In contrast to many other stable isotopes of the elements discussed in this book, those of silicon are not strictly speaking "Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes" because they have been studied for more than 60 years. After the pioneering works of Reynolds and Verhoogen (1953) and Allenby (1954), a steady increase in silicon isotope studies of geological materials has led to a substantial corpus of data. These data were compiled by Ding et al. (1996) alongside new measurements that, collectively, included over a thousand samples of rocks, minerals, waters and biological materials. Most of these data were produced using the well established method of gas source mass spectrometry after sample decomposition and silicon purification via fluorination techniques.

As for many non-traditional stable isotopes, silicon isotope research has flourished with the advent of second generation of multicollector plasma source mass spectrometers (MC–ICP–MS). These instruments eliminated the requirement of hazardous gaseous fluorine sample preparation methods while permitting improved analytical precision in both wet plasma (De La Rocha 2002) and in dry plasma (Cardinal et al. 2003). Subsequent analytical developments involving high mass resolution MC–ICP–MS combined with improved silicon purification methods (Georg et al. 2006) made this analytical technique more robust and precise enough to study even the subtle silicon isotope variations produced during high temperature geological processes (Savage et al. 2014).

Silicon is the fourteenth element of the Periodic Table. Its atomic mass was precisely determined to be 28.08553 ± 0.00039 in atomic mass units (a.m.u.) on a pure silicon reference material (NIST SRM–990, Barnes et al. 1975). This 95% confidence limit error includes the overall natural isotopic variation range for 30Si/28Si known by the time, estimated to be about 5‰ from the analysis of biological, meteoritic and terrestrial materials (Tilles 1961). As detailed below, the current database suggests …


The Cambrian Darwin Granite intrudes calc-alkaline rhyolites of the Central Volcanic Complex
on the Darwin Plateau, Western Tasmania. Two distinct granite phases are recognised, an
equigranular granite and a granodiorite. A biotite grade contact aureole is preserved in the
Central Volcanic Complex immediate to the Darwin Granite. Debris flow deposits of
volcaniclastic conglomerates and sandstones, and coherent dacite lavas of the Mid - Late
Cambrian Tyndall Group unconformably overlie the Darwin Granite and Central Volcanic
Complex, and are in turn overlain unconformably by pebble to boulder conglomerates of the
siliciclastic Owen Conglomerate.
Stratigraphic and structural evidence recognise three deformation periods within the Mt Darwin
- South Darwin Peak area: the Mid - Late Cambrian, Late Cambrian - Early Ordovician, and the
Devonian Tabberabberan Orogeny. Mid - Late Cambrian deformation, evidenced by granitic
and foliated volcanic clasts in basal Tyndall Group conglomerate, indicates catastrophic uplift
and subsequent unroofing of the granite prior to Tyndall Group deposition. This unconformity
represents a significant Cambrian hiatus in the southern Mount Read Volcanics. A second
unconformity between the Tyndall Group and the Owen Conglomerate marks cessation of
Tyndall Group deposition with the onset of deposition of large volumes of siliceous detritus.
The two Devonian Tabberabberan-related deformations are characterised by, NW and Ntrending
dextral strike slip faulting and locally intense N-trending cleavage development. The
Devonian structures dominate the region and have obscured the effects of earlier deformations.
Devonian metamorphism to greenschist facies, characterised by chlorite-sericite assemblages,
occurs throughout the area with intense development in shear zones.
Epigenetic, granite-related, vein and disseminated Cu-Au mineralisation occurs within and
adjacent to the Darwin Granite. Sulphur isotope data indicates mixing of Cambrian seawater
with magmatic-hydrothermal fluids in a hydrothermal convection cell generated during
emplacement of the Darwin Granite. Depletion of Na20 and CaO along with K20 and FeO
enrichment have occw;red during pervasive K-feldspar, sericite and chlorite alteration.
Geochemical analyses of the Central Volcanic Complex and the magnetite series Darwin Granite
suggest that these units were emplaced within an extensional basin (back-arc?), at an Andeantype
margin. Granitic magma was generated through partial melting of an upper mantle to
lower crustal source. REE data suggests that the CVC and Darwin Granite are not comagmatic,
and field relationships preclude a genetic relationship between the Tyndall Group
and the Darwin Granite. Elemental discrimination trends illustrates some similarities between
the Darwin Granite and the most evolved phases of the Murchison Granite. However, the
Darwin Granite displays no Eu anomaly in contrast to the negative Eu anomaly and HREE
enrichment in the Murchison Granite, suggesting that the two granite systems are not
genetically related.


Theory suggests that people fear the unknown and no matter how experienced one is, the feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, if not managed well would affect how we view ourselves and how others view us. Hence, it is in human nature to engage in activities to help decipher behaviours that seem contrary to their beliefs and hinder the smooth-flowing of their work and daily activities. Building on these arguments, this research investigates the two types of support that are provided by multinational corporations (MNCs) and host country nationals (HCNs) to the expatriates and their family members whilst on international assignments in Malaysia as antecedents to their adjustment and performance in the host country. To complement the support provided, cultural intelligence (CQ) is investigated to explain the influence of cultural elements in facilitating adjustment and performance of the relocating families, especially to socially integrate into the host country. This research aims to investigate the influence of support and CQ on the adjustment and performance of expatriates in Malaysia. Path analyses are used to test the hypothesised relationships. The findings substantiate the pivotal roles that MNCs and HCNs play in helping the expatriates and their families acclimatise to the host country. This corroborates the norm of reciprocity where assistance or support rendered especially at the times when they were crucially needed would be reciprocated with positive behaviour deemed of equal value. Additionally, CQ is significantly positive in enhancing adjustment to the host country, which highlights the vital role that cultural awareness and knowledge play in enhancing effective intercultural communication and better execution of contextual performance. The research highlights the interdependence of the expatriates? multiple stakeholders (i.e. MNCs, HCNs, family members) in supporting the expatriates whilst on assignments. Finally, the findings reveal that the expatriate families do influence how the locals view the families and would be a great asset in initiating future communication between the expatriates and HCNs. The research contributes to the fields of intercultural adjustment and communication and also has key messages for policy makers.


Introduction Most holiday schemes for children from Northern Ireland originated in the 1970s. The early emphasis was to provide children from 'troubled areas' with an opportunity to spend the school holidays in a more peaceful environment. Early schemes were based in Northern Ireland, but soon programmes began operating to England, the Republic of Ireland and Europe. Images of children caught up in the conflict appeared on television screens throughout the world and the first schemes in the United States appeared in the mid-70s. Emphasis on providing relief from the conflict remains an element in the thinking behind most programmes, although riots and street violence are now less prominent features of 'the troubles'. The aims of participating organisations have evolved over the past twenty years and some have taken on additional emphases, usually reflected in the criteria which are applied in selecting children. Some organisations operate from a church base and could be construed as having missionary or ecumenical aims; others emphasise a desire to work with children from economically or socially deprived backgrounds: some wish to work with children who have been directly affected by violence; most wish to involve both Catholic and Protestant children, some simply as a matter of course, but increasingly because of a conscious desire to contribute to a process of reconciliation between the two main communities in Northern Ireland. The overall picture is somewhat fragmented, reflecting the development of disparate projects, relatively isolated from one another. The projects themselves could not operate without high levels of energy, enthusiasm and voluntary commitment from individuals within Northern Ireland and the destination countries. Grant-aid for such programmes has been available from the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI) since 1975, although not all organisations in the field apply for support. The level of grant-aid has remained fairly constant over the past four years. During 1991-2, the Department of Education provided approximately £140,000 toward 106 programmes involving 3,200 children - over half of these were programmes within Northern Ireland. Grant-aid was provided for 15 programmes which sent a total of 500 children to the United States. The earliest programme in the United States was based in Minnesota and schemes now operate to most States. A considerable number are based on the east coast perhaps because it is there that the concentration of Irish-American communities is greatest. In 1992, the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust facilitated a conference for representatives from over 20 different organisations involved in bringing children to the United States. This provided a rare opportunity for representatives to discuss programme aims and share information about operating procedures and the age-groups involved. Altogether programmes to the United States involve nearly 2,000 children per year (almost 1 per cent of the school going population). Assuming that different children are involved each year, this means that up to 10 per cent of the current generation of schoolchildren have spent time in the United States on one of these programmes. Programmes vary greatly in terms of the number of children involved. The smallest brings just four each year, but most operate within a range of 10-50 children. The largest is an organisation known as Project Children which brings approximately 900 children from Northern Ireland to the United States each summer. This evaluation concerns a small part of the Project Children programme which brought twenty children, aged 10-13 years old, to the Washington D.C. area for six weeks during the summer of 1992.


The announcement of Plan S in September 2018 triggered a wide-ranging debate over how best to accelerate the shift to open access. The Plan's ten principles represent a call for the creation of an intellectual commons, to be brought into being through collective action by funders and managed through regulated market mechanisms. As it gathers both momentum and critics, the coalition must grapple with questions of equity, efficiency and sustainability. The work of Elinor Ostrom has shown that successful management of the commons frequently relies on polycentricity and adaptive governance. The Plan S principles must therefore function as an overarching framework within which local actors retain some autonomy, and should remain open to amendment as the scholarly communication landscape evolves.


The Metaphone is an interactive art piece that transforms biosensor data extracted from participants into colorful, evocative perceivable visual patterns on a big canvas. The biosensors register movement, pulse and skin conductance, the latter two relating to emotional arousal. The machine creates a traditional art form colorful paintings which can be contrasted with the pulsating, living body of the participants and the machine-like movements of the Metaphone. Participants interacting with the machine get their own painting drawn for them a highly involving activity spurring a whole range of questions around bio-sensing technologies. The participants engaging with Metaphone have to agree to share their personal data, thereby expanding the interactive discourse while questioning the extension of the body with the machine and involving participants with public exposition of their inner worlds.


Engaging in leisure activities that are cognitively simulating and enjoyable may be protective against cognitive decline in older adults; yet, few studies have examined this topic. We used two waves of data from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly and ran mixed-effects regression models to examine the relationship between baseline art activity attendance (including attending museum, musical arts, or both) and change in cognitive function (global, episodic memory, working memory, and executive function) among 2,703 older U.S. Chinese adults. We found that compared with older adults who did not attend any art activities, those who reported attending both art activities experienced a slower rate of change in episodic memory (estimate = −0.07; SE = 0.03; p = .01) and executive function (estimate = −0.06; SE = .03; p = .04). Our study findings point to the importance of attending art-based culture events among U.S. Chinese older adults.


Baby corn cultivation can contribute in diversifying cropping pattern. Performance of baby corn variety (VL-78) recommended for north hill zone was evaluated under different fertility levels. The experiment was laid in randomized block design with three replications. Application of farm yard manure (FYM) at 6 T/ha in combination with 150% recommended dose of fertilizer (225N:90P2O5:60 K2O kg/ha) reveled maximum cob yield (without husk) of 20.60 q/ha associated with maximum number of cobs/plot (326). However application of FYM at 6 T/ha in combination with state recommended dose of Nitrogen: Phosphorus: Pottasium (N:P:K) at 90:60:40 kg/ha was statistically at par with the best treatment and gave a cob yield of 19.85 q/ha. Best treatment combination was also associated with maximum Total Soluble Sugars (T.S.S) content (11.20 Brix) in controlled pollinated cobs. Additional application of nutrients did not reveal any significant improvement in morphological characters. Application of 150% of Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF) without FYM reveled increased cob length (10.90 cm), whereas, 125% of RDF resulted in maximum cob girth without husk (18.30 mm). Similar trend of enhanced green fodder yield (26.39 T/ha) was observed with application of 6 T/ha FYM + 150% of RDF). Cultivation of baby corn variety VL-78 under temperate conditions with an application of N:P:K at 90N:60P:40K, kg/ha in combination with 6 T/ha FYM revealed a maximum B:C ratio of 1:1.59.With 703 $/ha as cost of cultivation, the estimated gross returns from the cultivation practice were to the tune of 1825 $ giving a benefit of 1123 $/ha.

 Key words: Yield, nutrition, baby corn.


The architectonic of the Nicomachean Ethics, as that has come down to us, corresponds closely to that of Plato's Republic. That the substance of the Aristotelian ethic, both in its main orientations and in the texture of its argumentation, is Platonic through and through, is of course not in dispute. What appears not to have been noticed is the correspondence between the ways in which the two works are organized. The correspondence is so extensive that it seems hard to doubt that Aristotle (or whoever put the Ethics together) hung his work on Plato's armature. If that is the case, much light should be shed on the later project by divergences between the tactics of the two works at the main points of coincidence. On the assumption that the Republic is a highly structured work and the Ethics is not evidently so, the procedure followed is analogous to that recommended and followed by Socrates in the Republic (368D): confronted by two apparently similar messages, one hard and one easy to read, we should read the easy one first and then look to see if the hard one says the same.


In §2a, the first line of the first paragraph should read: Three endemic species of Lanistes (Ampullariidae) are described from within the lake (figure 2): Lanistes solidus Smith 1877, Lanistes nasutus Mandahl-Barth 1972 and Lanistes nyassanus Dohrn 1865. In §2c, the third sentence of the first paragraph should read: COI and LSU rRNA sequences of Pila ovata (Olivier 1804), Pila conica (Gray 1828) and of seven Lanistes specimens were obtained from NCBI GenBank (see table 1 in the electronic supplementary material). (doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1443)


Radish is an important weed that causes yield reduction in winter crops in southern Brazil. The control chemical of radish is an important and essential step to prevent damage on crops. However the intensive use of ALS-inhibitors herbicides favors the selection resistant biotypes. The selection can influence the adaptive traits of biotypes with physiological changes and growth variables and plant reproduction. The objective of the study was compare the fitness costs of susceptible and resistant radish biotypes to ALS-inhibitors herbicides. The experiment was conducted in greenhouse using completely randomized design with five replications. The treatments were arranged in factorial arrangement corresponding to susceptible and resistant biotypes (B1 and B4) and nine sampling times (14, 28, 42, 56, 70, 84, 98, 112 and 126 days after emergency), respectively. The variables evaluated were plant height, shoot dry matter, root dry matter, total dry matter, leaf area, growth rate, relative growth rate, leaf area ratio, number of siliques and seeds produced per plant. The results showed that the resistant biotype (B4) had no fitness costs when compared to the susceptible biotype (B1).


The primary purpose of land reform in South Africa is to redistribute agricultural and other land in order to address the racially skewed pattern of landholding and promote development. Slow progress in land reform over the past decade underscores the urgency of finding ways to accelerate the process. The state has adopted a market-assisted approach to redistribution. This means that land is usually bought at full market price. In addition, substantial funding is needed for the implementation of the programme and for post-settlement support to beneficiaries. The budget allocated to land reform is therefore of central importance to the programme. This publication surveys trends in the land reform budget over the past decade, with particular emphasis on the redistribution programme.


ABSTRACT Little is known about the perspectives of health-care workers when it comes to prolonging their working lives. This exploratory paper focuses on physiotherapists and aims to offer new insights into the underlying processes that may influence perceptions of ageing and how they impact on motivation to work longer. Data gathering took the form of focus groups with 43 National Health Service physiotherapists. A thematic analysis was used to characterise and articulate key concepts and meanings. The analysis applied interpretive techniques. The six headline themes to emerge were: worry over physical capability and ability to cope; the need to maintain a professional image; work, retirement and exit norms; beliefs about ageing; extrinsic job demands; organisational support – line management; and organisational support – career progression. The key findings suggest that the current unchanging context of high job demands is very salient, consequently resulting in negative and pessimistic feelings about capabilities when it comes to being an older worker and having an extended working life.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a tumor associated with poor prognosis, is known to be resistant to radiotherapy and alkylating agents such as temozolomide (TMZ). β-elemene, a monomer found in Chinese traditional herbs extracted from Curcuma wenyujin, is currently being used as an antitumor drug for different types of tumors including GBM. In the present study, we investigated the roles of β-elemene in the radiosensitivity and chemosensitivity of GBM cells. Human GBM cell lines U87-MG, T98G, U251, LN229 and rat C6 cells were treated with β-elemene combined with radiation or TMZ. We used MTT and colony forming assays to evaluate the proliferation and survival of the cells, and the comet assay to observe DNA damage. Expression of proteins was analyzed by immunoblotting. In the present study, we found that β-elemene inhibited the proliferation and survival of different GBM cell lines when combined with radiotherapy or TMZ via inhibition of DNA damage repair. Treatment of GBM cells with β-elemene decreased the phosphorylation of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), AKT and ERK following radiotherapy or chemotherapy. These results revealed that β-elemene could significantly increase the radiosensitivity and chemosensitivity of GBM. β-elemene may be used as a potential drug in combination with the radiotherapy and chemotherapy of GBM.


Visualization of chromosome dynamics allows the investigation of spatiotemporal chromatin organization and its role in gene regulation and other cellular processes. However, current approaches to label multiple genomic loci in live cells have a fundamental limitation in the number of loci that can be labelled and uniquely identified. Here we describe an approach we call "track first and identify later" for multiplexed visualization of chromosome dynamics by combining two techniques: CRISPR labeling and DNA sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (DNA seqFISH). Our approach first labels and tracks chromosomal loci in live cells with the CRISPR system, then barcodes those loci by DNA seqFISH in fixed cells and resolves their identities. We demonstrate our approach by tracking telomere dynamics, identifying 12 unique subtelomeric regions with variable detection efficiencies, and tracking back the telomere dynamics of respective chromosomes in mouse embryonic stem cells.


Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) velocimetry methods were used to study fully developed axially symmetric fluid flow in a model porous medium of cylindrical symmetry with a transverse permeability discontinuity. Spatial mapping of fluid ow resulted in radial velocity profiles. High spatial resolution of these profiles allowed the estimating of the slip in velocities at the boundary with a permeability discontinuity zone in a sample. The profiles were compared to theoretical velocity fields for a fully developed axially symmetric flow in a cylinder derived from the Joseph and Beavers and the Brinkman models. Velocity fields were also computed using pore-scale lattice Boltzmann Modelling (LBM) where the assumption about the boundary could be omitted. Both approaches gave a good agreement between theory and experiment though LBM velocity fields followed experiment more closely. This work shows great promise for MRI velocimetry methods in addressing the boundary behavior of fluids in opaque heterogeneous porous media.


In recent years, the application of ontology has been already toward the diversification under the development of the semantic web technology. The main application of ontology is information retrieval. With the utilization of ontology, we expect to offer more correct information for users. Although, most of the applications of ontology are information retrieval but they lacks of the interaction with users. As the communicated bridge of the users and the machines, ontology should be upgraded while the information changes. Thus it is an important subject to expand ontology with the changing information. So we propose an automation on-line FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) system that has the learning ability. We except that the system can reply answers and extend ontology.


This paper provides a new rationale for Uzawa preferences based on social choice; instead of positing that poor people are more patient because they are poor, it posits that poor people should be more patient if they wish their living standards to catch up with richer people. To provide a setting for this new rationale, the present paper studies the socially optimal choice of living standards over time by social planners for countries that, from low levels of total factor productivity (TFP), experience a gradual catch-up of their TFP level with that of the leader country. In the TFP catch-up scenario, the socially optimal choice of consumption and saving based on time additive preferences leads to no catch-up of living standards. To generate living standard catch-up we propose other-regarding Uzawa preferences, in which the rate of time preference is influenced by the gap in living standards between follower country and leader country. This other-regarding specification is consistent with recent findings emphasized in behavioural economics. The other-regarding Uzawa preferences form is illustrated quantitatively by simulating a model of the world economy.


Larger commercial buildings with scaffolding and western style advertising in English; With a population of 1,686,993 (2013 est.), it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most populous in India. It is a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Tāj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpūr Sikrī, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Agra is included on the Golden Triangle tourist circuit, along with Delhi and Jaipur. Agra has modern industries, but also a very high number of self-employed and traditional craftspeople. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/28/2015)


Efficient and interpretable spatial analysis is crucial in many fields such as geology, sports, and climate science. Tensor latent factor models can describe higher-order correlations for spatial data. However, they are computationally expensive to train and are sensitive to initialization, leading to spatially incoherent, uninterpretable results. We develop a novel Multiresolution Tensor Learning (MRTL) algorithm for efficiently learning interpretable spatial patterns. MRTL initializes the latent factors from an approximate full-rank tensor model for improved interpretability and progressively learns from a coarse resolution to the fine resolution to reduce computation. We also prove the theoretical convergence and computational complexity of MRTL. When applied to two real-world datasets, MRTL demonstrates 4~5x speedup compared to a fixed resolution approach while yielding accurate and interpretable latent factors.


Conventional wisdom concerning the causes of the Financial Crisis posits that insufficient disclosure concerning firms' exposure to complex credit derivatives played a key role in creating the uncertainty that plagued the financial sector in the fall of 2008. To help avert future financial crises, regulatory proposals aimed at containing systemic risk have accordingly focused on enhanced derivative disclosures as a critical reform measure. A central challenge facing these proposals, however, has been understanding whether enhanced derivative disclosures can have any meaningful effect given the complexity of credit derivative transactions.This Article provides an empirical examination of the effect of enhanced derivative disclosures by examining the disclosure experience of the monoline insurance industry in 2008. Like AIG Financial Products, monoline insurance companies wrote billions of dollars of credit default swaps on multi-sector CDOs tied to residential home mortgages, but unlike AIG, their unique status as financial guarantee companies subjected them to considerable disclosure obligations concerning their individual credit derivative exposures. As a result, the experience of the monoline industry during the Financial Crisis provides an ideal setting with which to test the efficacy of reforms aimed at promoting more elaborate derivative disclosures.Overall, the results of this study indicate that investors in monoline insurers showed little evidence of using a firm's derivative disclosures to efficiently resolve uncertainty about a monoline's exposure to credit risk. In particular, analysis of the abnormal returns to Ambac Financial (one of the largest monoline insurers) surrounding a series of significant, multi-notch rating downgrades of its insured CDOs reveals no significant stock price reactions until Ambac itself announced the effect of these downgrades in its quarterly earnings announcements. Similar analyses of Ambac's short-selling data and changes in the cost of insuring Ambac debt securities against default also confirm the absence of a market reaction following these downgrade announcements. Following a qualitative examination of how investors process derivative disclosures, the Article concludes that to the extent the complexity of CDOs impeded informational efficiency, it was most likely due to the generally low salience of individual CDOs as well as the logistic (although not necessarily analytic) challenge of processing a CDO's disclosures. Reform efforts aimed at enhancing derivative disclosures should accordingly focus on mechanisms to promote the rapid collection and compilation of disclosed information as well as the psychological processes by which information obtains salience.


We show that dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) can be used to enhance NMR signals of 13C and 29Si nuclei located in mesoporous organic/inorganic hybrid materials, at several hundreds of nanometers from stable radicals (TOTAPOL) trapped in the surrounding frozen disordered water. The approach is demonstrated using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), functionalized with 3-(N-phenylureido)propyl (PUP) groups, filled with the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The DNP-enhanced proton magnetization is transported into the mesopores via 1H–1H spin diffusion and transferred to rare spins by cross-polarization, yielding signal enhancements eon/off of around 8. When the CTAB molecules are extracted, so that the radicals can enter the mesopores, the enhancements increase to eon/off ≈ 30 for both nuclei. A quantitative analysis of the signal enhancements in MSN with and without surfactant is based on a one-dimensional proton spin diffusion model. The effect of solvent deuteration is also investigated.


In this article, we address the question of why computing students choose to learn computing topics on their own. A better understanding of why some students choose to learn on their own may help us to motivate other students to develop this important skill. In addition, it may help in curriculum design; if we need to leave some topics out of our expanding curriculum, a good choice might be those topics that students readily learn on their own. Based on a thematic analysis of 17 semistructured interviews, we found that computing students' motivations for self-directed learning fall into four general themes: projects, social and peer interactions, joy of learning, and fear. Under these, we describe several more specific subthemes, illustrated in the words of the students. The project-related and social motivations are quite prominent. Although these motivations appear in the literature, they received greater emphasis from our interviewees. Perhaps most characteristic of computing is the motivation to learn to complete some project, both projects done for fun and projects required for school or work.


A country's official memory of a conflict in which it is involved is of great importance. One of the main presenters of that memory is the Ministry of Education, through the history and civics textbooks it approves for use in its educational system. This article explores for the first time the content of Israeli textbooks approved from 1959 through 2004 regarding one of the main events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—the 1948 Palestinian exodus. Did the textbooks present a Zionist narrative regarding the causes of the exodus (willing flight of the Palestinians), or a critical narrative (willing flight accompanied with expulsion)? Methodologically, the article uses content analysis of all the relevant textbooks, as well as interviews with senior staff at the Ministry and other appropriate figures. The research found that this official memory was dramatically transformed from being initially totally Zionist to eventually being totally critical, since 2000. Other aspects of this memory are also explored such as the reasons behind the presentation of these narratives, the external and self-censorship mechanisms that mediate the impact of these reasons, the manifestation and consequences of these mechanisms, as well as the modus operandi of the Ministry.


We report on the first successful operation of a scanning force microscope using microfabricated capacitive force sensors. The sensors, which are made from single crystal silicon on insulator wafers, consist of a cantilever spring with integrated tip at the free end and an electrically insulated counter electrode. Dynamic force gradient sensing is the preferred operating mode. Here, tip–sample interactions are detected by letting the sensor act as a resonator in a phase controlled oscillator setup and measuring corresponding shifts of the oscillation frequency. Experiments were performed in vacuum using a standard tunneling microscope. A Cr grating on a quartz substrate served as the test sample. Topographic images showing details on a 10 nm scale were obtained operating at a constant force gradient of the order of 0.01 N/m. In addition, critical design parameters are discussed based on an analysis of the electromechanical properties of the sensors.


Simple Summary Vital for informing debates about the ways we interact with wild animals and their associated habitats is knowledge of their welfare status. To date, scientific assessments of the welfare of free-roaming wild animals during their normal day-to-day lives are not available, in part because the required methodology had not been developed. Accordingly, we have devised, and here describe, a ten-stage protocol for systematically and scientifically assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals, using free-roaming horses as an example. Applying this ten-stage protocol will enable biologists to scientifically assess the welfare of wild animals and should lead to significant advances in the field of wild animal welfare. Abstract Knowledge of the welfare status of wild animals is vital for informing debates about the ways in which we interact with wild animals and their habitats. Currently, there is no published information about how to scientifically assess the welfare of free-roaming wild animals during their normal day-to-day lives. Using free-roaming horses as an example, we describe a ten-stage protocol for systematically and scientifically assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals. The protocol starts by emphasising the importance of readers having an understanding of animal welfare in a conservation context and also of the Five Domains Model for assessing welfare. It goes on to detail what species-specific information is required to assess welfare, how to identify measurable and observable indicators of animals' physical states and how to identify which individuals are being assessed. Further, it addresses how to select appropriate methods for measuring/observing physical indicators of welfare, the scientific validation of these indicators and then the grading of animals' welfare states, along with assigning a confidence score. Finally, grading future welfare risks and how these can guide management decisions is discussed. Applying this ten-stage protocol will enable biologists to scientifically assess the welfare of wild animals and should lead to significant advances in the field of wild animal welfare.


Background: As obesity increases, the frequency of obstructive sleep apnea and obesity hypoventilation syndrome increases also. However, obesity hypoventilation syndrome frequency is not known, as capnography and arterial blood gas analysis are not routinely performed in sleep laboratories. Aims: To investigate the frequency and predictors of obesity hypoventilation syndrome in obese subjects. Study Design: Retrospective clinical study. Methods: Obese subjects who had arterial blood gas analysis admitted to the sleep laboratory and polysomnography were retrospectively analyzed. Subjects with restrictive (except obesity) and obstructive pulmonary pathologies were excluded. Demographics, Epworth-Sleepiness-Scale scores, polysomnographic data, arterial blood gas analysis, and spirometric measurements were recorded. Results: Of the 419 subjects, 45.1% had obesity hypoventilation syndrome. Apnea hypopnea index (p<0.001), oxygen desaturation index (p<0.001) and sleep time with SpO2<90% (p<0.001) were statistically higher in subjects with obesity hypoventilation syndrome compared to subjects with eucapnic obstructive sleep apnea. The nocturnal mean SpO2 (p<0.001) and lowest SpO2 (p<0.001) were also statistically lower in subjects with obesity hypoventilation syndrome. Logistic regression analysis showed that the lowest SpO2, oxygen desaturation index, apnea hypopnea index and sleep time with SpO2 <90% were related factors for obesity hypoventilation syndrome. Conclusion: Obesity hypoventilation syndrome should be considered when oxygen desaturation index, apnea hypopnea index and sleep time with SpO2 <90% are high.


In this study we assessed the impacts of forest fragmentation on the Amazon landscape using remote sensing techniques. Landscape disturbance, obtained for an area of approximately 3.5 × 106 km2 through simple spatial metrics (i.e. number of fragments, mean fragment area and border size) and principal component transformation were then compared to the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) seasonal responses. As expected, higher disturbance values prevail in the southern border of the Amazon, near the intensively converted deforestation arc, and close to the major roads. NDVI seasonal responses more closely follow human-induced patterns, i.e. forest remnants from areas more intensively converted were associated with higher NDVI seasonal values. The significant correlation between NDVI seasonal responses and landscape disturbances were corroborated through analysis of geographically weighted regression (GWR) parameters and predictions. On the other hand, EVI seasonal responses were more complex with significant variations found over intact, less fragmented forest patches, thus restricting its utility to assess landscape disturbance. Although further research is needed, our results suggest that the degree of fragmentation of the forest remnants can be remotely sensed with MODIS vegetation indices. Thus, it may become possible to upscale field-based data on overall canopy condition and fragmentation status for basin-wide extrapolations.


Abstract Achimenes is a genus in the Gesneriaceae, subfamily Gesnerioideae, tribe Gloxinieae that shows remarkable variation in floral form and possibly floral pollination syndrome. This includes flowers that are salverform, tubular, or infundibuliform, white, yellow, pink, purple, and red, and with or without corolla spurs. Previous classifications of Achimenes have relied heavily on floral form as a measure of relationship. This study explores phylogenetic relationships in Achimenes and addresses questions of proper supraspecific classification, evolution of floral forms and pollination syndromes, the origins of floral spurs, chromosome evolution, and biogeographic patterns using nrDNA ITS and cpDNA trnL-F spacer sequences analyzed using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methodologies. Phylogenetic hypotheses support the non-monophyly of most of the supraspecific classification units currently recognized in Achimenes, multiple origins of each of the pollination syndromes and the major morphological characteristics used to define these syndromes, multiple origins of floral spurs, multiple tetraploid events, and sympatric distributions of many closely related species.


Porous media are broadly found in nature and their study is of high relevance in our present lives. In geosciences porous media research is fundamental in applications to aquifers, mineral mines, contaminant transport, soil remediation, waste storage, oil recovery and geothermal energy deposits. Despite their importance, there is as yet no complete understanding of the physical processes involved in fluid flow and transport. This fact can be attributed to the complexity of the phenomena which include multicomponent fluids, multiphasic flow and rock-fluid interactions. Since its formulation in 1856, Darcys law has been generalized to describe multi-phase compressible fluid flow through anisotropic and heterogeneous porous and fractured rocks. Due to the scarcity of information, a high degree of uncertainty on the porous medium properties is commonly present. Contributions to the knowledge of modeling flow and transport, as well as to the characterization of porous media at field scale are of great relevance. This book addresses several of these issues, treated with a variety of methodologies grouped into four parts: I Fundamental conceptsII Flow and transportIII Statistical and stochastic characterizationIV Waves The problems analyzed in this book cover diverse length scales that range from small rock samples to field-size porous formations. They belong to the most active areas of research in porous media with applications in geosciences developed by diverse authors. This book was written for a broad audience with a prior and basic knowledge of porous media. The book is addressed to a wide readership, and it will be useful not only as an authoritative textbook for undergraduate and graduate students but also as a reference source for professionals including geoscientists, hydrogeologists, geophysicists, engineers, applied mathematicians and others working on porous media.


Conrad's fiction is characterized by an enduring recourse to the performing arts for metaphor, allegory, symbol, and subject matter; however, this aspect of Conrad's non-dramatic works has only recently begun to come into its own among literary critics. In response to this seminal moment, Joseph Conrad and the Performing Arts offers an exciting, interdisciplinary forum for one of the most interesting and nascent areas of Conrad studies. Adopting a variety of theoretical approaches, the contributors examine major and neglected works within the context of the performing arts: cultural performance in Conrad's Malay fiction; Conrad's use and parody of popular traditions such as melodrama, Grand-Guignol, and commedia dell'arte; Conrad's engagement with the visual culture of early cinema; Conrad's interest in the motifs of shadowgraphy (shadow plays); Conrad's relationship to Shakespeare; and the enduring influence of opera on his work. Taken together, the essays provide, through solid scholarship and richly provocative speculation, new insight into Conrad's oeuvre, and invite future dialogue in the burgeoning field of Conrad and the performing arts.


To strike or not to strike? The views of a number of black educators.

South African educators' right to strike is protected by the Labour Relations Act and the Bill of Rights. Educators' right to strike is not an absolute right, as exercising this right may lead to violation of the rights of learners. According to education stakeholders who are critical of educators' participating in strikes or threatening to strike, educators should regard their responsibility towards learners as of greater importance than their own interests. First of all a literature review - against the background of the above statement of the problem - of the reasons for, goals and functions of strikes in general is provided, as well as of educator strikes. Secondly I report on an empirical investigation of the views of a group of black educators on their right to strike, as well as the reasons why they have participated in strikes or not. South African Journal of Education Vol.23(4) 2003: 264-271


Chronic viral hepatitis B and C infections are highly prevalent and create a substantial burden to healthcare systems globally. These two chronic infections are the cause of significant global morbidity and mortality with approximately 1 million annual deaths attributable to them and their sequelae. Children are vulnerable to both infections. The availability of new drugs and new therapeutic strategies are increasing the complexity and individualizing the management of children with viral hepatitis. Therefore, it is extremely important to educate and advise pediatricians concerning the new lines of treatment. More than 350 million persons worldwide are infected with HBV. Although its incidence has dramatically declined since the implementation of universal immunization programs in many countries, scores of children are still being infected each year. Despite its benign course, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) during childhood and adolescence, 3-5% and 0.01-0.03% of chronic carriers develop cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), respectively, before adulthood. Treatment of CHB in childhood has been hampered by the long delay in licensing new drugs for pediatric use. Safe and effective antiviral therapies are available in adults, but few are labeled for use in children, and an accurate selection of whom to treat and the identification of the right timing for treatment are needed to optimize response and reduce the risk of antiviral resistance. Although several guidelines on the management of adult patients with CHB have been published by major international societies, the clinical approach to infected children is still evolving, and is mostly based on the expert opinions. Standard interferon (IFN)-α is still the treatment of choice for most children with HBV infection. Licensing of highly-effective nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NA) for older children and adolescents has opened new possibilities of treatment. However, the risk of emergence of drug resistant strains is a public health problem and a major long-term issue for young patients. Before starting a child on NAs, the risks of treatment should be carefully weighed against the possible benefits. As the management of special patient populations is problematic and not evidence-based, their referral to highly specialized centers is strongly recommended. The World Health Organization estimates that over 250 million people worldwide are chronically infected with HCV. In countries where adults have a high prevalence of HCV infection, an increased prevalence in children can also be expected. In Egypt, for example, approximately 1-2% of children are infected. The child infected with HCV must be over 2 years old in order to be treated by a licensed drug. The standard of care therapy is pegylated IFN-α plus ribavirin with success rates as similar in adults. The first-wave, first-generation oral direct acting anti-virals (DAAs) telaprevir and boceprevir were licensed by the FDA for use in HCV genotype 1 infection in adults in 2011. Telaprevir and boceprevir must be coadministered with pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin. Sofosbuvir, the second-wave DAA has been approved in adults in January 2014 and other DAAs are on the way of approval soon in adults. Some DAAs are being tested for children and the results are eagerly awaited.


Prokineticins 1 and 2 (PK1 and PK2) have been recently identified from humans and other mammals and play multiple functional roles. PK proteins are ligands for two G protein-coupled receptors, PK receptor 1 (PKR1) and PK receptor 2 (PKR2). Here, we report the molecular cloning and pharmacological characterization of an alternatively spliced product of the PK2 gene encoding 21 additional amino acids compared with PK2, designated PK2L (for PK2 long form). PK2L mRNA is broadly expressed, as is PK2. However, PK2L mRNA expression is lower in brain, undetectable in kidney, and much higher in lung and spleen than that of PK2. We expressed PK2L in mammalian cells and characterized the resulting peptide in comparison with PK1 and PK2. Biochemical characterization indicates that secreted PK2L protein is processed into a smaller peptide by proteolytic cleavage. We designate this smaller form of peptide as PK2beta. Coexpression of furin with PK2L significantly increased the PK2beta processing efficiency. Functional studies showed that PK1, PK2, and PK2beta stimulate intracellular Ca(2+) responses in PKR1-expressing cells with similar potencies. However, the PK2beta stimulus of Ca(2+) responses in PKR2-expressing cells is at least 10-fold less potent than that of PK1 or PK2. Differences in receptor selectivity combined with differential tissue expression patterns suggest PK2 and PK2beta might have different functions in vivo. PKRs have been reported to couple to G(q) and G(i) proteins. In this report, we show that PKs not only stimulate Ca(2+) mobilization but also induce cAMP accumulation in PKR-expressing cells.


We demonstrate one of the first experiments of optical transmission based on mode-division multiplexing over a few-mode optical fiber. The mode multiplexer and demultiplexer are based on a programmable liquid crystal on silicon panel. Using this system, we transmit two 100 Gb/s polarization division multiplexed quaternary phase-shift keying data streams modulated on two different modes of the prototype few-mode fiber. At the receiver, a set of optical coherent detectors with DSP including multiple-input multiple-output algorithms recover the signal and permit to mitigate the crosstalk stemming from imperfect mode conversion.


Vapor compression cycles are the primary method by which refrigeration and air-conditioning systems operate, and thus constitute a significant portion of commercial and residential building energy consumption.

This thesis presents a data-driven approach to find the optimal operating conditions of a multi-evaporator system in order to minimize the energy consumption while meeting operational requirements such as constant cooling or constant evaporator outlet temperature. The experimental system used for controller evaluation is a custom built small-scale water chiller with three evaporators; each evaporator services a separate body of water, referred to as a cooling zone. The three evaporators are connected to a single condenser and variable speed compressor, and feature variable water flow and electronic expansion valves. The control problem lies in development of a control architecture that will minimize the energy consumed by the system without prior information about the system in the form of performance maps, or complex mathematical models.

The control architecture explored in this thesis relies on the data collected by sensors alone to formulate a function for the power consumption of the system in terms of controlled variables, namely, condenser and evaporator pressures, using recursive least squares estimation. This cost function is then minimized to attain optimal set points for the pressures which are fed to local controllers.


The voltage-gated sodium-channel type IX alpha subunit, known as Na(v)1.7 and encoded by the gene SCN9A, is located in peripheral neurons and plays an important role in action potential production in these cells. Recent genetic studies have identified Na(v)1.7 dysfunction in three different human pain disorders. Gain-of-function missense mutations in Na(v)1.7 have been shown to cause primary erythermalgia and paroxysmal extreme pain disorder, while nonsense mutations in Na(v)1.7 result in loss of Na(v)1.7 function and a condition known as channelopathy-associated insensitivity to pain, a rare disorder in which affected individuals are unable to feel physical pain. This review highlights these recent developments and discusses the critical role of Na(v)1.7 in pain sensation in humans.


The recent literature provides evidence that epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation and histone modification are crucial to gene transcription linked to synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain - notably in the hippocampus - and memory formation. We measured global histone acetylation levels in the rat hippocampus at an early stage of spatial or fear memory formation. We found that H3, H4 and H2B underwent differential acetylation at specific sites depending on whether rats had been exposed to the context of a task without having to learn or had to learn about a place or fear therein: H3K9K14 acetylation was mostly responsive to any experimental conditions compared to naive animals, whereas H2B N-terminus and H4K12 acetylations were mostly associated with memory for either spatial or fear learning. Altogether, these data suggest that behavior/experience-dependent changes differently regulate specific acetylation modifications of histones in the hippocampus, depending on whether a memory trace is established or not: tagging of H3K9K14 could be associated with perception/processing of testing-related manipulations and context, thereby enhancing chromatin accessibility, while tagging of H2B N-terminus tail and H4K12 could be more closely associated with the formation of memories requiring an engagement of the hippocampus.


The Holy Land has been an enduring magnet for visitors seeking to retrace the footsteps of biblical prophets, kings and saints and to glimpse the setting of events recorded in the Scriptures. This book offers a selection of over 350 early photographs, paintings, and drawings of the length and breadth of the Holy Land from the rich repository of images in the archives of the Palestine Exploration Fund. As these images were produced before modern development impacted on these landscapes they are an invaluable resource. The pictures are accompanied by 7 maps and plans showing the locations depicted and a commentary describing the biblical context, informed by up-to-date scholarship. The book is divided into five chapters; an introduction which includes a brief account of pilgrimage to the Holy Land through the ages, followed by a series of geographical 'tours' through Galilee, Samaria, and Judea and Philistia, before culminating with a focus on the two main sites of interest for the traveller: Bethlehem and Jerusalem. While often very beautiful in their own right, the pictures also reflect the interest and sensibilities of the photographers and those who collected them, and capture the opposing undercurrents of scientific enquiry and piety characteristic of 19th Century European society. In the case of the photographers engaged by the PEF, a striving for objectivity is strikingly evident in their work.


The objective of this research was to examine the capacity of sectors to generate income of the economy and the local and inter-regional impacts. For this purpose we built na input-output system with four regions, Parana, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and the Rest of Brazil. The main findings are that there are key sectors common to regions with low spillover effect all belonging to the trade and services. There is greater economic interaction between the southern states with the Rest of the country than inside South Region and the spillover effect varies greatly for the sectors and regions, but we can generalize the results considering that the productive chains of Petroleum refining, Automotive Industry, Agribusiness (Food & Beverage and Tobacco Products) and Clothing and accessories are responsible for most of the inter-regional flows of goods and services for intermediate consumption.


This keynote presentation explores ideas of a Sonic Public, proposing that sounds invisible mobility makes accessible, thinkabe and sensable, different and pluralized notions of publicness. The ephemeral and passing nature of sound, its unreliable and uncontrollable spirit, does not deform itself into the functional architecture of place and civic purpose but proposes formless and invisible alternatives. It creates the public as sonic possible worlds, plural and colliding, performing the city in a playful antagonism of private sonic life-worlds, that meet in passing, at moments of coincidence, to create not one appreciable entirety but fragmented possibilities. The sonic city is a possible timespace environment, whose actuality is not a matter of truth and untruth, but of sonic fictions: personal narrations that realize the invisible and conjure up the inaudible, rather than settle on what can be seen collectively.

Sound Art as Public Art does neither insert itself nor superimpose itself onto this timespace environment but participates in its production. Thus it makes apparent the frames, edges and boundaries of what is considered the actual place, and implodes the singularity of that perception. Its ethics lies at once within the profession of art: to produce a good work of art; as well as in a participatory production of place: to make us listen and see the invisible dynamic of the world in whose mobile depth the visibility of the city, its architectural, political and social actuality, is produced from sonic possibilities, whose audibility and inaudibility in turn are the parameters of what that city is and what it will become.

This invisible Public Art reminds us that public is not a visual concept, a permanent institution and infrastructure, but a participatory and transitory practice. It leads us back to the production rather than the perception of publicness and opens the monumental, permanent and fixed notion of civic place to the sonic possibility of civic performance, in whose openness we as listeners open ourselves to reach and access our own possibilities.

In collaboration with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.


Stinson, Kathy. The Man with the Violin . lllus. Dusan Petricic. Toronto: Annick Press, 2013. Print. Kathy Stinson, author of more than 25 previous books for young people, has written a lovely book featuring illustrations by award winning artist Dusan Petricic. This book tells the story of Dylan, a young boy walking through a busy Washington, D.C. Metro station with his mother. Dylan hears a man playing beautiful music on his violin, but his mother refuses to stop to listen and they move on and board the train home. Without giving away the ending, readers of this review will be pleased to know that this book is based on a true story, and features a postscript by a notable classical musician. Stinson's engaging writing style pairs well with Petricic's creative use of colour to depict the musical sounds of the violin. The author and illustrator bring music to life in this touching book that reminds us of the curious nature of children, and their ability to notice things that adults ignore. The Man with the Violin is recommended for readers from 5-8 years of age, but it would also be great for story time with younger children as well.  Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sean Luyk Sean is the Music Librarian for the Rutherford Humanities and Social Sciences Library at the University of Alberta. Sean holds an MA in Music Criticism and B.Mus from McMaster University, as well as an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario.


This paper proposes an agenda for the study of the determinants and the processes by which strong policymaking institutions emerge, with emphasis on the most central democratic institution: the legislature. It reviews extant theories of institutionalization, and proposes further ways of specifying and studying the concept. It emphasizes the notion that investments and beliefs are the driving force of Congress institutionalization and of its relevance in the policymaking process. Making use of several indicators of Congress institutionalization, it provides evidence suggesting that Congress institutionalization has an impact on the qualities of public policies and on economic and social development outcomes. It also explores some 'constitutional' factors that may promote Congress institutionalization. Given that a central theoretical argument of this paper is that the institutionalization of legislatures is a process that includes various self-reinforcing dynamics, the paper also undertakes the preliminary steps in developing a comparative case study of the evolution of Congress institutionalization in two Latin American countries: Argentina and Chile.


Subjectivity in natural language refers to aspects of language used to express opinions, evaluations, and speculations. There are numerous natural language processing applications for which subjectivity analysis is relevant, including information extraction and text categorization. The goal of this work is learning subjective language from corpora. Clues of subjectivity are generated and tested, including low-frequency words, collocations, and adjectives and verbs identified using distributional similarity. The features are also examined working together in concert. The features, generated from different data sets using different procedures, exhibit consistency in performance in that they all do better and worse on the same data sets. In addition, this article shows that the density of subjectivity clues in the surrounding context strongly affects how likely it is that a word is subjective, and it provides the results of an annotation study assessing the subjectivity of sentences with high-density features. Finally, the clues are used to perform opinion piece recognition (a type of text categorization and genre detection) to demonstrate the utility of the knowledge acquired in this article.


In 1903, despite the vehement objections of his parents, Albert Einstein married Mileva Maric, the companion, colleague, and confidante whose influence on his most creative years has given rise to much speculation. Beginning in 1897, after Einstein and Maric met as students at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic, and ending shortly after their marriage, these fifty-four love letters offer a rare glimpse into Einstein's relationship with his first wife while shedding light on his intellectual development in the period before the annus mirabilis of 1905. Unlike the picture of Einstein the lone, isolated thinker of Princeton, he appears here both as the burgeoning enfant terrible of science and as an amorous young man beset, along with his fiance, by financial and personal struggles--among them the illegitimate birth of their daughter, whose existence is known only by these letters. Describing his conflicts with professors and other scientists, his arguments with his mother over Maric, and his difficulty obtaining an academic position after graduation, the letters enable us to reconstruct the youthful Einstein with an unprecedented immediacy. His love for Maric, whom he describes as "a creature who is my equal, and who is as strong and independent as I am," brings forth his serious as well as playful, often theatrical nature. After their marriage, however, Maric becomes less his intellectual companion, and, failing to acquire a teaching certificate, she subordinates her professional goals to his. In the final letters Einstein has obtained a position at the Swiss Patent Office and mentions their daughter one last time to his wife in Hungary, where she is assumed to have placed the girl in the care of relatives. Informative, entertaining, and often very moving, this collection of letters captures for scientists and general readers alike a little known yet crucial period in Einstein's life.


When designing a Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture, designers must consider various criteria such as bandwidth, performance, energy consumption, cost, re-usability, and fault tolerance. In most of the design efforts, it is very difficult to meet all these interacting constraints and objectives at the same time. Some of these parameters can be optimised and met easily by regular NoC topologies due to their re-usability and fault-tolerance capabilities. On the other hand, other parameters such as energy consumption, performance, and chip area can be better optimised in irregular NoC topologies. In this work, the authors present a novel two-step method that combines the advantages of regular and irregular NoC topologies. In the first step, the authors' method generates an energy and area optimised irregular topology for the given application by using a genetic algorithm. The generated topology uses the least amount of routers and links to minimise the area and energy; thus, it offers only one routing path between communicating nodes. Therefore, it does not fault tolerant. In the second step, their method maps the generated irregular topology to a reconfigurable mesh topology to make it fault tolerant. The detailed simulation results show the superiority of the proposed method over the existing work on several multimedia benchmarks.


A central problem in the study of autonomous cooperating systems is that of how to establish mechanisms for controlling the interactions between di erent parts (which are called agents) of the system. One way to integrate such mechanisms into a multi-agent system is to exploit the technique of cooperation or negotiation protocols. In a protocol we distinguish to essential layers: the communication layer specifying the possible ow of messages between di erent agents, and the decision layer, which controls the selection of a message (speech-act) that the agent sends in a speci c situation. In this report we rst give a short introduction of our agent model InteRRap which provides the basis for the modeling of the di erent scenarios considered in the AKA-Mod project at the DFKI. The techniques we will discuss in the following are located in the plan based component and in the cooperation component of this model. The domain of application is the MARS scenario (Modeling a MultiAgent Scenario for Shipping Companies) which implements a group of shipping companies whose goal it is to deliver a set of dynamically given orders, satisfying a set of given time and/or cost constraints. The complexity of the orders may exceed the capacities of a single company. Therefore, cooperation between companies is required in order to achieve the goal in a satisfactory way. This domain is of considerable interest for studies with economical background as well as for research projects. We give a short summary of results from economical studies that are concerned with the real-world situation in Germany in the transportation domain. They show the need for the development of new techniques from the eld of computer science to tackle the problems therein. Then, an overview on related research is presented. Two approaches are discussed in more detail: the rst one being based on ORtechniques and a second one being based on the concept of partial intelligent agents attempting to integrate techniques from OR and DAI. Both approaches are concerned with the situation in a single company. However, our purpose to handle the case of distributed shipping companies requires additional mechanisms, e.g. to cope with the problems of task allocation and task decomposition in multi-agent systems. Mechanisms for distributed task decomposition and task allocation processes in multi-agent systems belong to the core of our studies. Therefore, we will rst discuss techniques for these problems in a general setting and then describe their implementations in the MARS system. In this description, particular emphasis is placed on the cooperation within a shipping company. Here, one company agent has to allocate a set of orders its truck agents. The truck agents support the company agents by giving cost estimations based on their route planning facility. Thus, this procedure provides the basis for the decisions of the company agents and is discussed in very detail. Finally, we present results from a series of benchmark tests. The test sets have also been run with OR-based implementations and thus, give us the opportunity to compare our implementation against these approaches.


Methods for limiting the impact of communication delays on the logical behavior of distributed systems are considered. It is assumed that a distributed system is described in terms of a number of interconnected modules, and each module is described in terms of its possible states and the possible state transitions. Transitions may be initiated spontaneously by a module and may give rise to output messages, which will be received, after some possible time delay, by another module as an input. Otherwise, transitions may be initiated by received input. If the system has the property called regularity, its hehavior is logically independent of the communication delays. A simple condition for regularity is given. This condition is the basis for the iniplementation of counter-based synchronization conditions in a distributed environment. Weaker forms of regularity, which make abstraction of internal operations invisible from the point of view of an outside observer, are also considered. The application of these concepts to the design of module interfaces involving "collisions" and to communication protocols including timeouts is discussed in some detail


Kinetic measurements have been made on the gas-phase reaction N2O4 + M .dblharw. 2NO2 + M by applying the temp.-jump relaxation method. Equil. mixts. contg. NO2, N2O4, a small quantity of an IR absorber, and an excess of a third-body bath gas, have been subjected to a short CO2 laser pulse. The induced temp. jump, of the order of 1 K, displaces the equil. towards NO2 formation. After the fast heating of the mixt., the time dependence of the NO2 and N2O4 concns. has been monitored at 420 and 250 nm, resp. For small perturbations, the relaxation to the new equil. concns. at the higher temp. follows first-order kinetics, and the thermal rate const. can be deduced from the measured relaxation rate const. Measurements have been made at 255 K at 0.3-200 bars He, which corresponds to the falloff range for this reaction. The high- and low-pressure limiting rate consts., krec,... = (7.0 +- 0.7) * 1011 cm3 mol-1 s-1 and krec,0/[He] = (2.1 +- 0.2) * 1014 cm3 mol-1 s-1, resp., extrapolated from the exptl. data at 255 K, were in agreement with those calcd. with a simplified statistic adiabatic channel model. The temp. dependence of the high- and low-pressure recombination rate const., detd. at 255-273 K, is given by the relations krec,... = (2.2 +- 0.2) * 106 * T(2.3+-0.2) cm3 mol-1 s-1 and krec,0/[He] = (7.5 +- 0.8) * 1035 * T(-9.0+-0.9) cm3 mol-1 s-1. The corresponding high- and low-pressure dissocn. rate consts. are kdiss,... = (2.8 +- 0.3) * 1013 * T(1.3+-0.2) exp{-(6790 +- 700)/T} s-1 and kdiss,0/[He] = (9.6 +- 0.9) * 1042T(-10.0+-1.0) * exp{-(6790 +- 700)/T} s-1, resp.The kinetics of the N2O3 + M = NO + NO2 + M reaction was studied over a wide range of pressure by a laser-induced temp. jump relaxation method. Equil. mixts. at 225 K contg. nitrogen dioxide, dinitrogen trioxide, dinitrogen tetroxide, nitric oxide, a small quantity of SiF4 as an IR absorber, and an excess of Ar as a 3rd-body gas collider are rapidly heated by a short pulse of CO2 laser radiation. The induced temp. jump, at 0.5-3 K, displaces the equil. toward NO2 and NO formation. The rate of recombination reaction to the new equil. concns. at higher temp. is monitored by observing spectroscopically the time dependence of the N2O3 concn. in the UV. For small perturbations, simple mathematics relates the measured chem. relaxation time const. to the thermal rate consts. of the system. Exptl. results (obtained in the 0.5-200 bar pressure range of Ar corresponding to the 3rd-order and falloff region of the reaction) were fitted by falloff curves established accordingly to a method developed by Troe. High- and low-pressure limiting rate consts. for the NO + NO2 recombination at 227 K are extrapolated from the exptl. data. These values lie within a factor of 2 of those that may be predicted using a simplified statistic adiabatic channel (SAC) model. The temp. dependence of the recombination rate const., measured exptl. at 227-260 K is reported as well as the calcd. kinetics of dissocn. for N2O3.


There is little research into the understanding, protection and recovery of public trust in health care systems, considering the underlying importance of public trust, not only for the effective functioning of health care systems, but also for society in general. There is no robust conceptual framework of public trust. This poses problems for policy making and public trust measurement. Therefore, research is needed to identify what public trust in the health care system means. This research will not only inform health policy making, but should also allow the development of a public trust measure in the future.
Hence, the aim of this research is to gain deeper understanding of what public trust in health care systems at the macro level is, and to close a theory and conceptual gap. Furthermore, this research aims to determine whether public trust is measurable.
To fulfil the research aim, three qualitative case studies of the English NHS were conducted: an analysis of online news with readership comments concerning care.data; a secondary analysis of interviews about participants' experiences and perceptions of biobanks in general; and an analysis of public focus groups about perceptions of the 100.000 Genomes Project in particular. Further, existing measurement instruments and their conceptual frameworks, as well as general trust theory, were reviewed. Based on these elements, public trust theory and a conceptual framework of public trust were developed.
The findings suggest that public trust grows in the public sphere from open public discourse and as a result legitimises the actions of the health care system. Public trust builds on information equally relating to past experiences, present perceptions and future expectations. Public trust is established in anticipation of a net benefit for the public as well as the system. With respect to the measurability of public trust, this research suggests that public trust can be measured.


Engaging various sociological perspectives, concepts, and literature, this paper deals with my experiences with racism and racial prejudice ever since I moved to U.S. at the age of nine. The points that are addressed deal with my experience living in Russia as a member of the white majority without any exposure to other races or ethnicities, and my experiences with race and racialization at the schools and various social circles I entered in the U.S. Another point that is discussed in depth is my family's struggle with welfare and the struggles that that system presents. The essay concludes by exploring my experience with racism in the workplace as well as in the real estate market. The essay finishes by reflecting back on the journey that my family took and where we have ended up because of it.


In this paper, we assess the past, present, and future of mobile CPU design. We study how mobile CPU designs trends have impacted the end-user, hardware design, and the holistic mobile device. We analyze the evolution often cutting-edge mobile CPU designs released over the past seven years. Specifically, we report measured performance, power, energy and user satisfaction trends across mobile CPU generations. A key contribution of our work is that we contextualize the mobile CPU's evolution in terms of user satisfaction, which has largely been absent from prior mobile hardware studies. To bridge the gap between mobile CPU design and user satisfaction, we construct and conduct a novel crowdsourcing study that spans over 25,000 survey participants using the Amazon Mechanical Turk service. Our methodology allows us to identify what mobile CPU design techniques provide the most benefit to the end-user's quality of user experience. Our results quantitatively demonstrate that CPUs play a crucial role in modern mobile system-on-chips (SoCs). Over the last seven years, both single-and multicore performance improvements have contributed to end-user satisfaction by reducing user-critical application response latencies. Mobile CPUs aggressively adopted many power-hungry desktop-oriented design techniques to reach these performance levels. Unlike other smartphone components (e.g. display and radio) whose peak power consumption has decreased over time, the mobile CPU's peak power consumption has steadily increased. As the limits of technology scaling restrict the ability of desktop-like scaling to continue for mobile CPUs, specialized accelerators appear to be a promising alternative that can help sustain the power, performance, and energy improvements that mobile computing necessitates. Such a paradigm shift will redefine the role of the CPU within future SoCs, which merit several design considerations based on our findings.


During the earthquakes in Japan and California in the 1990s, cracks appeared in some weld beam-to-column connections of heavy rigid frame steel buildings. This prompted the necessary assessment of the performance of weld connections in terms of rotation capacity and crack propagation. In the present study, experimental tests were performed where weld connections were submitted to cyclic loadings with increasing amplitude until a macrocrack event was reached. However the crack phenomenon depends on many parameters: The geometry, the material, the welding process…. For this reason, it was interesting to develop a finite element modeling of these connections in order to complete these experiments and perform a parametric study. This paper describes the finite element model development, its material parameter identification, and its comparison with experimental results. The weld connections were modeled by using three-dimensional mixed solid elements. The constitutive laws applied were elastoplastic with isotropic hardening identified for the base metal and the weld metal. Crack propagation was modeled by a cohesive zone model. The parameters of this cohesive zone model were identified by an inverse method with the modeling of three-point bending tests of pre-cracked samples performed on the base and weld metals. The fatigue damage generated by the cyclic loading was computed by the fatigue continuum damage model of Lemaitre and Chaboche, which was coupled with the cohesive zone model.


OBJECTIVES
To examine the cost-effectiveness of a quantitative D-dimer assay for the evaluation of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) in an urban emergency department (ED).

METHODS
The authors analyzed different diagnostic strategies over pretest risk categories on the basis of Wells criteria by using the performance profile of the ELISA D-dimer assay (over five cutoff values) and imaging strategies used in the ED for PE: compression ultrasound (CUS), ventilation-perfusion (VQ) scan (over three cutoff values), CUS with VQ (over three cutoff values), computed tomography (CT) angiogram (CTA) with pulmonary portion (CTP) and lower-extremity venous portion, and CUS with CTP. Data used in the analysis were based on literature review. Incremental costs and quality-adjusted-life-years were the outcomes measured.

RESULTS
Computed tomography angiogram with pulmonary portion and lower-extremity venous portion without D-dimer was the preferred strategy. CUS-VQ scanning always was dominated by CT-based strategies. When CTA was infeasible, the dominant strategy was D-dimer with CUS-VQ in moderate- and high-Wells patients and was D-dimer with CUS for low-Wells patients. When CTP specificity falls below 80%, or if its overall performance is markedly degraded, preferred strategies include D-dimer testing. Sensitivity analyses suggest that pessimistic assessments of CTP accuracy alter the results only at extremes of parameter settings.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients in whom PE is suspected, when CTA is available, even the most sensitive quantitative D-dimer assay is not likely to be cost-effective. When CTA is not available or if its performance is markedly degraded, use of the D-dimer assay has value in combination with CUS and a pulmonary imaging study. These conclusions may not hold for the larger domain of patients presenting to the ED with chest pain or shortness of breath in whom PE is one of many competing diagnoses.


This introduction to 9 articles on the influence of heterogeneity on pattern and processes in streams describes why we need to examine heterogeneity and outlines major themes we need to consider. Contributors show that a wide range of lotic patterns and processes may be influenced by physical and biological heterogeneity, including the spatial distribution and persistence of biota, predator-prey interactions, and flux of materials among ecosystem compartments. Authors have relied on both theoretical approaches (e.g., numerical simulation models) and empirical approaches (e.g., manipulative experiments) to garner insights into the causes and consequences of spatial and temporal variability in streams. We outline 6 major themes that emerged from this collection of papers and from the symposium on ecological heterogeneity held at the 1995 meeting of the North American Benthological Society in Keystone, Colorado. These themes encompass much of the nature of heterogeneity, and they have important implications for the study of pattern and process in streams. To elucidate on these themes, we provide specific examples from the papers in this series.


The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) of South Africa (SA) has been in place for 11 years. Therefore it was deemed necessary to conduct an investigation into the situation of Life Orientation (LO), a new Learning Area in the NCS. As a reform, the NCS promised to improve the quality of education for all in SA. Seeing that the early childhood years are so important for the development of fundamental motor skills, the focus of this article will be on the Foundation Phase (FP [Grades R-3]) in the General Education and Training Band (GET). Since Physical Education (PE) resides within LO, the scope of the investigation is aimed at LO. The main problem was to determine the experiences of LO teachers regarding the implementation of LO and particularly the Learning Outcome, Physical Development and Movement (PDM) in the FP in selected primary schools in the Western Cape, a province in SA. Quantitative data captured by a questionnaire typifies the research design as a survey. Primary schools (N=124) were randomly selected of which 50 FP teachers (N=50) returned questionnaires. Summary statistics using frequency tables and histograms were utilised. The data were analysed by using Statistica 8.0 (STATSOFT, 2007). According to the data it seemed as if most aspects as stipulated in the NCS were attended to by FP teachers. However, the majority of FP teachers were not qualified to present PE which could impact negatively on the status of LO, and more specifically, have major consequences for the growth and development of the FP learners. It is recommended that the Department of Education (DoE) should take the initiative and lead in this regard to urgently provide specialist LO teachers for the FP. However, Higher Education Institutions (HEI's) should become more involved in training initiatives for prospective teachers in LO.


The need for robust evidence to support conservation actions has driven the adoption of systematic approaches to research synthesis in ecology. However, applying systematic review to complex or open questions remains challenging, and this task is becoming more difficult as the quantity of scientific literature increases. We drew on the science of linguistics for guidance as to why the process of identifying and sorting information during systematic review remains so labor intensive, and to provide potential solutions. Several linguistic properties of peer‐reviewed corpora—including nonrandom selection of review topics, small‐world properties of semantic networks, and spatiotemporal variation in word meaning—greatly increase the effort needed to complete the systematic review process. Conversely, the resolution of these semantic complexities is a common motivation for narrative reviews, but this process is rarely enacted with the rigor applied during linguistic analysis. Therefore, linguistics provides a unifying framework for understanding some key challenges of systematic review and highlights 2 useful directions for future research. First, in cases where semantic complexity generates barriers to synthesis, ecologists should consider drawing on existing methods—such as natural language processing or the construction of research thesauri and ontologies—that provide tools for mapping and resolving that complexity. These tools could help individual researchers classify research material in a more robust manner and provide valuable guidance for future researchers on that topic. Second, a linguistic perspective highlights that scientific writing is a rich resource worthy of detailed study, an observation that can sometimes be lost during the search for data during systematic review or meta‐analysis. For example, mapping semantic networks can reveal redundancy and complementarity among scientific concepts, leading to new insights and research questions. Consequently, wider adoption of linguistic approaches may facilitate improved rigor and richness in research synthesis.


The Delayed Resonator (DR) is known for its ideal vibration suppression and simple control logic, but its operable frequency range is also known limited due to stability issues and practical hardware constraints. To extend the limited operable frequency range, we inject an additional non-delayed control term into the feedback loop of the classic DR such that the equivalent natural frequency of the DR can be real-time tuned, so the creation of DR with virtual natural frequency adjustment (DRV). Besides, we take the difference between the adjustable natural frequency of the DRV and the excitation frequency as a control parameter to further enhance the vibration suppression leading to optionally tuned parameters for a given excitation. For this, we start with the complete stability analyses of the DRV and the associated coupled system following independent and purely analytical approaches, and the obtained non-conservative stability maps reveal DRV's greatly extended operable frequency range. Given the optional tuned parameters, an optimization procedure aiming for a faster transient process and stronger robustness is proposed to determine the optimal parameter composition. Finally, three numerical case studies are prepared to demonstrate the benefits of the DRV compared with the classic DR. In addition to extending the operable frequency range of the classic DR, this work simplifies the stability analysis of the existing DR investigations and provides a guideline for the tuned control parameter design if they are optional.


We demonstrate how metal UPD may find use as a general tool to determine the collective defect area in hybrids between 2D materials (graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, etc.) and various substrate metals. By investigating copper UPD on a monolayer of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) on Rh(111), we explore how this process can be used to quantify the defects in the h-BN monolayer which form during its chemical vapor deposition. In addition, the UPD signature allows assessing the potential window of the h-BN/metal hybrid, which is important to explore its functionality under ambient and electrochemical conditions. Importantly, UPD itself does not alter the defect area on repeated cycling. Overpotential deposition, on the other hand, is shown to have significant consequences on the defect area. We show that this non-innocent Cu electrodeposition involves intercalation originating at initial defects, causing irreversible delamination of the h-BN layer; this effect therefore may be used for 2D material nanoengineering.


In this paper we present the Oceanographic Multipurpose Software Environment (OMUSE). OMUSE aims to provide a homogeneous environment for existing or newly developed numerical ocean simulation codes, simplifying their use and deployment. In this way, numerical experiments that combine ocean models representing different physics or spanning different ranges of physical scales can be easily designed. Rapid development of simulation models is made possible through the creation of simple high-level scripts. The low-level core of the abstraction in OMUSE is designed to deploy these simulations efficiently on heterogeneous high-performance computing resources. Cross-verification of simulation models with different codes and numerical methods is facilitated by the unified interface that OMUSE provides. Reproducibility in numerical experiments is fostered by allowing complex numerical experiments to be expressed in portable scripts that conform to a common OMUSE interface. Here, we present the design of OMUSE as well as the modules and model components currently included, which range from a simple conceptual quasi-geostrophic solver to the global circulation model POP (Parallel Ocean Program). The uniform access to the codes' simulation state and the extensive automation of data transfer and conversion operations aids the implementation of model couplings. We discuss the types of couplings that can be implemented using OMUSE. We also present example applications that demonstrate the straightforward model initialization and the concurrent use of data analysis tools on a running model. We give examples of multiscale and multiphysics simulations by embedding a regional ocean model into a global ocean model and by coupling a surface wave propagation model with a coastal circulation model.


After safety, the efficiency of a nation's payment system is a primary concern of central banks. Since electronic payments are typically cheaper than paper-based or cash payments, pricing these transactions should speed up the shift to electronics. But by how much? Norway explicitly priced point-of-sale and bill-payment transactions and rapidly shifted to electronic payments, while the Netherlands experienced a similar shift without pricing. Controlling for terminal availability and differences between countries, direct pricing accelerated the shift to electronics by about 20 percent. The quid pro quo was the elimination of bank-float revenues.


Apolipoprotein E (apoE), well known to play a role in lipid transport and cholesterol metabolism, also exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system. Recent clinical and genetic studies display an association between apoE genotype (APOE) and the progression and severity of multiple sclerosis, raising the possibility that modulation of apoE may be a novel treatment for multiple sclerosis. Using a murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of human multiple sclerosis, we found that a peptidomimetic of apoE protein, COG133, substantially reduces the clinical symptoms of EAE and promotes remission from the disability when administered before or after onset of disease. Most notably, fusion of COG133 to a protein transduction domain creates COG112, a modified apoE-mimetic peptide with significantly enhanced anti-inflammatory bioactivities in vitro, and improved therapeutic effects on EAE in vivo, which renders a nearly full remission from the disability. Histopathological analysis showed that COG112 and COG133 attenuated demyelination and significantly diminished the number of peripheral cells infiltrating into the spinal cord. ApoE mimetics also interfered with several mechanisms relevant to the pathogenesis of EAE and multiple sclerosis, including activation of macrophages, subsequent production of nitric oxide and inflammatory cytokines, and lymphocyte proliferation. These data suggest that apoE mimetics represent a multidimensional therapeutic for multiple sclerosis capable of inhibiting the inflammatory cascade, modulating immune cell function, and reducing clinical signs, which may have novel utility for the treatment of inflammatory autoimmune diseases.


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To analyze five common assumptions about a family's adjustment to breast cancer and to suggest needed future directions for family-focused research. DATA SOURCES Published research in nursing, psychiatry, behavioral medicine, and psycho-oncology about families' functioning with breast cancer. DATA SYNTHESIS Evidence from published research is that family members do not modify their coping behavior in response to illness-related pressures, do not appear to learn over time how to manage illness-related concerns, are not responsive to each other's thoughts and feelings about cancer, experience tension in the marriage from cancer, and neither understand nor assist children affected by a mother's breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS Current assumptions about how families function with breast cancer need to be replaced with a more informed, data-based view that guides the development of better programs and services for assisting families. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Future research and interventions need to address the impact of breast cancer on the primary relationships in a household, the impact of the illness on the family's core functions, and the family members' competencies to manage the illness.


Following spinal cord injury, motoneurons switch to a constitutively active serotonin receptor, which contributes to muscle spasticity. Counterintuitively, muscles can exhibit spastic contractions following a severe spinal cord injury. After an initial period of unexcitability due to the loss of brainstem-derived serotonin (5 hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) signaling, later the motoneurons recover excitability (measured by persistent inward currents and long-lasting reflexes) despite ongoing absence of brainstem 5-HT signaling. Because the motoneurons still lack the normal modulatory inputs from the brain, the persistent inward currents fail to terminate properly, producing spasms. Murray et al. investigated the mechanism underlying these persistent inward currents and their role in recovery of motor function and spasticity. Serotonin receptors of the 5-HT2c type are produced from transcripts that undergo RNA editing, and the resultant proteins exhibit varying degrees of constitutive activity. Murray et al. first investigated the effect of spinal cord injury in rats and found that injection of a 5-HT2c antagonist failed to prevent tail muscle spasms, but injection of an inverse agonist (that blocks constitutive receptor activity) did. Additional pharmacological interventions that should either enhance or block ligand activation of the receptors failed to alter long-lasting reflexes of spinal cords isolated from regions below the resected area, whereas inverse agonists blocked the long-lasting reflexes. Intracellular recordings from motoneurons after spinal cord injury showed a persistent inward current that was blocked by the 5-HT2 inverse agonists. Following chronic spinal cord injury, the isoform (protein and edited mRNA) with the highest amount of constitutive activity increased in abundance in regions of the spinal cord below the injury. Injection of the inverse agonist into rats that had recovered some locomotor activity after spinal cord injury showed hindlimb support and locomotor ability. Treatment of human spinal cord injury patients with a 5-HT2c inverse agonist reduced spasms and eliminated the long-lasting reflexes. Unfortunately, this drug is not well tolerated due to side effects, but this work suggests that the development of new drugs that target the constitutive activity of 5-HT2c receptors would be valuable for treating spasticity in chronic spinal cord injury patients. K. C. Murray, A. Nakae, M. J. Stephens, M. Rank, J. D'Amico, P. J. Harvey, X. Li, R. L. W. Harris, E. W. Ballou, R. Anelli, C. J. Heckman, T. Mashimo, R. Vavrek, L. Sanelli, M. A. Gorassini, D. J. Bennett, K. Fouad, Recovery of motoneuron and locomotor function after spinal cord injury depends on constitutive activity in 5-HT2c receptors. Nat. Med. 16, 694–700 (2010). [PubMed]


D\H and 18O\16O data have now been obtained on a wide variety of granitic batholiths of various ages. The primary δD values of the biotites and hornblendes are remarkably constant at about –50 to –85, identical to the values in regional metamorphic rocks, marine sediments and greeenstones, and most weathering products in temperate climates. Therefore the primary H2O in these igneous rocks is probably not 'juvenile', but is ultimately derived by dehydration and/or partial melting of the lower crust or subducated lithosphere. Most granitic rocks have δ18O = + 7.0 to +10.0, probably indicating significant involvement of high -18O metasedimentary or altered volcanic rocks in the melting process; such an origin is required for many other granodiorites and tonaloites that have δ18O = + 10 to +13. Gigantic meteoric-hydrothermal convective circulation systems were established in the epizonal portions of all batholiths, locally producing very low δ18O values (particularly in feldspars) during subsolidus exchange. Some granitic plutons in such environments also were emplaced as low-18O magmas probably formed by melting or assimilation of hydrothermally altered roofrocks. However, the water/rockratios were typically low enough that over wide areas the only evidence for meteoric H2O exchange in the batholiths is given by low D/H ratios (δD as low as –180); for example, because of latitudinal isotopic variations in meteoric waters, as one moves from through the Cordilleran batholiths of western North America an increasingly higher proportion of the granitic rocks haves δD values lower than –120. The lowering of δD values commonly correlates