Visual Abstract The present study was carried out to investigate whether PET imaging can be used as a potential substitute for immunohistochemical analysis of tumor samples in prostate cancer (PC) patients. Correlation between imaging signals of 2 PET tracers and the corresponding target structures was assessed. The first tracer was [68Ga]Ga-PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen)-HBED-CC (N,N′-bis [2-hydroxy-5-(carboxyethyl)benzyl]ethylenediamine-N,N′-diacetic acid) [68Ga]Ga-PSMAHBED-CC ([68Ga]PSMA), which is already implemented in clinical routines. The second tracer was 16β-[18F]fluoro-5α-dihydrotestosterone (16β-[18F]FDHT), which binds to the androgen receptor (AR). The AR is particularly interesting in PC, because AR expression status and its shift during therapy might directly influence patient care. Methods: This prospective, explorative clinical study included 10 newly diagnosed PC patients. Each patient underwent [68Ga]PSMA PET/MRI and [18F]FDHT PET/MRI scans before prostatectomy. Cancer SUVs were determined and related to background SUVs. After prostatectomy, tumor tissue was sampled, and AR and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) expression was determined. AR and PSMA expression was evaluated quantitatively with the open-source bioimage analysis software QuPath and with a 4-tier rating system. Correlation between imaging signals and marker expression was statistically assessed. Results: For [18F]FDHT, the SUVmax/SUVbackground ratio showed a significant, strong correlation (r = 0.72; P = 0.019) with the AR optical density of the correlating tissue sample. The correlation between PSMA optical density and the [68Ga]PSMA SUVmax/SUVbackground ratio was not significant (P = 0.061), yet a positive correlation trend could be observed (r = 0.61). SUVmax/SUVbackground ratios were higher for [68Ga]PSMA (mean ± SD, 34.9 ± 24.8) than for [18F]FDHT (4.8 ± 1.2). In line with these findings, the tumor detection rates were 90% for the [68Ga]PSMA PET scan but only 40% for the [18F]FDHT PET scan. The 4-tier rating of PSMA staining intensity yielded very homogeneous results, with values of 3+ for most subjects (90%). AR staining was rated as 1+ in 2 patients (20%), 2+ in 4 patients (40%), and 3+ in 4 patients (40%). Conclusion: [18F]FDHT PET may be useful for monitoring AR expression and alterations in AR expression during treatment of PC patients. This approach may facilitate early detection of treatment resistance and allows for adaptation of therapy to prevent cancer progression. [18F]FDHT PET is inferior to [68Ga]PSMA PET for primary PC diagnosis, but the correlation between [68Ga]PSMA SUVs and PSMA expression is weaker than that between [18F]FDHT and the AR.


The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) is a bark beetle that is native to the Southern United States, including Tennessee. The beetle is periodically epidemic and can cause high levels of mortalityduring epidemic years, particularly in dense or aging pine (Pinus spp.) stands. An epidemic outbreak of the Southern pine beetle occurred in 1999-2001. By 2001, at the peak of the epidemic, 55 counties in Tennessee were in outbreak status. Subsequent estimations suggest that over 350,000 acres of pine timber in the State were affected by the outbreak, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Given the relative scarcity of the softwood resource in the State compared to the abundance of hardwood species and the significant economic importance of softwoods in Tennessee, the composition and successional trajectory of pine stands impacted by southern pine beetle in the most recent 1999-2001 outbreak is of interest. Here, we measure and quantify the impacts of this southern pine beetle outbreak on the successional trajectory of impacted yellow pine stands. Plots from the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Inventory and AnalysisProgram measured prior, during, and after the outbreak are used to estimate the changes that occurred in southern yellow pine systems within Tennessee. The results from this study suggest that approximately 25 percent of the softwood-dominated forests in Tennessee was lost following the 2000 southern pine beetle event. The majority of that lost acreage transitioned into hardwood-dominated communities.


Many of us have grown up with the language of civil rights, yet rarely consider how the construction of civil rights claims affects those who are trying to attain them. Diane Miller examines arguments lesbians and gay men make for civil rights, revealing the ways these arguments are both progressive-in terms of helping to win court cases seeking basic human rights-and limiting-in terms of framing representations of gay men and lesbians. Miller incorporates case studies of lesbians in the military and in politics into her argument. She discusses in detail the experiences of Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, who was dishonorably discharged from the National Guard after 27 years of service when she revealed that she was a lesbian, and Roberta Achtenberg, who was nominated by Clinton for the job of Assistant Director of Housing and Urban Development and became the first gay or lesbian to face the confirmation process. Drawing on these cases and their outcomes, Miller evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of privileging civil rights strategies in the struggle for gay and lesbian rights.


This article approaches the interpretation of elite and popular attitudes towards the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union through analysis of some of the rival perspectives on the national identity of the English that have become increasingly salient during the last two decades. It highlights their role as sources of some of the most influential ideas about nationhood, governance and state now shaping public discourse on the UK's membership of the EU. These include radical-democratic, restorationist and Anglo-British forms of patriotic discourse, which have prompted and responded to the growing prevalence of England as 'an imagined community' – a trend which has rendered other circles of attachment to the UK and Europe more tenuous and distant. A central conclusion of the article is that these emerging perspectives have spawned webs of belief that connect new and old ideas of nationhood to the political judgements that different actors are making about the EU.


A 60-year-old woman was found unconscious in her hospital bed approximately 2 h after routine coronary angiography. Glasgow coma scale was 6, she was intubated immediately and transferred to the intensive care unit. Cerebral computer tomography (CCT) showed unilateral cerebral oedema of the entire right hemisphere without signs of cerebral ischaemia or haemorrhage (figure 1A). No signs of brainstem affection or herniation was seen on initial CCT, but a slight midline shift was present. Neurological examination revealed left-sided hemiplegia and positive Babinski's sign of her left foot. The initial coronary catheterisation was performed as routine diagnostic procedure to assess the extent of suspected coronary artery disease following an observed T wave inversion in the ECG, which turned out to be mild and non-stenotic. During the procedure, no …


Financial markets embed expectations of central bank policy into asset prices. This paper compares two approaches that extract a probability density of market beliefs. The first is a simulatedmoments estimator for option volatilities described in Mizrach (2002); the second is a new approach developed by Haas, Mittnik and Paolella (2004a) for fat-tailed conditionally heteroskedastic time series. In an application to the 1992-93 European Exchange Rate Mechanism crises, that both the options and the underlying exchange rates provide useful information for policy makers.


Spectra-Based Fault Localisation (SBFL) aims to assist debugging by applying risk evaluation formulæ (sometimes called suspiciousness metrics) to program spectra and ranking statements according to the predicted risk. Designing a risk evaluation formula is often an intuitive process done by human software engineer. This paper presents a Genetic Programming approach for evolving risk assessment formulæ. The empirical evaluation using 92 faults from four Unix utilities produces promising results. GP-evolved equations can consistently outperform many of the human-designed formulæ, such as Tarantula, Ochiai, Jaccard, Ample, and Wong1/2, up to 5.9 times. More importantly, they can perform equally as well as Op2, which was recently proved to be optimal against If-Then-Else-2 (ITE2) structure, or even outperform it against other program structures. 1 The program spectra data used in the paper, as well as the complete empirical results, are available from: http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/s.yoo/evolving-sbfl.html. UCL DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE Research Note RN/16/05 Fitness Landscape of the Triangle Program 10 June 2016 To be presented at Workshop on Landscape-Aware Heuristic Search (PPSN 2016) Nadarajen Veerapen and Gabriela Ochoa (editors), 17-21 September William B. Langdon and Mark Harman


Background: Knowledge regarding the burden and predictors of hypoglycemia among older adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is limited. Methods: We analyzed baseline data from the Wireless Innovations for Seniors with Diabetes Mellitus (WISDM) study, which enrolled participants at 22 sites in the United States. Eligibility included clinical diagnosis of T1D, age ≥60 years, no real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) use in prior three months, and HbA1c <10.0%. Blinded CGM data from 203 participants with at least 240 hours were included in the analyses. Results: Median age of the cohort was 68 years (52% female, 93% non-Hispanic white, and 53% used insulin pumps). Mean HbA1c was 7.5%. Median time spent in the glucose range <70 mg/dL was 5.0% (72 min/day) and <54 mg/dL was 1.6% (24 min/day). Among all factors analyzed, only reduced hypoglycemia awareness was associated with greater time spent <54 mg/dL (median time of 2.7% vs 1.3% [39 vs 19 minutes per day] for reduced awareness vs aware/uncertain, respectively, P = .03). Participants spent a mean 56% of total time in target glucose range of 70-180 mg/dL and 37% of time above 180 mg/dL. Conclusions: Over half of older T1D participants spent at least an hour a day with glucose levels <70 mg/dL. Those with reduced hypoglycemia awareness spent over twice as much time than those without in a serious hypoglycemia range (glucose levels <54 mg/dL). Interventions to reduce exposure to clinically significant hypoglycemia and increase time in range are urgently needed in this age group.


"They _frightened me, old friend. All they want for a rural policy is a sheep, a goat, three acres -
and a migrant." So commented a former Governor General returning from a rural conference in
Albury, according to Alan Reid, a political journalist writing a newspaper story in October
1954. Who were the mysterious they? Forerunners of the communes of the sixties, perhaps the
cult movements of the seventies? Certainly it was a religious organisation, but one where most of
the members belonged to that oldest form of institutionalised Christianity - the Roman Catholic
Church. Co-operation was an esteemed principle, but the freedom "to do your own thing" was
not. The National Catholic Rural Movement (NCRM), as it was called, was an expression of
Catholic Action, a concept formulated in Rome, but which the Australian hierarchy was
struggling to establish in a country far removed from Europe. Yet, with a mixture of somewhat
naive romanticism and ironclad ideology, the NCRM had its own idealistic visions for Australia,
much as the poet McAuley was to write in 1956.
"Help of Christians guard this landfrom assault or inward stain.
Let it be what Christ has planned His Eden where you reign."
By 1950 the National Catholic Rural Movement had about 6000 members, 300 rural groups and
a periodical, "Rural Life" The NCRM, however, was never a truly 'grass roots' rural based
movement nor did any initiatives develop from the country branches. During the period of its
growth, post war reconstruction was a subject of wide interest and debate in Australia and there
was strong support for such concepts as decentralisation and land settlement which were central
to NCRM theories. Yet attempts to implement NCRM policies provoked suspicion and
antagonism because they ran counter to values deeply held in Australia at that time. With the
incoming tide of new technology and cultural changes in post-war Australia the assumptions
basic to the NCRM's vision crumbled as surely as sand castles on the beach.


RNA interference (RNAi) plays a role in the defense against viral infection in plants, but does it play a similar role in animals? The evidence from tissue culture cells and Caenorhabditis elegans-based systems has suggested that this is so, but definitive evidence in a system that uses endogenous viruses and whole animals has been lacking. Wang et al. now show that both Drosophila embryos and adult flies mount a substantial innate immune response to insect viruses that requires the RNAi machinery and that this innate defense is separable from the innate bacterial defense provided by the Toll and immune-deficiency pathways. X.-H. Wang, R. Aliyari, W.-X. Li, H.-W. Li, K. Kim, R. Carthew, P. Atkinson, S.-W. Ding, RNA interference directs innate immunity against viruses in adult Drosophila. Science 312, 452-454 (2006). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Fokkink and Zantema (Fokkink and Zantema 1994) have shown that bisimulation equivalence has a finite equational axiomatization over the language of Basic Process Algebra with the binary Kleene star operation (BPA*). In light of this positive result on the mathematical tractability of bisimulation equivalence over BPA*, a natural question to ask is whether any other (pre)congruence relation in van Glabbeek's linear time/branching time spectrum is finitely (in)equationally axiomatizable over it. In this paper, we prove that, unlike bisimulation equivalence, none of the preorders and equivalences in van Glabbeek's linear time/branching time spectrum, whose discriminating power lies in between that of ready simulation and that of completed traces, has a finite equational axiomatization. This we achieve by exhibiting a family of (in)equivalences that holds in ready simulation semantics (which is the finest semantics that we consider) and whose instances cannot all be proved by means of any finite set of (in)equations that is sound in completed trace semantics (which is the coarsest semantics that is appropriate for the language BPA*). To this end, for every finite collection of (in)equations that are sound in completed trace semantics, we build a model in which some of the (in)equivalences of the family under consideration fail. The construction of the model mimics the one used by Conway (Conway 1971, p. 105) in his proof of a result, originally due to Redko, to the effect that infinitely many equations are needed to axiomatize equality of regular expressions. Our non-finite axiomatizability results apply to the language BPA* over an arbitrary non-empty set of actions. In particular, we show that completed trace equivalence is not finitely based over BPA* even when the set of actions is a singleton. Our proof of this result may be adapted to the standard language of regular expressions to yield a solution to an open problem posed by Salomaa (Salomaa 1969, p. 143). Another semantics that is usually considered in process theory is trace semantics. Trace semantics is, in general, not preserved by sequential composition, and is therefore inappropriate for the language BPA*. We show that, if the set of actions is a singleton, trace equivalence and preorder are preserved by all the operators in the signature of BPA*, and coincide with simulation equivalence and preorder, respectively. In that case, unlike all the other semantics considered in this paper, trace semantics have finite, complete equational axiomatizations over closed terms.


The speed of urbanization is putting enormous pressure on the cities in developing countries to keep up with the provision of basic services like housing, energy and water supply, solid and liquid waste management, social, educational and cultural institutions etc. Decentralized basic needs services (DBNS) are proven supplements to existing (centralized) systems to improve cities service performance. However, a successful integration of DBNS options in the traditional domain of centralized services requires its inclusion in cities' development plans.

From a city manager perspective to opt for DBNS, a detailed assessment on the extent of the services that could be provided through DBNS, their price as well as other possible implications is required. Such assessment will need to include also details of policy and institutional changes/adaptations requirements, information/awareness needs, possible fiscal incentive, etc.

The presented city-wide DBNS planning methodology aims at providing a first guide on how to conduct such assessment, focusing on some of the most pressing basic services. The resulting City-wide DBNS plan targets to be a work document for city managers. It provides a clear overview of the ground situation of the selected DBNS and provides prioritized intervention plans for key DBNS related stress areas of the city.


Multiple rationality organizations are characterized by the simultaneously incorporation of different kinds of logic and control systems. They have to provide not only for efficiency but also to comply with e.g. ideal of fairness, sportsmanship, equal rights, and aesthetic values. Elite sport clubs, theatres, and several municipality activities are examples of organizations that have to cope with multiple rationalities. These organizations are often governed through a combination of political and administrative control systems. They cope mainly by decoupling activities and reinterpret the situations but this often leads to paradoxes.


When and why do national movements succeed? What explains variation in the use and effectiveness of political violence employed by nationalist groups? Groups pursue common strategic goals against external enemies, such as the founding of a new state, while engaging in zero-sum competition for organizational dominance with internal rivals in their national movement. The distribution of power within a national movement provides its structure, which serves as the key variable for both the internal and external struggle. The hierarchical position of groups within the movement drives their actions, while the number of significant groups in the movement drives its effectiveness. Contrary to existing scholarship that treats nonstate coercers as unitary or suggests that united or fragmented movements perform best, hegemonic movements with one significant group are most likely to succeed. Hegemonic movement structure incentivizes the pursuit of shared strategic goals; reduces counterproductive violent mechanisms and foreign meddling; and improves the movement's coherence in strategy, clarity in signaling, and credibility in threats and assurances to yield strategic success. Analysis of seventeen campaigns involving sixteen groups within the Palestinian and Algerian national movements reveals that the power distribution theory explains greater variation in the effectiveness of national movements than previous scholarship.


Background REACT-1 is quantifying prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among random samples of the population in England based on PCR testing of self-administered nose and throat swabs. Here we report results from the fifth round of observations for swabs collected from the 18th September to 5th October 2020. This report updates and should be read alongside our round 5 interim report. Methods Representative samples of the population aged 5 years and over in England with sample size ranging from 120,000 to 175,000 people at each round. Prevalence of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, estimation of reproduction number (R) and time trends between and within rounds using exponential growth or decay models. Results 175,000 volunteers tested across England between 18th September and 5th October. Findings show a national prevalence of 0.60% (95% confidence interval 0.55%, 0.71%) and doubling of the virus every 29 (17, 84) days in England corresponding to an estimated national R of 1.16 (1.05, 1.27). These results correspond to 1 in 170 people currently swab-positive for the virus and approximately 45,000 new infections each day. At regional level, the highest prevalence is in the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and the North East with strongest regional growth in North West, Yorkshire and The Humber and West Midlands. Conclusion Rapid growth has led to high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in England, with highest rates in the North of England. Prevalence has increased in all age groups, including those at highest risk. Improved compliance with existing policy and, as necessary, additional interventions are required to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community and limit the numbers of hospital admissions and deaths from COVID-19.


This article examines Yvonne Vera's representation of sexual violence in her 2002 novel The Stone Virgins. Set during the violent period of Zimbabwe's postindependence history known as the gukurahundi, the novel shows how women's bodies are made to bear the material wounds of protracted national struggles. Vera complicates this critique by articulating scenes of murder and rape using an intensely intimate lexicon, conventionally associated with amatory discourses. In order to elucidate the metaphoric and symbolic connections Vera establishes between desire and violence, I adopt a psychoanalytic framework that seeks to explain the pleasure culture derives from images of subjugated femininity. I argue that Vera's disquieting conflation of violation with intimacy formulates a powerful critique of women's inscription by dominant masculinist paradigms, and implicates normative attitudes concerning women's passivity and sexual availability in a catastrophic national violence.


The study evaluates the existing and potential fertilizer programmes and pineapple residue management practices
in order to come out with a fertilization programme which is economically viable. The fertilizer programmes
adopted were: (i) application of N (176, 176, 176, and 176 kg ha-1 ), P (11, 11, 7, and 7 kg herJ), and K (89,
89, 188, and 188 kg ha-1 ) fertilizers at 65, 135, 191, and 233 days after planting (FP1), respectively (the usual
practice); (ii) application of N (176, 176, and 176 kg ha-J
) P (11, 11, and 7 kg herJ) and K (89, 89, and
188 kg ha-J) fertilizers at 65, 135, and 191 days after planting (FP2), respectively; and (iii) application of N
(176,264, and 264 kg ha-1 ) P (11,14, and 11 kg ha-1 ) and K (89,183, and 285 kg ha-J) fertilizers at 65, 135, and 191 days after planting (FP3), respectively. Pineapple residue management practices used were: (i) in situ decomposition of pineapple residue without any interference (RMl); (ii) stacking of pineapple residue (leaves, crowns, and peduncles) slashed, and raked from 0.6 m x 10m beds into 0.9 m x 10m beds (RM2-zero bum technique); and (iii) in situ burning of pineapple leaves, crowns, and peduncles (the usual practice) (RM3). Combinations of the residue management practices and fertilizer programmes gave the following treatments: RM1FP1, RM1FP2, RM1FP3, RM2FP1, RM2FP2, RM2FP3, RM3FP1, RM3FP2, and RM3FP3. Neither of
the fertilization programmes (FP1, FP2, and FP3) nor residue management practices (RM1, RM2, and RM3)significantly improved fruit yield. FP2 emerged as the least expensive programme followed by FP3, and then FP1.
The cheapest residue management practice was RM1, followed by RM2, and RM3. RM1FP2 emerged the most economic treatment combination. Zero-bum technique (RM2), in situ decomposition of pineapple residues without
any interference (RM1), in situ burning of pineapple residues did not significantly improve fruit yield, but
practicing RM1 in pineapple cultivation on tropical peat is economical. Application of N, P, and K fertilizers
at 65, 135, and 191 days after planting (FP2) was cost effective as it was possible to save as much as USD
110.17 ha-J, and this programme was most economically viable under pineapple residue management practice
RM1.


In the framework of the EU project Ice2sea we utilize a global finite element sea ice - ice shelf - ocean model (FESOM), focused on the Antarctic marginal seas, to assess projections of ice shelf basal melting in a warmer climate. Ice shelf - ocean interaction is described using a three-equation system with a diagnostic computation of temperature and salinity at the ice-ocean interface. A tetrahedral mesh with a minimum horizontal resolution of 4 minutes and hybrid vertical coordinates is used. Ice shelf draft, cavity geometry, and global ocean bathymetry have been derived from the RTopo-1 data set.

The model is forced with the atmospheric output from two climate models: (1) the Hadley Centre Climate
Model (HadCM3) and (2) Max Planck Institute's ECHAM5/MPI-OM coupled climate model. Data from their
20th-century simulations are used to evaluate the modeled present-day ocean state. Sea-ice coverage is largely
realistic in both simulations. Modeled ice shelf basal melt rates compare well with observations in both cases, but are consistently smaller for ECHAM5/MPI-OM.

Projections for future ice shelf basal melting are computed using atmospheric output for IPCC scenarios
E1 and A1B. Trends in sea ice coverage depend on the scenario chosen but are largely consistent between the two forcing models. In contrast to this, variations of ocean heat content and ice shelf basal melting are only moderate in simulations forced with ECHAM5/MPI-OM data, while a substantial shift towards a warmer regime is found in experiments forced with HadCM3 output. A strong sensitivity to salinity distribution at the continental shelf break is found for the Weddell Sea, where in the HadCM3-A1B experiment warm water starts to pulse onto the southern continental shelf during the 21st century. As these pulses reach deep into the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS) cavity, basal melting increases by a factor of three to six compared to the present value of about 100 Gt/yr. By the middle of the 22nd century, FRIS becomes the largest contributor to total ice shelf basal mass loss in this simulation.


Chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Although the metabolic syndrome has been defined in various ways, the ultimate importance of recognizing this combination of disorders is that it helps identify individuals at high risk for both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Evidence from observational and experimental studies links adverse exposures in early life, particularly relating to nutrition, to chronic disease susceptibility in adulthood. Such studies provide the foundation and framework for the relatively new field of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). Although great strides have been made in identifying the putative concepts and mechanisms relating specific exposures in early life to the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood, a complete picture remains obscure. To date, the main focus of the field has been on perinatal undernutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies; however, the current global health crisis of overweight and obesity demands that perinatal overnutrition and specific nutrient excesses be examined. This paper assembles current thoughts on the concepts and mechanisms behind the DOHaD as they relate to maternal nutrition, and highlights specific contributions made by macro- and micronutrients.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of misalignment (tilt & decentration) of IOLs in cataract surgery using Liu-Brennan optical eye model in a simulation. Methods: A phantom with the real eye parameters –Liu-Brennan model– and Tecnis Z9000 IOL were used for simulation. Results: Results showed that with 0.4 mm decentration and more the modulation transfer function (MTF) and contrast were reduced continuously in the ±X Axes. IOL decentration in ±Y axes showed a symmetrical reduction of MTF and contrast with increasing the decentration. In the ±X and ±Y axes, 1o to 8o IOL tilts had no significant effect on the MTF and contrast of the eye. Conclusion: It can be said that the decentration of Tecnis Z9000 IOL in the ±X and ±Y axes will reduce the optical quality of the person, specially for decentration more than 0.4 mm this effect is very significant. Therefore using the compensation methods for improvement of the optical quality is essential. But up to 8o IOL tilt in vertical and horizontal axes had no significant effect on the visual quality of the patient.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of CEO compensation plans and the risk of managerial equity portfolios with the extent of strategic investments in advertising, capital expenditures and research and development (R&D). The elements of compensation are salary, bonuses, options and restricted stock grants. The authors proxy the design of CEO equity portfolios by the price performance sensitivity of the holdings and the portfolio deltas.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the components of executive compensation and portfolio risk as the dependent variables, regressing these against measures for the level of strategic investment. The authors test for non-linear relationships between the components of CEO compensation and strategic investments. The sample is a broad cross-section from 1992 to 2016.

Findings
The authors find strong support for non-linear relationships of capital expenditures and R&D with CEO bonuses, option grants and restricted stock grants. There are very complex relationships between the components of executive compensation and R&D expenditures, but little evidence of a relationship with advertising expenditures. The authors also find strong complex relationships in the design of CEO equity portfolios with advertising and R&D.

Originality/value
Little earlier research has considered advertising, capital expenditures and R&D in a unified framework. Also, testing for non-linear associations provides much greater insight into the relationship between the components of executive compensation and strategic investment. The findings represent a valuable incremental contribution to the executive compensation literature. The results also have normative policy implications for compensation committees' design of optimal annual CEO compensation packages to incentivize or discourage particular strategic investment behavior.


The representation of the nude in art remained for many centuries a victory of fiction over fact. Beautiful, handsome, flawless its great success was to distance the unclothed body from any uncomfortably explicit taint of sexuality, eroticism or imperfection. In this fluent and engaging new study, Frances Borzello contrasts the civilized, sanitized, perfected artistic nude of Kenneth Clarks classic, "The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1956)", with todays depictions: raw, uncomfortable, both disturbing and intriguing. Grittier and more subtle, both male and female, the new nude asks awkward questions and behaves provocatively. It is a very naked nude, created to deal with the issues and contradictions that surround the body in our time. Borzello explores the role of the nude in 20th- and 21st-century art, looking at the work of a wide range of international artists creating contemporary nudes. Her fascinating text is complemented by a profusion of well-chosen, unusual and beautifully reproduced illustrations. The story begins with a tale of life, death and resurrection an investigation into how and why the nude has survived and flourished in an art world that prematurely announced its demise. Subsequent chapters take a thematic approach, focusing in turn on Body art and Performance art, the new perspectives of women artists, the nude in painting, portraiture and sculpture and in its most extreme and graphic expressions that intentionally push the boundaries of both art and our comfort zone. A skilled communicator with an ability to make us want to look at art and think anew about it, Borzello has much to say about modern art and about our contemporary and historical cultural fixation with the body and the nude.


Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School's Centennial History, 1909-2009. By James F. Willis. (Magnolia: Southern Arkansas University Foundation, 2009. Pp. 447. Preface, acknowledgments, introduction, illustrations, notes, index. $34.99, paper.) From a scholar's standpoint, most institutional histories stink. Given the university's centrality to scholarly endeavors, you might think that academic institutions would buck the trend, but that is too rarely the case. Typically, histories of colleges and universities are either hagiographic celebrations of mediocrity or poorly organized collections of vignettes and lists of personnel, popular athletes, and prominent donors. Fortunately for those in the Southern Arkansas University (SAU) family, James F. Willis's institutional history doesn't stink. Sure, at times the book lapses into ruminations on Xerox machine replacement and walking trail construction that only a true insider could appreciate, and on occasion it seems that anyone with at least five years of employment at the university garners at least one mention in the text. All in all, however, this centennial history is a solid account of SAU's story set against the backdrop of public higher education in Arkansas and the social and economic life of the southwestern part of the state. SAU began life as Third District Agricultural School (TDAS). In 1909, responding to lobbying efforts by the Arkansas Farmers' Union and emulating recent educational efforts in other states, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 100, which provided funds for the creation of an agricultural high school in each of four districts. Magnolia won out over Hope, Mena, and other competing towns to claim the third district's school; Monticello, Russellville, and Jonesboro captured the bids in their respective districts. Though officially founded in 1909, TDAS commenced classes only in January 1911. Like similar institutions around the country, in its early years the forerunner of SAU was indeed a high school whose curriculum was founded on vocational agricultural training for prospective farmers and farm wives. Students produced much of what they ate in the school's dairy and farming operations. In 1925, following the lead of the three other schools, TDAS underwent a conversion to junior college status as the result of another legislative action. For the next quarter-century, the school, renamed the State Agricultural and Mechanical College, Third District, or "Magnolia A&M" colloquially, experienced evolutionary cycles common to the state's institutions of higher education in that era-fluctuating enrollments, financial exigencies, the GI Bill boom days of the post-World War II years. …


High-level vancomycin resistance among Staphylococcus aureus poses a grave threat to global health as the treatment options for this pathogen are very limited. A detailed evaluation of the genetic background of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) is expected to facilitate the understanding of its origin and pathogenicity. In this study, we performed the genetic analysis of the clinical VRSA isolates and identified the genetic basis of resistance to multiple antibiotics among these strains, based on the available draft genome sequences. In addition, we generated the draft genome of the strain VRS3b, which was considered to be same as VRS3a based on its isolation from the same patient. We found that strain VRS3b did not harbor the genes responsible for tetracycline and gentamicin, which was further confirmed by the sensitivity towards these antibiotics. Our results suggest that the strains VRS3a and VRS3b are different from the view of antibiotic resistance and highlight the possibility of generation of two distinct VRSA strains from the same patient.


Series Limited Liability Companies offer a unique system of internal liability protection and numerous means for cost savings. Despite having been created over a decade ago, these entities are rarely used by the business and legal community. Much of this hesitance can be attributed to the fact that there is very little legislative and judicial guidance on the series LLC, leaving many vital questions unanswered and making the series LLC a risky investment. One question that has yet to be determined is whether an individual series will be permitted to file for bankruptcy in its own name. This issue is important in holding steady the internal liability shield of the series LLC because only by filing separately from the master LLC and its fellow series can creditors in bankruptcy be limited solely to the assets of the individual series, as was intended by the statute.


The well-known behavioural finding that losses have a greater impact on people's well-being than gains, has important implications for the study of individual and collective choices, as well as the ways in which analyses are carried out -- many more than have yet been seriously considered. It also has many for analysts' use of such tools as price elasticities, discount rates, value of statistical lives, risk analysis, and the like. A greater recognition of the behavioral findings would likely lead to reductions of the biases in many present analyses.


This publication helps non-IP specialists understand the connection between IP, tourism and culture. Through multiple case studies, it illustrates how existing and potential IP tools, in particular branding and copyright, can add value to tourism services and products. It explains how to include IP in tourism policies, product development and destination branding, and shows how different IP rights can be leveraged for fundraising purposes.


Both in science as in politics, the euro project is an intensively discussed topic. While some predict maintaining it will lead europe in a glorious future, others consider it to be the evil ruining the old continent. The present work addresses the question how common pool ressources, that are born in every currency union, affect the success of such a monetary alliance. It is shown that, theoretically, any supranational monetary union is doomed to fail in a "Tragedy of the Commons". The acquired theoretical results are verified analysing the most prominent currency unions in history and therein prove to be true. Thus, not only the critics of the euro are legitimate. What ist more, there may never be a successful currency union between nations.


There has been an increasing prevalence of ad-hoc networks for various purposes and applications. These include Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) and Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) which have emerging applications in health monitoring as well as user location tracking in emergency settings. Further applications can include real-time actuation of IoT equipment, and activation of emergency alarms through the inference of a user's situation using sensors and personal devices through a LPWAN. This has potential benefits for military networks and applications regarding the health of soldiers and field personnel during a mission. Due to the wireless nature of ad-hoc network devices, it is crucial to conserve battery power for sensors and equipment which transmit data to a central server. An inference system can be applied to devices to reduce data size for transfer and subsequently reduce battery consumption, however this could result in compromising accuracy. This paper presents a framework for secure automated messaging and data fusion as a solution to address the challenges of requiring data size reduction whilst maintaining a satisfactory accuracy rate. A Multilayer Inference System (MIS) was used to conserve the battery power of devices such as wearables and sensor devices. The results for this system showed a data reduction of 97.9% whilst maintaining satisfactory accuracy against existing single layer inference methods. Authentication accuracy can be further enhanced with additional biometrics and health data information.


In this paper, we study the problems of principle Generalized Eigenvector computation and Canonical Correlation Analysis in the stochastic setting. We propose a simple and efficient algorithm for these problems. We prove the global convergence of our algorithm, borrowing ideas from the theory of fast-mixing Markov chains and two-Time-Scale Stochastic Approximation, showing that it achieves the optimal rate of convergence. In the process, we develop tools for understanding stochastic processes with Markovian noise which might be of independent interest.


The employment of the dianion (dpkd(2-)) of the gem-diol form of di-2-pyridylketone (dpk) as a tetradentate chelate in manganese chemistry is reported, and the synthesis, crystal structure, and magnetochemical characterization of [Mn26O16(OMe)12(dpkd)12(MeOH)6](OH)6 x solv (3 x solv) are described. The reaction of Mn(ClO4)2 x 6 H2O, dpk, NaOMe, and NEt3 (2:1:4:2) in MeCN/MeOH affords complex 3, which possesses a rare metal topology and is mixed-valence (4 Mn(II), 22 Mn(III)). The complicated [Mn26(mu4-O)10(mu3-O)6(mu3-OMe)12(mu-OR)12](18+) core of 3 consists of an internal Mn(III)16 cage of adjacent Mn4 tetrahedra surrounded by an external Mn(II)4Mn(III)6 shell. The latter is held together by the alkoxide arms of twelve eta(1):eta(2):eta(1):eta(1):mu3 dpkd(2-) groups. Variable-temperature, solid-state direct current (dc), and alternating current (ac) magnetization studies were carried out on 3 in the 1.8-300 K range. Complex 3 is predominantly antiferromagnetically coupled with a resulting S = 6 ground state, a conclusion confirmed by the in-phase (chi'(M)) ac susceptibility data. The observation of out-of-phase (chi''(M)) ac susceptibility signals suggested that 3 might be a single-molecule magnet, and this was confirmed by single-crystal magnetization vs dc field sweeps that exhibited hysteresis, the diagnostic property of a magnet. Combined ac chi''(M) and magnetization decay vs time data collected below 1.1 K were used to construct an Arrhenius plot; the fit of the thermally activated region above approximately 0.1 K gave U(eff) = 30 K, where U(eff) is the effective relaxation barrier. At lower temperatures, the complex exhibits temperature-independent relaxation, characteristic of ground-state quantum tunneling of magnetization between the lowest-lying M(s) = +/-6 levels. The combined work demonstrates the ligating flexibility of dipyridyl-diolate chelates and their usefulness in the synthesis of polynuclear Mn(x) clusters with interesting magnetic properties, without requiring the co-presence of carboxylate ligands.


Purpose: The main goal of the study is to determine the relationship between two multidimensional phenomena, i.e., sustainable living conditions of households and the long and good health of the populations of the European Union countries. In particular, the analysis focused on showing the differences between EU(28) countries in terms of the research indicators used, the diagnosis of the relationships between them, creating synthetic measures for the investigated phenomena, as well as creating rankings and groups of countries with similar characteristics. Design/Approach/Methodology: The issues were evaluated using 23 indicators. The empirical data consisted of information from the European Statistical Office. The analysis covered 28 European Union countries. The study was carried out between 2010 and 2018. The empirical data was subjected to statistical analysis using STATISICA and Microsoft Excel software. Findings: The analyses showed that sustainable living conditions of households in the EU(28) countries affect the number of healthy life years of their populations. In countries that are relatively more often affected by financial issues and limited living conditions, have low income and are at risk of poverty, are exposed to noise and air pollution, their populations are healthy for shorter periods of time, less often perceive their health as good or very good. Practical Implications: The results are compared with other possible forms of relationships, sustainable living conditions of households with long and good health of the population. Originality/Value: The study included some detailed calculations involving selected living conditions of households in EU(28) countries and showed how they affect the life expectancy and health.


The ethanol extracts from the fresh-water algae; Chara hispida L., Cladophora glomerata (Dilw.) Kutz, C. fracta (Dilw.) Kutz, Spirogyra gratiana Transeau, Mougeotia sp. (C.A. Agardh), Vaucheria sessilis (Vauch.) De Candolle, Geminella mutabilis (Breb.) Wille, the fresh-water plants; Ranunculus rionii Lagger and Ceratophyllum demersum L., as well as the marine algae; Sciniaia furcellata (Turn.) J. Agardh, Dictyota dichotoma (Huds.) Lam., Padina vickersiae Hoyt, Halopteris scoparia (L.) Sauvagau, and the sea grass; Posidonia oceanica (L.) Dell. were assessed in vitro for their antioxidant and anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity test at 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg ml -1 and ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP) at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg ml −1 concentrations. Total phenolic contents of the extracts were determined using Folin-Ciocalteau's reagent. The extracts were further analyzed qualitatively by LC-DAD-MS. S. gratiana had the best antioxidant activity, followed by R. rionii. LC-DAD-MS showed rich gallic acid and its ethyl ester contents in S. gratiana , while prosperous vitamin C content has been detected in P. oceanica for the fi rst time in this study. S. gratiana possessed the highest inhibition (42.5±2.28%) at 2.0 mg ml −1 against AChE.


This article begins with a definition of the terms modernity, modernisation, and postmodernism. It discusses some of the characteristics prevalent in each stage of evolution and the legal system that exists. It investigates the relationship between these forces of change and the legal system that emerges. A review of the influence of modernity, modernisation and postmodernism in the Asian context is carried out. It acts as a framework that assists a better understanding of the character and operation of the law. It also provides a benchmark against which specific law reform proposals and the direction, that the law takes, can be addressed. The South-East Asian financial crisis has revealed the need to improve the level of transparency, accountability and regulation among companies in the region. The shift towards the postmodernist era is characterised by a number of challenges. Finally, the article considers the effect of these changes on company law legislation and reform in the context of Malaysia.


Psychlab is a simulated psychology laboratory inside the first-person 3D game world of DeepMind Lab (Beattie et al. 2016). Psychlab enables implementations of classical laboratory psychological experiments so that they work with both human and artificial agents. Psychlab has a simple and flexible API that enables users to easily create their own tasks. As examples, we are releasing Psychlab implementations of several classical experimental paradigms including visual search, change detection, random dot motion discrimination, and multiple object tracking. We also contribute a study of the visual psychophysics of a specific state-of-the-art deep reinforcement learning agent: UNREAL (Jaderberg et al. 2016). This study leads to the surprising conclusion that UNREAL learns more quickly about larger target stimuli than it does about smaller stimuli. In turn, this insight motivates a specific improvement in the form of a simple model of foveal vision that turns out to significantly boost UNREAL's performance, both on Psychlab tasks, and on standard DeepMind Lab tasks. By open-sourcing Psychlab we hope to facilitate a range of future such studies that simultaneously advance deep reinforcement learning and improve its links with cognitive science.


The replica exchange method (REM) has been widely used in the computer simulation of complex systems, such as proteins, glasses, and atomic clusters, where conventional methods based on sampling the canonical ensemble struggle to attain ergodicity over a rugged energy landscape characterized by multiple minima separated by high energy barriers. While the standard temperature REM (tREM) has proven to be highly effective in the equilibrium sampling of stable single phase states, tREM is seriously challenged in the vicinity of a first-order phase transition. The generalized Replica Exchange Method (gREM) was developed to address these outstanding computational problems and provide a method for simulating strong phase transitions in condensed matter systems. The central idea behind gREM is to incorporate the merit of generalized ensemble sampling into the replica exchange paradigm. The key ingredients of gREM are parameterized effective sampling weights, which smoothly join ordered and disordered phases with a succession of unimodal energy distributions that transform unstable or metastable energy states of the canonical ensemble into stable states that can be fully characterized. The inverse mapping between the sampling weights and the effective v temperature provides a sure way to design the effective sampling weights and achieve ergodic sampling. Various applications of gREM are presented, including studies of the solid-liquid phase change of an adapted Dzugutov model of glass formation, the mechanism of spinodal decomposition in the vapor-liquid transition of a simple fluid, and the apparent crossover from a first-order to continuous transition with increasing density in the freezing of a nanofilm of water confined between featureless and atomistic surfaces. Extensive gREM simulations combined with the Statistical Temperature Weighted Histogram Analysis Method (ST-WHAM) demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach and provide comprehensive characterization of thermodynamic and structural properties intrinsic to phase transitions in these diverse systems.


Reliability is a key aspect of power system design and planning. In this research we present a reliability analysis algorithm for large scale, radially operated (with respect to substation), reconfigurable, electrical distribution systems. The algorithm takes into account equipment power handling constraints and converges in a matter of seconds on systems containing thousands of components. Linked lists of segments are employed in obtaining the rapid convergence. A power flow calculation is used to check the power handling constraints. The application of distributed generators for electrical distribution systems is a new technology. The placement of distributed generation and its effects on reliability is investigated. Previous reliability calculations have been performed for static load models and inherently make the assumption that system reliability is independent of load. The study presented here evaluates improvement in reliability over a time varying load curve. Reliability indices for load points and the overall system have been developed. A new reliability index is proposed. The new index makes it easier to locate areas where reliability needs to be improved. The usefulness of this new index is demonstrated with numerical examples.


Pathological estimation of tumor necrosis after chemotherapy is essential for patients with osteosarcoma. This study reports the first fully automated tool to assess viable and necrotic tumor in osteosarcoma, employing advances in histopathology digitization and automated learning. We selected 40 digitized whole slide images representing the heterogeneity of osteosarcoma and chemotherapy response. With the goal of labeling the diverse regions of the digitized tissue into viable tumor, necrotic tumor, and non-tumor, we trained 13 machine-learning models and selected the top performing one (a Support Vector Machine) based on reported accuracy. We also developed a deep-learning architecture and trained it on the same data set. We computed the receiver-operator characteristic for discrimination of non-tumor from tumor followed by conditional discrimination of necrotic from viable tumor and found our models performing exceptionally well. We then used the trained models to identify regions of interest on image-tiles generated from test whole slide images. The classification output is visualized as a tumor-prediction map, displaying the extent of viable and necrotic tumor in the slide image. Thus, we lay the foundation for a complete tumor assessment pipeline from original histology images to tumor-prediction map generation. The proposed pipeline can also be adopted for other types of tumor.


This is the first edition of Introduction to International Law by Bennett and Strug. As the title suggests, this is an introductory text on public international law with the purpose of whetting the appetite of readers to individually conduct further research into specific topics. This is a well-researched and well-written book. Public international law overflows with complex principles and concepts, and Bennett and Strug manage to unlock this by making it understandable to persons unfamiliar with these principles and concepts. From cover to cover Introduction to International Law is a classic example of everything that a lawyer looks for in an introductory legal text: from the detailed table of contents, index of cases and treaties, bibliography, relevant use of headings and footnotes in the text-part of the book, right to the comprehensive index at the end of the book. However, what distinguishes this book from other legal texts is the extras added by the authors, consisting of "graphic material", text boxes and a "table of country information". Bennett and Strug explain this as an endeavour to overcome the fact that "[l]egal works are, like most academic texts, notorious for being dry and inaccessible to lay readers" (v), an accusation that cannot be made in relation to this book.


Abstract A major shortcoming in the existing literature on welfare state legitimacy is that it cannot explain when social policy designs follow public preferences and when public opinion follows existing policy designs and why. Scholars examining the influence of public opinion on welfare policies, as well as scholars investigating institutional influences on individual welfare attitudes, find empirical evidence to support both relationships. While a relationship in both directions is plausible, scholars have yet to thoroughly investigate the mutual relationship between these two. Consequently, we still do not know under which circumstances welfare institutions invoke public approval of welfare policies and under which circumstances public opinion drives welfare policy. Taking a quantitative approach to public opinion and welfare state policies in the Netherlands, this paper addresses this issue in an attempt to increase our understanding of welfare state legitimacy. The results show that individual opinions influence relatively new policies, policies which are not yet fully established and where policy designs are still evolving and developing. Social policy, on the other hand, is found to influence individual opinions on established and highly institutionalised policies, but does not influence individual opinions in relatively new areas of social policy.


Service quality is increasingly recognized as an important aspect of electronic commerce (e-commerce).Because the online comparison of the technical features of products is essentially costless, feasible and easier than comparisons of
products through traditional channels, service quality is the key determinant for successful e-commerce.The purpose of this study is to explore consumers' perceptions of Internet retail service quality.A number of dimensions have been described in the literatures, however six dimensions that are important to consumers in their assessment of the quality of Internet retailers were identified.These are reliability (how well an online retailer does in terms of meeting expectations regarding order fulfilment), access (Internet retailer's ability to provide communication access and a variety of products from anywhere in the world), security (relating to perceptions of trust in the online retailer's integrity regarding financial and privacy issues), efficiency (refers to the speed of search and downloading and prompt reply to enquiries), ease of use (how easy the Internet retailer's website is for consumers to conduct, search and navigate) and information (quantity and credibility of information provider by the online retailer).Other objective is to highlight how online retailers can use the information from this study to enhance their service quality.Findings from the study could be used as the basis for the development of e-service quality for Internet retailing.


[1] Aerosols from the Sarychev Peak volcano entered the Arctic region less than a week after the strongest SO2eruption on June 15 and 16, 2009 and had, by the first week in July, spread out over the entire Arctic region. These predominantly stratospheric aerosols were determined to be sub-micron in size and inferred to be composed of sulphates produced from the condensation of SO2gases emitted during the eruption. Average (500 nm) Sarychev-induced stratospheric optical depths (SOD) over the Polar Environmental Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka (Nunavut, Canada) were found to be between 0.03 and 0.05 during the months of July and August, 2009. This estimate, derived from sunphotometry and integrated lidar backscatter profiles was consistent with averages derived from lidar estimates over Ny-Alesund (Spitsbergen). The Sarychev SOD e-folding time at Eureka, deduced from lidar profiles, was found to be approximately 4 months relative to a regression start date of July 27. These profiles initially revealed the presence of multiple Sarychev plumes between the tropopause and about 17 km altitude. After about two months, the complex vertical plume structures had collapsed into fewer, more homogeneous plumes located near the tropopause. It was found that the noisy character of daytime backscatter returns induced an artifactual minimum in the temporal, pan-Arctic, CALIOP SOD response to Sarychev sulphates. A depolarization ratio discrimination criterion was used to separate the CALIOP stratospheric layer class into a low depolarization subclass which was more representative of Sarychev sulphates. Post-SAT (post Sarychev Arrival Time) retrievals of the fine mode effective radius (reff,f) and the logarithmic standard deviation for two Eureka sites and Thule (Greenland) were all close to 0.25 μm and 1.6 respectively. The stratospheric analogue to the columnar reff,f average was estimated to be reff,f(+) = 0.29 μm for Eureka data. Stratospheric, Raman lidar retrievals at Ny-Alesund, yielded a post-SAT average of reff,f(+) = 0.27 μm. These results are ∼50% larger than the background stratospheric-aerosol value. They are also about a factor of two larger than modeling values used in recent publications or about a factor of five larger in terms of (per particle) backscatter cross section.


Some of the most promising distributed recycling and additive manufacturing (DRAM) technical systems use fused particle fabrication (FPF) or fused granular fabrication (FGF), where compression screws force post-consumer waste plastic through a heated nozzle for direct 3D printing. To assist the technical evolution of these systems, this study provided the details of an invention for a low-cost, easily replicable open-source grinding machine for compression screw manufacturing. The system itself can be largely fabricated using FPF/FGF following the self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) methodology. This grinding machine can be made from a cordless cut-off grinder and < $155 in parts. The new invention is demonstrated to be able to cut custom screws with variable (i) channel depths, (ii) screw diameters, (iii) screw lengths, (iv) pitches, (v) abrasive disk thicknesses, (vi) handedness of the screws, (vii) and materials (three types of steel tested: 1045 steel, 1144 steel, and 416 stainless steel). The results show that the device is more than capable of replicating commercial screws as well as providing makers with a much greater flexibility to make custom screws. This invention enables the DRAM toolchain to become even more self-sufficient, which assists the goals of the circular economy.


Hospitals and warehouses use autonomous delivery robots to increase productivity. Robots must reliably navigate unstructured non-uniform environments which requires efficient long-term operation that robustly accounts for unforeseen circumstances. However, unreliable autonomous robots need continuous operator assistance, which decreases throughput and negates a robot's benefit. Planning with high fidelity models is more likely to lead to more robust plans, but is not needed in many situations. More specifically, a complex model is an inefficient use of plan-time computation resources when a robot navigates a flat simple environment, but a simple model, that can generate plans quickly, may fail to capture complex environment locales leading to task impediments. This thesis presents a planning framework that reasons about multiple models for efficiently generating a single motion plan without sacrificing execution success. The framework chooses when to switch models and what model is most applicable within a single trajectory. This has the effect of focusing the use of complex models only when necessary. The framework also addresses uncertainty by adding variable uncertainty to models in the form of robot padding. The footprint padding is not fixed but is automatically chosen during plan-time based on the ability to find robust plans. The approach is evaluated by simulating a mobile robot with attached trailer through various hospital environments. Our simulation experiments demonstrate that multi-fidelity model switching increases plan-time efficiency while still maintaining execution success.


We develop a consumption-savings model that distinguishes households' perceived income uncertainty from income uncertainty as measured by an econometrician. Households receive signals on their future disposable income that can drive a gap between the two uncertainties. With an uncertainty gap that is consistent with direct estimates stemming from subjective income expectations, the model jointly explains three consumption inequality and insurance measures in US micro data that are not captured without the difference: (i) the cross-sectional variance of households' consumption, (ii) the covariance of current consumption and income growth and (iii) the income-conditional mean of household consumption.


We examined Si limitation of silica production as a factor contributing to summer‐bloom dynamics in the North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG). Substrate limitation of Si uptake was pervasive, but in most samples the degree of Si limitation was not severe enough to induce growth limitation as observed in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. These results revise previous interpretations, because the difference in the degree of kinetic limitation between gyres appears to be driven by differences in both substrate and kinetic efficiency. In the NPSG, diatom bloom assemblages tended to show more efficient Si‐uptake kinetics and higher Si‐uptake rates than did nonbloom assemblages. A bloom dominated by Mastogloia woodiana exhibited the most efficient Si‐uptake kinetics observed in the ocean to date. Enhanced kinetic efficiency for Si uptake was previously hypothesized to facilitate bloom development, but we suggest the efficient kinetics indirectly affects blooms because [Si(OH)4] does not appear to limit growth or division rates. Rather, efficient kinetics allows further depletion of the prevailing low [Si(OH)4] without inducing secondary growth limitation by Si, thereby maximizing biomass yield. Si‐uptake limitation was not detected in the lower euphotic zone despite similar [Si(OH)4] as in well‐lit waters, which suggests transition to light limitation of Si uptake with depth. These results suggest that enhanced silica production in the M. woodiana bloom was driven by a synergy between diatom species composition, where M. woodiana was highly efficient at Si uptake, and high irradiance, which lead to enhanced diatom division rates in the upper euphotic zone.


Axel Heiberg Island (northern Nunavut) contains the thickest Mesozoic section in the Sverdrup Basin. The ∼370-km-long island is second only to Iran in its concentration of exposed evaporite diapirs. However, the tectonics of this remote region is not well known. A polar desert on the island provides excellent exposure of 46 diapirs of Carboniferous evaporites and associated minibasins. Paleogene (Eurekan) anticlines trend roughly north on a regular ∼20 km wavelength and probably detach on autochthonous Carboniferous Otto Fiord evaporites. In contrast, a 60-km-wide area, known as the wall-and-basin structure (WABS) province, has bimodal fold trends and irregular wavelengths of <10 km. Here, crooked walls of diapiric anhydrite crop out in the cores of tight anticlines. Wider synclinal minibasins separate the diapiric walls. We interpret the WABS province to detach on a shallow evaporite canopy. This comprises an allochthonous coalescence of evaporite diapirs that spread extrusively during the Hauterivian (Early Cretaceous, ca. 130 Ma), close to the onset of seafloor spreading in the Arctic Ocean and of flood basalt volcanism associated with Alpha Ridge. Since then, the evaporite canopy has yielded second-generation diapirs, now exhumed and exposed by modest Eurekan shortening. Strata record minibasin evolution and diapirism since at least the Late Triassic. Stratigraphic thinning against diapirs and spectacular angular unconformities at four levels are present between the Jurassic and Paleocene. The most widespread is the Early Cretaceous event marking the time of canopy emplacement. Outcrops record the later fate of the canopy, including exposure, onlap of diapirs, and off-diapir debris flows.


ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a world crisis of an unprecedented nature. In March 2020, due to closing of non-essential private and public educational institutions, early childhood professionals had to quickly adapt and respond to the demands for social distancing, hygiene, new protocols and transition to online education. Alternatively, educators engaged in distance teaching and learning, when the families they serve lacked technological resources for online modalities. The present study examines how early childhood teachers in the United States and several Latin American countries are facing the challenges presented by COVID-19. The study clearly reflects the relevancy of the challenges faced by educators of young children, such as lack of preparation for distance teaching and learning, deficiencies in the pre-and in-service trainings to address the educational needs of young children distantly, and the need to work differently with caregivers. Teacher training and development should include the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to successfully reconsider and participate in distance teaching and learning.


The papers in this thematic set arise from a meeting sponsored by the British Sedimentological Research Group and held at Burlington House on 3 November 1992. About 50 people heard 14 papers of which seven are published in this thematic set. The study of early sediment fabrics is an interdisciplinary field in which practitioners are required to interpret the combined effects of a very wide range of physical, chemical and biological processes. Not surprisingly, scientists from several different backgrounds are involved in this area of research, including biologists, civil engineers, environmental scientists and geographers as well as geologists. This broad spectrum of researchers was well represented at the meeting, and it was particularly gratifying to see the development of interactions between scientists from different disciplines. A superbly illustrated overview of the potential and limitations of scanning electron microscopy in sediment fabric analysis was presented by A. T. Kearsley (Oxford Brookes University) who highlighted the expansion of the use of backscattered electron imagery (BSEI) in sedimentary petrography. He emphasized commonly overlooked limitations on the interpretation of BSEI resulting from the effects of complex beam-specimen interactions and variation in instrument parameters. Compositional ambiguities arising from BSEI can be resolved by the concurrent use of digital X-ray mapping and he further outlined the power of the more newly developed technique of scanning cathodoluminscence imagery for differentiating grain cores and overgrowths. J. Macquaker (University of Manchester) continued the theme of BSEI by presenting a synthesis of fabric variation within Mesozoic mudstones. He demonstrated that,


IN THE 12 YEARS SINCE DRAGAN MILOVANOVIC AND I FIRST FORMULATED THIS theoretical perspective, we have received numerous questions (many via e-mail) about various aspects of the theory. Interestingly, these have not come predominantly from academics, but mainly from undergraduate, graduate, and even high school students. In addition, there have been over 25 discussions of the theory in journals and books (for an assessment of these, see Henry and Milovanovic, 1999). Below we will address the issues raised by summarizing the constitutive position and offering an evaluation of its contribution to date. Origins and Influences In one sense, constitutive criminology has a long history in that it draws on several well-established critical social theories, most notably symbolic interactionism, social constructionism, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, structural Marxism, poststructuralism, structuration theory, semiotics (for a review of these roots, see Arrigo, 1997; Bak, 1999, 2000). In another sense, it is part of the relatively recent interest in chaos theory and affirmative postmodernism. In particular, it draws on complexity theory (Mandelbrot, 1983; Gregerson and Sailer, 1993; Pickover, 1988), structural coupling (Luhmann, 1992; Teubner, 1993), strategic essentialism (Spivak, 1988; Jessop, 1990), relational sets (Hunt, 1993), critical race theory and intersections (Matsuda et al., 1993), autopoietic systems (Teubner, 1988, 1993; Cornell, 1991), dialectical materialism (Marx, 1975; Sayer, 1979), and topology theory (Lacan, 1961; Milovanovic and Ragland, 2001; Milovanovic, 1996c). Most recently, constitutive criminology was born of the application of these postmodernist concepts to critical criminology by a relatively small group of critical criminologists whose inner circle comprises Stuart Henry, Dragan Milovanovic, Gregg Barak, and Bruce Arrigo. This group has primarily been responsible for founding the position in criminology and making theoretical innovations. A broader group that is more loosely linked to the constitutive project includes T.R. Young, Rob Schehr, Lisa Sanchez, Vic Kappeler, James Williams, and Mary Bosworth. These scholars have found the theory helpful in explaining particular developments in crime and justice and have pushed the theory in new directions (see Henry and Milovanovic, 1999, for a sampling of their research). The outer circle of this group includes sympathizers who have incorporated aspects of the theory into their analysis, while developing their own theoretical analysis in new directions. There is also a growing body of students who have developed their research around the constitutive position, including Biko Azino, Andrew Bak, and Mark Faccini. Finally, there are critics of the position. Their contributions are included in an evaluation section at the end of this article. In a more narrow sense, constitutive criminology first emerged in the 1980s in Stuart Henry's studies on crime and social control in the workplace (Henry, 1983; 1985). They were considerably influenced by Peter Fitzpatrick's (1984) theory of "integral plurality" and Anthony Giddens' (1979, 1984) structuration theory, especially in The Constitution of Society. Henry outlined a sociolegal theory concerning the relationship between social forms and social action, initially defined as "integrated theory" (Henry, 1983). The actual term "constitutive theory" came from a suggestion by Christine Harrington (1988) in her constructive critique of Henry's 1983 work. It became the motif for subsequent renditions (Henry, 1987a; 1987b) and was incorporated into other work in Brigham and Harrington's series "After the Law" (e.g., Hunt, 1993). In June 1989, during a chance meeting at the 25th Anniversary meeting of the Law and Society Association in Madison, Wisconsin, Dragan Milovanovic shared similar insights. He had been developing theories in the sociology of law, particularly Lacanian postmoderism and psychoanalytic semiotic approaches (Milovanovic, 1992; 1993a; 1993b; 1994a; 1994b; 1994c), and in his studies on law and the prison (1988; Milovanovic and Thomas, 1989). …


Purpose: To characterize the distribution of white matter neurons (WMNs) positive for perineuronal nets (PNNs) in the adult monkey. WMNs are a mixed population of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. They have an important role in axon guidance during cortical development, but their role in the adult brain is less understood. In vitro and in vivo experiments provide evidence that WMNs are incorporated into cortical circuitry. The majority of investigations in the adult, however, have focused on regional variations in overall density, or on characterization of morphological and neurochemical subtypes. The present study was motivated by the observation that some WMNs exhibit PNNs in adult monkey. Since PNNs are associated with plasticity in younger animals, their occurrence with some WMNs might be functionally significant. Methods: PNNs were visualized, at the light microscopic level, by WFA staining in three adult macaque brains. Density of WFA positive WMNs was scored at three anterior-posterior levels (frontal, mid-hemispheric, and occipital), and compared with overall density of WMNs, as visualized by immunocytochemistry for NeuN. Quantitation of WFA+ neurons and neuron morphology were analyzed via light microscopy. Soma size and appearance, and dendritic length were recorded and measured. vi Results: On the basis of soma size and proximal dendritic shape, several types of WFA+ WMNs were provisionally identified, consistent with previous reports in the literature. Subpopulation densities were of highest density in mid-cortical areas and lowest quantities at occipital, matching previous studies. Morphological measurements suggested a heterogeneous neuron population through soma measurements and dendrite orientation. Soma sizes exhibited a range of circularity and size (10 μm – 30 μm). Dendrites were stained beyond the "proximal" area, including intermediate areas beyond the first branch, and up to 500 μm. Conclusions: A small population of WMNs are coated by PNNs in adult monkey. On the basis of morphology, these might be further subdivided, but combined studies with other markers would be needed. Future studies might investigate ageor pathology-related changes in the density and subtypes of WMNs that express PNNs in human or nonhuman primates. We speculate that these WMNs might have functional specializations, perhaps similar to the plasticity effects documented for PNNs in early development.


: Oncolytic viruses are multifunctional anticancer agents with huge clinical potential, and have recently passed the randomized Phase III clinical trial hurdle. Both wild-type and engineered viruses have been selected for targeting of specific cancers, to elicit cytotoxicity, and also to generate antitumor immunity. Single-agent oncolytic virotherapy treatments have resulted in modest effects in the clinic. There is increasing interest in their combination with cytotoxic agents, radiotherapy and immune-checkpoint inhibitors. Similarly to oncolytic viruses, the benefits of chemotherapeutic agents may be that they induce systemic antitumor immunity through the induction of immunogenic cell death of cancer cells. Combining these two treatment modalities has to date resulted in significant potential in vitro and in vivo syner-gies through various mechanisms without any apparent additional toxicities. Chemotherapy has been and will continue to be integral to the management of advanced cancers. This review therefore focuses on the potential for a number of common cytotoxic agents to be combined with clinically relevant oncolytic viruses. In many cases, this combined approach has already advanced to the clinical trial arena. MDSCs, myeloid-derived suppressor cells; DC, dendritic cell; DAMP, danger-associated molecular pattern; CTLs, cytotoxic T lymphocytes; NK, natural killer; MHC, major histocompatibility complex; TRAiL, TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand; calreticulin.


Survival regression models usually assume that covariate effects have a linear form. In many circumstances, however, the assumption of linearity may be violated. The present work addresses this limitation by adding nonlinear covariate effects to survival models. Nonlinear covariates are handled using a single index structure, which allows high-dimensional nonlinear effects to be reduced to a scalar term. The nonlinear single index approach is applied to modeling of survival data with multivariate responses, in three popular models: the proportional hazards (PH) model, the proportional odds (PO) model, and the generalized transformation model. Another extension of the PH and PO model is the handling of the baseline function. Instead of modeling it in a parametric way, which is fairly restrictive, or leaving it unspecified, which makes it impossible to calculate the survival and hazard functions, a weakly parametric approach is used here. As a result, the full likelihood can be applied for inference. The new developments are realized by adding a number of weakly parametric elements to the standard parametric regression models. The marginal baseline hazard functions are modeled using piecewise constants. Marginal survival functions are combined in using copula models, such as the Clayton model, to incorporate association among the multivariate responses. The nonlinear covariate effect is brought into the model through a smooth function with the single-index structure as the input. The smooth function is modeled using a spline. The performance of the PH, PO, and transformation models with the proposed extensions is evaluated through extensive simulation studies. The PH and PO models are also applied to a real-world data set. The results suggest that the proposed methods can capture the nonlinear covariate effects well, and that there is benefit to modeling the association between the correlated responses. Individual-level survival or hazard function estimates also provide information of interest to researchers. The proposed transformation model in particular is very promising. Some discussion of


ABSTRACT Mercury is a redox-active heavy metal that reacts with active thiols and depletes cellular antioxidants. Active resistance to the mercuric ion is a widely distributed trait among bacteria and results from the action of mercuric reductase (MerA). Protein phylogenetic analysis of MerA in bacteria indicated the occurrence of a second distinctive form of MerA among the archaea, which lacked an N-terminal metal recruitment domain and a C-terminal active tyrosine. To assess the distribution of the forms of MerA in an interacting community comprising members of both prokaryotic domains, studies were conducted at a naturally occurring mercury-rich geothermal environment. Geochemical analyses of Coso Hot Springs indicated that mercury ore (cinnabar) was present at concentrations of parts per thousand. Under high-temperature and acid conditions, cinnabar may be oxidized to the toxic form Hg2+, necessitating mercury resistance in resident prokaryotes. Culture-independent analysis combined with culture-based methods indicated the presence of thermophilic crenarchaeal and gram-positive bacterial taxa. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis provided quantitative data for community composition. DNA sequence analysis of archaeal and bacterial merA sequences derived from cultured pool isolates and from community DNA supported the hypothesis that both forms of MerA were present. Competition experiments were performed to assess the role of archaeal merA in biological fitness. An essential role for this protein was evident during growth in a mercury-contaminated environment. Despite environmental selection for mercury resistance and the proximity of community members, MerA retains the two distinct prokaryotic forms and avoids genetic homogenization.


In this paper, I study the political rationale for labor market regulation. Oligopolists employ raw labor and human capital (i.e. key workers) for production and R&D. There are many jurisdictions, in each of which a self-interested policy maker can regulate/deregulate the local labor market. I show that the observed tendency to labor market deregulation results from labor market policies being set up at the local level. In small jurisdictions, the fall of income due to wage increases is so large that the labor markets are deregulated. With labor market integration, jurisdictions get larger and face less competition from outside. Then, the fall of income due to wage increases is reduced and labor market regulation becomes more attractive to workers' lobbies.


The aim of operational train timetabling is to find a conflict free timetable for a set of passenger and freight trains with predefined stopping time windows along given routes in an infrastructure network so that station capacities and train dependent running and headway times are observed. Typical models for this problem are based on time-discretized networks for the train routes coupled by conflict constraints. They grow very fast for large scale instances and quickly lead to intractable models. Motivated by the observation that relaxations mostly use a narrow corridor inside such networks, we develop a general dynamic graph generation framework in order to control this size even for infinite time horizons. It can be applied to time-discretized networks modelling the routing of objects through capacity restricted handling stations with the property that early paths in the network are preferred. Without sacrificing any information compared to the full model, it includes a few additional time steps on top of the latest arcs currently in use. This " frontier " of the graphs can be extended automatically as required by solution processes such as column-generation or Lagrangian relaxation. The corresponding algorithm is efficiently implementable and linear in the arcs of the non-time-expanded network with a factor depending on the basic time offsets of these arcs. We give some bounds on the required additional size in important special cases. With this dynamic graph generation technique we are able to solve relax-ations of large scale real-world train timetabling problems of the German railway network of Deutsche Bahn. By enhancing the informativeness of the relaxation by convex load-balancing functions that distribute the train load on single tracks, it forms the basis of a dynamic rolling horizon approach to finding integer solutions of good quality.


The histamine H2 antagonist cimetidine has been shown to reduce the renal tubular secretion of other organic cations through competition for the specific transport system with organic cations in the renal proximal tubule. The potential interaction between cimetidine and the potassium-sparing diuretic amiloride was investigated in humans and in the isolated perfused rat kidney. A chronic dosing study was conducted in eight healthy subjects who received, in random order, amiloride (5 mg daily), cimetidine (400 mg twice daily), both drugs together, and a control phase in which no drug was present. Cimetidine reduced the renal clearance of amiloride by a mean of 17%, from 358 +/- 134 to 299 +/- 118 ml/min (p less than 0.05), and the urinary excretion of amiloride from 65 +/- 11 to 53 +/- 13% of the dose (p less than 0.05). Amiloride reduced the excretion of cimetidine from 43 +/- 7 to 32 +/- 9% of the dose (p less than 0.05) and the area under the plasma concentration-time curve for cimetidine by a mean of 14% (p less than 0.05) but had no effect on the renal clearance of cimetidine. In the perfused rat kidney, cimetidine reduced the amiloride unbound renal clearance to glomerular filtration rate ratio from 5-7:1 to 1-2:1 (p less than 0.05). These studies demonstrate that cimetidine inhibits the renal tubular secretion of amiloride in humans and in rats to a similar extent. In addition, in humans the gastrointestinal absorption of both amiloride and cimetidine appear to be reduced by each other, by an as yet unknown mechanism.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A series of studies was initiated to assess the condition of benthic macroinfauna and chemical contaminant levels in sediments and biota of the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) and nearby shelf waters off the coast of Georgia. Four key objectives of the research are (1) to
document existing environmental conditions within the sanctuary in order to provide a quantitative benchmark for tracking any future changes due to either natural or human disturbances; (2) to examine broader cross-shelf spatial patterns in benthic fauna and sediment contaminant
concentrations and to identify potential controlling factors associated with the observed patterns; (3) to assess any between-year temporal variability in benthic fauna; and (4) to evaluate the importance of benthic fauna as prey for higher trophic levels. Such questions are being addressed to help fulfill long-term science and management goals of the GRNMS. However, it is anticipated that the
information will be of additional value in broadening our understanding of the surrounding South Atlantic Bight (SAB) ecosystem and in bringing the knowledge to bear on related resourcemanagement issues of the region.

We have begun to address the first three of these objectives with data from samples collected in spring 2000 at stations within GRNMS, and in spring 2001 at stations within the sanctuary and along three cross-shelf transects extending from the mouths of Sapelo, Doboy, and Altamaha Sounds out to sanctuary depths (about 17-20 m). This report provides a description of baseline conditions within
the sanctuary, based on results of the spring 2000 survey (Section II), and uses data from both 2000 and 2001 to examine overall spatial and temporal patterns in biological and chemical variables within the sanctuary and surrounding inner-shelf environment (Section III). (PDF contains 65 pages)


Abstract. Sediment yields from river basins are typically considered to be controlled by tectonic and climatic drivers. However, climate and tectonics can operate simultaneously and the impact of autogenic processes scrambling or shredding these inputs can make it hard to unpick the role of these drivers from the sedimentary record. Thus an understanding of the relative dominance of climate, tectonics or other processes in the output of sediment from a basin is vital. Here, we use a numerical landscape evolution model (CAESAR) to specifically examine the relative impact of climate change, tectonic uplift (instantaneous and gradual) and basin morphology on sediment yield. Unexpectedly, this shows how the sediment signal from significant rates of uplift (10 m instant or 25 mm a−1) may be lost due to internal storage effects within even a small basin. However, the signal from modest increases in rainfall magnitude (10–20%) can be seen in increases in sediment yield. In addition, in larger basins, tectonic inputs can be significantly diluted by regular delivery from non-uplifted parts of the basin.


Aim
This study was aimed to discuss different classes of antiresorptive agents and their modes of action, to review the proposed mechanisms in the pathophysiology of osteonecrosis development and to analyse the prevention and the management of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw.

Materials and methods
Three databases were searched for relevant articles: PubMed, Ovid and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source. Current literature consists mainly of case series, case reports and expert body opinions.

Discussion
The repertoire of antiresorptive medication keeps expanding as novel drugs are being introduced. The exact pathway that leads to the development of osteonecrosis remains to be elucidated, but different mechanisms have been put forward. An attempt at staging has been made, and treatment guidelines have been drawn but opinions remain divided. New treatments are being trialled; however, evidence is lacking.


In several optical technologies for glaucoma diagnosis, polarized light is used to assess the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) of the eye. For better understanding of the polarization properties of the RNFL, it was modeled as a thick birefringent slab containing parallel light-scattering cylinders, and the Mueller matrix for reflectance was derived. The model predicts that (1) the RNFL reflectance has weak intrinsic diattenuation; (2) the diattenuation spectrum depends strongly on the relative refractive indices of the cylinders; (3) both scattering and birefringence contribute to retardation; and (4) the RNFL reflectance generally preserves polarization, but depolarization may be detectable for thick RNFL at short wavelengths.


Small-scale (10 kWe) organic Rankine cycles for low temperature applications such as heat recovery and solar power present a significant development opportunity but limited prototypes have been developed. This paper aims to address this by describing a system modelling tool which is used to select a working fluid, optimise cycle conditions, and preliminarily size a radial inflow rotor for an experimental test rig. The program is a steady-state sizing and optimisation tool which advances on current models by combining component models and cycle analysis with multi-objective optimisation and turbomachinery design aspects. Sizing and off-design pump and expander models are based on non-dimensional characteristic plots, whilst an additional design program achieves an expander rotor design. A novel objective function couples component and system performance with complexity. Results from an optimisation study indicate that R1234ze is the optimal working fluid for the defined objective function with a predicted net power output of 7.32 kWe, correlating to a cycle efficiency of 7.26%, and evaporator and condenser areas of 1.59 m2 and 2.40 m2, respectively. However, after considering operating pressures and fluid availability, R245fa has been highlighted as the most suitable fluid for a planned experimental radial expander test rig and a preliminary turbine design is proposed.


The unfolding of industrial modernity has led to high levels of wealth and welfare in the Western world but also to increasing global ecological degradation and social inequality. The routine mode of operation of a wide range of socio-technical systems, forming the material backbone of contemporary societies, has substantially contributed to these outcomes. This paper proposes that all these systems can be seen as a surface expression of fundamental meta-rules that for the past 250 years have driven the evolution of these systems and system innovation towards particular directions, thereby constituting the First Deep Transition. To meet the accumulated social and ecological challenges would therefore require a radical change not only in socio-technical systems but also in meta-rules underlying their functioning – the Second Deep Transition. This paper develops a new theoretical framework aiming to explain the emergence, acceleration, stabilization and directionality of Deep Transitions. It does so through the synthesis of three strands of literature: individual socio-technical systems, interconnected systems and industrialization-related macro-trends.


Objective To determine the effectiveness of physical activity interventions involving mobile applications (apps) or trackers with automated and continuous self-monitoring and feedback. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed and seven additional databases, from 2007 to 2020. Study selection Randomised controlled trials in adults (18–65 years old) without chronic illness, testing a mobile app or an activity tracker, with any comparison, where the main outcome was a physical activity measure. Independent screening was conducted. Data extraction and synthesis We conducted random effects meta-analysis and all effect sizes were transformed into standardised difference in means (SDM). We conducted exploratory metaregression with continuous and discrete moderators identified as statistically significant in subgroup analyses. Main outcome measures Physical activity: daily step counts, min/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, weekly days exercised, min/week of total physical activity, metabolic equivalents. Results Thirty-five studies met inclusion criteria and 28 were included in the meta-analysis (n=7454 participants, 28% women). The meta-analysis showed a small-to-moderate positive effect on physical activity measures (SDM 0.350, 95% CI 0.236 to 0.465, I2=69%, T 2=0.051) corresponding to 1850 steps per day (95% CI 1247 to 2457). Interventions including text-messaging and personalisation features were significantly more effective in subgroup analyses and metaregression. Conclusion Interventions using apps or trackers seem to be effective in promoting physical activity. Longer studies are needed to assess the impact of different intervention components on long-term engagement and effectiveness.


In this paper, we analyze the economic and social impacts of different deforestation reduction scenarios in Brazil, using a detailed inter-regional, bottom-up, dynamic general equilibrium model. We build three deforestation scenarios using detailed information on land use in Brazil, from satellite imagery that comprises deforestation patterns and land use by state and biome. This information includes agricultural suitability of soil, by biome and state, as well as the classification of land between private and public lands. Results show, for the period under consideration, low aggregate economic losses of reducing deforestation in all scenarios, but those losses are much higher in the agricultural frontier states. Reducing deforestation has also a negative impact on welfare (as measured by household consumption), affecting disproportionately more the poorest households, both at national level and particularly in the frontier regions, both by the income and expenditure composition effects. We conclude that although important from an environmental point of view, those social losses must be taken into account for the policy to get general support in Brazil. Acknowledgement : The authors are grateful to Instituto Escolhas for funding this research.


Despite Darwin's bold contention in 1871 that the likely ancestor for Homo sapiens was an African ape, the scientific community hesitated for decades before accepting small-brained but bipedal walking "apes" from southern Africa as direct human ancestors. Remains of the australopiths, as these bipedal apes are now called, were first discovered in 1924, yet 25 years passed before the australopiths found their place on the human family tree. This book is the first to document in detail this paradigm shift in paleoanthropology between 1924 and 1950. Tom Gundling examines a period in anthropological history when ideas about what it means to be human were severely tested. Drawing on extensive primary sources, many never before published, he argues that the reinterpretation of early human fossils came about at last because of changes in theoretical approach, not simply because new and more complete fossils had been recovered. Gundling concludes with a review of the most significant post-1950 events in the field of paleoanthropology.


Australian Commercial Law offers a concise yet comprehensive introduction to commercial law in Australia. The textbook provides a thorough and detailed discussion of a variety of topics in commercial law such as agency, bailment, the sale of goods, the transfer of property and the Personal Property Securities Act. The book also offers a detailed overview of topics within the Australian Consumer Law that are now relevant to commercial practice such as unconscionable conduct, consumer guarantees, and misleading and deceptive conduct. Written in a clear and accessible style, each chapter features key points and further reading to enhance students' understanding. Significant cases are discussed in detail and include excerpts from judgments to illustrate points of law. Australian Commercial Law is an indispensable resource for students who are seeking a comprehensive understanding of commercial law.


Citizens' confidence in the problem-solving capacities of the European Union (EU) has been shaken during the severe economic and sovereign debt crisis in Europe. This casts doubt on the future of the European integration process. One key element of EU's attempt to foster citizens' identification with the EU has been (and still is) its cohesion policy (CP). This policy targets regions and cities across the EU with the overall goal of improving citizens' quality of life. Since cohesion policy accounts for almost one-third of the total EU budget in 2014-20 it should attract the attention of political parties–both at the national and regional level–to promote and communicate this policy among citizens, in particular by referring to potentially financial benefits of EU structural funds. Yet, if and to which amount sub-national parties talk about European integration and CP issues in their election manifestos is still terra incognita. This paper addresses this gap by measuring and explaining how sub-national parties assign salience to European integration issues and several EU structural funds in four EU Member States from 2007 to 2016. The empirical analyses will deal with both party- and regional-level characteristics that potentially determine to which extent sub-national parties emphasise European issues and CP.