and economic development of cities. The starting point is a critical analysis of the international, mainly European, experience, which, especially in the last decade, demonstrates the weight of the cultural factor in urban development focusing on the economic dimension. In the course of searching the relationship between cultural and economic development, the museums have constituted, and continue to constitute, a particularly interesting research object. Examples of the various concepts and practices that are related with museums are: the construction of the 'cultural image' of cities, the quest for cultural identity, the support and promotion of these elements as 'goods' in the external environment of cities, and the combination of tourist resources. The examination of the international experience constitutes the basis of the attempt to respond to three fundamental questions: a) in what ways, and with what means, is museum management connected with the effective promotion and support of the 'cultural image' of the cities?, b) in what ways is the effective promotion and support of the 'cultural image' connected with the creation of a competitive advantage for the particular city and its sustainable economic development, and c) does the 'selling of cultural identity' of the cities constitute an imperative need or a necessary evil that the cities cannot avoid in both cases? In order to respond to the above questions strategically planned methodologies, ways and means are described and analysed: strategic planning, management, empirical research, segmentation of potential markets-targets, configuration of 'cultural tourist packages', place marketing. Particular attention is paid to the role of museums in the urban tourism development process, since tourism constitutes one of the strongest productivity factors in many European cities. The main hypotheses that are going to be tested are the enforcement by the tools of planning and management of the conditions of sustainability and competitiveness, and the contribution of their use to the increasing role of museums in the cultural and economic development of cities. The paper concludes with proposals referring to the case of Greece. In order to examine the role and the importance of museums in the economic and historic development of Greek cities, a threefold structure is followed: framework analysis (i.e. examination of the main weaknesses in the internal environment of museums, identification of the image and administration of museums etc.), secondary data analysis (regional distribution of number and visitors of museums) and presentation of the main research methodology (combination of questionnaires, interviews and statistical data) of an empirical research. The main contradiction is that, while historicity and cultural heritage constitute factors that traditionally characterize Greece, the ways and means with which this factors can constitute dynamic levers of economic development refer to a new reality and new conditions of development which, till the present, have not been taken into serious consideration.


This paper presents an analysis at next-to-nextto-leading order in the theory of quantum chromodynamics for the determination of a new set of proton parton distribution functions using diverse measurements in pp collisions at √ s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, performed by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, together with deep inelastic scattering data from ep collisions at the HERA collider. The ATLAS data sets considered are differential cross-section measurements of inclusive W± and Z/γ ∗ boson production, W± and Z boson production in association with jets, t t̄ production, inclusive jet production and direct photon production. In the analysis, particular attention is paid to the correlation of systematic uncertainties within and between the various ATLAS data sets and to the impact of model, theoretical and parameterisation uncertainties. The resulting set of parton distribution functions is called ATLASpdf21.


Almost all classes of bioactive lipids such as cholesterol and cholesterol derivatives, phospholipids and lysophospholipids, eicosanoids, and sphingolipids are critically involved in tumorigenesis. However, a systematic analysis of the distinct tumorigenic functions of lipids is rare. As a general principle, lipids either act directly by binding to receptors and other cell signaling proteins in growth control, or indirectly by regulating membrane organization such as the formation of membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) that modulate receptor or other membrane protein function. Lipid rafts are known to be formed by cholesterol and the sphingolipids or ceramide derivatives sphingomyelin and glucosylceramide (cholesterol-sphingomyelin-glucosylceramide or CSG rafts). In this review, we discuss the interconnection of sphingolipids with cholesterol and its derivatives in breast cancer drug resistance. Bile acids are cholesterol derivatives that are first synthesized in the liver (primary bile acids) and then metabolized by intestinal bacteria giving rise to secondary bile acids. They activate farnesoid X receptor (FXR), which inhibits cholesterol conversion to primary bile acids and induces the expression of drug resistance proteins. We introduce a novel model by which bile acid-mediated activation of FXR may promote the formation of CSG lipid rafts that trans-activate drug resistance proteins in breast cancer. Since breast cancer stem cells express high levels of drug resistance proteins, our model predicts that serum bile acids promote breast cancer stem cell survival and metastasis. Our model also predicts that FXR antagonists in combination with sphingolipid biosynthesis inhibitors may be promising candidates for novel drugs in lipid therapy of breast cancer.


Tree legumes can be an important nitrogen (N) source for cereals in developing
countries where little or no fertilizer is used due to prohibitive costs. P. falcataria
biomass as a source of nitrogen for com, was studied in a series of field and
controlled experiments using 15N labeling techniques. The aim of the study was to
characterize the effect of biomass quality on nitrogen mineralization, and on N
recovery from P. falcataria residues by com.
It was hypothesized that mixing of residues of varying quality would alter residue
(litter) quality and nitrogen mineralization. P. falcataria leaves were mixed with P.
falcataria roots (P. falcataria mixture). Residue quality assessment was based on the
index; (Polyphenol + Lignin)-to-N content. Litter quality was in the order of; P.
falcataria leaves > P. falcataria mixture> P. falcataria roots, nitrogen and carbon
(C) mineralization also followed the same sequence (P <0.05), indicating that the
potential of residues to increase soil inorganic N depends on their quality. P. falcataria leaves including mixture treatments significantly (P<0.05) mitigated
soil acidity while P. falcataria roots alone did not. Thus, there is a potential benefit
of residues as 'lime' in cropping systems.
Leaves under humid tropical conditions decomposed rapidly causmg an initial
transitory increase in soil inorganic N, then substantial N03-N leaching from 30 to
60 days after application. Significant amounts of Ca++, Mg++, and K+ were leached
beyond the top 20 e m soil profile only after 60 days.
There is need to strategically mix residues of contrasting quality, to regulate N
release and reduce leaching while increasing soil inorganic N under field conditions.
The potential of the 15N indirect and direct labeling methods to estimate N- cycling
from tree residues was similar (P<0.05). Com recovered more N from P. falcataria
roots than from P. falcataria leaves.
Data on com produced under field conditions indicated that, the use of residues in
combination with an inorganic N source, as opposed to the sole use of either of them,
seems a more effective management strategy for improving N use efficiency,
including mitigating soil acidity.


Neurofibromas are common tumors found in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients. These complex tumors are composed of Schwann cells, mast cells, fibroblasts and perineurial cells embedded in collagen that provide a lattice for tumor invasion. Genetic studies demonstrate that in neurofibromas, nullizygous loss of Nf1 in Schwann cells and haploinsufficiency of Nf1 in non-neuronal cells are required for tumorigenesis. Fibroblasts are a major cellular constituent in neurofibromas and are a source of collagen that constitutes approximately 50% of the dry weight of the tumor. Here, we show that two of the prevalent heterozygous cells found in neurofibromas, mast cells and fibroblasts interact directly to contribute to tumor phenotype. Nf1+/- mast cells secrete elevated concentrations of the profibrotic transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). In response to TGF-beta, both murine Nf1+/- fibroblasts and fibroblasts from human neurofibromas proliferate and synthesize excessive collagen, a hallmark of neurofibromas. We also establish that the TGF-beta response occurs via hyperactivation of a novel Ras-c-abl signaling pathway. Genetic or pharmacological inhibition of c-abl reverses fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis to wild-type levels. These studies identify a novel molecular target to inhibit neurofibroma formation.


Without witnesses there can be no effective criminal justice system. Yet despite this clear fact, many obstacles have stood in the way of these witnesses and of achieving the best evidence they can provide, particularly with vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. In recent decades, some jurisdictions have taken legislative and regulatory steps to lower or remove these barriers, but in other countries little or nothing has been done. This thesis examines one example of the former proactive jurisdictions (England & Wales), and one jurisdiction that has yet to take any significant steps towards protecting or helping witnesses (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
The principal theme of my argument relates to how Saudi courts can learn from the experiences of courts in England and Wales in terms of protecting witnesses and, specifically, (i) whether there exist fundamental justifications for the implementation of special measures for witnesses from English law into Saudi courts, and (ii) whether the Saudi government can transplant the special measures for witnesses seen in English laws in order to influence further developments in Saudi law. In determining whether such justifications exist, the thesis will seek to identify the obstacles that prevent witnesses from testifying in criminal cases in Saudi Arabia, including the testimony of women and children, and will therein attempt to find in English law a cure for these problems.
In pursuance of these key research questions, the thesis will: (1) examine the special measures available for witnesses in the courts of English and Wales, (2) outline the particular challenges that witnesses face during adversarial criminal proceedings in Saudi courts, and (3) try to determine whether Saudi courts can benefit from the implementation of special measures for witnesses. The thesis concludes by arguing that the maslaha principle is a legitimate and appropriate means through which to consider the transfer of special measures for the protection of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses in Saudi law. With regard to the possibility of transferring specific special measures from England and Wales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I also propose a set of scholarly criteria which could be used for the systematic evaluation of the appropriateness of this transfer.


This paper focuses on the first stage of the City project that concerns the design of a mixed reality system that may support co-visiting for local and remote museum visitors. We discuss the initial visitor studies, the prototype system and the user trials, with a focus on the role direct interaction and peripheral awareness have in the shaping of the visitor experience. The paper concludes with reflections on the use of the system and future plans.


Background: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have an adverse effect on the bone mineral metabolism. Patients and Methods: The objective of the study was to determine the bone loss and change in bone mineral parameters in patients treated with phenytoin sodium. We prospectively studied 36 young males aged 20–30 years, with new-onset epilepsy, and treated with phenytoin. Patients were clinically examined and subjected to determination of the bone mineral density (BMD) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at the femur neck, spine, and lower third of radius. We also assessed Vitamin 25-OH-Vitamin D3, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and osteocalcin at the onset and after 1 year of treatment. Results: There were no significant changes noted in the 25-OH-Vitamin D3, (20.7 ± 10 ng/dl before and 18.5 ± 7.3 ng/dl after therapy, P = 0.198), and serum parathyroid levels (8.8 ± 6.8 pg/ml before and 14.2 ± 11.5 pg/ml, P = 0.114) at the end of 1-year therapy. There was declines in BMD at all the three sites; the spine (0.943 ± 0.11 vs. 0.943 ± 0.12 g/cm2, P = 0.15), femur neck (0.912 ± 0.0.12 vs. 0.896 ± 0.124 g/cm2, P = 0.093), and a statistically significant decline lower third of radius (0.659 ± 0.07 vs. 0.644 ± 0.073 g/cm2, P ≤ 0.001). We did not find any significant change in levels of 25-OH-Vitamin D3, PTH, and serum alkaline phosphatase, but found significant elevation in levels of osteocalcin. Conclusions: Phenytoin therapy in young male patients for 1-year causes a bone loss at femur and spine in the absence of Vitamin D deficiency and significant bone loss in the cortical bone radius. DXA should be done in patients during the treatment with AEDs to identify patients who are susceptible to increased risk of fractures.


Fraud is a potential threat to every company, even more for a financial institution, hence, research on strategic fraud determinant factors in financing institutions, with its large market share and assets, becomes necessary. The objective of this study is to investigate the partial and simultaneous influence of compensation, internal control and organizational culture toward the fraud tendency. This study uses quantitative explorative methods. The samples are determined using proportionate stratified random sampling; the survey used questionnaire and IDI. The analysis uses SPSS with multiple regression test instrument, classical determinant tests, and individual tests. The population of this study involved all the 2,123 employees. The samples are taken using proportional random sampling through an incidental sampling of Slovin formula which accounted for 337 samples. The study reveals that: (a) Compensation (X1) has the most significant and negative influence toward the fraud tendency; (b) Internal Control (X2) has a positive but insignificant influence toward the fraud tendency; (c) Organizational Culture (X3) has a negative but insignificant influence toward the fraud tendency; (d) The success rate of curbing fraud tendency simultaneously can be predicted using the proposed regression formula; (e)Policy is needed to optimally curb the tendency of fraud by improving compensation, internal controls, and improving the organizational culture.


Liquid and solid by-products samples from malt whisky (MW), grain whisky (GW) and brewing (B) origin across several Scottish distilleries and breweries were collected and analysed for physical, chemical and nutritional properties. Nutritional properties assessed included protein quantification. Among the by-products analysed, the focus in this work was placed on pot ale, the liquid by-product from MW processing. Approximately, 2-3 million tonnes of pot ale are generated in Scotland annually, with a protein content of ~1% protein (w/v) or 40% (w/w) on dry matter basis. Current technologies for the recovery of the protein from pot ale, i.e. evaporation, are expensive, require large amounts of energy and produce a low value product called pot ale syrup. A less energy intensive method with the potential to create a higher value product from pot ale was developed in this work using an ion exchange chromatography (IEC) technique that exploits protein electric charge. Pot ale proteins were found to be positively charged (due to low pH) and cation exchangers were used to bind pot ale proteins. The method was tested and up-scaled from 50 ml to 1400 ml of pot ale at flow rates from 1 ml/min to 30ml/ min. An economic analysis included in this work showed that using IEC for protein recovery from pot ale can be applied at commercial scale and the protein product used in higher value markets such as aquaculture.


There are specific NASA requirements for source-specific encapsulated microbial density for encapsulated organisms in non-metallic materials. Projects such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) that use large volumes of non-metallic materials of planetary protection concern pose a challenge to their bioburden budget. An optimized and adapted destructive hardware technology employing a commercial blender was developed to assess the embedded bioburden of thermal paint for the MSL project. The main objective of this optimization was to blend the painted foil pieces in the smallest sizes possible without excessive heating. The small size increased the surface area of the paint and enabled the release of the maximum number of encapsulated microbes. During a trial run, a piece of foil was placed into a blender for 10 minutes. The outside of the blender was very hot to the touch. Thus, the grinding was reduced to five 2-minute periods with 2-minute cooling periods between cycles. However, almost 20% of the foil fraction was larger (>2 mm). Thus, the largest fractions were then put into the blender and reground, resulting in a 71% increase in particles less than 1 mm in size, and a 76% decrease in particles greater than 2 mm in size. Because a repeatable process had been developed, a painted sample was processed with over 80% of the particles being <2 mm. It was not perceived that the properties (i.e. weight and rubber-like nature) of the painted/foil pieces would allow for a finer size distribution. With these constraints, each section would be ground for a total of 10 minutes with five cycles of a 2-minute pulse followed by a 2-minute pause. It was observed on several occasions that a larger blade affected the recovery of seeded spores by approximately half an order of magnitude. In the standard approach, each piece of painted foil was aseptically removed from the bag and placed onto a sterile tray where they were sized, cut, and cleaned. Each section was then weighed and placed into a sterile Waring Laboratory Blender. Samples were processed on low speed. The ground-up samples were then transferred to a 500-mL bottle using a sterile 1-in. (.2.5-cm) trim brush. To each of the bottles sterile planetary protection rinse solution was added and a modified NASA Standard Assay (NASA HBK 6022) was performed. Both vegetative and spore plates were analyzed.


Abstract The ecologically diverse genus Coniochaeta (Coniochaetaceae, Ascomycota) contains numerous endophytic strains that occur in healthy leaves and lichen thalli in temperate and boreal North America. These endophytes frequently represent undescribed species. Here we examine two endophytic isolates of Coniochaeta from healthy photosynthetic tissue of Platycladus orientalis (Cupressaceae), a conifer cultivated for horticultural use in Arizona, USA. On the basis of morphology, in vitro assays, phylogenetic analyses of two loci, and analyses of whole genome data, we designate these endophytes as a novel species, Coniochaeta endophytica sp. nov. Strains of C. endophytica are closely related to an isolate from a native lichen in North Carolina, which we also characterize here. We compare C. endophytica with two known species that appear to be close relatives: C. prunicola, associated with wood necrosis in stonefruit trees in South Africa, and C. cephalothecoides, isolated from soil in Asia. The new species is distinct in phylogenetic, in vitro, and whole-genome analyses from C. prunicola, and differs slightly in conidiophore morphology from that species. Although available sequence data for C. cephalothecoides are of uncertain relation to the type specimen for that species, our results support the distinctiveness of C. endophytica on the basis of morphology, perithecial formation, and phylogenetic analyses. We discuss the challenge of identifying new species in the context of fungal ecology surveys, such as those for endophytes, which often rely only on a single locus and can misidentify taxa based on their closest matches in public databases or simple comparisons of barcode sequences alone.


This article frames and introduces the ten other contributions to this collection. First, the dominant narrative around Africa's youth employment challenge is set out, as are four key points of debate and discussion that are subsequently addressed by the various contributions. We then draw from the 'research into policy' literature and note that it says little about how young researchers move into a policy engagement mode, or how they can be helped to move in this direction. This sets the stage for an introduction to the Matasa Fellows Network, which was established to do just this, with a particular focus on the youth employment challenge in Africa. The articles in this IDS Bulletin are authored by the ten members of the first cohort of Matasa Fellows. The last section provides abrief introduction to the individual contributions.


Recognizing the political need to show that transnational investors should shoulder "responsibilities" in addition to the international "rights" to which they are granted access under investment protection treaties, this Article proposes a sort of "counterclaim" mechanism for use in future treaties. The mechanism would permit individuals who live in countries receiving foreign investment to bring claims against foreign investors for the violation of serious international rules by their agents or employees operating in the host country. Such rules would include safeguards for international human rights that might be violated in the operation of an investment, as has been documented recently before U.S. courts operating under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The Article concludes by providing an appendix with draft text that could be adopted by the negotiators of future bilateral investment treaties.


Reactions of supersweet (sh2) sweet corn to northern leaf blight (NLB) and associated yields were evaluated in Belle Glade, Florida and Urbana, Illinois in yield-loss trials, hybrid evaluations, and evaluations of breeding materials. Hybrids differed significantly for NLB in all trials. Severity of NLB ranged from 0 to 66% on 35 sh2 hybrids in yield-loss trials, and from 0 to 60% on 80 sh2 hybrids in hybrid evaluations. NLB ratings ranged from 1 to 9 (approximately 0 to 80% severity) on 375 hybrids and 186 inbred lines in evaluations of breeding materials. Various methods of rating NLB and ratings from multiple dates were highly correlated, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.76 to 0.98. Yield, measured as weight of ears and number of marketable ears from inoculated plots as a percentage of that from control plots, decreased as disease severity increased. Linear or quadratic regression models explained 31 to 70% of the variation in percent yield as a function of disease severity at harvest. The effects of NLB on yield were limited by NLB-resistance in several hybrids, including CCO 3268, Chieftain, Crisp N Sweet 710A, Day Star, Envy, Forever, GSS 1526, Jupiter, Midship, Prime Plus, Sch 5005, and SummerSweet 7630. Although high levels of partial resistance to NLB were prevalent among 375 new experimental sh2 hybrids and 186 sh2 inbred lines evaluated in 1995, use of the gene HtN may increase in the near future as breeders are incorporating this resistance into new inbreds and hybrids. Breeders and plant pathologists would be wise to continue improving partial resistance to NLB without using the gene HtN in genotypes with adequate levels of partial resistance, because the widespread use of the gene HtN will select for virulent races of Exserohilum turcicum which occur in Florida, or for races with new combinations of virulence.


There are several advantages of an analytical valuation model for bonds and bond options when the volatility of the short rate follows a GARCH process and is the second state variable driving the yield curve besides the short rate itself. One advantage over other stochastic volatility models of the term structure is that the time-varying volatility can be easily filtered from the observed history of interest rates. Hence parameter estimation is much easier, and so is the updating of values of bonds and bond options upon changes in volatility. Calibration of the model to the U.S. Treasury yield curve (for eight different maturities) indicates that the model does not significantly improve upon the nested one-factor model in terms of pricing a cross-section of spot bonds. The implied volatilities of options on bonds exhibit a much steeper skew when option prices are generated by the model. Thus the results indicate that the effects of random volatility of the short rate are manifested mostly in bond option prices, rather than in bond prices.


Environmental context Tens of millions of people worldwide depend on groundwater with naturally high arsenic concentrations for drinking and cooking. We studied simple filters built with locally available and inexpensive iron nails, which can oxidise and bind arsenic in forming iron oxides and rust layers. Filters containing iron are being successfully applied in several regions, but efficiencies depend on the type of groundwater, and sufficiently large iron surfaces and contact times with water are needed for good arsenic removal. Abstract Zero-valent iron (ZVI)-based filters are able to remove arsenic and other pollutants from drinking water, but their performance depends on the form of ZVI, filter design, water composition and operating conditions. Kanchan filters use an upper bucket with ZVI in the form of commercial iron nails, followed by a sand filter, to remove arsenic and pathogens. We evaluated factors that influence the removal of arsenic and uranium with laboratory columns containing iron nails with six different synthetic groundwaters with 500μgL–1AsIII, 50μgL–1 U, 2mgL–1 B, and with 0 and 2mgL–1 P (added as o-phosphate), 0.25 and 2.5mM Ca, 3.2 and 8.3mM HCO3–, at pH 7.0 and 8.4 over 30 days. During the first 10 days, As removal was 65–95% and strongly depended on the water composition. As removal at pH 7.0 was better than at pH 8.4 and high P combined with low Ca decreased As removal. From 10–30 days, As removal decreased to 45–60% with all columns. Phosphate, in combination with low Ca concentrations lowered As removal, but had a slightly positive effect in combination with high Ca concentrations. U removal was only 10–70%, but showed similar trends. The drop in performance over time can be explained by decreasing release of iron to solution due to formation of layers of FeIII phases and calcite covering the iron surface. Mobile corrosion products contained ferrihydrite, Si-containing hydrous ferric oxides, and amorphous Fe–Si–P phases. Comparisons with another type of ZVI filter (SONO-filter) were used to evaluate filter design parameters. Higher ZVI surface areas and longer contact times should lead to satisfactory As removal with Kanchan-type filters.


We examine the determinants of issuance of yen-denominated international bonds over the period from 1990 through 2010. This period was marked by low Japanese interest rates that led some investors to pursue "carry trades," which consisted of funding investments in higher interest rate currencies with low interest rate, yen-denominated obligations. In principle, bond issuers that have flexibility in their funding currency could also conduct a carry-trade strategy by funding in yen during this low interest rate period. We examine the characteristics of firms who appeared to have adopted this strategy using a data set containing almost 80,000 international bond issues. Our results suggest that there was a movement towards issuing in yen in the international bond markets starting in 2003, but this appears to have ended with the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007. Furthermore, the breakdown of carry-trade conditions in 2007 corresponds to a resurgence in the ability of economic fundamentals, such as the volume of trade with Japan, to explain the decision to issue international bonds denominated in yen.


The results presented are a continuation of observing campaigns conducted by a small group of amateur astronomers interested in the Blazhko effect of RR Lyrae stars. The goal of these observations is to confirm the RR Lyrae Blazhko effect and to detect any additional Blazhko modulation which cannot be identified from all sky survey data-mining. The Blazhko effect of the two observed stars is confirmed, but no additional Blazhko modulations have been detected.
The observation of the RR Lyrae star AL Pic during 169 nights was conducted from San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). From the observed light curve, 49 pulsation maxima have been measured. Fourier analyses of (O-C), magnitude at maximum light (Mmax) and the complete light curve have provided a confirmation of published pulsation and Blazhko periods, 0.548622 and 34.07 days, respectively. The second multi-longitude observation campaign focused on the RR Lyrae star FR Psc was performed from Europe, United States and Chile. Fourier analyses of the light curve and of 59 measured brightness maxima have improved the accuracy of pulsation and Blazhko periods which are 0.45568 and 51.31 days, respectively. For both stars, no additional Blazhko modulations have been detected.


This study aims to produce a positive assessment of the Franciade , by viewing Ronsard's epic venture in the context of works by Ronsard himself and by poets such as Baif and Belleau. The com- positions considered extract single episodes from an epic whole, and are united by their structural and rhetorical techniques, forming a group dominated by the Franciade . The first chapter examines the question of genre raised by the fragments, and reviews classical models utilized by the French poets, placing particular emphasis upon the Alexandrians. It re- veals how the sixteenth-century poets long to produce a full-scale epic . Chapter 2 groups the fragments according to theme, highlighting Argonautic poems, notably Ronsard's Hymne de Calais, et de Zetes , Hymne de Pollux et de Castor , and Hylas . Chapter 3 examines the structure of the fragments in terms of contraction and expansion. Some poets circumscribe their material with a prelude and conclusion; others extend its temporal and spatial perspectives, by such means as retrospection, prophecy, and descriptions of ornate objects. The rhetoric of the fragments is seen in Chapter 4 to reflect the expansive urge: simile, circumlocution, and preterition all widen the poetic vistas. Chapter 5 studies Ronsard's approach to the problem of inven- ting an original framework for his epic, how he tries to lend it coherence by structural and rhetorical means. Yet the techniques Ronsard practised in the fragments finally prevail: the Franciade breaks up into a series of vivid miniatures: Ronsard repeatedly returns to material made familiar by classical epics. The conclusion emphasizes that the 'accidental' fragmentation of the Franciade should be viewed alongside the voluntary frag- mentation of the sixteenth-century heroic miniatures. The Franciade should, especially, be considered in conjunction with other Ron- sardian productions, such as the Argonautic hymns. Together with these, it forms an intricate fretwork of epic motifs.


The alphabet of a language is perhaps the first thing we learn as users. The alphabet of our mother tongue would be the first alphabet we ever learn. And yet, a closer look reveals that there is much about such an alphabet that we have not explicitly specified anywhere. The Sinhala alphabet order is a prime example. We use it, recite it and yet would be hard pressed to define it explicitly. Sinhala is spoken in all parts of Sri Lanka except some districts in the north, east and centre by approximately 20 million people. It is spoken by an additional 30,000 (1993) people in Canada, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. Sinhala is classified as an Indo-European language and used as an official language. The UNICODE Collation Algorithm (UCA) is an attempt to make explicit the collation sequence of any language expressed in the UNICODE (or any other) coding system. In order to express the Sinhala collation sequence (alphabetical order) using UCA, the authors undertook the task of identifying unresolved issues facing the unambiguous definition of the order. This paper first describes the issues identified through this study, suggesting alternate solutions and recommending one of them. Finally, it sets out the recommended collation sequence for Sinhala in the form of the UNICODE collation specification. The outcome of this process is a unique and unambiguous expression of the Sinhala collation sequence which could be tested using existing tools and software environments.


On traditional theism, God is not only a creator but also a conserver. The doctrine of conservation, however, appears to face a dilemma. Either conservation is continuous re-creation with consequences inimical to diachronic identity, or conservation is an operation upon a pre-existent entity, which, because it is pre-existent, is in no clear need of conservation. This article first makes a case for the dilemma, and then proposes a way between its horns. Safe passage is possible if we adopt presentist four-dimensionalism, i.e. the conjunction of presentism, according to which temporally present items alone exist, and four-dimensionalism, the doctrine that individuals are not continuants but wholes of temporal parts.


Abstract The financial crisis of 2007–2009 is now broadly recognised as a once-in-a-generation inflection point in the history of global economic governance. It has also prompted a reconsideration of established paradigms in international political economy (IPE) scholarship. Developments in global tax governance open a window onto these ongoing changes, and in this essay we discuss four recent volumes on the topic drawn from IPE and beyond, arguing against an emphasis on institutional stability and analyses that consider taxation in isolation. In contrast, we identify unprecedented changes in tax cooperation that reflect a significant contemporary reconfiguration of the politics of global economic governance writ large. To develop these arguments, we discuss the links between global tax governance and four fundamental changes underway in IPE: the return of the state through more activist policies; the global power shift towards large emerging markets; the politics of austerity and populism; and the digitalisation of the economy.