We present a probabilistic generative model and efficient algorithm to model reciprocity in directed networks. Unlike other methods that address this problem such as exponential random graphs, it assigns latent variables as community memberships to nodes and a reciprocity parameter to the whole network rather than fitting order statistics. It formalizes the assumption that a directed interaction is more likely to occur if an individual has already observed an interaction towards her. It provides a natural framework for relaxing the common assumption in network generative models of conditional independence between edges, and it can be used to perform inference tasks such as predicting the existence of an edge given the observation of an edge in the reverse direction. Inference is performed using an efficient expectation-maximization algorithm that exploits the sparsity of the network, leading to an efficient and scalable implementation. We illustrate these findings by analyzing synthetic and real data, including social networks, academic citations and the Erasmus student exchange program. Our method outperforms others in both predicting edges and generating networks that reflect the reciprocity values observed in real data, while at the same time inferring an underlying community structure. We provide an open-source implementation of the code online.


The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) remains one of the leading conceptual models in the policy sciences because it continues to be revised and updated as required. A focus area of the ACF that requires further theorization is the roles of experts and expert-based information in influencing policy problem contexts. Our article takes a necessary step in this direction by (1) evaluating the usefulness of Weible's expectations regarding the uses of expert-based information in different types of policy subsystems and factors that contribute to shifts from one subsystem to another; and (2) making critical observations that result from this evaluation in the context of the controversial acid mine drainage policy case study in South Africa. The findings of our case study analysis indicate that Weible's framework performed reasonably well but also revealed opportunities for further improvement. We therefore suggest adding awareness raising as a use of expert-based information, developing a typology of different types of experts who participate in policy subsystems, and including a focus on the use of expert-based information in policy subsystem shifts. We also reflect upon the relevance and importance of continuing to expand ACF applications to countries outside of North America and Western Europe.


There are major variations in education provision between areas yet their analysis remains undeveloped. This thesis examines variations in resources and the curriculum in English education in the early 1980s. It argues that these variations are one of the major outcomes of the relationships between actors in the education service established in the post-war era. Despite their importance, the patterns of provision have been subject to little previous systematic empirical assessment. The first part of the thesis develops a framework for analysis of the relationships between actors in education: central government, local authority and school. This framework provides the structure for the empirical analyses which follow. A hierarchical research design is adopted which facilitates the examination of the effect of each level on the distribution of resources and their translation into curricula. Four contrasted case studies were selected for analysis. The results of original surveys are drawn upon to examine the management context. The second part of the thesis presents an original analysis of the impact of changes to the system of central grants to local authorities. National data sources are used to examine in detail the impact of these changes on secondary education expenditure. The focus then shifts to examine the distribution of resources within the four case study areas and their relationship to the socio-economic characteristics of school catchments and 'technical' factors such as size. Having established the patterns of resource distribution, the thesis moves to an original examination of the translation of these resources into curricula. The curriculum profiles of the case study authorities are compared, and, for two areas, changes over time are analysed. In the final section, the thesis examines variations in the curriculum between schools, examining their relationship to school background factors and resource levels.


Abstract
 This paper describes the distribution and patterns of spread of the red alga Lophocladia lallemandii in the Tuscan Archipelago (NW Mediterranean Sea). Lophocladia lallemandii is recorded from three islands of the archipelago. Invasive traits were only detected at Pianosa Island where the affected stretch of coast has increased from 1.2 km in 2008 to 10.7 km in 2010. The abundance of the alga was found to increase with depth and strong differences among habitats were found in shallow stands. The presence of populations of Cystoseira spp. seemed to facilitate the spread of the alga. In Cystoseira assemblages, the biomass of L. lallemandii could represent up to 44 % of the biomass of Cystoseira spp. and epiphytes. The ability of L. lallemandii to colonize canopy species exposes habitats ecologically important to be invaded, and contradicts the classic concept of ecosystem resistance to biological invasions.


This paper discusses e-commerce, industry 4.0 and society 5.0 which includes definitions, history, framework and dimensions of technology. From this scope, a comparison was made between industry 4.0 and society 5.0 and a discussion on the alignment and impact of industry 4.0 and society 5.0 on e-commerce. After a deeper comparison and discussion, it can be concluded that technology society 5.0 is a continuation of industry technology 4.0. Then there is technology alignment between e-commerce with the era of industrial 4.0 and society 5.0, where e-commerce technology follows and adapts its technology to each of those eras. The era of industrial 4.0 and society 5.0 had many positive impacts on the development and progress of e-commerce.


Equipment life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is typically used as one component of the equipment fleet management process and allows the fleet manager to make equipment repair, replacement, and retention decisions on the basis of a given piece of equipment's economic life. The objective of this research is to develop a robust method that permits equipment fleet managers to maximize the cost effectiveness of the fleet by optimizing the overall lifecycle value of each piece in the fleet. Minneapolis Public Works Fleet Services Division (MPWFSD) equipment fleet data was utilized in developing the proposed stochastic LCCA model for public agency's fleet. The research compared output using actual data from current software to the output from the new stochastic LCCA method using equipment deterioration curves and probabilistic input variables for capital costs, fuel, and other operating costs to demonstrate enhanced ability to optimize fleet management decisions. The interest rate was found to have a greater impact on economic life output than fuel prices for a dump truck. The fuel volatility did impact the life-cycle costs when applying the stochastic confidence levels. Based on Monte Carlo simulation sensitivity analysis results, the time factor and engine factor were found to be the most sensitive input variables to the LCCA model. This leads to the conclusion that when deciding to replace a piece of equipment, engine efficiency should be a high priority due to the costs associated with the time factor, engine factor, and its subsequent annual usage.


The resource limitation of nodes used in self- organized ad hoc networks, along with the multi-hop nature of these networks, may cause a new behavioral phenomena which does not exist in traditional infrastructured environ- ments. To save its energy, a node may behave sel shly ,t hen it would not forward packets for other nodes while using their resources to forward its own packets. This deviation from the normal behavior is a potential threat against the service availability, one of the most important security requirements. Resolving this problem is challenging, due to the self-organization and the infrastructureless features of these networks. Recently, some solutions have been proposed, but almost all these solutions rely on the watchdog technique (1), which suffers from many problems. Especially when using the power control technique, employed by some new power- aware routing protocols following the watchdog's proposal. To overcome this problem, we propose in this paper a new approach we call two hops ACK (acknowledgment). Using petri nets we model and analyze our solution based on this novel approach.


The Joint Commission International (JCI) is dedicated to improving the quality and safety of healthcare services. Currently, the largest certification body of healthcare organisations in the USA, the JCI surveys nearly 20,000 healthcare programmes through a voluntary accreditation process. The JCI is a nonprofit organisation that continually improves the safety and quality of care in the international community through the provision of education and international accreditation. The JCI standard contains different subjects such as Prevention of Infection, Patient and Family Rights, Leadership, Facility Management and Safety. Clients do not always appreciate the differences among JCI consultants. This paper aims to provide an analytical tool to select the best JCI consultant to provide the utmost customer satisfaction. The clients of three Turkish JCI consultancy firms were interviewed, and the most important criteria taken into account by the clients while they were selecting their consultancy firms were determined by a designed questionnaire. The fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to compare these consultancy firms. The means of the triangular fuzzy numbers produced by the customers and experts for each comparison were successfully used in pairwise comparison matrices.


The aim of this thesis, conducted over six growing seasons (20032008), is to define new measures for reducing the use of fungicides and in particular, copper fungicides, for the control of apple scab (V. inaequalis) in organic apple production. Special emphasis is put on primary scab infection control during spring season. An original approach is proposed for defining a specific spray timing involving spraying during the infection processes, especially before fungal penetration, determined by the RIMpro software warning system. This 'during-infection' spray strategy allows reducing from 30 to 50% the amount of fungicide usually used for effective apple scab control, on high scab-susceptible cultivars. The field study shows that six alternative products (e.g., potassium bicarbonate and lime sulphur), among 60 products tested, have the potential to reduce copper use. However, copper use, even with low doses, seems to be still necessary in presence of scab-susceptible cultivars. The results obtained in these experiments could not be attributed to the specific technical performances of the tunnel sprayer used, which however, offer valuable environmental benefits. On the basis of the present study, the organic management system seems a good farming approach for maintaining soil quality with regard to biological indicators. This work shows and draws attention to the fact that (i) planting cultivars with polygenic scab-resistance traits, (ii) increasing emphasis on sanitation practices aimed at reducing initial inoculum in autumn, and (iii) applying an accurate spray strategy in spring, as defined in the present study, are the three most promising approaches for substantial further reductions in protection products fully compliant with international organic crop production standards.


Nickel is a metal whose workability and mechanical strength at high temperatures and in corrosive environments makes it an indispensable alloying element for the realization of stainless steel, specialty steel, super-alloys, rechargeable batteries and electroplating. Because its main fields of application are key to the development of industry and, thus, to society, nickel has recently been recognized as a potentially critical mineral, despite its abundant reserves. The purpose of this paper is the creation of possible case scenarios determined by factors and events that, in the medium to long term, could change the current structure of the nickel market on the demand and/or the supply side. Four scenarios have been determined by considering a demand variation due to the occurrence of a natural disaster and an aerospace plan implementation and taking into account the resource nationalism and the skills shortage as supply varying factors. Through the creation of a georeferenced global nickel database, the paper proposes supply strategies related to the four scenarios for each top nickel consumer: China, India, European Union, United States and Japan.


The understanding of sanitation infrastructure, public health, and environmental relations is a fundamental assumption for planning sanitation infrastructure in urban areas. This article thus suggests elements for developing a planning model for sanitation infrastructure. The authors performed a historical survey of environmental and public health issues related to the sector, an analysis of the conceptual frameworks involving public health and sanitation systems, and a systematization of the various effects that water supply and sanitation have on public health and the environment. Evaluation of these effects should guarantee the correct analysis of possible alternatives, deal with environmental and public health objectives (the main purpose of sanitation infrastructure), and provide the most reasonable indication of actions. The suggested systematization of the sanitation systems effects in each step of their implementation is an advance considering the association between the fundamental elements for formulating a planning model for sanitation infrastructure.


Gentil lived for for twenty-five years in India, spending eleven of them at the court of Shuja-ud-daula. He carried from India among other things an atlas containing 21 maps of the mughal subas that he had drawn according to the Ain-e-Akbari. the maps are reproduced here in full colour.


In my video live installations I investigate the perception of time (psychological time), non simultaneous artist and audience interchange in liveness, and the ontology/production of the video document. Particularly, how live recording, pre-recording and their transmission, can all be perceived as overlapping layers of representation of time, and unfold in duration. 'Wh en we think of this present as what ought to be, it is no longer, and when we think of it as existing, it is already past…all perception is already memory' (Bergson, Matier et memoire, 166-167). I refer mainly to time implied in audience fruition of works of art, where synchronicity of vision is not taken for granted. Where vision is considered only one of the instruments for knowing, as psychological studies have shown. I am thinking of appreciation of painting in Gestald terms for instance (example of use of perspective and distortions), Arnheim, the structuralist theory of perception of space. Aspects of these I have embraced in my art work in the adoption of gaps, the viewer's diachronic approach to human size objects (sculptures), the kaenesthetics generated by ambients, and the relation between performer and spectator. In particular, the fruition stage I have described in relation to painting in my doctoral thesis, later illustrated, suggests a sort of audience involvement which is rooted in perceptual and psychological dynamics and is conceived as based on time. As my own media of artistic expression moved from 2D into performance and time based territory, the visual paradigm of composition within which I place a gap allowing for audience interaction overlaps with time. In this account I trace this journey of understanding (or research methods embedded) in my art practice. Moreover, I relate to the performance series Mnemonic Present, Un-Folding example of a continuous
shifting of meaning in relation to the deferral of ontological value of performances' documents, and the current project
Experiential to focus on the adoption of 'the gap' in the works. Also, in discussing the document's 'performativity' aspect I look at continuous performance artist-audience exchange in the present. This present is expanded: from performance conception through to its reception, and documentation.


The relations between the antennas' geometrical parameters and design specifications usually consist of linear and nonlinear components. Especially with the increase of the requested performance measures, the design procedure becomes much more complex due to the conflicting performance criteria or design limitations. To achieve a design with high performance with feasible design parameters, a fast, accurate, and reliable design optimization process is required. Herein, to have a fast, accurate, and high‐performance capacitive‐feed antenna model to be used in design optimization problems, a modified multi‐layer perceptron (M2LP) model has been proposed. The M2LP is an equivalent convolutional neural network (CNN) model of a standard multilayer perceptron (MLP), where instead of traditional training parameters of MLP, more advanced training parameters of CNN models such as batch‐norm layer, leaky‐rectified linear unit (ReLU) layer, and Adam training algorithm had been used. Furthermore, the M2LP model had been used in a design optimization process and the obtained optimal antenna had been prototyped using 3D printing technology for justification of the proposed M2LP model with experimental results. As can be seen from the results, the proposed M2LP model is a fast, accurate, and reliable regression model for design optimization of microwave antennas.


The materialists pull everything down from the sky and out of the invisible world onto the earth as if they wanted to clench rocks and oak trees in their fists. They grasp them, and stubbornly maintain that the only objects that exist are those that are tangible and comprehensible. They believe that the physical existence of an object is existence itself, and look down smugly on other people — those who acknowledge another area of existence separate from the physical. But they are totally unwilling to listen to another point of view. (Plato, Sophisles)


Horseradish
(Armoracia rusticana Gaertn) is a perennial crop
belonging to the Brassicaceae family, widely used as spice in food and as herbal
ingredient in ethno-medicine. This study
evaluated the phenolic compounds content, antioxidant capacity and
anti-lipase activity of methanol, methanol/water (70/30, v/v) and
methanol/water (50/50, v/v) extracts of horseradish roots and leaves. Among the
extracts tested, both roots and leaves aqueous methanolic (70/30, v/v and
50/50, v/v) extracts showed higher total phenol and flavonoid contents and
antioxidant capacity than the corresponding methanol extracts. But extraction
yield was high for methanol/ water (50/50, v/v) extracts, in both roots and
leaves. The extracts exhibited anti-lipase activity in dose-dependent manner.
The results showed that the extraction yield and the antioxidant capacity were
strictly dependent on the solvent polarity. The results suggest that A.
rusticana could provide opportunities for the development of functional
food and further in vivo studies for
obesity treatment.


Teacher quality is recognised as a lynchpin for education reforms internationally, and both Federal and State governments in Australia have turned their attention to teacher education institutions: the starting point for preparing quality teachers. Changes to policy and shifts in expectations impact on Faculties of Education, despite the fact that little is known about what makes a quality teacher preparation program effective. New accountability measures, mandated Professional Standards, and proposals to test all graduates before registration, mean that teacher preparation programs need capacity for flexibility and responsiveness. The risk is that undergraduate degree programs can become 'patchwork quilts' with traces of the old and new stitched together, sometimes at the expense of coherence and integrity. This paper provides a roadmap used by one large Faculty of Education in Queensland for reforming and reconceptualising the curriculum for a 4-year undergraduate program, in response to new demands from government and the professional bodies.


Planning a lesson remains a challenging task for the teachers. The transition from a student into a pre-service teacher and turn out into an effective teacher is a challenging task in the teaching field. We all know the nexus between the significant roles of a lesson plan in an effective teaching-learning process. This study aims to analyze the pre-service trainee teachers' attitudes, ideas, and obstacles in designing lesson plans. The sample involved pre-service teachers who enrolled in a teaching practice course at the College of Education and Arts Northern Border University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fifty pre-service trainee teachers participated in the research and the data collected through casual informal interviews, daily and weekly lesson plans. This study used a methodological triangulation research design that combined ways of quantitative and qualitative data collection. This method offers better and localized insights about pre-service teachers' attitudes of the lesson plan designing. Also analyze the problems in organizing and arranging the information related to the lesson or topic. The finding of the research revealed that the pre-service trainee teachers were well aware of lesson planning and its importance but, they found some problems during their planning.


Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been known as a complex clinical complication in diabetic patients. The main cause of AKI is ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of GABA on renal IRI in hyperglycemic female and male rats. Methods: Sixty STZ induced diabetic male and female Wistar rats were categorized in 10 groups (5 female &5 male groups). Groups 1-3 in each gender received GABA (10, 50, 100µmol/kg/day) for 3 days, and then were subjected to renal IRI. Group 4 in each gender was subjected to renal IRI alone, and group 5 was subjected to surgical operation without renal IRI.24 hr after I/R injury, blood sample was obtained, and the animal were sacrificed for pathology investigation. Results: Renal IRI alone increased the serum blood urea nitrogen levels (BUN) and creatinine (Cr), and kidney damage in both male and female rats significantly (P<0.05), however all doses of GABA decreased the serum BUN and Cr levels and tissue damage when compared with control group. Conclusion: From the results of this study it seems that GABA administration in hyperglycemic rats could decrease renal injury after an ischemia/reperfusion.


Abstract Parliamentary administrators have to cope with a complex and ever-changing procedural framework, as well as with conflicting demands from the policy side. Nevertheless, their role in inter-parliamentary cooperation is rather under-researched. This article focuses on the actors of Administrative Parliamentary Networks and introduces two entirely new entities: European Programmes; and networks of Parliamentary Budget Offices, which seem to have escaped scholar's attention. Administrative duties and roles are discussed in the context of inter-parliamentary cooperation and a new role is attributed to parliamentary administrators, that of the researcher. Existing findings from previous studies are put under a new light and analysed with the support of empirical data.


This study analyzes effects of climate change (CCh) and of the increase of impervious surfaces on the groundwater recharge in the Alto Atoyac sub-basin (Oaxaca, southern Mexico). Water recharge was modeled based on HELP 3.95D; temperature and precipitation were derived, for a near (2015–2039) and a far distant future scenario, from GFDL-CM3 global circulation model (GCM), which describes the climate of Mexico under the RCP8.5 scenario. Potential recharge loss zones for the period of 1979–2013 were estimated through a remote sensing analysis. The actual estimated mean annual recharge of 169 million cubic metres could be reduced by 17.97% and 65.09% according to the analyzed CCh scenarios, and the loss of 135 km 2 of permeable soil would represent additionally 2.65 × 10 6 m 3 of non-infiltrated water. This study indicates three sites, with high recharge potential, and it can be used to propose local adaptations to guarantee the availability of the water resource in the studied sub-basin.


Given the importance of the potential positive feedback between methane (CH4) emissions and climate change, it is critical to accurately estimate the magnitude and spatiotemporal patterns of CH4 emissions from global rice fields and better understand the underlying determinants governing the emissions. Here we used a coupled biogeochemical model in combination with satellite‐derived contemporary inundation area to quantify the magnitude and spatiotemporal variation of CH4 emissions from global rice fields and attribute the environmental controls of CH4 emissions during 1901–2010. Our study estimated that CH4 emissions from global rice fields varied from 18.3 ± 0.1 Tg CH4/yr (Avg. ±1 SD) under intermittent irrigation to 38.8 ± 1.0 Tg CH4/yr under continuous flooding in the 2000s, indicating that the magnitude of CH4 emissions from global rice fields is largely dependent on different water schemes. Over the past 110 years, our simulated results showed that global CH4 emissions from rice cultivation increased by 85%. The expansion of rice fields was the dominant factor for the increasing trends of CH4 emissions, followed by elevated CO2 concentration, and nitrogen fertilizer use. On the contrary, climate variability had reduced the cumulative CH4 emissions for most of the years over the study period. Our results imply that CH4 emissions from global rice fields could be reduced through optimizing irrigation practices. Therefore, the future magnitude of CH4 emissions from rice fields will be determined by the human demand for rice production as well as the implementation of optimized water management practices.


In this paper, a constrained mixed-integer programming model for scheduling the active power supplied by the generation units in storage-based DC microgrids is presented. The optimization problem minimizes operating costs taking into account a two-stage mode operation of the energy storage system so that a more accurate model for optimization of the microgrid operation can be obtained. The model is used in a particular grid-connected DC microgrid that includes two renewable energy sources and an energy storage system which supply a critical load. The results of the scheduling process are including in simulation by establishing a MATLAB/Simulink model of the microgrid and setting several initial conditions of the state of charge of the energy storage system. As a result, we obtain reductions in costs and at the same time guarantee safe levels of state of charge to increase the life-time of the energy storage system.


A fascinating look at the perils and possibilities of photography in a digital age. After Photography examines the myriad ways in which the digital revolution has fundamentally altered the way we receive visual information, from photos of news events taken by ordinary people on cell phones to the widespread use of image surveillance. In a world beset by critical problems and ambiguous boundaries, Fred Ritchin argues that it is time to begin energetically exploring the possibilities created by digital innovations and to use them to better understand our rapidly changing world. Ritchinone of our most influential commentators on photographyinvestigates the future of visual media as the digital revolution transforms images into a hypertextual medium, fundamentally changing the way we conceptualize the world. Simultaneously, the increased manipulation of photographs makes photography suspect as reliable documentation, raising questions about its role in recounting personal and public histories. In the tradition of John Berger and Susan Sontag, Ritchin analyzes photography's failings and reveals untapped potentials for the medium.


Fundamental studies for the improvement of photo-microbial fuel cells (pMFCs) within this work comprised investigations into ceramic electrodes, toxicity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and hot-pressing of air-cathode materials. A novel type of macroporous electrode was fabricated from the conductive ceramic Ti2AlC. Reticulated electrode shapes were achieved by employing the replica ceramic processing method on polyurethane foam templates. Cyclic voltammetry of these ceramics indicated that the application of potentials larger than 0.5 V with regard to a Ag/AgCl reference electrode results in the surface passivation of the electrode. Ti2AlC remained conductive and sensitive to redox processes even after electrochemical maximisation of the surface passivation, which was shown electrochemically and with four terminal sensing. Application of macroporous Ti2AlC ceramic electrodes in pMFCs with green algae and cyanobacteria resulted in higher power densities than achieved with conventional pMFC electrode materials, despite the larger surface area of the Ti2AlC ceramic. The effect of electrode surface roughness and hydrophobicity on pMFC power generation and on cell adhesion was examined using atomic force and confocal microscopy, contact angle measurements and long-term pMFC experiments. The high surface roughness and fractured structure of Ti2AlC ceramic was beneficial for cell adhesion and resulted in higher pMFC power densities than achieved with materials such as reticulated vitrified carbon foam, fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass or indium tin oxide coated plastic. Toxicity of the MOF MIL101 and its amine-modified version MIL-101(Cr)-NH2 on green algae and cyanobacteria was assessed on the basis of both growth in liquid culture and by exclusion zones of agar colonies around MOF pellets. MOF MIL101 was found harmless in concentrations up to 480 mg L-1 and MIL-101(Cr)-NH2 did not exhibit toxic effects at a concentration of 167 mg L-1. Air-cathodes were produced from a range of carbon materials and ion-exchange membranes. Hot-pressing of Zorflex Activated Carbon Cloth FM10 with the proton-selective Nafion® 115 membrane provided the best bonding quality and pMFC performance.


A rich body of literature exists on deterrence, yet little is known about how deterrence messages are communicated through social networks. This is an important gap in our understanding, because such communication gives rise to the possibility that social institutions can utilize the vicarious effect of the threat of punishment against one individual to reduce the rate of reoffending amongst their criminal associates. To test this, we identified criminals with an extensive offending history (prolific offenders) and their co-offenders using social network analysis and then conducted a randomized controlled trial to measure the effect on both prolific offenders and their cooffenders of delivering a "specific deterrence" message. The treatment— preemptive engagements with prolific offenders by a police officer offering both 'carrots' (desistance pathways) and 'sticks' (increased sanction threat)—was applied to the prolific offenders, but not to their co-offenders. The outcomes suggest that a single officer–offender engagement leads to a crime suppression effect in all comparisons, with 21.3%, 11.0%, and 15.0% reductions for specific, vicarious, and total network deterrence effects, respectively. The findings suggest that (a) social network analysis based on in-house police records can be used to cartographically understand social networks of offenders, with an aim of preventing crime; (b) deterrence messages promulgated by the police have the capacity to reduce crime beyond what was previously assumed, as the cascading of threats in cooffending relationships carries a vicarious crime reduction impact; (c) unlike "reactive specific deterrence" (i.e., a threat of punishment following a specific and detected crime) which can have perverse effects on certain offenders, preventative specific deterrence is a promising crime policy.


Immediate early genes are rapidly and transiently induced by many stimuli and produce their transcription factors. Of the immediate early genes, the proto-oncogene c-fos and its product Fos play a role in cell proliferation, differentiation and general signal transmission as the 'third messenger' regulating the transcription of other genes. Even minute stimuli such as the attachment of electrodes, needle injection and saline administration increase the level of c-fos mRNA expression in animal brains. It is, therefore, necessary to investigate the effects of using anesthetics and solvents for drug administration on c-fos expression in order to accurately assess net c-fos induction after stimulation. Furthermore, experimental procedures might themselves affect c-fos mRNA expression in the brain after in vivo stimulation. In this review, we discuss technical pitfalls in assessing in vivo c-fos expression. Rough handling with repeated saline administration enhanced cortical c-fos mRNA expression in the rat brain after a single saline injection by increasing baseline c-fos mRNA levels. In contrast, gentle handling with repeated saline administration diminished c-fos mRNA expression after a single injection by decreasing baseline c-fos mRNA levels. These two types of handling with the repeated injection led to diametrically opposite results on c-fos mRNA expression after a single stimulation. Our results suggest that c-fos mRNA induction after a single stimulation might be affected by the types or intensities of animal handling and that effects of animal handling must be considered when estimating c-fos mRNA induction.


Objective: To study the histomorphological changes of oral mucosa by observing the sections of lip buccal mucosae from patients with gastrointestinal cancer.
Methods: Oral mucosae from 15 patients aged 61-80 years old who died of gastrointestinal cancer were sampled. Group A (n=10) had received high-dose chemoradiotherapy. Group B (n=10) were divided two subgroups. Group B1 (n=5) had gastrointestinal cancer (before chemoradiotherapy), and Group B2 (n=5) consisted of healthy adult subjects. Oral mucosa (1 cm × 3 cm) was collected, prepared into 5-7 μm-thick paraffin sections, stained with haematoxylin-eosin, and observed under a light microscope. Meanwhile, indirect immunoperoxidase reaction was performed.
Results: No. 5 sample in Group A showed the atrophy rate of mucosal epithelial cells was 100%. No. 6 sample showed that the autologous mucosal layer was attenuated, and the hypodermal mucosa was loosened and arranged in deposited fibers. Besides, 75% of No. 3 and 9 samples showed moderate focal or diffusive inflammatory infiltrations of lymphocytes-macrophages in the basal layer of oral mucosa. The nerve fibers and muscles in 20% of No. 2 sample underwent dystrophy.
Conclusion: The oral mucosae of patients receiving chemoradiotherapy suffered from atrophy of epithelial cells and infiltration of numerous cells. In deeper layers, there was relaxation of the hypodermal mucosa as well as dystrophy of nerve fibers and muscles. The deep submucosa exhibited atrophic muscle fibers. In the meantime, the neuromodulation system was injured, especially in nonhyperplastic and hyperplastic muscle fiber bundles.


Mapping of vegetation in mountain areas based on remote sensing is obstructed by atmospheric and topographic distortions. A variety of atmospheric and topographic correction methods has been proposed to minimize atmospheric and topographic effects and should in principle lead to a better land cover classification. Only a limited number of atmospheric and topographic combinations has been tested and the effect on class accuracy and on different illumination conditions is not yet researched extensively. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of coupled correction methods on land cover classification accuracy. Therefore, all combinations of three atmospheric (no atmospheric correction, dark object subtraction and correction based on transmittance functions) and five topographic corrections (no topographic correction, band ratioing, cosine correction, pixel-based Minnaert and pixel-based C-correction) were applied on two acquisitions (2009 and 2010) of a Landsat image in the Romanian Carpathian mountains. The accuracies of the fifteen resulting land cover maps were evaluated statistically based on two validation sets: a random validation set and a validation subset containing pixels present in the difference area between the uncorrected classification and one of the fourteen corrected classifications. New insights into the differences in classification accuracy were obtained. First, results showed that all corrected images resulted in higher overall classification accuracies than the uncorrected images. The highest accuracy for the full validation set was achieved after combination of an atmospheric correction based on transmittance functions and a pixel-based Minnaert topographic correction. Secondly, class accuracies of especially the coniferous and mixed forest classes were enhanced after correction. There was only a minor improvement for the other land cover classes (broadleaved forest, bare soil, grass and water). This was explained by the position of different land cover types in the landscape. Finally, coupled correction methods showed most efficient on weakly illuminated slopes. After correction, accuracies in the low illumination zone (cos ˇ ≤ 0.65) were improved more than in the moderate and high illumination zones. Considering all results, best overall classification results were achieved after combination of the transmittance function correction with pixel-based Minnaert or pixel-based C-topographic correction. Furthermore, results of this bi-temporal study indicated that the topographic component had a higher influence on classification accuracy than the atmospheric component and that it is worthwhile to invest in both atmospheric and topographic corrections in a multi-temporal study.


Summary This study describes the refi nement and testing of a prototype scoring system for the visual assessment of stem straightness in Sitka spruce. The original system comprised a six-point scoring system from 1 (least straight) to 6 (straightest) based on an estimate of straight log lengths in the fi rst 6 m of the stem. A longer log length category and additional score were added to the system to increase relevance to industry practice. The use of aids to measurement to improve the objectivity and accuracy of the visual assessment was tested. A purely visual assessment was as accurate as the measurement tools and was considerably quicker and easier to complete. A study to establish appropriate sampling levels indicated that between 60 and 100 trees should be assessed to obtain an acceptable estimate of the median and interquartile range of straightness scores for a stand. An investigation of the relationship between stem straightness score and yield of logs of different quality suggested that the scoring system may be used to differentiate between stands of different log quality.


Abstract African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) occupy an ecological niche characterized by hypercarnivory and cursorial hunting. Previous interpretations drawn from a limited, mostly Eurasian fossil record suggest that the evolutionary shift to cursorial hunting preceded the emergence of hypercarnivory in the Lycaon lineage. Here we describe 1.9–1.0 ma fossils from two South African sites representing a putative ancestor of the wild dog. The holotype is a nearly complete maxilla from Coopers Cave, and another specimen tentatively assigned to the new taxon, from Gladysvale, is the most nearly complete mammalian skeleton ever described from the Sterkfontein Valley, Gauteng, South Africa. The canid represented by these fossils is larger and more robust than are any of the other fossil or extant sub-Saharan canids. Unlike other purported L. pictus ancestors, it has distinct accessory cusps on its premolars and anterior accessory cuspids on its lower premolars–a trait unique to Lycaon among living canids. However, another hallmark autapomorphy of L. pictus, the tetradactyl manus, is not found in the new species; the Gladysvale skeleton includes a large first metacarpal. Thus, the anatomy of this new early member of the Lycaon branch suggests that, contrary to previous hypotheses, dietary specialization appears to have preceded cursorial hunting in the evolution of the Lycaon lineage. We assign these specimens to the taxon Lycaon sekowei n. sp.


Science—in the forms of Western theoretical science, empirical research, and revised Vedic teachings—has played at least three different roles over the last fifty years in the evolving public and internal teachings of the Transcendental Meditation Organization (TMO) of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The first phase, starting in 1957, emphasized the power of Indian spiritual teachings to transform the world, and science was downplayed. The second phase, beginning in 1970, was marked by a sudden transformation of the TMO from a small, exotic Indian-based meditation movement to an aggressively modern, science-based, crypto-spiritual business dedicated to bringing optimal physiological and psychological functioning to the world. In the third phase, from the 1980s, a self-selected, relatively small group of dedicated followers entered an enchanted land in which cutting-edge theories from quantum physics were employed creatively to bolster Maharishi9s extensively reinterpreted Vedic sciences. It seems likely that this third stage, in which Western science is useful and valid only to the extent that it confirms the ancient Vedic truths, was the destination toward which Maharishi was heading from the inception of his movement. While it is possible that these stages reveal the gradual evolution of Maharishi9s thought, it seems more likely that they are the expression of a deliberate strategy of progressive revelation.


A 2-D seismic line using four-component (4-C) receivers - a 3-C geophone and hydrophone - laid on the sea bottom was acquired in 1996 by PGS. The survey was undertaken by Amoco and its partners over the Valhall Field, offshore Norway. The main objective of the survey was to provide a better image of a chalk reservoir. Converted (P-S) waves are used, as P-P waves are strongly attenuated and scattered due to the presence of gas in the layers over the reservoir. The vertical component of the geophone and hydrophone showed a largely reflection-free zone for the target at the middle of the section. Four processing flows were applied to the radial receiver component: conventional CDP processing (for possible P-S-S events, i.e., a conversion at the sea bottom), common conversion point (CCP) asymptotic binning, P-S DMO, and equivalent offset migration (EOM). We did not find convincing evidence of a P-S-S event. The final result for the radial component processed for P-S events was good, as a continuous image for the target was obtained. A very good overall section was generated using the asymptotic binning method. The EOM method gave better results than converted-wave DMO at practically the same CPU time. The transverse component has reflections for the same events mapped by the radial component, but with much lower continuity. To investigate the presence of P-wave energy on the radial and transverse components, the processing flow for the P-P wave was applied to the radial and transverse data. In addition, the asymptotic binning P-S flow was applied to the vertical channel data. The results show that: 1) little P-S energy is present on the vertical component, and 2) only small P-P energy occurs in radial and transverse components. Severe periodic notches in the amplitude spectra, probably due to reverberation in the water layer, were observed in all components. An algorithm is being developed to attenuate the reverberation in the geophone (mainly for the radial component, where the signal bandwidth is strongly affected) using the hydrophone measurements.


Background Low health literacy is associated with poor health-related knowledge, illness self-management, health service use, health, and survival, and thus addressing issues related to low health literacy has been highlighted as a pressing international priority. Objective To explore views of a digital health promotion intervention designed to be accessible to people with lower levels of health literacy, in particular examining reactions to the interactive and audiovisual elements of the intervention. Methods Qualitative think-aloud interviews were carried out with 65 adults with type 2 diabetes in the UK, Ireland, USA, Germany, and Austria, with purposive sampling to ensure representation of people with lower levels of health literacy. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify common themes. We then systematically compared views in subgroups based on country, health literacy level, age, gender, and time since diagnosis. Results Most participants from the chosen countries expressed positive views of most elements and features of the intervention. Some interactive and audiovisual elements required modification to increase their usability and perceived credibility and relevance. There were some differences in views based on age and gender, but very few differences relating to health literacy level or time since diagnosis. Conclusions In general, participants found the intervention content and format accessible, appropriate, engaging, and motivating. Digital interventions can and should be designed to be accessible and engaging for people with a wide range of health literacy levels.


With the introduction in South Africa of the Skills Development Act (1998) and the Skills Development Levies Act (1999), employer organisations are obliged to set aside a portion of their annual payroll for the internal training and development of their workplace. Since 1998, the Learnership model of workplace training has been promoted in South Africa as a creative vehicle for addressing high unemployment rates and a serious skills shortage. This is achieved through fast tracking the acquisition of skills and increasing a learner's chance of employment. However because learnerships are a recent innovation, the body of applied knowledge is small. The study was conducted to provide a comprehensive insight to the effectiveness of learneship in promoting skills development. The research study was based on the explorative research method to clearly understand the dilemma and challenges facing learnership learners. A well structured questionnaire was found to be the most suitable method to collect data that was essential to the study. A key finding concerns how learnerships are managed: the effective delivery of a learnership programme and of its outcomes requires the involvement of key stakeholders from the outset. The study reveals that the SETAs are not doing what they are supposed to be doing in terms of ensuring support with regards to the implementation of learnerships. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations are made to assist SETAs and organisations with regards to learnership objectives that may not easily be achieved if they are only identified through SETA structures. The study concludes with the implications for learnership training and maps the way for future research.


Energy proportionality and workload consolidation are important objectives towards increasing efficiency in large-scale datacenters. Our work focuses on achieving these goals in the presence of applications with μs-scale tail latency requirements. Such applications represent a growing subset of datacenter workloads and are typically deployed on dedicated servers, which is the simplest way to ensure low tail latency across all loads. Unfortunately, it also leads to low energy efficiency and low resource utilization during the frequent periods of medium or low load. We present the OS mechanisms and dynamic control needed to adjust core allocation and voltage/frequency settings based on the measured delays for latency-critical workloads. This allows for energy proportionality and frees the maximum amount of resources per server for other background applications, while respecting service-level objectives. Monitoring hardware queue depths allows us to detect increases in queuing latencies. Carefully coordinated adjustments to the NIC's packet redirection table enable us to reassign flow groups between the threads of a latency-critical application in milliseconds without dropping or reordering packets. We compare the efficiency of our solution to the Pareto-optimal frontier of 224 distinct static configurations. Dynamic resource control saves 44%--54% of processor energy, which corresponds to 85%--93% of the Pareto-optimal upper bound. Dynamic resource control also allows background jobs to run at 32%--46% of their standalone throughput, which corresponds to 82%--92% of the Pareto bound.


Strains of Streptococcus mutans (serotypes c, e and f) were found to possess high levels of glucosyltransferase (GTase) activity, both cell-associated and in the culture medium, when grown in either sucrose-free or sucrose-containing broth media. The cell-associated GTase of S. mutans MT8148 (serotype c) was effectively extracted by treatment with 8 M-urea at 25 degrees C for 1 h. Approximately 95% of the GTase activity was solubilized by this treatment. The crude extract was purified by DEAE-Sephacel and hydroxylapatite column chromatography. For comparison, extracellular GTase was also purified from the culture supernatant of the same strain by ammonium sulphate precipitation, chromatofocusing and hydroxylapatite chromatography. The molecular masses of the cell-associated and extracellular GTase proteins were similar (156 kDa) as determined by SDS-PAGE. However, the pH optima for maximum GTase activity were different: pH 6.7 to 7.0 for the cell-associated enzyme and pH 5.5 to 6.5 for the extracellular enzyme. The product of cell-associated GTase from sucrose was almost exclusively water-insoluble glucan. On the other hand, extracellular GTase produced mainly water-soluble glucan from sucrose. This indicates that GTase synthesizing water-insoluble glucan is present primarily in a cell-associated form in serotype c S. mutans. Insoluble glucan synthesis by the cell-associated GTase from sucrose was not enhanced by addition of primer dextran T10 to the reaction mixture. The extracellular and cell-associated GTases were immunologically unrelated as determined by ELISA using monoclonal antibodies.


Modern soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars are derived from a limited number of plant introductions, which restricts germplasm diversity at both the nuclear and cytoplasmic levels. This study was conducted to use molecular techniques to assess the extent of cytoplasmic diversity available to soybean breeders. We have surveyed a collection of old domestic soybean varieties with a cloned 2.3 kilobase (kb) HindIII mitochondrial DNA fragment from the cultivar Williams 82 and tbe mitochondrial ATP synthase subunit 6 (atp6) gene to determine sources of cytoplasmic diversity present within this collection. This strategy revealed unique mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms and polymorphism combinations. In several cases, the mtDNA polymorphisms provided a different classification than was predicted from recorded pedigrees. Variability was also detected among cultivars assigned the name Peking that were introduced independently into the USA soybean collection. The results of this survey coupled with previous studies can be used to define additional cytoplasmic groups in soybean.


In today's era of the digital world with information overload, generating personalized recommendations for the e-commerce users is a challenging and interesting problem. Recommendation of top-N items of interest to a user of e-commerce is highly challenging using binary implicit feedback. The training data is usually very sparse and have binary values capturing a user's action or inaction. Due to the sparseness of data and lack of explicit user preferences, the recommendations generated by model-based and neighborhood-based approaches are not effective. Of late, network-based item recommendation methods, which utilize item related metainformation, are beginning to attract increasing attention for binary implicit feedback data. In this work, we propose a heterogeneous information network based recommendation model for personalized top-N recommendations using binary implicit feedback data. To utilize the potential of meta-information related to items, we utilize the concept of meta-path. To improve the effectiveness of the recommendations, the popularity of items and interest of users are leveraged simultaneously. Personalized weight learning of various meta-paths in the network is performed to determine the intrinsic interests of users from the binary implicit feedback data. To show the effectiveness, the proposed model is experimentally evaluated using the real-world dataset.


Within NASA's Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration # 1 (ATD-1), Interval Management (IM) is a flight deck tool that enables pilots to achieve or maintain a precise in-trail spacing behind a target aircraft. Previous research has shown that violations of aircraft spacing requirements can occur between an IM aircraft and its surrounding non-IM aircraft when it is following a target on a separate route. This research focused on the experimental design and analysis of a deterministic computer simulation which models our airspace configuration of interest. Using an original space-filling design and Gaussian process modeling, we found that aircraft delay assignments and wind profiles significantly impact the likelihood of spacing violations and the interruption of IM operations. However, we also found that implementing two theoretical advancements in IM technologies can potentially lead to promising results.


In a paper published earlier this year, Hirslund suggested to release degassed deepwater from methane harvesting to the surface layer of Lake Kivu in order to counteract an observed slow rising of the chemoclines in the lake. In this comment, we present strong evidence for the presence of subaquatic springs in the lake that maintain the chemoclines at their present levels. Furthermore, the observed changes in the stratification do not call for urgent action. We therefore strongly advise against the proposed measures, which would most probably be harmful for the ecosystem, and instead propose to further monitor the development of the stratification in the lake.


The M5 Crop seismic regional profile in the Ionian sea is a complete cross-section of the Apennines and related foreland. From off-shore eastern Calabria to the southern prolongation of the Puglia-Salento into the Ionian sea, the profile shows eastward dipping normal faults, the frontal active accretionary wedge, the underfilled foredeep in the Taranto trench, and the foreland in the Apulian swell. Peculiar features are: the narrow accretionary wedge which is topographically and structurally deeper than the foreland; frequent triangle zones in the accretionary wedge; earlier foredeep deposits incorporated and deformed in the accretionary wedge, and at places buried by thrust-top basin deposits; the high 8 degrees -10 degrees dip of the regional monocline; the foreland which is folded by a 100 km wide crystallithospheric anticline that determines to the northwest the emergence of the Puglia region; in the eastern side of the Apulian doming, at depth the Apulian carbonate platform seals an half-graben of Late Permian(?)-Early Mesozoic age. These observations might be useful for interpreting structures inland, to the north along mainland Apennines and the foreland.


Disruption of a protein required for effective signaling by a melanocortin receptor causes severe obesity in mice. Melanocortin receptors are a family of cell membrane receptors that control diverse physiological functions. Mutations in the gene encoding melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) are a cause of familial early-onset obesity. Asai et al. studied the function of an accessory protein for MC4R signaling, MRAP2, and found that mice genetically deficient in MRAP2 develop severe obesity. Sequencing of MRAP2 in unrelated, severely obese humans revealed one individual with a clearly disruptive genetic variant, suggesting that MRAP2 mutations might also be a rare cause of human obesity. In a zebrafish model, Sebag et al. studied two paralogs of the MRAP2 accessory protein, one of which enhanced MC4R responsiveness to α–melanocyte-stimulating hormone, which regulates feeding and growth. M. Asai, S. Ramachandrappa, M. Joachim, Y. Shen, R. Zhang, N. Nuthalapati, V. Ramanathan, D. E. Strochlic, P. Ferket, K. Linhart, C. Ho, T. V. Novoselova, S. Garg, M. Ridderstråle, C. Marcus, J. N. Hirschhorn, J. M. Keogh, S. O'Rahilly, L. F. Chan, A. J. Clark, I. S. Farooqi, J. A. Majzoub, Loss of function of the melanocortin 2 receptor accessory protein 2 is associated with mammalian obesity. Science 341, 275–278 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. A. Sebag, C. Zhang, P. M. Hinkle, A. M. Bradshaw, R. D. Cone, Developmental control of the melanocortin-4 receptor by MRAP2 proteins in zebrafish. Science 341, 278–281 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This article begins by suggesting that Sarah Scott's Millenium Hall (1762), a utopian vision of women's independence, invites not only feminist but also postcolonial interpretations. The presence of colonial wealth, though seemingly incidental in a work that focuses on charitable women, betrays an underlying anxiety about slave labor. Significantly, both the narrator and the women of Millenium Hall possess fortunes acquired in the New World. By tracing how such fortunes compromise the health of the men who earned them, this article argues that the novel offers evidence of Scott's apprehension that colonial wealth may be deeply tainted and may even become a source of moral contagion and physical deterioration whose effects can be mitigated only by a process of inheritance and transmission. After analyzing the role of the creole narrator, the article suggests that because the novel links colonial wealth to moral contagion, the women's putative moral superiority is cast in doubt.


The article investigates the motivations of European local governments to join formalized cooperation initiatives between sub-national authorities, referred to as Euroregions. Micro-level comparative empirical data are brought forward to argue against the European Union portrayal of Euroregions as primarily responding to local or regional policy problems that cannot be dealt with within the national contexts, expressed as "filling the gaps." Instead, the paper contends that local government engagement mainly derives from normative beliefs, and when instrumental expectations appear, they are grant-driven rather than policy-driven. The empirical data consist of material generated by 136 interviews with mayors of local governments in six Euroregions, located at three national borders (Sweden/Norway, Hungary/Slovakia and Austria/Germany). Qualitative data from these interviews are used to investigate assumptions, beliefs, and practices underpinning Euroregional membership.


ABSTRACT Childhood obesity is a major public health concern with underpinnings at the individual, family, community and societal levels. The Transdisciplinary Childhood Obesity Prevention Graduate Certificate Program (TOP) is an innovative graduate-level certificate program developed to train professionals to understand and address obesity from multiple perspectives using an interprofessional education (IPE) approach. Currently, there is limited knowledge on what promotes or hinders learning in IPE approaches dealing with obesity prevention. The goal of this report is to address this gap by describing facilitators and barriers to learning in a graduate-level training program. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were collected from 23 professional students, as part of a larger program evaluation project for TOP. Thematic analysis revealed the challenges and strengths of the program that relate specifically to: its interprofessional approach, its structure, and its activities. Interprofessional exchanges were reported to expand students' learning, but adequate interprofessional representation must be maintained, and the complexity of interprofessional collaborations must also be well-coordinated. Standardising the program structure and courses for consistency across professions, and clear communication are critical to program success. Findings add to the existing literature on what promotes effective learning in a professional obesity prevention program using an IPE approach.


This anthology brings together studies of post-colonial, post-Cold War Central Eurasia. This part of the world is in transition from Soviet institutions to independent statehood, nation building, resistance against state expansion, cultural change and the release of market forces.The theoretical framework of the study is called 'critical geo-politics.' The objective of the work is to better comprehend the nature of the post-colonial 'Great Game'.Part I studies US power projection activity in the region. America isextending its World War II trans-oceanic'defense perimeter into the fossile fuel rich area betweenintegrating Europe, recovering Russia andindustrializing China.Part II details various aspects of state-nation buildingand soci-cultural and economic change in the region. Part III studies interactions between outsiders, neighbors and Central Asian Republics. Conflict and cooperation in the Caspian region is studied in part IV, with Aral Sea and Azerbijan as cases.


Problem statement: Multimode fiber cables can conduct many light rays and can operate free of disruption and with a greater bandwidth than a wireless connection. However, due to a slight variation in the speed of the light rays through the multimode fiber, a signal transmitted by all of these rays becomes spread out. Consequently, the signals become broader and therefore fewer signals fit in the fiber, limiting the transmission capacity. These demands grow almost daily. Hence new ways of splitting methods must be found to satisfy all application demands, especially related to automotive application. Approach: Home-made 1×12 optical splitter based on polymer optical fiber material base is one of the most innovative technologies on optical component which can be applied on some useful application. A perform technique had been used to fabricate kind of splitter. In order to develop such an efficient optical device which can be integrated into the body of automotive field, research with a good specification-oriented study tent to be conduct and it must be passed through a well-planned fabrication technique together with a proper characterization process. Multimode Step-Index Polymer Optical Fiber (SI-POF) type made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with Ocore = 1 mm and NA: 0.50 fully utilized in this research, as PMMA is one of the most commonly used optical materials. This material has been chosen as a base of splitter body in a fused-taper-twisted shape, produced by a unique fabrication stages. PMMA-POF can easily be used near it operating temperature between -40°C to +115°C. Results: By injecting 650 nm wavelength of red LED, characterization process start plays an important role in investigating level of efficiency of the device. Some parameters, such as optical output power and power losses on the devices were observed. Although the maximum output power efficiency of the splitter is about 40% but it can be improved gradually through experience and practice. Conclusion: The fabrication process is simple, easy and suitable to be used by household. Moreover, the users can determine the size of the fabricated device themselves. The POF-based optical 1×12 splitter had been suggested to be applied into automobile application to overcome blind spot area tracking problem as a one of low-cost solution in the future and also in home networking to avoid the bottleneck occurs between ONU and electronic appliances, resulting increase the speedy of data communication.


The surface molecular imprinted (SMI) biowaste materials of animal origin viz. prawn carapace (PC), and fish scales (FS) were used as adsorbents for the enhanced recovery of the rare earth metals viz. cerium(III) and lanthanum (III) from aqueous solution. The adsorption capacities were notably increased from 218.3 mg/g to 363.5 mg/g for Ce(III) imprinted PC, and 200.0 mg/g to 312.3 mg/g for La (III) imprinted FS respectively. The Langmuir model showed the best fit for Ce(III) adsorption whereas Freundlich model was found to be more favourable for adsorption of La(III) ions. The process followed a homogeneous mode in the case of SMI PC whereas heterogeneity in cases of SMI FS was further confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Kinetic studies indicated that adsorption followed pseudo first order model for Ce(III) ions and pseudo second order model for La(III) ions. FTIR analysis confirmed the involvement of more functional groups in case of SMI biosorbents. Maximum Recovery of 89% Ce(III) and 87 % La(III) was noted using SMI PC and SMI FS respectively. Regeneration studies suggested that the biosorbent SMI PC and SMI FS could be consistently reused upto 6 cycles. Keywords: Biowaste materials, cerium (III), lanthanum (III), recovery, surface molecular imprinting.


Sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) are anionic carbohydrate polymers synthesized as extracellular or cell wall components by most of the algae and have potent bioactive properties. In the current study, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cr) cells were attributed to sodium nitrate stress in concentrations such as 5 mM, 10 mM, 20 mM, 30 mM, and a control to determine the productivity and bioactivity of SPs. SPs are extracted by hot water method using 80% ethanol. The percentage yield of SPs increased with an increase in concentration of sodium nitrate as compared to control. Biochemical analysis of the extract showed an increase in carbohydrate content (22%–95%), uronic acid content (23%–60%), and sulfate content from control to 30 mM NaNO3-treated extracts. The amount of reducing and nonreducing sugars was found to be 6.16% and 89.06%, respectively, while the protein content is ~16%. The antioxidant potential of SPs showed increased antioxidant activity with an increase in concentration of NaNO3 stress. The analysis resulted in maximum chelating activity of 83.73% assayed in concentration range of 1–8 μg/ml, total antioxidant activity of 70.36% in concentration 0.05–2μg/ml, and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of 79.52% in concentration 250–1000 μg/ml; reducing potential was observed with the highest absorbance of 0.87; the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity showed the highest activity of 63.61%, while the superoxide scavenging activity was 92% at 0.1–1 μg/ml. Furthermore, Cr-SPs inhibited the growth of Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacterial growth as indicated by clear zones that increased in size with an increasing concentration of NaNO3. These results provide opportunities to develop Cr-SPs as natural antioxidant and antibacterial agents.


The performance and the efficiency of recent computing platforms have been deeply influenced by the widespread adoption of hardware accelerators, such as graphics processing units (GPUs) or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which are often employed to support the tasks of general-purpose processors (GPPs). One of the main advantages of these accelerators over their sequential counterparts (GPPs) is their ability to perform massive parallel computation. However, to exploit this competitive edge, it is necessary to extract the parallelism from the target algorithm to be executed, which generally is a very challenging task. This concept is demonstrated, for instance, by the poor performance achieved on relevant multimedia algorithms, such as Chambolle, which is a well-known algorithm employed for the optical flow estimation. The implementations of this algorithm that can be found in the state of the art are generally based on GPUs but barely improve the performance that can be obtained with a powerful GPP. In this article, we propose a novel approach to extract the parallelism from computation-intensive multimedia algorithms, which includes an analysis of their dependency schema and an assessment of their data reuse. We then perform a thorough analysis of the Chambolle algorithm, providing a formal proof of its inner data dependencies and locality properties. Then, we exploit the considerations drawn from this analysis by proposing an architectural template that takes advantage of the fine-grained parallelism of FPGA devices. Moreover, since the proposed template can be instantiated with different parameters, we also propose a design metric, the expansion rate, to help the designer in the estimation of the efficiency and performance of the different instances, making it possible to select the right one before the implementation phase. We finally show, by means of experimental results, how the proposed analysis and parallelization approach leads to the design of efficient and high-performance FPGA-based implementations that are orders of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art ones.


The first clinical training experience or practicum for graduate students in a Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT program is one of the most important aspects of the entire training program. After a year-long journey through textbook and classroom knowledge, students have the opportunity to finally apply their skills to real life environments with real counseling clients. A blueprint for setting up an on-site clinical training course is provided along with the rationale for providing initial clinical training in the academic program. *********** The practicum experience in a Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) training program offers graduate students pursuing their master's degree in counseling or psychology their first training experiences as clinicians. The practicum initiates a sequence of supervised applied training activities, progressing to the post-master's degree internship and culminating in licensure for independent practice. Surprisingly, little attention has been paid to the practicum experience in the education and training literature for MFTs. Although the importance of practicum training has not gone unrecognized, to our knowledge no attempt to date has been made to describe the methods of practicum training in an MFT program in the literature. In the following sections, we share our experiences and models for integrating live supervision within our generalist model of MFT training. The initial impetus for this change was feedback received from field supervisors and students indicating that the application of textbook and classroom knowledge to real/live counseling clients was difficult. Moreover, supervision methods field supervisors often used (which usually do not include live supervision) did not allow for immediate intervention that may be necessary to teach the student to adequately assist clients. The purpose of changing the students' initial practicum course from agency-based experiences to in-house clinic-based experiences was to enhance student learning and develop a method of evaluation at the mid-point of the MFT graduate program. Three supervision models (live, delayed review, and verbal reports) are primarily used in the training of MFTs (West, 1993). Live supervision refers to a type of supervision in which the supervisor is present during the therapy session to make immediate supervisory interventions (West, Bubenzer & Zarski, 1989). The supervisor is present usually by one-way mirrors or video monitors, and if necessary, the supervisor may intervene by having the supervisee take a break to consult with the supervisor, phoning in, having the supervisor use a "bug-in-the-ear" device, or having the supervisor enter the room to conduct co-therapy with the supervisee as needed (Liddle & Schwartz, 1983). Delayed review often involves the use of recordings (i.e. videotapes and audiotapes) as well as supervisee recall (West, 1993). Verbal reports include having the supervisee recall what happened in a clinical session and share it with the supervisor (Young, 1986). Although each of these supervision models may have utility in the training of MFTs, the use of live supervision during an initial practicum seminar may be advantageous in the transition from didactic learning to clinical learning. The vast majority of MFT training programs do not use live supervision to enhance training (Heppner, Kivlighan & Wampold, 1992; Heppner et al., 1994; West, 1993). Our position is that training in MFT treatment modalities should be integrated into MFT curriculum, and live supervision enhances the ability of students to grasp and apply concepts. For the past two years, the faculty at California State University, Long Beach have been involved in developing an MFT curriculum that incorporates the use of live supervision in the training and evaluation of graduate students. Live supervision includes the following components: an in-session component in which the supervisor observes the counselor-in-training through a one-way mirror and immediate feedback is given; a post-session component in which there is debriefing between the supervisor and supervisee (Heath, 1983; Liddle & Schwartz, 1983; Montalvo, 1973). …


Background Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is a naturally occurring amino acid that inhibits the effects of nitric oxide synthetases, producing considerable effects on the vascular system. Recent studies have suggested that increased ADMA is a major contributor to endothelial dysfunction, resulting in significant effects on cardiovascular and renal function. Methods The study sample consisted of five male and 11 female patients scheduled for elective laparoscopic colorectal surgery; patients were between 41 and 77 years of age. Venous whole blood (8 - 10 mL) was collected from patients prior to colorectal surgery, as well as on postoperative day 1 and 2. Arginine, citrulline, ADMA, and symmetric dimethylarginine levels were measured in collected blood using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Results Data from the amino-acid blood analysis demonstrated that the levels of L-citrulline and L-arginine decreased on postoperative days 1, coinciding with an increase of ADMA levels. The overall result of these changes was a decrease in the arginine to ADMA ratio by 21% from the preoperative period to postoperative day 2 (P = 0.02). Conclusions The data collected through this study demonstrate a significant increase in systemic ADMA levels following major laparoscopic colorectal surgery.


Over the course of nearly thirty years, the environmental justice movement has changed the politics of environmental activism and influenced environmental policy. In the process, it has turned the attention of environmental activists and regulatory agencies to issues of pollution, toxics, and human health as they affect ordinary people, especially people of color. This book argues that the environmental justice movement has also begun to transform science and engineering. The chapters present case studies of technical experts' encounters with environmental justice activists and issues, exploring the transformative potential of these interactions. Technoscience and Environmental Justice first examines the scientific practices and identities of technical experts who work with environmental justice organizations, whether by becoming activists themselves or by sharing scientific information with communities. It then explore scientists' and engineers' activities in such mainstream scientific institutions as regulatory agencies and universities, where environmental justice concerns have been (partially) institutionalized as a response to environmental justice activism. All of the chapters grapple with the difficulty of transformation that experts face, but the studies also show how environmental justice activism has created opportunities for changing technical practices and, in a few cases, has even accomplished significant transformations.


Prudent use of antibiotics gains more importance as increased antibiotic resistance along with a gradual recession in newly developed antibiotics is seen. It is aimed to show the importance of cultureantibiogram for detecting causative bacteria and antibiotic resistance profile for prudent antibiotic usage and empirical antibiotic coverage in pediatric and adult cases with peritonitis secondary to perforated appendicitis. This study includes a total of 58 patients who underwent surgery for perforated appendicitis and secondary peritonitis. Cultures-antibiogram obtained by suctioning of the peritoneal fluid or swabbing during the surgery of the patients having proliferation was evaluated. Out of total 35 pediatric cases, E. coli in 27 cases, E. coli and P. aeruginosa in 5 cases. In the 32 cases with E. coli cultured, antibiotic resistance was seen for Ampisilin-sulbactam (SAM) in 13 (36.1%) cases, ceftriaxone in 12 (33.3%) cases and Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) in 10 (31.2%) cases. Out of total 23 adult cases, E. coli was cultured in 18 cases. Of the 18 cases with E. coli cultured, antibiotic resistance was seen for SAM in 10 (43.4%) cases, ceftriaxone in 9 (39.1%) cases and ESBL in 6 (33.3%) cases. It is believe that the evaluation of peritoneal culture results obtained during surgery will lead to a decrease in mortality and morbidity rates.


The principal control on landscape evolution in the central Great Plains of the United States over the past 10 m.y. is a contentious subject. New sedimentary data collected from Late Miocene Ogallala Group and Pliocene Broadwater Formation of the Nebraskan Great Plains demonstrates a twofold increase in the median grain size (from 20 mm to >40 mm) exported from the Rocky Mountains across the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. Paleoslope reconstructions derived from these data support the tilting of the Miocene Ogallala Group after 6 Ma, but demonstrate that the transport slope of the lower part of the unconformably overlying Pliocene succession is identical to the present-day slope. These data allow us to constrain the timing of differential uplift in the Great Plains to between 6 and 3.7 m.y.; the wavelength and short duration of this tilting are best explained by the initiation of localized dynamic topography. Our results also suggest a threefold to fourfold increase in specific stream power at this time, meaning that Pliocene rivers draining the central Rockies were considerably more competent than their Miocene predecessors. Incision during this period was not continuous. A significant episode of aggradation from 3.7 to 2.5 Ma is best explained by high rates of sediment supply relating to the warm, wet mid-Pliocene climate optimum. The modern pattern of incision on the Great Plains occurred from 2.5 Ma, and not from the end of the Miocene as is sometimes supposed, reflecting the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation.


Financial innovation has given a new trend to modern financial system and its importance has been widely recognized. This study investigated the effect of financial innovation augmented with bank competition on sustainable development in eight West African countries. Data were sourced from World Bank development indicators from years 2000-2013. We used two proxies of competitions, two proxies of financial innovations and regressed them on a growth indicator as well as development indicator with other control variables. Using panel data estimations, our results confirmed that an increase in banking efficiency driven by competition and financial innovation would improve economic growth and development. While the two proxies of competition were significant, the financial innovations were not significant; one displayed a negative, while the other exhibited a positive relationship with development. These results revealed the differential effects of different financial innovations adopted in the financial system. That is, the growth effect of financial innovation is sensitive to the choice of proxy. A reduction in demand for money caused by financial innovations could deter economic growth and development. This is because individuals would move away from more liquid assets to less liquid assets. On the other hand, financial innovations could potentially lead to an increase in money demand if payment systems improve and individual's demand for more liquid assets is channeled to productive sectors. We therefore concluded that policies which would drive competition and efficiency in the banking industry as well as financial innovation should be introduced to ensure effective functioning of the financial system.


This article critically analyses the concept of suffering, with particular emphasis on responsibility for and representations of suffering. Suffering is seen as a social relationship, with objective characteristics, classified by Renault as domination, deprivation and the weakening of intersubjective supports (desaffiliation). Veitch and Wolcher have inquired into legal responsibility for suffering. The author adds that suffering is also constructed subjectively, through aesthetic, political and legal representations. This theoretical model of suffering is applied to recent political and legal issues in Australia dealing with an apology for earlier policies of removing Indigenous children from their families, and a more recent aggressive "emergency response" to concerns over child abuse in Aboriginal communities. Indigenous Australians have clearly suffered from colonisation and subsequent policies, while representations of their suffering can be seen to have exacerbated their disempowerment and thus increased suffering. The article proposes recognising responsibility while avoiding the disempowerment of "victims". It concludes by proposing new approaches to domination, deprivation and disempowerment that may open the way to new constructions of political subjectivity, fostering the redevelopment of intersubjective supports, while increasing awareness of the past causes of suffering.


Systematic investigations have shown subsidence in almost 30% of the land area in Lower Saxony. It is essential to model these variations of the Earth surface especially to update the spatial reference system. Since the geodetic observations result in discrete points, it is necessary to mathematically model these measurements to have a continues surface. This enables the user to do predictions at any position. This is challenging especially because these types of measurements usually result in non-uniformly distributed data. There are di erent approaches to deal with this problem, here the stochastic method of Kriging and the deterministic method of Multilevel B-Splines are implemented to model ground motion. This paper investigates the ground motion of speci c areas in Lower Saxony through the cooperation of Landesamt für Geoinformation und Landesvermessung Niedersachsen (LGLN) and Geodetic Institute of Hannover. For this investigation, a time series of measurements from leveling, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations and height changes that are acquired by Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique are taken into consideration. Evaluation of the results show not only good performance and promising results from both the approaches, but also compatibility between the approximated surface from both of them. keywords: Ground motion in Lower Saxony, Multilevel B-Splines, Kriging, Surface Approximation


We present a quantitative co-analysis of RNA abundance and sarcomere organization in single cells and an integrated framework to predict subcellular organization states from gene expression. We used human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes expressing mEGFP-tagged alpha-actinin-2 to develop quantitative image analysis tools for systematic and automated classification of subcellular organization. This captured a wide range of sarcomeric organization states within cell populations that were previously difficult to quantify. We performed RNA FISH targeting genes identified by single cell RNA sequencing to simultaneously assess the relationship between transcript abundance and structural states in single cells. Co-analysis of gene expression and sarcomeric patterns in the same cells revealed biologically meaningful correlations that could be used to predict organizational states. This study establishes a framework for multi-dimensional analysis of single cells to study the relationships between gene expression and subcellular organization and to develop a more nuanced description of cell states. Graphical Abstract Transcriptional profiling and structural classification was performed on human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to characterize the relationship between transcript abundance and subcellular organization.


Deep-water stromatolites are a conspicuous facies in the fore-reef successions of the Upper Devonian reef complexes of the northern Canning Basin. Stratigraphic analysis shows that the stromatolites are present in a diverse range of sedimentological associations which precludes using their distribution to indicate only transgressive or only regressive conditions during reef evolution. All the stromatolites grew at localities where little or no platform-derived sediment could be deposited, either because no sediment was being supplied from the platform or the stromatolites grew at sites protected from sediment gravity-flow deposition. The latter enabled some stromatolites to grow during times of high productivity on the platform (i.e., during high-stands). For example, bioherms developed on downslope sides of allochthonous blocks, near-vertical eroded platform margins, eroded pinnacles, and basement topographic highs, until buried by fore-reef sediment. Other bioherms and biostromes grew on open slopes when little platform-derived sediment was being deposited during times of lowered relative sea level (i.e., lowstand and transgressive systems tracts). These stromatolites record depositional breaks during carbonate or siliciclastic sedimentation, and are typically accompanied by other facies indicative of very slow sedimentation or slope reworking (i.e., bioturbated limestones and intraclastic breccias). Water depths and "growth" rates remain poorly constrained; however, consideration of stromatolite accumulation within a sequence-stratigraphic framework suggests rates of at least 50-100 microns/year. Although this is a minimum rate, it represents a substantial increase on previous estimates of a few microns/year.


Abstract Steinley, Hoffman, Brusco, and Sher (2017) proposed a new method for evaluating the performance of psychological network models: fixed-margin sampling. The authors investigated LASSO regularized Ising models (eLasso) by generating random datasets with the same margins as the original binary dataset, and concluded that many estimated eLasso parameters are not distinguishable from those that would be expected if the data were generated by chance. We argue that fixed-margin sampling cannot be used for this purpose, as it generates data under a particular null-hypothesis: a unidimensional factor model with interchangeable indicators (i.e., the Rasch model). We show this by discussing relevant psychometric literature and by performing simulation studies. Results indicate that while eLasso correctly estimated network models and estimated almost no edges due to chance, fixed-margin sampling performed poorly in classifying true effects as "interesting" (Steinley et al. 2017, p. 1004). Further simulation studies indicate that fixed-margin sampling offers a powerful method for highlighting local misfit from the Rasch model, but performs only moderately in identifying global departures from the Rasch model. We conclude that fixed-margin sampling is not up to the task of assessing if results from estimated Ising models or other multivariate psychometric models are due to chance.


Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) fiber, an extremely elongated and thickened single cell of the seed epidermis, is the world's most important natural and economical textile fiber. Unlike Arabidopsis leaf trichomes, fiber initials are randomly developed and frequently form in adjacent seed epidermal cells and follow no apparent pattern. Numerous publications suggested cotton fiber development shares a similar mechanism with Arabidopsis leaf trichome development. Here we show that H2O2 accumulation in cotton ovule epidermal cells by NBT staining ovules at different development stages between TM1 and N1n2, a lintless-fuzzless doubled mutant originated from TM1. In contrast, Arabidopsis and cotton leaf trichomes do not show H2O2 content. By adding DPI (H2O2 inhibitor) and SHAM (H2O2 activator) in vitro ovule cultures, we show fiber initiation directly involves with H2O2 accumulation. We propose that the directional accumulation of H2O2 in cotton ovule epidermal cell is the drive for fiber initiation, elongation.


Fossils from the late Miocene (MN 9) assemblage of Rudabanya (Hungary) attributed to the order Carnivora are described. A minimum of 17 species-level taxa have been identified, representing eight carnivoran families: Ursidae, Procyonidae, Amphicyonidae, Mustelidae, Viverridae, Nimravidae, Felidae, and Hyaenidae. Of these, the Mustelidae is by far the most diverse, with a minimum of seven species-level taxa. There may be some new taxa among the Amphicyonidae and Mustelidae of Rudabanya, but they have not been named here due to the limited available material. The most surprising aspect of the Rudabanya carnivoran assemblage lies in the dearth of hyaenas. Only some fragmentary specimens tentatively assigned to cf. Thalassictis montadai are present, in contrast to contemporaneous localities, which generally include relatively abundant material of one or two species of hyaenid. The carnivoran diversity at Rudabanya is matched among MN 9 localities only by Can Llobateres in Spain, which records 24 species-level taxa. The carnivoran assemblages of these two localities are very similar, both in species content and in trophic structure. Differences include the presence at Can Llobateres of Machairodus and Indarctos, as well as species of the hyaenid genus Protictitherium, and a variety of endemic small mustelids. These differences can be accounted for by the more isolated geographic location of Can Llobateres, leading to greater endemicity, as well as an apparently greater environmental heterogeneity, leading to the presence of derived species characteristic of somewhat more open environments than apparently present at Rudabanya.


Is Teaching Literature and particularly classics in current language classes feasible and worth the effort?
The present article is concerned with teaching Spanish as a tertiary language in secondary schools in Baden-Wurttemberg and focuses firstly on the formal framework in which the lessons have to be seen. Therefore, it presents and analyzes the guidelines of educational policy, various ways of their organizational implementation at schools and the current range of books in catalogues of four big schoolbook publishers. The latter promote the benefits of lifelong reading and promise that using their products is going to arouse students' enthusiasm for reading. Thereafter, the text negotiates how the described scope, defined by the formal specifications, can be filled in practice regarding both the competences that have to be conveyed and problems and challenges they entail. Finally, the article summarizes several aspects that have to be considered during thorough preparation of literature lessons and it concludes with the assessment that literature should and can be part of language classes, regarding its benefits such as for example knowledge enhancement, improvement of language skills or the contribution to the development of personality and, ideally, the above-mentioned enthusiasm for life-long reading.


Ten years ago, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen called for research into the possibility of reflecting sunlight away from Earth by injecting sulfur particles into the stratosphere. Across academic disciplines, Crutzen's intervention caused a surge in interest in and research on proposals for what is often referred to as "geoengineering"—an unbounded set of heterogeneous proposals for intentionally intervening into the climate system to reduce the risks of climate change. To mark the 10‐year anniversary of the publication of Paul Crutzen's seminal essay, this special issue reviews the developments in geoengineering research since Crutzen's intervention and reflects upon possible future directions that geoengineering research may take. In this introduction, we briefly outline the arguments made in Paul Crutzen's (2006) contribution and describe the key developments of the past 10 years. We then proceed to give an overview of some of the central issues in current discussions on geoengineering, and situate the contributions to this special issue within them. In particular, we contend that geoengineering research is characterized by an orientation toward speculative futures that fundamentally shapes how geoengineering is entering the collective imagination of scientists, policymakers, and publics, and a mode of knowledge production that recognizes the risks that may result from new knowledge and that struggles with its own socio‐political dimensions.


In this paper we consider the generalization accuracy of classification methods based on the iterative use of linear classifiers. The resulting classifiers, which we call threshold decision lists act as follows. Some points of the data set to be classified are given a particular classification according to a linear threshold function (or hyperplane). These are then removed from consideration, and the procedure is iterated until all points are classified. Geometrically, we can imagine that at each stage, points of the same classification are successively chopped off from the data set by a hyperplane. We analyse theoretically the generalization properties of data classification techniques that are based on the use of threshold decision lists and on the special subclass of multilevel threshold functions. We present bounds on the generalization error in a standard probabilistic learning framework. The primary focus in this paper is on obtaining generalization error bounds that depend on the levels of separation---or margins---achieved by the successive linear classifiers. We also improve and extend previously published theoretical bounds on the generalization ability of perceptron decision trees.


The increasing rate of financial irregularities, fraud, and mismanagement rocking Nigerian Tertiary Institutions calls for concern. Despite all control measures put in place by the government, coordinating and regulating agencies, and the institutions themselves, lack of transparency and accountability continues unabated. Literature and documentary evidence have shown that lack of functional internal audit department is one of the factors responsible for the frequent occurrence of these acts. The objective of this study, therefore, is to examine conceptually management support and communication skills as the key factors affecting internal audit task performance in the Nigerian tertiary institutions. Based on the existing literature and the pronouncement of accounting and auditing professional bodies, the study develops a framework of these factors as influencing task performance. The study suggests that adequate management support and effective communication skills of internal auditors will enhance the task performance of internal audit department, hence, curbing the incidence of financial malpractices. The study has policy implications as it will assist the proprietors (government and private individuals), coordinating ministries, regulatory authorities, professional bodies, councils and management of tertiary institutions, and auditors in their decision making and oversight functions.


Bill Hurter explains the characteristics of lightboth natural and artificialin this in-depth guide. Fully exploring color balance, exposure, and light ratios, the handbook expands on skills learned in the studio to explain how to harness the beauty of less predictable lighting situations, like those shot outdoors or on location. Packed with tips from more than 30 top professionals on wedding, portrait, and commercial photography, this resource is sure to both educate and inspire.


Glaciers are key icons of climate change and global environmental change. However, the relationships among gender, science, and glaciers – particularly related to epistemological questions about the production of glaciological knowledge – remain understudied. This paper thus proposes a feminist glaciology framework with four key components: 1) knowledge producers; (2) gendered science and knowledge; (3) systems of scientific domination; and (4) alternative representations of glaciers. Merging feminist postcolonial science studies and feminist political ecology, the feminist glaciology framework generates robust analysis of gender, power, and epistemologies in dynamic social-ecological systems, thereby leading to more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions.