Carbon regulation is intended to reduce global emissions, but there is growing concern that such regulation may simply shift production to unregulated regions, potentially increasing overall carbon emissions in the process. Carbon tariffs have emerged as a possible mechanism to address this concern by imposing carbon costs on imports at the regulated region's border. Advocates claim that such a mechanism would level the playing field whereas opponents argue that such a tariff is anti-competitive. This paper analyzes how carbon tariffs affect technology choice, regional competitiveness, and global emissions through a model of imperfect competition between "domestic" (i.e., carbon-regulated) firms and "foreign" (i.e., unregulated) firms, where domestic firms have the option to offshore production and the number of foreign entrants is endogenous. Under a carbon tariff, results indicate that foreign firms would adopt clean technology at a lower emissions price than domestic producers, with the number of foreign entrants increasing in emissions price only over intervals where offshore foreign firms hold this technology advantage. Further, domestic firms would only offshore production under a carbon tariff to adopt technology strictly cleaner than technology utilized domestically. As a consequence, under a carbon tariff, foreign market share is non-monotonic in emissions price, and global emissions conditionally decrease. Without a carbon tariff, foreign share monotonically increases in emissions price, and a shift to offshore production results in a strict increase in global emissions.


Structural credit assignment in neural networks is a long-standing problem, with a variety of alternatives to backpropagation proposed to allow for local training of nodes. One of the early strategies was to treat each node as an agent and use a reinforcement learning method called REINFORCE to update each node locally with only a global reward signal. In this work, we revisit this approach and investigate if we can leverage other reinforcement learning approaches to improve learning. We first formalize training a neural network as a finite-horizon reinforcement learning problem and discuss how this facilitates using ideas from reinforcement learning like off-policy learning. We show that the standard on-policy REINFORCE approach, even with a variety of variance reduction approaches, learns suboptimal solutions. We introduce an off-policy approach, to facilitate reasoning about the greedy action for other agents and help overcome stochasticity in other agents. We conclude by showing that these networks of agents can be more robust to correlated samples when learning online.


When trying to identify the sources of growth and sustainable development, institutions and their effectiveness are among the most important and powerful instrument required to explain the economic dynamics of countries all over the world. More precisely, those rules, formal or informal, political or economic, that foster the participation of the majority of people in activities able to ensure the allocation of resources to their most productive destinations are the ones that promote long-term prosperity. Their significance is becoming even more important when the particular case of transition economies is addressed. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate that inclusive institutions (political and economic ones) are a prerequisite for the long-run development, mainly for emerging economies. Using an unique dataset of indicators that highlight the quality of economic and political institutions we have employed a VEC Model, variance decomposition and Granger causality analysis for Romania and Poland, in order to emphasize that, from a comparative perspective, each transition path towards the market economy has designed different rules of the game determining, thus, dissimilar development profiles.
 Keywords: Sustainable development, Transition economies, Institutions, Institutional performance


Grapevine leafroll disease threatens the economic sustainability of the grape and wine industry in the United States and around the world. This viral disease reduces yield, delays fruit ripening, and affects wine quality. Although there is new information on the disease spatial-dynamic diffusion, little is known about profit-maximizing control strategies. Using cellular automata, we model the disease spatial-dynamic diffusion for individual plants in a vineyard, evaluate nonspatial and spatial control strategies, and rank them based on vineyard expected net present values. Nonspatial strategies consist of roguing and replacing symptomatic grapevines. In spatial strategies, symptomatic vines are rogued and replaced, and their nonsymptomatic neighbors are virus-tested, then rogued and replaced if the test is positive. Both nonspatial and spatial classes of strategies are formulated and examined with and without considering vine age. We find that spatial strategies targeting immediate neighbors of symptomatic vines dominate nonspatial strategies, increasing the vineyard expected net present value by 18% to 19% relative to the strategy of no disease control. We also find that age-structured disease control is preferred to non-age-structured control but only for nonspatial strategies. Sensitivity analyses show that disease eradication is possible if either the disease transmission rate or the virus undetectability period is substantially reduced.


Dengue infection is one of the most common mosquito-borne infections caused by Flaviridae. Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is more serious than dengue fever (DF) due to capillary leakage. The World Health Organization has reported 2.5 billion people live in areas where dengue viruses can be transmitted (WHO, 2009). The aim of our study is is to evaluate electrolyte disturbances in patients with Dengue infection .In this study we include total of 88 clinically diagnosed and serologically confirmed age and sex matched Dengue cases. Serum electrolytes [Sodium, Potassium & Chloride] were measured by electrolyte kit method by using Semiauto analyser. The mean age of the study group was 24.4±13.7 in which 70.4 % were adults and 29.5% were children .69.3% of the patients are males ,30.6% are females. The amounts of Sodium (p<0.0001)., Potassium (p<0.0001) and Chlorides (p<0.0001) were varied significantly between the control and the patients samples. The study revealed mild hyponatremia and hypokalemia in Dengue confirmed patients and it was analysed that mild hyponatremia is a common electrolyte disturbance and renal involvement is mild in patients with DF Patients.


A model of the ∼2  μm amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) generation in the thulium-doped silica fibers pumped at 1575 nm is presented. Both Al-codoped and Al/Ge-codoped fiber core compositions are studied. The results show that the composition affects the relative slope efficiency of 10% and the bandwidth of 19% of the output ASE. Our results predict that the backward ASE is more powerful and spectrally broader compared to the forward ASE, which is in agreement with previous experiments. Using an asymmetric cavity feedback, 98% of the total output power can be directed in the backward ASE, but with the consequence of losing ∼50% of the bandwidth. Such sources are expected to deliver single-mode output with more than 70% slope and 39% power conversion efficiency.


of Abstract A systematic review provides a synthesis of studies on a specific topic, enabling researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to assess the current evidence base and make informed choices on viable public health interventions. This case study demonstrates our experience in conducting a systematic review that aimed to determine the effect of mental health awareness interventions among sports coaches, athletes, and officials. The review process was based on available methodological guidance, with our team registering the review protocol on PROSPERO, adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and standardizing the screening process and reporting methods. The findings led us to the conclusion that caution should be taken when interpreting and implementing present interventions that aimed to raise awareness of mental health in sport due to weak methodological quality. The article was published in the Systematic Reviews journal, informed sports policy in Northern Ireland, and demonstrated scientific impact by being cited in international consensus


National Park Plitvice Lakes is located in the central part of the Dinaric karst region of Croatia. Plitvice Lakes are one of the most important and morphologically most attractive parts of the Croatia with the status of National Park since 1949 and with respected place in the list of World Natural Heritage by UNESCO since 1979. With its large karst springs, many lakes separated by tufa barriers and waterfalls, along with exceptional biodiversity represent a unique environment attractive for the arrival of many visitors and tourist development activities. This paper is aimed at defining a conceptual dynamic model of water resources in the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Lake is fed by groundwater from the mountain area of Mala Kapela and runoff from the lake system is directed towards the Black Sea basin. The whole area of the park is built of carbonate rocks of different degrees of natural permeability and very complex tectonic relations, which allowed springing of water, maintaining of the lakes and finally the loss of water in the karst underground downstream of Lower Lakes. Important hydrogeological function have poor permeable dolomites of Triassic age as a natural barrier to water from the mountainous area of Mala Kapela, through which the water flow, creating beautiful lakes and waterfalls. The largest lakes Proscansko and Kozjak are generators of maintaining of high water quality of the whole system. Plitvice Lakes water after crossing the fault along the northeastern shore of Lake Kozjak starting to sink in the karst underground, which Kozjak Lake and Lower Lakes leads to a situation of high risk due to possible large-scale loss of water, if the natural functioning of the water system in relation to high water quality is disturbed.


We report on genital warts in dusky dolphins Lagenorhynchus obscurus, long-snouted common dolphins Delphinus capensis, bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus and Burmeister's porpoises Phocoena spinipinnis caught in fisheries off central Peru. Lesions were observed inside the genital slit, on the skin adjacent to it, on the penis and on the vagina. Macroand microscopical features of the lesions resemble those of benign genital warts associated with papillomavirus infection in humans Genital warts from L, obscurus and P spinipinnis contained nuclei which stained positive for genus-specific papillomavirus structural antigens, though weakly in the latter species. These data suggest that papillomavirus(es) may be the etiological agent(s) of the disease. The prevalence of the lesions in 130 small cetaceans was high: 66.7% (confidence interval, CI, 57.0 to 74.0%) in L. obscurus (n = 78). 50% in D. capensis (n = 10), 33% in T truncatus (n = 9) and 48.5% (C1 33.0 to 64.0%) In P. spinipinnis (n = 33). This suggests a venereal transmission of the disease, as in humans. Sexual variation in wart prevalence was found in L. obscurus and P spinipinnis with males being 2 and 3 times more infected than females, respectively. No correlation was observed between body length (as a measure of age) and wart prevalence, suggesting that no strong and long-lasting immunity was induced in affected animals or that they may have been infected by different types of papillomaviruses. Lingual tumours were seen in 1 D. capensis.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Arterial air embolism is a complication that may occur during several surgical procedures and is associated to a high morbidity and mortality rate. This report aimed at presenting a case of arterial air embolism during general anesthesia for percutaneous CT-guided location of a pulmonary node.

CASE REPORT
Male patient, 33 years old, physical status ASA II, was submitted to percutaneous location of a pulmonary node (probably a femoral giant cell tumor metastasis) with the hook-wire technique under general anesthesia. Anesthesia was induced without difficulties and the procedure was started with the patient in the right lateral position. After hook insertion, while the surgeons checked its positioning with CT images, arterial hypotension and bradycardia followed by asystole was observed. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers, thoracic drainage and transthoracic echocardiography were performed. The presence of air in the descending aorta was seen at a later CT image. Cardiac arrest was reversed 15 minutes after resuscitation maneuvers. Patient was referred to the ICU and discharged 6 days later without sequelae.

CONCLUSIONS
Arterial air embolism is a complication of different procedures most of them performed with the patient under general anesthesia. Anesthesiologists must be prepared to recognize involved problems and make the differential diagnosis. Suitable and adequate treatment is critical to decrease morbidity and mortality associated to this event.


By the early twenty-first century, a startling consensus had emerged about the overall aim of American school reform. In an era of political discord, and in a field historically known for contentiousness, the notion of promoting educational excellence for all students was a distinct point of bipartisan agreement. Shaped by a corps of entrepreneurial reformers intent on finding "what works" and taking it to scale, this hybrid vision won over the nation's most ambitious and well-resourced policy leaders at foundations and nonprofits, in state and federal government, and in urban school districts from coast to coast. "Excellence for all" might, at first glance, appear to be nothing more than a rhetorical flourish. Who, after all, would oppose the idea of a great education for every student? Yet it is hardly a throwaway phrase. Rather, it represents a surprising fusion of educational policy approaches that had been in tense opposition throughout the twentieth century--those on the right favoring social efficiency, and those on the left supporting social justice. This book seeks to understand why the "excellence for all" vision took hold at the time it did, unpacks the particular beliefs and assumptions embedded in it, and details the often informal coalition building that produced this period of consensus. Examining the nation's largest urban school districts (Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York), the author details three major reform efforts in chapters titled "The Right Space: The Small Schools Movement"; "The Right Teachers: Teach for America"; and "The Right Curriculum: Expanding Advanced Placement."


Due to an overall trend towards an increasing cooling energy demand in buildings in many European countries over the last few decades, passive cooling by night-time ventilation is seen as a promising concept. However, because of uncertainties in thermal comfort predictions, architects and engineers are still hesitant to apply passive cooling techniques. As night-time ventilation is highly dependent on climatic conditions, a method for quantifying the climatic cooling potential was developed and the impact of climate warming was investigated. Although a clear decrease was found, significant potential will remain, especially if night-time ventilation is applied in combination with other cooling methods. Building energy simulations showed that the performance of night-time ventilation is also affected by the heat transfer at internal room surfaces, as the cooling effect is very limited for heat transfer coefficients below about 4 W/m 2 K. Heat transfer during night-time ventilation in case of mixing and displacement ventilation was investigated in a full scale test room at Aalborg University. In the experiments the temperature efficiency of the ventilation was determined. Based on the previous results a method for estimating the potential for cooling by night-time ventilation during an early stage of design was developed.


Several recent studies have used transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to demonstrate a causal role of neural oscillatory activity in speech processing. In particular, it has been shown that the ability to understand speech in a multi-speaker scenario or background noise depends on the timing of speech presentation relative to simultaneously applied tACS. However, it is possible that tACS did not change actual speech perception but rather auditory stream segregation. In this study, we tested whether the phase relation between tACS and the rhythm of degraded words, presented in silence, modulates word report accuracy. We found strong evidence for a tACS-induced modulation of speech perception, but only if the stimulation was applied bilaterally using ring electrodes (not for unilateral left hemisphere stimulation with square electrodes). These results were only obtained when data were analyzed using a statistical approach that was identified as optimal in a previous simulation study. The effect was driven by a phasic disruption of word report scores. Our results suggest a causal role of neural entrainment for speech perception and emphasize the importance of optimizing stimulation protocols and statistical approaches for brain stimulation research.


We offer an alternative explanation for the fall of Argentina's Convertibility Program based on the country's vulnerability to Sudden Stops in capital flows. Sudden Stops are typically accompanied by a substantial increase in the real exchange rate that breaks havoc in countries that are heavily dollarized in their liabilities, turning otherwise sustainable fiscal and corporate sector positions into unsustainable ones. In particular, we stress that the required change in relative prices is larger the more closed an economy is in terms of its supply of tradable goods. By contrasting Argentina's performance relative to other Latin American countries that were also subject to the Sudden Stop triggered by the Russian crisis of 1998, we identify key vulnerability indicators that separated Argentina from its piers. We also provide an explanation for the political maelstrom that ensued after the Sudden Stop, based on a War of Attrition argument related to the wealth redistribution conflict triggered by the Sudden Stop and fiscal collapse. This framework also provides elements to rationalize the banking crisis that accompanied the fall of Convertibility.


P051 THREE-COIL EMI MULTI-FREQUENCY SOUNDING DEVICES IN NEAR-SURFACE APPLICATIONS Abstract 1 The paper is devoted to the brief application feasibility study of three-coils multifrequency sounding device its advantages in comparison to devices that have two-coils. Influence of initial phase determination error into secondary field measurement accuracy was assessed. The estimation results of penetration depth are presented under the following models: conductive layer with non-conductive bottom half-space and conductive layer in resistive half-space. The estimated depths were compared with depth conventionally calculated using skin-effect approach. Several cases studies are included to prove the usefulness of multi frequency approach. Introduction E.V. BALKOV


Resolving the wide range of spatial scales simultaneously present in the formation of stars and star clusters is a challenge for numerical simulations. Methods such as adaptive hydrodynamics codes must be used in many gasdynamical simulations where gravity is also present, and constructs known as "sinks" are commonly used to avoid the computational expense of directly simulating the dense regions within protostars. Despite being essential to investigations of star formation over long timescales, numerics can often play an undesired role in the behaviour of these point-mass accretors, causing artificial accretion. In this thesis, the use of sink particles as models of protostars is investigated using the Gasoline N-body + smoothed particle hydrodynamics code. Motivated by observations of disks and accretion rates onto protostars, physical viscosity using the a-parametrization was implemented. Tests of both spherical and rotating protostellar accretion were performed. In spite of their importance to star formation) previously presented rotating tests are subject to several numerical problems; efforts were made in this work to simulate a three-dimensional viscous accretion disk where such issues were identified and minimized. Simulations were performed for varying strengths of viscosity and sink radius, as well as with inner boundary conditions known as "sinking" particles. Angular momentum transport was present and behaved physically in all cases with a > 0, and the average radial velocities and mass-accretion rates in the disks matched finite-difference estimates of corresponding analytic expressions.


The objective of this research is to design well-tuned, wideband elements for thin planar or cylindrically conformal arrays of balanced elements fed over ground. These arrays have closely spaced elements to achieve wide bandwidths through mutual coupling. This dissertation develops two wideband designs in infinite, semi-infinite, and finite array configurations. The infinite array is best for element tuning. This research advances a concept of a distributed, parallel capacitance between elements and across feeds that must be mutually altered for tuning. Semi-infinite techniques limit the problem space and determine the proper resistive loads to control the low-frequency array-guided surface wave (AGSW). The tight physical placement also forms a periodic structure that, along with the array boundary, launches a wave across the array surface. Options to suppress this surface wave are resistive loading and cylindrical conformations. AGSW control is necessary to achieve a maximum bandwidth, but lower radiation or aperture efficiency results. Conformation is shown to be an ineffective method for AGSW control alone. The Wrapped Bowtie design emerges as a novel design offering nearly a 10:1 bandwidth as a finite array over ground. Some bandwidth comes from the losses in radiation efficiency, which is necessary to control the AGSW; however, its simulated VSWR < 3 bandwidth in an infinite array is 7.24:1 with full efficiency. Less than perfect efficiency is required to mitigate surface wave effects, unless bandwidth is to be compromised. That loss may be as radiation or aperture efficiency, but it is unavoidable if the infinite array bandwidth is to be maintained in finite array designs. Lastly, this research articulates a development path for tightly-coupled arrays that extends in stages from infinite to semi-infinite, and thence finite layouts. Distinctions are explained and defended for the design focus at each stage. Element design, tuning, and initial feed design occur at the infinite array stage; AGSW suppression occurs at the semi-infinite stage; and design confirmation occurs only with the finite array.


We present photometry of the giant extrasolar planet WASP-4b at 3.6 and 4.5 μm taken with the Infrared Array Camera on board the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of Spitzer's extended warm mission. We find secondary eclipse depths of 0.319% ± 0.031% and 0.343% ± 0.027% for the 3.6 and 4.5 μm bands, respectively, and show model emission spectra and pressure–temperature profiles for the planetary atmosphere. These eclipse depths are well fit by model emission spectra with water and other molecules in absorption, similar to those used for TrES-3 and HD 189733b. Depending on our choice of model, these results indicate that this planet has either a weak dayside temperature inversion or no inversion at all. The absence of a strong thermal inversion on this highly irradiated planet is contrary to the idea that highly irradiated planets are expected to have inversions, perhaps due the presence of an unknown absorber in the upper atmosphere. This result might be explained by the modestly enhanced activity level of WASP-4b's G7V host star, which could increase the amount of UV flux received by the planet, therefore reducing the abundance of the unknown stratospheric absorber in the planetary atmosphere as suggested in Knutson et al. We also find no evidence for an offset in the timing of the secondary eclipse and place a 2σ upper limit on |ecos ω| of 0.0024, which constrains the range of tidal heating models that could explain this planet's inflated radius.


A redescription is given for the 1-tentacled Anthomedusa Paragotoea bathybia from new specimens collected in the Weddell Sea. The comparative study of the previous descriptions of this species permitted to define a new diagnosis for the genus which has been ascribed to the family Corymorphidae. The family Paragotoeidae Ralph, where P. bathybia was formerly included, is supressed. The 4-tentacled reconstructed stage considered by Ralph (1959) as the adult stage of P. bathybia is a new species placed in a new genus: Tetraralphia hypothetica, (Capitata incertae sedis).


Abstract For electricity production in a 1000 MW(e) Z-Pinch Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) power plant, a wire array must be produced and shot every second. The slow and painstaking manual assembly and insertion process developed for the present Z-Pinch experimental machines will have to be replaced with mass production and rapid auto matic handling. This could be facilitated by making one-piece, or unitized, wire arrays (UWA). This paper reviews potential UWA manufacturing processes; describes the results of etching, milling, laser-cutting, and lithography tests applied to an UWA design that could be shot on the Z-R machine for validation; assesses the feasibility of these processes for mass production; and proposes an alternate UWA design concept for easier manufacturing.


A cognitive radio is an adaptive, multidimensionally aware, autonomous radio system that learns from its experiences to reason, plan, and decide future actions to meet user needs. Due to the technological advancement in last few decades, we have a magnificent communication setup now-a-days. Cognitive radio is considered to be one of the key issues to give such break -through in communication process. In this paper, we are providing a simple yet efficient overview on cognitive radio and the existing research challenges, which will help the researchers around the globe to grab the concept of cognitive radio fast enough and work on it.


We studied how physical and instructed embedding of features in gestalts affects perceptual selection. Four ovals on the horizontal midline were either unconnected or pairwise connected by circles, forming ears of left and right heads (gestalts). Relevant to responding was the position of one colored oval, either within its pair or relative to fixation ("object-based" or "fixation-based" instruction). Responses were faster under fixation- than object-based instruction, less so with gestalts. Previously reported increases of N1 when evoked by features within objects were replicated for fixation-based instruction only. There was no effect of instruction on N2pc. However P1 increased under the adequate instruction, object-based for gestalts, fixation-based for unconnected items, which presumably indicated how foci of attention were set by expecting specific stimuli under instructions that specified how to bind these stimuli to objects.


A growing need for numerical simulations based on reliable chemistries has been observed in the last years in order to develop new technologies which could guarantee the reduction of the enviromental impact on air transport. The description of combustion requires the use of detailed kinetic mechanisms for most hydro-carbons. Their use in turbulent combustion simulation is still prohibitive because of their high computational cost. Reduced chemistries and tabulation methods have been proposed to over-come this problem. Since all these reductions have been developed for laminar configurations, this thesis proposes to evaluate their performances in simulations of turbulent configurations such as a DNS of a premixed Bunsen methane/air flame and a LES of an experimental PREC-CINSTA burner. The mechanisms are analysed in terms of flame structure, global burning parameters, flame length, prediction of major species concentrations and pollutant emissions. An a priori methodology based on one-dimensional unstrained and strained laminar flames to evaluate the mechanism capability to predict three-dimensional turbulent flame features is therefore proposed. On the one hand when building a new reduced scheme, its requirements should be fixed compromising the computational cost, the robustness of the chemical description and the desired quality of results. On the other hand, the quality of DNS or LES results in three-dimensional configurations could be anticipated testing the reduced mechanism on laminar one-dimensional premixed unstrained and strained flames.


Touch-screen displays that sense the occurrence and location of a physical touch on the display area are increasingly being used to replace mechanical buttons in a variety of devices, including smartphones, MP3 players, GPS navigation systems, digital cameras, laptop computers, video games, and laboratory instruments. First generation devices were not very accurate, suffered from false detection, and consumed too much power. Newer touch-screen controllers, such as the AD7879, offer improved accuracy, lower power consumption, and result filtering. They can also sense temperature, supply voltage, and touch pressure, facilitating robust sensing for modern touch-screen displays.


AMPK activators may rescue brown adipose tissue development in neonates of obese mothers. Metabolic defects represent not only a health risk for adults and children but for newborns as well. For example, newborns of obese mothers have a higher mortality rate, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is associated with reduced brown adipose tissue (BAT). Yang et al. determined that the kinase AMPK, which functions as a cellular energy sensor that is activated when energy stores are depleted (when AMP abundance is high relative to that of ATP), was necessary for BAT development through a cell autonomous mechanism. Knockout of the AMPK subunit-encoding gene Prkaa1 impaired BAT development in mice, resulting in deficient body temperature regulation, phenotypes also observed in neonatal mice born of obese mothers. When transplanted into wild-type mice at the site where this tissue develops, wild-type BAT precursors integrated and grew into BAT. In contrast, Prkaa1-deficient precursors transplanted into wild-type mice integrated poorly and exhibited reduced thermogenic capacity, confirming that AMPK activity was required within BAT precursors. Expression of the gene encoding the transcription factor PRDM16, which is required for BAT specification and maintenance, was impaired in BAT precursor cells from Prkaa1 knockout mice, and overexpressing PRDM16 restored brown adipocyte differentiation in culture. Embryos from obese mothers had less phosphorylated and thus less active AMPK in developing BAT than did embryos from control mothers. Neonates and weaning mice from obese mothers also exhibited reduced Prdm16 expression in BAT and had impaired ability to regulate body temperature. DNA demethylation, which is mediated by enzymes of the α-ketoglutarate-dependent TET family and which promotes expression of the Prdm16 locus, was impaired in Prkaa1 knockout cells. BAT or brown adipocytes differentiated in vitro had higher α-ketoglutarate concentrations than progenitor cells. In contrast, Prkaa1 knockout cells failed to exhibit the increase in this metabolite because of deficient induction of the gene encoding isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2), an enzyme involved in the production of α-ketoglutarate, and also because of increased inhibitory acetylation of IDH2. Adding a membrane-permeable analog of α-ketoglutarate enhanced TET activity in nuclear extracts of brown adipocyte precursors induced to differentiate and increased brown adipogenesis in culture, whereas a competitive inhibitor had the opposite effects. Compared with mice born to obese mothers that did not receive treatment, administration of AMPK activating drugs (AICAR or metformin) after birth resulted in partial recovery of BAT weight, restored the morphology of the BAT to "brown" rather than that resembling white adipose tissue, and reduced visceral fat weight. Thus, targeting AMPK with these clinically used drugs may be beneficial for the newborns of obese mothers. Q. Yang, X. Liang, X. Sun, L. Zhang, X. Fu, C. J. Rogers, A. Berim, S. Zhang, S. Wang, B. Wang, M. Foretz, B. Viollet, D. R. Gang, B. D. Rodgers, M.-J. Zhu, M. Du, AMPK/α-ketoglutarate axis dynamically mediates DNA demethylation in the Prdm16 promoter and brown adipogenesis. Cell Metab. 24, 542–554 (2016). [PubMed]


In this book, Sithole explores the hymns of Isaiah Shembe as poetic texts that voice Shembe's concerns and the sacred dance as part of worship in Ibandla LamaNazaretha.


In this paper, by integrating regional tectonic data with detailed structural data and with earthquake informations, we try to verify and to constrain the similarity between the present and the geological stress fields and to reconstruct a coherent history of deformation for the Umbria-Marche regions, from Middle-Late Miocene to present. Then, we use the inferred structural processes and deformation mechanisms related to the Apennine mountain building to better understand the seismicity of the study area and to discriminate seismotectonic domains. To conclude, we try to recognize and assess the corresponding seismogenetic structures. The basic conclusions can be summarized as follow: The geometry and orientation of the deformation and stress field in the Umbria-Marche region have remained unchanged since the Middle-Late Miocene and have been always characterized by the superposition of normal faulting upon thrust-belt structure and by the coexistence, in contiguous areas in a given time, of contraction to the east and extension to the west. By comparing macroseismic epicentres, focus depths and mechanisms with crustal structure and independently known active faults, it appears evident that the pattern, frequency and distribution of the crustal seismicity is tectonically-controlled and that a contraction-extension pair is active also at the present time. In fact, along the Adriatic coast-line, the contractional deformation with involvement of Pleistocene layers prevails, whereas beneath the Apennine Range the extensional deformation prevails. Both T-axes in the inner domain and P-axes in the outer domain are oriented SW-NE or WSW-ENE and this coaxiality reflects the situation depicted by the geological stress field. On this basis, we have produced a seismotectonic zoning with three domains being clearly identified: Intramountain Seismic Zone, Foothills Seismic Zone and Coastal Seismic Zone. A plausible explanation for the genesis of the "active" and seismic deformations is given, speculating that the locally intense extensional upper crustal seismicity of the Intramountain Seismic Zone is confined to the hanging-wall of a major westward-dipping active extensional discontinuity, whereas the less frequent contractional seismic activity of the Coastal Seismic Zone is within the hanging-wall of an outer major active westward-dipping contractional discontinuity. An area, of overlapping between these two zones is represented by the Foothills Seismic Zone, where superposed epicentral patterns from different planes of weakness at different depths are the predictable result of the asymmetry of the deformation in the investigated area.


The concepts of cultural diversity and cultural identity are at the forefront of the political debate in many western societies. In Europe, the discussion is stimulated by the political pressures associated with immigration flows, which are increasing in many European countries. The imperatives that current immigration trends impose on European democracies bring to light a number of issues that need to be addressed. What are the patterns and dynamics of cultural integration? How do they differ across immigrants of different ethnic groups and religious faiths? How do they differ across host societies? What are the implications and consequences for market outcomes and public policy? Which kind of institutional contexts are more or less likely to accommodate the cultural integration of immigrants? All these questions are crucial for policy makers and await answers. This book aims to provide a stepping stone to the debate. Taking an economic perspective, this edited book presents a current, comparative picture of the process of cultural integration of immigrants across Europe. It documents the main economic debates on the causes and consequences of cultural integration of immigrants, and provides detailed descriptions of the cultural and economic integration process in seven main European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It also compares the European context with the integration of immigrants in the United States. (Publisher's abstract)


Children in residential care have experienced high levels of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and behaviour control by staff is an issue of concern. This study evaluated a parenting intervention, Incredible Years Basic Parent Programme (IY), delivered in Portuguese short-term residential child care centres. In a non-randomised control trial, two groups of staff carers (27 carers) received the IY programme. Two other groups of carers (20 carers) didn't receive any form of intervention. Self-report measures were used to assess carers' child rearing practices, sense of competency, and depression levels. Measures were administered at baseline, 6-month and at 12-month follow-up. The findings indicate that each child care centre is a specific dynamic system and that the interventions didn't have the impact expected on some variables. Groups that didn't receive any intervention had some improvements on some variables. The main positive finding was the improvement at 12 months of empathic attitudes in one of the intervention groups and improved perceptions of the children's role in the other. In conclusion, the incorporation of a training programme such as the IY in child care placements can be a valuable intervention and at least part of the answer in enhancing worker development.


Some wildlife species are agricultural pests (or otherwise a problem) but their populations are often valued by other than agriculturalists or by those not adversely affected by them directly. For non-farmers, the population levels of such wildlife are frequently pure public goods. This is one source of market failure in the economically optimal social control of an (agricultural) pest of this type. Secondly, if the species is geographically mobile, externalities occur between farmers (or other individuals) in the control of the species, and individuals ignore these spillovers in controlling pest species. Simple analysis is used to show that depending on the relative strength of these opposing types of market failure, farmers (or others) may excessively reduce or insufficiently decrease the population of a wildlife species from a social economic point of view based on the application of the potential Paretian improvement criterion. After providing some background on general methods of wildlife control and their effectiveness, the economic optimality of this control is assessed using simple models. The limitations of this modelling are then discussed paying particular attention to 'newly emerging' diseases in wildlife that in some cases impact humans, for example, Henipavirus carried by flying foxes.


Coven argues that the rules extending nonrecognition treatment to the incorporation of property never have been properly integrated with the double taxation of corporations. As a result, the duplicate burden or benefit is applied retroactively. That defect, Coven believes, has been long overlooked, but now that it has been exploited by one popular version of the loss replicating corporate tax shelter, it must be addressed. The remedy applied by Congress to the tax shelter in section 358(h) is insufficient, does not operate correctly and undermines the integrity of the code, he says. This article proposes a more comprehensive solution that would improve the code by eliminating both the benefits and the burdens of the retroactive double tax through dual basis adjustments similar to those used in partnership taxation. The article was prepared before the adoption of section 362(e)(2). That provision, however, merely underscores the need for the solution suggested here, Coven concludes.


Drawing on identity theory (especially the components of structural symbolic interactionism and role theory—Burke and Stets, 2009; Stryker, 1980) and interruption theory (Thoits, 1991), this dissertation proposes a model that posits identity as an important factor impacting whether or not workers respond to electronic communications from work during nonwork time, and how this relates to career and personal outcomes. Additionally, this research asks what relates to employees' tetheredness, or their cognitive dependence on communication devices. Results indicate that relational identity, exemplification, and conscientiousness all contribute to tetheredness. Furthermore, the results of this research go against the anecdotal stories of the benefits of being "always on," finding that greater employee responsiveness to work-nonwork technological interruptions is positively related to increased work-family conflict and job stress. Additionally, the results of this study found that both employees and family members are confronted with blurred boundaries from employee responsiveness to work-nonwork technological interruptions. WFC and job stress serve as mediators between employee responsiveness to work-nonwork technological interruptions and career as well as personal outcomes rated by the focal employee and/or a family member or significant other.


The central goal of the DIDET Project was to enhance student learning opportunities by enabling them to partake in global, team based design engineering projects, in which they directly experience different cultural contexts and access a variety of digital information sources via a range of appropriate technology. To achieve this overall project goal, the project delivered on the following objectives: 1. Teach engineering information retrieval, manipulation, and archiving skills to students studying on engineering degree programs. 2. Measure the use of those skills in design projects in all years of an undergraduate degree program. 3. Measure the learning performance in engineering design courses affected by the provision of access to information that would have been otherwise difficult to access. 4. Measure student learning performance in different cultural contexts that influence the use of alternative sources of information and varying forms of Information and Communications Technology. 5. Develop and provide workshops for staff development. 6. Use the measurement results to annually redesign course content and the digital libraries technology. The overall DIDET Project approach was to develop, implement, use and evaluate a testbed to improve the teaching and learning of students partaking in global team based design projects. The use of digital libraries and virtual design studios was used to fundamentally change the way design engineering is taught at the collaborating institutions. This was done by implementing a digital library at the partner institutions to improve learning in the field of Design Engineering and by developing a Global Team Design Project run as part of assessed classes at Strathclyde, Stanford and Olin. Evaluation was carried out on an ongoing basis and fed back into project development, both on the class teaching model and the LauLima system developed at Strathclyde to support teaching and learning. Major findings include the requirement to overcome technological, pedagogical and cultural issues for successful elearning implementations. A need for strong leadership has been identified, particularly to exploit the benefits of cross-discipline team working. One major project output still being developed is a DIDET Project Framework for Distributed Innovative Design, Education and Teamwork to encapsulate all project findings and outputs. The project achieved its goal of embedding major change to the teaching of Design Engineering and Strathclyde's new Global Design class has been both successful and popular with students.


In regions with Mediterranean and steppe climates, the presence of surface water is sporadic, and a unique – but fragile and undervalued – element of water capture for irrigation and human supply is the 'qanats', 'foggaras', 'mkoulas' or water tunnels. The central objective of this project has been the full study of Tunisia9s drainage tunnels. The inventory, analysis and heritage evaluation of Tunisia9s 'qanats' have been possible through the application of a particular methodology during four annual sessions of fieldwork and analysis in the geographic information system (GIS) laboratory. The results have been: the creation of a spatial data and cartography infrastructure for the Tunisian 'qanats' and related irrigation systems; the identification of drainage tunnels; the typological classification of the water tunnels according to their morphological and structural framework; analysis of conservation status and intended water use; the implementation of a multi-criteria evaluation method with regard to the heritage quality of the 'qanats'; and finally an analysis of the landscape relationships between 'qanats' and oases.


If you are a current manager, or aspiring to a management position, this is your invaluable guide to the skills and techniques you need to succeed. Michael Armstrong's best-selling handbook provides in-depth coverage and practical guidance on improving the three crucial areas of management:- Managing people- Managing activities and processes- Managing and developing yourselfFrom engaging your team, managing conflict and raising your confidence levels, to improving your financial management and business plans, you will be guided across all the key areas of management with constant applicability to real life situations. How to be an Even Better Manager provides sound guidelines that will help you to boost your management ability, supercharge your team's performance and achieve process excellence. With an emphasis on trouble-shooting and problem solving, this is a resource you will be able to turn to again and again for support and advice. How to be an Even Better Manager has sold over 170,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 17 languages. This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include all the most pressing skills needed by modern managers. It also includes brand new chapters on handling difficult conversations, promoting a learning culture, handling discipline and under performance issues, leading teams successfully and treating people right.


A new separator design for liquid-liquid systems has been proposed to decrease the coalescence time of dispersed phase drops. Aiming at making the separation process more efficient, the present work studies hydrodynamics and mass transfer in the mixer to estimate the overall mass transfer coefficient relative to the aqueous (water + oil) and organic (turpentine) phases involved. Samples were collected at the inlet and at the outlet of the system. The analyses were performed using the oil and grease content technique. A mass balance in the liquid phase calculated in the mixer allows us to determine the mass transfer coefficient, thereby optimizing the system. A correlation equation was found for the mass transfer coefficient as a function of the variables studied in the process. Transfer optimization in the mixing chamber will contribute significantly to an increase in the overall separation efficiency of the device.


Constructive interference (CI) can happen when multiple wireless devices send the same frame at the same time. If the time offset between the transmissions is less than 500 ns, a receiver will successfully decode the frame with high probability. CI can be useful for achieving low-latency communication or low-overhead flooding in a multi-hop low-power wireless network. The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, we present the current state-of-the-art CI-based protocols. Second, we provide a detailed hands-on tutorial on how to implement CI-based protocols on TelosB motes, with well documented open-source code. Third, we discuss the issues and challenges of CI-based protocols, and list open issues and research directions. This paper is targeted at the level of practicing engineers and advanced researchers and can serve both as a primer on CI technology and a reference to its implementation.


We show that the generation of stacking faults in perfect face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystals, uniaxially compressed along [001], is due to transverse-acoustic phonon instabilities. The position in reciprocal space where the instability first manifests itself is not a point of high symmetry in the Brillouin zone. This model provides a useful explanation for the magnitude of the elastic limit, in addition to the affects of box size, temperature, and compression on the time scale for the generation of stacking faults. We observe this phenomenon in both simulations that use the Lennard-Jones potential and embedded atom potentials. Not only does this work provide fundamental insight into the microscopic response of the material but it also describes certain behavior seen in previous molecular dynamics simulations of single-crystal fcc metals shock compressed along the principal axis.


With the advent of new technologies being integrated into varied aspects of dental care through visual, photographic, and radiological evidences in clinical diagnostics, these aspects are yet to be involved in forensic sciences. This is despite the availability of the technological advances in today's clinical settings. This review discusses the feasibility of integration of virtual autopsy in forensic odontology practice in an Indian setting. Using high-tech radiological approaches, virtual autopsy provides an efficient and more accurate view on cases such as thanatological investigations, carbonized and putrefied body identifications, mass disaster cases, age estimation, anthropological examinations, and skin lesion analyses. In certain cases, the postmortem photographic and radiological examination becomes essential as the access to the oral cavity is hindered. These become feasible with the advent of availability of antemortem radiological digital formats stored in hospital settings, with the improved collection of data compared to the traditional techniques. However, we do not have any state and national level protocols and laboratories to augment the capabilities further. Virtual autopsy is likely to replace conventional autopsies in the future. Thus the century-old investigation system in our country can be upgraded by the utilization of this Modern Technology. This review advocates a multidisciplinary research and advocacy to develop improved tools and protocols for virtual autopsy and to stress the role of forensic odontologists in an Indian setting.


Lie bialgebras occur as the principal objects in the infinitesimalisation of the theory of quantum groups—the semi-classical theory. Their relationship with the quantum theory has made available some new tools that we can apply to classical questions. In this paper, we study the simple complex Lie algebras using the double-bosonisation construction of Majid. This construction expresses algebraically the induction process given by adding and removing nodes in Dynkin diagrams, which we call Lie induction. We first analyse the deletion of nodes, corresponding to the restriction of adjoint representations to subalgebras. This uses a natural grading associated to each node. We give explicit calculations of the module and algebra structures in the case of the deletion of a single node from the Dynkin diagram for a simple Lie (bi-)algebra. We next consider the inverse process, namely that of adding nodes, and give some necessary conditions for the simplicity of the induced algebra. Finally, we apply these to the exceptional series of simple Lie algebras, in the context of finding obstructions to the existence of finite-dimensional simple complex algebras of types E9, F5 and G3. In particular, our methods give a new point of view on why there cannot exist such an algebra of type E9.


The Calabrian Arc is a narrow subduction-rollback system resulting from Africa/Eurasia plate convergence. We analysed the structural style of the frontal accretionary wedge through a multi-scale geophysical approach. Pre-stack depth-migrated crustal-scale seismic profiles unravelled the overall geometry of the subduction complex; high-resolution multi-channel seismic and sub-bottom CHIRP profiles, together with morpho-structural maps, integrated deep data and constrained the fine structure of the frontal accretionary wedge, as well as deformation processes along the outer deformation front.We identified four main morpho-structural domains in the western lobe of the frontal wedge: the proto-deformation area at the transition with the abyssal plain; two regions of gentle and tight folding; a hummocky morphology domain with deep depressions and intervening structural highs; a highstanding plateau at the landward limit of the salt-bearing accretionary wedge, where the detachment cuts through deeper levels down to the basement. Variation of structural style and seafloor morphology in these domains are related to a progressively more intense deformation towards the inner wedge, while abrupt changes are linked to inherited structures in the lower African plate. Our data suggest focusing of intense shallow deformation in correspondence of deeply rooted faults and basement highs of the incoming plate.Back-arc extension in the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea has recently ceased, producing a slowdown of slab rollback and plate-boundary re-organization along trans-tensional lithospheric faults segmenting the continental margin. In this complex setting, it is not clear if the accretionary wedge is still growing through frontal accretion. Our data suggest that shortening is still active at the toe of the wedge, and uplift rates along single folds are in the range of 0.25-1.5 mm/yr. An unconformity within the Plio-Quaternary sediments suggests a discontinuity in sedimentation and tectonic processes, i.e. a slowdown of shortening rate or an increase in sedimentation rate, but not a real inactivation of frontal accretion, which still contributes to the migration of the outer deformation front towards the foreland.


Press articles in Germany that predicted a severe decline in property prices within certain regions caused by demographic developments have recently served to undermine the people's sense of security. This lead to an intense debate if and to what extent property price trends are affected by certain macroeconomic variables. Therefore, this paper examines property price trends in Germany from 1971 until 2003 based on the property price indices of the Ring of German Estate Agents (eRing Deutscher Makler'). The authors investigate correlations and dependencies between property price trends and financial as well as macroeconomic variables by using a multivariate regression model. The analysis is performed by taking into account structural breaks in the time series due to the German reunification or severe interference in the property market by the government. Furthermore, covariates like regional differences and the properties' different quality and performance characteristics are considered. Among other results, the analysis shows a different behaviour of property prices with regard to the properties' performance characteristics: While average and low-quality buildings' prices fell significantly under adverse macroeconomic conditions, high-quality buildings' prices remained stable in the most instances or even increased within the same time frame. The effects of the exogenous variables and covariates are quantified and implications for property valuation and investment decision making are deduced subsequently. In this regard it becomes evident that the regional economic attractiveness as well as the single buildings' characteristics need to be examined in more detail in order to produce appropriate assessment results.


The article addresses the conflict of private and public interests on the pharmaceutical market arising in the antitrust regulation. The authors suggest assessing antitrust interventions in establishment of rights and enforcement of laws in terms of potential errors known in economics as type I and type II errors, and negative implications of type I errors, where the innocent are punished. The examples of governmental regulation of the pricing of essential drugs, the practice of state procurement of medicines, the use of compulsory licensing institute are used to address the problem of balance between the private and the public interests, to suggest principles and mechanisms meant to reduce the number of errors in establishment of rights and enforcement of laws in order to develop more efficient model of antitrust regulation.


Point-of-Interest (POI) recommendation has been a trending research topic as it generates personalized suggestions on facilities for users from a large number of candidate venues. Since users' check-in records can be viewed as a long sequence, methods based on recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have recently shown promising applicability for this task. However, existing RNN-based methods either neglect users' long-term preferences or overlook the geographical relations among recently visited POIs when modeling users' short-term preferences, thus making the recommendation results unreliable. To address the above limitations, we propose a novel method named Long- and Short-Term Preference Modeling (LSTPM) for next-POI recommendation. In particular, the proposed model consists of a nonlocal network for long-term preference modeling and a geo-dilated RNN for short-term preference learning. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets demonstrate that our model yields significant improvements over the state-of-the-art methods.


Many animals show unique morphological and behavioural adaptations to specific habitats. In particular, variation in cranial morphology is known to influence feeding performance, which in turn influences dietary habits and, ultimately, fitness. Dietary separation is an important means of partitioning ecological niches and avoiding inter- and intraspecific competition. Consequently, differences in dietary resources may help explain phenotypic divergence in closely-related species occupying different habitats, as well as sexual dimorphism. We test this hypothesis on five phenotypic forms of a recent radiation of dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion) that vary extensively in habitat use and cranial morphology. By examining stomach contents, the dietary composition of each phenotypic form is compared to investigate potential differences in feeding strategies. Overall, chameleons in the present study exhibit considerable dietary overlap (at both inter- and intraspecific levels), indicating that diet is not a major driver of variation in cranial morphology within this radiation. However, the stomachs of closed-canopy females were found to contain more prey items than male stomachs, possibly indicating that females require a greater caloric intake than their male counterparts.


Summarising a high dimensional data set with a low dimensional embedding is a standard approach for exploring its structure. In this paper we provide an overview of some existing techniques for discovering such embeddings. We then introduce a novel probabilistic interpretation of principal component analysis (PCA) that we term dual probabilistic PCA (DPPCA). The DPPCA model has the additional advantage that the linear mappings from the embedded space can easily be non-linearised through Gaussian processes. We refer to this model as a Gaussian process latent variable model (GP-LVM). Through analysis of the GP-LVM objective function, we relate the model to popular spectral techniques such as kernel PCA and multidimensional scaling. We then review a practical algorithm for GP-LVMs in the context of large data sets and develop it to also handle discrete valued data and missing attributes. We demonstrate the model on a range of real-world and artificially generated data sets.


Blue straggler star (BSS) candidates have been observed in all old dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), however whether or not they are authentic BSSs or young stars has been a point of debate. To both address this issue and obtain a better understanding of the formation of BSSs in different environments, we have analysed a sample of BSS candidates in two nearby Galactic dSphs, Draco and Ursa Minor. We have determined their radial and luminosity distributions from wide field multicolour imaging data extending beyond the tidal radii of both galaxies. BSS candidates are uniformly distributed through the host galaxy, whereas a young population is expected to show a more clumpy distribution. Furthermore, the observed radial distribution of BSSs, normalized to both red giant branch (RGB) and horizontal branch (HB) stars, is almost flat, with a slight decrease towards the centre. Such a distribution is at odds with the predictions for a young stellar population, which should be more concentrated. Instead, it is consistent with model predictions for BSS formation by mass transfer in binaries (MT-BSSs). Such results, although not decisive, suggest that these candidates are indeed BSSs and that MT-BSSs form in the same way in Draco and Ursa Minor as in globular clusters. This favours the conclusion that Draco and Ursa Minor are truly 'fossil' galaxies, where star formation ceased completely more than 8 billion years ago.


Problem. An evaluation of my past ministry in Korea revealed that there is a tremendous need for change in the role of the laity in fulfillment of the gospel commission. The issue of the layperson is emerging as an important matter of concern for the church in Korea today. This project was to examine the significance of the layperson's role in the church and to study the importance of discipleship training from the biblical perspective with the purpose of devising a strategy for implementing discipleship through small groups in the local Seventh-day Adventist church in Korea. Method. The project consisted of two parts: a theological paper and a professional paper. The first paper provided a theological basis for the ministry of the laity and deals with discipleship as the ideal model for the training of the laypersons in the church. The second paper presented the small-group strategy as the most effective way to implement discipleship and provided a practical method to implement it through small groups in the local church. Results. It was determined that the best hope for the Korean Seventh-day Adventist church is the ministry of discipleship. It was also pointed out that there is no difference in status or rank between a layperson and a clergy. Discipleship was presented as the ideal model for the laity as the desirable direction and standard of lay training. It was emphasized that small groups not only are the most effective vehicle for discipleship training, but also provide situations in which the cooperative ministry of the laity and clergy can be developed. The practical steps were designed to implement discipleship training through small groups in the local church. Conclusions. It is important to remember that what was presented in this project is only a method, not the method. However, I am convinced that if the Korean church adopts the discipleship strategy presented in this project it will bring church renewal and revitalization. The discipleship training is not a special strategy for a certain specific target group, but a biblical ministerial method that must be practiced in every local church. In that sense, the church should become an equipping center where the people of God can be trained.


This case study is foremost an educational tool. It involves two European and Asian multinational tires manufacturer for OTR, Off the Road, or "off road" and a problem of price competition. It shows how an initial intelligence effort is led astray. Instead the solution is a combination of approaches, better known as Competitive Intelligence. It is built on the external vision of the company craft, the use of all information sources characteristics of an intelligence field dedicated to the business world. It is not a new discipline but a trans-disciplinary approach for information exploitation which is using elements from financial analysis, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) matrixes, and value chain analysis. In the above case, the company Eurotires used mostly the following sources: internet, scientific and patent databases; public administrative sources; customers interviews, industrial experts (manufacturing and distribution), and marketing analysis.


Iron-doped lithium niobate crystals are illuminated with a single continuous-wave (cw) focused green laser beam. Surface deformations, temperature distributions, and changes of the refractive index of the material are investigated by means of interferometric techniques. It turns out that light absorption causes pronounced temperature profiles in the samples, which induce pyroelectric fields. Electronic space-charge fields that compensate these pyroelectric fields remain in the crystals after the focused light is switched off and modulate, together with bulk-photovoltaic fields, the refractive index by means of the electro-optic effect. These low-spatial-frequency effects must be taken into account when focused light beams are utilized, e.g., for high-speed holographic data storage or two-beam coupling, because the effects determine an upper limit of the highest usable cw light intensities.


The purpose of the paper is operationalization of development processes' concepts in terms of threats to a government's socio-economic system on an example of a specific threat that is currently actively materializing itself – COVID -19. The research aims at structuring the process of threat's development to a government's socio-economic system. It shows negative changes in Ukraine's socio-economic system, their indicators and consequences inherent to the last stage of the threat's development process – the materialization stage. At all stages of any threat's development process, close attention has to be paid to catalysts and inhibitors – factors whose influence accelerates or inhibits the development of the threat. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic threat's materialization, inhibitors can only be the decisions and actions of Ukraine's government and institutions combined with the dual-use economic model (improving the pandemic situation, mitigating its consequences, on the one hand, preventing the deepening of the economic crisis and bankruptcy of domestic business, on the other). The results of studying the process of a threat's development lay the methodological principles for development of the Strategy Ensuring Ukraine's Economic Security. The development of a threat to a government's socio-economic system from perspective of the process approach has not been systemically explored. The scientific researches of the article's authors lay the fundamental ground in this direction of economic securitology.


Growth and development of multicellular organisms are controlled by signaling systems that sense nutrition availability and metabolic status. We report a novel and surprising factor in Caenorhabditis elegans development, the monomethyl branched-chain fatty acid C17ISO, a product of leucine catabolism. We show here that C17ISO is an essential constituent in a novel mechanism that acts in parallel with the food-sensing DAF-2 (insulin receptor)/DAF-16 (FOXO) signaling pathway to promote post-embryonic development, and that the two pathways converge on a common target repressing cell cycle. We show that C17ISO homeostasis is regulated by a SREBP-1c-mediated feedback mechanism that is different from the SREBP-1c-mediated regulation of common fatty acid biosynthesis, as well as by peptide uptake and transport. Our data suggest that C17ISO may act as a chemical/nutritional factor in a mechanism that regulates post-embryonic development in response to the metabolic state of the organism.


Albugo species are obligate biotrophic phytopathogens. Like other biotrophs, they are
anticipated to secrete effectors that can suppress or trigger plant defenses; the nature of
Albugo effectors is currently unknown.
Sequencing of A. laibachii isolate Nc14 (AlNc14) genome reveals 13032 genes encoded in
a ~37 Mb genome. We analyze the effector complement of AlNc14 and find known
effector classes but also classes unique to A. laibachii. Experiments reveal that CHXCs are
a novel class of effectors that suppress host defense.
We functionally characterize two predicted AlNc14 effectors in detail; CHXC1 a potential
core effector conserved in other oomycete species, and SSP6, a fast-evolving effector
specific to A. laibachii.
CHXC1 encodes a nuclear localized HECT E3 ligase homolog, which suppresses host
defenses dependent on cys651.
We find 7 variants of SSP6 that are under diversifying selection. Two highly expressed
variants SSP6-2c and SSP6-A are plasma membrane localized when expressed in planta.
Interestingly, SSP6-2c but not SSP6-A, is able to enhance growth of P. infestans race blue
13 and suppress flg22-dependent ROS production. In Arabidopsis cells we find SSP6-2c
localizes around AlNc14 haustoria. We propose that AlNc14 secretes the effectors SSP6-2c
and CHXC1 into the plant cell to suppress defense and promote infection.
Current methods to screen for virulence of effector candidates predominantly rely on
measuring growth of bacterial pathogens. Quantitative assessment of resistance and
susceptibility to eukaryotic pathogens is more difficult. We develop a semi-automated
high-throughput system for assaying Hpa growth.
We investigate the genetic basis of resistance to Albugo in Arabidopsis. We find that
resistance to AlNc14 is linked to RAC1 and RAC3 in Ksk-1. In contrast, resistance to A.
candida Nc2 (AcNc2) is linked to WRR4 in Col-0, Col-5 and Ksk-1. A second dominant
locus, WRR5a/b in Col-5 also confers resistance to AlNc2. Thus, different R-genes and
presumably different effectors govern resistance to AlNc14 and AcNc2.!


Research Aims
Practice development accreditation is growing rapidly as it is praised for transforming cultures of health care, inciting empowerment, instigating multidisciplinary teamwork and creating more effective services. However,
literature is vague on what occurs during accreditation, the role of culture within this process and the experiences of different professional groups in practice development. This research therefore sought to address the following
research aims: To investigate practice development accreditation by studying a unit undertaking this process
To examine the culture of a unit during accreditation
To portray a multidisciplinary account of practice development
Method
These aims were investigated by conducting a twelve month observational study of a group undertaking the accreditation process. Despite the accreditation attempt being unsuccessful, important concepts around leadership and culture emerged.
Findings
This study found that the core group of practitioners instigating practice development lacked shared beliefs, aims or commitment which caused disputes (particularly over the distribution of work) and that a lack of
management support dampened morale and made progression difficult. The core group's leadership style also hindered the accreditation attempt as they both restricted and forced involvement from the staff, leaving them feeling
unempowered and reluctant to participate. Finally, the participants were unable to overcome divides based on hierarchical and professional identity to work as part of a multidisciplinary team in order to implement practice
development.
Recommendations
Four recommendations for the instigators of any empowering change initiative emerged. These are: i) to create a 'vision' in order to ensure the entire organisation understands the purpose and goal of implementing
changes; ii) to erode divides between employees that are based on professional and hierarchical identities; iii) to create succession plans in order to maintain effective leadership; iv) those initiating change should understand
the notion of functional conflict.
Further Research
This study suggests further research is needed into the roles of excluded professionals in practice development, to explore the relationship between accredited and non-accredited units within organisations, to assessthe impact
of gender within practice development units, to discover how units successfully achieve accreditation and the strategies utilised by ethnographers to disengage from the field.


Common bacterial blight is one of the most important diseases in bean crop. Currently, the use of beneficial microorganisms to protect agricultural crops is booming, however, the control efficiency achieved with its application is even lower than conventional methods, which suggests more studies to understand the site and mechanism of protection. The present work was carried out with the purpose of evaluating the effect of the phytohormones jasmonic and salicylic acid, and of the beneficial microorganisms Trichoderma asperellum and Bacillus pumilus as foliar treatments for the protection against the bacterial common blight disease in bean plants. The phytopathogenic bacteria that cause this disease were isolated and identified through biochemical tests. The effect of these bacteria and the treatments on the assimilation of CO2, stomatal conductance and opening of bean plants were evaluated. Isolation of the bacteria Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli(Xap) and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli var. fuscans(Xapf) was achieved. The analysis of variance of the evaluated variables indicated a significant difference due to the effect of phytopathogenic bacteria and treatments. The plants inoculated with the Xapf bacteria showed greater severity of the disease. The plants treated with jasmonic acid presented higher tolerance to the causal agents with respect to the rest of the treatments and reduced the assimilation of CO2. No statistically significant difference was found between the rest of the treatments and the control. K e y w o r d s Common bacterial Blight, Stomatal opening, Jasmonic acid, Bacillus pumilus Accepted: 18 May 2019 Available Online: 10 June 2019 Article Info International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 06 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(6): 3172-3181

https://www.ijcmas.com/8-6-2019/Nazario Francisco Francisco, et al.pdf


We present a detailed study of the dwarf galaxy VV124 (UGC4879), recently recognized as a remarkably isolated member of the Local Group. We have obtained deep (r ≃ 26.5) wide-field (23' × 23') g,r photometry of individual stars with the LBC camera at the Large Binocular Telescope under sub-arcsec seeing conditions. The color-magnitude diagram suggests that the stellar content of the galaxy is dominated by an old, metal-poor population, with a significant metallicity spread. A very clean detection of the RGB tip allows us to derive an accurate distance of D = 1.3 ± 0.1 Mpc. Combining surface photometry with star counts, we are able to trace the surface brightness profile of VV124 out to ~5' ≃ 1.9 kpc radius (where μr ≃ 30 mag/arcsec2), showing that it is much more extended than previously believed. Moreover, the surface density map reveals the presence of two symmetric flattened wings emanating from the central elongated spheroid and aligned with its major axis, resembling a stellar disk seen nearly edge-on. We also present H i observations obtained with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), the first ever of this object. A total amount of ≃ 106 M⊙ of H i gas is detected in VV124. Compared to the total luminosity, this gives a value of MHI/LV = 0.11, which is particularly low for isolated Local Group dwarfs. The spatial distribution of the gas does not correlate with the observed stellar wings. The systemic velocity of the H i in the region superposed to the stellar main body of the galaxy is Vh = -25 km s-1. The velocity field shows substructures typical of galaxies of this size but no sign of rotation. The H i spectra indicates the presence of a two-phase interstellar medium, again typical of many dwarf galaxies.


Between 1977 and 1986, area of timberland in Virginia declined from 16.0 to 15.4 million acres. Volume of softwood growing stock increased by 5 percent, and volume of hardwood growing stock increased by 11 percent. Softwood net annual growth decreased by 7 percent, and hardwood growing-stick growth decreased by 1 percent. Softwood removals remained almost unchanged whereas removals of hardwood growing stock fell by 6 percent. Softwood growth exceeded removals by 11 percent, and hardwood growth exceeded removals by about two to one.


In this article, we present a goal-oriented adaptive finite element method for a class of subsurface flow problems in porous media, which exhibit seepage faces. We focus on a representative case of the steady state flows governed by a nonlinear Darcy–Buckingham law with physical constraints on subsurface-atmosphere boundaries. This leads to the formulation of the problem as a variational inequality. The solutions to this problem are investigated using an adaptive finite element method based on a dual-weighted a posteriori error estimate, derived with the aim of reducing error in a specific target quantity. The quantity of interest is chosen as volumetric water flux across the seepage face, and therefore depends on an a priori unknown free boundary. We apply our method to challenging numerical examples as well as specific case studies, from which this research originates, illustrating the major difficulties that arise in practical situations. We summarise extensive numerical results that clearly demonstrate the designed method produces rapid error reduction measured against the number of degrees of freedom.


More than 200 years ago, just as the United States was developing into a nation, corsair piracy challenged the ability of the country to conduct international trade throughout the Mediterranean Sea. While the Barbary threat was defeated, piracy continues to thrive and has become a feature of the contemporary age. Now, pirates operating off the Somali coast represent a destabilizing force in the region, and their attacks wreak havoc on world shipping markets at the very time the industry is suffering from economic collapse. Although piracy in the Horn of Africa has picked up throughout the past five years, 2008 was an especially remarkable year. In 2008, Somali pirates attacked more than one hundred vessels in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean. The audacity and scope of this piracy campaign is unprecedented in the modern age. Twenty thousand ships transit the Gulf of Aden annually and in 2007 about 6,500 tankers, carrying 12 percent of the world's daily oil supply, used the route. (1) This strategic area links trade between the east and west through the neighboring Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and into the Suez Canal. Piracy also occurs in Southeast Asia, off the African west coast and in the Caribbean, but the explosion in the number and scope of incidents in the Horn of Africa has galvanized world attention. Increasingly, Somali pirates seize and hold for ransom seafarers and valuable cargo. Among the take are thirty-three Russian armored tanks, 2 million barrels of crude oil valued at $100 million and tankers full of bulk chemicals. (2) Piracy suppression includes collective efforts to deter and defeat the crime, from intercepting money transfers of ill-gotten ransoms to taking expeditionary military action in the coastal towns and villages located in the Puntland state of Somalia. On the operational end of the spectrum of efforts to repress piracy, a host of nations, including France, Denmark, Malaysia, India, Iran and Russia, have sent warships to the area. Combined Task Force 151, a multinational coalition that coordinates with the U.S. Navy's Fifth fleet, operates in the Horn of Africa to deter maritime terrorism and to promote the rule of law at sea. The European Union (EU) response includes deployment of naval vessels and surveillance planes to the area under Operation "Atalanta." Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden have all made contributions to this EU effort, with other nations also heeding the call. Japan is sending warships to the region, while China has already deployed two destroyers and a supply ship. However, the dramatic increase in the number and type of warships patrolling the Horn of Africa has been unsuccessful in stemming the threat of maritime piracy. The seas are a unique legal milieu of flag, port and coastal state jurisdiction. Criminal offenses on the oceans frequently involve perpetrators, victims and wit nesses from multiple countries. Most of the oceans and airspace above the seas lie beyond any coastal state's jurisdiction, so cooperation with flag states-which typically exercise exclusive jurisdiction over their vessels at sea--is essential for effective action. This article focuses on the international laws and policies that connect the many nations, regional initiatives and international organizations in a common enterprise to repress maritime piracy. Developing workable legal and policy solutions provides the basis for collective action and can tie regional and global efforts into a more effective approach. (3) With such diverse and varied interests converging to address piracy, ensuring there is a unity of effort, effective communication, coordination and support for punishing perpetrators is critical. To successfully contain piracy, collective action should connect the efforts of private industry with those of governments and international organizations, and encompass political, military, financial and legal support. Collaborative confrontation of the problem of piracy in the Horn of Africa has begun to strengthen relationships among states in East Africa, and between them and maritime powers and shipping nations. …


In today's world, with the rapid growth of science and the increasing production of knowledge, and with the social and epistemological changes of human beings, we must go beyond the ideas and methods of education. Education can no longer be separated from upbringing and human beings can be valued on the basis of mastery of subjects. Today we can no longer accept the same education for all and the emphasis on archives. The new educational system in schools tries to provide a learning environment based on individual differences of students. In the mentioned article, the statistical population was an educational complex in the fifth district of Tehran; Using the methods of theory of theory of selection of educational and behavioral problems of a number of first and second grade students of this complex has been observed and studied. The statistical results obtained from these studies have shown a positive trend in order to improve the learning conditions of students in these two courses, both in terms of education and behavior.


In the wake of Gundy v. United States, 139 S.Ct. 2116 (2019), there is reason to think that five Justices might be willing to consider reviving the constitutional non-subdelegation doctrine. But in what form? Judges and scholars have labored for more than two centuries to come up with a legally rigorous standard for evaluating the permissible scope and breadth of congressional grants of discretion to executive and judicial agents. Some, such as Justice Scalia, eventually gave up in despair. That is a grave mistake. Lawyers had faced subdelegation questions for centuries before the Constitution was ratified, in the context of private-law agency arrangements. There are good reasons to think that the Constitution draws on private-law background norms for much of its meaning, and the subdelegation problem is an excellent candidate for elaboration in private-law terms. Thus, when Chief Justice John Marshall in 1825 drew a distinction between impermissible grants of discretion on "important subjects" and permissible grants of discretion on matters of "less interest," his approach was far more structured, grounded in precedent , and law-like than may appear at first glance. It drew on principles and case law developed in settings ranging from powers of appointment in wills, in which the holder of the power tries to designate another person to exercise it, to the lack of privity between merchants and subdelegees in the absence of express authority on the part of the agents to subdelegate power, to the lack of authority of factors and supercargoes to entrust sale of goods to subagents without the express consent of their principals. Thus, judges worried about the open-ended character of a non-subdelegation doctrine need not run away from Chief Justice Marshall's classic formulation. They simply need to flesh out its private-law background. There was abundant law regarding subdelegation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the Constitution's subdelegation principle is grounded in that law.


Introduction In developing countries like India, circulation and loan of documents from a library collection is a vital medium for the dissemination of information and knowledge. Circulation of books for home reading maximizes the use of library resources, and helps meet user needs for research, publication, and instructional activities. Circulation data is one way of assessing a library. Since circulation of printed material remains important in Indian, it is appropriate to analyze circulation as a way of guiding the acquisition of books. The growth of information in terms of quality and quantity, the many subjects of interest to users, increasing costs, and limited fiscal resources force librarians to use data for making rational decisions. The present investigation uses circulation records to study the books borrowed from the college library of Siddhartha Engineering College by computer science and engineering students. V R Siddhartha Engineering College (VRSEC) is the first private engineering college in the state of Andhra Pradesh, established in 1977, sponsored by Siddhartha Academy of General and Technical Education, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. The college has eight undergraduate and four postgraduate courses in engineering and computer science. The college library has 56,500 volumes, 150 national and international journals, DELNET and APSONET databases, Internet and Intranet facilities. Objectives The following are the objectives of the present study: * To find the number of books used by final-year computer science and engineering students * To determine the authorship patterns, range of publication dates, and countries of publication of circulated books * To prepare a ranked list of most frequently used books * To prepare a ranked list of publishers Hypotheses The following hypotheses have been formulated for testing * Most books used have a single author and are in the field of computer science or engineering. * Female students use more books than male students. * All students prefer the newest books. * Students use Indian publications more than those from other countries Scope and limitation The present study examines books borrowed by final-year computer science and engineering students of Siddhartha Engineering College Library, Vijayawada during 2004-2005. It is also limited to borrowed books. Data pertaining to the use of textbooks and reference books within the library is excluded from the study. Methodology Undergraduate students in eight areas of engineering and postgraduate students in four areas, as well as teaching and non teaching staff, have access to the library. The investigator selected only finalyear undergraduate students of computer science and engineering for this study. The total sample consists of 132 final-year computer science and engineering students, and used the borrowing data of 100 students, based on the entries in their personal borrowing books. Out of these 100 students, 65 are male and 35 are female. Analysis Most books (78.24%) were borrowed by male students, with the remaining books (21.76%) borrowed by female students. An average of 18 books was borrowed per student per year. Seventy percent of students have used twenty or fewer books. A large majority of the books used by computer science and engineering students were written by a single author. More than half the books used were published between 2001 and 2005, and nearly 80 percent during the most recent ten years. More than three quarters of the books used were published in India. Going along with the results displayed in the previous table, Table 6 shows that more than three quarters of the books used were published by Indian publishing companies. Most books that were used were from Pearson Education Asia, followed by Prentice Hall of India (14. …


This paper reports PρT data measured with a high-pressure, single-sinker, magnetic-suspension densimeter (MSD) from (300 to 450) K up to 180 MPa. Our MSD technique yields accurate data, with less than 0.05 % relative uncertainty, over the pressure range of (10 to 200) MPa. The experimental data compare well to the Setzmann and Wagner equation of state as implemented in RefProp 8.0. These methane density data are consistent with the low range of pressure predicted by RefProp 8.0 that has a relative uncertainty of 0.03 % up to 12 MPa and 0.07 % up to 50 MPa. The density predictions of this model agree well with previous data at higher pressures. The equation predicts data with almost the same uncertainty as the experimental data up to 180 MPa. These PρT data also allow reliable determination of both second and third virial coefficients.


Breastfeeding benefits the mother as well as the baby. Breast milk is a complete food for newborn human infants, adequately supplying all nutritional needs for at least the first 4- 6 months of life (Kramer & Kakuma, 2002). In 1993, the Commonwealth of Australia recommended the following goals for promoting breastfeeding by the year 2000 and beyond (Nutbeam, Wise, Bauman, Harris & Leader, 1993): For infants to the age of three months, 60% should be fully breastfed or 80% should be partially breastfed. For infants to the age of six months, 50% should be fully breastfed or 80% should be partially breastfed. However, according to the most recent national survey, these targets have not been met (Donath, 2000). In effect, breastfeeding figures have not changed in the last ten to fifteen years (Mortensen, 2001). Research indicates that the largest decrease in breastfeeding occurs between two weeks and six weeks after birth (Binns & Scotts, 2002; Stamp & Crowther, 1995; Mogan 1986), with women giving Insufficient Milk Supply (IMS) as the major reason for stopping. Despite research in the field of physiology, biochemistry, psychology and socioeconomics, this phenomenon of IMS remains an 'enigma' (Hill, 1991, p. 312). However, failure to thrive in infancy can be seen in babies who do not achieve an adequate weight gain within the normal time span. According to lactation consultants at the Royal Women's Hospital Breastfeeding Assessment Service in Melbourne, some babies who are breastfed present with inadequate weight gain due to IMS. Women with low breastmilk supply who wish to persist with breastfeeding often look for some means to increase their milk supply. There are very few alternative treatment to assist them. For over a thousand years mothers in China have used acupuncture to increase their supply of breast milk. Within the last decade, several authors have published results of studies on the effect of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA) on lactation (Wu, 2002; Huang & Huang, 1994; Tureanu, 1994; Dong, 1988; Kang, 1990). These study all indicated improvement in lactation after TCA therapy. However, all these studies have been uncontrolled clinical trials. This research is a first single blind controlled clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture for the treatment of IMS. The aim of the study is to find out whether a course of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture treatment would help mothers diagnosed with insufficient breast milk supply produce more milk. This clinical trial was conducted by a qualified Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. The researcher gained a Bachelor of Medicine degree in TCM after completing the five years program at the Beijing College of TCM in China. The researcher has been in clinical practice for more than 15 years. This is a pilot study. The final number of subjects in the study was 27,: 9 in the Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA) Group; 6 in the Sham Acupuncture (SA) Group and 12 in the Non-Treatment Control Group. The major finding of the study was that - 'Other things being equal, infants whose mothers received TCA weighed 160.13 grams more on average than those whose mothers received SA. This effect is marginally significant (p less than 0.1)'. The finding generally confirms that the Traditional Chinese Acupuncture intervention to the mother is effective in increasing infant weight gain.


Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkmma Partisi, AKP) was reelected to a third term in June 20 1 1 . This remarkable achievement was mainly the result of the opposition's weakness and the rapid economic growth that has made Turkey the world's sixteenth largest economy. But Ankara's growing international profile also played a role in the continued public support for the conservative, Islamist party. Indeed, in a highly unusual fashion, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began his victory speech by saluting "friendly and brotherly nations from Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Sarajevo, Baku, and Nicosia."1 "The Middle East, the Caucasus, and the Balkans have won as much as Turkey," he claimed, pledging to take on an even greater role in regional and international affairs. By 2023, the republic's centennial, the AKP has promised Turkey will be among the world's ten leading powers. At the same time, Turkey's growing profile has been controversial. As Ankara developed increasingly warm ties with rogue states such as Iran, Syria, and Sudan while curtailing its once cordial relations with Israel and using stronger rhetoric against the United States and Europe, it generated often heated debates on whether it has distanced itself from the West. Turkey continues to function within the European security infrastructure although more uneasily than before, but has a rupture with the West already taken place, and if so, is it irreversible? AKP CHANGES FOCUS FROM WEST TO EAST The basic tenets that guided Turkey's foreign policy since the founding of the republic included caution and pragmatism - especially concerning the Middle East. An imperial hangover from the Ottoman era drove home the lesson that Ankara had little to gain and much to lose from interjecting itself into the acrimonious politics of the region. Notwithstanding occasional differences with the Western powers, Ankara concentrated on playing a role within Europe. The AKP appeared to maintain this course during its first term (2002-07) as seen in its focus onEU harmonization as a means to join the union. But in its second term (2007-1 1) it departed significantly from this approach. Guided by the concept of "strategic depth" elaborated by Erdogan' s long-term advisor-turned-foreign-minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Ankara increasingly focused on its neighborhood with the stated goal of becoming a dominant and stabilizing force, one that would function as an honest broker and project its economic clout throughout the region and beyond.2 The official slogan, which could be called the Davutoglu doctrine, was "zero problems with neighbors." Ankara rapidly developed relations with the Syrian government to the level of a strategic partnership; Turkish officials also began cultivating closer economic and political ties with the Iranian and Russian governments, both large energy providers to the growing Turkish economy. It also reached out to the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq, a previously unthinkable move. In another bold but ultimately failed move, the AKP leadership sought to mend fences with Armenia; its predecessors had never established diplomatic relations with Yerevan due to its occupation since the early 1990s of a sixth of Turkic Azerbaijan's territory, including the disputed area of NagornoKarabakh. These moves were generally welcomed in the West. Critics in Washington deplored Ankara's overtures to Tehran and Damascus, but the incoming Obama administration went on to develop rather similar outreach policies of its own. The AKP argued that it could function as an interlocutor with these regimes on Turkey's border with which Brussels and Washington had only limited ties and that a more active Turkey would also benefit the West. Ankara's eagerness to mediate in regional conflicts also brought goodwill. The Turkish government offered its good offices in bridging differences between Syria and Israel, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and between the rival Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas. …