Product development involves multiple phases. Design review (DR) is an essential activity formally conducted to ensure a smooth transition from one phase to another. Such a formal DR is usually a multicriteria decision problem, involving multiple disciplines. This paper proposes a systematic framework for DR using fuzzy set theory. This fuzzy approach to DR is considered particularly relevant for several reasons. First, information available at early design phases is often incomplete and imprecise. Second, the relationships between the product design parameters and the review criteria cannot usually be exactly expressed by mathematical functions due to the enormous complexity. Third, DR is frequently carried out using subjective expert judgments with some degree of uncertainty. The DR is defined as the reverse mapping between the design parameter domain and design requirement (review criterion) domain, as compared with Suh's theory of axiomatic design. Fuzzy sets are extensively introduced in the definitions of the domains and the mapping process to deal with imprecision, uncertainty, and incompleteness. A simple case study is used to demonstrate the resulting fuzzy set theory of axiomatic DR.


Abstract Background Aromatase inhibitors (AI) are standard as postoperative adjuvant therapy for hormone positive postmenopausal breast cancer. In recent years, the administration period tends to be longer, and bone loss which is a side effect has become a serious problem. We have already reported the effect of denosumab up to 24 months on postmenopausal early breast cancer patients with low bone mineral density (BMD) receiving AIs as adjuvant hormonal therapy. BMD in the lumber spine was found to increase, and the combination of denosumab revealed useful for blocking bone mineral loss in Japanese women receiving AIs. Methods Study design: A non-randomized, prospective study at three institutions was conducted in Japan. Patients administered 60 mg of denosumab subcutaneously every 6 months. The BMD of the lumbar spine and bilateral femoral neck was measured at baseline and at 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. The levels of serum tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase isoform 5b (TRAP5b), bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), albumin-corrected serum calcium concentration was measured at baseline and 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months. Patients: Postmenopausal women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive invasive breast cancer who were scheduled to receive an AI as adjuvant hormonal therapy or receiving AI adjuvant therapy were included in the analysis. We also included those who had completed a chemotherapy regimen ≥ 4 weeks before entering the study and patients with low BMD (lumbar spine, right femoral neck, and left femoral neck BMD: -2.5 Results A total of 103 patients were enrolled. Seventy-three patients completed the study. At 36 months, the BMD of the lumbar spine increased by 8.8%. The BMD of the right and left femoral neck increased by 4.4% and 2.7%, respectively. Symptomatic clinical fractures did not occur in patients receiving AI and denosumab. Conclusions At 36 months, as with the data to the previous 24 months, in combination of denosumab for Japanese women receiving adjuvant AI treatment, an increase in BMD was noted. Clinical trial identification UMIN-CTR, UMIN 000016173. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure T. Taguchi: Research grant / Funding (institution): Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Research grant / Funding (institution): Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Research grant / Funding (institution): Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.; Research grant / Funding (institution): Eisai Co. Ltd. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Urethral obstruction is a rare finding in very young lambs before weaning. This report describes the occurrence of this condition in an eleven day-old orphan lamb. The early occurrence of urinary obstruction was most likely caused by mistakes in the feeding regimen since the lamb did not have free access to water and the milk replacer was used in too high a concentration. The obstruction was successfully treated by tube cystostomy. Nutritional changes were implemented and after a three-week hospitalization period the lamb was fully recovered. Urethral obstruction has not recurred to date.


Whether criticizing the American government, protesting the war in Vietnam, or denouncing capitalism, Ginsberg gave voice to the moral conscience of the nation. His personal essays on Jean Genet, Andy Warhol, Philip Glass, and others, give us compelling portraits of his fellow artists. And his views on poetry, free speech, Buddhism, and the Beats reflect the concerns of the postwar American culture he helped shape.Provocative, playful, eloquent, and of the moment, these essays offer a social history of modern America that remind us of the events and issues that preoccupied the minds of a nation -- and one of its most influential citizens -- in the postwar years.


In this paper, we compared epiphyte inventories from Honduras to recent published floristic inventories from other Central American countries including Costa Rica,
Panama, Nicaragua and Belize. Previous estimates of vascular epiphytes have revealed that approximately 9 % of all global plants are epiphytes and that in some countries they contribute approximately one quarter of the total plant diversity. Early estimates of vascular epiphytes from the neotropics have mostly overestimated the total number of epiphytes at a given locality, due to systematic misconceptions and or the use of different life-form classification systems. Moreover, some Central American countries such as Honduras have so far been neglected in any epiphyte surveys. Our database for Central America included a total of 2752 floweringplant epiphytes. We reported a total of 882 vascular epiphytes (Angiosperms and Pteridophytes) from 245 genera and 29 families from Honduras, representing 11.1 % of the country's total vascular flora. Orchidaceae had the highest contribution to the epiphyte flora (54.9 %), followed by Polypodiaceae (18.9 %), and Bromeliaceae (11.3 %). Two distinctive floristic clusters were detected separating South-Central and North-Central countries. Honduras had the most floristic affinity to Nicaragua and Belize. In addition, a detailed floristic survey of Cusuco National Park, Honduras, a montane forest region, revealed that epiphytes in Honduras may contribute over 20 % of the total vascular flora in a particular area. The results of this study highlight the importance of epiphytes in Honduras relative to other Central American countries.


Abstract Soil erosion probability maps were produced under various case scenarios by accounting for uncertainties in the data and in the decision rule, using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS). This objective was realized by applying the Bayesian Probability Theory within IDRISI, a raster based GIS. The outcomes were two continuous probability soil erosion maps ranging from zero to 1. Comparing these maps with an earlier study indicates that accounting for the uncertainties has, in general, decreased the probability of soil erosion. Based on average readings for specific sites on the maps, increases in erosion risk under the second case scenario have had the highest impact on the highlands that is in the central, eastern, and northern regions of Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Assuming a 10% risk, this impact has increased by 11.98, 11.83 and 5.741% for high, medium and low soil erosion risk areas on the island respectively.


Objectives: The objective was to understand the local food distribution system in Avian Park, with a focus on food availability and accessibility. Study design: This was a quantitative food store survey that employed semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Setting: The study was conducted in Avian Park, situated in the Breede Valley, in the Western Cape province. Subjects: Thirteen spaza shops, three chain supermarkets, three street vendors, two butchers, two wholesalers, a community café and a small, independent supermarket randomly selected from the community were included. Food retail outlet managers and community residents were also included. Outcome measures: The outcome measures were food prices, availability, and access and quality. Results: The café stocked 56% of the surveyed food items, spaza shops 66% and the supermarket 69%. Spaza shops stocked sweetened products, basic staples and processed food. A variety of vegetables was available at the café and supermarket, with less variety in the spaza shops. Processed and staple food was most expensive in the spaza shops, while fruit and vegetables were generally cheaper. Food prices were below the national average in all of the food categories, except for bread, cereals, grains, sweets and sugar. Interviews with shop owners indicated that fruit and vegetables were not kept because of spoilage, space limitations, storage issues and lack of transport. Focus group discussions with residents indicated a need for fruit, vegetables and meat outlets within walking distance. Conclusion: Community food prices were not the main factor inhibiting food accessibility, but rather variety and quality. © SAJCN S Afr J Clin Nutr 2013;26(4):194-200


We consider the problem of stratified sampling for Monte-Carlo integration. We model this problem in a multi-armed bandit setting, where the arms represent the strata, and the goal is to estimate a weighted average of the mean values of the arms. We propose a strategy that samples the arms according to an upper bound on their standard deviations and compare its estimation quality to an ideal allocation that would know the standard deviations of the strata. We provide two regret analyses: a distribution-dependent bound O(n-3/2) that depends on a measure of the disparity of the strata, and a distribution-free bound O(n-4/3) that does not.


Pocklington's model consists in a one-dimensional integral equation relating the current at the surface of a straight finite wire to the tangential trace of an incident electromagnetic field. It is a simplification of the more usual single layer potential equation posed on a two-dimensional surface. We are interested in estimating the error between the solution of the exact integral equation and the solution of Pocklington's model. We address this problem for the model case of acoustics in a smooth geometry using results of asymptotic analysis.


This thesis considers the behaviour of 5 groups of primary aged children in the context of school, parenting and cognitive style. Study 1 began with a survey across the author's Local Education Authority to ascertain how schools work in partnership with parents whose children exhibit challenging behaviour in school. It also explored perceived difficulties and ways to alleviate these. The replies indicated that the schools attributed pupil difficulties to the resistance of parents in the collaborative process and a mismatch between home and school expectations. Suggestions for improvement recognised the duty of schools to build good relationships, enhance communication and educate parents. Following the survey the case details of 13 pupils who were experiencing behaviour problems were studied and from these a booklet for parents (Better Behaviour) was developed alongside a guide for professionals in supporting them. The booklet was evaluated with 25 parents over 3 months, during which time they received support and guidance in parenting skills. The parents reported personal benefits from this support, which resulted in improved behaviour in 24 of the children. Study 2 describes a matched group design of 180 pupils from 4 schools. Their behaviour was rated by teachers across 6 aspects. The parents of 1 group were sent a copy of the booklet and encouraged to follow its guidance via a series ofletters from the school. After 2 months the pupils' behaviour was re-rated. The most striking outcome was the major influence of school in both the main and interaction effects. The variability of results highlights the multiplicity of factors, which determine behavioural change. The implications of these findings for the methodology are discussed. Study 3 comprised 109, 9-11 year old pupils from 1 primary school. The teachers rated their classroom behaviour and home background across a 5 point scale. The position of the pupils on the Wholist-Analytic Cognitive Style Dimension was assessed by means of the Cognitive Styles Analysis.

There was a significant effect of Wholist-Analytic style on behaviour, with Wholists having the most challenging behaviour. There was also a significant interaction between gender and home background, with females being better than males. This was most pronounced when the home background was rated as poor. Study 4 describes 5 case studies and the relationship between cognitive style, behavioural characteristics and parenting methods. The mothers of 5, year 5-6 boys whose behaviour was beyond their control were supported in their use of the booklet over a 3 months period. Types of behaviour were found to vary with style. All of the boys' behaviour improved in response to changes in parenting strategies. The results of all 4 studies were considered to have implications for the causes and management of challenging behaviour with respect to teaching, parenting and school partnership with parents.


There is a growing trend of combining human-based computation with machine-based com- putation to solve complex problems which cannot be answered with machine-based computation alone. From the computing perspective, integrating machine-based computing elements with human-based computing elements and provisioning them under the same model will facilitate the resource elasticity required by complex applications. Although certain works investigate tech- niques for integrating human-based computing elements with machine-based computing elements, existing computing models for such integrated computing systems are very limited. In fact, the ar- chitectures, interconnections, non-functional parameters of human-based computing elements are very different from that of contemporary machine-based counterparts. Human-based computing elements are built based on social and bio concepts, thus their architectures, interconnects and non- functional parameters are extremely complex and dynamic, compared with that of machine-based computing elements. In this paper, we examine fundamental issues in virtualizing human-based computing elements and machine-based computing elements using service-oriented computing concepts in order to create highly scalable computing systems of hybrid services to support the elasticity of software and people in complex applications. We will outline our Vienna Elastic Com- puting Model which aims at introducing techniques and frameworks to support multi-dimensional elastic processes atop hybrid cloud systems of software-based and human-based services. This paper will analyze several service management issues in order to support the virtualization of machine-based and human-based computing elements to support such elastic processes.


It is well known that within long-standing multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions there is axonal loss but whether it is an early or late event has been more difficult to establish. The use of immunocytochemical methods that reveal axonal end-bulbs is a valuable approach to investigating acute axonal injury in human pathological material. The application of these techniques to multiple sclerosis tissue reveals evidence of axonal injury in acute lesions; the distribution of the end-bulbs in acute and active-chronic lesions is associated with regions of maximal density of infiltrating macrophages. Axon injury within the MS lesion will result in both Wallerian degeneration of the axon and also retrograde degeneration of the cell body. The functional consequences of the axon injury will depend upon numbers of axons injured and the topographical organization of the fibres coursing through the lesion. The molecular mechanisms by which the recruited leucocytes damage or transect the axons are not known. However, investigations in the Wld mutant mouse with very slow Wallerian degeneration demonstrate that axon degeneration is not simply a passive disintegration of the axon but has clear parallels with the active processes of programmed cell death. The presence of early axon injury and the consequences of an ever increasing load of neuronal damage has important implications not only for when therapy should be initiated in MS but also the therapeutic target.


Large wildfires can have profound and lasting impacts not only from direct consumption of vegetation but also longer‐term effects such as persistent soil erosion. The 2002 Hayman Fire burned in one of the watersheds supplying water to the Denver metropolitan area; thus there was concern regarding hillslope erosion and sedimentation in the reservoirs. The efficacy of various treatments for reducing erosion was tested, including hand scarification on contour, agricultural straw mulch, wood mulch, burned controls and unburned reference plots. Simulated rill erosion experiments were used both immediately after the fire and again 10 years post fire. To better understand untreated recovery, the same experiments were applied to control plots in post‐fire years 1, 2, 3 and 4, and in unburned reference plots in years 4 and 10. Results indicate that control and scarified plots produced significantly greater sediment flux rates – 1.9 and 2.8 g s−1 respectively – than the straw and wood mulch treatments – 0.9 and 1.1 g s−1 – immediately after the fire. Mulch treatments reduced runoff rate, runoff velocity, and sediment concentration and flux rate. The straw mulch cover was no longer present, whereas the wood mulch was still there in year 10. Vegetation regrowth was slow and mulch treatments provided effective cover to reduce sediment right after the fire. In post‐fire year 10, there were no significant differences in sediment flux rates across treatments; it is notable, however, that the wood mulch treatment (0.09 g s−1) most closely approached the unburned condition (0.07 g s−1). The burned control plots had high sediment flux rates until post‐fire year 3, when flux rates significantly decreased and were statistically no longer higher than the unburned levels from year 4 and 10. These results will inform managers of the longer‐term post‐fire sediment delivery rates and of the ability of post‐fire emergency hillslope treatments to mitigate erosion rates. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.


The Internet has created new markets, customers, products and modes of conducting business. But it also has given currency to some dangerous half-truths. Admonishing Internet businesses to "stop grabbing the land and start cultivating it," Subramanian Rangan and Ron Adner, professors of management and strategy at INSEAD in France, explain why seven popular strategies are not the path to profitable growth.

First-mover advantage, for example, gets too much credit for e-business success. Companies believe that they can lock in customers and trigger a winner-take-all dynamic, but there is no guarantee that those benefits will go to first movers.

The allure of reach ? increasing the number of customer segments ? causes many companies to ignore fit, the coherence with which their activities reinforce one another. Digital Equipment Corp. paid the price when it sacrificed fit to reach, attempting to make PCs, workstations, minicomputers and mainframes under one roof.

Another tempting growth strategy is to provide customer solutions, offering products or services that complement a company's core offering. But offering solutions can dilute a company's focus. Targeting the right Internet sector is one way to maintain focus. When companies view the Internet as undifferentiated landscape, they are less able to distinguish the drivers of customer value and performance ? or the metrics to measure them.

Some companies see best-of-breed-partner leverage as the secret of profitable growth. But although the Internet makes it easier and cheaper to align activities across company boundaries, it does not do much to align interests ? a requirement for the creation of joint value.

Another misconception is the belief that an Internet business will automatically be successful abroad. As MTV, Wal-Mart and Honda discovered, companies first must be successful at home and then move outward in a way that accommodates local differences.

The last, and perhaps most dangerous, misconception is managers' belief that technology can substitute for strategy. Technology and strategy are strong complements. Companies that understand their technology better than they understand their customers and competition won't succeed in any economy, old or new. The authors provide thoughtful guidelines for avoiding misconceptions and taking a sensible approach to business on the Internet.


The Energy Charter Treaty is an international agreement that protects foreign investors in the energy sector and allows them to challenge state measures in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). The treaty is incompatible with the EU's climate commitments and the current modernisation process will not fix this, as the necessary reforms are either opposed by other contracting parties or not being discussed. We therefore urge the EU and its Member States to leave the treaty and to conclude an additional agreement that excludes the possibility of ISDS cases amongst the withdrawing parties. The EU and its Member States should also ensure that no further countries join the treaty.


There is debate concerning the spatial extent and magnitude of the recently identified 1500 yr climate oscillation. Existing evidence is largely restricted to the North Atlantic and adjacent landmasses. The spatial extent, magnitude, and effects of these climate variations within the terrestrial environment during the Holocene have not been established. We show that millennial-scale climate variability caused changes in vegetation communities across all of North America with a periodicity of 1650 ± 500 yr during the past 14 000 calendar years (cal yr). Times of major transitions identified in pollen records occurred at 600, 1650, 2850, 4030, 6700, 8100, 10 190, 12 900, and 13 800 cal yr B.P., consistent with ice and marine records. We suggest that North Atlantic millennial-scale climate variability is associated with rearrangements of the atmospheric circulation with far-reaching influences on the climate.


On-surface Ullmann coupling reactions of dibromo-biphenyl and diiodo-biphenyl molecules on Ag(111), Cu(111), Au(111) and Au(100) and by deposited extrinsic Ag and Ni atoms were systematically explored. Poly-p-phenylene polymer chains turned out to be the final coupling products. Different organometallic polymer chains, [–Ph2Ag–]n, [–Ph2Cu–]n, and [–Ph2Ni–]n, were synthesized as stable intermediates during the coupling reactions. These intermediates were confirmed and verified by X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy, scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and tip manipulations. On Au surfaces, coupling products were achieved directly from halogenated precursors without formation of the Au-containing organometallic intermediates. Magnetic organometallic polymer chains were prepared by Ullmann coupling of dibromo-biphenyl activated by extrinsic Ni atoms on Au(100) surface and were confirmed by Kondo resonance measurement. Such an on-surface preparation strategy may provide an efficient approach to preparing unentangled organometallic and pure organic polymer chains and subsequently measuring their properties at surfaces.


We present hybrid crowd-machine learning classifiers: classification models that start with a written description of a learning goal, use the crowd to suggest predictive features and label data, and then weigh these features using machine learning to produce models that are accurate and use human-understandable features. These hybrid classifiers enable fast prototyping of machine learning models that can improve on both algorithm performance and human judgment, and accomplish tasks where automated feature extraction is not yet feasible. Flock, an interactive machine learning platform, instantiates this approach. To generate informative features, Flock asks the crowd to compare paired examples, an approach inspired by analogical encoding. The crowd's efforts can be focused on specific subsets of the input space where machine-extracted features are not predictive, or instead used to partition the input space and improve algorithm performance in subregions of the space. An evaluation on six prediction tasks, ranging from detecting deception to differentiating impressionist artists, demonstrated that aggregating crowd features improves upon both asking the crowd for a direct prediction and off-the-shelf machine learning features by over 10%. Further, hybrid systems that use both crowd-nominated and machine-extracted features can outperform those that use either in isolation.


Background and Objectives Language production and speech articulation can be delayed in children due to developmental disabilities and neuromotor disorders such as childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). One of the behaviors that are commonly associated with the CAS is the articulation errors where the child mispronounced some of the produced phonemes. The presented Pronunciation Verification (PV) method automatically evaluates the child speech and detects any insertion, deletion or substitution errors made by the child on the phoneme level. Method The proposed PV method based on a search lattice with different competing paths to allow the system to detect insertions, deletions and substitutions of phonemes. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the lattice based PV component. The prompted word is first phonetically transcribed to obtain the expected phoneme sequence. The lattice generator then uses the phoneme sequence to generate a search lattice fed to the speech recognizer. The generated lattice is flexible enough to cover all the possible pronunciation errors (insertion, deletion and substitution) by adding alternative paths to the correct path for each of the expected errors. The deletion path can be represented as a null arc to allow the recognizer to skip the phoneme node during decoding while the garbage node is used as an alternative to collect phoneme other than the expected one (substitution error). A garbage loop is also added between two consecutive phonemes to collect inserted phonemes frames. Fig. 2 (a) shows an example of the lattice for the word "chair" where PG and PD are the penalties attached to the garbage and deletion arcs respectively, these penalties are added to avoid the recognizer skipping phonemes or aligning speech to the garbage node unless the fit is better than the correct path. The garbage node is composed of all the phonemes connected in parallel as shown in Fig. 2 (b). The Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) are extracted from the speech signal with delta and acceleration to produce a 39 dimension feature vector per frame. The extracted features are then fed to the speech recognizer along with the created lattice and the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) acoustic models to generate a sequence of phonemes from the child's utterance. The Context Dependent (CD) HMM model consists of multi-mixture tied-state tri-phones while the garbage model consists of single mixture mono-phones to reduce the complexity and speed up the recognition process. The output phoneme sequence is then compared to the expected phoneme sequence, if matched the utterance is marked as correct otherwise incorrect. Results The system overall accuracy is 88.2% where the Correct Acceptance (CA) is 91.5% and the Correct Rejection (CR) is 83.4%. Conclusion A PV method that uses a search lattice with different alternative paths and a garbage model was used to detect the articulation errors made by the child with overall accuracy around 88%.


The given analysis summarizes the status quo of the level of security of web interfaces of selected European academic repositories in the field of library and information science. It focuses on the presence and qualities of the secure HTTPS protocol via SSL/TLS protocols. The security of the transmitted data is particularly important in the network environment of the Internet, especially if log-in user data is transmitted. Disclosure may have a direct impact on saved digital objects and their metadata which together represent the most valuable parts of systems of digital libraries and repositories. Furthermore, the paper points to the most noticeable vulnerabilities of protocols of web interfaces and presents practical recommendations for the expert public. These may contribute to the increase of the level of security of the discussed systems. The authors base their proposals on the currently available scientific publications and scientific articles about the given topic.


A Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) is a functor from a cobordism category to the category of vector spaces, satisfying certain properties. An important property is that the vector spaces should be finite dimensional. For the WRT TQFT, the relevant 2 + 1-cobordism category is built from manifolds which are equipped with an extra structure such as a p1-structure, or an extended manifold structure. In chapter 1, we perform the universal construction of [3] on a cobordism category without this extra structure and show that the resulting quantization functor assigns an infinite dimensional vector space to the torus. In chapter 2, we enhance the extended manifold structure through introducing oriented lagrangians. We apply a machinery introduced by Guillemin and Sternberg in [7] to transport oriented lagrangians. Using Lion and Vergne's s map in [12, p66], we defined a modulo 4 invariant for cobordisms equipped with such an enhanced structure. This invariant can be viewed as a generalization of Gilmer and Masbaum's nλ(f) in [6, Theorem 6.6], which is defined on the extended mapping class group. The techniques used here might be useful in finding a index 4 subcategory of the extended cobordism category.


The rapid growth of streaming video entertainment has recently received attention as a possibly less energy intensive alternative to the manufacturing and transportation of digital video discs (DVDs). This study utilizes a life-cycle assessment approach to estimate the primary energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions associated with video viewing through both traditional DVD methods and online video streaming. Base-case estimates for 2011 video viewing energy and CO2(e) emission intensities indicate video streaming can be more efficient than DVDs, depending on DVD viewing method. Video streaming benefits from relatively more efficient end-user devices than DVD viewing, though much of that savings is lost when accounting for the additional energy from network data transmission. Video streaming appears distinctly favorable when compared against any DVD viewing that includes consumer driving, which significantly increases the energy and CO2(e) emissions per viewing hour. Total US 2011 video viewing required about 192 PJ of primary energy and emitted about 10.5 billion kg of CO2(e). Shifting all 2011 DVD viewing to video streaming reduces the total primary energy use to about 162 PJ and the CO2(e) emissions to about 8.6 billion kg, representing a savings equivalent to the primary energy used to meet the electricity demand of nearly 200 000 US households each year. Sensitivity analysis indicates that results are most influenced by the end-user DVD player power demand, data transmission energy, and consumer travel for store DVDs. Data center energy use—both operational and embodied within the IT equipment—account for <1% of the total video streaming energy use. Results from this study indicate that designers and policy makers should focus on the efficiency of end-user devices and network transmission energy to curb future increases in energy use from the proliferation of video streaming.


Abstract A total of 24 morphological abnormalities associated with the Runt-Deformity Syndrome (RDS) is reported for the first time in 17- to 18-mo old F3 generation Penaeus monodon (>40 mm CL) belonging to three breeding families. Although diagnosed as positive for the infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), the shrimp appeared normal at 9 to 10 mo when they were procured from a commercial facility in Antique, central Philippines, in September 1996. The abnormalities affected either specific shrimp organs and appendages (e.g., rostrum, antennae, uropods) or the whole body (e.g., shell color and hardness). A two-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate differences in the morphometric characters rostral length (RL), carapace length (CL), abdominal length (AL), body length (BL), total length (TL), carapace width (CW), 1st abdominal segment width (AS1W), and body weight (BW) and the morphometric ratios RL:CL, CL:AL, and CW:AS1W by sex and stock (3 families and wild controls). Female P. monodon had significantly larger CL, AL, BL, TL, CW, and BW than males, regardless of stock. Wild females had longer BL and TL than cultured ones, whereas wild male shrimp had shorter CL, CW, and BW than cultured male P. monodon. Cultured shrimp had significantly higher CL:AL and CW:AS1W ratios and lower RL:CL ratio compared to wild P. monodon. The shorter and narrower abdomen relative to the carapace gave the shrimp a "runted" or dwarf appearance characteristic of RDS earlier described in Litopenaeus vannamei with IHHNV. Confirmed by parallel studies, IHHNV infection of the cultured P. monodon may account for their cuticular deformities, slower growth, and smaller sizes. The appearance of deformities in older (and bigger) P. monodon suggests that RDS expression is dependent on age and size. Examination for external abnormalities and evaluation of the three morphometric ratios may complement existing screening protocols for diseases and growth rates in shrimp breeding programs. Cultured giant tiger prawn also had lower sperm count, greater proportion of dead and abnormal sperm, and lower incidence of mating (absence of sperm in thelyca) compared to wild P. monodon.


Horizontal merger evaluation is heavily reliant on market definition. While a SSNIP framework formats the analysis, demand elasticity evidence used to apply the test is often sparse, as is often found in high-technology industries. This paper examines other sources of evidence that reveal the dynamics of market structure, data that are also probative in the evaluation of competitive effects. These sources include capital valuations of firms, financial event studies, and the public positions taken with respect to the merger by interested parties. Such evidence is examined in the XM-Sirius merger (2007-08), and shown - in two of the three instances - to be relatively informative in merger welfare analysis.


The annual ritual pilgrimage to Makkah was established by the Prophet Muhammad in the last year of his life (AD 632). Over the following centuries the experience and importance of Hajj have been evocatively documented in countless ways. Highlighting the pilgrims' journey across time, the sacred rituals of Hajj, and the city of Makkah itself, this beautiful little book features illuminated manuscripts, wall paintings and photographs, as well as calligraphy, textiles, scientific instruments, decorative tiles, maps, ceramics, metalwork and powerful works by contemporary artists.


The development and validation of reliable numerical modelling approaches is important for higher levels of aircraft crashworthiness performance to meet the increasing demand for occupant safety. With the use of finite element analysis (FEA), development costs and certification tests may be reduced, whilst satisfying aircraft safety requirements. The primary aim of this study was the development and implementation of an explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element based methodology for investigating the crashworthiness of a small lightweight fibre reinforced composite aircraft with occupants. The aircraft was analysed as it crashed into soft soil and the FEA software MSC Dytran was selected for this purpose. The aircraft considered for the purposes of this study was based on a typical four-seater single engine fibre-reinforced plastic composite aircraft. The definition of a survivable accident is given by Coltman [1] as: "an accident in which the forces transmitted to the occupant through his seat and restraint system do not exceed the limits of human tolerance to abrupt accelerations and in which the structure in the occupant's immediate environment remains substantially intact to the extent that a liveable volume is provided for the occupants throughout the crash sequence". From this definition, it was determined that the FEA models must primarily provide an assessment on the crashworthiness of the aircraft in terms of the structural integrity of the airframe to ensure a minimum safe occupant volume and the tolerance of humans to abrupt (de)accelerations. An assessment of other crashworthiness factors have been ignored in this study, such as post-crash hazards (e.g. fire) and safe egress for the occupants. Stockwell [2] performed a dynamic crash analysis of an all-composite Lear Fan aircraft impacting into concrete with the explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element code MSC Dytran. The structural response of components was qualitatively verified by comparison to experimental data such as video and still camera images. The composite fuselage materials were represented with the use of simplified isotropic elastic-plastic material models, and therefore did not account for the anisotropic properties of composite materials and the associated failure mechanisms. The occupants were represented as lumped masses; therefore occupant response could not be investigated. Malis and Splichal [3] performed a dynamic crash analysis of a composite glider impacting into a rigid surface with MSC Dytran; however further model verification was required. The 50th percentile adult male (occupant of average height and mass) Hybrid III anthropomorphic test device (ATD), also referred to as a crash test dummy, was represented in the analyses with the Articulated Total Body (ATB) model integrated within MSC Dytran. Various injury criteria of the ATB model were evaluated to determine the crashworthiness of the glider. Bossak and Kaczkowski [4] performed global dynamic crash analyses of a composite light aircraft crash landing. Representative wet soil, concrete and rigid impact terrains were modelled using Lagrangian-based finite element techniques and only the vertical velocity component of the aircraft was considered to simplify analyses. It was assumed that the previous use of only a downward vertical velocity component was a result of possible numerical instabilities which commonly occur with the use of Lagrangian solvers when considering problems with large deformations, which is a characteristic of crash analyses (i.e. the addition of a horizontal velocity component may result in severe element deformation of the soft soil terrain, resulting in premature analysis termination). Analyses of the occupant were performed in separate local models, using accelerations derived from the global analyses results. The real-time interactions between the occupant and aircraft therefore could not be investigated, which is considered a major disadvantage. Impact analyses of helicopters into water were performed by Clarke and Shen [5], and Wittlin et al. [6]. Both these papers showed promising results with the use of Eulerian-based finite element techniques to model the water. Additionally, combined horizontal and forward velocity components were assigned to the fuselages with success. It must be noted that the fuselages were modelled as rigid bodies; therefore the effect of structural failure on analyses could not be investigated. Fasanella et al. [7] performed drop tests of a composite energy absorbing fuselage section into water using Eulerian, Arbitrary Lagrange Eulerian (ALE) and Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) meshless Lagrangian-based finite element techniques to represent water. Successful correlation between experimental and numerical data was achieved; however, structural failure could not be modelled with the Eulerian-based finite element technique due to analysis code limitations at the time. A "building block" approach was used in this study to develop accurate numerical modelling techniques prior to the implementation of the full-scale crash analyses. Once the blocks produced satisfactory results in themselves, they were then integrated in order to achieve the abovementioned primary aim of this study. The sub-components (or blocks) were the occupant (viz, FEA of the human bodies' response to impact), (FEA of) soft soil impact and (FEA of) fibre-reinforced plastic composite structures. This approach is intuitive and provides key understanding of how each sub-component contributes to the full-scale crash analyses. Published literature was reviewed, where possible, as a basis for the development and validation of the techniques employed for each sub-component. The technique required to examine the dynamic response of an occupant with MSC Dytran, integrated with the ATB model, was demonstrated through the analysis of a sled test. The numerical results were found to be comparable to experimental results found in the literature. An Eulerian-based finite element technique was implemented for soft soil impact analyses, and its effectiveness was determined through correlation of experimental penetrometer drop test results found in the literature. An investigation into the performance of the Tsai-Wu failure criterion to capture the onset and progression of failure through the layers of fibre reinforced composite laminates was conducted for an impulsively loaded unidirectional laminate strip model. Based on the results obtained, the techniques implemented for each sub-component were deemed valid for crashworthiness applications (viz. to achieve the project aim). Full-scale crash analyses of impacts into rigid and soft soil terrains with varying aircraft impact and pitch angles were investigated. Typical limitations encountered in previously published works were overcome with the techniques presented in this study. The aircrafts' laminate layup schedule was explicitly defined in MSC Dytran, thereby eliminating the inherent inaccuracies of using isotropic models to approximate laminated composite materials. The aircraft was assigned both horizontal and vertical velocity components instead of only a vertical component, which increased the model accuracy. Numerical instabilities, due to element distortion of the terrain when using a Lagrangian approach, were eliminated with the use of an Eulerian soft soil model (Eulerian techniques are typically used to model fluids where large deformations occur, which is a characteristic of crash analyses). Structural failure was successfully implemented by coupling Lagrangian and Eulerian solvers. The ATB model allowed for the real-time interactions between the occupant and aircraft to be investigated, unlike previously where analyses of the occupant were performed in separate local models using accelerations derived from the global analyses results. The results obtained from the crash analyses provide an indication of the forces transmitted to the occupant through the seat and restraint system, and the aircraft's ability to provide a survivable volume throughout the crash event. The explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element based methodology was successfully implemented for investigating the crashworthiness of small lightweight composite aircraft, satisfying the primary aim of this study. Chapter 1 provides a review of fibre reinforced composite materials, the finite element method (FEM), ATDs and associated analysis codes, human tolerance limits to abrupt (de)accelerations, and crash dynamics and environment. The review of the FEM initially focuses on the fundamentals of FEA and then on the features specific to MSC Dytran as it is used throughout this study. Chapter 2 discusses the development of suitable numerical modelling techniques at the sub-component level and the implementation of these techniques within the full-scale crash analyses. Chapter 3 presents and discusses the full-scale crash analyses results for three impacts into rigid terrain and three impacts into soft soil terrain with varying aircraft pitch and impact angles. The results obtained from the crash analyses provide an indication of the forces transmitted to the occupant through the seat and restraint system, and the aircraft's ability to provide a survivable volume throughout the crash event. Chapter 4 provides a conclusion of the work performed in this study and highlights various areas for future work.


Organizational procedures in the interaction of employee-organization, attitude of the organization towards its workers and the reaction its workers give to justice perceptions establish the foundations of justice perception. In general, as justice perception's being positive will increase the productivity in workers in terms of providing organizational productivity, the significance of justice applications increase every other day in the employee-organization interaction to be able to enhance the performance of workers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of perceived organizational support in the effect of distributive justice on employee performance. For this reason, data was collected from 353 participants working in textile factories in Gaziantep through questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed in the analysis of the data, correlations between the variables were determined, and structural equation and goodness of fit tests of the model and regression analysis were performed. In order to test the mediating role, the significance of the indirect effects was examined using the bootstrap method. In the analyses, it was determined that distribution justice had a significant positive effect on perceived organizational support. As a result of mediating analysis perceived organizational support was found to have a partial mediator role in the relationship between distribution justice and employee performance.


We have previously demonstrated that phosphate starvation induces replacement of phosphatidylcholine with the betaine lipid diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (DGTS) in fungi. In Neurospora crassa, the BTA1 gene encodes the betaine lipid synthase, which is necessary and sufficient for DGTS synthesis. BTA1 expression and DGTS accumulation are part of the fungal phosphorus (Pi) deprivation (PHO) regulon, mediated by the NUC-1/Pho4p transcription factor. We now demonstrate that the human pathogen Candida albicans encodes a BTA1 ortholog (CaBTA1), which is activated during Pi scarcity. The CaBTA1 gene is also induced under certain biofilm-promoting conditions independent of Pi starvation. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR showed a significant increase in CaBTA1 expression in response to Pi limitation. Thin-layer chromatography and LC-ESI-MS/MS confirmed the replacement of PC with DGTS in wild-type under low Pi and showed the absence of DGTS in the bta1ΔΔ mutant. Pi limitation in the gut of critically ill patients also triggers the switching of C. albicans into an invasive filamentous form. To assess the role of BTA1 and DGTS in the pathogenicity of C. albicans in vitro, we compared the growth and morphology of bta1ΔΔ and wild type in hyphaeinducing media and observed defects in biofilm formation and invasive growth in the bta1ΔΔ mutant. This observation is complemented by RNA-seq data demonstrating that Pi starvation in planktonic C. albicans cells induces the expression of virulence-associated cell surface proteins. Taken together, these results show novel functional interactions between lipid metabolism and remodeling, biofilm formation, and the phosphate starvation response of C. albicans.


The Ketenisse polder is a former intertidal brackish marsh of 30 ha situated between the fortress of Liefkenshoek and the Kallo sluice on the left bank of the Schelde estuary, Belgium. In the 19th century its central part was embanked as a polder. During the construction of a traffic tunnel in the late eighties, the excavated soil was dumped between a lower summer dike and the damming dike. The area was restored in 2002 as compensation for the construction of a container terminal on a mudflat in 1994-1995. The rubble of the summer dike and the dumped material were removed and the area was levelled with the intention of creating the optimal starting conditions for the development of new tidal mudflats and marshes. Developments concerning morphology, sediment characteristics and sedimentation-erosion processes are monitored. Six transects with sedimentation-erosion plots were placed perpendicular to the shoreline. This article discusses those monitoring results, mainly for the first year after levelling. Sedimentation as well as erosion between 0 and 30 cm was observed in the first year. Local changes in stream current patterns caused erosion on some parts of the former mudflats; sheltered depressions filled up relatively fast. Median grain size showed large variation, both spatial and temporal. Organic matter content of the sediment varied between 0.5 and 15% and was closely related to sediment median grain size.


This paper presents an application where an integrated GPS/IMU system is used for land survey (mounted on a van), providing a significant improvement on the efficiency of the road status monitoring process. Being initially developed for aircraft navigation, the system integrates one (or more) GPS receiver with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), assembled with an industrial PC that stores the data and registers the various events that the operator introduces during the survey. Some surveys have already been performed with this system where, along with the road profile, some attributes where gathered, such as: • traffic and road signs position; • traffic and road signs type; • traffic and road signs conservation state; • pavement signs type and positioning; • type of pavement material; • pavement conservation state; • characterization and location of city infrastructures. The resulting data is processed a posteriori and the results are presented in a CAD environment with association to an object database. This final interface is very useful for road management, significantly reducing the time spent in the office analyzing the its status, and the use of several database utilities, such has queries and association by attribute, allows immediate and diverse analysis to be performed. This paper describes the implemented system and also the obtained results of different surveys, in dense urban areas and in more than 550 km of intercity roads, focusing on the usefulness of such system and its resulting analysis environment. A video camera was also used to collect image information while surveying which is useful in the processing stage (and, with proper image processing tools, it can improve this process' efficiency).


The field of social finance, which includes a range of investment practices that consider both the social and financial characteristics of investments, has grown tremendously over the past decade. As the Millennial generation acquires increasing amounts of wealth, the trend is likely to continue, and wealth managers will need to adapt. In this article, the authors propose a "post-modern" portfolio theory that incorporates metrics of social return into the portfolio construction process. The article first develops an investor utility function that accommodates each investor's unique preferences for different types of social impact. Using the heterogeneous expectations version of the capital asset pricing model, the authors then expand the utility function into a model of general equilibrium. Estimation and forecasting problems are discussed, as are the implications of this model for both investors who care only about traditional financial utility, as well as those who value other forms of well-being in the context of their portfolio goals. Finally, the article offers wealth advisors a simple approach to implementation that is amenable to clients with varying degrees of interest in social return.


Armed groups tax. Journalistic accounts often include a tone of surprise about this fact, while policy reports tend to strike a tone of alarm, highlighting the link between armed group taxation and ongoing conflict. Policymakers often focus on targeting the mechanisms of armed group taxation as part of their conflict strategy, often described as 'following the money'. We argue that what is instead needed is a deeper understanding of the nuanced realities of armed group taxation, the motivations behind it, and the implications it has for an armed group's relationship with civilian and diaspora populations, as well as the broader international community. This paper builds on two distinct literatures, on armed groups and on taxation, to provide the first systematic exploration into the motivation of armed group taxation. Based on a review of the diverse practices of how armed groups tax, we highlight that a full account of their motivation needs to go beyond revenue collection, and engage with key themes around legitimacy, population control, institution building, and the performance of public authority. We problematise common approaches towards armed group taxation and state-building, and outline key questions of a new research agenda.


Recently, the numbers of city marathon runners and joggers have increased. They believe that exercise can enhance their fitness level and health maintenance. However, many researchers have suggested that exhausting exercise may increase the risk of infection and free radical generation. In this study, eight male and ten female city marathon runners who participated in the Akita Nairiku Resort Cup 100-km Challenge Marathon Race were studied using luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (LDCL) to examine the ability of their neutrophils to produce reactive oxygen species. Furthermore, serum opsonic activity using LDCL, serum concentrations of the third and fourth components of the complement (C3, C4), the total number of leukocytes, and proportion of leukocytes were also determined. Evaluation of LDCL was undertaken using the maximum light emission (peak height) and the time to reach the maximum light emission (peak time) in the response curve of LDCL. Following the race, the peak time was prolonged by 11% in males and 15% in females, and the peak height increased by 68% in males and 48% in females. These results suggest that exhausting exercise stimulates neutrophils to produce reactive oxygen species. The total number of leukocytes increased about twofold, whereas the number of neutrophils increased about threefold after the race as compared to before. The rate of the increase in leukocytes was closely associated with that of neutrophils (r = 0.96, P < 0.01). Therefore, the leukocytosis observed in this study was dependent on neutrophilia. Serum opsonic activity and serum concentrations of C3 and C4 were not changed following the race. The increase in the ability of neutrophils to produce reactive oxygen species and neutrophilia after the race, suggests that a large quantity of reactive oxygen species may be produced in vivo following exhausting exercise.


Livestock-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) colonizes livestock animals worldwide, especially pigs and calves. Although frequently carried asymptomatically, LA-MRSA can cause severe infections in humans. It is therefore important to better understand LA-MRSA spreading dynamics within pig farms and over pig farms networks, and to compare different strategies of control and surveillance. For this purpose, we propose a stochastic meta-population model of LA-MRSA spread along the French pig-farm network (n=10,542 farms), combining within- and between-farms dynamics, based on detailed data on breeding practices and pig exchanges between holdings. We calibrate the model using French epidemiological data. We then identify farm-level factors associated with the spreading potential of LA-MRSA in the network. We also show that, assuming control measures applied in a limited (n=100) number of farms, targeting farms depending on their centrality in the network is the only way to significantly reduce LA-MRSA global prevalence. Finally, we investigate the scenario of emergence of a new LA-MRSA strain, and find that the farms with the highest indegree would be the best sentinels for a targeted surveillance of such a strain's introduction.


Patient and consumer safety is a critical factor during manufacturing of your products. In addition, false test results in product quality testing can lead to unnecessary scrapping of batches and product recalls. Good pipetting practices using filtered and pure pipette tips help ensure contamination-free pipetting to prevent contamination during sample preparation, ensuring true test results and patient and consumer safety


An affinity monolith with a novel immobilization strategy was developed leading to a tailored pore structure. Hereby the ligand is conjugated to one of the monomers of the polymerization mixture prior to polymerization. After the polymerization, a monolithic structure was obtained either ready to use for affinity chromatography or ready for coupling of additional ligand to further increase the binding capacity. The model ligand, a peptide directed against lysozyme, was conjugated to glycidyl methacrylate prior to the polymerization. With this conjugate, glycidyl methacrylate, and ethylene dimethacrylate, a monolith was formed and tested with lysozyme. A better ligand presentation was achieved indicated by the higher affinity constant compared to a conventional sorbent.


Gerontologists have emphasised that older adults are not only recipients of support but also important support providers. Using data from the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study of 727 middle-generation adults aged 45 to 79 years, we examined the associations between loneliness and giving support up, across and down family lineages. Overall, the findings were consistent more with an altruism perspective, that giving brings rewards, than with an exchange perspective, which emphasises the costs of giving support. The results showed an inverse relationship between the number of generations supported and loneliness, and that those engaged in balanced exchanges with family members in three generations (parents, siblings and children) were generally the least lonely. As regards the direction of support giving, the findings showed that the association between giving support and loneliness was insignificant if the support was for parents, negative for support to siblings, and positive for support to children. Imbalanced support exchanges were differentially associated with loneliness, and depended on the type of family relationship involved. Non-reciprocated support made parents more vulnerable to loneliness, whereas non-reciprocated giving in sibling ties was associated with low levels of loneliness. Imbalanced support giving in relationships with parents was not associated with loneliness.


Increasingly, environmental educators are incorporating visits to natural areas into their environmental learning programs. Learning in natural environments is attractive to students and has an important impact on their attitudes towards the environment, their desire to look after the environment and their behaviour in natural areas which in turn influences their household environmental practices (Ballantyne and Packer, 2002). Combining observation with instruction is a powerful teaching strategy, allowing students to understand the impact of human action on wildlife and natural habitats. The recent construction of Saint Narsai Assyrian Christian College, located in Horsley Park, western Sydney has presented a unique opportunity to incorporate environmental sustainability into the curriculum. Situated on former agricultural land (and formerly Cumberland Plain Woodland), the school site features a stretch of Reedy Creek, a degraded waterway that drains much of the Horsley Park area. Approval for the College included re-instating Reedy Creek to mimic the natural creekline and re-establishing Cumberland Plain Woodland in long-term conservation areas on the site. As part of the conservation works, baseline data was recorded for water quality, insect diversity, fauna species (including frogs and aquatic fauna) and seeded/planted vegetation. This presents a unique opportunity for school students to be actively involved in experiments, and biodiversity and environmental monitoring of the restoration of the onsite conservation areas. By using the school grounds for sampling and population studies on the species present, possible trophic interactions and patterns of distribution of the plants and animals can be studied. Students will relate this to the short-term and long-term consequences on the ecosystem of species competing for resources and possible impacts of humans in the ecosystem. The implementation of the different aspects of environmental sustainability will result in the school having effective environmental education integrated into appropriate sections of the curriculum; ensuring students are active in maintaining and improving their surroundings.


The transition from student-athlete to non-student-athlete is a daunting time for many student-athletes that can bring a flood of both positive and negative emotions. Currently there are few organized programs that prepare student-athletes for this challenging life transition. This synthesis reviewed literature regarding the transition process that student-athletes experience when leaving collegiate athletics. A total of ten articles were chosen to be included in the critical mass for this synthesis and information was organized by completing 12-step outlines for each article. The following six research questions were intended to be answered: (a) what do student-athletes experience when leaving the world of college athletics?, (b) is there a difference between males and females when transitioning out of college sports?, (c) what are the experiences of DI and DIII athletes like?, (d) what is the impact of injury on the transition from student-athlete to non-student?, (e) what are some of the strengths and weaknesses student-athletes bring to careers and life after college sports?, (f) what can colleges do to prepare student-athletes for life after college athletics? Results indicated the transition experience is a process that requires both academic and career planning. Between Division I and Division III, there are few differences in the transition experiences of student-athletes. Gender played a significant role in the transition and males needed more targeted intervention programs than females. The athletes who suffered career ending injuries had a more difficult transition experience, especially when they had to make the decision to leave sport themselves. It is important for institutions to provide career planning early and often for student-athletes in order to prepare them for life after college sports.


WARNING RISK OF CARDIAC ARREST FROM HYPERKALEMIC RHABDOMYOLYSIS There have been rare reports of acute rhabdomyolysis with hyperkalemia followed by ventricular dysrhythmias, cardiac arrest and death after the administration of succinylcholine to apparently healthy pediatric patients who were subsequently found to have undiagnosed skeletal muscle myopathy, most frequently Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. This syndrome often presents as peaked T-waves and sudden cardiac arrest within minutes after the administration of the drug in healthy appearing pediatric patients (usually, but not exclusively, males, and most frequently 8 years of age or younger). There have also been reports in adolescents. Therefore, when a healthy appearing infant or child develops cardiac arrest soon after administration of succinylcholine, not felt to be due to inadequate ventilation, oxygenation or anesthetic overdose, immediate treatment for hyperkalemia should be instituted. This should include administration of intravenous calcium, bicarbonate, and glucose with insulin, with hyperventilation. Due to the abrupt onset of this syndrome, routine resuscitative measures are likely to be unsuccessful. However, extraordinary and prolonged resuscitative efforts have resulted in successful resuscitation in some reported cases. In addition, in the presence of signs of malignant hyperthermia, appropriate treatment should be instituted concurrently. Since there may be no signs or symptoms to alert the practitioner to which patients are at risk, it is recommended that the use of succinylcholine in pediatric patients should be reserved for emergency intubation or instances where immediate securing of the airway is necessary, e.g., laryngospasm, difficult airway, full stomach, or for intramuscular use when a suitable vein is inaccessible (see PRECAUTIONS: Pediatric Use and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).


Background: Molecular targeting drugs (MTG) have proved effective for head and neck cancer (HNC) not only in basic studies but in many clinical trials. Cetuximab, an anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody, is a key drug for regimens including MTG. Cetuximab binding to the EGFR blocks phosphorylation and activation of receptor-associated kinases and their associated downstream signalling (MAPK, PI3Kinase/Akt, STAT3 pathways) resulting in inhibition of cell survival and proliferation. Cetuximab with chemotherapy or radiotherapy is reported to be effective in preclinical studies, and combining cetuximab with chemotherapy or radiation therapy extends survival in head and neck cancer in clinical studies. However, monotherapy with cetuximab has shown limited success , although monotherapy with cetuximab is effective in preclinical studies. We focus on the fact that the evaluation of the mono administration of cetuximab in preclinical studies does not match that in clinical studies, even though the efficacy of the coadministration of cetuximab with chemotherapy or radiotherapy in preclinical studies almost matched those in clinical studies. Molecular crosstalk has been observed between EGFR and IGF1R signaling through the PI3kinase/Akt pathway, as has molecular crosstalk between the EGFR and gp130 signaling pathways through STAT3 pathway. Therefore, the combination of cetuximab with an agent that inhibits the activation of both Akt and STAT3 may overcome resistance to cetuximab in HNC. We performed a review of the literature to investigate this possibility. Methodology : A review of the literature from 1993-2012. Conclusions : Coadministration of cetuximab and drugs which inhibit Akt and STAT3 may significantly increase the monoadministration response rate of cetuximab. Trials suggest that the addition of drugs which inhibit Akt and STAT3 may increase efficacy to that above currently-observed synergistic effects of the coadministration of cetuximab with existing chemotherapy or radiotherapy .


Building complete interactive narrative systems is hard. Building systems that are satisfying for naïve users is especially hard since small deficiencies in component technologies can easily destroy the experience for a user. In this paper I argue that we can ameliorate some of these technical limitations through careful choice of genre and style, and discuss a number of properties of farce that make it a particularly attractive choice. Then I will describe work in progress on Punch and Judy AI Playset, a system that allows users to explore possible narratives in the Punch and Judy story world.


With the debate among NATO member states over the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Europe likely to continue, it is useful to examine why some European NATO members wish to see an end to the US nuclear presence and why others stick to the status quo. In assessing the different positions of key European NATO countries on nuclear disarmament, the author notes that the positions depend on whether the states possess nuclear weapons, how their history and geography affect threat perceptions, and how the nations variously perceive their role in international and regional affairs. Geography-driven history produces one dividing line, which largely runs along the former border between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Less obvious are the reasons for a north—south division on this issue within "old Europe." The northern nations are more vocally pro-disarmament than are the Mediterranean nations. Domestic politics, of course, also play a determining factor in all counties. Interest in removing the weapons is strongest in countries where senior statesmen spanning the political spectrum have sought to lead public opinion in the direction of disarmament.


1. Vasopressin was administered to normal men in metabolic balance for periods of 5–10 days under conditions of water restriction or overhydration. Likewise, oxytocin was administered to two normal men for 10 days. 2. The effects of both neuropeptides on plasma renin activity, aldosterone excretion rate and sodium balance were observed. 3. In the absence of overhydration, vasopressin had no demonstrable effect upon plasma renin activity, aldosterone excretion rate or sodium balance. During overhydration body weight gain and plasma dilution were followed by natriuresis; the associated changes in plasma renin activity and aldosterone excretion, however, were unimpressive. 4. The prolonged administration of oxytocin for 10 days under conditions of normal hydration failed to influence sodium excretion, plasma renin activity or aldosterone excretion. 5. It is concluded that in normal man changes in circulating levels of vasopressin or oxytocin do not play a physiological role in the control of sodium excretion.


The Yellow River and the Yangtze River contribute ~10% of the global fluvial sediment flux to the oceans. Proper characterization of the sediments of the two rivers is critical to the knowledge of their fate in the marginal seas of the west Pacific Ocean. Magnetic measurements have been made on bulk sediments as well as on separated particle size fractions of representative samples from the Yellow and Yangtze River estuaries, with the purpose of providing an efficient means of differentiating both groups of river sediments from each other. We found that on average the Yangtze River estuary sediments have relatively higher ferrimagnetic mineral contents and ferrimagnetic to antiferromagentic ratios compared with the Yellow River estuary sediments. A diagram of Saturated Isothermal Remanent Magnetization (SIRM) versus the demagnetization parameter S−100 can clearly distinguish sediments from the two rivers. Detailed magnetic measurements carried out on particle size fractions provide additional confirmation of magnetic contrasts between the two sets of river sediment samples. These contrasts reflect differences in lithology and weathering regimes in the catchments. To minimize possible biogenic and postdepositional diagenetic overprint in the marine environment, it is recommended that magnetic comparison on the coarser materials (eg, >4 µm) be carried out in addition to bulk measurements. This study shows that the magnetic approach can therefore provide a potentially efficient means of discriminating sediment sources in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. In view of the rapid variations in sediment load carried by these two rivers in recent years, the present data set also provides a baseline against which possible future variations in sediment composition resulting from catchment changes can be assessed.


The use of laser-based technologies in general dental practice in South Africa is growing each year both in numbers and in scope of use. It has been shown to be beneficial in treating a wide range of oral and dental conditions as well as being used as a therapeutic tool in tissue management. They have been used in the practice of dentistry for over thirty years and recently there have been numerous advertisements in the dental press regarding the advantages of owning and using lasers and how it can be a good marketing tool for a dental practice. In the United States patients seek out practices utilising laser technology and nearly two thirds of patients surveyed thought that dentists should own a laser. How can practitioners ensure that they are using laser treatment for their patients in a responsible and ethical manner?


Punk's embrace of autonomous, do-it-yourself, artistic production has been widely documented as a key element of the punk 'explosion'. At times, however, the rhetoric has exceeded the actual practice, and the boundary between DIY authorship and professional production has become blurred. Though much early punk visual material was indeed raw, rough and ready, and often appeared to run counter to any kind of formal aesthetic criteria in respect to design or taste, it was also widely the product of trained graphic designers and illustrators with a keen awareness of the appropriate visual language required to reflect a new, self-styled, anarchic and polemical subculture. Even many of the celebrated 'do-it-yourself' punk pioneers relied on access to professional services for reproduction, including printers, pre-press art workers and record sleeve manufacturers. However, much like the punks who chose to make their own outfits, rather than buy 'official' clothing from the burgeoning punk boutique (and mail order) market, some fans and enthusiasts attempted to create their own punk graphics, or decided to adopt a naive model of detournement in order to adapt or personalise jackets, shirts, school bags, scrapbooks and even record sleeves within their own collections. These home made artefacts can be viewed as products of subcultural participation and belonging, as an individual's response to punk's call to arms and as markers of possession. They may also help us to better understand an underlying, distilled and unmediated interpretation of punk's 'natural' visual language.


For well over 100 years, the Working Stress Design (WSD) approach has been the traditional basis for geotechnical design with regard to settlements or failure conditions. However, considerable effort has been put forth over the past couple of decades in relation to the adoption of the Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) approach into geotechnical design. With the goal of producing engineered designs with consistent levels of reliability, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a policy memorandum on June 28, 2000, requiring all new bridges initiated after October 1, 2007, to be designed according to the LRFD approach. Likewise, regionally calibrated LRFD resistance factors were permitted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to improve the economy of bridge foundation elements. Thus, projects TR-573, TR-583 and TR-584 were undertaken by a research team at Iowa State University's Bridge Engineering Center with the goal of developing resistance factors for pile design using available pile static load test data. To accomplish this goal, the available data were first analyzed for reliability and then placed in a newly designed relational database management system termed PIle LOad Tests (PILOT), to which this first volume of the final report for project TR-573 is dedicated. PILOT is an amalgamated, electronic source of information consisting of both static and dynamic data for pile load tests conducted in the State of Iowa. The database, which includes historical data on pile load tests dating back to 1966, is intended for use in the establishment of LRFD resistance factors for design and construction control of driven pile foundations in Iowa. Although a considerable amount of geotechnical and pile load test data is available in literature as well as in various State Department of Transportation files, PILOT is one of the first regional databases to be exclusively used in the development of LRFD resistance factors for the design and construction control of driven pile foundations. Currently providing an electronically organized assimilation of geotechnical and pile load test data for 274 piles of various types (e.g., steel H-shaped, timber, pipe, Monotube, and concrete), PILOT (http://srg.cce.iastate.edu/lrfd/) is on par with such familiar national databases used in the calibration of LRFD resistance factors for pile foundations as the FHWA's Deep Foundation Load Test Database. By narrowing geographical boundaries while maintaining a high number of pile load tests, PILOT exemplifies a model for effective regional LRFD calibration procedures.


In recent decades the availability of halal meat in shops, restaurants and public institutions in the UK has become a reoccurring feature of public debate. Muslims (as well as Jews) are exempt from the legal requirement to stun animals prior to slaughter and it is thus widely assumed that most halal meat in the UK is produced without stunning animals, when the reverse is in fact the case. There is a distinct lack of transparency in the UK meat industry and public understanding of these issues is not as clear-cut as it could be. Misunderstandings often emerge because halal meat is difficult to identify in the food supply chain. As meat from 'non-stunned' halal slaughter has become visible in recent decades, the commercial sensitivities associated with halal meat from stunned animals have also grown, with supermarkets now often failing to label meat as halal; this adds the confusion, both for Muslim and non-Muslim consumers alike. Not surprisingly, evidence suggests that as well as animal welfare considerations, public concern about the availability of halal meat and methods of slaughter in the UK is also linked to wider concerns about immigration and integration, as perpetuated through the media.

In this paper I explore and compare these issues with developments that emerged around Jewish migration to the UK in the 19th century, when public controversy emerged around the 'Alien Question'. During this period, Jewish migrants from Russian and Eastern Europe were seen to be responsible for unemployment, housing shortages, and the increasing cost of poverty, very similar concerns to those expressed about Muslim migrants and refugees today. Concerns about religious animal slaughter and animal welfare are consistent across these historical periods and the paper explores the extent to which these issues act as a proxy for real life problems connected to wider processes of socioeconomic development and change. Based on research on halal and kosher meat markets, and Jewish and Muslim communities (around Europe) over the last two years, I draw on a range of theoretical perspectives to illustrate the underlying complexities of the issues involved.


We model multi-wavelength broadband UBVIJHKs and Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry and Infrared Spectrograph spectra from the SAGE and SAGE-Spectroscopy observing programs of two oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (O-rich AGB) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using radiative transfer (RT) models of dust shells around stars. We chose a star from each of the bright and faint O-rich AGB populations found by earlier studies of the SAGE sample in order to derive a baseline set of dust properties to be used in the construction of an extensive grid of RT models of the O-rich AGB stars found in the SAGE surveys. From the bright O-rich AGB population, we chose HV 5715, and from the faint O-rich AGB population we chose SSTISAGE1C J052206.92−715017.6 (SSTSAGE052206). We found the complex indices of refraction of oxygen-deficient silicates from Ossenkopf et al. and a power law with exponential decay grain size distribution like what Kim et al. used but with γ of −3.5, amin of 0.01 μm, and a0 of 0.1 μm to be reasonable dust properties for these models. There is a slight indication that the dust around the faint O-rich AGB may be more silica-rich than that around the bright O-rich AGB. Simple models of gas emission suggest a relatively extended gas envelope for the faint O-rich AGB star modeled, consistent with the relatively large dust shell inner radius for the same model. Our models of the data require the luminosity of SSTSAGE052206 and HV 5715 to be ∼5100 L☉ and ∼36,000 L☉, respectively. This, combined with the stellar effective temperatures of 3700 K and 3500 K, respectively, that we find best fit the optical and near-infrared data, suggests stellar masses of ∼3 M☉ and ∼7 M☉. This, in turn, suggests that HV 5715 is undergoing hot-bottom burning and that SSTSAGE052206 is not. Our models of SSTSAGE052206 and HV 5715 require dust shells of inner radius ∼17 and ∼52 times the stellar radius, respectively, with dust temperatures there of 900 K and 430 K, respectively, and with optical depths at 10 μm through the shells of 0.095 and 0.012, respectively. The models compute the dust mass-loss rates for the two stars to be 2.0 × 10−9 M☉ yr−1 and 2.3 × 10−9 M☉ yr−1, respectively. When a dust-to-gas mass ratio of 0.002 is assumed for SSTSAGE052206 and HV 5715, the dust mass-loss rates imply total mass-loss rates of 1.0 × 10−6 M☉ yr−1 and 1.2 × 10−6 M☉ yr−1, respectively. These properties of the dust shells and stars, as inferred from our models of the two stars, are found to be consistent with properties observed or assumed by detailed studies of other O-rich AGB stars in the LMC and elsewhere.


The Draize eye irritation test has been widely adopted as the "gold standard" to evaluate the potential eye irritation of a wide range of chemicals and formulations, including; pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and their raw ingredients. The rationale for pursuing the development of human ocular based in vitro alternatives is to provide greater confidence in the prediction of human reactions to mild and moderate chemicals. This is particularly important with the implementation of the EC White Paper, "Strategy for a future chemicals policy" (2001) that is estimated to require the testing of approximately 30,000 'existing' chemicals by 2012.

The development of in vitro alternatives for toxicity testing has mainly focused upon tests for quantitative measurement of acute toxicity following a single high-dose exposure. However, the degree of toxicity of any exposure is a function of; the dose which target cells receive, the duration of the exposure and the ability of the exposed cells to recover from the exposure. However, little account is taken of the potential role of long-term effects in modulating the toxic response. This study aims to generate an in vitro model utilizing a human corneal cell line monolayer to investigate the effects chronic exposure to exogenous chemicals has upon toxicity of a subsequent acute challenge.

Surfactants are ubiquitous within our daily environment, being significant active components in both household and personal care products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Initially the effects of four representative surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulphate; anionic, tween 20; non-ionic, cocamidopropylbetaine; amphoteric and benzalkonium chloride; cationic) were examined following chronic exposure. Although the measured endpoints (neutral red uptake, resazurin reduction, fluorescein leakage and total protein content) revealed no alterations in J-HCET morphology, barrier function or biochemistry as a consequence of chronic exposure, it was determined that pre-exposure modulated the toxicity of subsequent acute exposures. The observed modulation in toxicity could have significant health implications for personal care products, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals intended for use near or within the eye. However, the mechanism(s) by which the toxicity of subsequent surfactant exposures was modulated remains to be elucidated.

Whilst standard surfactants are good indicators of the effects following chronic exposure, there are pharmaceuticals designed for repeat use in the eye that have been associated with long term ocular irritancy, and a discontinuation of use i.e. timolol maleate. J-HCET cultures exposed to BSO in vitro confirm that the toxicity of timolol to the human corneal cells line was enhanced by suppressing the activity of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase through irreversible inhibition, resulting in a decrease in intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels. In addition, chronic exposures to timolol maleate were also associated with an increase in toxicity of subsequent acute challenges. The long term use of Timolol maleate in the treatment of glaucoma in vivo may result in similar alterations in the intracellular GSH concentrations, resulting in discontinuation of treatment as consequence of ocular irritation through the generation of reactive oxidation species beyond the threshold that depleted intracellular GSH can respond.

Since in vitro methods have been, and are being developed as alternatives to animal experiments, the use of bovine serum as a source of growth factors can seem to be contradictory to the purposes of the Three R's concept of Russell and Burch (1959).

This study was conducted using culture media that contain animal derived growth supplements and a media where these had been substituted for plant derived materials. Comparisons were made between the effects these two supplements had upon a number of biological factors including morphology, biochemistry, barrier function and the response to exogenous chemicals. No alterations were observed in these parameters as a consequence of using culture medium containing plant derived materials compared to those containing animal derived growth supplements.

This study has demonstrated that the development of a reliable and reproducible in vitro assay in keeping with the principles of the Three R's for modeling chronic – repeat ocular irritation is possible. However, the mechanistic relevance of the endpoints chosen and cell layer ultrastructure is considered to be an essential component. The further development of cell based in vitro systems to predict human responses to chronic/repeat ocular irritation is required.


Clustering on multi-view data has attracted much more attention in the past decades. Most previous studies assume that each instance appears in all views, or there is at least one view containing all instances. However, real world data often suffers from missing some instances in each view, leading to the research problem of partial multi-view clustering. To address this issue, this paper proposes a simple yet effective Anchorbased Partial Multi-view Clustering (APMC) method, which utilizes anchors to reconstruct instance-to-instance relationships for clustering. APMC is conceptually simple and easy to implement in practice, besides it has clear intuitions and non-trivial empirical guarantees. Specifically, APMC firstly integrates intra- and inter- view similarities through anchors. Then, spectral clustering is performed on the fused similarities to obtain a unified clustering result. Compared with existing partial multi-view clustering methods, APMC has three notable advantages: 1) it can capture more non-linear relations among instances with the help of kernel-based similarities; 2) it has a much lower time complexity in virtue of a noniterative scheme; 3) it can inherently handle data with negative entries as well as be extended to more than two views. Finally, we extensively evaluate the proposed method on five benchmark datasets. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of APMC over state-of-the-art approaches.


The modern Unix server floor can be a diverse universe of hardware from several vendors and software from several sources. Often, the personnel needed to resolve server floor performance issues are not available or, for security reasons, not allowed to be present at the very moment of occurrence. Even when, as luck might have it, the right personnel are actually present to witness a performance "event," the tools to measure and analyze the performance of the hardware and software have traditionally been sparse and vendor-specific. Because few real Unix cross-platform toolkits exist, there is no standard method for administrators to accurately view an event, record it for later analysis, or share it with additional qualified personnel for an efficient resolution.


IN HIS 1782 ESSAY ON EPIC POETRY, HAYLEY ADDRESSES HOMER THUS: And haply Greece, the Wonder of the Earth For feats of martial fire and civic worth, That glorious Land, of noblest minds the nurse, Owes her unrivall'd race to thy inspiring Verse; For O, what Greek, who in his youthful vein Had felt thy soul-invigorating strain, Who that had caught, amid the festive throng, The public lesson of thy patriot Song, Could ever cease to feel his bosom swell With zeal to dare, and passion to excel. (1) In other words, it was not Greece that made Homer; it was Homer who made Greece. It was by heating Homer that the Greeks were inspired to achieve all that would make them famous in later years; if Homer had not sung, then Pericles would not have spoken, Plato would not have written, Leonidas would not have stood and fought. Alexander, the legend goes, slept with a dagger and an Iliad under his pillow. It hardly matters whether there was any truth in this. What counted was the idea: good epics make good nations. The old Renaissance commonplace had been that good epics made good men, and if Homer and Virgil had been able to form the minds of the ancients, then they could form the minds of the modems, too. But in the intervening years, with all their highly visible modernization and change, a strong sense had grown up of the cultural otherness of antiquity. Renaissance-era printers had happily depicted Aeneas, Achilles, and the other epic heroes as sixteenth-century knights, but to an eighteenth-century artist it would have seemed absurd to draw them as contemporary soldiers, red coats and all. In his 1735 Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer, Thomas Blackwell had concluded that the modem world was simply too civilized to give rise to Homeric poetry: Neither indeed does it seem to be given to one and the same Kingdom, to be thoroughly civilised, and afford proper subjects for [epic] Poetry. The Marvellous and the Wonderful is the nerve of the Epic Strain: But what marvellous Things happen in a well ordered State? (2) Thus, with the rise of historicist criticism in the writings of scholars such as Blackwell and Lowth, an uneasy sense arose that Homer and Virgil's works might no longer be applicable to their modem British readers. Hayley writes: What! Can the British heart, humanely brave, Feel for the Greek who lost his female slave? Can it, devoted to a savage Chief, Swell with his rage, and soften with his grief? (110) This is not meant as a criticism of Homer, although it is a criticism of Homeric Greece; rather, it is a recognition that Homer's world and Hayley's are not the same, that indeed the cultural gap between them might now be so large as to make it difficult for modem readers to sympathize with Homer's heroes at all. Hayley was not alone in feeling this: as far back as 1715, Terrasson had complained about how little sympathy he had for "so very vicious a man as Achilles," and Addison had expounded on the unsuitabihty of ancient Greek or Roman models as behavioral or political guides for modem Britons. (3) But the need for epic inspiration remained as pressing as ever, and if the old ones were no longer suitable, then new epics were needed to do for Britain what Homer had done for Greece. It was not just cultural difference that made a national epic such a pressing necessity: it was also national pride. As the eighteenth century progressed, and Britain rose to become a world imperial power, the achievements of Greece and Rome came to seem less like inimitable wonders to be marveled at and more like templates to be followed, or even rivals to be outdone (see Weinbrot 127-31). A British national epic would simultaneously prove that the British were the equals of the Ancients in poetry, and inspire the British to equal and exceed them in other ways. Hayley's Essay continues: And shall it [i. …


BACKGROUND
Central venous access devices (CVADs) are used widely in acute clinical settings for the infusion of parenteral nutrition (PN) in patients who are unable to meet their nutrition requirements via the oral or enteral routes. The aim of this study was to characterize the frequency and nature of CVAD complications in patients receiving PN in general ward settings.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of CVAD-related outcomes for adult patients who received PN from January 2014 to December 2016 was conducted.

RESULTS
A total of 629 CVADs were placed in 475 patients for parenteral administration in general ward settings during the 3-year study period. A total 104 (16.53%) episodes of CVAD-associated complications were reported during this period, including suspected line infection, leak at site, catheter blockage, and generalized patient sepsis. Overall, 13 CVAD catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) were diagnosed in the patient cohort over 8695 PN feeding days, giving an incidence of 1.49 CVAD infections per 1000 PN feeding days.

CONCLUSION
The results showed that patients receiving PN through CVADs within general ward settings experience CRBSI at rates no different from those reported within critical care settings. These findings demonstrate that with appropriate nursing care, CVADs appear safe when used for the administration of PN in general ward settings.


1. INTRODUCTION Environmental well-being affects human health. An important yardstick in measuring the environmental well-being of coastal states is the sustainability of fisheries. (1) A recent study has suggested that the world's fish catch might be much smaller than previously reported. (2) Nevertheless, the decline of world's fishery has become a matter of international concern. (3) As a coastal jurisdiction, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") is obliged to ensure through proper conservation and management measures that the maintenance of the living resources in its exclusive economic zone is not endangered by over-exploitation. (4) Notwithstanding that the fishery sector is not substantial from a global economy aspect, the fishery sector has a major impact on some coastal nation states and fishery products are a major component in world trade. (5) The most important factors contributing to the depletion in fishery resources are environmentally harmful fishery subsidies and inadequate fishery management. (6) Fishery subsidies have partly contributed to the over-expansion of fishing boats, and, as a result, created excessive harvesting. (7) Inadequate fishery management includes lack of implementation and poor enforcement of environmental protection legislation regulating air and water pollution in ensuring a sustainable environment. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ("UNCLOS") provides sovereign rights over an exclusive economic zone to each coastal state. Every state has sovereign rights for the purpose of conserving and managing the marine resources and protecting and preserving the marine environment. (8) These measures are designed to maintain or restore populations of harvested species at levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield. (9) The People's Republic of China ("China") is a signatory state to the Convention. (10) As the HKSAR is now a special administrative region of China, it inevitably has a duty to honor the international obligations made between China and other members of the international community, as they apply to the HKSAR. (11) Accordingly, the HKSAR has to operate within the ambit of the UNCLOS, to which China is a signatory state. (12) The Basic Law of the HKSAR ("Basic Law") authorizes the HKSAR to participate in relevant international organizations and to enter into international trade agreements on its own. (13) However, it also provides that the Central People's Government ("CPG") shall be responsible for the foreign affairs relating to the HKSAR. (14) However, the CPG has to consult the HKSAR Government before such international agreements are extended to the Region. (15) International agreements made prior to resumption of exercise of sovereignty by China over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, remain unchanged. (16) These include the founding membership in the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). International environmental law is a developing area in the HKSAR, which is subject to seventeen multilateral environmental agreements ("MEA") dealing with water pollution and conservation as of December 200. (17) It was not until 1977 that an Environmental Protection Unit was established in the HKSAR. (18) Its powers, however, were merely supervisory. (19) This unit was upgraded to an Environmental Protection Agency in 1981. Finally, in 1986, the Environmental Protection Department was established and was empowered with pollution prevention and control measures. (20) While the then colonial administrative did not give environmental issues a high priority, (21) a number of these MEAs were made, including the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer ("Montreal Protocol") and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal ("Basel Convention"). Although the HKSAR is allowed to exercise a high degree of autonomy, (22) it may not enter into any international agreement on its own other than trade agreements. …


In 1995, John Howard, the newly elected leader of the Opposition, reflecting on the Coalition's loss of the 1993 federal election on the back of the Labor government's goods and services tax (GST) scare campaign, said 'never ever' for a GST. However, a year later, when the Coalition was in government, the case for reform was compelling, with Australia's indirect tax regime at both the Commonwealth and state levels in poor shape. Tax reform would once again feature in the early years of a long-term government. This paper starts with a discussion of the early 1990s battle of the plans between John Hewson's Fightback! and Paul Keating's One Nation but then focuses on the Howard–Costello government's tax reform plan, in particular 1998's A New Tax System (ANTS), with its centrepiece GST, and the related Ralph Review of Business Taxation.