Cystic fibrosis is the most common potentially lethal autosomal recessive disease of Caucasians, affecting 1 in 2500 newborns. Since the recent identification of the gene that is defective in patients with cystic fibrosis, a wealth of information about gene structure, the mutational basis of disease, and the function of the protein product has been derived. The product of the gene is a chloride channel that is regulated by adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP)-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation and that requires binding of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for channel opening. Several new approaches to drug therapy for cystic fibrosis are now emerging, and the possibility of successful gene therapy by transfer of the normal gene to airway epithelial cells is being vigorously pursued.


: Plants differ from animals in their capability to easily regenerate fertile adult individuals from terminally differentiated cells [1]. This unique developmental plasticity is commonly observed in nature where many species can reproduce asexually through the ectopic initiation of organogenic or embryogenic developmental programs [2, 3]. However, it is not currently known if this developmental reprogramming is coupled to a global epigenomic resetting, or what impact it has on the phenotype of the clonal progeny. Here we show that plants asexually propagated via induction of a zygotic developmental program do not fully reset cell-specific epigenetic imprints. These imprints are instead inherited even over multiple rounds of sexual reproduction, becoming fixed in hybrids and resulting in heritable molecular and physiological phenotypes that depend on the founder cell used. Our results demonstrate how novel phenotypic variation in plants can be unlocked through the incomplete reprogramming of cell-specific epigenetic marks during asexual propagation.


The pelagic larval phase represents a major opportunity for dispersal in benthic organisms, yet behaviors controlling and potentially limiting dispersal are still largely unknown for most larvae. Here, we present a new means of observing the orientation of larvae of all developmental stages in the pelagic environment. A cylindrical frame holding a semi‐open arena in which larvae are filmed is set to drift at a controlled depth within the natural environment. Larval trajectories are extracted from video data and used to quantify orientation behavior. Field tests with late‐stage coral reef fish larvae show that orientation can be detected from individual larval positions in the arena and can be significantly differentiated from random movement or artifactual behavior.


This book comprehensively covers the mechanisms of action and inhibitor design for HIV-1 integrase. It serves as a resource for scientists facing challenging drug design issues and researchers in antiviral drug discovery. Despite numerous review articles and isolated book chapters dealing with HIV-1 integrase, there has not been a single source for those working to devise anti-AIDS drugs against this promising target. But this book fills that gap and offers a valuable introduction to the field for the interdisciplinary scientists who will need to work together to design drugs that target HIV-1 integrase.


There are a number of reports indicating that CYP2B6*6 (c.516G>T and c.785A>G) is responsible for decreased clearance of efavirenz (EFV), although increased disposition of cyclophosphamide (CPA) in individuals with this polymorphism was observed. Thus, we hypothesized that the effects of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP2B6*6 on the metabolism of drugs might be considerably different between these two agents. To clarify this possibility, we expressed two major variants of this enzyme, CYP2B6.6 (Q172H and K262R) and CYP2B6.4 (K262R), and investigated metabolic activities of these variants toward EFV and CPA. Kinetic analyses clearly indicated that CYP2B6.4 possessed enhanced metabolic activity toward EFV compared with that of the wild-type enzyme (CYP2B6.1), whereas CPA was metabolized less efficiently by CYP2B6.4 than by CYP2B6.1. On the other hand, CYP2B6.6 showed a completely opposite character, suggesting that Q172H gives inverse effects on metabolic activities of CYP2B6 affected by K262R. Although it is recognized that effects of amino acid change in cytochrome P450 on the metabolic activity depend on substrates, this study revealed SNPs giving an opposite effect on the metabolism of two clinically important drugs currently used. Furthermore, this study provides the first evidence that Q172H can reverse the direction of the effect caused by K262R in CYP2B6 on the metabolism of certain drugs.


This volume presents a comprehensive legal and economic analysis of competition law remedies in Europe. First, it examines the philosophy and overall objectives of competition law remedies and their interaction with the substantive and institutional aspects of competition law enforcement. It analyses the impact of specific types of remedies on the emergence of an optimal enforcement system by looking to legal and economic literature, case law and empirical research. Second, it identifies the competition law remedies which have been put into effect in the context of antitrust law enforcement and merger control in Europe. In the field of antitrust, different issues may arise in devising adequate remedies for cartel infringements, antitrust law infringements involving unilateral abuses of market power, and infringements involving access to proprietary information or resources. In all these cases different types of remedies may be imposed, such as contractual remedies, damages and behavioural or structural remedies. In the context of merger control the prospective nature of the analysis requires the consideration of a number of factors, such as the costs of remedial action, the probability of compliance, the short- or long-term impact of the remedy, the risk of strategic conduct of the merging parties, and the choice of appropriate monitoring and compliance mechanisms on an on-going basis for the future. The third part of this study examines the procedural implications of injunctions, interim measures, private action-led injunctions, measures-declaratory actions and procedural/administrative issues in public enforcement. The fourth part concludes by examining creative remedies and reforms that should be made to the current regime of competition law remedies in Europe. It also explores the interaction between competition law remedies adopted by different jurisdictions in a world of multi-jurisdictional competition law enforcement from procedural and public policy perspectives.


Agapova, Ferguson, and Greene examine a theoretically motivated measure of the "size effect" known as market diversity and link it to the relative returns of institutional actively managed portfolios. Market diversity reflects how disperse or concentrated capital is across firms in the market, with changes in market diversity reflecting movement of capital between relatively large firms to relatively small firms. Changes in market diversity explain a statistically and economically significant amount of variation in the relative returns of actively managed institutional large-cap strategies. The authors estimate that an increase (decrease) in market diversity of 1% leads to an average increase (decrease) in relative returns of approximately 30 basis points, with higher tracking error strategies showing relatively more sensitivity. They find that another measure of the size effect, the Fama–French small-minus-big factor, explains less of the variation in actively managed large-cap strategies' relative returns and is rejected in favor of changes in market diversity as the underlying explanatory variable for actively managed strategies' relative returns. The authors suggest that market diversity provides academics and practitioners an important measure of market conditions when evaluating the performance of actively managed portfolios.


Multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is a promising technique that combines orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with CDMA. In this paper, based on an alternative expression for the-function, characteristic function and Gaussian approximation, we present a new practical technique for determining the bit error rate (BER) of multiuser MC-CDMA systems in frequency-selective Nakagami- fading channels. The results are applicable to systems employing coherent demodulation with maximal ratio combining (MRC) or equal gain combining (EGC). The analysis assumes that different subcarriers experience independent fading channels, which are not necessarily identically distributed. The final average BER is expressed in the form of a single finite range integral and an integrand composed of tabulated functions which can be easily computed numerically. The accuracy of the proposed approach is demonstrated with computer simulations.


Aim/Purpose This US-based study explored various facets of impostor phenomenon experienced during PhD training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Specifically, the purpose of this research was to identify certain experiences that trigger this phenomenon. Background Competent high-achievers who do not believe in their efforts leading to accomplishments sometimes experience the impostor phenomenon. It is characterized by the notion that one has fooled others into overestimating their ability, not attributing one's accomplishments to ability, and living with the fear of being discovered as a fraud. Methodology Data were collected using convenience and snowball sampling. Qualitative, semistructured interviews from 90 PhD students were analyzed thematically. Contribution Study findings contribute to a less-understood area of what constitutes triggers for the impostor phenomenon among PhD students in STEM fields. Findings Participants described the following themes that triggered impostor phenomenon during PhD training: 1) Progress and public recognition, 2) Comparing oneself with others, 3) Developing skills: public speaking and scientific writing. 4) Application of new knowledge, and 5) Asking for help. Recommendations for Practitioners PhD faculty, mentors, advisers, and administrators should be cognizant of the triggers that could give rise to the impostor phenomenon among their students. Professional development activities for students could focus on earlier and more rigorous training for improving scientific communication. Recommendations for Researchers Future research should continue to explore if other stakeholders in academia such as postdoctoral trainees and faculty also experience similar stress due to the impostor phenomenon. PhD Student and Impostor Phenomenon in STEM 160 Impact on Society Institutes of higher education should continue to focus on improving student mental health and retention rates, alleviating some of the PhD training stressors by designing interventions that improve students' mindset and self-efficacy. Future Research Findings point to avenues for further research on how to support those with impostor phenomenon. Future research could explore the topic in other disciplines outside STEM and examine if long-term interventions could mitigate impostorfeelings, including the nature and length of interventions that could be helpful.


Distributed data mining (DDM) techniques have become necessary for large and multiscenario datasets requiring resources, which are heterogeneous and distributed in nature. In this paper, we focus our attention on distributed data mining approach via grid. We have discussed and analyzed a new framework based on grid environments to execute new distributed data mining approaches that best suits a distributed and heterogeneous datasets that are commercially available. The architecture and motivation for the design have also been presented in this paper. A detailed survey on distributed data mining technology was also carried out which could offer a better solution since they are designed to work in a grid environment by paying careful attention to the computing and communication resources.


How a firm grows is one of the important themes in industrial organization literature. Recent empirical studies have demonstrated that the distribution of firms' growth rates is not Gaussian as predicted by the celebrated Gibrat's law (Gibrat, 1931), but rather is quite well fitted by the Laplace distribution. These findings challenge the existing theoretical models and also our understanding of the mechanism of firm growth. To explain the empirical distributions, we consider the firm growth dynamics in the framework of the Levy process and infinitely divisible distributions. Our analysis shows that the growth of a firm does not result from the accumulation of small shocks as the existing models assume. Instead, it is characterized by a handful of large shocks to the firm, i.e., jumps. The result has important implications for our understanding of the nature of innovations.


The conference aimed to identify Nordic and global future of work trends including new forms of work and new technologies and production models resulting from digitalization. It pointed to challenges of ensuring adequate protection, employment opportunities and safeguarding competitiveness in the Nordic region amidst rapid technological and demographic changes. As policy responses speakers identified the need to invest in education and skills, to update policies, legislation and collective agreements to better respond to the future labour market. Furthermore they emphasised that social protection should have a broad coverage and encourage active labour market participation. Global cooperation, labour standard and social dialogue are needed to promote decent work. Last but not least gender equality is an important principle and policy goal also for the future ILO work.


Among the most important of the tremendous changes that have been taken place in teaching and learning throughout recent years has been a move towards 'openness' in education. This includes an increased availability of alternatively licensed resources as well as extended possibilities for formal and quasi-formal learning in the context of open courses. Since learning theories typically conceive of learning as occurring in clearly structured environments, they are not necessarily well suited to understanding the specific characteristics and general significance of open education. Consequently, a broader concept apposite to the breadth and variety of experiences of learning in open and complex settings would be valuable. One such concept has its origin in the German philosophy of education, and goes by the name of Bildung. This article is aimed at getting insight into this theory because it reflects broader concepts than conventional learning theories, and suggesting a way of applying this framework to a range of relevant aspects of open education. This is done in the hope that Bildung may evolve from a quite unknown body of knowledge to a valuable resource to be consulted for guidance and advice as the possibilities for personal development and maturation continue to evolve.


The purpose of the paper is to explore how an entrepreneur seizes opportunities in different contexts over the course of time through the developmental phases of an enterprise. The investigation is about a Chinese entrepreneur who founded a feather processing firm in 1978 after the start of the economic reform in the country. A qualitative research approach was selected to guide the exploratory nature of the study. Relevant data have been collected from news reports, articles and books written about the entrepreneur and the case company. During the early phase of the firm's development, the entrepreneur depended heavily on political connections to search for and seize opportunities. Institutional actors, such as the local government and the central government, played the role of mediators by introducing the entrepreneur to the most important actors in the market and providing resources such as loans, land, labour, etc. The foundation of the company was not the result of the foresightedness of the entrepreneur but of the Chinese central government. Thus, we refer to this entrepreneurship as state-promoted entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur's relationship with the institutional actors was represented by patronage, privilege and protection. As time progressed, experience grew and institutional policies changed towards favouring foreign trade, the entrepreneur sought opportunities independently, occasionally bypassing the important institutional actors. We refer to such a phenomenon as "State-parenting entrepreneurship", which is similar to how parents raise their children in a protective environment during the early years and subsequently allow them, over time, to move on independently.


This article provides an empirical analysis of the impact of tax differentials and agglomeration economies on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The article departs from most previous work on FDI and tax competition in a number of ways. First, it incorporates several measures of agglomeration in order to investigate whether agglomeration economies mitigate the downward spiral in tax rates. As the strength of agglomeration economies may vary with the degree of integration, we use a panel of bilateral FDI flows for a highly integrated region including countries with similar economic structure – the EU15 – from 1986 to 2004. Second, the empirical analysis explicitly deals with the problem of selection bias by using the Heckman sample selection approach. Also, by focusing on the EU15, we are able to provide additional information on the determinants of FDI between similar, higher-income countries. The empirical analysis provides some evidence of corporate marginal effective tax rates having an impact on FDI. This result, however, is sensitive to the inclusion of agglomeration economies. In particular, we find both Marshall types of technological externalities and overall concentration of economic activity to have an influence on FDI flows and, moreover, mitigating the negative impact of taxes.


Wastewaters fed to reverse osmosis (RO) membranes sometimes need to be acidified to prevent inorganic fouling and increase total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) retention. In this project, the effect of pH level (6.5–7.1) and acid type (HCl vs. H2SO4) on membrane fouling and cleaning as well as permeate flux and quality during the processing of swine wastewater with a spiral-wound RO membrane was investigated. The use of H2SO4 to lower pH produced slightly higher permeate fluxes than HCl and there was no indication of sulfate precipitates on the membrane. Membrane fouling intensity and flux recovery upon cleaning were not affected by pH level or acid type. Lowering swine wastewater pH from 7.1 to 6.5 with HCl reduced TAN concentration in permeate from 142 to 59 mg/L. Using H2SO4 to lower pH to 6.5 further decreased TAN concentration to 39 mg/L. At pH 6.5 with both acid types, the concentration of unionized NH3 in the permeate was below the Canadian guideline of 0.019 mg/L for the release of wastewater to an aquatic environment. The use of H2SO4 would be recommended with swine wastewater, because of lower cost and volumetric input required to lower pH, as well as higher permeate quality and flux.


Summary Affective disorders, including depression, are of great social importance and lead to serious everyday life infringement and disability. Affective disorders are one of the main causes of suicide causes. Anxiety disorders represent a variety of psychic disorders that often lead to disability. Anxiety and depression syndromes together are often seen in patients. Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is the only vitamin containing cobalt. Our aim was to investigate, evaluate and compare depression and increased anxiety and serum Vitamin B12 level in patients with depression, in patients with Vitamin B12 deficiency anemia and healthy controls. We investigated 74 subjects – 38 patients and 36 healthy controls. Serum Vitamin B12 level was measured in all participants. It is assumed that normal ranges of Vitamin B12 level vary. The most recently accepted ones are 200 to 900 pg/ml. In cases of levels below 200 pg/ml, a therapy with vitamin B12 should be applied. On the other hand, the level necessary for normal biochemical processes is higher – 250 pg/ml. In our study, serum Vitamin B12 level in more than 50% of patients with depression/anxiety was below 200 pg/ml, and in more than 60% of these patients it was below 250 pg/ml.


A method is described for cracking open the tests of foraminifera in order to examine in detail the structure of the apertural apparatus; it is used in the examination of certain unilocular forms included in the Nodosariida and the Buliminida. Four distinct types of aperture are described in species which have at some time been included in the genus Oolina. Four new terms, 'endosolen', 'exosolen', 'endoanulus' and 'endodisc' are formally proposed to describe structures related to the apertural apparatus in these and other species. The need is indicated for a further revision of the taxonomy of the unilocular Nodosariida and Buliminida which should follow a re-examination of certain holotypes.


The new genus Kempfidris gen. nov. is described based on the workers of a single species, K. inusualis comb. nov., from Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Kempfidris inusualis comb. nov. was originally described by Fernandez (2007) and provisionally placed in Monomorium awaiting a better understanding of the internal relationships in Myrmicinae. Kempfidris gen. nov. has a series of distinctive morphological characters including the mandibular configuration, vestibulate propodeal spiracle, propodeal carinae, and cylindrical micro-pegs on the posteromedian portion of abdominal tergum VI and anteromedian portion of abdominal tergum VII. This last trait appears to be autapomorphic for the genus.


There are many 'stories' (Plummer 1995) which can be told of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and recovery but within the therapeutic culture of the 21st century it is the 'harm story' and the 'healing discourse' which have come to dominate the CSA recovery literature. This is a story that tells of inevitable psychological damage and the need for healing and can be told not only by women who have concrete memories of sexual abuse in childhood but also by those who have no such memories.

This paper is based on a research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) which looked at women's engagement with the self-help literature aimed at female victims of childhood sexual abuse. The majority of those who participated in this research did not have 'concrete memories' of sexual abuse but based their belief that they were sexually abused in childhood on a form of 'recovered memories' of sexual abuse that involves a correlation of perceived 'symptoms' with assumed past abuse. This paper does not seek to establish the 'truth' or 'falsity' of women's accounts but starts from the belief that their accounts are true to them. Instead the paper looks at how women, often starting from a position where they have no knowledge or memories of having been abused, engage with discourses around sexual abuse, healing and recovery, in the ongoing process of re/ writing their life stories to not only make sense of the past and the present but also to plan for the future.


Concerns about nutrient loads into our waters have focused attention on poultry litter applications. Like many states with a large poultry industry, Georgia recently designed a subsidy program to facilitate the transportation of poultry litter out of vulnerable watersheds. This paper uses a transportation model to examine the necessity of a poultry litter subsidy to achieve water protection goals in Georgia. We also demonstrate the relationship between diesel and synthetic fertilizer prices and the value of poultry litter. Results suggest that a well-functioning market would be able to remove excess litter from vulnerable watersheds in the absence of a subsidy.


DNA ligases (EC.18.104.22.168) are key enzymes that catalyze the formation of phosphodiester
bonds at single-stranded or double-stranded breaks between adjacent 5'-PO4 and 3'-OH
groups of DNA. These enzymes are essential guardians of genomic integrity and have
recently been drawing a lot of attention as novel therapeutic targets in anti-bacterial and anticancer
therapies.
A novel, non-electrophoretic assay method, based on the strength of interaction of the
oligonucleotides with Q-sepharose (a strong anion exchanger), was developed to screen
inhibitors of DNA ligases from natural product pools as well as chemical libraries. The
binding affinities to Q-sepharose resin of a nicked DNA substrate (created from a 30-mer
hairpin oligonucleotide and complementary 32P-labelled 6-mer oligonucleotide) and its
sealed, ligated product (36-mer) were determined. Initial optimisation studies were performed
with T4 DNA ligase, PBCV-1 DNA ligase and a catalytically active form of human DNA
ligase I in the presence of doxorubicin (inhibitor of ATP-dependent ligases). These results
when analysed in parallel between the conventional electrophoretic assay and the labelled
nick-sealing assay showed that the newly developed assay is a reliable non-electrophoretic
method in identifying potent DNA ligase inhibitors. The feasibility of the assay was tested in
screening a collection of whole cell mass extracts, obtained from a natural product library
from Basidiomycetes, in 96-well format.
A novel single DNA ligase was identified, expressed and characterised from Trichomonas
vaginalis (TV), a pathogenic protozoan parasite. Protein sequence analysis of TV DNA ligase
indicates a strong sequence similarity to DNA ligase I homologues. The activity of
recombinant TV DNA ligase I (TVlig) was investigated using protein expressed in E.coli
cells. The TVlig gene product is 76 kDa and showed optimal ligation activity on a nicked
DNA substrate at pH 7-8 in the presence of 1 mM ATP and (8- 20) mM MgCl2 at 30-38oC.
The inhibition of the only DNA ligase present in T. vaginalis might suggest for a rational
approach to stop replication and hence propagation of the parasite during infection.


The Supreme Court's recent cases on patent-eligible subject matter have struggled to draw the line between unpatentable fundamental principles, such as laws of nature and abstract ideas, and patentable inventions. In Mayo v. Prometheus, the Court suggested that only "inventive applications" of fundamental principles fell within the domain of the patent system. Both Mayo and its intellectual forebear, Parker v. Flook, anchored this doctrine in Neilson v. Harford, the famous "hot blast" case decided by the Court of Exchequer in 1841.But the Supreme Court has founded the inventive application doctrine on a basic misapprehension. Neilson's patent on the hot blast was sustained not because his application was inventive, but because it was entirely conventional and obvious. In both England and the United States, the hot blast cases taught that inventors could patent any practical application of a new discovery, regardless of the application's novelty or inventiveness. And for over one hundred years, American authority consistently maintained that practical application distinguished unpatentable discovery from patentable invention.The inventive application test in fact originated in 1948, in Funk Brothers v. Kalo Inoculant, which departed radically from the established standard of patent eligibility. In the wake of Funk Brothers, the lower courts struck down a series of patents unquestionably within the technological arts — arguably the precise innovations the patent system sought to promote. This history is largely forgotten today, but it should serve as a cautionary tale of the patents that could be invalidated if the Court maintains inventive application as the test for patent eligibility.


Discussions of feminism and gender in organizations and management studies, have, with some notable exceptions, become stuck in something of a time-warp. This lies in stark contrast to the developments in the fields of feminism and gender theory more generally. Management and organization studies needs new applied topical gender theories that challenge the limits on what can be said about working lives in organizations.

Gender and the Organization: Women at Work in the 21st Century looks to update management organizational studies with the recent developments in gender theory, including theories of embodiment, affect, materiality, identity, subjectification, recognition, and the intertwining of political, social and the psyche. As well as looking backwards at existing feminist and gender theory, this exciting book also looks forward, developing an organizational feminist theory for the twenty-first century. Exploring what feminist ethics of an organization would look like, this volume shows what a revivified feminist organization studies could offer to gender theorists more generally.

This book will be of interest not only to management and organization theorists, but also more generally to feminist and gender theorists working across the social sciences, arts and humanities. It will appeal to postgraduate and research students and also to established organization and management scholars working in business schools across the world.


It started very small and full of hope. But its daring campaigns have placed Fairtrade goods at the heart of the supermarket shelves. From bananas and coffee beans to cotton and chocolate, Fairtrade has grown to become an important global movement that has revolutionised the way we shop. As Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive of Fairtrade International, explains in this extensively revised and updated edition of her inspirational book, Fairtrade is about a better deal for workers and famers in the developing world. It's about making sure the food on our plates, and shirts on our backs, don't rob people in other countries of the means to feed or clothe themselves. She explores the journey, through an often unjust system, that Fairtrade items make from farm to consumer. And she uncovers the shocking cost of our demand for cheaper food. There is much still to be done. But by hard work and high ideals, Fairtrade is starting to transform the lives of over 7 million farmers, workers and their families, and is a powerful symbol of how extraordinary change can be achieved against all the odds - by us all.


According to Zinkhan and Karande (1990), risk is encountered when an individual's action produces social and economic consequences that cannot be projected with certainty. Zinkhan and Karande (1990) also see risk averseness as the propensity to avoid taking risks and are generally conceived as a personality variable. Levitt (1990) argues that the ways in which business managers handle risk can markedly affect economic performance and the standard of living in various societies. It was, thus, imperative that this study coupled risk-taking ability with economic performance amongst male entrepreneurs in Centurion. The entrepreneurial phenomenon remains a widely researched topic. Extensive research with regards to the attributes of entrepreneurs has been done in the recent past. It has, thus, become important to better understand South African entrepreneurial behavior, as not many local studies has been done on the topic. The purpose of this study is to establish whether the identified factors affect the risk taking behavior of male entrepreneurs within the Centurion CBD. The risk-taking behavior of male entrepreneurs versus their economic performance was also investigated. By gaining an understanding of the risk taking behavior of the population, recommendations for future studies could be made. This study is based on a deductive approach to establish possible factors which might affect the risk-taking behavior of male entrepreneurs within the Centurion central business district. It also investigates the relationship between their risk-taking behavior and their economic performance. The researcher established possible factors from the literature and adopted and modified the DOSPERT scale developed by Weber, Blais and Betz (2002). Quantitative data were obtained within the population of 161 respondents. The results indicate a strong correlation between the factors identified and the risk-taking behavior of the entrepreneurs, except for the factor ethnic background. It was also found that a strong relationship exists between risk-taking behavior and economic performance.


Stone monuments and works of art suffer from stone decay caused by environmental
factors. This can result in a decrease in the mineral cohesion and increase in the
porosity of the stone. A variety of organic and inorganic products have been used to
strengthen and/or protect weathered stone, however many of these treatments have
shown negative effects on the monument and the environment.
The purpose of this work is to produce a technique to consolidate weathered
calcareous stone by taking a biomimetic approach to reintroducing calcium carbonate
into the stone to produce a reinforcing effect. In nature, organisms may produce
biominerals to serve various functions, with extraordinary control over the shape and
polymorph of the mineral. There are many examples where the materials formed have
superior mechanical properties when compared to their inorganic counterparts. It is
for these reasons that taking a biomediated approach to introducing calcium carbonate
back into weathered stone could be advantageous.


Author(s): Huang, Y.W; Andrew, E.E; Hu, T.C; Singer, B.C; Ding, L.; Logue, J.M | Abstract: Cooking has a significant impact on indoor air quality. When cooking occurs, how foods are cooked, and the types of food that are cooked have all been shown to impact the rate at which occupants are exposed to pollutants. Home occupancy characteristics impact how concentrations in the home translate into exposures for the occupants. With the intent of expanding our understanding of cooking behavior in the U.S., we developed and advertised an online survey to collect household cooking behavior for the 24 hrs prior to taking the survey. The survey questions were designed to address gaps in knowledge needed to predict the impact of cooking on indoor concentrations of PM2.5 and other pollutants. The survey included the following questions: 1) which meals households ate at home; 2) number of household members at home during cooking; 3) the type of oil used for cooking; 4) the type of foods cooked at each meal; 5) the type of cooking devices used; and 6) the methods selected for food preparation. We also collected information on household characteristics such as their location (zip code), ethnicity, and ages of family members. We analyzed the variability in home cooking characteristics for households in different climate zones and with four different types of family compositions: 1 senior living alone, 1 adult living alone, 2 or more adults/seniors, and families with children. We used simple statistical tests to determine if the probability of certain cooking behaviors differed between these subgroups.


In the Annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture for 2008 Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu reflects on "The State of our Democracy". The speech commences with a brief historical background of the past that South Africa inherited and sets the tone for the critical assessment that follows. It highlights some of the challenges inherited from the past which, if not dealt with, may "augur ill" for the future. But the overall conclusion is that "[w]e have a wonderful land with immense potential".


The relatively recent growth of identity categories for men participating in non-conventional masculine activities can be linked to contemporary consumption and lifestyle opportunities (Gill et al., 2005). While there have been various studies pertaining to media representations of 'metrosexuality', 'new' masculinities, and the marketing of health and beauty products to men, we currently know little about how men define, ascribe to and disavow contemporary identity markers such as 'metrosexual'. The existence of on-line forums dedicated to the discussion of metrosexuality provides an obvious opportunity to examine contemporary masculinities. In this paper we report on a study of one such internet forum, using membership categorisation analysis (Sacks, 1972, 1992) to investigate the deployment of metrosexuality and related identity categories. Our analysis highlights the masculinised parameters through which metrosexuality is taken up (and rejected), which include notions of vanity, conspicuous consumption, professional status and sexual prowess. The continued influence of hegemonic forms of masculinity in this context is discussed.


Through actions like product boycotts or imposing international labour standards, governments and consumer groups in rich countries put pressure on poor countries to discourage the use of child labour. But the child-labour problem in developing countries shows no sign of abating. Our research suggests that international activism may be partially to blame, because it can thwart regulation of child labour within developing countries.


"Frayn's translation, which strikes me as splendidly lucid and alive...will be acted again and again" (New Statesman) In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces deeply rooted in history and the society in which they live. Their estate is hopelessly in debt and when urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they are confronted by an impossible decision. "At the time when The Cherry Orchard was written, the years before the revolution of 1905, Chekhov considered revolution in Russia irreversible and desirable." (Melchinger: Anton Chekhov)


This paper reports data analysis of students' satisfaction on a graduate course in information technology for 11 consecutive semesters over six years at an Australian university. We find a negative trend between course satisfaction and class size and a positive trend between teaching and course satisfactions, consistent with what reported in literature from other disciplines. This study also reveals that teaching satisfaction rate has a negative association with neutral rate but surprisingly no association with course dissatisfaction rate. This implies that improvement on student course satisfaction through good teaching may mainly be resulted from converting those undecided students from neutrality to satisfaction. Results of this data analysis support a parallel flow model between course satisfaction and both neutrality and dissatisfaction, which leads to a new strategy for achieving a high level of course satisfaction for other domain-complexity courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Strategically, innovative and engaged teaching is still the key to achieve a high course satisfaction. Tactically, guided by existing and emerging teaching and learning theories, a number of specified measures are worth of consideration in course design and delivery for similar highly technical courses for achieving a high level of course satisfaction in future.


Background
The geographic mobility of labour has long facilitated a well-functioning labour market for Australia, being of importance in skill-matching and jobs in regional economies. Disrupting the long-distance labour commute, COVID-19 border closures and community lockdowns had an immediate and significant impact on the Australian labour market.
Aims
The aim is to understand Australian labour force demography and provide an empirical understanding of how regions, and their respective states and territories, faired through the pandemic.
Data and methods
Using Australian Bureau of Statistics SA4 level labour force participation and unemployment data, the paper highlights regional changes between 2018 and 2021 - covering periods immediately before and after the emergence of COVID-19. Its analysis is contextualised by the respective state and territory and employment conditions underpinning labour demand via proxies of gross national product and state and territory gross product, gross real income and job vacancies.
Results
The paper finds variations in labour force change are dependent on regional industry economic profiles between and within states and territories. This was in part due to state and territory lockdown and border closure policies as well as respective industry economic profiles.
Conclusions
A more comprehensive mapping and understanding of labour force shifts over time will better capture the trajectories of regional labour markets. This will enable better targeting of specific policy outcomes at various levels of government, including to encourage industry diversity, support labour reskilling and the uptake of technologies. Such policies will be better placed to assist Australian labour force transitions post-COVID and efficient labour market functioning.


In a disaster, there is a need for rapid image-information retrieval in real or near real time from vast amounts of data coming from multiple remote-sensing sensors. In general, image information mining (IIM) approaches produce enormous amounts of features that are computationally expensive and inefficient to process before the actual information discovery takes place. Also, it is complicated because the combination of the features has little relevance to the hypothesis space. Hence, selecting a relevant subset of features is necessary to overcome these problems and to provide an efficient representation of the target class. In this letter, we propose feature selection and feature transformations based on a wrapper-based genetic algorithm approach. A support vector machine classification is applied for generating predictive models for those land-cover classes that are important in a coastal disaster event. The proposed system, rapid IIM, is a region-based approach where, in lieu of the prevalent pixel-based methods, it localizes interesting zones and enables rapid querying. Results from this study indicate that selecting relevant feature subsets increases the rate of correctly identifying a semantic class and also enables this process with less number of features.


Synopsis This paper takes a personal look, through the author's own experiences, at the implementation of innovations in the narrow-seam, hard-rock mining environment of South Africa's mining industry over the past 40 years. A number of examples are used to illustrate some of the successes and failures over this period. More importantly, the examples are used to illustrate that the bulk of the investment for these projects should have been applied in a manner that could have achieved more sustainable results. The use of the word 'technology' in this context is also examined, as it is the author's contention that only measuring the performance of machinery fails to encapsulate the potential of the entire system describing the scope of the innovation being implemented. These experiences and observations are projected onto the current backdrop of upheaval in the relationship between key industry stakeholders and the sustainability challenges facing areas of the mining sector in the South African economy. The paper concludes with some opinions on where attention can be focused in order to develop new thinking that can be applied for the safe and economic extraction of the nation's mineral wealth.


Endogenous lipopolysaccharide has been implicated as a cofactor in the hepatocellular injury and death resulting from toxic liver injury. To prevent this lipopolysaccharide‐induced injury and to further understand the mechanism of this effect, an anti‐lipopolysaccharide antibody was administered to rats in which toxic hepatocellular injury was induced. Rats were given the hepatotoxin galactosamine together with an isotypic control antibody B55 or the anti‐lipopolysaccharide antibody E5. E5 treatment resulted in reductions of serum AST levels of 43% at 36 hr (p<0.02) and 60% at 48 hr (NS) after galactosamine administration. These decreases in AST values were accompanied by diminished histological evidence of injury and inflammation. In carbon tetrachloride‐induced liver injury, E5 similarly reduced serum AST levels at 36 and 48 hr by 47% (p<0.04) and 54% (p<0.03), respectively. E5 treatment was equally effective in reducing AST levels 48 hr after administration of carbon tetrachloride, whether the initial dose of antibody was given 1 hr before or 3 or 6 hr after the administration of this toxin. To understand the mechanism of this E5 effect, the activation of the toxic cytokine tumor necrosis factor‐α and the chemotactic cytokine monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 was examined by Northern‐blot analysis of RNA from rat livers after galactosamine‐induced injury and treatment with B55 or E5. Despite E5's efficacy in reducing hepatocellular damage, E5 treatment did not affect the timing or magnitude of tumor necrosis factor‐α or monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 activation during galactosamine‐induced injury. These data suggest that antibody neutralization of lipopolysaccharide may be an effective therapy for toxic liver injury and that the mechanism of this effect is not through the prevention of cytokine expression. (HEPATOLOGY 1994;19:1282–1289.)


The planet is under threat. And that threat comes from energy. So goes the standard argument. But according to David Howell and Carole Nakhle, this reasoning is wrong. In their provocative and original book, the authors argue that energy can become a tool for environmental protection, that energy and environment are not by definition in conflict with each other and that by pooling energy production and environmental protection ideas energy can be part of a solution rather than the problem. This book is firmly grounded in reality (given the demands of China, India and other developing economies) and makes specific proposals: a radical rethinking on energy investment strategies; massive incentives to develop alternative fuel technologies; a ground-breaking public awareness strategy to redirect consumers and policy-makers to embrace fundamental (though essentially painless) change in consumption patterns. The solutions that Howell and Nakhle offer are unapologetically short term. This is because the energy challenges immediately ahead, if not handled right, could undermine all longer term attempts to limit climate change. Their important and novel approach makes this book essential reading for an understanding of today's bewildering environmental debates.


The author argues that the belief that patient autonomy has great moral value has justified a new form of medical paternalism which can have effects similar to those of the old rejected form. He cites the argument that "all illness represents a state of diminished autonomy" and that therefore autonomy is not overridden when physicians make all decisions. Another view is that, in some situations, withholding information may prevent patient deterioration and loss of autonomy. Abridgement of present autonomy, then, is permissible if it promotes future autonomy. Strasser also rejects physician decision making based on patients' previously communicated values or on the theory that patient values are important but not decisive. He concludes that if we "allow paternalistic practices, then we should admit that we are denying autonomy in light of some other good rather than claim that, somehow, we are respecting autonomy by abridging it."


The thermal process of wastes with higher calorific value by pyrolysis is reviewed to recover the value added three by-products; a pyrolytic char, a pyrolytic oil, and a non-condensable gas. These by-products from pyrolysis of the waste is converted for electricity power and thermal energy thru gasification process as well as waste heat recovery process. The energy resource and several processes in the integrated pyrolysis gasification combined cycle for waste treatment are investigated with the conceptual design in using the obtained operation data from the pyrolysis pilot, demonstration and commercial plant.


Unselected coagulation testing is widely practiced in the process of assessing bleeding risk prior to surgery. This may delay surgery inappropriately and cause unnecessary concern in patients who are found to have 'abnormal' tests. In addition it is associated with a significant cost. This systematic review was performed to determine whether patient bleeding history and unselected coagulation testing predict abnormal perioperative bleeding. A literature search of Medline between 1966 and 2005 was performed to identify appropriate studies. Studies that contained enough data to allow the calculation of the predictive value and likelihood ratios of tests for perioperative bleeding were included. Nine observational studies (three prospective) were identified. The positive predictive value (0·03–0·22) and likelihood ratio (0·94–5·1) for coagulation tests indicate that they are poor predictors of bleeding. Patients undergoing surgery should have a bleeding history taken. This should include detail of previous surgery and trauma, a family history, and detail of anti‐thrombotic medication. Patients with a negative bleeding history do not require routine coagulation screening prior to surgery.


Abstract In this article, I discuss Leibniz's interpretation of the cosmological argument for the existence of God. In particular, I consider whether Leibniz's position on this point was developed partly in reference to Spinoza's position. First, I analyze Leibniz's annotations from 1676 on Spinoza's Letter 12. The traditional cosmological argument, as found in Avicenna and Saint Thomas for example, relies on the Aristotelian assumption that an actual infinite is impossible and on the idea that there can be no effect without a cause. From these premises, the argument concludes that God must be the uncaused first cause of all things. In Letter 12, Spinoza follows Chasdai Crescas and rejects this proof. Instead, he develops a variant of the cosmological argument which depicts God as the self-caused ground of all causes or things. In his annotations, Leibniz agrees with Spinoza about the inadequacy of the traditional argument, but remains ambiguous as to Spinoza's conception of God as a self-caused being. Next, I turn to Leibniz's comments from 1678 on Spinoza's Ethics. Here, Leibniz develops an original interpretation of the cosmological argument based entirely on the consideration of conceptual relations. Leibniz's argument depicts God as an uncaused being conceived through itself which is the condition of conceivability of all things. I argue that Leibniz developed this argument in deliberate opposition to Spinoza's conception of God as the self-caused ground of all causes or things.


Anthracene dispersed in Polyphenylsiloxane (PPS) glass was synthesized on epitaxially grown zinc oxide (ZnO) to realize organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductors for efficient energy transfer. The photoluminescence (PL) from ZnO was modified by the presence of anthracene molecules due to resonant energy transfer. The UV-visible emission from anthracene molecule was also influenced due to resonant coupling with the excitonic and defect bound excitonic states in ZnO. Temperature dependence of PL of the hybrid system showed quenching of the defect bound emission of the ZnO to be due to energy transfer from anthracene. The PL lifetime in ZnO-anthracene/PPS hybrid structure at 4 K is relatively shorter and becomes comparable to the PL lifetimes in ZnO at 77 K. However, at room temperatures the PL lifetime of the hybrid structure is significantly longer than in ZnO and is comparable to the recombination lifetime in anthracene.


The chromatin regulator FACT (Facilitates Chromatin Transcription) is essential for ensuring stable gene expression by promoting transcription. In a genetic screen using C. elegans we identified that FACT maintains cell identities and acts as a barrier for transcription factor-mediated cell fate reprogramming. Strikingly, FACT's role as a reprogramming barrier is conserved in humans as we show that FACT depletion enhances reprogramming of fibroblasts into stem cells and neurons. Such activity of FACT is unexpected since known reprogramming barriers typically repress gene expression by silencing chromatin. In contrast, FACT is a positive regulator of gene expression suggesting an unprecedented link of cell fate maintenance with counteracting alternative cell identities. This notion is supported by ATAC-seq analysis showing that FACT depletion results in decreased but also increased chromatin accessibility for transcription factors. Our findings identify FACT as a cellular reprogramming barrier in C. elegans and humans, revealing an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for cell fate protection.


The Z-source inverter has gained popularity as a single-stage buck-boost inverter topology among many researchers. However, its boosting capability could be limited, and therefore, it may not be suitable for some applications requiring very high boost demand of cascading other dc-dc boost converters. This could lose the efficiency and demand more sensing for controlling the added new stages. This paper is proposing a new family of extended-boost quasi Z -source inverter (ZSI) to fill the research gap left in the development of ZSI. These new topologies can be operated with same modulation methods that were developed for original ZSI. Also, they have the same number of active switches as original ZSI preserving the single-stage nature of ZSI. Proposed topologies are analyzed in the steady state and their performances are validated using simulated results obtained in MATLAB/Simulink. Furthermore, they are experimentally validated with results obtained from a prototype developed in the laboratory.


Study of film and media may be a growth area for biblical scholars, but as far as the sub-field of Pauline scholarship is concerned, the direct use of Pauline materials by popular media is relatively rare. A notable exception occurs in Season One of the HBO television series Deadwood, in which recurring and explicit use of Paul's letters is made. However, rather than finding new meaning in the selected passages, this paper argues that the specific Pauline texts serve as narrative devices deployed in the service of the television show's plot development.


The emergence of network-movements since 2011 has opened the debate around the way in which social media and networked practices make possible innovative forms of collective identity. We briefly review the literature on social movements and 'collective identity', and show the tension between different positions stressing either organization or culture, the personal or the collective, aggregative or networking logics. We argue that the 15M (indignados) network-movement in Spain demands conceptual and methodological innovations. Its rapid emergence, endurance, diversity, multifaceted development and adaptive capacity, posit numerous theoretical and methodological challenges. We show how the use of structural and dynamic analysis of interaction networks (in combination with qualitative data) is a valuable tool to track the shape and change of what we term the 'systemic dimension' of collective identities in network-movements. In particular, we introduce a novel method for synchrony detection in Facebook activity to identify the distributed, yet integrated, coordinated activity behind collective identities. Applying this analytical strategy to the 15M movement, we show how it displays a specific form of systemic collective identity we call 'multitudinous identity', characterized by social transversality and internal heterogeneity, as well as a transient and distributed leadership driven by action initiatives. Our approach attends to the role of distributed interaction and transient leadership at a mesoscale level of organizational dynamics, which may contribute to contemporary discussions of collective identity in network-movements.


Single-cell lineage tracking strategies enabled by recent experimental technologies have produced significant insights into cell fate decisions, but lack the quantitative framework necessary for rigorous statistical analysis of mechanistic models of cell division and differentiation. In this paper, we develop such a framework with corresponding moment-based parameter estimation techniques for continuous-time stochastic compartmental models that provide a probabilistic description of how cells divide and differentiate. We apply this method to hematopoiesis, the complex mechanism of blood cell production. Viewing compartmental models of cell division and differentiation as multi-type branching processes, we derive closed-form expressions for higher moments in a general class of such models. These analytical results allow us to efficiently estimate parameters of compartmental models of hematopoiesis that are much richer than the models used in previous statistical studies. To our knowledge, the method provides the first rate inference procedure for fitting such models to time series data generated from cellular barcoding experiments. After testing the methodology in simulation studies, we apply our estimator to hematopoietic lineage tracking data from rhesus macaques. Our analysis provides a more complete understanding of cell fate decisions during hematopoiesis in non-human primates, which may be more relevant to human biology and clinical strategies than previous findings in murine studies. The methodology is transferrable to a large class of compartmental models and multi-type branching models, commonly used in studies of cancer progression, epidemiology, and many other fields.


To test whether larval selectivity at settlement contributes to distributional patterns of benthic infauna, we conducted three reciprocal sediment transplant experiments at 15‐m‐deep coarse‐sand and muddy‐sand sites (∼3 km apart) on the continental shelf near Tuckerton, New Jersey. During 3‐ to 5‐d deployments in 1994, larvae of the surfclam, Spisula solidissima, selected coarse sand over muddy sand, and capitellid polychaetes selected muddy sand over coarse sand, regardless of site. Thus, larvae of both taxa selected sediments typical of adult habitats, displaying selectivity consistent with previous flume experiments. Settlement intensity changed significantly over the ∼6‐week period during which experiments were conducted. Several other taxa exhibited selectivity consistent with field distributions, and several were nonselective. Significant site differences in settlement intensity were also observed on some dates for several taxa. Plankton pump samples taken at the sites during tray experiments suggested that significant differences in supply of surfclam larvae over the 3‐km scale contributed to between‐site differences in settlement. In the later experiments, surfclams in experimental trays were larger than would be expected for recent settlers, suggesting that postsettlement migration and selectivity occurred on small scales. These experiments demonstrate that differences in larval supply over scales of kilometers and time scales of weeks can affect settlement intensity but that habitat selection by settling larvae of some species of soft‐sediment invertebrates may set initial distribution patterns.


Prevailing research has suggested that social relationships get better with age, but this evidence has been largely based on studies with lengthy reporting intervals. Using an ecological momentary assessment approach, the present study examined age differences in several characteristics of social interactions as reported in near-real time: the frequency, quality, and partner type. Participants (N = 173) ages 20−79 years reported their social interactions at 5 random times throughout the day for 1 week. Results revealed that age was associated with higher frequency of interacting with family and lower frequency of interacting with peripheral partners. These age effects, however, became nonsignificant after accounting for contextual factors such as race, gender, education, employment status, family structure, and living arrangement. In contrast, a curvilinear relationship best characterized age differences in both positive and negative ratings of daily social interaction quality, with middle-aged adults reporting the lowest positive ratings and older adults reporting the lowest negative ratings among all ages. Contextual factors did not account for these patterns of age differences in interaction quality. Furthermore, the intraindividual variability of interaction frequency with peripheral partners, partner diversity, and interaction quality (positivity and negativity) was lower among older adults than among younger adults. Findings from the present study portray a nuanced picture of social interactions in daily life and advance the understanding of social interactions across the life span.


First paragraphs: Toby Hemenway's recent book is a well grounded follow-up to his earlier book,  Gaia's Garden,  which was instrumental in introducing the concept of permaculture to an American audience. Despite the fact that many books on permaculture have been published since its 2001 publication, Hemenway's earlier publication remains the best-selling permaculture book in the U.S. It is not necessary to have a familiarity with permaculture prior to reading  The Permaculture City,  as the author has done a masterful job of explaining permaculture principles, design methods, and the steps of the design process. Permaculture is described as "a set of decision-making tools, based on natural systems, for arriving at regenerative solutions to design challenges of all kinds" (p. xii). Permaculture is concerned with the design of ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land-use and community-building design method that strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the symbiotic relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature....


Uncoupling protein (UCP) 3 and UCP2, mitochondrial carrier proteins dissipating electrochemical gradient across the mitochondrial inner membrane, have been implicated in the regulation of energy metabolism. The UCP3 gene is expressed abundantly in the skeletal muscle, while the UCP2 gene is detected in the white adipose tissue (WAT) with diffuse localization throughout the body. Uncoupling of electron transport and ATP synthesis has been reported to increase glucose uptake, suggesting that UCP may be involved in glucose metabolism. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs), which are insulin-sensitizing agents for NIDDM, have been reported to increase energy expenditure. To elucidate the pathophysiologic significance of UCP3 and UCP2 in the effect of TZDs on glucose metabolism and energy expenditure, we examined their basal mRNA levels in the WAT, brown adipose tissue (BAT), and skeletal muscle from Wistar fatty rats, a rat model of NIDDM and obesity with leptin receptor defect, and investigated expression of the genes encoding UCP3 and UCP2 in Wistar fatty rats and in Wistar lean rats with 2-week oral administration of 3 mg x kg(-1) x day(-1) pioglitazone, a TZD derivative. Basal UCP3 mRNA levels were significantly lower (38 +/- 8, 45 +/- 13, and 76 +/- 6%) in the retroperitoneal WAT, BAT, and skeletal muscle from Wistar fatty rats than in those from Wistar lean rats, while basal UCP2 mRNA levels were significantly higher by 2.1-, 1.8-, and 2.5-fold in the subcutaneous WAT, retroperitoneal WAT, and BAT from Wistar fatty rats, respectively, than in those from Wistar lean rats. In pioglitazone-treated Wistar fatty rats, UCP3 mRNA levels were significantly increased by 2.1-, 2.0-, and 1.6-fold in the epididymal WAT, retroperitoneal WAT, and BAT, respectively, as compared with those in nontreated fatty rats. In pioglitazone-treated lean rats, UCP3 mRNA levels were significantly increased by 1.3-fold in the BAT as compared with those in nontreated lean rats. No significant change of UCP2 mRNA levels was observed in pioglitazone-treated fatty and lean rats. In addition, to examine the direct effect of TZDs on adipocytes, we examined the regulation of UCP3 and UCP2 gene expression using the primary culture of rat mature adipocytes from Sprague-Dawley rats. In rat cultured mature adipocytes, UCP3 mRNA levels were increased in a dose-responsive manner by 10(-5) to 10(-4) mol/l pioglitazone, while there was no significant change of UCP2 mRNA levels. These results clearly demonstrate that UCP3 gene expression is upregulated by TZDs in the WAT and BAT in Wistar fatty rats, an obese model with leptin receptor defect, and that adipose UCP3 gene expression is increased in response to TZDs in vitro. The present study suggests the involvement of UCP3 in the effects of TZDs on energy and glucose metabolism.


Over the past decade, the Canadian Arctic has seen an intensification of scientific research designed to foster innovation (i.e., the process of transforming ideas into new products, services, practices or policies). However, innovation remains generally low. This paper argues that before we can meaningfully promote innovation in the Arctic, there is a need to first identify the complex systems that support or inhibit innovation. Few, if any studies have taken a systems approach to enrich our understanding of how existing networks may or may not support innovation in the Canadian Arctic. A promising, but under-explored approach is to consider innovation ecosystems, defined as the multi-level, multi-modal, multi-nodal and multi-agent system of systems that shape the way that societies generate, exchange, and use knowledge. This paper presents innovation (eco)systems as a potentially valuable systems-based approach for policy actors to enhance innovation linkages in the Arctic. From a policy perspective, there is a need to embrace and promote more networked approaches to co-create public value and to consider the lifespan of any innovation. Potential directions for future research include: mapping the actors involved in Arctic innovation ecosystems (including intermediaries and bridging agents) at multiple scales; the role that formal and informal institutions play in shaping co-innovation; case studies to evaluate innovation processes; and an assessment of the coupled functional-structural aspects that influence innovation outcomes in the Canadian Arctic.


[1] We use the Global Modeling Initiative chemistry and transport model to simulate the evolution of stratospheric ozone between 1995 and 2030, using boundary conditions consistent with the recent World Meteorological Organization ozone assessment. We compare the Antarctic ozone recovery predictions of two simulations, one driven by an annually repeated year of meteorological data from a general circulation model (GCM), the other using a year of output from a data assimilation system (DAS), to examine the sensitivity of Antarctic ozone recovery predictions to the characteristic dynamical differences between GCM- and DAS-generated meteorological data. Although the age of air in the Antarctic lower stratosphere differs by a factor of 2 between the simulations, we find little sensitivity of the 1995–2030 Antarctic ozone recovery between 350 and 650 K to the differing meteorological fields, particularly when the recovery is specified in mixing ratio units. Percent changes are smaller in the DAS-driven simulation compared to the GCM-driven simulation because of a surplus of Antarctic ozone in the DAS-driven simulation which is not consistent with observations. The peak ozone change between 1995 and 2030 in both simulations is ∼20% lower than photochemical expectations, indicating that changes in ozone transport due to changing ozone gradients at 450 K between 1995 and 2030 constitute a small negative feedback. Total winter/spring ozone loss during the base year (1995) of both simulations and the rate of ozone loss during August and September is somewhat weaker than observed. This appears to be due to underestimates of Antarctic Cly at the 450-K potential temperature level.


University Risk Management (URM) can advise in risk avoidance and mitigation practices, or assist in filing a notice of loss. As part of our commitment to continuously improving the experience of our users and to keeping your information secure, we're excited to share our new claim reporting form. Review our helpful tips claim form tips [2] to navigate the new form and how to receive email copies of your submitted claim. List of supported browsers: Google Chrome (preferred) Apple Safari Microsoft Edge


A classical approach for treating the noise properties of spatially inhomogeneous laser amplifiers is presented. Based on the Green's function method, the amplifier output is related to the input and the amplified spontaneous emission noise. By using the correlation properties of spatially distributed spontaneous emission, the amplifier noise variance is obtained in a rigorous way. Compared with the density operator method, this approach can easily take into account the influence of spatially inhomogeneous amplifier structures, such as in the case of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and distributed-feedback semiconductor amplifiers. The results show that the canonical expression of noise variance is valid for any type of amplifier if one defines an effective gain and noise power density, which can be accurately calculated by this approach.


We present a methodology for building timed models of real-time systems by adding time constraints to their application software. The applied constraints take into account execution times of atomic statements, the behavior of the system's external environment, and scheduling policies. The timed models of the application obtained in this manner can be analyzed by using time analysis techniques to check relevant real-time properties. We show an instance of the methodology developed in the TAXYS project for the modeling and analysis of real-time systems programmed in the Esterel language. This language has been extended to describe, by using pragmas, time constraints characterizing the execution platform and the external environment. An analyzable timed model of the real-time system is produced by composing instrumented C-code generated by the compiler. The latter has been re-engineered in order to take into account the pragmas. Finally, we report on applications of TAXYS to several nontrivial examples.


Laboratory fatigue testing was performed on six Superpave hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures in use at the Virginia Smart Road. Evaluation of the applied strain and resulting fatigue life was performed to fit regressions to predict the fatigue performance of each mixture. Differences in fatigue performance due to field and laboratory production and compaction methods were investigated. Also, in-situ mixtures were compared to mixtures produced accurately from the job mix formula to determine if changes occurring between the laboratory and batch plant significantly affected fatigue life. Results from the fatigue evaluation allowed verification of several hypotheses related to mixture production and compaction and fatigue performance. It was determined that location within the pavement surface, such as inner or outer wheelpath or center-of-lane, did not significantly affect laboratory fatigue test results, although the location will have significant effects on in-situ fatigue life. Also the orientation of samples cut from an in-situ pavement (parallel or perpendicular to the direction of traffic) had only a minor effect on the laboratory fatigue life, because the variability inherent in the pavement due to material variability is greater than the variability induced by compaction. Fatigue life of laboratory-compacted samples was found to be greater than fatigue life of field-compacted samples; additionally, the variability of the laboratory-compacted mixture was found to be less than that of the field-compacted samples. However, it was also found that batch-plant production significantly reduces specimen variability as compared to small-batch laboratory production when the same laboratory compaction is used on both specimen sets. Finally, for Smart Road mixtures produced according to the job mix formula, the use of polymer-modified binder or stone matrix asphalt was shown to increase the expected fatigue life. However, results for all mixes indicated that fatigue resistance rankings might change depending on the applied strain level. This study contributes to the understanding of the factors involved in fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures. Considering that approximately 95% of Virginia's interstate and primary roadways incorporate asphalt surface mixtures, and that fatigue is a leading cause of deterioration, gains in the understanding of fatigue processes and prevention have great potential payoff by improving both the mixture and pavement design practices.


This thesis considers two problems in classification -- a field within artificial intelligence. One is the general problem of classifier learning, for which a meta-classification technique called 'virtual attribute subsetting' is developed and tested. The other is object detection, with emphasis on marine creature detection, using the 'Haar Classifier Cascade' method (Viola & Jones, 2001b).

Haar Classifier Cascades are built from a feature set of simple rectangular patterns of relative light and dark. Adaptive boosting selects those features that best tell the difference between objects and non-objects. In this thesis, a new cascade confidence measure is proposed, equivalent to the boosting 'margin'; it uses information about how well the cascade features match the image region being classified. Tests on the common application of face detection show that this confidence measure improves detection accuracy. Virtual attribute subsetting is also used to modify the cascade; it further improves accuracy at the expense of classification time.

In addition, Haar Classifier Cascades are trained to detect two types of marine animal (fish and seahorses). This requires object detection across a wide range of orientations, so approaches using both image and cascade rotation are compared. Results show that image rotation is more accurate than cascade rotation, and that cascades trained to detect objects over a range of angles should have their training images randomly perturbed over a similar (but not always equal) range. Confidence-based detections are also made and show themselves to be more accurate than binary detection. The confidence-based results sum the confidences from similar detections and show that confidence measurements from multiple Haar Classifier Cascades may be combined effectively.

Seahorse detection poses an additional problem: seahorses are too flexible to be found by single cascades in any orientation. To solve this, separate seahorse head and body detectors are trained and their detections matched to create whole seahorse detections. Both designed and learnt matching cost formulae are created and two matching algorithms are implemented to link together head and body detections given a cost measurement. The best of the resulting whole seahorse detectors is more accurate than either of the component part detectors.

The confidence measurement and virtual attribute subsetting algorithms make no use of domain knowledge, so should improve the accuracy of most other Haar Classifier Cascades. They also have the unusual property of being applicable to already learnt classifiers.


We have searched six stars with known radial velocity planetary companions for circumstellar disks. Disks are expected around stars with planetary systems that accreted from regular protoplanetary disks, and remnant disks are expected to be similar to our solar systemÏs Kuiper Belt. To date, we have detected circumstellar disks around three such stars : 55 Cnc, o CrB, and HD 210277. All these systems now resemble mature planetary systems with Jupiter-mass companions and Kuiper BeltÈlike disks. Our previous detection of the 55 Cnc disk (Trilling & Brown) is included here to place that disk in the context of the other two newly detected disks. Measuring the inclinations of the disks and assuming the disks are coplanar with the planetsÏ orbits determines the masses of the planets around these three stars to be and respectively (1 is one Jupiter mass). We also report 1.9 ~0.4 `1.1 M J , 1.5 ~0.1 `0.2 M J , 2.2 ~0.2 `0.6 M J , M J nondetections for three starsÈ51 Peg, t And, and Gl876Èthat are known to have radial velocity companions. A number of possibilities exist to explain nondetections of disks, from the absence of a disk to limits on disk mass, radial extent, or inclination. We may also be looking through a diskÏs central hole, especially for the nearby star Gl876. The radial brightness proÐles of each of the observed disks follow a power law with index D[5, including a power of [2 from the stellar Ñux drop o†, similar to the suggested value for our solar systemÏs Kuiper Belt. This likely suggests that uniform physical processes govern the Kuiper BeltÏs population out to at least 100 AU, and may be ubiquitous among disks. Last, we discuss how disk characterizations can lead us toward reÐning theories of planetary system formation. Subject headings : circumstellar matter È Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud È planetary systems È solar system: formation


Kinetic behavior of solar processes should be studied in solar facilities in order to consider the real heating conditions that affect the process. In this work, the thermo-desorption of CuO was performed in a solar reactor operated in a solar furnace. Kinetic of this process was studied considering both isothermal and non-isothermal methods. By means of isothermal methods, it was found that the reaction follows the Avrami-Erofeev equation and the kinetic parameters varied according to the n coefficient of such an equation. Master-plots method was then applied from non-isothermal experiments. The employed methodology was easier and the experimentation time much shorter than in isothermal case. The Avrami-Erofeev mechanism was clearly confirmed with this method.


Educating parents on supervision of tooth brushing ensures effective plaque removal, healthy gums and attainment of tooth brushing skills.

 To evaluate the effect of educating parents about children's tooth brushing supervision on their own knowledge and act of supervision, their children's tooth brushing skills, plaque score and gingival health.

 Two arms cluster randomized controlled field trial among 8-9 years primary school pupils and their parents. The intervention trial was an educational leaflet on step by step supervision of children during tooth brushing. The outcomes were; improved tooth brushing skills, oral hygiene status and gingival health, parental awareness and supervision of children's tooth brushing. Data processing and statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. Frequency distribution for proportions, cross tabulations with Chi-square and adjusted binary logistic regression were performed.

 A total of 237 pupils were followed to completion of the study. The odds of parents being aware and supervising children during tooth brushing were higher in the intervention group at follow-up 4.5 (1.5, 13.4) and 2.4 (1.3, 4.5) respectively. The unadjusted odds for good oral hygiene following intervention was 3.1 (1.4, 6.9) and that of tooth brushing skills 61.8 (7.7, 498.6). On adjusting with parental awareness and supervision of children during tooth brushing, odds of having tooth brushing skills increased to 88.2 (9.2, 847.4).

 Providing education to parents on children tooth brushing supervision effectively improved children's tooth brushing skills, plaque score and gingival health emanating from awareness and act of supervision improvements revealed on their part.


We test for the importance of nudges in improving student performance in introductory economics courses at UNC-Chapel Hill. We use a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of nudges in encouraging use of academic supports and (jointly) the use of these supports on academic performance. With our aggregated sample the average treatment effects take the correct sign but are uniformly statistically insignificant. This near-zero average effect masks large and significant effects of nudges among subgroups of individuals: females, first years, and individuals of color. Our results identify subgroup-activity pairings for which nudges work at the margin to encourage participation.


Occupied Poland in Two World Wars. Comparisons and Continuities Abstract This article deals with the alleged continuities and similarities between the occupations in the East during World War I and World War II. It points out claims that scholars have previously made and highlights perspectives that deserve further attention. Although this question is well worth investigating simply because of the obvious fact that there was no Holocaust between 1914 and 1918, beyond this fact, not much has been accomplished so far. Thus, far-reaching assumptions of a German "special path" (Sonderweg) should be questioned, especially when Austro-Hungarian politics are brought into the equation. The case of Poland shows why World War I was not "automatically" more brutal in the East than in the West, and that soldiers had not yet "learned" the racial superiority that determined Nazi rule 25 years later. The Great War and its continuities should be investigated in their own right, not just with the Second World War in mind. ----- Bibliographie: Lehnstaedt, Stephan: Das besetzte Polen in zwei Weltkriegen: Zu Vergleich und Kontinuitaten, JB historie, 1-2016, S. 119-132. https://doi.org/10.3224/jbh.v8-9i1.14


This is a book on the state of social anthropology as an academic discipline in contemporary Zimbabwe. The authors are frustrated and disheartened by a problematic visibility and sluggish growth of the discipline in the country. The book makes an important claim that the future and vibrancy of anthropology in Zimbabwe, lies in how well anthropologists in the country and in the diaspora are able to join efforts in articulating, debating and enhancing its relevance and vitality. The book provides critical overview and nuanced analyses of the role and continued relevance of the discipline in reading and interpreting the social unfolding of everyday life and dynamism. It is a vital text for understanding and contextualising histories and trends in the development of social anthropology in Zimbabwe and how anthropologists in the country navigate the tumultuous waters and struggles that have engrossed the discipline since colonial times. The book has the capacity to generate added insights and influence national, continental, and global debates and trends in the field.


Three policy changes could make rice prices more affordable for the poor. First, the government
should remove Minister of Trade (MOT) regulation 27/2017 on price ceiling. This policy has
not lowered rice prices, which rose to IDR 10,646.56 per kilogram on average or 12.07%
above the price ceiling between September 2016 and May 2017. Rice prices in Indonesia was
approximately twice as high compared to the international reference prices in May 2017. The
price ceiling unfairly puts the responsibility of lowering domestic rice prices on retailers while
the benefits accrue to middlemen, rice millers, and wholesalers.
Secondly, MOT regulation 103/2015 article 9 (1.b), which grants the National Logistics Agency
(Badan Urusan Logistik/Bulog) a monopoly on rice imports, should be removed and the government
should focus on its role as regulator to ensure fairness and transparency in the import process.
Since Bulog must consider the government's political and bureaucratic processes, it cannot time
its imports based on market needs and conditions. Consequently, it spends more than it should
on rice import, unnecessarily wasting up to IDR 303 billion (USD 22.78 million) between 2010 and
2017. Rice importation and distribution should be opened as business opportunities for qualified
private companies, especially as the distribution chains of imported rice are shorter than those
for domestic rice, so imports can quickly meet the needs of the market.
Thirdly, Bulog should be fully focused on its duty in disaster relief, preparing, managing, and
distributing rice to affected areas during emergencies. National Disasters and Management Agency
(Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana/BPNB) recorded 1,234 emergency situations during the
first half of 2017, including floods, landslides, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Disasters are expected
to continue to hit the country frequently, making humanitarian relief an important priority.


Understanding local groundwater hydrology and geochemistry is critical for evaluating the effectiveness of wetlands at mitigating agricultural impacts on surface waters. The effectiveness of depressional wetlands at mitigating nitrate (NO3) transport from fertilized row crops, through groundwater, to local streams was examined in the watershed of the upper Choptank River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Hydrologic, geochemical, and water quality data were collected from January of 2008 through December of 2009 from surface waters and networks of piezometers installed in and around current or former depressional wetlands of three major types along a gradient of anthropogenic alteration: (1) natural wetlands with native vegetation (i.e., forested); (2) prior-converted croplands, which are former wetlands located in cultivated fields; and (3) hydrologically restored wetlands, including one wetland restoration and one shallow water management area. These data were collected to estimate the orientation of groundwater flow paths and likely interactions of groundwater containing NO3 from agricultural sources with reducing conditions associated with wetlands of different types. Natural wetlands were found to have longer periods of soil saturation and reducing conditions conducive to denitrification compared to the other wetland types studied. Because natural wetlands are typically located in groundwater recharge areas along watershed divides, nitrogen (N) from nearby agriculture was not intercepted. However, these wetlands likely improve water quality in adjacent streams via dilution. Soil and geochemical conditions conducive to denitrification were also present in restored wetlands and prior-converted croplands, and substantial losses of agricultural NO3 were observed in groundwater flowing through these wetland sediments. However, delivery of NO3 from agricultural areas through groundwater to these wetlands resulting in opportunities for denitrification were limited, particularly where reducing conditions did not extend throughout the entire thickness of the surficial aquifer allowing NO3 to pass conservatively beneath a wetland along deeper groundwater flow paths. The complexity of N fate and transport associated with depressional wetlands complicates the understanding of their importance to water quality in adjacent streams. Although depressional wetlands often contribute low NO3 water to local streams, their effectiveness as landscape sinks, for N from adjacent agriculture varies with natural conditions, such as the thickness of the aquifer and the extent of reducing conditions. Measurement of such natural geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical conditions are therefore fundamental to understanding N mitigation in individual wetlands.


Development of Cognitive Radio (CR) applications, which rely on a radio's ability to adapt intelligently to it's spectral surroundings will soon make the all important technological jump from research interest to systems integration, as demand for highly adaptive wireless applications expand. VT-CORNET (Virginia Tech – Cognitive Radio Network Testbed) is a unique testbed concept, designed to facilitate this technology leap by offering researchers – both local and remote – the opportunity to conduct CR experiments on an installed infrastructure of highly flexible radio nodes. These nodes – 48 in total – are distributed throughout four floors of a building on the Virginia Tech campus, and provide researchers with diverse options in terms of channel conditions and deployment scenarios. The radios themselves consist of the widely used USRP2 Software i Defined Radio (SDR) platform, coupled to a centrally located cluster of rack servers – which provide a high performance GPP environment for real-time software based signal processing. VT-CORNET is specially licensed to operate our low-power nodes over a broad range of frequencies, which provides researcher the opportunity to conduct experiments on live spectrum – in the presence of real primary users. Testbeds are a widely used tool in the wireless and networking fields, and VT-CORNET expands the concept through a focus on CR research and education. This thesis describes the construction and deployment of the CORNET testbed in detail. Specific contributions made to the testbed include the design and implementation of the management network, as well as the initial deployment of the SDR nodes in the ceiling. In addition, this thesis describes the administration and management of the CORNET GPP cluster, and provides a instructions for the basic usage of CORNET from an administrative and user perspective. Finally, this thesis describes a number of custom SDR waveforms implemented on CORNET which demonstrate the utility of the testbed for cognitive radio applications.


Business in telecommunication has risen and fallen which had big effect to the development of telecommunication market. The interesting phenomena was the massive competition between cellular operator, where the operator competed to be the best. The competition was not only on price, but also facility to satisfy the consumer?s needs. One of the real operator competition could be seen from commercials of the cellular operator. The intensity was more rapid than before. It could make the customer easier to move using another operator?s product. Product competition force a new breakthrough to a product. Market share, where the customer become the major target in developing a product. Just like the changing demand of the customer all times, product also tried to follow the market demand. It caused many inovation which was done by the company to fit the customers? wishes. In marketing, the customer is the king. Customers? demand become the most important thing in product marketing. If the customer has no more intention to a product, the customer would search another product with various innovation to the product Perceptin is an experience about object, event, or relation by concluding information and receiving a message. Perception had two kinds, they were positive perception and negative perception. Productivity is a mental attitude which considered that today should be better than yesterday, and tomorrow should be better than today. The work today should be better from yesterday and tomorrow should be better than today, and so on. Product is everything could be offered to the market to be attention, owed, used, or consumed to satisfy the needs of the user. Besides, product concept declared that consumer would like the best product, performance, and the most innovative attitude. The research was descriptive, located in Galeri Indosat, JlSuwandak Barat No.48 Lumajang. The subjects were people knew and felt the productivity commitment of PT. Indosat. Data collection technique was by in-depth interview. While data analysis technique divided into three parts, they were data reduction, categorization, and synthesis. Customer perception about usage and management of call tariff, sms, or mms, whether to the same operator or different operator were positive perception. It caused by many customer knew about Indosat product. Perception of a feature given to make the service and comfort easier in PT. Indosat?s products were positive perception, since there was so many customers used Indosat features products and they felt that they were easy in using them. Customer perception about various PT. Indosats product was positive perception since there was so many customer used Indosat programs. Customer?s perception about knowledge and customer?s faith in using PT. Indosat?s reach and the network quality for calling, sms, or mms were positive perception since there were so many customers stated that the network have been better from the latest months, since there was still network annoyances with low intensity. Keyword : Persepsi; Produktivitas Produk Operator Seluler Link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/311/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2009-midalutvia-15527-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


ABSTRACT Biosurfactants are a unique class of compounds that have been shown to have a variety of potential applications in the remediation of organic- and metal-contaminated sites, in the enhanced transport of bacteria, in enhanced oil recovery, as cosmetic additives, and in biological control. However, little is known about the distribution of biosurfactant-producing bacteria in the environment. The goal of this study was to determine how common culturable surfactant-producing bacteria are in undisturbed and contaminated sites. A series of 20 contaminated (i.e., with metals and/or hydrocarbons) and undisturbed soils were collected and plated on R2A agar. The 1,305 colonies obtained were screened for biosurfactant production in mineral salts medium containing 2% glucose. Forty-five of the isolates were positive for biosurfactant production, representing most of the soils tested. The 45 isolates were grouped by using repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP)-PCR analysis, which yielded 16 unique isolates. Phylogenetic relationships were determined by comparing the 16S rRNA gene sequence of each unique isolate with known sequences, revealing one new biosurfactant-producing microbe, a Flavobacterium sp. Sequencing results indicated only 10 unique isolates (in comparison to the REP analysis, which indicated 16 unique isolates). Surface tension results demonstrated that isolates that were similar according to sequence analysis but unique according to REP analysis in fact produced different surfactant mixtures under identical growth conditions. These results suggest that the 16S rRNA gene database commonly used for determining phylogenetic relationships may miss diversity in microbial products (e.g., biosurfactants and antibiotics) that are made by closely related isolates. In summary, biosurfactant-producing microorganisms were found in most soils even by using a relatively limited screening assay. Distribution was dependent on soil conditions, with gram-positive biosurfactant-producing isolates tending to be from heavy metal-contaminated or uncontaminated soils and gram-negative isolates tending to be from hydrocarbon-contaminated or cocontaminated soils.


OBJECTIVES
Predictors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst HIV-positive persons are well established, but insights into the prognosis after CKD including the role of modifiable risk factors are limited.

DESIGN
Prospective cohort study METHODS:: D:A:D participants developing CKD (confirmed, >3 months apart, eGFR ≤ 60 mL/min/1.73 m or 25% eGFR decrease when eGFR ≤ 60) were followed to incident serious clinical events (SCE); end stage renal (ESRD) and liver disease, cardiovascular disease (CVD), AIDS- and non-AIDS defining malignancies (NADM), other AIDS or death, 6 months after last visit or 02.01.2016. Poisson regression models considered associations between SCE and modifiable risk factors.

RESULTS
During 2.7 (IQR 1.1-5.1) years median follow-up 595 persons with CKD (24.1%) developed a SCE (incidence rate 68.9/1000 PYFU [95%CI 63.4-74.4]) with 8.3% [6.9-9.0] estimated to experience any SCE at one year. The most common SCE was death (12.7%), followed by NADM (5.8%), CVD (5.6%), other AIDS (5.0%) and ESRD (2.9%). Crude SCE ratios were significantly higher in those with vs. without CKD, strongest for ESRD (65.9 [43.8-100.9]) and death (4.8 [4.3-5.3]). Smoking was consistently associated with all CKD-related SCE. Diabetes predicted CVD, NADM and death, while dyslipidaemia was only significantly associated with CVD. Poor HIV-status predicted other AIDS and death, eGFR < 30 mL/min/1.73m predicted CVD and death and low BMI predicted other AIDS and death.

CONCLUSION
In an era where many HIV-positive persons require less monitoring due to efficient antiretroviral treatment, persons with CKD carry a high burden of SCE. Several potentially modifiable risk factors play a central role for CKD-related morbidity and mortality.


Starting from a generic architecture for reading words in alphabetic scripts, we examine the special status of letters as the building block of single word reading. After briefly describing the overall architecture that defines the interaction between orthographic and phonological processes during silent reading for meaning, we then focus on orthographic processing. We describe the nature of orthographic representations as hypothesized in our approach and we discuss how such representations might be learned during reading acquisition. We present the hypothesis that such learning involves the adaptation of basic object identification mechanisms to the specific constraints of reading, and we provide examples of this adaptation. In the light of this, we then compare the function of letters as constituents of written words relative to the role of object parts in other kinds of familiar visual stimuli (e.g. faces, numbers). We explain why we think letters must have a special status and we provide some preliminary empirical evidence in favor of this special status for letters as parts of words. Keywords: reading; orthography; visual word recognition; orthographic learning; letter strings; object identification