MAG-welding of zinc coated steel sheets faces a number of difficulties, such as spatter and porosity. These problems are caused by zinc being vaporised during the welding process. In two prior projects at SIMR — JTC, MAG-welding of zinc coated steel sheets has been studied, where improved weldability has been shown. A literature study indicated that another method had further potential when joining zinc coated sheets of steel — arc/laser brazing. In this project, methods and possibilities for arc brazing and laser brazing were studied. A literature study was performed in order to compare arcand laser brazing processes withthe MAG-welding process. A special focus was set on thin zinc coated steel sheet materials and automotive applications. The results from the literature study showed that both arc brazing and laser brazing could be a good alternative to conventional MAG-welding of thin steel sheets. Brazing is reported to be advantageous when joining zinc coated steel sheets, where the use of conventional MAG-welding can be limited and/or costly. After the literature study, MIG/MAG-brazing trials were performed on lap joints with varying gap between the sheets and a fix lap length. Comparative MAGwelding trials were made on lap joints with zero gap between the sheets and a fix lap length. Base material was a cold forming steel sheet (max Rm=500 MPa) with both 7 m and 20 m hotdip zinc coating. Limited MIG/MAG-brazing trials were also performed on low alloyed stainless steel sheet (W-no: 1.4310). Two filler materials were tested, SG-CuSi3* and SG-CuAl8* (* = According to DIN 1733 (1988)). SG-CuAl8 was however only used on the zinc coated material. Five different shielding gases were tested in the MIG/MAG-brazing trials in the zinc coated material: Ar+0,03%NO, Ar+2%H2+0,03%NO, Ar+2%CO2, Ar+1%O2 and Ar+0,5%CO2+1%H2. Only Ar+0,03%NO was tested in stainless steel. The MAG-welding trials were performed with Ar+8%CO2+0,03%NO . Both short arc and pulsed arc transfer were tested in the MIG/MAG-brazing trials with different parameter settings for each shielding gas. Only short arc was tested in the MAG-welding trials. Each test joint was evaluated with respect to process stability and visual appearance (including amount of spatter and presence of surface breaking defects). The stainless steel joints were also evaluated with respect to the level of distortion. Selected test joints were also evaluated with static shear tensile testing, X-ray, Dye Penetrant testing, bend testing and metallographic examination. The results from the MIG/MAG-brazing trials show that pulsed arc transfer seemed to give better process stability and visual appearance of the joint compared with short arc both in the zinc coated and the stainless material. Regarding the shielding gases Ar+2%CO2 and Ar+2%H2+0,03%NO gave inferior results with respect to the process stability and visual appearance of the joint compared with the other gases. Ar+2%H2+0,03%NO also generated a lot of porosity including surface breaking pores. Ar+1%O2 and Ar+0,03%NO were regarded as the best shielding gases both with respect to process stability and visual appearance of the joint both in the zinc coated material and inthe stainless steel. The travel speed for the evaluated case of MIG/MAG brazing was equal to the welding speeds (corresponding trials) in earlier SIMR-JTC projects. Very high travel speed (220cm/min) was achieved for stainless steel with good results. Tensile-shear tests showed varied results on both the welded and the brazed joints. The welded specimens all fractured above the tensile strength of the sheet, regardless the fraction location. The brazed specimens with different shielding gases on zero gap had a scattered result and most of them fractured in the braze metal and fusion line. The brazed specimens on different gap widths fractured around the tensile strength of the base material with a majority in the base metal. On the 20m zinc coated material, it was difficult to obtain a stable process and a spatter free joint. The trials in the 7m zinc coated and stainless material showed good results with respect to the process stability and the amount of spatter. With a few exceptions the joints did not contain any serious defects such as cracks, lack offusion, blow holes etc. The joints in stainless steel showed a low level of distortion. The zinc layer on the zinc coated materials was much less damaged with the MIG/MAG brazing process compared with the MAG-welding process. It can be concluded that the MIG/MAG brazing process can be an alternative to the MIG/MAG welding process when joining zinc coated and stainless steel sheet. However, the choice of joining process should be dependent on the application requirements. More work has also to be done in order to further improve the process stability when MIG/MAG-brazing 20m zinc coated steel sheet.


Identifying the genetic components of heart disease remains challenging despite the transformation of clinical genetics by new DNA sequencing technologies. For congenital heart disease (CHD), animal models have provided a fruitful way to identify genes necessary for differentiation of cardiac tissue and subsequent morphogenesis of the embryo heart. These have identified candidate determinants of CHD, and their genetic manipulation in animal models such as the mouse offers the opportunity to identify the molecular mechanisms whose disruption results in foetal cardiac abnormalities. This is of potential clinical value not only for diagnostic screening of CHD; it also identifies critical molecular pathways whose disruption by environmental factors may account for the 80% of CHD for which there is no attributable genetic cause. "Deciphering the Mechanisms of Developmental Disorders" (DMDD) is a five-year study dedicated to identifying genes essential for embryo development, many of which affect heart development when targeted by selective gene knockout. Here we present the first systematic study of the range, severity and penetrance of defects affecting the heart by the end of organogenesis (E14.5) in such embryonic lethal mouse mutants. Using comprehensive 3D imaging at near histological resolution, we have examined embryos from 42 different gene knockouts, identifying morphological abnormalities affecting the heart and great vessels. Abnormalities were scored using the Mouse Phenotype (MP) Ontology and all image and phenotype data from the study is freely available to the scientific community at dmdd.org.uk. Cardiac defects were detected in 33 of the first 42 mutant lines studied (78%) and many comprise genes studied either for the first time or not previously associated with cardiac abnormalities. Many of the defects identified match congenital defects identified in newborn babies. Individual mutant lines varied widely in the number of unique cardiac phenotypes they exhibited, with as many as 20 distinct types in the most severely affected embryos. Over half of all lines examined showed defects affecting the atrial or ventricular septum; one third of the lines had abnormalities affecting development of the outflow tract (overriding aorta, double outlet right ventricle, persistent arterial trunk, transposition of the great arteries); a quarter showed defects affecting the structure of one or more heart chambers and a fifth of the lines had abnormalities in the atrio-ventricular junction. These results demonstrate the remarkable power of an unbiased genetic screen in the mouse to reveal novel CHD genes when simply filtered by embryonic lethality. The DMDD data offers a rich and expanding resource for further study of both normal mammalian heart development and the aetiology of congenital heart disease.


Summary

1. In the absence of knowledge of the large-scale structure and distribution of marine biota, bioregionalisations, that is, spatial classifications of data on a range of environmental and/or biological attributes, are often viewed as one of the most appropriate frameworks within which to develop networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). However, despite their potential usefulness, few studies have assessed whether bioregionalisations can be used for management of species other than those it was derived from or whether bioregionalisations capture fully fine-scale community-level biodiversity patterns.

2. We investigated the large-scale structure and distribution of demersal fishes and macroinvertebrates in south-eastern Australia, using rank abundance distributions (RADs). We used a recently developed community modelling method that allows their multivariate distribution to vary according to environmental gradients, assessing the congruency of mapped biogeographic patterns between the different taxa, and in the light of the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia (IMCRA).

3. A clear pattern in our analysis based on RADs showed a large difference in assemblage structure (i.e. in abundance, richness and evenness) between South Australia, where assemblages were generally more species rich and even, and Victoria and Tasmania, where assemblages were generally more species poor and uneven. The strong longitudinal pattern in species richness and evenness was generally congruent for both demersal fishes and macroinvertebrates and related to regional differences in oceanography.

4. We found that the regions of highest species richness were found in the 'core' bioregions rather than 'transition' bioregions as defined in the IMCRA and for both taxa. Moreover, we found that not all assemblage structures were equally alike and that South Australia had the greatest range of unique assemblage structures.

5. Synthesis and applications. While bioregionalisations are typically based on data from a single taxon, our findings highlight that they can be used as a surrogate for biological patterns seen in other taxa. Bioregionalisations, however, may not capture fully fine-scale community-level biodiversity patterns, and this may compromise the ability of protected area networks to protect the full variability in assemblage types. We suggest that it may be necessary to validate existing regionalisations with additional data and analyses such as the RAD analyses conducted here.


There are many contributing factors which determine the microand macrophysical properties of clouds, including atmospheric vertical structure, dominant meteorological conditions, and aerosol concentration, all of which may be coupled to one another. In the quest to determine aerosol effects on clouds, these potential relationships must be understood. Here we describe several observed correlations between aerosol conditions and cloud and atmospheric properties in the Indian Ocean winter monsoon season. In the CARDEX (Cloud, Aerosol, Radiative forcing, Dynamics EXperiment) field campaign conducted in February and March 2012 in the northern Indian Ocean, continuous measurements were made of atmospheric precipitable water vapor (PWV) and the liquid water path (LWP) of trade cumulus clouds, concurrent with measurements of water vapor flux, cloud and aerosol vertical profiles, meteorological data, and surface and total-column aerosol from instrumentation at a ground observatory and on small unmanned aircraft. We present observations which indicate a positive correlation between aerosol and cloud LWP only when considering cases with low atmospheric water vapor (PWV< 40 kgm 2), a criterion which acts to filter the data to control for the natural meteorological variability in the region. We then use the aircraft and ground-based measurements to explore possible mechanisms behind this observed aerosol–LWP correlation. The increase in cloud liquid water is found to coincide with a lowering of the cloud base, which is itself attributable to increased boundary layer humidity in polluted conditions. High pollution is found to correlate with both higher temperatures and higher humidity measured throughout the boundary layer. A large-scale analysis, using satellite observations and meteorological reanalysis, corroborates these covariations: high-pollution cases are shown to originate as a highly polluted boundary layer air mass approaching the observatory from a northwesterly direction. The source air mass exhibits both higher temperatures and higher humidity in the polluted cases. While the warmer temperatures may be attributable to aerosol absorption of solar radiation over the subcontinent, the factors responsible for the coincident high humidity are less evident: the high-aerosol conditions are observed to disperse with air mass evolution, along with a weakening of the hightemperature anomaly, while the high-humidity condition is observed to strengthen in magnitude as the polluted air mass moves over the ocean toward the site of the CARDEX observations. Potential causal mechanisms of the observed correlations, including meteorological or aerosol-induced factors, are explored, though future research will be needed for a more complete and quantitative understanding of the aerosol–humidity relationship. Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 5204 K. Pistone et al.: Atmospheric aerosol effects in a trade cumulus regime


In vitro testing alone is no longer considered sufficient evidence presented solely with respect to drug release and permeation testing. These studies are thought to be more reliable and representative when using tissue or animal models; as opposed to synthetic membranes. The release of anti-glaucoma drug timolol maleate from electrically atomised coatings was assessed here using freshly excised bovine corneal tissue. Electrohydrodynamic processing was utilised to engineer functionalised fibrous polyvinylpyrrolidone-Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) coatings on the outer side of commercial silicone contact lenses. Benzalkonium chloride, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, Brij® 78 and borneol were employed as permeation enhancers to see their effect on ex vivo permeation of timolol maleate through the cornea. Formulations containing permeation enhancers showed a vast improvement with respect to cumulative amount of drug permeating through the cornea as shown by a six fold decrease in lag time compared to enhancer-free formulations. Most drug delivery systems require the drug to pass or permeate through a tissue or biological membrane. This study has shown that to fully appreciate and understand how a novel drug delivery system will behave not only within the device but with the external environment or tissue, it is imperative to have in vitro and ex vivo data in conjunction.


A number of recent studies have shown that the nonradiative voltage losses in organic solar cells can be suppressed in systems with low energetic offsets between donor and acceptor molecular states, but the physical reasons underpinning this remain unclear. Here, we present a systematic study of 18 different donor/acceptor blends to determine the effect that energetic offset has on both radiative and nonradiative recombination of the charge-transfer (CT) state. We find that, for certain blends, low offsets result in hybridization between charge-transfer and lowest donor or acceptor exciton states, which leads to a strong suppression in the nonradiative voltage loss to values as low as 0.23 V associated with an increase in the luminescence of the CT state. Further, we extend a two-state CT-state recombination model to include the interaction between CT and first excited states, which allows us to explain the low nonradiative voltage losses as an increase in the effective CT to ground state oscillator strength due to the intensity borrowing mechanism. We show that low nonradiative voltage losses can be achieved in material combinations with a strong electronic coupling between CT and first excited states and where the lower band gap material has a high oscillator strength for transitions from the excited state to the ground state. Finally, from our model we propose that achieving very low nonradiative voltage losses may come at a cost of higher overall recombination rates, which may help to explain the generally lower FF and EQE of highly hybridized systems.


This study aims to develop a Daoist movement practice. Based on qi-energy, Daoism, a Chinese ontological study of being, suggests that Dao is the formless changing of in-between being. I explore how the formless nature of Dao informs my own creative practice. I argue that formlessness signifies an uncertain, unexpected, and constantly changing boundary of the self. Improvised movement emerges from within, and as an extension, of formlessness. The improvisational mode considered here is thereby experiential, an expanded way of being, rather than compositional. This thesis presents a somatic practicing process of embodying Dao in emergent movements. Chapter 1 discusses a practice-as-research methodology, which relates the ways in which practice and theory intersect to the relationship of yin and yang from a perspective of qi-energy. In Chapter 2, I discuss the somatic experience of improvised movement arising from qi and rethink the understandings of "practice" in the encounter between movement-based practices and Daoism. In Chapter 3, I borrow Eugene T. Gendlin's theory of a felt sense and explore how the felt experiencing of qi is activated by a holistic awareness and gives rise to movement through the body based on the Daoist concept of the changing self. Then I explore four diverse states of the in-between inspired by the Daoist philosophy of "light" through improvised movement in Chapter 4. Furthermore, in Chapter 5 I develop a sequential transformation of in-between states toward Dao and discuss this process from a Daoist view of the self. A boundary of the changing states is examined in a series of emergent movements as a process of practicing the self in Chapter 6. I finally reflect upon Dao in my developed principle that focuses on an awareness of subtle emergences, and conclude formlessness, as it corresponds to Dao, is an emerging felt sense of being that is constantly changing before interpretation within the self in this movement practice. DVD abstracts: DVD chapter 1: Four states This series of edited videos offers the viewer a flavour of the four in-between states developed over the course of this research (see Chapter 4). Some of the videos are supported with poetic words. Filmmaker Lotti Gompertz's footage uncovers the subtleties of the energy and emergent movement in the four states. DVD chapter 2: Sharing a practice This video consists of documentary material recorded by a still camcorder during a five-session workshop conducted during this research. The highlights of each stage appear briefly, in sequence, presenting the sense of transformation felt throughout the workshop. Footage of the participant and myself are juxtaposed to reveal the differences and similarities of the movement and energy emerging between us that helped me understand my self and Daoism during the workshop (see Chapter 5). DVD chapter 3: Continuous transformation Drawing on footage shot by Lotti Gompertz, this video presents the highlights of each state of my emergent movement. It provides the viewer with a taste of the subtle transformation of the emergent movement and energy involved in becoming a wu-wei (see Chapter 5). DVD chapter 4: Practicing the self This video documents a session in which the focus was on an awareness of subtle changes and emergences. Documented by a still camcorder, this edited video is composed of footage of a guest participant and myself working in the session (see Chapter 6), allowing emergent movement to unfold. The gradual transformation of a felt sense of the self during the session is revealed through subtitles that capture the words we spoke while moving.


We propose a novel Multi-Scale Spectrogram (MSS) modelling approach to synthesise speech with an improved coarse and fine-grained prosody. We present a generic multi-scale spectrogram prediction mechanism where the system first predicts coarser scale mel-spectrograms that capture the suprasegmental information in speech, and later uses these coarser scale mel-spectrograms to predict finer scale mel-spectrograms capturing fine-grained prosody. We present details for two specific versions of MSS called Word-level MSS and Sentence-level MSS where the scales in our system are motivated by the linguistic units. The Word-level MSS models word, phoneme, and frame-level spectrograms while Sentence-level MSS models sentence-level spectrogram in addition. Subjective evaluations show that Word-level MSS performs statistically significantly better compared to the baseline on two voices.


Among data acquisition techniques in digital photoelasticity, the integrated phase shifting technique (IPST) can real-time analyze the photoelastic parameters at a video rate of the high speed CCD camera. In this paper, fourteen algorithms are described by different configurations of the rotating an analyzer at a constant rate and an output quarter-wave plate at another constant rate. The theoretical comparisons of the algorithms are given by the simulated phase distributions of the isochromatic and isoclinic parameters of the disk under two cases that the load keeps unchangeable or linearly increasing in exposure time of the camera. Then a guideline is given to alleviate the influence of the load changing with time on the IPST.


The Hamamatsu R11410 photomultiplier, a tube of 3'' diameter and with a very low intrinsic radioactivity, is an interesting light sensor candidate for future experiments using liquid xenon (LXe) as target for direct dark matter searches. We have performed several experiments with the R11410 with the goal of testing its performance in environments similar to a dark matter detector setup. In particular, we examined its long-term behavior and stability in LXe and its response in various electric field configurations.


ABSTRACT The amalgamation of Pangea during the Carboniferous produced a winding mountain belt: the Variscan orogen of West Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, this tortuous geometry is dominated by two major structures: the Cantabrian Orocline, to the north, and the Central Iberian curve (CIC) to the south. Here, we perform a detailed structural analysis of an area within the core of the CIC. This core was intensively deformed resulting in a corrugated superimposed folding pattern. We have identified three different phases of deformation that can be linked to regional Variscan deformation phases. The main collisional event produced upright to moderately inclined cylindrical folds with an associated axial planar cleavage. These folds were subsequently folded during extensional collapse, in which a second fold system with subhorizontal axes and an intense subhorizontal cleavage formed. Finally, during the formation of the Cantabrian Orocline, a third folding event refolded the two previous fold systems. This later phase formed upright open folds with fold axis trending 100° to 130°, a crenulation cleavage and brittle–ductile transcurrent conjugated shearing. Our results show that the first and last deformation phases are close to coaxial, which does not allow the CIC to be formed as a product of vertical axis rotations, i.e. an orocline. The origin of the curvature in Central Iberia, if a single process, had to be coeval or previous to the first deformation phase.


Abstract This proposed contribution to the special issue of ILWCH offers a theoretical re-consideration of the Liberian project. If, as is commonly supposed in its historiography and across contemporary discourse regarding its fortunes into the twenty-first century, Liberia is a notable, albeit contested, instance of the modern era's correctable violence in that it stands as an imperfect realization of the emancipated slave, the liberated colony, and the freedom to labor unalienated, then such representation continues to hide more than it reveals. This essay, instead, reads Liberia as an instructive leitmotif for the conversion of racial slavery's synecdochical plantation system in the Americas into the plantation of the world writ large: the global scene of antiblackness and the immutable qualification for enslavement accorded black positionality alone. Transitions between political economic systems—from slave trade to "re-colonization," from Firestone occupation to dictatorial-democratic regimes—reemerge from this re-examination as crucial but inessential to understanding Liberia's position, and thus that of black laboring subjects, in the modern world. I argue that slavery is the simultaneous primitive accumulation of black land and bodies, but that this reality largely escapes current conceptualization of not only the history of labor but also that of enslavement. In other words, the African slave trade (driven first by Arabs in the Indian Ocean region, then Europeans in the Mediterranean, and, subsequently, Euro-Americans in the Atlantic) did not simply leave as its corollary effect, or byproduct, the underdevelopment of African societies. The trade in African flesh was at once the co-production of a geography of desire in which blackness is perpetually fungible at every scale, from the body to the nation-state to its soil—all treasures not simply for violation and exploitation, but more importantly, for accumulation and all manner of usage. The Liberian project elucidates this ongoing reality in distinctive ways—especially when we regard it through the lens of the millennium-plus paradigm of African enslavement. Conceptualizing slavery's "afterlife" entails exploring the ways that emancipation extended, not ameliorated, the chattel condition, and as such, impugns the efficacy of key analytic categories like "settler," "native," "labor," and "freedom" when applied to black existence. Marronage, rather than colonization or emancipation, situates Liberia within the intergenerational struggle of, and over, black work against social death. Read as enslavement's conversion, this essay neither impugns nor heralds black action and leadership on the Liberian project at a particular historical moment, but rather agitates for centering black thought on the ongoing issue of black fungibility and social captivity that Liberia exemplifies. I argue that such a reading of Liberia presents a critique of both settler colonialism and of a certain conceptualization of the black radical tradition and its futures in heavily optimist, positivist, and political economic terms that are enjoying considerable favor in leading discourse on black struggle today.


No prior study has focused on intervention specifically for high-risk schoolchildren with both subtypes of aggression, reactive and proactive aggression, as well as both subtypes of victimization, aggressive and pure victimization. It was being ignored by the researchers that not much work has been done on evidence-based evaluations of longitudinal study of the effectiveness of interventions for such the above specific children. Based on the pioneering
longitudinal mixed-methods study of the effectiveness of Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy on aggressive victimization conducted by Fung in 2012, recent further studies have proven the effectiveness of Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy for schoolchildren with pure victimization as well as those with reactive or proactive aggression. A review of quantitative and qualitative results found consistent findings indicating that schoolchildren's cognition, emotion, and behavior were positively reconstructed by group interventions. Furthermore, an evidence-based study on adopting Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy in the parallel parent-child group, child-only group, and parent-only group for reducing schoolchildren with reactive and proactive aggression, the most significant outcome was found in child-only group rather than parent-only and parallel parent-child group. It confirmed that children directly involvement was the most effective format. These studies have had important shortand long-term impacts, such as lessening school bullying, violence, and peer victimization in school settings, reducing juvenile delinquency and adult crime including intimidation, assault, and homicide. There will be enormous across-the-board financial savings to society. It is believed that by intervening before these adult problems fully develop; a more cost-effective way to reduce the long-term burdens on society can be achieved. However, limitations such as the attrition rate and the availability of control groups limit the power of the research. Implications for future research direction and intervention were discussed.


Groove is a pleasant feeling that compels people to move their bodies along with music. In the past, there was some consensus among both musicians and researchers that the main factor in inducing this feeling is onset asynchrony of sounds. However, recent studies have asserted that no-asynchrony is the condition that will obtain the highest groove. The current study examined whether no-asynchrony exclusively elicits the highest groove. In Experiment 1, we measured the groove increment of a backbeat drum pattern as a function of the asynchronies between bass guitar and hi-hat cymbal sounds. Upon evaluation, the scores of no conditions exceeded those of the synchronous condition. However, the condition with slight bass guitar precedence over the hi-hat achieved an approximately equal score to the condition with complete synchrony, and that score was higher than the ones achieved with bass delay. In Experiment 2, we measured the participants' sensitivities to timing discrimination. The results confirmed that the amount of bass precedence in Experiment 1 was perceptible to the listeners. These findings suggest that complete synchronization is not always the best condition to achieve groove and that listeners prefer perceivable asynchronies in some cases.


This study is a comparison of AUPress with three other traditional (non-open access) Canadian university presses. The analysis is based on the rankings that are correlated with book sales on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Statistical methods include the sampling of the sales ranking of randomly selected books from each press. The results of one-way ANOVA analyses show that there is no significant difference in the ranking of printed books sold by AUPress in comparison with traditional university presses. However, AUPress, can demonstrate a significantly larger readership for its books as evidenced by the number of downloads of the open electronic versions.


Solute Carriers (SLCs) are involved in the transport of substances across lipid bilayers, including nutrients like amino acids. Amino acids increase the activity of the microenvironmental sensor mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1) to promote cellular growth and anabolic processes. They can be brought in to cells by a wide range of SLCs including the closely related Proton-assisted Amino acid Transporter (PAT or SLC36) and Sodium-coupled Neutral Amino acid Transporter (SNAT or SLC38) families. More than a decade ago, the first evidence emerged that members of the PAT family can act as amino acid-stimulated receptors, or so-called "transceptors," connecting amino acids to mTORC1 activation. Since then, further studies in human cell models have suggested that other PAT and SNAT family members, which share significant homology within their transmembrane domains, can act as transceptors. A paradigm shift has also led to the PATs and SNATs at the surface of multiple intracellular compartments being linked to the recruitment and activation of different pools of mTORC1. Much focus has been on late endosomes and lysosomes as mTORC1 regulatory hubs, but more recently a Golgi-localized PAT was shown to be required for mTORC1 activation. PATs and SNATs can also traffic between the cell surface and intracellular compartments, with regulation of this movement providing a means of controlling their mTORC1 regulatory activity. These emerging features of PAT and SNAT amino acid sensors, including the transceptor mechanism, have implications for the pharmacological inhibition of mTORC1 and new therapeutic interventions.


Susanna Wesley's writings are intricate and complex as they illustrate a theology of embodiment stemming from the Incarnation. Her meditations and journal entries reveal a spirituality of the body, a contribution in the history of Methodism that has been undervalued. This paper places Susanna Wesley (1669–1742) in dialogue with theologian, Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel (1926–2016), on the subject of embodiment. Susanna Wesley was on a continuum of change as she moved from strict societal constraints and ecclesial expectations of women in the late 17th and 18th centuries to an enlarged view of humankind. She expressed this movement as "becoming a lover of oneself." The self-possession with which she opposed the views of her forceful father, Dr. Annesley, is noteworthy for a young girl not quite thirteen. Dr. Annesley was a leader of the Dissenting cause, which found fault with the dominant Church of England. Susanna, against her father's wishes, adhered to the Church of England!


Polochic fault is seen on LANDSAT imagery to continue its westward path from northwestern Guatemala across the Chiapas massif to the Pacific coastal plain. The fault has had 132 ± 5 km of left-lateral displacement that is recorded in the offset of Cenozoic fold and thrust belt structure and stratigraphy. The trace of the Polochic fault has been folded into what approximates a sinusoidal curve of about 130-km wave length and 7-km amplitude by an essentially east-west compressive stress. The curious similarity in displacement and fold wavelength results in a premovement reconstruction that reveals not only a match across the fault in geology, but an almost perfect fit of one block against the others. Some segments of the fault across which recorded slip took place are probably locked and not active. Strain has shifted to other shears in western Guatemala and Chiapas and to the Motagua fault. Parts of the Polochic and the newer shears may be alternating with the Motagua as the Caribbean-North American plate boundary. With the 132 km of slip removed, segments of the now fragmented Cenozoic fold belt can be brought into coincidence in a clear-cut arcuate trend that is convex southwest. The major fault displacement is believed to have occurred within the interval from middle Miocene to middle Pliocene time. Eastern Guatemala has undergone a counterclockwise rotation of about 25° that reoriented the fault trace and all other structural fabric from due east to the present east-northeast azimuth.


Key Points Question What are the prevalence and patterns of marijuana use among adults with medical conditions? Findings This survey study using data from 169 036 participants in the 2016 and 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys found that, compared with adults without medical conditions, adults with medical conditions had a significantly higher prevalence of current and daily marijuana use, were more likely to report using marijuana for medical reasons, and were less likely to report using marijuana for recreational purposes. Among respondents with medical conditions, 11.2% of young adults reported using marijuana on a daily basis, and the prevalence of marijuana use decreased with increasing age. Meaning Clinicians should discuss marijuana use with their patients to optimize medical outcomes.


In humans, phencyclidine (PCP), a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, reproduces a schizophrenia-like psychosis including positive symptoms, negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction. Thus, PCP-treated animals have been utilized as an animal model of schizophrenia. PCP-treated animals exhibit hyperlocomotion as an index of positive symptoms, and a social behavioral deficit in a social interaction test and enhanced immobility in a forced swimming test as indices of negative symptoms. They also show a sensorimotor gating deficit and cognitive dysfunctions in several learning and memory tests. Some of these behavioral changes endure after withdrawal from repeated PCP treatment. Furthermore, repeated PCP treatment induces some neurochemical and neuronanatomical changes. Recently, genetic approaches based on "the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia" have been used to develop animal models of schizophrenia. NMDA receptor subunit zeta1 knockdown, epsilon1 knockout (KO) and zeta1 point mutant mice exhibiting a hypofunction of NMDA receptors show hyperlocomotion, social behavioral deficit, sensorimotor gating deficit or cognitive dysfunction. Forebrain-specific calcineurin KO, neuregulin 1 heterozygous KO and lysophosphatidic acid 1 receptor KO mice can also serve as animal models of schizophrenia. These findings suggest that PCP and genetic animal models would be useful for evaluating novel therapeutic candidates and for confirming pathological mechanisms of schizophrenia.


The Absurd in the Briar Patch: Ellison's Invisible Man and Existentialism Eliot John Wilcox Department of English Master of Arts This article claims that Ralph Ellison's use and then revision of French existential themes is essential to understanding his overriding message of Invisible Man: Ellison's hope for a more polyglot American democracy that transcends the white democracy of mid twentieth century America. Specifically, I argue that Ellison, after demonstrating his ability to understand and engage in the traditional ideology of European existentialism, deviates from its individualistic conclusions demanding that the larger community, not just the solitary individual, must become ethically responsible if the classic existential tenet of authenticity is to be achieved. In order to establish this claim, I identify key passages in Invisible Man that indicate Ellison's desire to engage the existential movement. Writings from Camus and Sartre provide the foundation for comparison between Ellison's work and the French based philosophy. This background provides the groundwork to explore Ellison's deviations from the existential forms of his day. These departures have significant implications for Ellison's view of a socially productive individual, and therefore of his message in Invisible Man. In order to document the prevalence of existentialism in Ellison's literary consciousness, I then discuss its rise and decline in postwar New York. I also outline what is known about Ellison's relationship to the movement. Lastly, I conclude with a discussion of the philosophical tradition of existential philosophy and the difference between the philosophy of existence, seen in the Western canon through philosophers like Kierkegaard, and existentialism, one of its popular manifestations that peaked in the 1940s. Separating the two existential movements allows me to explore the tangential way most Ellison critics have associated him with existentialism and advocate for a more inclusive critical discussion of Ellison's relationship to existentialism.


The purpose of this paper is to develop e-learning based on animation content to improve mathematical connection abilities in senior high school students. The e-learning was developed using framework proposed by Moddle, while the animation content was developed using macromedia flash. To get the student mathematical connection abilities, pretest and postest were administered before and after teaching and learning process. The data were analyzed using t-test and found that elearning which was based on animation content not only had significant effect on mathematical connection abilities but also been able to improve students' mathematical connection abilities far better than that of conventional approach.


ABSTRACT Unrecognised internationally, Somaliland operates as a hybrid political order where a range of state and non-state entities provide security, representation and social services. Local business elites have impacted state formation after war by lobbying against a range of regulations, providing the government with loans and contributions rather than paying sufficient taxes, and by hindering the development of sound financial institutions. The success of such activities has led to de facto protectionism, where foreign ventures have had limited access to the Somaliland market. While such protectionism may have negatively impacted economic development and growth opportunities, recent engagements by multinational corporations in the Berbera port suggest that foreign private investments risk sparking violent conflict. In contrast, domestic businessmen have played a role in preventing or resolving violent conflict at crucial stages in Somaliland's recent history. Based on fieldwork in Somaliland, we argue that the impact of international corporate actors in post-war contexts needs to be understood in light of local culture and power dynamics, in which the political and economic roles of local business elites are central.


Abstract Asexual worms of an exclusively fissiparous strain (the OH strain) of the planarian Dugesia ryukyuensis keep developing hermaphroditic reproductive organs and eventually undergo sexual reproduction instead of asexual reproduction, namely fission, if they are fed with sexually mature worms of an exclusively oviparous planarian, Bdellocephala brunnea, suggesting that the sexually mature worms has a sexualizing substance(s). The fully sexualized worms no longer need the feeding on sexual worms to maintain the sexuality. Here, we demonstrate that the sexualized worms produce enough of their own sexualizing substance similar to that contained in B. brunnea. In case of surgical ablation of the sexualized worms, the fragments with sexual organs regenerate to become sexual, while those without sexual organs, namely head fragments, regenerate to return to the asexual state. The asexual regenerants from the sexualized worms are also fully sexualized by being fed with B. brunnea. Additionally, it was reported that head region in sexually mature worms lacks the putative sexualizing substance necessary for complete sexualization (Sakurai, 1981). These results suggest that the fragments without sexual organ lack enough of an amount of the putative sexualizing substance and the sexuality is maintained by the sexualizing substance contained in the sexualized worms.


Abstract Family firms are entities contribute greatly to all economies worldwide. In the following study we investigate capital structures and ownership dispersion among Swedish family firms. In order to find concluding results, we proceed with a regression between leverage and family business, leverage and family firm age, and leverage and ownership dispersion. Our regression outcomes support a U-shaped relationship between family ownership dispersion and leverage, but do not confirm a relation between leverage and family business. Earlier studies made in the field have generated differing results; however, there are some studies that are actually in line with our findings. A unique database developed at Jönköping University is used that enables us to obtain access to firm-level data. Earlier studies in the same genre have only had access to industry-level data.


Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULX) are X-ray binaries with Lx >1039 erg s−1. The most spectacular examples of ULX occur in starburst galaxies and are now understood to be young, luminous high mass X-ray binaries. The conditions under which ULX form are poorly understood, but recent evidence suggests they may be more common in low metallicity systems. Here we investigate the hypothesis that ULX form preferentially in low metallicity galaxies by searching for ULX in a sample of extremely metal poor galaxies (XMPG) observed with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. XMPG are defined as galaxies with log(O/H) + 12 < 7.65, or less than 5% solar. These are the most metal-deficient galaxies known, and a logical place to find ULX if they favor metal poor systems. We compare the number of ULX (corrected for background contamination) per unit of star formation (NULX(SFR)) in the XMPG sample with NULX(SFR) in a comparison sample of galaxies with higher metallicities taken from the Spitzer Infrared Galaxy Sample. We find that ULX occur preferentially in the metal poor sample with a formal statistical significance of 2.3σ. We do not see strong evidence for a trend in the formation of ULX in the high metallicity sample: above 12+log(O/H) ∼ 8.0 the efficiency of ULX production appears to be flat. The effect we see is strongest in the lowest metallicity bin. We discuss briefly the implications of these results for the formation of black holes in low metallicity gas.


Abstract. We applied an inverse model to simulate global carbon (C) cycle dynamics during the Holocene period using atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores and prescribed C accumulation rates of Northern Peatlands (NP) as inputs. Previous studies indicated that different sources could contribute to the 20 parts per million by volume (ppmv) atmospheric CO2 increase over the past 8000 years. These sources of C include terrestrial release of 40–200 petagram C (PgC, 1 petagram=1015 gram), deep oceanic adjustment to a 500 PgC terrestrial biomass buildup early in this interglacial period, and anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes of unknown magnitudes. Our study shows that the prescribed peatland C accumulation significantly modifies our previous understanding of Holocene C cycle dynamics. If the buildup of the NP is considered, the terrestrial pool becomes the C sink of about 160–280 PgC over the past 8000 years, and the only C source for the terrestrial and atmospheric C increases is presumably from the deep ocean due to calcium carbonate compensation. Future studies need to be conducted to constrain the basal times and growth rates of the NP C accumulation in the Holocene. These research endeavors are challenging because they need a dynamically-coupled peatland simulator to be constrained with the initiation time and reconstructed C reservoir of the NP. Our results also suggest that the huge reservoir of deep ocean C explains the major variability of the glacial-interglacial C cycle dynamics without considering the anthropogenic C perturbation.


Methods for learning from demonstration (LfD) have shown success in acquiring behavior policies by imitating a user. However, even for a single task, LfD may require numerous demonstrations. For versatile agents that must learn many tasks via demonstration, this process would substantially burden the user if each task were learned in isolation. To address this challenge, we introduce the novel problem of lifelong learning from demonstration, which allows the agent to continually build upon knowledge learned from previously demonstrated tasks to accelerate the learning of new tasks, reducing the amount of demonstrations required. As one solution to this problem, we propose the first lifelong learning approach to inverse reinforcement learning, which learns consecutive tasks via demonstration, continually transferring knowledge between tasks to improve performance.


Despite its small population and land area, Bhutan is among the most rapidly urbanizing countries in South Asia. While this urbanization parallels robust economic growth and the expansion of job and investment opportunities in cities, there remain challenges to fully leveraging the potential of urban areas. Bhutan has made impressive gains toward the convergence of access to basic services across the country, but there are gaps in the quality of coverage, particularly for water and sanitation. Local governments will have an increased role in basic service provision and capital investment, but it requires enhanced capacity and resources to improve efficiency and responsiveness to local needs. Urban growth has increased demand for quality housing, which has resulted in a scarcity of affordable units and has increased pressure for urban expansion. Finally, the concentration of people and property in growing cities also changes the hazard risk profile of these areas, which is not adequately understood due to a lack of adequate data systems and poor integration into planning mechanisms. An integrated approach to urbanization is essential; one that leverages the benefits of agglomeration while also managing the diseconomies and negative externalities of urban growth.


Recent studies on protein folding intermediates by pulsed amide proton exchange and by far-ultraviolet circular dichroism have shown important discrepancies between the secondary structure contents estimated by these two methods at early folding stages. To solve these apparent discrepancies, structural studies have been performed on the isolated, 101 residue long, C-terminal proteolytic domain (F2) of the Escherichia coli tryptophan synthase beta chain, which had previously been reported to behave as an early folding intermediate [Chaffotte, A. F., Cadieux, C., Guillou, Y., & Goldberg, M. E. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 4303-4308]. The secondary structure of F2 has been investigated by far-UV circular dichroism (CD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and NMR. The CD and FTIR spectra clearly indicate that isolated F2 has about 30-45% of its residues involved in secondary structures stabilized by conventional hydrogen bonds. The characteristics of the NMR spectrum (line broadening, absence of structure-induced chemical shifts, absence of nuclear Overhauser effects in the amide region, few dipolar interactions between the side-chain protons) suggest that isolated F2 is oscillating between several conformations in rapid equilibrium. The rate of amide proton exchange has been studied by one-dimensional NMR, which indicates a significant extent of proton protection, with, however, protection factors that can be estimated to be at most 60 and more probably closer to 10. Thus, F2 appears to exist as a molten globule that exhibits very low amide proton protection and yet contains a large fraction of its residues involved in authentic secondary structures stabilized by hydrogen bonds. Such a state is likely to correspond to the earliest structured folding intermediates thus far characterized.


Leveraged asset price bubbles, i.e., boom-bust phases in asset prices accompanied by credit overhangs, are more harmful than unleveraged ones, in terms of financial and macroeconomic stability. If bubbles are not all alike, neither are all bubbles likely? As bubbles are difficult to detect in real-time data, early researches focused on the macroeconomic conditions exacerbating the bubbles' nature. We specifically look at a condition that could become more persistent in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic: low risk-free interest rates. In an OLG model, we show that the existence condition for a leveraged bubble is more easily met than that of an unleveraged bubble with low interest rates, and thus leveraged bubbly episodes are relatively more likely to emerge than unleveraged ones. Then, we show that this result holds empirically for post-World War II bubbles in advanced economies.


We suggest a general method to determine the optimum laser parameters for maximizing the ablation efficiency for different materials (in particular human cornea) at different incidence angles. The model is comprehensive and incorporates laser beam characteristics and ablative spot properties. The model further provides a method to convert energy fluctuations during ablation to equivalent ablation deviations in the cornea. The proposed model can be used for calibration, verification and validation purposes of laser systems used for ablation processes at relatively low cost and would directly improve the quality of results.


AbstractDuring the past 30 years hypnosis has become recognised as a useful adjunct to traditional medical therapies, and has become part of mainstream medicine. Hypnosis societies provide training for health professionals to obtain registrable qualifications. The modality has been incorporated in the management of many medical conditions and diseases, with opportunities for symptom control, building confidence and enhancing the benefits of regular therapies. There are many opportunities for using hypnosis as an adjunctive therapy in the management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, despite some early difficulties. Problems likely to be encountered are discussed and the structure of the hypnosis session is outlined. Suggestions are given for practitioners to construct useful scripts, which can be used to teach self-hypnosis.


During the past three decades, Dr. John J. Bonica has been greatly involved in the pioneering of American anesthesiology as a teacher, clinician, and investigator. He has devoted much of his professional effort to the study of pain mechanisms and the management of chronic pain syndromes. In 1953, he publishedThe Management of Pain, a 1,500-page volume that has become established as the "bible" of pain. He has also published more than 100 articles on the subject and has recently edited two monographs reporting most recent research on pain. Dr. Bonica is Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Acupuncture of the National Institutes of Health and a similar committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Last year, he was selected by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China of the National Academy of Sciences to be a member of the first official American medical delegation to visit the People's Republic of China, and was given the responsibility of evaluating acupuncture and anesthesia as practiced in that country.


This book chapter, entitled Black Venus Hottentot Revisited: Gratuitous Use of Black Women's Bodies and the Role of Race and Gender in Campus and Academic Reactions (Published in RACE TO INJUSTICE: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE PLAYERS' RAPE CASE, Carolina Academic Press, edited by Michael Seigel), analyzes the class/race/gender implications of the campus reactions to the Duke rape allegations as well as explores the potential for added protections for women employed in the erotic labor force. The chapter further focuses on sexual profiling in the erotic labor force and discusses how women of color who are engaged in erotic work are even more burdened by such profiling. In doing so, it explores the perception of women of color's bodies, historically and currently, as well as the race/class/gender issues raised by the events and narratives surrounding the Duke rape allegations.


A wide variety of X-ray and extreme ultraviolet diagnostics are being developed to study on Yang accelerator. An elliptically bent crystal spectrometer is designed with a focal length of 1350 mm. A mica crystal with an interplanar spacing of 1.984 nm bent onto an elliptical substrate with eccentricity of 0.9485 is used. The crystal analyzer covers the Bragg angle range from 30° to 60°. The mica crystal can efficiently reflect radiation in multiple orders, covering the entire spectral range from 0.1 to 1.73 nm except for a gap from 0.86 to 1.0 nm. The application experiment is performed on Yang accelerator using the bent mica crystal analyzer. Spectra of neon-puff Z-pinch plasmas are recorded with a X-ray film, showing the H-like and the He-like lines of neon. Each spectrum has been identified and used for the wavelength calibration, and most of the line radiation is contained in the He-α and the L-α lines. The experimental results have demonstrated that the spectral resolution approximates 379.


Public libraries are established to be used by communities. Surprisingly, many people in communities where there are public libraries do not make use of them. This descriptive study investigated the information needs and information-seeking behaviour of such nonlibrary users, so that the libraries could redesign their services to attract them. Also examined are the barriers encountered by nonlibrary users in getting information, their reasons for not using the library, and their perceptions on current outreach efforts by libraries in the communities. The target population for this study was the community of non-library users in Botswana. The snowball sampling method was used to select 302 respondents from 34 research sites in the country. The findings indicated that respondents knew about the existence of the library through friends, Kgotla meetings, and advertisements in local media, and they were also willing to participate in the activities of the library. However, lack of time, distance to the library and inadequate relevance of the library resources and services to the activities the respondents were engaged in seemed to be the main barriers to library use. In terms of information required, it was difficult for the respondents to express their information needs; nevertheless, the study was able to establish that the respondents often needed information on current affairs, education, business and agriculture, and they used radio, newspapers, friends, work supervisors and personal experience to meet their needs. Keywords : Community information needs, information-seeking behaviour, information sources, libraries, non-users of libraries.


Sound content description is one of the aims of the MPEG-7initiative. Although MPEG-7 focuses on indexing and retrieval of audio, there are other sound content-based processing applications waiting to be developed once we have a robust set of descriptors and structures for putting them into relation, and for expressing semantic concerns about sound. Spectral Modeling techniques provide one usable framework for extracting and organizing sound content descriptions. In this paper we will introduce one particular approach to spectral modeling, then we will present some sound descriptors that can be derived from them in order to develop sound descriptions, and we will discuss the features of a structure for organizing the information that can be derived from them (a so called "Description Scheme"). All of our current descriptors can be considered low- or mid-level, thus we will not cover the high level description of music (musical forms and styles, roles of characters in a movie, etc.) which is also relevant in MPEG-7 indeed. The descriptors proposed are the result of a sound analysis based on a spectral modeling technique, and for all of them we have devised automatic extraction procedures. The Description Scheme we present is intended to be a generic one that, based on a hierarchical (and recursive in some places) structure, can describe sound at multiple levels of detail, addressing both syntactic (structural) and semantic (content) ways for describing sound.


Ad blockers allow Internet users to obtain information without generating ad revenue for site owners; and by 2016 they were used by roughly a quarter of site visitors. Given the ad-supported nature of much of the web, ad blocking poses a threat to site revenue and, if revenue losses undermine investment, a possible threat to consumers' access to appealing content. Using unique, proprietary, and site-specific data on the share of site visitors using ad blockers at a few thousand sites, along with Alexa traffic data, we explore the impact of ad blocker usage on site quality, as inferred from traffic ranks, 2013-2016. We find that each additional percentage point of site visitors using ad blockers raises (worsens) its traffic rank by about 0.6 percent over a 35 month period, with stronger effects at initially worse-ranked sites. We provide additional evidence of causality by showing that the relationship between traffic trends and eventual ad blocking does not predate ad blocking. Plausible instruments for ad blocking also deliver consistent results. Effects of ad blocking on revenue are compounded by the fact that ad blocking reduces visits, while also generating less revenue from remaining visitors employing ad blockers. We conclude that ad blocking poses a substantial threat to the ad-supported web.


Most authors include a paraxial (small-angle) limitation in their discussion of diffracted wave fields. This paraxial limitation severely limits the conditions under which diffraction behavior is adequately described. A linear systems approach to modeling nonparaxial scalar diffraction theory is developed by normalization of the spatial variables by the wavelength of light and by recognition that the reciprocal variables in Fourier transform space are the direction cosines of the propagation vectors of the resulting angular spectrum of plane waves. It is then shown that wide-angle scalar diffraction phenomena are shift invariant with respect to changes in the incident angle only in direction cosine space. Furthermore, it is the diffracted radiance (not the intensity or the irradiance) that is shift invariant in direction cosine space. This realization greatly extends the range of parameters over which simple Fourier techniques can be used to make accurate calculations concerning wide-angle diffraction phenomena. Diffraction-grating behavior and surface-scattering effects are two diffraction phenomena that are not limited to the paraxial region and benefit greatly from this new development.


A key feature of the singularity resolution in loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is the occurrence of the quantum bounce when the spacetime curvature becomes comparable to the Planck scale. The presence of quantum bounce greatly modifies the dynamics of the early universe and can have important implications for observational signatures. Although the quantum bounce has been previously studied via numerical methods for initial conditions that correspond to large macroscopic universes at late times, a detailed study of the robustness of the quantum bounce for a generic class of initial condition has so far been missing due to severe computational challenges. In the first part of this dissertation, we develop the Chimera scheme, an efficient numerical technique, and study the physics of the quantum bounce in an isotropic and homogeneous spacetime. We find that the quantum bounce is a robust phenomenon and independent of initial conditions, while its quantitative features depend on the quantum fluctuations of the initial state. In addition to these results we present a detailed analysis of the validity of the effective description of LQC, which shows that the effective description remains valid so long as the quantum fluctuations in the state are negligible. These results set the stage to compute finer corrections due to the quantum fluctuations of the spacetime geometry to the observational signatures of LQC. Using the Chimera scheme we also study, for the first time, non-singular evolution in the presence of a negative scalar field potential which gives rise to a cyclic universe. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on the phenomenological aspects of the singularity resolution. We study the transitions of various geometrical structures across the bounce and the effect of the quantum bounce on the inflationary scenario in Bianchi-I spacetime. Using the nonsingular evolution of LQC we also explore the possibility of anti-de Sitter to de Sitter vacuum transitions, a long standing problem in the multiverse scenario, which plays an important role in defining a local measure in the multiverse.


We have conducted a number of industry studies looking into aspects of software testing. These include a survey of practitioner view on software tester performance indicators and team formation issues; detailed worklog analysis of representative tasks conducted by software testers; feedback on a proposed approach to software tester performance evaluation; and collecting indicative personality factors of software testers vs other software developers. These have proved to be challenging exercises. Key issues to overcome include reaching appropriate testers in industry, gaining management and company consent, structuring surveys and questionnaires to balance time vs detail, and gaining sufficient response rate and response quality to be useful.


In Het Parool v. the Netherlands, the European Court was called upon to consider a claim under a provision in copyright law that limited a newspaper's freedom to publish an accused person's photograph. The Court held, in effect, that a person charged with a violent homicide may seek damages from a newspaper for publishing his photograph, even where the article is "true and correct," concerns a matter of "serious public concern," where the photograph "does not contain details" of his private life, and was not obtained using "subterfuge or other illicit means". Given the significance of the decision for the potential liability of newspapers when reporting on criminal proceedings, this article considers (a) the Court's application of the "fair balance" test under Axel Springer, (b) the Court's standard of review, and (c) the Court's consideration of prior case law on the question.


The objectives are to investigate the association between dental caries and H. pylori, the association between dental caries and smoking among Saudi students, and to investigate the association between smoking and H. pylori among students with dental caries. The present cross sectional study included 120 male students from Aljouf University. Participating students were clinically examined for dental caries. Urine samples were tested for cotinine and stool samples were tested for H. pylori. Both cotinine and H. pylori was tested using strips especially prepared based on antigenantibody reaction (COT, Innovacon Inc., USA, Helicobacter antigen Quick, GA Inc, Germany). Statistical analysis was done using Chi-Square test. The mean age of study participants was 22.37±1.50 years. The mean of teeth with caries was 9.57±4.68. There were 93 (77.5%) students positive for H. pylori, and 100 (83.3%) positive for cotinine. There was a signifi cant relationship between cotinine and caries (P=0.000), and H. pylori and dental caries (P=0.000). The co-existence of H. pylori and cotinine was also signifi cant among cases with caries (P=0.000). The present study showed that cotinine and H. pylori were signifi cantly associated with dental caries. The co-existence of both among cases with dental caries may be a new fi nding and may work synergistically with each other.


Sarah Burnett's knitwear designs are a blend of pattern and colour. Her cardigans, jackets and pullovers for adults and children incorporate colour combinations, traditional motifs and bold asymmetric paisley patterns and harlequin checks, even fireworks and lonic columns. The entire collection is united by the soft and vibrant colours of her naturally dyed yarns and the book demonstrates that creating these environmentally friendly yarns is easy. Simple dyeing recipes and knitting patterns and charts aim to ensure that every handknit will be a success.


Background: Scientific knowledge is expected to be used in clinical practice to ensure that patients are given evidence-based nursing care. Therefore, in order to improve nurses' research utilisation in clinical practice a network had been provided for nurses especially interested in nursing development in eleven wards. These nurses were expected to take on the role of key person (facilitator) for nursing development in clinical practice. Aim: The study was aimed at describing nurses' interest in nursing research, how network support to 'facilitator nurses' could improve development in patient care based on evidence, and what hindering factors for such development could be. Methods: One and a half years after onset of the project a follow-up study was conducted with a questionnaire answered by 75 (64%) nurses, and group interviews with nine facilitators and eleven head nurses. Findings: The nurses' interest in research utilisation was in general high and in eight wards development work had started. The facilitator nurses had mostly worked without involving their colleagues. Hindering factors for nursing development were related to time, EBP knowledge, involvement and the interest of head nurses and colleagues. Education, work place, previous participation in research projects, and participation in the network impacted positively on nurses' attitudes to and interest in research. Conclusion and implication for clinical practice: Providing networks to 'facilitator nurses' in the ward could be useful for developing nursing care based on research findings. However, support from nurse leaders, involvement of the whole nursing staff, and training in research utilisation are important factors for success.


This study reports HIPIMS-sputtered samples of Cu-particulate films with currents at 6 and 60 amps leading to E. coil inactivation. The Cu coverage and nanoparticle structure of the fibers is reported by TEM. Evidence is presented of redox processes in the Cu taking place during E. coil inactivation and the buildup of intermediate species resulting from the bacterial oxidation. Cu is deposited on the polyester in the form of Cu(2)O and CuO as observed by XPS. During the bacterial oxidation, the CuO on the polyester after 30 min decreases from 84 to 70%. After longer bacterial inactivation times, the CuO oxidizes again increases its presence to 94% when the bacterial inactivation has been completed within 90 min. The broadening of the O-C=O signal during E. coli inactivation suggests direct interaction of Cu with carboxylic groups. The surface atomic concentration of 0, Cu, and C was determined within the E. coli inactivation time. The E. coil inactivation occurred within 90 min on Cu-nanoparticulate films sputtered for 61 s at 60 amps being 28 nm thick. This Cu-layer thickness is equivalent to 140 layers with a content of 1.4 x 10(17) atoms Cu/cm(2), and the sputtering proceeded with deposition rate of 2.3 x 10(15) atoms/cm(2)s. The values found for the rugosity indicate that the texture of the Cu-nanoparticulate film is smooth. R(q) values and the R(a) were similar before and after the E. coil inactivation, providing further evidence of the stability of the Cu-nanoparticulate films during the bacterial inactivation process. The Cu-loading percentage required in the Cu-nanoparticulate films sputtered by HIPIMS to inactivate E. coil completely was about three times lower compared with DCMS-sputtered Cu-nanoparticulate films. This indicates a substantial Cu-metal savings within the preparation of antibacterial films.


Using the city of Toronto as a case study, this article examines impacts of energy stocks and flexible demand in the urban metabolism on the resilience of the city, including discussion of directions for further study of the resiliency of the urban metabolism. An important element developed is the nominal residence time of the energy stocks. This value defines how long an energy stock lasts under typical patterns of energy use. The findings suggest that the residence times of many sources of energy overcome vulnerability when energy supply shocks last on the order of hours or a few days, but that the measure is limited to assessing only certain types of commonly used energy sources in aggregate terms. Discussion is included on the uncertainty of this measure and on the metabolic and resiliency implications of new technologies intended to reduce energy use and improve sustainability of cities and the use of the urban metabolism as a means of comparison. The methodology employed highlights how waste energy could be used to increase the resiliency of the city's water supply, but also how the study of the urban metabolism would benefit from a more disaggregate form in the study of sustainable and resilient cities.


First published in 1977, The Samurai has long since become a standard work of reference. It continues to be the most authoritative work on samurai life and warfare published outside Japan. Set against the background of Japan's social and political history, the book records the rise and rise of Japan's extraordinary warrior class from earliest times to the culmination of their culture, prowess and skills as manifested in the last great battle they were ever to fight - that of Osaka Castle in 1615.


Activation of receptors coupled to inhibitory G proteins (Galpha i/o) has opposing consequences for cyclic AMP accumulation and the activity of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, depending on the duration of stimulation. Acute activation inhibits the activity of adenylate cyclase, thereby attenuating cyclic AMP accumulation; in contrast, persistent activation of Galpha i/o-coupled receptors produces a paradoxical enhancement of adenylate cyclase activity, thus increasing cyclic AMP accumulation when the action of the inhibitory receptor is terminated. This heterologous sensitization of cyclic AMP signaling, also called superactivation or supersensitization, likely represents a cellular adaptive response, a mechanism by which the cell compensates for chronic inhibitory input. Recent advances in our knowledge of G protein-mediated signaling, regulation of adenylate cyclase, and other cellular signaling mechanisms have extensively increased our insight into the mechanisms and significance of this phenomenon. In particular, recent evidence points to the Galpha(s)-adenylate cyclase interface as a locus for the expression of the sensitized adenylate cyclase response, and to isoform-specific phosphorylation of adenylate cyclase as one mechanism that can produce sensitization. Galpha i/o-coupled receptor-induced heterologous sensitization may contribute to enhanced Galpha(s)-coupled receptor signaling following neurotransmitter elevations induced by the administration of drugs of abuse and during other types of neuronal function or dysfunction. This review will focus on recent advances in our understanding of signaling pathways that are involved in sensitization and describe the potential role of sensitization in neuronal function.


CD4 Th cells play critical roles in stimulating Ab production and in generating primary or maintaining memory CTL. The requirement for CD4 help in generating and maintaining CTL responses has been reported to vary depending on the vector or method used for immunization. In this study, we examined the requirement for CD4 T cell help in generating and maintaining CTL responses to an experimental AIDS vaccine vector based on live recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) expressing HIV Env protein. We found that primary CD8 T cell responses and short-term memory to HIV Env and VSV nucleocapsid (VSV N) proteins were largely intact in CD4 T cell-deficient mice. These responses were efficiently recalled at 30 days postinfection by boosting with vaccinia recombinants expressing HIV Env or VSV N. However, by 60 days postinfection, the memory/recall response to VSV N was lost in CD4-deficient mice, while the recall response HIV Env was partially maintained in the same animals for at least 90 days. This result indicates that there are epitope-specific requirements for CD4 help in the maintenance of memory CD8 T cell responses. Our results also suggest that choice of epitopes might be critical in an AIDS vaccine designed to protect against disease in the context of reduced or declining CD4 T cell help. The Journal of Immunology, 2007, 178: 6350–6358.


Three new species belonging to the Porcellidiidae are described. A species from NSW possessing massive honeycomb-like dorsal growths of cuticle, and other features not found elsewhere in the family, has been placed in a new genus, Cereudorsum verrucosum gen. et sp. nov. A second species from Queensland, characterized by unusual features of the male antennule, has been placed in a new genus, as Geddesia quadrata gen. et sp. nov. Porcellidium trisetosum Geddes, 1968 does not fit the diagnosis for Porcellidium and is transferred to Geddesia gen. nov., as G. trisetosa (Geddes, 1968) comb. nov. A third species from the Cocos Keeling Islands is unique in having only one seta on the maxillule endopod. It has been referred to a new genus, as Clunia cocosensis gen. et sp. nov. This brings the total number of genera described from eastern coast of Australia to 16. A key to the genera, a list of the apomorphic or unique characters of each genus and a check list of the identifiable species of Porcellidiidae is given. The geographical distribution of species along the east coast of Australia is outlined.


The progressivity of the tax system has a potentially large disincentive effect on human capital accumulation. It is thus surprising that Heckman, Lochner, and Taber (1998b, 1999a,b) represent the only previous empirical work on this important topic. I build on their work a) by accounting for the tax system when estimating the model, b) by performing welfare analysis, c) by examining the transition from one steady state to another, and d) by adding a number of robustness checks. I first estimate a dynamic general equilibrium model of schooling and on-the-job training on micro data. The estimates are then used to measure the extent to which the progressivity of the tax system distorts human capital. I find a small long run effect of progressivity on schooling. I find larger short run effects, but that they are short lived. The impact of the reform on human capital acquired on the job depends on how it is measured. Under one measure the effect is large, but the consequence of this on earnings seems to be small. Perhaps surprisingly, the welfare effects are typically favorable for progressive wage taxes (with flat capital taxation) versus a flat income tax in the long run. The welfare effects are different when I examine a progressive income tax as virtually all workers prefer the flat income tax to it. I also build on Heckman, Lochner, and Taber's (1998b,1999a,b) evidence on the extent to which taxation of physical capital favors human capital investment. These simulations also yield small long run effects on schooling and on human capital stocks.


A worldwide concern for future access to affordable, sustainable energy is driving the development of more efficient solar power generation. In any photovoltaic (PV) based system, the inverter is a critical component responsible for the control of electricity flow between the module, battery, loads, and power grid. Inverters, which convert direct to alternating current, can be designed to be used with different voltage ranges and topologies for varying applications. They can also be designed with or without transformers. Besides DC/AC conversion, inverters provide additional functions such as maximizing power, battery charging, and protecting the circuit. All of these functions require optimized intelligent control that can occur in real time or near-real time. The wide variations in application and operational requirements mean that the system control has to be highly flexible. Digital signal processor (DSP) based controllers, such as the Texas Instruments TMS320C2000TM family of controllers, provide the high level of computational performance and programming flexibility needed for the real-time signal processing in solar power inverters. Highly integrated digital signal controllers help inverter manufacturers create more efficient, more cost-effective products that can support the growing demand for solar energy in upcoming years.


The role of computer-assisted instruction in promoting intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among Nigerian secondary school chemistry students was investigated in this study. The study employed two modes of computer-assisted instruction (computer simulation instruction and computer tutorial instructional packages) and two levels of gender (male and female) using pretest-posttest experimental group design. Ninety (45 males and 45 females) senior secondary one (SS1) students from three secondary schools in Minna, Nigeria, made up the sample. The schools were purposively sampled and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The Experimental Group I was taught two selected concepts of chemistry using computer simulation instructional package (CSIP), Experimental Group II was exposed to computer tutorial Instructional package (CTIP) while conventional teaching method (CTM) was used for the Control Group. Validated Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) and Chemistry Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ) with reliability coefficient of 0.89 and 0.94 respectively were used for data collection. Classroom observations as well as interview schedules were also conducted. Data from CAT and CTM were analyzed using One-way ANOVA and Scheffe's post-hoc test, while the data from the classroom observations and interview schedules were thematically analyzed. The outcome of this study revealed that students taught with CSIP performed better than those in CTIP and CTM groups. The CSIP and CTIP were found also to be gender friendly. Moreover, students taught with CSIP had higher intrinsic and extrinsic motivation than their counterparts in CTIP and CTM respectively. Based on the findings, it was recommended that chemistry teachers should employ computer simulation for improving their students' performance and motivation in the subject.


Network compression has been widely studied since it is able to reduce the memory and computation cost during inference. However, previous methods seldom deal with complicated structures like residual connections, group/depth-wise convolution and feature pyramid network, where channels of multiple layers are coupled and need to be pruned simultaneously. In this paper, we present a general channel pruning approach that can be applied to various complicated structures. Particularly, we propose a layer grouping algorithm to find coupled channels automatically. Then we derive a unified metric based on Fisher information to evaluate the importance of a single channel and coupled channels. Moreover, we find that inference speedup on GPUs is more correlated with the reduction of memory rather than FLOPs, and thus we employ the memory reduction of each channel to normalize the importance. Our method can be used to prune any structures including those with coupled channels. We conduct extensive experiments on various backbones, including the classic ResNet and ResNeXt, mobile-friendly MobileNetV2, and the NAS-based RegNet, both on image classification and object detection which is under-explored. Experimental results validate that our method can effectively prune sophisticated networks, boosting inference speed without sacrificing accuracy.


In Syria, the United States is "training and equipping" non-state groups to battle ISIS. In Eastern Ukraine, Russia has provided weapons, training and support to separatists. In China, "private" computer hackers create codes designed to infiltrate sensitive computer systems. These are just a few examples of the many ways in which states to work with non-state actors to accomplish their military and political objectives. While state/non-state collaboration can be benign, it can be malignant where a state uses a non-state actor as a proxy to violate international law with impunity. In extreme cases, a state could go as far as to fund, train, and instruct a non-state actor to commit war crimes and escape without international legal responsibility. This is no mere academic hypothetical: consider the Former Republic of Yugoslavia's support of the Free Serbian Army, which committed the genocide at Srebrenica.Recognizing this problem, international courts have developed a doctrine of state responsibility designed to hold states accountable for internationally wrongful acts of their non-state actor partners. Unfortunately, existing doctrine leaves an accountability gap and fails to correct the perverse incentive to use non-state actors as proxies for illegal acts. Moreover, it creates a second perverse incentive: states with good intentions might avoid training non-state actors in international law compliance to avoid crossing the "bright line" for attribution.This Article proposes a fix to these problems, drawing on a novel interpretation of the Geneva Conventions released by the ICRC in March 2016. It argues that the duty "to ensure respect" in Common Article 1 can fill the gap. In addition, it argues that Common Article 1 will be more widely embraced and therefore more effective if states that have exercised due diligence to prevent violations are allowed an affirmative defense against liability for any ultra vires violations. The Article concludes with recommendations for states that wish to fulfill their Common Article 1 obligations in good faith while working with non-state actors.


The 62 million year old lava flows of Baffin Island and West Greenland represent the earliest phase of magmatism in the North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP). These picritic lavas are characterised by high magnesium contents owing to their high proportion of olivine crystals. The parental magmas for the picrites are likely to have accumulated olivine crystals on their transit through the lithosphere and crust. Debate over the origin of accumulated crystals in the lavas results in uncertainty in the temperature and composition of the parental magmas for the early NAIP. The magnesium-rich olivine crystals (up to Fo93) in the picrites of this study are shown not to have a xenocrystic origin. The samples, therefore, support the inference of high potential temperatures for the Baffin Island-West Greenland magmas, ~200 o C above ambient mantle. The picrites of Baffin Island and West Greenland display the highest terrestrial magmatic 3 He/ 4 He (up to 50 Ra, where Ra is the atmospheric value 1.39 x 10 -6 ), values that are considerably higher than the highest 3 He/ 4 He in contemporary ocean island basalts, which reach a maximum of ~30 Ra. High 3 He/ 4 He in Baffin Island and West Greenland are associated with a wide range of incompatible trace element and lithophile radiogenic isotopic compositions, not dissimilar to the range of compositions displayed by lavas at mid-ocean ridges, and overlapping the range displayed by most northern hemisphere ocean island basalts. Crustal contamination modelling in which high-grade Proterozoic crustal basement rocks are mixed with depleted parents cannot account for the compositional trends displayed by the picrites. Major and trace element compositions were determined on melt inclusions in high3 He/ 4 He picrites that span a wide range of whole-rock incompatible trace element and radiogenic isotopic compositions. The melt inclusions support the findings from the whole-rock study since melt inclusion compositions reflect the composition of their associated whole-rock, with no anomalous compositions present. In addition, there is no evidence for a contribution of a proportion of depleted melts to the source of the relatively enriched whole-rock samples. Therefore, since all melt inclusions were contained within high3 He/ 4 He samples, it is shown that high 3 He/ 4 He is a feature of both depleted and relatively enriched melt compositions. The wide range in whole-rock compositions of the Baffin Island and West Greenland picrites represents that of the sub-lithospheric mantle source region and is inconsistent with derivation of the picrites from residues of ancient mantle depletion. The apparent decoupling of helium from trace elements and radiogenic isotopes is hard to reconcile with simple mixing of a high-helium concentration, high3 He/ 4 He reservoir with various depleted and enriched helium-poor mantle reservoirs. It is possible that primordial helium has diffused into a reservoir with a composition similar to that of the convecting upper mantle. However, this must have occurred after the development of existing mantle heterogeneity. The high3 He/ 4 He picrites require the existence of a deep, primordial helium-rich reservoir. Whether this reservoir is present in the upper or deep mantle, or even the core, remains uncertain.


Grass populations in tropical savannas are highly resilient in relation to different fire regimes, but the mechanisms conferring such resilience have been poorly studied. Here we examine one such mechanism, high adult survival during fire, for three perennial grass species in an Australian savanna: Eriachne triseta Nees ex Steud, Eriachne avenacea R.Br and Chrysopogon latifolius S.T.Blake. The study examined survivorship after 3 years, at plots subject to experimental fire regimes (experiencing 0, 1, 2 or 3 fires over the study period) at the Territory Wildlife Park near Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia. Mean survivorship was 79.9%, 64.3% and 62.0% for E. avenacea, E. triseta and C. latifolius respectively. For the two species of Eriachne, mean survivorship was highest (E. avenacea, 94.6%; E. triseta, 77.1%) in unburnt plots, whereas survivorship of C. latifolius was highest (71.7%) under highest fire frequency. However, variation in survivorship among fire regime treatments was not statistically significant for any of the study species. This negligible difference in survivorship among regimes points to fire tolerance (sprouting ability) as an important mechanism contributing to the resilience and persistence of perennial grasses in these savannas.


Single-ISA heterogeneous multi-cores consisting of small (e.g., in-order) and big (e.g., out-of-order) cores dramatically improve energy- and power-efficiency by scheduling workloads on the most appropriate core type. A significant body of recent work has focused on improving system throughput through scheduling. However, none of the prior work has looked into fairness. Yet, guaranteeing that all threads make equal progress on heterogeneous multi-cores is of utmost importance for both multi-threaded and multi-program workloads to improve performance and quality-of-service. Furthermore, modern operating systems affinitize workloads to cores (pinned scheduling) which dramatically affects fairness on heterogeneous multi-cores. In this paper, we propose fairness-aware scheduling for single-ISA heterogeneous multi-cores, and explore two flavors for doing so. Equal-time scheduling runs each thread or workload on each core type for an equal fraction of the time, whereas equal-progress scheduling strives at getting equal amounts of work done on each core type. Our experimental results demonstrate an average 14% (and up to 25%) performance improvement over pinned scheduling through fairness-aware scheduling for homogeneous multi-threaded workloads; equal-progress scheduling improves performance by 32% on average for heterogeneous multi-threaded workloads. Further, we report dramatic improvements in fairness over prior scheduling proposals for multi-program workloads, while achieving system throughput comparable to throughput-optimized scheduling, and an average 21% improvement in throughput over pinned scheduling.


Recently, a video representation based on dense trajectories has been shown to outperform other human action recognition methods on several benchmark datasets. In dense trajectories, points are sampled at uniform intervals in space and time and then tracked using a dense optical flow field. The uniform sampling does not discriminate objects of interest from the background or other objects. Consequently, a lot of information is accumulated, which actually may not be useful. Sometimes, this unwanted information may bias the learning process if its content is much larger than the information of the principal object(s) of interest. This can especially escalate when more and more data is accumulated due to an increase in the number of action classes or the computation of dense trajectories at different scales in space and time, as in the Spatio-Temporal Pyramidal approach. In contrast, we propose a technique that selects only a few dense trajectories and then generates a new set of trajectories termed 'ordered trajectories'. We evaluate our technique on the complex benchmark HMDB51, UCF50 and UCF101 datasets containing 50 or more action classes and observe improved performance in terms of recognition rates and removal of background clutter at a lower computational cost.


The growing importance of shared networks, shared platforms and shared standards leads to a renewed discussion of the essential facilities doctrine of antitrust. This is an area where European law and American law have diverged. In Trinko (2007), the U.S. Supreme Court came close to abolishing it. At the same time, it was reinvigorated by the European Commission, which asserted it successfully in E.C. v. Microsoft, and then, facing criticism, clarified the doctrine in a Guidance document. We harmonize the main cases around the doctrine's original but often forgotten purpose namely, harvesting economic synergies through sharing. We argue that, absent such a doctrine, these synergies could be lost as firms either avoid sharing to avoid antitrust liability, or create sharing arrangements that undermine competition. We show how and why the original purpose of the doctrine has become entangled with other antitrust issues, in particular, leveraging. We systematize the sharing rules that have been imposed or allowed, with an emphasis on how to harvest synergies while mitigating any harm to competition.


This paper describes a framework for the concurrent modelling of workpieces and cutting tools (dual flow) and introduces a computer aided tool, the dual-flow emulator, for use in the initial investment phase of high-cost flexible machining cells (FMC) and their subsequent short-term scheduling. This facility enables designers to make decisions based on the economic performance and enhancement of proposed designs. The focus of the work is on machining cells, where an individual machining centre's cost can be in excess of one million pounds, with the tooling being three/four times more expensive than conventional tooling. With these high-cost investments, where there is a small number of expensive machines, it is essential that designers are assured a greater chance of economic success. This makes it necessary to model both the flow and management of the workpieces and cutting tools. A framework for the concurrent modelling of workpieces and cutting tools (dual flow) is introduced and the dual-flow emulator described. This dual-flow emulator can be used to explore the relative merits of alternative operating strategies and, finally, as a short-term scheduling tool as an operational performance aid. An industrial-based study has been undertaken and the economic performance of two strategies is discussed in terms of the overall specification and operational performance.


Dendritic cells (DC) are sentinels of the immune system that display an extraordinary capacity to present antigen to naive T cells and initiate immune responses. DCs are distributed throughout the lungs in the conducting airways of the tracheobronchial tree and in the parenchymal lung, and play a pivotal role in controlling the immune response to inhaled antigens. The respiratory surface is continually exposed to potentially injurious particulates and pathogenic organisms, to which tightly regulated innate and adaptive immunological responses are made. The airways are usually sterile in healthy individuals. However, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) have increased susceptibility to microbial infections and increased neutrophil elastase (NE) in lung secretions. This thesis was designed to test the hypotheses that; (i) excess NE may result in a dysregulation of lung DCs function in pulmonary chronic diseases, and (ii) the natural NE inhibitors in the respiratory system are able to rescue the NE-mediated dysregulation of DCs and potentially enhance their antigen presenting activity. The data in this thesis demonstrate that purified human NE down-regulated murine bone marrow (BM)-derived DC co-stimulatory molecules (CSM; CD40, CD80 and CD86), which was due to its proteolytic activity. NE-treated LPS-matured DCs were less efficient at presenting ovalbumin (OVA) peptide to naive OVAspecific transgenic (D011.10) T cells. In addition, immature DCs (iDC) simultaneously treated with LPS and NE failed to mature fully and produced significantly less IL-12 and TNF-? than DCs matured in the presence of LPS alone. Similarly, treatment of mature DC (mDC) with pooled and individual COPD and CF sputum samples caused a reduction in CD80 and CD86 levels (but not CD40) which positively correlated with the NE concentration present in the samples. The demonstration that NE could adversely affect DC phenotype and function suggested that augmentation of NE inhibitors could reverse this process and preserve DC function in inflammatory microenvironments. Over-expression of an NE specific inhibitor (elafin) in the lungs of mice (using either replication-deficient adenovirus [Ad] or elafin transgenic [eTg] mice) increased the number (immunofluorescence) and activation status (flow cytometric measurement) of CD11c+/MHCII+ lung DCs in in vivo models. Replication-deficient Ad vectors encoding NE inhibitors, namely elafin, secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) and ?1-protease inhibitor (?1-PI), were also used to infect DCs in vitro, to further study the effect of these NE-inhibitors on DCs in isolation. These findings suggest that purified NE and NE-containing lung inflammatory secretions are powerful down-regulators of DC maturation, resulting in reduced capacity of these potent APCs to efficiently present antigens; whereas, NE inhibitors could boost immunity by increasing the activation state and/or number of DCs.