To the Editor: Mycobacterium cosmeticum is a rapidly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria species that was first described in November 2004. The first strains were obtained from cultures of a sink drain in a nail salon in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and from a granulomatous lesion of a female mesotherapy patient in Venezuela (1).

Among 3 additional isolates of M. cosmeticum obtained from July 2003 through November 2004, one was obtained from a 77-year-old man who was admitted to Ohio hospital A on September 22, 2004, with fever, exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and urosepsis. Underlying medical conditions included diabetes, discitis, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, and coal worker's pneumoconiosis. He had received intravenous antimicrobial agents (rifampin and daptomycin) through a Groshong catheter that had been inserted to treat discitis. A routine blood culture was performed according to standard methods (2), and the catheter was removed. A diagnosis of catheter-associated bacteremia (CAB) was made, but the patient's overall condition improved without antibacterial drug therapy, and he was discharged 4 days after admission. The culture specimen yielded only mycobacteria and was sent on to ARUP Laboratories, where it was identified as M. cosmeticum by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The isolate was then sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Mycobacteriology Laboratory Branch (Atlanta, GA, USA) and designated OH1.

A 43-year-old woman with a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who had received regular central venous catheterizations, was admitted to Ohio hospital B on August 20, 2004. A left subclavian catheter was inserted, and a routine blood specimen for culture was subsequently obtained on the day of admission. Before admission, the woman had been receiving acyclovir and cefepime. She received chemotherapeutic agent injections, platelet infusion, and an autologous stem cell transplant 6 days after admission. The blood culture was positive only for rapidly growing mycobacteria, and the final diagnosis was CAB. However, no symptoms of infection were observed, and no antimycobacterial drug therapy was administered. She was discharged without complications after the transplant was received and the catheter removed. The bacterial isolate was forwarded to CDC's Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory, where it was identified as M. cosmeticum by 16S rDNA sequence analysis, sent on to the CDC Mycobacteriology Laboratory Branch, and designated OH2.

A 36-year-old man with AIDS was admitted to hospital C in Caracas, Venezuela, in June 2003 with dyspnea, fever, and expectoration. A sputum sample was positive by acid-fast bacillus smear and culture, yielding both M. cosmeticum (designated VZ1) and M. scrofulaceum on Middlebrook 7H10 agar (Remel Co., Lenexa, KS, USA). At the time the sputum was obtained, the patient was receiving only trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but he experienced respiratory arrest and died ≈6 weeks later.

The 3 isolates were confirmed to be M. cosmeticum by high-performance liquid chromatography mycolate analyses and by PCR restriction analysis of a 440-bp segment of hsp65 (1). The relationship of these isolates to the only documented strains of M. cosmeticum was evaluated by analysis of large restriction fragments with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (1) and by repetitive element PCR (3). Banding patterns for isolates OH1 and OH2 were different from one another as well as from isolate VZ1 and the 2 control strains. Typing patterns for isolate VZ1, however, matched the control strain from Venezuela (ATCC BAA-878T), which indicates that these 2 isolates are likely a common strain (Figure).

Figure

Repetitive element (Rep)–PCR (A) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) (B) patterns of Mycobacterium cosmeticum isolates from 2 patients in Ohio and 1 patient in Venezuela. Rep-PCR was performed by using BOXA1R primer (3), and PFGE was performed ...

Of the >125 recognized Mycobacterium species, ≈50 are etiologic agents of human disease (4). The type strain of M. cosmeticum (ATCC BAA-878T) was associated with a soft-tissue infection in which the source was postulated to be environmental contamination of an unknown substance administered to the patient by injection as part of a weight loss regimen. This strain and isolate VZ1 were isolated from clinics in Caracas, Venezuela; both were found to be a common strain, but no other factors suggest that these represent an epidemic cluster. Although the Venezuelan patient from whom isolate VZ1 was obtained exhibited symptoms consistent with mycobacterial pulmonary disease, M. cosmeticum involvement cannot be proven because an additional Mycobacterium species, M. scrofulaceum, was isolated from the patient's sputum. Because each of these organisms is found in the aqueous environment, they may represent colonization or may have been transiently present in the patient. Nonetheless, additional nontuberculous mycobacteria species have been reported to cause pulmonary disease, and the involvement of M. cosmeticum in this case cannot be excluded.

Successful treatment of CAB infections caused by rapidly growing mycobacteria has most often been achieved by removing the catheter with or without the use of antimicrobial drug therapy (4). Criteria to support a true bloodstream infection were met by one of the patients in Ohio. These criteria include the absence of a source for bacteremia alternative to M. cosmeticum OH1 and the resolution of the febrile syndrome after removal of the device. The second patient had no symptoms when the blood culture was obtained; thus, the clinical significance of M. cosmeticum in this case is unclear.

When all identified strains of M. cosmeticum are considered, this species is clearly present in diverse geographic regions and in healthcare institutions. These findings suggest that it may be widely distributed in the environment and should be regarded, along with other rapidly growing mycobacteria species, as a potential pathogen.


Banks play a critical role in international trade by providing trade finance products that reduce the risk of exporting. This paper employs two new data sets to shed light on the magnitude and structure of this business, which, as we show, is highly concentrated in a few large banks. The two principal trade finance instruments, letters of credit and documentary collections, covered about 10 percent of U.S. exports in 2012. They are preferred for larger transactions, which indicates the existence of substantial fixed costs in the provision and use of these instruments. Letters of credit are employed the most for exports to countries with intermediate degrees of contract enforcement. Compared to documentary collections, they are used for riskier destinations. We provide a model of payment contract choice that rationalizes these empirical findings and discuss implications for the ongoing provision of trade finance.


The capercaillie inhabits a continuous range in large parts of the Palearctic boreal forest, but is patchily distributed in temperate Europe. An ongoing population decline, largely related to human land use changes, has been most pronounced in central and western Europe, where some local populations have become extinct. In this study, we document the genetic differentiation of capercaillie populations at different stages along a gradient of spatial structuring from high connectivity (continuous range in the boreal forest) to a metapopulation systems (Alps) and recent (central Europe) and historic (Pyrenees) isolation. Four hundred and sixty individuals from 14 sample sites were genotyped at 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci to assess genetic structure and variation of capercaillie populations across its European range. As expected, differentiation was least pronounced within the continuous range in the boreal forest. Within the metapopulation system of the Alps, differentiation was less than among the isolated populations of central Europe (Black Forest, Fichtelgebirge, Thuringia, Vosges). In the long‐isolated population of the Pyrenees, and the recently isolated populations of central Europe, genetic diversity was significantly reduced compared with the Alps and boreal forest. Our results agree with the concept of a gradual increase in genetic differentiation from connectivity to isolation, and from recent to historic isolation. Anthropogenic habitat deterioration and fragmentation thus not only leads to range contractions and extinctions, but may also have significant genetic and evolutionary consequences for surviving populations. To maintain high levels of genetic variation in species in fragmented habitats, conservation should aim at securing connectivity between spatially distinct populations.


Arctic climate is uniquely sensitive to ongoing warming. The feedbacks that drive this amplified response remain insufficiently quantified and misrepresented in model scenarios of future warming. Comparison with paleotemperature reconstructions from past warm intervals can help close this gap. The Early Holocene (11.7–8.2 ka BP) is an important target because Arctic temperatures were warmer than today. This study presents centennially resolved summer temperature reconstructions from three Svalbard lakes. We show that Early Holocene temperatures fluctuated between the coldest and warmest extremes of the past 12 ka, exceeding the range of instrumental observations and future projections. Peak warmth occurred ~10 ka BP, with temperatures 7 °C warmer than today due to high radiative forcing and intensified inflow of warm Atlantic waters. Between 9.5 and 8 ka BP, temperatures dropped in response to freshwater fluxes from melting ice. Facing similar mechanisms, our findings may provide insight into the near‐future response of Arctic climate.


FROM THE COVER OF TIME magazine to the top stories on CNN and other networks, Afghan women have caused a stir in the U.S. media. The White House, too, has declared them a "top priority," signaled by Laura Bush's mid-November radio address in which she told of their adversity. We read about their plight, long-suffering victims of the most appalling forms of human rights abuses. We marvel at their tenacity, their ability to organize themselves and to look to the future with courage and hope. We learn with pleasure that the new government has two women in its cabinet: Suhaila Siddiq as health minister and Sima Samar as women's affairs minister. As the U.S. public learns more about these women's lives-what they were like under the Taliban rule and what they might become-the role of the social studies educator becomes, once again, crucial. That students need to know about the women of Afghanistan is dean The challenge for educators comes less from teaching the facts than answering and engendering difficult questions. How do we address such clear and abhorrent abuses of rights while maintaining respect for cultural differences? How can classroom discussions move beyond the sensationalized details of violence to a deeper understanding of social, political, and historical factors? Can Afghan women inform our students, not only about the need for human rights in their country, but also about the role of democracy and citizenship in our own? Becoming "invisible" Nasrine Gross, an Afghan American and a leading activist in the Afghan women's cause (see interview, page 13), remembers being a student at Kabul University in 1965: Many of us went there with a chadari or scarf, with full backing of our families and official authorities; we studied with boys in the same class and had many male teachers; we wore short skirts, pale nylons, high-heeled shoes, with make up on our faces and polish on our nails; we moved about freely and without an escort, and we chose our physicians ourselves. (1) When Gross returned to Afghanistan in August 2001, everything had changed. Women were forbidden to participate in all these activities: forbidden to go out without their full-length burqa, to study with males (or to study at all after age eight), to wear make up or high-heeled shoes, to go outside without a male escort. How did conditions change so drastically? Women's rights in Afghanistan have been eroded during more than twenty years of war, from the time that Social Education continues to present special articles focusing on events stemming from September 11, 2001. As a companion to these special focus articles, our website features lists of classroom tips and other resources at www.sociatstudies.org/resources. the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. With the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, civil war erupted, during which time law was almost nonexistent and women experienced much violence and discrimination. Between 1992 and 1996, under the rule of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the country continued in a full-scale civil war. When the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar, they established the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." The Taliban regime ended most factional fighting, but women's rights were restricted in ways that were severe, steadfast, and systematic. The Taliban, which began as a religious movement of students educated in Pakistan and Afghanistan and emerged as a military force in 1994, justified all their actions as fundamental to the Islamic faith; their treatment of women, they said, adhered to the teachings of the Koran. But Ahmed Rashid, author of Taliban, argues that their edicts had no validity in the Koran; indeed, the Prophet Mohammed's first task was to emancipate women. (2) Rashid looks to other factors as the real causes behind their misogynistic policies. The Taliban leaders were all from the poorest, most conservative and least literate southern Pashtun provinces of Afghanistan. …


A physical account of the Solc birefringent filter is given. The theory of both the Solc and Lyot filters is then developed, assuming imperfections in the polarizers and ignoring birefringence. An anticipated advantage of the Solc filter under these conditions is not confirmed. Formulas for the transmittances of the two filters are derived in a form suitable for tabulation by digital computer.


Particulate platforms capable of delivering multiple actives as well as providing diagnostic features have gained considerable interest over the last few years. In this study, magnetic polymer yolk-shell particles (YSPs) were engineered using a tri-needle coaxial electrospraying technique enabling dual-mode (ultrasonic and magnetic resonance) imaging capability with specific multidrug compartments via an advanced single-step encapsulation process. YSPs comprised magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (MNPs) embedded in the polymeric shell, an interfacing oil layer, and a polymeric core (i.e., composite shell-oil interface-polymeric core). The frequency of the ultrasound backscatter signal was modulated through YSP loading dosage, and both T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging signal intensities were shown to decrease with increasing MNP content (YSP outer shell). Three fluorescent dyes (selected as model probes with varying hydrophobicities) were coencapsulated separately to confirm the YSP structure. Probe release profiles were tuned by varying power or frequency of an external auxiliary magnetic field (AMF, 0.7 mT (LAMF) or 1.4 mT (HAMF)). In addition, an "inversion" phenomenon for the AMF-enhanced drug release process was studied and is reported. A low YSP cytotoxicity (5 mg/mL) and biocompatibility (murine, L929) was confirmed. In summary, magnetic YSPs demonstrate timely potential as multifunctional theranostic agents for dual-imaging modality and magnetically controlled coactive delivery.


The inherent seismic vulnerability of reinforced concrete beam-column connections designed for gravity load only is herein investigated. Experimental tests on six 2/3 scaled beam-column subassemblies, with structural deficiencies typical of Italian construction practice between the 50's and 70's, were performed under simulated seismic loads. Interior, exterior tee and knee joints, characterized by the use of smooth bars, inadequate detailing of the reinforcement (i.e. total lack of transverse reinforcement in the joint region), deficiencies in the anchorage (hook-ended bars) and the absence of any capacity design principles, were subjected to quasistatic cyclic loading at increasing levels of interstorey drift. The experimental results underlined the significant vulnerability of the joint panel zone region and the critical role of the slippage phenomena due to the use of smooth bars and of inadequate anchorage. A particular "concrete wedge" brittle failure mechanism, due to the interaction of shear cracking and stress concentration at the hook anchorage location, was observed in the exterior specimens. The inaccuracy of traditional shear degradation models for exterior joints in predicting similar damage mechanisms is discussed and possible modifications are suggested.


Scholars have long deplored voters' lack of interest in politics and argued in favor of greater political engagement. We present a formal theory of elections where successful communication of campaign messages requires both effort by candidates and attention from voters. Voters' interest in politics affects their attention, and impacts the effectiveness of the electoral process as a screening and disciplining device. In line with existing theories, there exists a curse of the uninterested voter: When voters have little interest in politics, the electoral process performs poorly, and voters' attention to politics is low. Surprisingly, we uncover a curse of the interested voter, by which the same happens when voters have a strong interest in politics. Our results highlight the importance of distinguishing between voters' interest and attention, two notions often conflated in empirical studies. Moreover, policy interventions aimed at subsidizing the cost of acquiring political information can have unintended consequences.


Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one of the common malignant tumors. Due to its insidious onset, lack of symptoms (or nonspecific presenting symptoms) in its early stage, and quick progression, PLC usually has been in its locally advanced stage or develops distant metastasis when it is confirmed; as a result, the management becomes extremely difficult and the prognosis usually is poor. If only symptomatic treatment is applied, the natural survival can be extremely short. In fact, PLC remains a major lifethreatening disease in China.


To cope with non-stationary environments, recent advances in online optimization have introduced the notion of adaptive regret, which measures the performance of an online learner against different comparators within different time intervals. Previous studies have proposed various algorithms to yield low adaptive regret under different scenarios. However, all of existing algorithms need to query the gradient of the loss function at least O(log t) times in every iteration t, which hinders their applications to broad domains, especially when the evaluation of gradients is expensive. To address this limitation, we propose a series of computationally efficient algorithms for minimizing the adaptive regret of general convex, strongly convex and exponentially concave functions respectively. The key idea is to replace each loss function with a carefully designed surrogate loss, which bounds the original loss function from below. We show that the proposed algorithms only query the gradient once per iteration, and attain the same theoretical guarantees as previous optimal algorithms. Empirical results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our methods.


Porosity in polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) is closely related to free volume: it arises from a chain structure combining rigid segments with sites of contortion, producing a large concentration of interconnected pores smaller than 1 nm. Membranes of these polymers are subject to physical aging, which decreases their permeability and reduces their performance in gas separation. In this work, a robust interpretation of PIM X-ray scattering features is developed with support from molecular dynamics simulations. The sensitivity of scattering patterns to time, temperature and film thickness is shown to be qualitatively consistent with physical aging, demonstrating that these high-free-volume, porous polymeric glasses present a unique opportunity to study structural changes during physical aging using scattering methods. Quantitative modeling of PIM scattering patterns remains challenging, and the time resolution required to capture the initial aging stages of a single film is difficult to achieve with laboratory instruments. However, the spectrum of glassy states accessed by varying film thickness and aging temperature raises the possibility that there may be two distinct mechanisms of aging in PIMs.


Ugandan youth face a number of threats to their healthy development including poverty, high rates of disease, civil conflict, and environmental degradation. Cultivating developmental competencies is critical, not only for youth, but also for the future of Ugandan communities and civil society. In this article, we highlight contextual challenges facing Ugandan youth, report exploratory results on "standard" measures of developmental assets, and discuss the utility of a positive youth development (PYD) framework in Uganda. Despite difficult circumstances, our results indicated high levels of internal and external assets as assessed with the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP). The DAP demonstrated acceptable internal consistencies and was correlated with two other measures of youth assets, self-efficacy, and civic action. Although researchers should proceed with caution when using psychometric measures in new cultural contexts, our results provide preliminary support for the use of the DAP and a PYD framework for advancing adolescent research and programming in Uganda.


Educational laboratory management is a paramount issue in agricultural education settings. Agricultural mechanics laboratories are found in many agricultural education programs. One of the most important issues an instructor in agricultural education settings faces is safety in the agricultural mechanics laboratory. Identifying and cultivating a culture of safety in students early on is key to reducing injuries and accidents. The purpose of this study was to gauge safety climate attitudes within a university-level agricultural mechanics laboratory. The population for this study was university-level agricultural students who were enrolled in two agricultural mechanics courses. Through the lens of Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior, the students' safety climate attitudes were assessed by the Safety Climate Attitudes Questionnaire. The highest mean scores were found in the constructs of Personal Motivation for Safe Behavior and Positive Safe Practices. The lowest mean scores were found within the constructs of Risk Justification and Fatalism. We recommend that further study of this topic be conducted in additional agricultural education settings to understand students' attitudes toward safety in laboratory environments.


This study estimates the impacts on a disaggregated set of California industries of introducing a carbon pricing policy within the state.. Two time horizons are considered, the "very short run" and the "short run". To limit adverse impacts on the state's energy-intensive and trade-exposed (EITE) industries, we develop illustrative policy options involving free allowance allocations of emissions permits to particular industries and limited border adjustments on coal, natural gas, crude oil, and refined petroleum product imports, as well as on electricity. Overall, we find relatively small impacts on energy-intensive industries with the rebates in place. The average reduction in EITE output is 0.4 percent. There is, however, considerable variation in impacts among the EITE industries. We also find that the ability to pass on costs, as assumed in the short run case, dramatically reduces adverse profit impacts to less than 1.5 percent in most cases, regardless of the rebate scenario. Based on national-level modeling done outside of this study, we estimate that over the long term, the average EITE output losses with the rebates in place would be expected to be somewhat smaller than the results reported here.


This thesis examines dominant feminist discourses emerging from liberal media, the academy, and activist networks in contemporary Britain. In particular, it traces stories and representations of feminism's recent past (from the 1960s onwards) which are constructed and reproduced through these sites, analysing where and how issues related to race and racism are located within - and outside of - such narratives. It is based on empirical research analysing popular, academic, and activist books, newspaper articles in The Guardian and The Observer, as well as interviews with feminist activists and students of women's and gender studies courses.

Given that there is an extensive history of women of colour-led organising in post-war Britain, including an autonomous black women's movement in the 1970s and '80s, and the growth at this time of black British feminism both within and outside of the academy, the thesis interrogates dominant narratives which continue to construct British feminism as a story belonging to white women. Drawing on black and postcolonial feminist theory, it analyses the articulations of feminist politics emerging from these sites through an anti-racist lens. It demonstrates that the way the historical narratives are constructed and gain currency has a significant influence on contemporary feminist theory and politics, with whiteness reproduced as the hegemonic lens through which British feminism is understood. The thesis argues that white feminist racism haunts the dominant narrative of British feminism – as something which is repeatedly erased or evaded each time it is brought to view – and it calls for white feminist academics and activists to reckon with the long history of racism and imperialism which has been integral to the British feminist project since its inception.


ABSTRACT This paper argues that outward direct investment (ODI) is replacing international trade as the new way China integrates into the world. Based on two complementary datasets, we document the pattern of Chinese ODI. We argue that the rapid growth of China's ODI is the result of strong economic development, increasing domestic constraints, and supportive government policies. Compared with trade integration, investment integration involves China more deeply in global business. As a new global investor, China's ODI in the future is full of opportunities, risks, and challenges. The Chinese government should improve bureaucracy coordination and participate more in designing and maintaining international rules to protect ODI interests.


This paper describes an experimental setup to investigate new possibilities to support cooperative work of a team with audio feedback on a large interactive electronic whiteboard, called DynaWall ® . To enrich the interaction and the feedback qualities within a team work situation the DynaWall is equipped with a set of loudspeakers which are invisibly integrated into the environment. Different forms of audio feedback are realized and discussed to meet the requirements for collaborative team work situations. An audio feedback for a gesture interface with sound cues is implemented to improve the use of gestures to execute commands. Furthermore a spatial sound property of moved and thrown information objects on the surface of the otherwise silent electronic whiteboard is introduced to add an imitated natural sound behavior. The focus of the setup is to experiment with sound feedback for a non-standard computer environment useful in a cooperative team work situation.


Application of the classic McLaughlin-Scott soliton perturbation theory to a Josephson-junction fluxon subjected to a microwave field that interacts with the fluxon only at the junction boundaries reduces the problem of phase locking of the fluxon oscillation to the study of a two-dimensional functional map. Phase-locked states correspond to fixed points of the map. For junctions of in-line geometry, the existence and stability of such fixed points can be studied analytically. Study of overlap-geometry junctions requires the numerical inversion of a functional equation, but the results are qualitatively very similar. The map predicts significantly different behaviors for locking at odd and even subharmonic frequencies and at superharmonic frequencies. It also gives indications regarding hysteresis in the current-voltage characteristic, the existence of zero-crossing steps, and a description of the locking process in the frequency domain. The principal merit of the map is that it captures much of the experimental phenomenology at a very low computational cost.


Objective To determine whether smokers smoking from packs required under Australia's plain packaging law had different smoking beliefs and quitting thoughts, compared with those still smoking from branded packs. Design Cross-sectional survey during the roll-out phase of the law, analysed by timing of survey. Setting Australian state of Victoria, November 2012. Participants 536 cigarette smokers with a usual brand, of whom 72.3% were smoking from a plain pack and 27.7% were smoking from a branded pack. Primary outcome measures Perceived quality and satisfaction of cigarettes compared with 1 year ago, frequency of thoughts of smoking harm, perceived exaggeration of harms, frequency of thoughts of quitting, quitting priority in life, intention to quit, approval of large graphic health warnings and plain packaging. Results Compared with branded pack smokers, those smoking from plain packs perceived their cigarettes to be lower in quality (adjusted OR (AdjOR)=1.66, p=0.045), tended to perceive their cigarettes as less satisfying than a year ago (AdjOR=1.70, p=0.052), were more likely to have thought about quitting at least once a day in the past week (AdjOR=1.81, p=0.013) and to rate quitting as a higher priority in their lives (F=13.11, df=1, p<0.001). Plain pack smokers were more likely to support the policy than branded pack smokers (AdjOR=1.51, p=0.049). Branded and plain pack smokers did not differ on measures of less immediate smoking intentions, frequency of thoughts about harms or perceived exaggeration of harms. Appeal outcomes, but not other outcomes, were sensitive to the extent of roll-out, with responses from branded pack smokers approaching those of plain pack smokers, once 80% of survey respondents were smoking from plain packs 1–2 weeks before the December implementation date. Conclusions The early indication is that plain packaging is associated with lower smoking appeal, more support for the policy and more urgency to quit among adult smokers.


Japan is facing the problem of how to finance retirement, health care, and long-term care expenditures as the population ages. This paper analyzes the impact of policy options intended to address this problem by employing a dynamic general equilibrium overlapping generations model, specifically parameterized to match both the macro- and microeconomic level data of Japan. We find that financing the costs of aging through gradual increases in the consumption tax rate delivers better macroeconomic performance and higher welfare for most individuals relative to other financing options, including raising social security contributions, debt financing, and a uniform increase in health care and long-term care copayments.


Abstract In 2014, the USA initiated the formation of a multilateral military operation against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Eventually, more than 70 states joined the anti-Daesh coalition. However, contributions to the military effort have been characterized by great variance, especially among EU member states. While some states took leading roles in the airstrikes, others provided training for Iraqi and Kurdish forces, and still others did not get involved beyond voicing their support for the policy. Against this backdrop, this article makes a two-fold contribution to the literature on military coalitions and security policy. Empirically, the article provides a mapping of the then 28 EU member states' military engagement in the fight against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Analytically, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is applied to account for the observed pattern of military involvement, using an integrative framework that combines international and domestic factors. The results demonstrate that multiple paths led towards EU military involvement in the anti-Daesh coalition. At the same time, international-level incentives, such as external threat and/or alliance value feature prominently in all three identified paths. The analysis further underscores the value of a configurational perspective, because neither an external threat nor alliance value are sufficient on their own to bring about the outcome. Across the set-theoretic configurations, these conditions either combine with other 'push' factors or with the absence of constraints against military involvement. In line with the latter, the article highlights the policy relevance of institutional constraints, especially legislative veto rights, since most of those countries that were involved in the airstrikes of the anti-Daesh coalition did not have formal parliamentary involvement on matters of military deployment policy.


Resulting from an interdisciplinary endeavor, the paper proposes an ontological model for supporting collaborative work practices in critical settings, and shows its application to a specific domain. The model is empirically-grounded, as based on ethnographic research carried out at an international airport –clearly an example of safety-critical environment, where emergency prevention and preparedness are crucial. On the other hand, the model leverages on previous ontological work on collaboration and observation in emergency response, and revises it when necessary, thus contributing to its development. Taking handbaggage screening as an example, the paper shows how the model can be applied, and how it could be used to run model-based simulation in order to better understand collaborative work practices and analyze the impact of different techno-organizational changes on such practices and their effectiveness. This could result in suggesting guidelines for enhancing workflow, security policies and, more generally, timeand safety-critical situations management.


"Lippincott's Manual of Toxicology" gives the emergency medicine clinician or toxicologist the information necessary to quickly diagnose and treat a broad range of poisonings and toxicologic emergencies. The content is provided in a concise and practical manner with evidence-based recommendations. The chapters are all extracted from the Harwood Nuss textbook, "Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine". This text is written by medical toxicologists, board certified and practicing, and highlights critical interventions and common pitfalls. Common poisons as well as rare and hard to look up poisons are included to provide you with readily available information at your fingertips. Features include: prehospital care information; content designed to speed searchability; critical interventions; and, common pitfalls.


We show how to train a Convolutional Neural Network to assign a canonical orientation to feature points given an image patch centered on the feature point. Our method improves feature point matching upon the state-of-the art and can be used in conjunction with any existing rotation sensitive descriptors. To avoid the tedious and almost impossible task of finding a target orientation to learn, we propose to use Siamese networks which implicitly find the optimal orientations during training. We also propose a new type of activation function for Neural Networks that generalizes the popular ReLU, maxout, and PReLU activation functions. This novel activation performs better for our task. We validate the effectiveness of our method extensively with four existing datasets, including two non-planar datasets, as well as our own dataset. We show that we outperform the state-of-the-art without the need of retraining for each dataset.


We develop a model of unforeseen contingencies. These are contingencies that are understood by economic agents ' their consequences and probabilities are known' but are such that every description of such events necessarily leaves out relevant features that have a non-negligible impact on the parties' expected utilities. Using a simple co-insurance problem as a backdrop, we introduce a model where states are described in terms of objective features, and the description of an event specifies a finite number of such features. In this setting, unforeseen contingencies are present in the co-insurance problem when the first-best risk-sharing contract varies with the states of nature in a complex way that makes it highly sensitive to the component features of the states. In this environment, although agents can compute expected pay-offs, they are unable to include in any ex-ante agreement a description of the relevant contingencies that captures (even approximately) the relevant complexity of the risky environment.


This paper presents a new normalized frequency domain approach for adaptive blind equalization for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. We first develop a time domain block based algorithm that updates the equalizer coefficients once per block of data symbols. As the time domain algorithm involves infinite summations in the separation cost function, an approximation is then proposed to reduce the cost function to finite summations. As a consequence, the block based time domain algorithm can be implemented in the frequency domain to reduce the computational complexity associated with the conventional symbol-by-symbol time domain update. Furthermore, by recognizing that the signals in the frequency domain are orthogonal, it is possible to significantly improve the convergence rate by normalizing the update equations with respect to the signal power in each frequency bin. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can successfully equalize the received signals while maintaining low computational complexity. Moreover, the presented normalized frequency domain blind equalization algorithm for MIMO systems significantly improves the convergence rate


Abstract. An Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) is needed not only to prevent many natural risks such as droughts, flooding and landslides but also to provide information for a better management of water resources and crops irrigation and finally it helps to increase the reliability of weather and climatological models. In addition, a monitoring system can directly impact the economic, social and political spheres. Unfortunately, in most developing and low income countries, due to the high costs of hardware and software there is a lack of efficient monitoring systems. The aim of the 4onse project (analysis of Four times Open Non-conventional system for Sensing the Environment), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, is the development of a totally open solution to monitor the environment. As well as the hardware layer, a monitoring system needs a data management software usually hosted on a server structure. As a software platform which is SOS OGC compliant, istSOS is chosen to receive, manage, validate and distribute environmental data. In the following article a solution to support big data is presented to extend the istSOS capabilities. In fact, a sensors network can hardly stress a data management system because of the several concurrent users and sensors and the long time series which every weather station can easily produce. Thus, a software called istSOS-proxy is developed as a single access point over multiple instances of istSOS whose procedures are distributed to balance the total load. First results on the effectiveness of the solution are proved thanks to load testing simulations of different levels of concurrent users.


The goals of this work were to evaluate the resistance level of eight commercial corn hybrids to the pathogens Puccinia polysora Underw and Physopella zeae (Mains) Cummins & Ramachar and to compare the efficiency of the methods of the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) and of the phenotypical stability parameters in the evaluation of this resistance. Experiments were conducted in four environments in the Southeast and Center-West regions of Brazil. Five evaluations for the severity of the diseases were performed at ten-day intervals from the 60th day after sowing, by employing a diagrammatic scale. The area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) and also phenotypical stability parameters, i. e., the linear regression coefficient (b) between the evaluation time (x) and the disease severity (y) and the determination coefficient (R2) were evaluated. It was found that in the case of P. polysora, both methods utilized proved to be effective to discriminate the resistance level of the hybrids, enabling ranking them in a similar way. To P. zeae, there was not good agreement between both methods, mainly because the discrimination of resistance level was not outstanding. The most resistant hybrids to P. polysora were Z 8392, C 909 and C 333, and the most susceptible were P 3069, AG 9012 and C 956. The most outstanding ones in terms of resistance to P. zeae were C 909 and C 333 and the most susceptible were P 3069 and AG 9012.


Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) promotes differentiation of cortical progenitor cells in rat brain into astrocytes. However, such progenitor cells become responsive to CNTF only later in development. Younger or "early" progenitors are not responsive to CNTF even though they express CNTF receptors and the STAT transcription factors normally activated by CNTF. Song and Ghosh explored the mechanism by which progenitor cells gained competence to respond to CNTF. Thus, they uncovered a new mechanism for permissive regulation of gene expression by fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2, another factor that provides developmental cues to the progenitor cells). FGF2 had little or no effect by itself on gene expression in cultured embryonic cortical cells but enhanced the transcriptional response of the cells to CNTF. FGF2 appeared to produce its effects by altering methylation of histones. Although no overall change in histone modification was detected in the cells, histones in the STAT-binding region of a CNTF-responsive gene were modified in a manner that is expected to cause transcriptional activation. Progenitor cells, neurons, and astrocytes analyzed in vivo also showed distinct methylation profiles. In cultured cells, a methyltransferase inhibitor prevented CNTF-dependent activation of transcription. Histone modification also seemed to be sufficient to enhance CNTF signaling, as overexpression of a methyltransferase increased CNTF-dependent transcriptional activation. The authors propose that such growth factor-induced chromatin remodeling may provide a general mechanism for epigenetic regulation of gene expression during development. M.-R. Song, A. Ghosh, FGF2-induced chromatin remodeling regulates CNTF-mediated gene expression and astrocyte differentiation. Nat. Neurosci. 7, 229-235 (2004). [Online Journal]


Designing efficient and reliable communication protocols for wireless sensor networks in indoor monitoring applications is a challenging task, due to the uncertainty and dynamics of the environment.We consider SERAN, a two-layer semi-random protocol that specifies a routing algorithm and a MAC layer for clustered wireless sensor networks. It combines a randomized and a deterministic approach: the former provides robustness over unreliable channels, the latter reduces the packet collisions. We provide a mathematical model for the protocol that allows us to analyze its behavior and optimize performance. We define an optimization problem, considering the energy consumption as objective function and constraints in terms of error rate and end-to-end delay.A TinyOS implementation of the protocol on a WSN test bed composed by Moteiv's Tmote Sky wireless sensors is presented. Experimental results validate the model and show excellent performance for low data rate transmissions, with low average node duty cycle, which yields a long network lifetime.


Since the 1940s Gallup has, every December, asked Americans about the living man and woman they most admire. This paper documents the way in which the types of people who are admired has changed and argues that the responses to this question tells us something about the way in which society has been evolving - the 65 years of data are probably the longest consistent series on social attitudes. We argue on theoretical grounds and show using empirical analysis that admiration can be linked to trust, and specifically that admiring the president is strongly related to trust in government. Using this link we can provide information on trends in trust on a consistent basis back to the late 1940s, earlier than most other data sources. Finally, the paper investigates the link between admiration and media mentions. We show that people who receive a relatively large number of mentions in newspapers in particular year and state are also more likely to be admired by people.


Drawing on Alfred Cell's 'art nexus' theory, this dissertation considers cooking as a kind of artistic practice. The focus of this study is the culinary culture of barbacoa-makers in the community of Barrio San Mateo, Milpa Alta in Mexico City. Mexican cuisine is analysed at three levels - the social and culinary contexts of the production and consumption of barbacoa; the daily life of women and especially their domestic cooking tasks; and the dynamics of hospitality, as expressed in the cycle of fiestas. Barbacoa is pit-roast lamb, and the production of it is an important means of livelihood in San Mateo (along with the cultivation of nopales, and other agricultural activities). Barbacoa - which is served during fiestas, and also eaten in the market on Sundays and holidays - is produced by married couples whose social environment both creates and is created by the practices surrounding the preparation of the dish. The division of labour observed in making barbacoa is directly related to normative gender roles, i.e. those performed in the normal domestic context. Women are associated with cooking, which includes making salsas and other foods which require laborious culinary input. They appear to be restricted both by the expectations of men and by the demands of the kitchen. But male and female gender roles are shown, in this dissertation, to be complementary, and they are not in general characterized by the hierarchy of men over women. Examination of the fiesta cycle further reveals that the basis of social interaction is the conjugal unit, both at the level of families (through links of compadrazgo, co-parenthood), and at the level of the community (through the mayordomia, the 'cargo system'). Women may be viewed as culinary artists whose body of work is the corpus of Mexican cuisine. The source of their culinary mastery is located in the individual's hand or sazon de amor, a touch of love. The development of 'traditional' cuisine is therefore born of the domestic realm as a product of artistic innovation and technical skill, both in a culinary and a social sense. Counter to Goody's theory, this high cuisine is not the product of a hierarchical society, as such, but rather develops from the highly-valued work of women as wives, mothers, and family cooks.


PurposeGuided by institutional theory, this empirical paper examines variations in the adoption of HRM practices among SMEs in three different business sectors (services, manufacturing and trade).Design/methodology/approachData from 300 owners/managers representing three business sectors were collected through a survey method.FindingsThe results suggest that service SMEs use more formal HRM practices than manufacturing and trade SMEs. Manufacturing SMEs are more formal than trade firms. Results are not affected by firm age.Research limitations/implicationsSocial desirability bias may have influenced respondents into portraying a positive image of the organization by inflating HRM sophistication. A further limitation is that the performance of the firms was not measured. As such, it is not possible to judge whether greater HRM formality correlated with improved organizational performance.Practical implicationsThis study shows how the business sector shapes HRM practices in Pakistani SMEs. Findings help to inform Pakistan's Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) in dealings with manufacturing and trade firms in terms of improving HRM practices.Originality/valueGiven the important role of SMEs in economic development, comparative research on HRM in SME contexts is scarce. Since SMEs are vital for Pakistan's economy, an improved understanding of the sector's approach to human resource development is important. The findings extend the boundaries of prior comparative HRM literature in SMEs by addressing sector influences while controlling for contextual factors.


Aims: The emergence of mental-health concerns amongst the college student population is currently increasing. Along with this, sleep problems are becoming a leading concern with regards to mental health issues. The current study sought to investigate the impact of mental-health problems, (symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress) and how they might be interacting with sleep quality. It was hypothesised that depression, anxiety and stress symptoms would all relate to components of sleep quality and would predict poor sleep quality scores.

Methods: An Irish college student sample was recruited (n = 95) through convenience sampling. Cross-sectional measures were used to examine and survey students: DASS-21 was used to test for symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. PSQI was used to test for "good sleepers" and "poor sleepers" and the different dimensions of sleep quality.

Results: The results showed the number of poor sleepers to be alarmingly high (91.2%), along with high frequencies on the different components. Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms all revealed positive relationships with sleep quality and its components. Multiple regression analysis` were performed to test for impact, and revealed depression and anxiety had no significant predicted high PSQI scores as a model. However, stress on its own was a significant predictor for high PSQI scores in students.

Conclusions: These findings illustrate that poor sleep quality and its relationship with depression, anxiety and stress are concerningly high in Irish students, albeit stress was the highest and most significant predictor, meaning practitioners and professionals in colleges need to strategically implement more services for students with concerns of mental health and sleep problems.


Measuring cross-sections at the LHC requires the luminosity to be determined accurately at each centre-of-mass energy root s. In this paper results are reported from the luminosity calibrations carried out at the LHC interaction point 8 with the LHCb detector for root s = 2.76, 7 and 8TeV (proton-proton collisions) and for root s(NN) = 5TeV (proton-lead collisions). Both the "van der Meer scan" and "beam-gas imaging" luminosity calibration methods were employed. It is observed that the beam density profile cannot always be described by a function that is factorizable in the two transverse coordinates. The introduction of a two-dimensional description of the beams improves significantly the consistency of the results. For proton-proton interactions at root s = 8TeV a relative precision of the luminosity calibration of 1.47% is obtained using van der Meer scans and 1.43% using beam-gas imaging, resulting in a combined precision of 1.12%. Applying the calibration to the full data set determines the luminosity with a precision of 1.16%. This represents the most precise luminosity measurement achieved so far at a bunched-beam hadron collider.


The twisted Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beams, recently introduced by Simon and Mukunda [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. A9, 95 ( 1993)], are interpreted in physical-optics terms by decomposition of such beams into weighted superpositions of overlapping, mutually uncorrelated but spatially coherent component fields. The decomposition provides considerable physical insight into the propagation characteristics of the twisted GSM beams and also suggests convenient practical methods for generating these novel wave fields. Key properties of the twisted GSM beams are demonstrated experimentally by use of an acousto-optic coherence control technique to supply the necessary partially coherent fields.


Future distribution networks with increasing level of solar PV penetration will be managed using smart grid technologies capable of producing appropriate and timely response during normal and abnormal operational events. Distribution feeder loads vary throughout the day according to the trend of consumption of the customers. Solar PV outputs fluctuate in proportion to irradiance level of sun. Simultaneous occurrence of both of these variations would result in various operating conditions that may lead to unexpected events, and would require a large amount of network data to be processed and analyzed for decision making. It is envisaged that such data will be available in the future grids with the availability of smart technologies and advanced communication in residential dwellings, commercial buildings and industrial complexes. In this paper, an advanced intelligent computational tool is developed to characterize and analyze the large amount of data associated with wide variations in network behavior using SAX (Symbolic Aggregate Approximation) and pattern recognition. The proposed tool is capable of dealing with network asymmetry, load unbalance, single-phase solar PV integration and their impacts on upstream networks and will assist in making right and timely decision to mitigate adverse impacts of solar PV. The proposed tool has been tested with a practical three-phase distribution system in Australia and can provide an extensive assessment with less computational efforts and time.


The purpose of this paper is to outline the state-of-the-practice in cold regions earthwork based on experience gained in the Prudhoe Bay area of Alaska. Material properties of fill used for various cold regions engineering applications are addressed. Methods of assessing potential material sources, including landform analyses, borings, and geophysics are briefly discussed. The techniques used for excavation, including blasting, ripping, and scraping are a function of the material characteristics of the sources utilized. Hauling equipment is dependent on the volume of material to be hauled and the type of material developed at the borrow source. This paper discusses these relationships. In addition, embankment use, material type, and placement and compaction techniques are addressed.


This study was done at Siakago Division, Mbeere district, Kenya, a typical semi arid agroecosystem, where many civil society organisations have heavy investments in community development, yet land degradation and poverty levels remain high. As such the aim of the study was to assess collaboration dynamics among these civil society organizations in environmental management and suggest ways of maximizing on effective collaborations for sustainable community development. A survey research design was used for this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for data collection. Being a survey, indepth content analysis formed a major aspect in data interpretation. Results of the study showed that lack of effective collaboration and partnerships amongst the development actors is a key hindrance to environmental management at Siakago. In particular, unilateral approaches in decision-making and implementation of action plans contrary to the multidimensional nature of environmental degradation and community livelihoods, remains a key obstacle to sustainable development. Siakago Division has a fragmented civil society sector With 403 civil society organizations; each working at cross-purposes besides being handicapped by budgetary constraints. As many as 85% of the sampled CSOs are involved in environmental issues notably agroforestry and soil and water management.As such most collaborations in this division revolved around this areas. Over 66% of these CSOs are involved in some form of collaboration notably tripartite and bilateral collaborations. These collaborations have four distinct characteristics namely: coverage, form, mode and motivation Coveragerefers to the extensiveness of collaboration in terms of its functional competencies and geographical area.Since majority of CSOs are the grassroot organizations, their collaborations are confined to shared activities on single environmental themes,such as agroforestry. The most notable forms of collaborations in Siakago are the tripartite because they gurantee maximum participation. Further, they lack formal specifications and are often initiated by at?-opinion leader targeting a felt need instead of developing spontaneously. When collaborations develop spontaneously,they enhance maximum participation of partners and hence the objectives of a collaboration are met. The effectiveness of collaborations in this area was hindered mainly by both human factors and intra-policy differences such as clannism (83%), high illiteracy levels (91%), unfavourable policies (80%) and weak governance systems (80%). Since Siakago has many grassroot organizatins working at cross purposes,it recommended that tripartite and multi-lateral collaborations be adopted to ensure that as many CSOs as possible participate. Organizations working in different thematic areas need to be encouraged to collaborate. This will enhance exchange of information not only on one another but also on the environment.Since collaborations are influenced by changing variables such as illiteracy and governance systems,stakeholders need to be dynamic and open to explore many potencially viable options.Akey requirement in this endeavour is access to relevant information not only on each other but also on environmental management.Conflict resolution measures need to be adopted to solve the clan conflict in the area.In addition,capacities of the community members need to be built to enable the collaborators cope with the myriad factors that tend to inhibit collaboration initiatives.


The concept of "harm" is ubiquitous in moral theorising, and yet remains poorly defined. Bradley suggests that the counterfactual comparative account of harm is the most plausible account currently available, but also argues that it is fatally flawed, since it falters on the omission and pre-emption problems. Hanna attempts to defend the counterfactual comparative account of harm against both problems. In this paper, I argue that Hanna's defence fails. I also show how his defence highlights the fact that both the omission and the pre-emption problems have the same root cause – the inability of the counterfactual comparative account of harm to allow for our implicit considerations regarding well-being when assessing harm. While its purported neutrality with regard to substantive theories of well-being is one of the reasons that this account is considered to be the most plausible on offer, I will argue that this neutrality is illusory.


This study assesses the effects of flooding on the Secondary School Students in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria, which occurred in October 2012. Data of this study were obtained from questionnaires, interview, personal observation, and newspaper report. A total of 90 respondents, drawn from residents in flood prone areas, were sampled for this study. Survey method was used in the analysis of data. The result of analysis showed that floods in Omoku occurred mostly at the event of rainfall intensity and amount and especially at rainy season but this particular flood occurred in October 2012 after the main rainy season (August/September). Factors other than rainfall identified to substantially influenced flooding in the study are: lack of good drainage network, dumping of wastes / refuse in drainage and water channels, topographic characteristics, overflowing of riverbanks, low infiltration due to high water table and degree of built up areas leading to increased runoffs, and climate changes. Despite the flood hazards, occupants in flood prone area have remained on the basis of no alternative, cultural ethnic affinity, schools, family home, place where students stayed used to flooding as the whole area suffered from flooding nature of occupation, and cheaper houses to rent, animals, and farm lands which will lead to hunger in the future in those affected areas, personal properties and public infrastructures also suffered all forms of flood damages. Flood mitigation measures also include river rechannelisation, raising school foundations, use of sand bags bridges and neighbor community efforts. Public enlightenment and necessary legislation and enforcement are recommended to checkmate activities aiding flooding.


Once focusing solely on reproduction and reproductive matters, the study of women's health has expanded to include cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and osteoporosis. The United States has established an office dedicated to researching women's health issues, and the Women's Health Initiative has begun collecting data on the prevention of diseases common among women. Yet the health care issues affecting diverse groups of women have remained underfunded and understudied. Diversity and Women's Health calls attention to this glaring discrepancy and presents cutting-edge research on women's health from a feminist perspective. The contributors argue that the health issues specific to lesbians, elderly women, women of color, immigrant women, and disabled women must become a central part of the broader conversation on women's health in the United States. Essays in this collection highlight the disparities in diagnosis and treatment among women because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and age from both medical and women's studies perspectives. In reviewing the history of feminist scholarship on health care, the contributors to this volume show how bringing a feminist perspective to biomedical research will address the health care needs of marginalized groups in the United States.


OBJECTIVE
Because previous preclinical and clinical studies have implicated the endogenous opioid system in major depression and in the neurochemical action of antidepressants, the authors examined how DNA variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene may influence population variation in response to citalopram treatment.

METHOD
A total of 1,953 individuals from the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study were treated with citalopram and genotyped for 53 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a 100-kb region of the OPRM1 gene. The sample consisted of Non-Hispanic Caucasians, Hispanic Caucasians, and African Americans. Population stratification was corrected using 119 ancestry informative markers and principal components analysis. Markers were tested for association with phenotypes for general and specific citalopram response as well as remission.

RESULTS
Association between one SNP and specific citalopram response was observed. After Bonferroni correction, the strongest finding was the association between the rs540825 SNP and specific response. The rs540825 polymorphism is a nonsynonymous SNP in the final exon of the mu-opioid receptor-1X isoform of the OPRM1 gene, resulting in a histidine to glutamine change in the intracellular domain of the receptor. When Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Caucasians were analyzed separately, similar results in the population-corrected analyses were detected.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that rates of response to antidepressants and consequent remission from major depressive disorder are influenced by variation in the mu-opioid receptor gene as a result of either an effect on placebo response or true pharmacologic response.


This research is an exploratory study of key Information Systems (IS) issues in the
management of information systems in the Australian business environment. Many
information systems managers face a difficult task because they operate in the nexus
between information technology and senior management. IS managers must be able to
interpret trends in information technology, assess their impact on the organisation and
decide which technologies to adopt. This process is becoming even more crucial as
communications and information technologies are merging. Deciding on the
proportion of resources allocated to business, technical, human resources, systems
development or managerial problems is an important facet of the IS manager's job.
Only by studying key IS issues in the management of information systems are IS
professionals able to analyse the impact of these issues on the skills and knowledge
requirements within organisations. Knowledge of these issues will help IS
professionals in the future development of information systems.
This study sampled 450 organisations from the states of Victoria, New South Wales
and Queensland. Organisations with number of employees greater than 500 were used
and a useable survey of 76 replies formed the basis for analysis. The key IS issues that
made up the research instrument were compiled by analysing and conglomerating
previous key issues surveys. It is apparent from the comparison findings that the key
IS issues are fluid in nature and great care needs to be taken in developing lists of
issues.
Four research questions formed the basis of this study. The main aim and the first
research question was to identify key IS issues in the management of information
systems in the Australian business environment. The issues were grouped into three categories, unanimous agreement, probable agreement and ambivalent. Main findings
for this question showed that two business issues, IS Strategic Planning and IS for
Competition ranked top. The human resource issues, Education for IS Staff and
Human Resources for IS, were in the bottom group of issues. The rating of the issues
showed that the IS professional needs a mixture of business, human resources,
technical and systems development knowledge.
The second research question compared the key IS issues identified in this study with
previous Australian and international studies. The main finding in the Australian
comparison showed that most issues stayed the same or increased in importance with
previous surveys. The only issue that decreased in importance was Software
Development. The comparison with international surveys was beset with the problem
of comparing issues. The main finding here showed the difficulty in comparing
findings in surveys that have constantly changing issue lists.
The third research question identified any emerging trends in information systems.
Four new trends highlighted by the IS respondents were: managing Information
Technology (IT) cost, the year 2000 problem, aligning IT to business now and in the
future, and IS customer service considerations.
The fourth research question explored any effect that industry group, IS department
size or IS respondent level had on the perception of key IS issues. Most of the key IS
issues were not affected by the respondents' industry group, department size or IS
level. The only issues that showed significant differences were Software Development
for the mining & petroleum industry group and Executive Support Systems (ESS) &
Decision Support Systems (DSS) for medium sized IS departments. The other major
finding showed that no differences existed for IS respondent levels.


Despite the importance of clearly assessing the distribution boundaries of species, it is not possible for scientists to acquire genetic information and conduct molecular analysis for all populations. Consequently, citizen science is of increasing importance for large scale data collection. In this study, we described the range boundaries of the four Hynobius species occurring in Korea based on genetic identification and refined their distribution through citizen science data. The genetic identification of individuals was extracted from the literature, while the citizen science data were extracted from iNaturalist through GBIF. Distribution boundary lines were drawn from the genetic data and consistency with citizen science datapoints was assessed through a comparative analysis with the points found beyond the established boundary lines. Depending on the species, 1.43 to 25.00% of the observations extracted from the citizen science data were located beyond the boundaries suggested by the molecular analyses, with average distances ranging from 3.51 ± 2.97 to 51.47 ± 30.87 km (mean ± SD). We considered these variations negligible in the view of the whole distribution of these species. In general, the distributions extracted from iNaturalist were accurate and adequately representative of the distribution of the species, with the exception of the recently split H. quelpaertensis . Additionally, citizen science data highlighted the absence of gaps in the distribution of these species. In conclusion, given the good accuracy of citizen science data, we recommend the publication of molecular based data so that citizen science platforms could help define accurately the range of species for which data is missing or outdated.


The word and concept of victim bear a heavy weight. To represent oneself or to be represented as a victim is often a first and vital step toward having one's suffering and one's claims to rights socially and legally recognized. Yet to name oneself or be called a victim is a risky claim, and social scientists must struggle to avoid erasing either survivors' experience of suffering or their agency and resourcefulness. Histories of Victimhood engages with this dilemma, asking how one may recognize and acknowledge suffering without essentializing affected communities and individuals. This volume tackles the theoretical and empirical questions surrounding the ways victims and victimhood are constructed, represented, and managed by state and nonstate actors. Geographically broad, the twelve essays in this volume trace histories of victimhood in Colombia, India, South Africa, Guatemala, Angola, Sierra Leone, Turkey, Occupied Palestine, Denmark, and Britain. They examine the implications of victimhood in a wide range of contexts, including violent occupations, displacement, war, reparation projects, refugee assistance, HIV treatment, trauma intervention, social welfare projects, and state formation. In exploring varying forms of hardship and identifying what people do to survive, how they make sense of their own suffering, and how they are frequently either acted upon or ignored by humanitarian agencies and states, Histories of Victimhood encourages us to see victimhood not as a definite and definable category of experience but as a changeable and culturally contingent state. Contributors: Sofie Danneskiold-Samsoe, Pamila Gupta, Ravinder Kaur, Stine Finne Jakobsen, Andrew M. Jefferson, Steffen Jensen, Tobias Kelly, Frederic Le Marcis, Walter Paniagua, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Darius Rejali, Henrik Ronsbo, Lotte Buch Segal, Nerina Weiss.


The central question addressed in this study is "How are the conceptualization and operationalization of education for democratic citizenship similar to or different within and across the two Islamic civil society associations." Using qualitative methods, I explored the ideas and experiences (practices) of two large Islamic civil society associations: Muhammadiyah (M) and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), in Indonesia. M and NU members have similar ideas about democracy, democratic society and educating for democracy. Within both organizations members argue Islam has tenets, such as shura and adl (justice), congruent with democratic ideas, but their responses to the Western conceptions of democracy vary. Accomodationists in both organizations state that Islamic tenets are conglruent with the Western ideas of democracy, while rejetioinists express that Islam has concept of happiness as the goal of democracy, sovereignty, and freedom differ from Western concepts of democracy. Moreover, although most informants from M and NU subscribe to democratic values, such as individual freedom, respect for differences or plurality, tolerance, open-mindedness, and criticism; some see the notions individual sovereignty, accepting of other religious groups' beliefs, and gender equality as problematic for Muslims in Indonesia. Adopting these values in certain ways, they argue, can be seen to contravene core/fundamental Islamic beliefs. M and NU work to educate their members and the community at large by promoting democratic or civil values, political awareness, and participation. Both organizations have developed voter education and education for anti-corruption programs. In addition, NU organizes programs to transform orthodox understandings about the fiqh tradition, "citizen forums" to influence the provision of public services, and workshops to disseminate ideas of "inclusive, emancipatory or moderate Islam." M's programs focus on developing gender sensitivity among officials, candidates, and community members as well as on developing civil values for the students of its schools and colleges through civic education.


The conflict in Darfur is one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. The fact that the Sudanese government, including its current sitting head of state, played a critical role in orchestrating the murder, rape, and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the region makes the violence perpetrated in this region particularly egregious. In an effort to address these problems, the U.N. Security Council referred the matter to the International Criminal Court (ICC). After its investigation, the ICC granted an arrest warrant for President Bashir, which charged him with crimes against humanity. Under the Rome Treaty, the U.N. Security Council can delay prosecution of President Bashir indefinitely, and certain sectors of the international community are pressuring it to do just that. Those that support the delay fear that allowing the prosecution to move forward will derail potential peace negotiations and result in more violence in the country. To support their contention, they cited threats made by the Sudanese government to escalate attacks. While the U.N. must address these threats, delaying prosecution is the wrong solution. This Note argues that allowing threats of violence to derail the pursuit of justice could irreparably damage the court's international reputation and credibility. To bolster the legitimacy of the ICC, strengthen international criminal justice, and deter future leaders from following President Bashir's destructive example, the U.N. and the rest of the international community must support the ICC in its apprehension of President Bashir and support the court in holding him accountable for


In the development of neuroinflammatory diseases, alterations of the blood brain barrier (BBB) represent key events. The integrity of the BBB is partially maintained by endothelia cells (ECs), since they actively limit the transmigration of immune cells. However, the factors that cause endothelial cells to develop an immune cell-permissive phenotype are poorly understood. In general, it has been shown that vascular dysfunction can be caused by kynurenine pathway (KP) metabolites. In the initial step of the KP, the bioactive intermediate synthesized is kynurenine (Kyn). It is known to activate the arylhydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand binding transcription factor that mediates immune responses. To examine if this pathway has an effect on the BBB, we investigated the effects of Kyn-mediated AhR activation in primary isolated murine brain microvascular endothelial cells (MbMECs) in vitro. First, we confirmed AhR expression in MbMECs at RNA and protein levels. Transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) of MBMEC monolayers was unaffected by Kyn treatment. However, treatment with Kyn did cause an increased migration of T-cells. Addition of MNF, an AhR specific inhibitor, reversed this effect. These findings were further confirmed by an increase in the intracellular adhesion protein 1 (ICAM-1) expression in KYN-treated MBMECs. These results suggest a role of KYN in MBMEC dysfunction via AHR activation.


Based on the data obtained in a survey of 206 representatives of African immigrant associations, nine life histories and 54 interviews carried out with representatives of these associations, this article analyzes their educational reality from different points of view. First, we establish the importance the association leaders give to education (the role that education played in their migration processes and in the associations they lead). Second, we take a close look at their educational level and training. And finally, we analyze the training activities promoted by these associations or the activities in which they are involved (collaborating with other associations, institutions or services). Concerning these activities, we analyze their types (topics covered: language, religion, labor market integration, etc.), and orientation (tendency to multiculturalism and collaboration or distance from formal education institutions).


Many RF devices for ionospheric observations have been developed since in the past. However, most of them are limited in their functionality to the hardware. Dealing with the software instead of the hardware is one of the ways to overcome such a drawback. This paper presents a development of the software-defined radio based HF receiver for evaluation of the radio propagation simulator named HF-START (HF Simulator Targeting for All-users' Regional Telecommunications) with the cost as low as about 400 USD per set. Step-by-step to develop and implement the receiver will be introduced. Preliminary results obtained from the receiver will be presented. The developed low cost digital HF receiver is expected to be affordable even for those who are in Southeast Asia and Africa.


This article presents a metaphor that might explain Russia's approach to international law. Drawing on linguistics, the article proposes that Russia has been a non-native speaker of international law. A non-native speaker's experiences range from estrangement and disengagement from the foreign language and its speech community to that of empowerment and inspiration nurtured by the acquisition of a new language and a new multilingual identity. Thus, as a non-native speaker, Russia has approached international law with two rhetorical moves: as a disaffected foreigner and as an empowered multilingual subject who aspires to uphold and interpret the rules of the language recently acquired. As a multilingual speaker fluent in the language of international law, Russia has asserted control over judgments of grammaticality and has disagreed with previously determined linguistic rules established by the native-speaking community. The notion of a non-native speaker of international law can apply to states other than Russia. Policymakers and intellectual leaders of other countries, including China, might perceive themselves as non-native speakers in their encounters with the western European foundations of the language of international law. Finally, the article explores the future of international law by asking whether non-native speakers who have been gaining fluency in the parlance of international law will continue to develop their own linguistic repertoire, build their own vocabularies, and advance their own assertions regarding rules of grammar. The future of international law might be diglossic, as two varieties of its language, shared by different speech communities and practiced in different contexts, may be established.


The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is critical to normal cellular signaling pathways. Moreover, it has been implicated in a range of pathologies, including cancer. As a result, it is the primary target of many anticancer drugs. One limitation to the design and development of these drugs has been the lack of molecular-level information about the interactions and conformational dynamics of EGFR. To overcome this limitation, this work reports the construction and characterization of functional, fluorescently labeled, and full-length EGFR in model membrane nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs) for in vitro fluorescence studies. To demonstrate the utility of the system, we investigate ATP-EGFR interactions. We observe that ATP binds at the catalytic site providing a means to measure a range of distances between the catalytic site and the C-terminus via Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). These ATP-based experiments suggest a range of conformations of the C-terminus that may be a function of the phosphorylation state for EGFR. This work is a proof-of-principle demonstration of single-molecule studies as a noncrystallographic assay for EGFR interactions in real-time and under near-physiological conditions. The diverse nature of EGFR interactions means that new tools at the molecular level have the potential to significantly enhance our understanding of receptor pathology and are of utmost importance for cancer-related drug discovery.


The visualisation of large volumes of data can provide rich and meaningful representations that enable users to gain insights quickly and efficiently. Household energy consumer characteristics are explored in this thesis using innovative interactive visualisation techniques. Initial research with energy analysts, from a major UK utility company, investigates visual possibilities and opportunities for future (smart home) energy analytics and explicitly uses creativity techniques for information visualisation requirements gathering. The results, along with exploratory visual analysis combining geodemographic groups and energy consumption, identifes a need for profiling consumers by typical traits. While energy consumption has been a popular topic of research in recent years, there is still limited understanding of the relationship between energy consumption and measurable characteristics of the general population. An investigation of the process of creating an energy-based geodemographic classification led to the proposal and design of a new theoretical framework for visually comparing multivariate data across scale and geography; a necessary step when selecting reliable variables for running clustering algorithms, such as during the geodemographic classification creation process.

The framework for including geography and scale in multivariate comparison forms the major contribution of this thesis. This framework is demonstrated and justified through the building of an interactive visualisation prototype, using input variables deemed relevant for consideration for energy-based geodemographic classification. Important transitions in the framework are highlighted in the proposed design, which uses both statistical and spatial representations. The utility of the framework is validated in the context of energy-based geodemographic variable selection where the multivariate geography of the UK is explored. The sensitivities of varying scale and geography { through varying resolution, extent and the calculation of locally weighted summary statistics { are investigated in context and are shown to be important elements to consider during the variable selection process. The broader applicability of the framework is demonstrated through two further scenarios where multivariate visualisation across scale and geography is shown to be important. The research provides a framework and viable solutions through which geographical visual parameter space analysis (gvPSA) can be undertaken. It uses a design science approach that results in a series of artifacts that open up new visualisation possibilities. This project covers a wide topic where the breadth of research options is extensive and many possibilities for continued research are identified.


A number of cytoskeletal-associated proteins that are concentrated in focal contacts, namely alpha-actinin, vinculin, talin, and integrin, have been shown to interact in vitro such that they suggest a potential link between actin filaments and the membrane. Because some of these interactions are of low affinity, we suspect the additional linkages also exist. Therefore, we have used a synthetic peptide corresponding to the cytoplasmic domain of beta 1 integrin and affinity chromatography to identify additional integrin-binding proteins. Here we report our finding of an interaction between the cytoplasmic domain of beta 1 integrin and the actin-binding protein alpha-actinin. Beta 1- integrin cytoplasmic domain peptide columns bound several proteins from Triton extracts of chicken embryo fibroblasts. One protein at approximately 100 kD was identified by immunoblot analysis as alpha- actinin. Solid phase binding assays indicated that alpha-actinin bound specifically and directly to the beta 1 peptide with relatively high affinity. Using purified heterodimeric chicken smooth muscle integrin (a beta 1 integrin) or the platelet integrin glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex (a beta 3 integrin), binding of alpha-actinin was also observed in similar solid phase assays, albeit with a lower affinity than was seen using the beta 1 peptide. alpha-Actinin also bound specifically to phospholipid vesicles into which glycoprotein IIb/IIIa had been incorporated. These results lead us to suggest that this integrin-alpha- actinin linkage may contribute to the attachment of actin filaments to the membrane in certain locations.


An established body of literature now exists in the field of rural electrification projects in developing countries. Much of this literature has focused on the factors that influence the degree of success of projects and on their outcomes in terms of their impacts on the communities that they are used to supply. There are, however, large differences in rural electrification programs depending on the technologies used, and the amount of information in the literature that is focused on rural electrification of remote villages based on the installation of micro hydro systems (MHSs) is quite small.

This study looks at the planning and implementation of MHSs in remote villages close to the international border of Malaysia and Indonesia on the island of Borneo. Two case studies are presented – villages in Ba'kelalan in Sarawak and villages across the border in Krayan in North Kalimantan. The villages used as case studies are similar in terms of geography, ethnicity and religion, but differ in terms of economics and the policy frameworks in which they operate because they are located on different sides of a shared national border. The benefit of using a study area that includes micro hydro schemes on either side of a national border is that it is able to throw more light on the differences that policy frameworks make to the success of a micro hydro scheme. The premise upon which this research is found is that the planning, construction and implementation of MHS in remote areas such as this are complex and the aim of the research is therefore to obtain a 'whole picture' understanding of micro hydro scheme projects undertaken as rural electrification projects in order to attain a better understanding of the factors that affect the level of success and as failure of these micro hydro projects.

Data was collected through field surveys in which questionnaires and energy audits were administered to householders, while interviews were held with village headmen, village micro hydro committees, manufacturers, and with government and non-government organisations. Further quantitative data was gained from the resource assessment as well as supply and demand measurements for some of the micro hydro systems in the study area.

Based on the results of the field survey, the research defines critical activities associated with the MHS implementation process and factors/issues associated with each critical activity then been proposed to provide a framework which to guide future MHS implementation. One key finding from the study is that the degree of success of micro hydro projects in the research area was not determined by the existence of national or state government policy and reasons for this are suggested.
One recommendation from this study is that in order for a micro hydro project to be successful, its planning and implementation need to be well thought out. While the existence of guidelines, roadmaps or frameworks for MHS implementation is helpful in that they provide a process for developing a very carefully planned and detailed project management plan, the design and management of the projects vary considerably due to the uniqueness of micro hydro sites, and the differences in the local/community cultures and social systems.


Promoting Autonomy--Or Medicalizing Suicide Why have physician-assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia taken on such vitality in recent years? Some authors stress the conjunction of powerful medical and cultural trends. The advances of modern medicine in association with its overwhelming bias to treat have engendered widespread and increasing fear. More than death itself, what seems frightening is the very real prospect of losing control over one's own dying process.[1] The reaction to this exorbitant sway of medicine has been nourished since the 1970s: patients' empowerment or, more generally, the liberal individualism that has vigorously extended into the medical system. In response, advance directives, health care proxies, and other devices founded on the right to forgo medical treatment aim to "protect" patients from physicians, medicine, and hospitals' institutional imperatives. From the perspective of this recent history, physician-assisted suicide and even voluntary active euthanasia are just one more necessary and justified step in this process. It is as if what modern medicine has expropriated from individuals could be returned to them through physician-assisted suicide: control over their own deaths.[2] These considerations condense two widespread current assumptions in the debate over aid in dying. The first is that these practices are, for better or for worse, paradigmatic expressions of patients' autonomy. Although proponents and opponents evaluate very differently the adequacy and the limits conferred to self-determination in this context, they both endorse this general assertion. The second assumption is that physician-assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia are ultimate brakes on the unrestrained use of medical technology at the end of life. They are instruments to promote the "demedicalization" of death. I propose to challenge these assumptions. I want to argue that physician-assisted suicide does not demedicalize death; rather, it medicalizes suicide. By this I mean it transforms a private act (suicide) into a medical event. Indeed, physician-assisted suicide implies not a resistance to but an extension of medical power over life and death. And second, that instead of asserting an individual's autonomy physician-assisted suicide is in fact an impediment to it. My analysis accepts the liberal/libertarian presumption that one of the essential attributes of the individual is precisely the liberty to govern oneself free from external constraints. Despite my belief in both the indispensability and inevitability of social constraints,[3] as an analytic device here I will assume radical autonomy to be a moral goal. I will also assume that from the perspective of the physician-patient dyad, more than killing, "assisted suicide" is literally what the phrase states: suicide with assistance, not only because it is the patient who makes the request, but also because it is she who is responsible for the final deed. Promoting Autonomy, Demedicalizing Death Many of those who favor physician-assisted suicide analyze and support it in reference to free choice, individual rights, and moral autonomy.[4] This line of argument rests on a conception of autonomy primarily as "negative liberty": the right to act and govern oneself in accordance with one's own private beliefs, values, and choices without interference as long as one's behavior does not harm others.[5] Proponents assert that this right should encompass patients' control over the timing and circumstances of death up to and including assistance in suicide. So conceived as a "personal and intimate decision," the right to aid in dying refers to a sphere of self-determination that should be left free from any paternalistic interference, whether that interference emanates from the state, from doctors, from family members, or from religious or philosophical orthodoxies. Physician-assisted suicide is, in short, advocated as a "natural" extension of the constitutionally protected "right to privacy," and as a mere specification of the moral right to self-determination. …


We give three constructions of a vertex-minimal triangulation of $4$-dimensional real projective space $\mathbb{R}P^4$. The first construction describes a $4$-dimensional sphere on $32$ vertices, which is a double cover of a triangulated $\mathbb{R}P^4$ and has a large amount of symmetry. The second and third constructions illustrate approaches to improving the known number of vertices needed to triangulate $n$-dimensional real projective space. All three constructions deliver the same combinatorial manifold, which is also the same as the only known $16$-vertex triangulation of $\mathbb{R}P^4$. We also give a short, simple construction of the $22$-point Witt design, which is closely related to the complex we construct.


We consider a hypothetical company that is assumed to have just manufactured and sold a number of copies of a product. It is known that, with a small probability, the company has committed a manufacturing fault that will require a recall. The company is able to observe the expiration times of the sold items whose distribution depends on whether the fault is present or absent. At the expiration of each item, a public inspection takes place that may reveal the fault, if it exists. Based on this information, the company can recall the product at any moment and pay back each customer the price of the product. If the company is not able to recall before an inspection reveals the fault, it pays a fine per item sold, which is assumed to be much larger than the price of the product. We compute the optimal recall time that minimizes the expected cost of recall of this company. We then derive and solve a stationary limit recall problem and show that the original problem converges to it as the number of items initially sold increases to ∞. Finally, we propose two extensions of the original model and compute the optimal recall times for these. In the first extension, the expired items are inspected only if they expire earlier than expected; in the second extension, the company is able to conduct internal/private inspections on the expired items. We provide numerical examples and simulation results for all three models.


Cognitive assessments were conducted on aircraft crew who reported symptoms following exposure to jet oil engine emissions from BAe-146 aircraft. Results demonstrated impairments on tests of reaction time, processing speed and fine motor skills in most participants. Findings were significant but with such a small sample this may not be representative. However if extrapolated across the aviation industry, could indicate significant aviation safety problems. The possibility of consistent neuropsychological impairments with exposure to jet engine emissions indicates a need for more robust studies.

A second study investigated the psychological impact on spouses of aircraft maintenance engineers affected by the toxic chemicals used in the Deseal/Reseal program of F-III aircraft.
Ninety one spouses of affected RAAF workers were administered the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI); Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI); and Spouse Questionnaire (SQ). Controls were twenty five aged matched spouses of RAAF personnel not involved in the program.

Results demonstrated significant differences between experimental group and controls on PAI Somatic Complaints, Anxiety, Depression, and Stress scales. Spouse Questionnaire of coping skills, demonstrated that the experimental group had significant difficulties coping with spouses. ZBI administered to experimental group only, indicated that their burden of stress was moderate to severe.

Despite limited control group, results were considered significantly robust and statistically significant, which suggested it unlikely that results would have been different, given a larger sample.

In the final study cognitive assessments were conducted on forty two health care workers exposed to the chemical glutaraldehyde. Workers were divided into two experimental groups: EXP1, currently working with glutaraldehyde, with protective measures; EXP2, previously worked with glutaraldehyde with poor protection. Controls were eighteen age matched health care workers, not exposed to glutaraldehyde.

All groups were administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for emotional impact of chemical exposure. Results indicated significant impairments in information processing speed, reaction time and accuracy of responses in experimental groups compared with controls. Differences were more significant in the
extensively exposed EXP2 group, who also had higher elevations on the depression scale of the HADS.
Results demonstrated significant neuropsychological and emotional effects in individuals extensively exposed to glutaraldehyde, using few protective measures, compared with less severely exposed workers or controls. Implications of test results and importance of adherence to health and safety regulations are discussed.

If extrapolated across the health care professions this could indicate occupational health and safety issues in hospitals and clinics, where chemicals are used.