Significant numbers of people have very low levels of literacy in many OECD countries and, because of this, face significant labour market penalties. Despite this, it remains unclear what teaching strategies are most useful for actually rectifying literacy deficiencies. The subject remains hugely controversial amongst educationalists and has seldom been studied by economists. Research evidence from part of Scotland prompted a national change in the policy guidance given to schools in England in the mid-2000s about how children are taught to read. We conceptualise this as a shock to the education production function that affects the technology of teaching. In particular, there was phasing in of intensive support to some schools across Local Authorities: teachers were trained to use a new phonics approach. We use this staggered introduction of intensive support to estimate the effect of the new 'teaching technology' on children's educational attainment. We find there to be effects of the teaching technology ('synthetic phonics') at age 5 and 7. However, by the age of 11, other children have caught up and there are no average effects. There are long-term effects only for those children with a higher initial propensity to struggle with reading.


The Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an economically important poultry virus which replicates in certain human cancer cells. This virus contains a negative single stranded RNA genome which encodes for the nucleocapsid protein (NP), phosphorylated nucleocapsid-associated protein, phosphoprotein (P); matrix protein (M); fusion protein (F); haemaglutinin-neuraminidase protein (HN) and the RNA-directed RNA polymerase, large protein (L).
The NP is the most abundant protein found in NDV. In this study, a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against NP was developed to study the NP-P interactions in NDV. The spleen cells of Balb/C mice immunized with purified NP obtained from the velogenic NDV strain AF2240 were fused with myeloma cells (Sp2/0-Ag14 cell line). A panel of six mAbs were produced and characterized. Four of the mAbs secreted immunoglobulins from class IgG2a with kappa light chains and the remaining two were from class IgG1 with kappa light chains. Cross-reactivity test against the NPs from other six NDV strains showed that mAbs, a2, a2s and b2 cross-reacted with all NDV strains, while mAb b3 showed specificity towards the NP of strain AF2240, the strain that was used earlier to immunize the mice. The other two mAbs, b4s and c1, demonstrated cross-reactivity amongst the various viral strains with varying reactivities. These results indicate that certain epitopes recognized by the mAbs were well conserved in all NDV strains whilst the other epitopes may have undergone some structural changes.
The antigenic sites of NP bound by the mAbs were localized by Western blot analysis. Four C- and N-terminally truncated NP mutants were purified from Escherichia coli, blotted to the nitrocellulose membrane and probed with NP mAbs. The results show that the antigenic sites bound by mAbs a2, a2s and b2 were located within amino acids 441 to 489 of the C-terminal of NP. On the other hand, antigenic sites that were recognized by the mAbs, b3 and b4s were located on the N-terminal half of NP from 26 to 121 amino acid residues. MAb c1 bound to all C- and N-truncated mutants indicating that the antigenic sites recognized by mAb c1 may be located within amino acids 122 to 375.
One of the mAb, a2s was further used as a tool in protein-protein interaction study between assembled NP (NPNC) and P. The NPNC was purified from E. coli by ammonium sulphate precipitation and sucrose garadient. In determining the interaction regions of P that bind to NPNC, the mAb is used in immunoprecipitating the radioactively labeled Ps-NPNC complex. The failure of certain P deleted mutants to form complex with NPNC demonstrated that the regions of P which were deleted from those mutants were responsible with the binding to NPNC. After 18 different N- and C-terminally truncated P mutants were tested in the radioimmunoprecipitation assay, it showed that the region of P that binds to NPNC is located within the internal region of C-terminal half of P, from amino acids 243 to279. In agreement with the radioimmunoprecipitation results, protein binding assay, another assay that was carried out to determine the P-NPNC interactive domain also showed that the interactive domain was mapped to the internal region of the C-terminal half of P (amino acids 224-279). A slightly bigger region of interaction domain was determined by the latter assay compared to the former assay was due to its nature and higher sensitivity of the assay. Nevertheless, both assays showed that the N-terminal half and immediate C-terminal end of P is not involved in the binding of P to NPNC.
To further explore the interactions between P and NP, Far Western blotting was carried out to determine the binding domain of P to NP monomer, NPO. The NPO was obtained by fractionating the NPNC in SDS-PAGE. In this assay, the same deleted mutants that are utilized in mapping P-NPNC interactive domain were also used. The assay showed that amino acids 224-279 were indispensable for the P-NPO binding. Interestingly, these were the same amino acids that were responsible for the P-NPNC interaction. These results indicate that these amino acids were crucial for interaction between P and NP and may play bigger roles in transcription and replication of viral genome.


Spaceborne remote sensing has resolved critical issues for mapping coral reef structure that humanand ship-based surveys could not have overcome, namely the spatial continuity regardless of the water depth. With the emergence of very high spatial resolution sensors, the spatial capabilities of satellites have outperformed those of aircraft, providing spectral information at the dominant benthos scale but over large areas. With the launch of the WorldView-2 (WV2) sensor, coral reefs can now be surveyed using eight bands at ~2 m spatial resolution, somewhat bridging the gap with high spatial resolution, hyperspectral airborne sensors. The WV2 spectral capabilities were utilized for modeling an in situ gradient of Live Coral Cover (LCC). Georeferenced underwater photoquadrats were collected to discern among ten benthic classes, ranging from coralligeneous sand to live Synarea rus bommie or Acropora pulchra thicket, and to compute the LCC. From the benthic images of the five WV2 visible bands (purple, blue, green, yellow, red), 20 pairwise combinations were tested in the form of a Normalized Difference Ratio (NDR). Four spectral combinations were revealed with high correlations (>0.8) with in situ ground-truthing. Associating the common green band with the innovative purple band, the NDR green-purple showed a strong linear relationship with the LCC (R2=0.96, p<0.001). The successful combination was mapped over the entire scene, reliably highlighting live corals while being less sensitive to dead corals and sediment. Discussed to be a proxy for the amount of zooxanthellateborne pigments such as perdinin, the green-purple NDR holds great promise to map, detect and predict change in coral reefs at the dominant benthos scale regionally, aiding their management and conservation.


In early 2011, mass protests erupted throughout Libya, political elites defected to form the resistance National Transitional Council, and the international community eventually intervened in the conflict. The result was the ouster of long-ruling leader Muammar Gaddafi and the beginning of considerable political change in Libya. Following the Gaddafi regime''s overthrow, the regional militias that displaced him refused to surrender arms to the interim government and continued to perpetrate illegal detentions, displacements, rapes, and summary executions. This Note assumes that events in Libya constitute an ongoing revolution, and locates the violent episodes associated with it in a historical tradition of violence inherent in revolutionary periods. While revolutionary violence may be politically justifiable ex post, given the network of international and regional law it is no longer legally justifiable. As such, interim Libyan leaders and their successors should ensure both revolutionaries and former Gaddafi supporters are held accountable for their crimes. A hybrid approach, starting with a truth commission with eventual limited prosecutions, is the best way to bring a stable peace to Libya.


Thin sections of about 200 horizons or layers, representing 60 soil profiles in the coastal area and on the windward slopes of Isla Santa Cruz (Galápagos Islands) were analysed. Based on the fabric and the composition of the groundmass and the presence of pedofeatures in individual layers or horizons, clusters of similar material are made and 7 units and 3 subunits distinguished. Plotting these units on a survey map gives a good insight in the spatial distribution of soil materials, expressing different combinations of parent material and precipitation. In the coastal area and the lowest slopes, with a summer dry climate, respectively reddish and greyish and brown materials with a porphyric c/f related distribution pattern and striated b-fabrics, and often with fragmented illuvial clay coatings are observed. The coarse material contains mainly holocrystalline basalt fragments, unweathered in the coastal area, or basalt derived individual minerals. The micromass has a halloysitic-smectitic composition. On the higher slopes, with a permanent moist climate, materials have also a porphyric or fine monic c/f related distribution pattern, but the b-fabric is undifferentiated and no illuvial features are present, gibbsitic features sometimes occur and the micromass consists mainly of halloysite and gibbsite. Subunits are distinguished here according to the microstructure, and the quantity and type of coarse material. Mesocrystalline basalt, often vesicular, dominates over holocrystalline, pointing to the influence of scoria. Soils on the higher slopes are more strongly weathered than those on the drier lower slopes and the coastal area. In depressions in the higher areas, materials with a yellowish or brownish grey micromass with a striated b-fabric, and well developed limpid illuvial clay coatings and impregnative iron oxide nodules occur. The micromass has a halloysite-smectite composition. Contrary to existing hypotheses the reddish soils in the coastal area are not considered as palaeosoils (roots of tropical soils), but as modern soils developed in colluvium on the lower slopes, which was deposited on totally eroded surfaces (marine terraces?). On the slopes the distribution of units is not only determined by hypsometric zones, as suggested in literature, but is rather clustered according to types of parent material. The soils on Santa Cruz are supposed to be formed after the last interglacial period, different from the red soils of San Cristóbal which are older.


Other than trips to government offices, political science has generally not used field experiences as part of the undergraduate curriculum. To illustrate the possibilities of such experiences, we discuss field-based courses and curricular units at three sites. Each uses a national park to teach students about environmental politics and policy issues. The course designs use experiential education theory to define learning objectives and the means to achieve them. We provide evidence from students' self-reported academic and nonacademic outcomes that is consistent with the expectations of experiential theory. Not surprisingly, course evaluations are high. More important for experiential curricula, students report high levels of motivation in these courses, whether the experience is long or short, whether advertised in advance or not. Though self-selection may explain some of the positive outcomes, two before-and-after surveys suggest that experiential outcomes exceed expectations in interesting ways. In short, students like field experiences, the field experiences motivate them to learn, they learn more effectively, and they enjoy these courses more. Experiential opportunities should play a more important role in the political science curriculum.


DNA topoisomerases are essential enzymes that control the topological state of DNA replication during mitosis. These enzymes are classified based on their mechanisms and physical properties. During mitosis, superhelical DNA must be unwound or relaxed by DNA topoisomerases prior to a decoding step by DNA processing enzymes, such as DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase. By blocking the reaction of resealing the breaks in the DNA ultimately can result in cellular death. Compounds that inhibit the catalytic function of these enzymes can serve as potential anticancer agents. DNA topoisomerases are found in nature and used as high quality and well-validated targets for the screening of potential anticancer agents. Our current work focuses on determining potential anticancer agents from natural resources using DNA topoisomerases as the screening targets. Large scale production of these enzymes using recombinant DNA technology in our academic laboratory is utilised to avoid dependence on expensive commercially available enzymes. The in-house produced enzymes can also be used to enhance our research in the field of molecular medicine by providing an enzyme source that can be used to screen potential anticancer agents, and for other newly developed diagnostic and medical research projects in the near future as well as a step in moving our efforts into the industrial sector.


This paper proposes a new method for evaluating real-time binaural reproduction systems by means of a wayfinding task in six degrees of freedom. Participants physically walk to sound objects in a virtual reality created by a head-mounted display and binaural audio. We show how the localization accuracy of spatial audio rendering is reflected by objective measures of the participants' behavior. The method allows for comparative evaluation of different rendering systems as well as the subjective assessment of the quality of experience.


Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients affecting sweetpotato yield. This study was conducted to 1) evaluate the growth and yield response of sweetpotato NSIC SP 33 to different levels of N; and 2) determine the relationship between N level and root yield. A screenhouse experiment laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was carried out using five (5) N levels: 0,40, 80, 120 and 160kg ha-1, each replicated thrice.Thetotal amount of N (as urea) was applied twice, one-half at planting and the other half at six weeks after planting (6 WAP) along with a blanket application of solophos and muriate of potash at 40 and 60kg ha-1 P2O5and K2O. An alluvial Umingan sandy loam soil (lnceptisol) was used as medium.
Levels of N significantly increased the leaf area, fresh herbage, total root yield, biomass, dry matter yield, shoot-root ratio, weight and number of marketable roots. Harvest index (HI) of plants applied with 40 and 80kg N ha-1 were comparable to those applied with 0 N. Increasing levels of N from 0 to 1 60kg ha-1 resulted in higher total crude protein (CP) and total N in the leaves. N uptake was higher in N-applied plants. Application of 40 and 80kg ha-1 N produced the highest root yield, above which root yield declined. Relationship between N level and root yield developed through regression analysis showed a quadratic function of Y=111.1794+1.2098x-0.00897x2 and R-square of 0.9904 which suggest that inherent soil N affected root development.


Abstract Mobile agents have got large amount of attention of researchers. Because of mobile agents, the distributed computing over the internet has been more safe and secure. Mobile agents are software modules, contain data itself and able to move autonomously from one host to other to perform tasks and automatically come back to the host where they were initialized. Although they have so many qualities such as dynamism, autonomy, flexibility etc. that are required for some disciplines yet mobile agent have some limitations mainly the security issues due to mobility. In our work, we have secured mobile agents' communication using AES and RSA algorithms, and then we have compared the performance of these algorithms (RSA and AES) for securing communication in mobile agents. Keywords: Mobile Agents; Threats; Secure Data Communication; JADE; RSA; AES Cite this Article Mandeep Kaur, Sharad Saxena. Mobile Agent Based Communication using AES and RSA. Journal of Multimedia Technology & Recent Advancements . 2017; 4(2): 6–16p.


We show that the Roy model has more precise predictions about the self-selection of migrants than previously realized. The same conditions that have been shown to result in positive or negative selection in terms of expected earnings also imply a stochastic dominance relationship between the earnings distributions of migrants and non-migrants. We use the Danish full population administrative data to test the predictions. We find strong evidence of positive self-selection of emigrants in terms of pre-emigration earnings: the income distribution for the migrants almost stochastically dominates the distribution for the non-migrants. This result is not driven by immigration policies in destination countries. Decomposing the self-selection in total earnings into self-selection in observable characteristics and self-selection in unobservable characteristics reveals that unobserved abilities play the dominant role.


Background Non-compaction of the left ventricle (NCLV) is an unclassified cardiomyopathy due to intrauterine arrest of compaction of the loose interwoven meshwork. Only a few studies involving sub-Saharan Africans insmall numbers have been published. The aim of our study was to determine the diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic aspects as well as the clinical course of NCLV in a black African population. Methodology A multicentre retrospective study was carried out between November 2007 and June 2012 in two cardiology departments in Dakar. Patients who met the echocardiographic criteria for NCLV were included in the study. Results 35patients with the diagnosis of NCLV were evaluated in the study. Their mean age was 47±18.4 years. Heart failure was found in 77.1% of the patients. The most frequent electrocardiographic abnormalities were left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (46%) and sinus tachycardia (43%). Mean non-compaction/compaction ratio was 2.84±0.68 with preferential localization in the apex of the left ventricle. The main complications observed were cardiogenic shock (23.5%), pulmonary embolism (6.3%) and ventricular tachycardia (5.9%). Diuretics and ACE inhibitors were the medications most often prescribed. Age >60 years (p=0.04), male gender (p=0.03) and the occurrence of complications during follow-up (p=0.04) were noted to be predictors of poor prognosis. Conclusion Contrary to previous beliefs, NCLV may not be less common in black Africans than in other ethnic subgroups. Clinicians in Africa should be made aware of NCLV so that it can be diagnosed at earlier stages.


We study the dynamics of consumption, the real interest rate, and measures of labor input in Japan over the period from 1985-2014. We identify structural breaks in macroeconomic aggregates during the 1990s and associate them with the zero interest rate policy pursued by the Bank of Japan and the surprise increase in the consumption tax rate in April 1997. Formal estimation using the Generalized Methods of Moments shows that the mid-1990s are characterized by breaks in the structural parameters governing household consumption and labor supply decisions. Specifically, following the tax hike and during the low nominal rate period, Japanese households became less risk averse and exhibited a higher degree of habit formation.


This article summarizes the findings of Jobbitt's early research into the experiences of Hungarian migrants in Portugal after World War II, and the way in which the Hungarian Revolution and its suppression in 1956 was politicized by Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo ['New State']. Recognizing the propagandistic value of the 1956 Revolution and the refugee crisis that it created, the Salazar government celebrated Hungary's freedom fighters as martyrs while simultaneously painting an idealized and simplistic picture of an honorable Christian nation locked in a fundamentally moral struggle against the civilizational threat posed by Soviet barbarism and communist terror. However, in attempting to align its own political and ideological message with the actions of Hungary's revolutionaries and the suffering of its refugees, the Salazar regime ran the very real risk of highlighting the numerous contradictions, shortcomings, and injustices that defined the Estado Novo . Ultimately the Salazar regime's propagandistic support of the Revolution betrayed the hypocrisy of an authoritarian, clerico-fascist state, one that was not only unwilling to accept Hungarian refugees on a long-term basis, but also guilty of suppressing its own people and its non-European colonial subjects.


This paper explored the empirical research investigating the relationship between Accounting Information Systems (AIS) alignment and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) performance. Literature shows that AIS alignment is influenced by organizational characteristics, individual characteristics and situational factors which affect SMEs performance. The associate between AIS alignment and firm performance is also discussed in this paper. This paper explores the motivation and contribution of previous researches to identify the gaps for the future studies.


Motivated by an application of eliciting users' preferences, we investigate the problem of learning hemimetrics, i.e., pairwise distances among a set of $n$ items that satisfy triangle inequalities and non-negativity constraints. In our application, the (asymmetric) distances quantify private costs a user incurs when substituting one item by another. We aim to learn these distances (costs) by asking the users whether they are willing to switch from one item to another for a given incentive offer. Without exploiting structural constraints of the hemimetric polytope, learning the distances between each pair of items requires $\Theta(n^2)$ queries. We propose an active learning algorithm that substantially reduces this sample complexity by exploiting the structural constraints on the version space of hemimetrics. Our proposed algorithm achieves provably-optimal sample complexity for various instances of the task. For example, when the items are embedded into $K$ tight clusters, the sample complexity of our algorithm reduces to $O(n K)$. Extensive experiments on a restaurant recommendation data set support the conclusions of our theoretical analysis.


The increased use of bio-materials for energy purposes is generating large amounts of ash. In most cases, e.g. during incineration of straw and grain, bottom ash contains small amounts of heavy metals, but significant amounts of the plant nutrients phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Bottom ash also contains some micronutrients (e.g. copper and zinc) that are good for plants in small doses, together with generally small amounts of undesirable heavy metals, including cadmium. Biogas plants are becoming increasingly common in Sweden. They produce considerable amounts of digestate, a liquid fertiliser with a high content of nitrogen (N) comparable with that of pig slurry but lower contents of P and K. High quality biogas digestate may now be applied to arable land. This study investigated techniques and systems for blending and spreading liquid digestate with ash admixture. The physical and alkaline properties and solubility in water of some ash types were therefore studied at laboratory scale, as were the buffering properties of some digestates. The influence of ash admixture on digestate pH and ammonia emissions was also studied. At pilot scale, the properties of different ash/digestate mixtures were studied and a cell wheel for liquid manure was tested for adding the ash. Three types of ash (from oats, straw and wood pellets) and two types of digestate were studied. The ash produced so much dust that dust reduction measures and breathing masks proved necessary during handling. It also contained so much abrasive material that the risk of wear to pumps, pipes and other parts of the spreading equipment was rated high. It is therefore best if the ash can be added as late as possible to equipment for spreading on arable land, and also it can be prevented from passing through pumps and other moving parts. Only a minor proportion of the oat ash and straw ash was soluble in water. All three types of ash were alkaline and therefore increased the pH when mixed with water. However, the digestate had a high buffering capacity, so the overall effect on pH when moderate amounts of ash were included was slight. When oat ash was mixed into digestate, equilibrium concentrations of ammonia did not increase. There is thus no risk of increased ammonia emissions as long as the mixture does not contain more than 5% ash. In fact, ammonia concentrations were lower when ash was added, possibly because of ammonia binding to some metal ions. In practice, the SNFS 1994:2 limit values for P and heavy metals mean that the test ash-digestate mixtures with 1% by weight of ash can be applied to the same field at most twice in a three-year period. Mixtures with 3% by weight of ash can be spread at most every third year and mixtures with 5% by weight of ash at most every fifth year. Batch admixture of ash into liquid digestate is unsuitable, because the majority of the ash settles and forms sediment in the bottom of the tank, despite efficient stirring. For continuous dosage of finely pulverised ash into digestate, a cell wheel made for dosage of liquid manure can be used. However, for dosage into a flow under pressure a sluice is necessary to prevent digestate being pressed up into the ash container. Admixture of ash into solid digestate is another possible alternative, e.g. during movement of the solid fraction from a digestate separator to a store.


The Research Committee of Disorders of Adrenal Hormones, Japan, undertook a nationwide epidemiological study of primary aldosteronism (PA). The present study was undertaken as a part of this study to reveal the relationship between type of treatment and the prognosis of PA. In the primary survey, 4161 patients with PA during the period January 1, 2003-December 31, 2007 were reported from 3252 departments of internal medicine, pediatrics and urology. In the secondary survey, a questionnaire that requested detailed clinical information on individual patients was sent to those departments reporting patients in the primary survey. In total, data on 1706 patients with PA were available in the present study. Among patients with bilateral or unilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma, after adjustment for age at which prognosis was examined, sex, surgical treatment and medical treatment, surgical treatment was significantly associated with amelioration of hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29-0.77]) and hypokalemia (adjusted OR: 0.17 [95% CI: 0.11-0.29]). No significant relationship was observed between medical treatment and such prognosis in this group of patients. Among patients with bilateral or unilateral adrenal hyperplasia, surgical, but not medical, treatment was significantly associated with amelioration of hypokalemia (adjusted OR: 0.23 [95% CI: 0.06-0.74]), while there was no relationship between surgical or medical treatment and the prognosis of hypertension. In conclusion, surgery offered a better prognosis of PA than medication with regards to hypertension and hypokalemia, with the limitation that a new anti-aldosterone drug, eplerenone, was not available during the study period.


Extreme event scenarios are useful for civil emergency services to help in developing contingency plans for responding effectively to major flooding incidents. In the UK, the official national risk register includes a scenario for inland flooding (from rivers and other sources), which is described in terms of a probability of occurrence over a five year period of between 1 in 200 and 1 in 20. This scenario was previously based on recent extreme floods, in conjunction with maps produced to aid in development planning on floodplains. At the time it was constructed, it was not feasible to assess scientifically the combined probability of a nationally-significant flood event of this type, therefore the scenario probability assessment was ambiguous. Recent developments in multivariate extreme value statistics now allow the probability of large scale flood events to be assessed with reference to hydrological summary statistics or impact metrics. Building on theory and pilot studies by Heffernan and Tawn [1], Lamb et al. [2] and Keef et al. [3], we describe the development of a set of national-scale scenarios based on a high-dimensional (ca. 1,100 locations) conditional probability analysis of extreme river flows and rainfall. The methodology provides a theoretically justified basis for extrapolation into the joint tail of the distribution of these variables, which is then used to simulate extreme events with associated probabilities. The probabilistic events are compared with current understanding of meteorological scenarios associated with significant, large-scale flooding in the UK, and with historical flooding, in order to identify plausible events that can inform national risk scenarios. Additionally, we combined scenarios of inland and coastal extremes that have been considered by linking the analysis discussed in this paper with methods presented in a companion paper by Wyncoll et al.


The applications of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) have grown significantly in recent years. Several countries have adopted different stances on the regulation of such technology; however, India does not have any legally enforceable regulations in place. There is a need for such a development as India's regulatory, sociocultural, and economic landscape is unique. First, we discuss the uncertainty regarding India's regulatory capacity to enforce ethical standards for CRISPR use. Then, we discuss unique driving forces that could lead to the misuse of CRISPR in India, such as certain sociocultural norms like preferences for fair skin and public demand for sex determination. Given these previous concerns, we posit the question; where on the priority list does CRISPR stand in the context of public health in India?


OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of angiotensin II (AII) and angiotensin IV (AIV, 3-8 fragment of AII) on the cell proliferation in the anterior pituitary of rat in vivo.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The female adult Wistar rats, ovariectomized 10 days before experiment were injected intraperitoneally with saline, AII, AIV and AII or AIV together with losartan--the specific AT1 receptor subtype antagonist. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrDU) incorporation into anterior pituitary cell nuclei was used as the index of cell proliferation.

RESULTS
We observed the increased BrDU-labeling index (LI) in the anterior pituitary of rat treated with either AII or AIV. The proliferogenic effect of neither AII nor AIV was reversed by AT1 specific antagonist losartan.

CONCLUSIONS
AII and AIV stimulate the rat anterior pituitary cell proliferation in vivo. This action of both angiotensin peptides is connected with activation of receptor different from AT1 subtype.


In unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA), classifiers for the target domain are trained with massive true-label data from the source domain and unlabeled data from the target domain. However, it may be difficult to collect fully-true-label data in a source domain given limited budget. To mitigate this problem, we consider a novel problem setting where the classifier for the target domain has to be trained with complementary-label data from the source domain and unlabeled data from the target domain named budget-friendly UDA (BFUDA). The key benefit is that it is much less costly to collect complementary-label source data (required by BFUDA) than collecting the true-label source data (required by ordinary UDA). To this end, complementary label adversarial network (CLARINET) is proposed to solve the BFUDA problem. CLARINET maintains two deep networks simultaneously, where one focuses on classifying complementary-label source data and the other takes care of the source-to-target distributional adaptation. Experiments show that CLARINET significantly outperforms a series of competent baselines.


As a genre, testimonios or testimonial narratives are not just transgressive of canonical literary aesthetics; they also serve as a tool for otherwise marginalized groups to expose, denounce, and negotiate their experiences of abjection and subordination. These narratives may constitute a counterhegemonic project, if not an oppositional response, at least, to structures and relations sustained (often brutally) by the apparati of state and capital. In this exploratory paper, I read the letters of abused workers as counternarratives that rub against mainstream discourse. In particular, I am using as primary materials the letters written by the Filipino workers of a foreign company which has been recognized and endorsed by state officials for its "contribution" to investment and job generation. Occluded, however, are the stories of abuse, exploitation, and repression among the workers, some of whom have met violent deaths in the workplace. These "little stories" become counternarratives vis-a-vis the positive, celebratory depiction of the company in official discourse, which bleaches the company of allegations concerning its anti-labor practices. The discussion revolves around how the letters as testimonios and as counternarratives exemplify discourses of resistance and solidarity, foregrounding the workers' denunciation of the abuses committed by and within the company, while also highlighting the workers' collective responses to these abuses. Keywords: Testimonio, counternarratives, non-canonical literature, solidarity, resistance


Transparent surface crystallized glasses in the rare-earth doped bismuth borate system have been successfully fabricated. The irradiation of CW YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064nm induces sharp refractive-index changes or crystalline dot formation, depending on Sm2O3 content in the glasses. In 10Sm2O3-30Bi2O3-60B2O3 glass, refractive-index changes (not crystallites) are induced by laser irradiations (power: 1W, time: 1-250s), and spherical spots with 2-45µm are formed. In 12.5Sm2O3-30Bi2O3-57.5B2O3 glass, crystalline dots with the diameters of 5-65µm are formed by laser irradiations (power:0.5-0.7W, timesL1-250s). It is found that the crystalline dots generate second harmonic waves. Refractive-index changes by YTAG laser irradiations are confirmed in 10Dy2O3-30Bi2O3-60B2O3 glass. In 10Sm2O3-35Bi2O3-55B2O3 glasses, 2-dimentional crystalline line patterns can be fabricated by scanning laser spots with the speeds of 1-10 µm·s-1. These crystalline lines have wave-guide structure with second order optical non linearity.


In drawing or painting from live models and real landscapes, more was at stake for artists in early modern Italy than achieving greater naturalism. To work with the model in front of your eyes, and to retain their identity in the finished work of art, had an impact on concepts of artistry and authorship, the authority of the image as a source of knowledge, the boundaries between repetition and invention, and even the relation of images to words. This book focuses on artists who worked in Italy, both native Italians and migrants from northern Europe. The practice of depicting from life became a self-conscious departure from the norms of Italian arts. In the context of court culture in Rome and Florence, works by artists ranging from Caravaggio to Claude Lorrain, Pieter van Laer to Jacques Callot, reveal new aspects of their artistic practice and its critical implications.


There is a close relationship between. Human Resource Management and Customer Relation ship Management. (HRM & CRM) in every organization or in enterprise. The CRM and increasing it depends on employee's morals and efficiency. If we have a good HRM system, we can strongly improve our CRM. In CRM or in any enterprise the main part is customer, we should satisfy them, so we should develop our HRM and Human Resource strategies. We know the necessity of these, we know all the time we should emphasize on the humanistic materials such as, motivation, recruitment, payment, promotion and, etc. or the steps in CRM process that we should apply for having fixed and loyal customers or having a strong relation with our customers that they trust us, but how can we do this Well? We can provide some indicators that help you in managing your position, we are going to mention you one of them which called COPS checklist.


In this paper, a Medical Productivity Index (MPI) is proposed as a metric to capture the value of care received by patients from medical providers. For the health sector, such a metric could address the growing concern that medical care expenditures are sapping the economic vitality of a nation if these outlays show a productivity gain. The two primary components of the MPI are a measure of health outcomes and a measure of medical care effort. The MPI is applied to a national sample of Medicare 2007-2009 claims data. Application of the MPI shows both a cyclical and long-term trend in medical care productivity. There are substantial regional variations in MPI as well. Extensions of the MPI could provide disease and insurance contract specific sub-sector component comparisons in future applications. The use of MPI to retrospective claims and contemporary claims data provides a technology to track changes in medical productivity to gauge the impact of future health reform and medical technologies as well as an aging society to patients and the health care industry.


In this article we examine the effects of the emergence of a new replicator, memes, on the evolution of a pre-existing replicator, genes. Using a version of the NKCS model we examine the effects of increasing the rate of meme evolution in relation to the rate of gene evolution, for various degrees of interdependence between the two replicators. That is, the effects of memes' (suggested) more rapid rate of evolution in comparison to that of genes is investigated using a tunable model of coevolution. It is found that, for almost any degree of interdependence between the two replicators, as the rate of meme evolution increases, a phase transition- like dynamic occurs under which memes have a significantly detrimental effect on the evolution of genes, quickly resulting in the cessation of effective gene evolution. Conversely, the memes experience a sharp increase in benefit from increasing their rate of evolution. We then examine the effects of enabling genes to reduce the percentage of gene-detrimental evolutionary steps taken by memes. Here a critical region emerges as the comparative rate of meme evolution increases, such that if genes cannot effectively select memes a high percentage of the time, they suffer from meme evolution as if they had almost no selective capability.


In this paper, we propose a theory for wideband adjoint sensitivity analysis of problems with nonlinear media. We show that the sensitivities of the desired response with respect to all shape and material parameters are obtained through one extra adjoint simulation. Unlike linear problems, the system matrices of this adjoint simulation are time varying. Their values are determined during the original simulation. The proposed theory exploits the time-domain transmission line modeling (TLM) and provides an efficient AVM approach for sensitivity analysis of general time domain objective functions. The theory has been illustrated through a number of examples.


Hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) plants exhibit a hypersensitive response (HR) against infection by many tobamoviruses. A clone (CaPR-4) encoding a putative pathogenesis-related protein 4 was isolated by differential screening of a cDNA library prepared from resistant pepper plant leaves inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) pathotype P0. The predicted amino acid sequence of CaPR-4 is very similar to those of other plant PR-4s. Southern blot analysis showed that small gene families of PR-4-related sequences were present in the pepper genome. Hot pepper cultivar Bugang, resistant to TMV-P0 and susceptible to TMV-P1.2, induced CaPR-4 expression by pathotype P0 inoculation in inoculated and systemic leaves, but not by pathotype P1.2. Effects of exogenously applied abiotic elicitors upon the CaPR-4 expression were also examined. The expression of the CaPR-4 gene was stimulated by methyl jasmonate (MeJA), ethephon and wounding treatment. However, application of salicylic acid (SA) did not trigger the expression. Evidence is emerging that jasmonic acid and ethylene play key roles in the SA-independent pathways of plant-pathogen interaction. Taken together, these results suggest that the CaPR-4 gene is one of the defense-related genes conferring resistance on pepper plants by the SA-independent pathway and the cross-talk between signaling compounds, jasmonic acid and ethylene could have a great regulatory potential in a plant's defense against TMV.


One of our most incisive critics asks where the assault against the canons of Western culture has led us. Engaging a wide range of literature and criticism, Hartman considers the term "culture" and its many uses, and calls for the restoration of literature to its place as the focus of thinking about culture and for the renewal of aesthetic education to help ensure the balance between art, culture, and politics. Lost among the shouts and skirmishes of the "culture wars" is the very idea of culture itself. In this illuminating book, one of our most distinguished critics and scholars asks what the assault against the canons of Western culture has left in its place. If art and literature are largely the products of ideology and interest, how do they matter? And what does the idea of culture mean in today's sprawling, fragmented, critical world where everything -poetry or pornography- gets "read" in the same way? Engaging an extraordinary range of literature, philosophy, social criticism, and popular culture, Geoffrey Hartman probes the meanings and uses of culture in contemporary society. The triumph of cultural studies -and its critiques of bourgeois Eurocentric tradition- is largely complete, Hartman writes. Against the political appropriation of culture, he posits, instead, a definition of culture as public conversation, intellectual and social debate among diverse communities. And against reactionary pressures to impose -or reinstate- a singular culture, or to seek in art or literature an affirmation of group identity, Hartman sketches new roles for human imagination in a postmodern world. For Hartman, the fusion of culture and politics, of whatever ideology, is disastrous. At a time of abstraction, fragmentation, and alienation, art and literature offer wholeness and meaning. But the promise is frought with danger, Hartman argues, in a provocative discussion of the uses of culture as exemplified in the Romantic legacy. He pays special attention to literature's role in reconnecting us to the world. The choice is ours: Wordsworth or Heidegger, literature as shared experience or as reactionary ideology. Hartman ranges widely in these elegant pages. He confronts the shock to the universalistic sense of culture from the Holocaust, as well as the problematic responses of such critic as Adorno and Derrida; explores the poetry of Wordsworth both as a diagnostic and a counter-model to the desensitization of modern life; and addresses the impact of politics of inclusion and diversity on the claims of high culture. Perhaps Hartman's most publicly engaged book, The Fateful Question of Culture embraces both the masterworks of European literature and art and the signs and symbols of popular media and daily life. It is a powerful reaffirmation of the liberating discourses that have always been at the very center of the Western tradition.


AIMS
We evaluated the factors associated with inpatient costs including total costs, pharmaceutical costs and laboratory costs for diabetes-related admissions.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Using data for 960 adult patients admitted between May 2005 and April 2008 with a primary or secondary diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated with Zhejiang University Medical School (SRRSH) in Hangzhou, China, we evaluate the association between patient characteristics and inpatient costs with multivariable regression analyses.

RESULTS
Total inpatient costs were positively associated with age, higher UKPDS stroke risk score, and presence of any complication. A regression that included patient socioeconomic and clinical characteristics explained 21.5% of the variation in total inpatient costs; regression estimates indicate that patients with coronary artery disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and diabetic foot had inpatient costs that were respectively 93.7%, 14.0%, 17.5%, 11.5% and 89.0% higher than otherwise similar patients without those complications. Pharmaceutical costs did not differ by insurance coverage. Insured patients spent 7-16% more on laboratory tests than otherwise similar patients did.

CONCLUSIONS
Clinical factors, especially presence of diabetes-related complications, appear to be the primary determinants of variation in inpatient costs for patients with type 2 DM in China. To mitigate the health costs increases associated with China's DM epidemic, policymakers should focus on cost-effective ways to manage patients in outpatient settings to prevent the complications associated with diabetes.


Abstract Interpreting land seismic data in the Colombian Foothills poses many challenges. Very often, the data have a low signal-to-noise ratio and the subsurface prospective structures are significantly complex. The level of uncertainty can be so high that even experienced interpreters struggle to reconcile the seismic image with their geologic models. Based on previous knowledge and "fast-track" interpretation of old 2D prestack time migration data (no 3D seismic in the area), we identified two interesting plays for further analysis: a triangular zone (play 1) and subthrust anticlines beneath the frontal fault (play 2). Derisking the different prospects associated with plays 1 and 2 required the application of prestack depth migration (PSDM), which reduce uncertainty regarding the position of the structures, their depth, and even their existence. The seismic image in play 1 structures was improved significantly with better definition of the flanks of the anticlines and the frontal closure of the structures, more coherent events, and sharper definition in fault cut-offs. Some apparent play 2 prospects, that were actually "velocity pull-up" anticlines, were corrected by the depth-migration workflow, whereas other structures experience important modifications in their geometry. In both types of plays, depth migration dramatically changed the initial assessment of prospectivity. Based on the better agreement between seismic and borehole data, significant reduction in residual moveout on final PSDM gathers and more coherent seismic images, we believe that the use of depth migration has allowed us to obtain a more accurate representation of the subsurface, and consequently a more rigorous reserves estimation. The use of PSDM was essential to understand the complexities in the prospects evaluated and the risk associated with their exploration. We consider the lessons learned in this study applicable to similar geologic environments worldwide.


"Cranford" depicts the lives and preoccupations of the inhabitants of a small village - their petty snobberies and appetite for gossip, and their loyal support for each other in times of need. The village is dominated by women, from the kindly spinster Miss Matty, living in genteel poverty with her redoubtable sister, to Lady Glenmire, who shocks everyone by marrying the doctor. When men do appear, such as 'modern' Captain Brown or Matty's suitor from the past, they bring disruption and excitement to the everyday life of Cranford. This volume includes the novella "Cousin Phillis", which depicts a fleeting love affair in a rural community at a time when old values are being supplanted by the new. Both works are exquisitely observed tragicomedies of human nature, told with great delicacy and affection.


For the deficiency of easily trapping into a local optimum of neural network learning algorithm based on steepest descent method, we apply a new kind of optimization strategy called invasive weed optimization (IWO)algorithm, where the standard deviation of the distribution of offspring individuals adjusts dynamically, and a feed-forward neural network learning algorithm based on IWO is given. Considering the phenomena of optimization accuracy being not high and precocious in IWO algorithm, further we use IWO algorithm to search globally, meanwhile searching locally by utilizing reflection, extension and compression operation of complex to create a new solution for replacing the worst individual in current population, and propose a complex invasive weed optimization (CIWO) algorithm, which avoids precocious phenomenon, improves precision of optimization and increases the speed of convergence. On this basis, neural network prediction models based on IWO and CIWO algorithm are respectively established, the feasibility of IWO algorithm training the neural network and the validity of improving the IWO algorithm with complex method are verified by stock price forecasting.


This book compiles and presents the research results from the past 5 years in mm-wave Silicon circuits. This area has received a lot of interest from the research community including several university and research groups who have demonstrated record high frequency performance using standard silicon based technology such as digital CMOS and SiGe HBTs. Since many previous expensive mm-wave systems based on III-V technology can now be replaced with silicon, mm-wave based mass market consumer products have been developed. In particular high speed data and auto motive radar are two such applications.This book covers device modeling, circuit building blocks, phased array systems, and antennas and packaging. It focuses on the techniques that uniquely take advantage of the scale and integration offered by silicon based technologies.


Spermatozoa are required to travel a considerable distance in vivo to meet the oocyte at the fertilization site. However, none of the existing in vitro tests critically evaluates migration of sperm to assess their potential of reaching the oocyte. On the other hand, an in vivo model is not suitable for this type of study because of ethical and technical constraints. In the present study we utilized a horizontal column technique to analyze sperm migration. Migratory characteristics of fresh, unwashed semen sperm and sperm undergoing various treatments were examined in vitro using a Petri dish-based horizontal fluid column. The procedure involved loading a sperm sample into the column and determining sperm concentration, motility, and viability at different column segments for different migration durations (6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h). All sperm samples produced an exponential migration pattern in all durations of migration. Propagation along the column edge, tendency to exit from the column, and hiding in the blind pouches were some of the important characteristic features exhibited by the migratory sperm. Variations in migration patterns were documented among semen donors, between fresh and frozen semen, and between washed and unwashed sperm. Prolonged postejaculation time diminished migratory potential. The recovery of sperm in the column end was independent of seminal variables with the exception of oligozoospermia. These observations suggest that the Petri dish-based horizontal column is effective for analyzing sperm migration characteristics for prolonged periods. The potential of this migration assay in predicting the in vivo potential of spermatozoa to reach the fertilization site will be worth exploring.


In order to better define the effect of the sex on the metabolic profile of young ostriches ( Struthio camelus
Domesticus ), forty birds were divided into two groups by sex (20 males vs 20 females). The animals were
fed ad libitum natural pasture and corn silage. The daily ration was completed by administering 1200 g/head
of a commercial concentrate with the following chemical composition expressed as a percentage of dry matter:
crude protein 18.8, crude fibre 8.4, ether extract 3.6, ash 7.5. After about 12 h of fasting, in the morning
the blood was collected from the wing vein. The following biochemical parameters were determined: glucose,
cholesterol, triglycerides, lactate (LAC), total protein (TP), uric acid, total bilirubin (Tbil), creatinine
(CREA), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), natrium (Na), potassium (K), chloride (Cl), iron
(Fe), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (AP), cholinesterase
(ChE); α-amylase (Amyl), lipase (LIPA); γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT).
Sex significantly affected only some haematic parameters: in the females total protein and calcium were
higher than in the males (TP, 43.3 vs 38.9 g/l, respectively for females and males, P < 0.05; Ca, 2.99 vs 2.59
mmol/l, respectively for females and males, P < 0.01). The other haematic parameters did not show significant
differences by sex, and the average values were: glucose (9.87 mmol/l), cholesterol (1.96 mmol/l),
triglycerides (1.56 mmol/l), LAC (6.60 mmol/l), uric acid (361 mmol/l), CREA (31.95 μmol/l), Na (144.8
mmol/l), K (3.27 mmol/l), Cl (109.7 mmol/l), P (1.47 mmol/l), Mg (1.10 mmol/l), Fe (9.22 μmol/l), Tbil (9.28
mol/l), AST (341.3 U/l), ALT (11.42 U/l), AP (75.8 U/l), GGT (10.07 U/l), Amyl (6.97 U/l), LIPA (241.2 U/l),
ChE (385.1 U/l).
The results of our study, in agreement with previous findings, contribute to enhance the knowledge on the
metabolic profile of ostriches in function of the sex.


In the early twentieth century, psychoanalysis tries to investigate a specific logic of the appearance and the incident of what is taken to be unintended in everyday communication and human behavior. What before hardly seemed to be worth systematic research, now becomes a privileged field, in which the meaningful signs of a hidden and unwelcome past appear. For representing this new field of research Freud often makes use of archaeological metaphors. But in quoting the knowledge and the techniques of archaeology, he evokes imaginary landscapes of a reappearing human past, which is not depraved and repressed but glorious and precious. This contradiction or gap between the character of analytical objects and their representation gives reason for an 'archaeological' investigation of psychoanalysis itself. To this end one of the heroes of nineteenth century archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann, will be confronted with two little works of Rudolf Virchow, in which he follows up the astonishing idea of an archaeology of refuse. Relating treasure troves and rubbish dumps it can be asked whether 'archaeological' practices in the late nineteenth century constituted a type of historical knowledge which runs counter to contemporary historicism and is crucial not only for Freud but also for today's theoretical reflections on archaeological perspectives in cultural studies.


This thesis looks at developing efficient methodology for analysing high dimensional time-series, with an aim of detecting structural changes in the properties of the time series that may affect only a subset of dimensions. Firstly, we develop a Bayesian approach to analysing multiple time-series with the aim of detecting abnormal regions. These are regions where the properties of the data change from some normal or baseline behaviour. We allow for the possibility that such changes will only be present in a, potentially small, subset of the time-series. A motivating application for this problem comes from detecting copy number variation (CNVs) in genetics, using data from multiple individuals. Secondly, we present a novel approach to detect sets of most recent changepoints in panel data which aims to pool information across time-series, so that we preferentially infer a most recent change at the same time point in multiple series. Lastly, an approach to fit a sequence of piece-wise linear segments to a univariate time series is considered. Two additional constraints on the resulting segmentation are imposed which are practically useful: (i) we require that the segmentation is robust to the presence of outliers; (ii) that there is an enforcement of continuity between the linear segments at the changepoint locations. These constraints add significantly to the computational complexity of the resulting recursive solution. Several steps are investigated to reduce the computational burden.


When we think of Ethiopia we tend to think in cliches: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falasha Jews, the epic reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Communist Revolution, famine and civil war. Among the countries of Africa it has a high profile yet is poorly known. How- ever all cliches contain within them a kernel of truth, and occlude much more. Today's Ethiopia (and its painfully liberated sister state of Eritrea) are largely obscured by these mythical views and a secondary literature that is partial or propagandist. Moreover there have been few attempts to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture that goes beyond the usual guidebook fare. Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia seeks to do just that, presenting a measured, detailed and systematic analysis of the main features of this unique country, now building on the foundations of a magical and tumultuous past as it struggles to emerge in the modern world on its own terms.


Title of dissertation: IMAGINED PASTS, IMAGINED FUTURES: RACE, POLITICS, MEMORY, AND THE REVITALIZATION OF DOWNTOWN SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND Bruce Richard Johansen, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor John L. Caughey Professor Mary Corbin Sies Department of American Studies Through ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and archival research, this study explores differences in people's perceptions of an aging, innerring suburb, during a period in which revitalization has transformed its built environment, and its population has become more diverse. To examine how three sets of active residents have thought about and acted in response to transpiring material, social, and cultural changes, my interdisciplinary research draws on methodologies and literatures from anthropology, geography, urban and suburban history, cultural criticism, sociology, and political science. Subjects featured identify as historic preservationists, civil rights activists, and/or through affiliations with an organization devoted to making leadership and civic participation more representative of a multicultural community. I demonstrate that there are significant differences in perception among members of these three sets, and that these variations stem from divergent individual and collective constructions of reality that are rooted in a range of histories, cultures, values, imaginings, and needs. I show that these different orientations affect how individuals relate to their surroundings, which is then reflected in public discourse. I investigate how these differences are exacerbated by internal group dynamics and external political structures that have kept segments of the community divided during the twenty years that revitalization plans have been debated. I illustrate that a reliance on public hearings as the main form of public discourse deepens adversarial relations by inhibiting dialogue and consequently an understanding of the diverse array of perspectives on the commercial built environment that exist. I convey how internal group dynamics that exclude community members with contrary points of view mirrors what occurs in public hearings, further diminishing the effectiveness of civic groups. Finally, this dissertation argues that new processes must be designed to assist oversight of revitalization in multicultural communities like Silver Spring, Maryland, a subject that to date has been insufficiently investigated. I contend that unifying diverse segments of such communities is possible if areas of common concern are identified and new forms of cooperative dialogue and practices of leadership pursued. IMAGINED PASTS, IMAGINED FUTURES: RACE, POLITICS, MEMORY, AND THE REVITALIZATION OF DOWNTOWN SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND by Bruce Richard Johansen Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005


This article presents managed honey bee colony loss rates over winter 2018/19 resulting from using the standardised COLOSS questionnaire in 35 countries (31 in Europe). In total, 28,629 beekeepers supplying valid loss data wintered 738,233 colonies, and reported 29,912 (4.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.0–4.1%) colonies with unsolvable queen problems, 79,146 (10.7%, 95% CI 10.5–10.9%) dead colonies after winter and 13,895 colonies (1.9%, 95% CI 1.8–2.0%) lost through natural disaster. This gave an overall colony winter loss rate of 16.7% (95% CI 16.4–16.9%), varying greatly between countries, from 5.8% to 32.0%. We modelled the risk of loss as a dead/empty colony or from unresolvable queen problems, and found that, overall, larger beekeeping operations with more than 150 colonies experienced significantly lower losses (p < 0.001), consistent with earlier studies. Additionally, beekeepers included in this survey who did not migrate their colonies at least once in 2018 had significantly lower losses than those migrating (p < 0.001). The percentage of new queens from 2018 in wintered colonies was also examined as a potential risk factor. The percentage of colonies going into winter with a new queen was estimated as 55.0% over all countries. Higher percentages of young queens corresponded to lower overall losses (excluding losses from natural disaster), but also lower losses from unresolvable queen problems, and lower losses from winter mortality (p < 0.001). Detailed results for each country and overall are given in a table, and a map shows relative risks of winter loss at regional level.


Ice cores are invaluable archives for the reconstruction of the climatic history of the earth. Besides the analysis of various climatic processes from isotopes and chemical signatures they offer the unique possibility of directly extracting the past atmosphere from gaseous inclusions in the ice. Many aspects of the formation and alterations of these inclusions, e.g. the entrapment of air at the firn-ice-transition, the formation of crystalline gas hydrates (clathrates) from the bubbles or the structural relaxation during storage of the cores, need to be better understood to enable reliable interpretations of the obtained data. Modern micro Raman spectroscopy is an excellent tool to obtain high-quality data for all of these aspects. It has been productively used for phase identification of solid inclusions, investigation of air clathrates and high-resolution measurements of N2/O2 mixing ratios inside individual air bubbles.
Detailed examples of the various uses of Raman spectroscopy will be presented along with practical information about the techniques required to obtain high-quality spectra. Retrieval and interpretation of quantitative data from the spectra will be explained. Future possibilities for advanced uses of Raman spectroscopy for ice core research will be discussed.


When the United States acted to phase-out its estate tax by 2010, it joined a small but growing group of countries which have also repealed their wealth transfer taxes. In Canada, federal gift and estate taxes were repealed in 1972 and provincial wealth transfer taxes were abolished in the 1970s and 1980s. In Australia, State and Commonwealth wealth transfer taxes were repealed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New Zealand followed suit in the 1990s, reducing estate tax rates to zero in 1992 and repealing the tax in 1999. This paper reviews the abolition of wealth transfer taxes in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, relying on public choice theories of politically efficient revenue structures to help explain the repeal of these taxes in each country. Part II outlines the essential elements of public choice theory and its implications for tax policy. Part III surveys the history of wealth transfer taxes in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, examining in detail the events leading up to the repeal of these taxes, and illustrating the relevance of public choice theory to their abolition in each country. Part IV offers brief conclusions on the significance of this experience for the future of wealth transfer taxation in these and other countries.


Michael Moore defends an account of scientific, mental, moral, and legal properties, according to which there are not only natural kinds, but also moral and functional kinds; and he maintains, more specifically that: 1) distinctively legal phenomena, such as legal rights, precedent, malice, etc. are functional kinds, in the sense that they have a nature that consists in the function they fulfill in law, 2) the function of a functional kind is that effect, or those effects, of the functional kind that causally contribute more than does any of its other effects to the goal of the larger system within which it occurs, and 3) functional kinds can be reduced to indefinitely large disjunctions of natural properties, 4) the relevant version of naturalism is metaphysically reductionist naturalism, and 5) functional kinds play an indispensable role in the explanation of human behaviour.

I argue, however, 1) that the method for determining the function of a (purported) functional kind proposed by Moore is too indeterminate to be able to pin down the function. I also argue 2) that it turns out to be very difficult to identify the properties that are part of the indefinitely large disjunction of natural properties which, on Moore's analysis, is identical to a functional kind, 3) that functional kinds cannot be part of the best explanation of human behaviour, because they lack nomological unity, and that they lack such unity because they are necessarily multiply realizable, and 4) that Moore will therefore have to give up: a) the view that functional kinds are identical to indefinitely large disjunctions of natural properties, b) the view that functional kinds are part of the best explanation of human behaviour, or both (a and b). I also argue 5) that the idea of a functional kind should not play a central role in any theory of law or legal reasoning.


Recognizing Escaped Commensals In order to coexist peacefully, the billions of bacteria in our gut and our immune system have reached a détente. An intestinal mucosal firewall exists, so bacteria remain localized to the gut, where the immune system is tightly regulated so that these bacteria are tolerated. Enteric infections, however, lead to a breach in this mucosal firewall, resulting in exposure of the peripheral immune system to the intestinal bacterial contents. What is the result? Using oral Toxoplasma gondii infection in mice, Hand et al. (p. 1553, published online 23 August) show that, besides the T. gondii–specific T cell response, a commensal bacteria–specific T cell response is elicited. The CD4+ T cell–specific response was tracked to a commensal-derived flagellin, and these T cells expanded after T. gondii infection and formed long-lived memory cells able to respond to subsequent challenges. Thus, enteric infections can lead to the formation of commensal bacteria–specific, long-lived memory T cells that reside throughout the body—which may play a role in intestinal pathologies such as inflammatory bowel disease. Enteric infections induce lasting adaptive immunity against commensal bacteria that may play a role in intestinal problems. The mammalian gastrointestinal tract contains a large and diverse population of commensal bacteria and is also one of the primary sites of exposure to pathogens. How the immune system perceives commensals in the context of mucosal infection is unclear. Here, we show that during a gastrointestinal infection, tolerance to commensals is lost, and microbiota-specific T cells are activated and differentiate to inflammatory effector cells. Furthermore, these T cells go on to form memory cells that are phenotypically and functionally consistent with pathogen-specific T cells. Our results suggest that during a gastrointestinal infection, the immune response to commensals parallels the immune response against pathogenic microbes and that adaptive responses against commensals are an integral component of mucosal immunity.


Competitive mooting is highly suitable for teaching law students to be prepared for legal practice. In particular, competitive mooting as experiential learning in a mock dispute resolution setting provides a unique pedagogical tool that is ideally suited to the development of resilience in law students. Developing resilience in law students is therefore important for their future career practice. Although competitive mooting can spontaneous develop resilience, this article draws on Positive Psychology and proposes some strategies and practices that moot coaches can use to assist competitive moot teams to develop resilience and learn resilience skills with a view to legal practice. It includes a 'nutshell version' of some practical tips for moot coaches such as the focus on a growth mind-set, the importance of focussing on strengths and positivity, effective feedback, the ABCD formula and reflective practice.


The new "Joint British Societies' consensus recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (JBS3)" are built on a comprehensive synthesis of a vast cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention literature.1 The document, with over 400 references, covers topics addressing alternative approaches to risk assessment, including lifetime and short term risk, age based risk, potential use of newer imaging techniques for risk assessment, circulating biomarkers, genomic contributions to risk, and a multitude of approaches to risk reduction treatments. The JBS3 is closely linked to a draft document2 containing nearly 300 references and numerous data summaries on cardiovascular risk assessment and modification of blood lipids for the primary and secondary prevention of CVD from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In these two documents, nearly every important topic relating to cardiovascular risk and treatment is addressed. It is obvious that great care and thought went into the preparation of these important documents, and they deserve attention and careful study by primary care physicians, cardiovascular specialists, behaviour change experts, and prevention scientists worldwide.

The new British guidelines, published only 4 months after the release of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines3 ,4 on risk assessment and lipid lowering, inevitably invite comparisons of these two literature summaries with accompanying clinical advice. In light of numerous specific criticisms that immediately faced the ACC/AHA guidelines, it is worthwhile to examine carefully the similarities and differences between these guidelines. It is striking to me how similar they are, yet some important differences are also instructive.

In regard to the issue of risk calculation, both the ACC/AHA and JBS3 recommend the use of a risk calculator based on traditional risk factors that are commonly and relatively easily measured. Both guidelines consider the use of additional tests including imaging procedures (eg, coronary …


We study the relative strengths and weaknesses of principles based and rules based systems of regulation. In the principles based systems there is clarity about the regulatory objectives but the process of reverse-engineer these objectives into meaningful compliance at the firm level is ambiguous, whereas in the rules based systems there is clarity about the compliance process but the process of forward-engineer this into regulatory objectives is also ambiguous. The ambiguity leads to social costs, the level of which is influenced by regulatory competition. Regulatory competition leads to a race to the bottom effect which is more harmful under the principles based systems. Regulators applying principles based systems make dramatic changes in the way they regulate faced with regulatory competition, whereas regulators applying rules based systems make less dramatic changes, making principles based regulation less robust than rules based regulation. Firms prefer a rules based system where the cost of ambiguity is borne by society rather than the firms, however, when faced with regulatory competition they are better off in principles based systems if the direct costs to firms is sufficiently small. We discuss these effects in the light of recent observations.


Program progress (or termination) is a covert channel that may leak sensitive information. To control information leakage on this channel, semantic definitions of security should be progress sensitive and enforcement mechanisms should restrict the channel's capac-ity. However, most state-of-the-art language-based information-flow mechanisms are progress insensitive—allowing arbitrary information leakage through this channel—and current progress-sen-sitive enforcement techniques are overly restrictive. We propose a type system and instrumented semantics that together enforce progress-sensitive security more precisely than existing approaches. Our system is permissive in that it is able to accept programs in which the termination behavior depends only on low-security (e.g., public or trusted) information. Our system is parameterized on a termination oracle, and controls the progress channel precisely, modulo the ability of the oracle to determine the termination behavior of a program based on low-security information. We have instantiated the oracle for a simple imperative language with a logical abstract interpretation that uses an SMT solver to synthesize linear rank functions. In addition, we extend the system to permit controlled leakage through the progress channel, with the leakage bound by an explicit budget. We empirically analyze progress channels in existing Jif code. Our evaluation suggests that security-critical programs appear to satisfy progress-sensitive security.


Purpose

This paper aims to fill the noticeably fragmented zakat literature repertoire by empirically exploring stakeholders' views toward zakat management performance issues based on a selected zakat institution (ZI) operating on a corporatized platform with corporate administrative style.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey distributed to Muslims in the State which ZI is operating was adopted. A total of 448 usable responses are used in the analysis covering descriptive and mean difference.

Findings

The results indicate that managerial reform configuration in terms of corporatization has been viewed positively by stakeholders, translated into a comforting agreement score toward ZI's improved management performance (collection, disbursement and reporting). Such perceptions are, however, observably sensitive to demographic factors of gender and employment type. The survey also document evidence that the corporatization exercise itself had improved respondents' confidence toward ZI being the zakat administrator in the State.

Originality/value

The research contributes to the public policy debate with respect to corporatized ZI's management performance from the stakeholders' perspective. The results are arguably informative at various levels, forming a basis for reality check and policy inputs for various stakeholders, including (but not limited to) the ZI itself, zakat payers and asnafs, particularly in designing relevant and necessary administrative strategies and relevant policy formulation in addressing the performance and accountability issues in ZIs.


— This study aimed at developing an inverse heat transfer approach for predicting the time-varying freezing front and the temperature distribution of tumors during cryosurgery. Using a temperature probe pressed against the layer of tumor, the inverse approach is able to predict simultaneously the metabolic heat generation and the blood perfusion rate of the tumor. Once these parameters are predicted, the temperature-field and time-varying freezing fronts are determined with the direct model. The direct model rests on one-dimensional Pennes bioheat equation. The phase change problem is handled with the enthalpy method. The Levenberg-Marquardt Method (LMM) combined to the Broyden Method (BM) is used to solve the inverse model. The effect (a) of the thermal properties of the diseased tissues; (b) of the initial guesses for the unknown thermal properties; (c) of the data capture frequency; and (d) of the noise on the recorded temperatures is examined. It is shown that the proposed inverse approach remains accurate for all the cases investigated.


Abstract : As a consequence of recent Defense Management Review Decisions the Department of Defense (DoD) has consolidated the physical distribution functions for wholesale consumable materiel under the management of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and recommended that current DLA stock location policies be reviewed. This thesis examines certain aspects of these policies. The primary focus was on how DLA is managing items which experience a large percentage of high priority requisitions. Initial analyses considered the magnitude of the high priority requisition problem by identifying all requisitions that were submitted to DLA during FY92 using Issue Priority Group (IPG) I designation and a specified Required Delivery Date (RDD). Then, the six top items from this group requisitioned by the Naval Aviation Depot, North Island (NADEP NI), California were selected for detailed case studies. This study found the current stockage location of these items was neither nearest the customer nor nearest the vendor. Additionally, the lack of on-hand inventory was the most significant common factor causing shipment delays of the items. Inventory, DLA, Stock location.


Smart consumers look to buy appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines with the familiar UL, or Underwriters Laboratories, label. Why? The UL label signifies that the appliance has been safety-tested in accordance with a specific set of standards. This ensures safer operation and built-in protection for the user. Science teachers might find themselves asking whether the same is true for science laboratory equipment--are there similar agencies that review, test, and certify this kind of equipment? The answer is "yes!" There are a number of Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs) that certify a wide variety of products for equipment manufacturers. These requirements help ensure that products are designed for safe use in the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standards for general industry (29 CFR 1910) require NRTL approval of certain products used in the workplace. High school labs are likely to include hot plates, power supplies, electronic balances, computers, ovens, and generators--all of which require certification by NRTLs. What exactly does NRTL certification mean? OSHA acknowledges that certain organizations have the necessary qualifications to do safety testing and certify products covered within its scope of recognition. According to OSHA, "properly certified" means the following: 1. The product is labeled or marked with the registered certification mark of an NRTL. 2. An NRTL has issued certification for the product, which is covered within the scope of an OSHA product-safety test standard. 3. An NRTL has issued the certification from one of its OSHA-recognized sites (i.e., locations). OSHA recognition in no way means the equipment has been OSHA-approved--it means that the equipment has been certified and meets certain safety-test expectations. The actual list of specific test standards can be found on the OSHA website (see "On the web"). Also be aware that once an NRTL certifies a product, it monitors the product, manufacturer, marketplace, and use of its certification mark. How do I know equipment is NRTL-certified? NRTLs have unique certification marks for compliance that are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The equipment manufacturer places the registered certification mark on products the NRTL has certified. OSHA's Typical Registered Certification Marks website provides more information (see "On the web"). This site contains many examples of registered certification marks and NRTLs. The following organizations are currently OSHA-recognized NRTLs: * Canadian Standards Association (CSA) (also known as CSA International) * Communication Certification Laboratory (CCL) * Curtis-Straus LLC (CSL) * FM Approvals LLC (FM) (formerly Factory Mutual Research Corporation) * Intertek Testing Services NA (ITSNA) (formerly ETL) * MET Laboratories (MET) (formerly Maryland Electrical Testing) * NSF International (NSF) (formerly National Sanitation Foundation) * National Technical Systems (NTS) * SGS U. …


This thesis studies the problem of optimizing and evaluating multiple directed structural subgraph queries, i.e., those without highly selective predicates on the edges or vertices, continuously in a changing graph. Existing techniques focus on queries with highly selective predicates or are designed for evaluating a single query. As such, these techniques do not scale when evaluating multiple structural queries either because their computations become prohibitively inefficient or they use prohibitively large auxiliary data structures. We build upon the delta subgraph query (DSQ) framework that was introduced in prior work. This framework decomposes queries into multiple delta queries, which are then evaluated one query vertex at a time, without requiring any auxiliary data structures. We study the problem of picking good query vertex orderings for a set of DSQs cumulatively to share computation across different DSQs and achieve efficient runtimes in practice. We describe a greedy cost-based optimizer that takes as input a set of DSQs and a subgraph extension catalogue, and generates a single low cost combined plan that cumulatively evaluates all of the DSQs by sharing computation across them. Our combined plans consist of a Scan and multiple Extend/Intersect (E/I) operators. The E/I operator takes a set of partial matches and extends them by one query vertex. We adopt as our cost metric intersection cost (i-cost), which we show is a good estimate of the actual work performed during query evaluation. We further describe an optimization to the base optimizer that expands the DSQs algebraically to even more DSQs to allow more computation sharing between them. On small query sets we demonstrate that our cost-based greedy optimizer is able to find close to optimal combined plans in terms of run time. On larger query sets, we demonstrate that our optimizer and expanded DSQ optimization can yield significant performance improvements against several baselines.


From the Publisher:
The expansion and popularity of the Internet, along with the addition of wireless data functionality to wireless networks, has also contributed greatly to the growth of the wireless industry. In fact, the anticipated consumer demand for high bandwidth wireless data is commonly seen as the driving force behind current network upgrades and expansions. The number and types of companies aggressively investing in wireless technologies illustrate the importance of wireless data. Non-traditional telecommunications companies such as Cisco Systems, Intel, Microsoft, 3Com, and other professional services companies, are investing heavily in wireless product development and many have formed partnerships with wireless infrastructure manufacturers to help deliver wireless data services seamlessly to consumers.
Written by a respected author this self-contained overview of wireless date technologies will provide a highly sought after technical reference to all those working within the main areas of Wireless Data Services.
Provides a self-contained reference which discusses the key wireless technologies including securityPresents an overview of the wireless industry and its key components such as GSM, GPRS, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, cdma2000, and Spread Spectrum, 802.11, 15 and 16 standardsDiscusses the currently hot topic of Wireless SecurityIncludes a Foreword by Dr Bill Hancock, Chief Security Officer, Exodus Communications/Cable & WirelessProvides a ready reference as well as a reference to additional materials on each topic
Essential reading for all staff working for Telecom companies: engineers, researchers, managers etc.


In this paper, we review the literature on physical layer energy-efficient communications. The most relevant and recent works are mainly centered around two frameworks: the pragmatic and the information theoretical approaches. Both of them aim at finding the best transmit and/or receive policies which maximize the number of bits that can be reliably conveyed over the channel per unit of energy consumed. Taking into account both approaches, the analysis starts with the single user SISO (single-input single-output) channel, and is then extended to the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) and multi-user scenarios.


An alternative method was used to estimate size at maturity for jack mackerel. This method considers relative oxygen consumption as a function of body weight and the consistency of relative oxygen consumption at the size at first maturity and at the asymptotic size in teleosts. Variance in the estimation was evaluated with the Monte Carlo method and considering the uncertainty in the parameters of the length-weight relationship and relative oxygen consumption. Size at first maturity was estimated to be 25.5 cm fork length (17.7-31.3 cm), which was similar to other estimates made using histological analyses of mature females. The method was applied to other species with the objective of demonstrating its usefulness for estimating size at first maturity in fishes.


A recent ocean modelling study indicates that possible changes in circulation may bring warm deep-ocean water into direct contact with the grounding lines of the Filchner–Ronne ice streams, suggesting the potential for future ice losses from this sector equivalent to ~0.3 m of sea-level rise. Significant advancements have been made in our knowledge of both the basal topography and ice velocity in the Weddell Sea sector, and the ability to accurately model marine ice sheet dynamics, thus enabling an assessment to be made of the relative sensitivities of the diverse collection of ice streams feeding the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf. Here we use the BISICLES ice sheet model, which employs adaptive-mesh refinement to resolve grounding line dynamics, to carry out such an assessment. The impact of realistic perturbations to the surface and sub-shelf mass balance forcing fields from our 2000-year "reference" model run indicate that both the Institute and Moller ice streams are highly sensitive to changes in basal melting either near to their respective grounding lines, or in the region of the ice rises within the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf. These same perturbations have little impact, however, on the Rutford, Carlson or Foundation ice streams, while the Evans Ice Stream is found to enter a phase of unstable retreat only after melt at its grounding line has increased by 50% of likely present-day values.


The global distributive implications of automatically allocating political membership according to territoriality (jus soli) and parentage (jus sanguinis) principles have largely escaped critical scrutiny. This article begins to address this considerable gap. Securing membership status in a given state or region— with its specific level of wealth, degree of stability, and human rights record— is a crucial factor in the determination of life chances. However, birthright entitlements still dominate both our imagination and our laws in the allotment of political membership to a given state. In this article we explore the striking conceptual and legal similarities between intergenerational transfers of citizenship and property. The analogy between inherited citizenship and the intergenerational transfer of property allows us to use existing qualifications found in the realm of inheritance as a model for imposing restrictions on the unlimited and perpetual transmission of membership—with the aim of ameliorating its most glaring opportunity inequalities.


Grammatical determiners of various sorts are differently distributed in individual languages. We will list and investigate briefl y a few related and non-related languages to survey the lexical lexemes relating to Determiner (DemPro) status vs. Article status and pronominal anaphor (PersPro). A synchronic line of discussion will be pursued. It will be crucial to see synchronically, fi rst, to which extent such determiners co-defi ne anaphors in contexts reaching beyond the single clause. Second, it will be investigated typologically what the determiner-determined features are where they are in interaction with aspect and morphological case. Third, and interlinking the synchronic and the diachronic chapters, since spoken-only codes use anaphoric determiners in ways strikingly different from their written(-only) standard varieties, processing differences will be made responsible for such a variation.


"Nearly 600 graduate students?" (1) As remarkable as it may sound, that is the projected student population for the online graduate programs in music education at Boston University School of Music by the end of 2007. With the rapid proliferation of online courses among mainstream universities in recent years, it is likely that more online music education programs will continue to emerge in the near future, which begs the question of what effects this new development will have on the profession. Can online education truly be of the same quality as a traditional face-to-face program? How is it possible to effectively manage such large programs, particularly at the doctoral level? For some experienced music educators, it may be quite difficult to set aside firmly entrenched reservations and objectively consider the new possibilities for teaching and research afforded by recent technology. Yet the future is already here, and nearly 600 music educators have seized the opportunity. Through online programs, the internet has become the latest tool for offering professional development to practicing educators who otherwise would not have access, particularly those currently engaged in full-time employment or residing in rural areas. Recognizing the new opportunities afforded by recent technological developments, Director of the Boston University School of Music, Professor Andre De Quadros and colleagues launched the nation's first online doctoral program in music education in 2005. While online doctoral degrees are an entirely new phenomenon in music, they have developed at a rapid pace in other academic fields. Notable examples include the online doctoral programs in education at Pepperdine University and Seton Hall University, as well as Michigan State University's online PhD program in physics. Like most new ideas, Boston University's online graduate programs in music education faced some initial skepticism, but also experienced phenomenal growth and unexpectedly high retention rates throughout 2006. Clearly, many students are attracted to what the programs offer, and have chosen to remain. A similar story may be found as one examines various other innovations in music education across the past century, and the music profession may still have much to learn from its own history. Jazz education, for example, was not pioneered at the Juilliard School or Harvard University. Rather, it began at institutions that were relatively unknown in the 1950s, such as Berklee School of Music (now Berklee College of Music) and North Texas State College (now University of North Texas). Both Berklee and North Texas now enjoy strong international profiles for their comprehensive music offerings, and some of their current success must surely be attributed to their willingness to take the risk of pioneering the world's first collegiate jazz programs. A similar pattern may be seen at UCLA, as one considers the phenomenal success of its innovative musicology programs that range from ethnomusicology to systematic musicology, "world arts and cultures" and "new musicology." Within the United States, Boston has long been regarded as a national center for innovation in the field of music education, so perhaps this new development should not come as a surprise. The nation's first public school music program was founded in Boston in 1837 under Lowell Mason and Horace Mann, and the nation's first music degree program was founded only a few decades later at Boston University in 1872. Notable music graduates from Boston University programs include Professor Bonnie Wade, chair of the Music Department at University of California-Berkeley, as well as MENC's Executive Director John Mahlmann. Boston University hosted the Tanglewood Symposium of 1967, which is widely credited by historians as a landmark event in the history of American music education, and Boston University's fortieth anniversary symposium Tanglewood II: Charting the Future has continued this tradition in 2007. …


Assuming that noise free auto-correlations or auto-bicorrelations are available to guide optimization, signal can be recovered from a noise background to some extent. A synthetic example is employed to demonstrate the procedure of noise rejection by signal optimization. Except for noise bursts at higher frequencies, the auto-bicorrelation approach gives better results.


The aim: to study the international demand of asthma history education. Methods. The Internet site Asthma Museum was created a year ago by association Respirlibre (it unites French, Russian and Ukrainian members) in French and in Russian languages. Asthma Museum is a new tool of international patient and public education with idea to introduce the historical development of asthma science in understanding and disease treatment, in order to help the patients to accept the diagnosis and apprehend modern therapy, to make easier the implementation of the medical advices. Results. During a year The Asthma Museum has been visited by people from 33 countries. 97% of visitors found this site using the search engines (google, ask and others). The 78% of them sought for the information on the history of asthma, it9s origins, it9s roots. The 41% of visitors looked for the answers about inhaler devices: what are their particularities, side effects, how they are validated, how to determine the empty inhaler and their use in different countries etc. 21% of visitors wanted to know how the environment influenced the asthma patients : asthma and perfume, asthma and detergents, asthma and thunder etc. 8% had the questions about allergic rhinitis. 5% of guests (often the Russian speaking auditorium) are interested in asthma association movement. Conclusion. Historical approach in asthma education attracts attention of Internet users. It gives the information about the prevention and the treatment of asthma in a lively shape. The history of asthma is a bridge that conducts the patients to the questions of asthma management. It could be also means of transforming of public image of asthma.


We study a class of optimal stochastic control problems involving two different time scales. The fast mode of the system is represented by deterministic state equations whereas the slow mode of the system corresponds to a jump disturbance process. Under a fundamental "ergodicity" property for a class of "infinitesimal control systems" associated with the fast mode, we show that there exists a limit problem which provides a good approximation to the optimal control of the perturbed system. Both the finite and infinite discounted horizon cases are considered. We show how an approximate optimal control law can be constructed from the solution of the limit control problem. In the particular case where the infinitesimal control systems possess the so-called turnpike property, i.e. are characterized by the existence of global attractors, the limit control problem can be given an interpretation related to a decomposition approach. Due to the constraints on page numbers all results are presented without proofs.


This paper frames, and creates, a fictionalized two-act play based upon two real yet imagined contexts: 1) 1975, apartheid-era South Africa (involving cricket, Yacoob Omar—who was one of South Africa's premier Black cricketers during apartheid, other 1970s-era cricketers, and a fabricated scenario), and 2) a 1995, "post-apartheid" South Africa (involving the World Cup of Rugby, Nelson Mandela, and various others). These scenarios seek to explore sport practices, where some of the naturalized aims, ideologies, and assumptions of sport will be challenged. Might we, by challenging such deeply-held ideologies that much of sport promotes, begin to see sport as potentially liberatory, cooperative, and a possible means to promote understanding for the increasingly-divided societies of the world?


We propose a new method for the analysis of light propagation through thick phase elements of homogeneous refractive index. The Laue equation is shown to be a generalization of Snell's law of refraction, yielding correct amplitude and phase changes at a single refracting surface. The application to blazed phase gratings is outlined.