There is no right to bail under the U.S. Constitution. This means the question of who is bailable in state court is left entirely to state law, and the question of who is bailable in federal court is governed entirely by statute. Most original state constitutions guaranteed that "all persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties," except those charged with a narrow category of serious offenses (typically capital crimes). At the Founding, federal statutory law gave federal defendants similar rights. These early authorities reflected a national consensus on several points: the sole justification for bail is to secure a defendant's presence at future court proceedings; all non-capital defendants should be released pending trial upon providing adequate assurances that they will return for trial; and some capital defendants can be detained pretrial because the prospect of losing one's life if found guilty is such a powerful incentive to flee that the state's interest in securing the defendant's trial presence outweighs his interest in pretrial liberty. This traditional right to bail is categorical – if an accused is charged with a bailable offense, the trial court must set bail, and it must release the accused if he, or someone on his behalf, posts bail. The trial court can impose conditions of release, including requiring "sufficient sureties." But it cannot detain non-capital defendants without bail for any reason other than a failure to post bail. It cannot, for example, detain a defendant to prevent him from fleeing justice or to protect others in the community.

Under early English law, from which American bail law derives, bail was a mechanism for transferring custody of an accused to a third party – a surety – who promised to produce him for trial. The surety's promise could be unsecured – backed by the surety's word alone, or it could be secured by a pledge of money or property subject to forfeiture if the accused was not produced for trial. Historically, the surety was a person with a social connection to the accused, such as a relative or employer. In the United States, one of only two countries in which it is legal to collect a fee for securing a criminal bail bond, a surety can also be a commercial entity. Commercial, for-profit bail bonding is authorized in most states. In most traditional right to bail states that permit commercial bail bonding, secured money bail is a mainstay of bail administration. The commercial bail industry is loosely-regulated. This has allowed predatory and unscrupulous bail bonding practices to flourish unchecked in many traditional bail jurisdictions.

The traditional right to bail is anchored to the ideal that most defendants should be at liberty pending trial. The routine use of secured money bail as a condition of release in modern U.S. bail administration, however, has resulted in the routine pretrial detention of millions of Americans each year who cannot afford bail. These defendants are disproportionately non-white, and most are accused of non-violent misdemeanor offenses. Defendants who spend time in jail pretrial pay a steep price – they may lose housing, employment, and other opportunities; their ability to assist in their defense is hampered, and they are more likely to plead guilty and be convicted at trial. Those who post bail may end up in debt to a bondsman.

Congress passed the Bail Reform Act of 1966 to curb wealth-based pretrial detention practices in federal court. The 1966 Act made money bail a release condition of last resort in federal court and mandated that no federal defendant could be detained based on an inability to post money bail. These changes addressed concerns about economic inequities in federal bail practice, but created public safety concerns. Traditional, money-based bail administration does not permit a court to detain a bailable defendant pretrial, even if he poses a risk to the community. But as long as money bail is in the mix, courts can incapacitate a dangerous, but bailable, defendant by setting bail in an amount it hopes he cannot pay. Setting bail in an unpayable amount is an unauthorized, yet tolerated, practice in jurisdictions whose laws do not permit pretrial detention of non-capital defendants without bail. When Congress sidelined money bail in federal court that made it harder to use bail to detain dangerous defendants pretrial. To remedy this, Congress amended the Bail Reform Act in 1984 to authorize preventative pretrial detention in federal court – that is, detention without bail to prevent the defendant's flight or to protect the public. Most states have also abandoned the traditional right to bail and embraced risk-based pretrial release and detention practices. Like the federal court, most states now permit preventative pretrial detention without bail for some non-capital defendants and treat money bail as a disfavored condition of release. Today, twenty-two states, fewer than half, continue to recognize an absolute constitutional right to bailability by sufficient sureties for non-capital defendants.

The devastating effects of money bail on poor defendants and their communities, with no corresponding public safety benefit, are well-documented. Bail reform has been a topic of discussion in the U.S. since at least the 1960s, and it has received an extraordinary amount of media and scholarly attention in the last several years. The focus then and now has been primarily on the undisputed negative aspects of money-based bail administration. Relatively little attention is given to understanding why a state may continue to embrace traditional bail administration practices notwithstanding the many downsides of money bail. A great deal of the complexity surrounding the law and history of bail is often lost in the process. To fill that gap, this Article identifies practical, legal, and philosophical reasons that may prevent or discourage states from abrogating the traditional right to bail in favor of risk-based bail administration.

The current bail reform narrative frames bail administration as a binary choice between money bail and risk-based assessment. This Article posits that this is a false dichotomy and that right to bail states can address some of the problems caused by money-based bail administration without abandoning the traditional right to bail entirely. Criticisms of money-based bail administration have not changed much since the 1960s, but the legal and political landscape has. This Article cautions that right to bail jurisdictions that do not adapt to this new climate may end up on the wrong side of a rapidly evolving equal protection jurisprudence. At the same time, states that abandon the traditional right to bail face a different set of risks and trade-offs that need to be considered. Whether to pursue bail reform, ultimately, is a choice for the electorates in the remaining right to bail states, and that requires a discussion about the value of pretrial liberty, concerns for public safety, and how much power courts should have to detain accused persons pretrial based on a prediction about future behavior. In the interim, legislatures in right to bail states have a responsibility to ameliorate some of the hardships money-bail causes poor defendants and rein in the excesses of commercial bail bonding industry.


Circadian rhythms in humans and algae can occur without the need for transcription-translation feedback control. Circadian rhythms, which have a periodicity of ~24 hours, regulate many physiological and metabolic processes. From algae to humans, circadian rhythms are regulated by a transcription-translation feedback loop. The products of clock genes are transcriptional activators that drive the expression of repressor genes, whose products feed back to inhibit the activators (see Bass and Takahashi). O'Neill and Reddy investigated a role for nontranscriptional control of circadian rhythms in human red blood cells (RBCs), which lack nuclei and cannot support transcription. The authors monitored peroxiredoxins, proteins that protect RBCs from peroxides by becoming oxidized and forming dimers, which are then reduced to the monomeric form. The authors found that peroxiredoxins exhibited a circadian redox rhythm in RBCs kept in the dark at constant temperature. This cycle could be entrained by temperature and was not affected by inhibitors of transcription or translation. The equilibrium between dimeric hemoglobin (a source of peroxide) and tetrameric hemoglobin (which produces less peroxide) also exhibited a circadian rhythm, as did the reducing agents NADH and NADPH. The redox cycle of peroxiredoxins in mouse NIH 3T3 cells also exhibited a circadian rhythm, and this was altered in cells from mice deficient in clock genes. Conversely, knockdown of various peroxiredoxin-encoding genes in human cells had effects on circadian gene expression. In an accompanying study, O'Neill et al. examined circadian rhythms in the simple alga Ostreococcus tauri. When kept at constant temperature in the dark, circadian rhythms in the alga that are controlled by transcription-translation loops are suspended until it is reexposed to light. However, the cycles continue from the point at which darkness occurred, rather than becoming reset. The authors found that redox cycles of peroxiredoxins in the alga persisted in the dark in a transcription-independent manner and that inhibitors of clocks in mammalian cells had similar effects in the alga. Together, these studies suggest that nontranscriptional metabolic cycles couple with genetic oscillators to control rhythmic outputs. J. S. O'Neill, A. B. Reddy, Circadian clocks in human red blood cells. Nature 469, 498–503 (2011). [Online Journal] J. S. O'Neill, G. van Ooijen, L. E. Dixon, C. Troein, F. Corellou, F.-Y. Bouget, A. B. Reddy, A. J. Millar, Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote. Nature 469, 554–558 (2011). [Online Journal] J. Bass, J. S. Takahashi, Redox redux. Nature 469, 476–478 (2011). [Online Journal]


Unfavorable spatial structure of arable land located in Małopolska is a major obstacle in conducting agricultural activity. Arable lands located in the southern part of Małopolska are fragmented, have small area, and irregular shapes. Agricultural activity on land with an unfavorable spatial structure is associated with an increase in production costs, which directly results in lower income of farms. One of the methods of improving spatial conditions is to implement land consolidation works. They allow to organize the spatial structure, increase the area of agriculturally used parcels, while reducing their number. The article presents a new approach in determining the parameters of land fragmentation. GIS tools were used to identify areas with unfavorable spatial parameters. The methodology which allows for the processing, filtration of source data, determination and visualization of land fragmentation parameters is discussed. As part of the research, the Binning method was used, which allows to visualize the phenomenon and simultaneously reduce the data used. In the work, a detailed assessment of land fragmentation parameters was made, which can be used in agricultural land management works. Analyzes have shown that the southern areas of the Nowy Targ County are characterized by intensive fragmentation of arable land. There are also unfavorable parameters related to the elongation and shape of parcels in the discussed areas.


The Technical University of Denmark has developed and tested a P-band ice sounding radar for European Space Agency (ESA). With the recent by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allocation of a radar band at 435 MHz, increased interest in space-based sounding of the Earth s ice caps has been encountered. ESA s POLarimetric Airborne Radar Ice Sounder (POLARIS) is intended to provide a better understanding of P-band scattering and propagation through ice sheets and to verify novel surface clutter suppression techniques in preparation for a potential space-based ice sounding mission. POLARIS is a nadir-looking, fully polarimetric radar featuring aperture synthesis, a multi-aperture antenna for surface clutter suppression and a large dynamic range based on a shallow/deep sounding approach. The system is installed in a De Haviland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, and in May 2008, a proof-of-concept campaign was conducted in Greenland. This study outlines the design and implementation of the system, and based on first results it is concluded that in the central dry snow zone of Greenland, POLARIS can resolve shallow and deep internal ice layers, penetrate the thickest ice encountered and detect the bedrock.


Interdisciplinary research, carried out by the Masaryk University Brno and the University of Vienna, at the site of Lány (CZ) at the border between Austria and Moravia has revealed a large settlement (∼12ha) from the 6th century until the 8th/9th century in a contact zone between Slavonic and Avarian influences. Aside from pottery that ranges from early slavic finds of the Prague type to specimens of the middle-danubian tradition ("mitteldanubische Kulturtradition") and other finds such as spindle whorls etc. several dozen typical Avar belt accessories have been found. Most of them date to the late Avar III period, are brand new and do not show any traces of usage. Together with semi-finished products, miscast objects and remains of the bronze casting process, we interpret Lány as a production site/workshop for Avar belts.Lány is at the very Northwestern periphery of the Avar Khaganate. However, material culture, aside from the belt accessories, is much more associated with what we know from regions where Slavonic populations of the 7th/8th century had settled.We furthermore discuss the usage of Avar belts amongst the Slavic elites of the 8th century and possible explanations for the dense distribution of Avar finds outside of the Khaganate.


Brassinosteroids (BRs), plant steroid hormones involved in growth and development, signal through a cell surface receptor (BRI1) and a glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3)-type kinase (BIN2) to activate the BES1 and BRZ1 transcription factors. This scheme resembles that of the canonical Wnt pathway, and current models of BR signaling have proposed that BIN2 regulation of BES1 and BRZ1 echoes GSK-3 regulation of β-catenin in Wnt signaling. Thus, the cytoplasmic phosphorylation of BES1 and BRZ1 by BIN2 would lead to their destruction in the absence of BR, whereas BR signaling would promote their stabilization and translocation to the nucleus. Vert and Chory found that, although Arabidopsis expressing a BIN2 loss-of-function allele had an essentially normal phenotype, plants lacking the three group II GSK3-type kinases showed increased abundance of dephosphorylated BES1 and a phenotype consistent with constitutive BR signaling. Experiments involving fusion proteins consisting of wild-type BIN2 or a gain-of-function mutant (bin2) tagged with green fluorescent protein (BIN2-GFP or bin2-GFP, respectively) showed that BIN2-GFP was present in the nucleus as well as the cytoplasm and that bin2-GFP was mostly in the nucleus. Moreover, plants expressing a bin2 fusion protein containing a heterologous nuclear export signal showed a less extreme phenotype than those expressing bin2 alone. Although treatment with a BR promoted BES1 dephosphorylation, treatment with a BR or with a BR inhibitor affected neither BES1 abundance nor localization of BES1-GFP (which was constitutively nuclear). Rather, phosphorylation by BIN1 inhibited BES1's ability to bind DNA and its transcriptional activity. This suggests an alternative model for BR signaling that involves regulation of BES1's DNA-binding activity rather than its abundance or localization. G. Vert, J. Chory, Downstream nuclear events in brassinosteroid signalling. Nature 441, 96-100 (2006). [PubMed]


We describe the "evaluability bias": the tendency to weight the importance of an attribute in proportion to its ease of evaluation. We propose that the evaluability bias influences decision making in the context of charitable giving: people tend to have a strong preference for charities with low overhead ratios (lower administrative expenses) but not for charities with high cost-effectiveness (greater number of saved lives per dollar), because the former attribute is easier to evaluate than the latter. In line with this hypothesis, we report the results of four studies showing that, when presented with a single charity, people are willing to donate more to a charity with low overhead ratio, regardless of cost-effectiveness. However, when people are presented with two charities simultaneously—thereby enabling comparative evaluation—they base their donation behavior on cost-effectiveness (Study 1). This suggests that people primarily value cost-effectiveness but manifest the evaluability bias in cases where they find it difficult to evaluate. However, people seem also to value a low overhead ratio for its own sake (Study 2). The evaluability bias effect applies to charities of different domains (Study 3). We also show that overhead ratio is easier to evaluate when its presentation format is a ratio, suggesting an inherent reference point that allows meaningful interpretation (Study 4).


In 1958, against a background of increasing international disputes regarding rights to and control of waters enclosed by coastal indentations, the world community, under United Nations auspices, adopted Article 7 of the Geneva Convention 'On the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone'. Recognizing the need to balance the interests of coastal states and the international interests of a harmonious world community, the signatories decided in effect that once the water enclosed within a coastal indentation met the requirements of Article 7, it could be presumed irrefutably that the claimant owned these waters as a right against all other states. Well-drafted and unambiguous, Article 7 should have resolved the issue of unreasonably expansive bay claims for ever. In fact, it did not. Disputes have continued to arise, and in the twenty years since its adoption, Article 7 has not received the analysis necessary to help it become a more reliable basis for conflict resolution in cases involving complex coastal configurations. This study, the first major examination of Article 7, interprets both its text and context and, more importantly, offers solutions to some of the problems that continue to make the question of coastal bay-waters a source of national and international conflict.


Thirty years ago (P.Z.S. 1900, pp. 776-794) Sir Baldwin
Spencer described and named the fossil Marsupial that had
been brought to light by a fall of the cliff face at Table
Cape, Tasmania.
Since that time Wynyardia has taken a definite place in
all speculations concerning the phylogeny of the Marsupials,
and has lent support to more than one hypothesis dealing
with the history of the Australian Didelphians and their
route of entry into the island continent.
Some years ago an examination of the cast of the fossil
suggested to me the advisability of a reinvestigation of the
characters of the animal, but the cast appeared to provide
an inadequate basis upon which to conduct such a study.
During a visit to Hobart in 1925 I discussed with Mr.
Clive Lord, Director of the Tasmanian Museum, the possibility
of submitting the original specimen to a thorough reexamination
and of providing a series of dioptrographic
drawings of the fragments.
Upon my return to Australia in 1930 this was made
possible by the kindness of the Director and Trustees of the
Tasmanian Museum, who permitted me to have the most
important fragments of the skeleton in my charge in Melbourne.
I greatly appreciate the liberal policy that dictated
this action, and rendered the present study possible.


Clay minerals occur most frequently in a state too finely divided for satisfactory observation with the best optical microscopes, or for study with single-crystal X-ray techniques. The higher resolution made possible by electron-optical instruments can therefore be put to good use in the investigation of the morphologies and crystal structures of clays. It is the intention of this monograph to summarize achievements to date, to indicate problems that have perhaps not received the attention they deserve, and, as a result, to suggest lines of investigation that might prove fruitful. The first two chapters explain in some detail the various types of electron-optical equipment that are currently available, the methods of operating them to the best advantage, and interpretation of the results. The techniques for preparation of specimens are reviewed in the third chapter, with emphasis on those most suitable for clay minerals. With the exception of the last chapter, on practical applications of electron-optical methods, each subsequent chapter deals with studies on a particular class of clay minerals. Some chapters include detailed descriptions of specimen preparation or other techniques that have been developed by the authors to resolve specific problems peculiar to the minerals dealt with in those chapters. Electron microscopy and other electron-optical techniques have been used, alone or in conjunction with other methods, to investigate problems that have proved otherwise insoluble. Nevertheless, these techniques have their limitations, which must always be borne in mind, as results can occasionally be misleading. It therefore seems appropriate, at this stage, to review the methods of specimen preparation and examination, and to attempt to assess their value for investigation of clays.


We consider the analysis and design of three different types of nonlinear observers for dynamic Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems. Our approach is based on extending existing nonlinear observer schemes, namely Thau-Luenberger and sliding mode observers, to the case of interpolated multiple local affine linear models. Then linear matrix inequality based techniques are used for observer analysis and design.


Background: Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) testing in response to air-conducted sound (ACS) has excellent sensitivity and specificity for superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS). However, patients with SCDS may experience vertigo with the test, and recent works recommend minimizing acoustic energy during VEMP testing. Purpose: To develop an oVEMP protocol that reduces discomfort and increases safety without compromising reliability. Methods: Subjects: Fifteen patients diagnosed with SCDS based on clinical presentation, audiometry, standard VEMP testing, and computed tomography (CT) imaging. There were 17 SCDS-affected ears and 13 unaffected ears. In nine (53%) of the SCDS-affected ears surgical repair was indicated, and SCD was confirmed in each. oVEMPs were recorded in response to ACS using 500 Hz tone bursts or clicks. oVEMP amplitudes evoked by 100 stimuli (standard protocol) were compared with experimental protocols with only 40 or 20 stimuli. Results: In all three protocols, oVEMP amplitudes in SCDS-affected ears were significantly higher than in the unaffected ears (p < 0.001). 500 Hz tone bursts evoked oVEMPs with excellent (>90%) sensitivity and specificity in each of the three protocols. However, in the unaffected ears, lowering to 20 stimuli reduced the detection of oVEMP responses in some ears. Following surgical repair, oVEMPs normalized in each of the protocols. Conclusion: In oVEMP testing using ACS for SCDS, reducing the number of trials from 100 to 40 stimuli results in a more tolerable and theoretically safer test without compromising its effectiveness for the diagnosis of SCDS. Reducing to 20 stimuli may degrade specificity with clicks.


So, you have a great idea for the next big multiplayer game. Maybe it's a virtual world based on your favorite sci-fi television show. Or maybe it's an online bowling league for you and your friends. Regardless, the challenge of building a networked multiplayer computer game goes far beyond having a great idea. It can be so significant that it prevents great games from becoming reality. Darkstar breaks down this barrier of complexity. It provides an easy-to-use library of functions that handles the challenging aspects of networked game development for you. Further, it provides a robust, industrial-strength server that can scale with your game as it grows in popularity. With Darkstar, you can quickly turn your idea for a multiplayer game into a (virtual) reality.


Nuclear autoantigenic sperm proteins (NASPs) are members of the acidic histone chaperones, which promote nucleosome assembly. In humans, two splicing variants proposed for the somatic and testicular isoforms, sNASP and tNASP, respectively, have been found, and the shorter form, sNASP, reportedly promotes nucleosome assembly with the histone H3 isoforms, H3.1, H3.2, and H3.3. However, the biochemical properties of the longer form, tNASP, have not been reported. tNASP is considered to exist specifically in the testis. Our present results revealed that the tNASP protein is ubiquitously produced in various human tissues, in addition to testis. Unexpectedly, we found that the nucleosome assembly activity of purified tNASP was extremely low with the canonical histone H3.1 or H3.2, but was substantially detected with the replacement histone H3.3 variant. A mutational analysis revealed that the H3.3 Ile89 residue, corresponding to the H3.1 Val89 residue, is responsible for the tNASP-mediated nucleosome assembly with H3.3. A histone deposition assay showed that the H3.3-H4 complex is more efficiently deposited onto DNA by tNASP than the H3.1-H4 complex. These results provide evidence that tNASP is ubiquitously produced in various types of human tissues and promotes in vitro nucleosome assembly with H3 variant specificity.


A scattering theory is presented, which is capable of predicting the light-distribution pattern that arises when a clad optical fiber of arbitrary core refractive-index distribution is illuminated by a laser beam perpendicular to its axis. Theoretical predictions are compared to experimental results in the backscattering direction, with excellent agreement for fibers of practical interest having core and cladding diameters on the order to 50 and 150 μm, respectively. Considerable sensitivity to parameter variations has been observed and implications for diameter and refractive-index distribution determinations are discussed.


Transactions in online C2C marketplaces are characterized by uncertainty, information asymmetry, and anonymity, thus increasing the risk of seller opportunism. IS research has established trust between marketplace participants as a crucial element for buyers and sellers to transact online. The objective of this research-in-progress is to better understand what different mechanisms (e.g., eimage of a seller, feedback mechanisms, structural assurances, trust in the community of sellers, or intermediary trust) influence a particular purchase decision in a C2C marketplace exchange and why and how a buyer chooses to transact with a particular seller. Although extensive research has been done on reputation systems, only little research has attempted to get a comprehensive picture of trust in the single seller as well as its relationship with trust in the community of sellers and trust in the intermediary. This study focuses on the buyer's trust in an individual seller of an online transaction in a C2C marketplace. Specifically, we are interested in the following questions: 1. What is the relationship between trust in the individual seller, trust in the community of sellers, and trust in the intermediary? In particular, how does trust in the intermediary and trust in the community of sellers influence a particular purchase decision of a buyer? 2. What are possible antecedents to trust in an individual seller? The research model relies on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). TRA specifies that trust compromises beliefs, attitudes, and intentions which will lead to actual behavior. External factors influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors through beliefs. The study develops hypotheses about the relationship between external factors, trust in the individual seller, trust in the community of sellers, trust in the intermediary, and actual transaction behavior. The proposed research method is a survey that allows to investigate a past purchase decision under uncertainty and risk taking. The targeted research setting is a P2P lending marketplace. The advantages of this research setting are (1) sellers can show their trustworthiness through several means (e.g., listing description, financial background, social capital), and (2) active communities of sellers and buyers allow to study the relationship between trust in the individual seller and trust in the community of sellers. This research makes several important contributions to the trust in C2C marketplace literature. First, we explicitly differentiate between three different trust components that are important in a buyer's purchasing decision: trust in the individual seller, trust in the community sellers, and trust in the intermediary. Second, we develop hypotheses to identify the relationships between the three trust components. Finally, we discuss and propose several different antecedents to a buyer's trust in an individual seller. Antecedents to trust in the individual seller have, beside extensive research in feedback and rating mechanisms, received only little attention in the literature. However, the e-image of an individual seller is likely to be very important in a purchasing decision and need to be further investigated. This research will be a first step into this direction by focusing on the trust in the individual seller and trying to answer the question why a buyer purchases from one seller and not another.


Primary enterprises are expected to contend with more frequent climate crises, environmental degradation and even
climate-related regulatory change (IPCC, 2014). These stressors occur against an existing backdrop of conventional
drivers including economic, biophysical, institutional, cultural and political pressures (Marshall et al., 2012). Australia's primary industries have historically operated in a highly variable climate and this has posed significant challenges to production, requiring sound and responsive risk management practices. Climate change, brings with it a number of new challenges not yet accounted for by Australian primary producers, and so understanding the scale of these impacts is of importance in undertsanding the changing nature of agricultural risk in the near future. Western Australia with about 4 million ha of wheat production is a major contributor to the Australian agrifood sector and economy. Like cereal production, pastures in WA play a major role in agricultural enterprises and contribute over $3 billion annually through
animal production, improvements to crop rotations and conserved fodder (The Department of Agriculture and Food,
2014). Farming profitably in the Western Australia in recent years has been a challenge due in part to declines in annual rainfall as well as exposure to both heat and cold teperature extremes (McConnell & O'Hare, 2013), although lower production might be still profitable. Climate drives the productivity, profitability and environmental health of these systems as they often have to respond to low and variable rainfall. Here we identify the likely effect of climate change in 2030 on mixed farm systems of the Western Australia across a climate transect in terms of production, profit, and environmental impacts for projected climate scenarios in 2030 relative to the baseline of 1980-1999. This work will give insight for designing strategies to respond to changes in climate such as optimized shift towards more intensive livestock systems, dual-purpose cropping, etc.


This is the first book in more than twenty-five years to examine the complex historical, cultural, and aesthetic relationship between theater and film, and the effect that each has had on the other's development. Robert Knopf here assembles essays from performers, directors, writers, and critics that illuminate this ongoing inquiry. The book is divided into five parts--historical influence, comparisons and contrasts, writing, directing, and acting--with interludes by major artists whose work and words have shaped the development of theater and film. A comprehensive bibliography and filmography support further work in this area. The book contains contributions from Susan Sontag, Stanley Kauffmann, Sarah Bey-Cheng, Bertolt Brecht, Ingmar Bergman, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, Julia Taymor, Judi Dench, Sam Waterston, Orson Welles, Antonin Artaud, and Milos Forman, among others.


Following the global financial and economic crisis, and beginning in mid-2009, there has been a surge of capital into Asian and Latin American emerging economies. While capital inflows have a good side, they also have a bad side. This will be particularly pertinent when the increase in inflows occurs rapidly and when the flows take the form of relatively short-term and debt-related investments. These have been characteristics of the recent surge. Concerns about exchange rate appreciation and the macroeconomic effects of foreign exchange market intervention, as well as the effects on domestic asset and housing markets, have led countries to introduce capital controls of one form or another. Having favoured a move towards greater capital account liberalisation in the 1990s, the IMF's attitude to controls has moderated, and it is now trying to establish a framework to guide the use of capital flow management measures. This article analyses the issues involved and discusses the chances of such a framework being effective.


This paper looks at the use of lesson study in primary schools in England as a powerful tool for changing teachers' perceptions and for empowering children in their learning. It draws on a Bourdieusian framework to illustrate the capacity for lesson study to challenge existing school inequities that can arise from an imbalance of cultural, and often social, capital. It is argued that the combination of an intense focus on two/three case pupils and a post-lesson discussion involving those pupils provides a critical space for disaffected children to challenge the current hegemonic capital of others. The research draws on data collected in the north-west of England through 28 interviews with teachers and observation of ten post-lesson discussions. Bourdieu's concept of capital is used to analyse teachers' perceptions of pupil hegemony and to frame lesson study as a potential vehicle for generating equality in the classroom. Thus, lesson study is seen to promote a dialogic space for critical thinking in order to facilitate a growth in children's self-esteem. As such, previously disengaged children are empowered to contribute to the teaching and learning process.


The purpose of this study was to understand how the group processes of teams of software requirements analysts led to problems and to suggest possible solutions. Requirements definition is important to establish the framework for a development project. Researchers have proposed numerous requirements development techniques, but less has been done on managing teams of requirements analysts. To learn more about group processes within such teams, we studied two teams of analysts developing requirements for large, complex real-time systems. These teams had problems ensuring that requirements documents were complete, consistent, and correct; fixing those problems required additional time and effort. To identify sources of problems, we applied two theories of collective action, coordination theory and collective mind theory. Coordination theory suggests that a key problem in requirement analysis is identifying and managing dependencies between requirements and among tasks. Most requirements methods and tools reflect this perspective, focusing on better representation and communication of requirements. The collective mind perspective complements these suggestions by explaining how individuals come to understand how their work contributes to the work of the group. This perspective suggests that deficiencies in actors' representations of the process and subordination to collective goals limit the value of their contributions.


This paper describes the way in which the socio-economic projections in the SRES scenarios were applied in a global-scale assessment of the impacts of climate change on food security, water stresses, coastal flood risk and wetland loss, exposure to malaria risk and terrestrial ecosystems. There are two key issues: (i) downscaling from the world-region level of the original scenarios to the scale of analysis (0.5 0.5 ), and (ii) elaborating the SRES narrative storylines to quantify other indicators affecting the impact of climate change. National estimates of population and GDP were derived by assuming that each country changed at the regional rate, and population was downscaled to the 0.5 0.5 scale assuming that everywhere in a country changed at the same rate. SRES scenarios for future cropland extent were applied to current baseline data, assuming everywhere within a region changed at the same rate. The narrative storylines were used to construct scenarios of future adaptation to the coastal flood risk and malaria risk. The paper compares the SRES scenarios with other global-scale scenarios, and identifies sources of uncertainty. It concludes by recommending three refinements to the use of the SRES scenarios in global and regional-scale impact assessment: (i) improved disaggregation to finer spatial resolutions, using both ''downscaled narrative storylines'' and new technical procedures, (ii) explicit consideration of uncertainty in the population, GDP and land cover characterisations of each storyline, and (iii) use of a wider range of future socio-economic scenarios than provided by SRES if the aim of an impact assessment is to estimate the range of possible future impacts. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


This paper studies the influence of shredded rubber from waste tyres on concrete strength .These shredded particles from waste tyres were used to replace the 20mm size aggregate in different percentages (5%, 10% and 15% in volume). Concrete mixtures without these additives were also tested. The experimental results show a reduction of the compressive strength as the percentage of rubber particles increases. Four point bending test conducted on six samples of each specimen also unveil a reduction in the flexural strength and bending capacity of concrete as the rubber content increases. Deflection at failure of the rubberized concrete is more than that of the plain concrete which unveils the ability of the rubberized concrete to withstand larger deformations than the plain concrete.


Development and Validation of the Abstinence Motivation Scale Natalie Johnson Department of Psychology, BYU Master of Science The purpose of this study was to design the Abstinence Motivation Scale-Sex (AMSSex), a scale to assess adolescent motivations for sexual abstinence using the self-determination theory (SDT) motivation continuum as a framework. Previous sexual abstinence research, SDT measurement studies, pilot study data, and expert panel feedback were used to develop the initial 77-item AMS-Sex. The sample consisted of 695 adolescents (aged 15 to 18; M age = 16.49, SD = 1.08; 50.8% male) recruited online from the across the U.S. Participants completed an online survey. The sample was randomly split into two samples. Independent samples t-tests indicated that sample 1 (N = 351; M age = 16.53, SD = 1.09; 48% male) and sample 2 (N = 344; M age = 16.46, SD = 1.07; 51% male) did not significantly differ by age, gender, parent education, annual household income, sexual behavior, or social desirability. Sample 1 data was used to assess scale reliabilities and run exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to examine the factor structure of the 77-item AMS-Sex. The 77-item AMS-Sex had good internal consistency (α = .99), as did the four subscales. As anticipated, the EFA resulted in a four-factor structure. However, these factors did not represent the anticipated SDT motivation types. Rather, the autonomous motivation items loaded on a single factor; the controlled motivation items loaded onto three factors by source or reference (i.e., parents, peers/others, and self). A second EFA was examined, constraining the model to two factors (i.e., controlled, autonomous). The 77 AMSSex items were reduced to a final 24-item AMS-Sex measure with six items per motivation type through a rigorous process using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with modification indices and information from CFA loadings, item means, standard deviations, skewness, correlations with social desirability, EFA loadings, and item wording and clarity. Sample 2 was then used to validate the final 24-item AMS-Sex using CFA and structural equation modeling (SEM). CFA was used to assess the four-factor, three-factor, and two-factor models. Model fit indices indicated that the four-factor and three-factor models had acceptable model fit, but the two-factor model did not. SEM was used to assess the relationships between the factors (i.e., types of motivation) and age, gender, social desirability, and sexual behavior for the four-factor, threefactor, and two-factor models. The SEM models indicated that older teens tended to be less motivated towards abstinence; girls were more motivated towards abstinence than boys; and sexual behavior was negatively correlated with all four motivation types, but more strongly with the autonomous motivations; and, in general, autonomous motivations were negative predictors of sexual behavior, while controlled motivations positively predicted sexual behavior. EFAs with the final 24 items were assessed, resulting in a three-factor solution: external, introjected, and autonomous motivations.


This paper situates Sikh identity, spirituality, and recovery from alcohol addiction within a nexus of complex social, psychological, and cultural factors. The way in which affected people in Sikh communities in Britain are able to locate and utilize unofficial recovery trajectories, often successfully alleviating suffering, presents both academic research and service provision with potential puzzles. While Sikh communities have been long settled in the UK, there is still a dearth of extensive, multi-method, and analytically rich research investigating the role of spirituality and Sikh identity. We present existing models of recovery process and locate them against an individual psychological and sociological backdrop, so that through the use of spirituality, recovery along this route is interpreted as having both otherworldly as well as materially grounded formations. It is this duality, we argue, that is prominent socially, culturally, and psychologically as important in the recovery from addiction. The multi-factorial nature of this mechanism of change raises important questions for not only addiction recovery, but also notions of continuity and change in Sikh identity. We aim to contribute to this growing body of work in order to re-situate the role of spirituality and identity in alcohol addiction recovery.


Plant extracts of cocor bebek, Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers., containing various types of bioactive compound expected to have cosmetic benefits, however studies on its uses in haircare is lacking. Current study is a part of our effort in extending seeks of plant species growing in Indonesia that are potent to be use as hairgrowth promoting agents. Four healthy, adult, male New Zealand rabbits, aged 4-5 months, weighing 1.5 kg – 2 kg were used as test animals. The dorsal aspect of each rabbit were shaved and divided into six areas, with a size of 2 cm x 2 cm each. Each area of shaved skin were then administered with CMC gel containing substances set for treatment namely: CMC gel without cocor bebek extract (as negative control), 2% minoxidil (as positive control), and leaf extracts of cocor bebek of four levels of concentration i.e. 25% (v/v), 50% (v/v), 75% (v/v) and 100% (v/v) respectively. Topical administration of extract was done twice a day (morning and afternoon), for 21 days. Hair length was assessed using calliper on day 7, 14 and 21 by taking randomly 10 hairs from each treatment area, while the hair mass was measured using microbalance on day 22 by harvesting all hairs on each treatment area. The result showed CMC gel containing leaf extracts of K. pinnata remarkably increased hairs length of rabbits in a concentration-related manner. At the highest concentration, the effects even surpassed minoxidil. However, no treatment found to affect hair mass of the animals. It is inferred that plant extract of cocor bebek is potential to be use as a hair growth promoting agent


This study analyzed the cost performance of electricity efficiency programs implemented by 116 investor-owned utilities between 2009 and 2015 in 41 states, representing about three-quarters of the total spending on U.S. efficiency programs. We applied our typology to characterize efficiency programs along several dimensions (market sector, technology, delivery approach, and intervention strategy) and report the costs incurred by utilities and other program administrators to achieve electricity savings as a result of the programs. Such cost performance data can be used to compare relative costs of different types of efficiency programs, evaluate efficiency options alongside other electricity resources, benchmark local efficiency programs against regional and national cost estimates, and assess the costs of meeting state efficiency policies. The savings-weighted average cost of saved electricity for the period was $0.025/kilowatt-hour (kWh). The cost of saved electricity for programs that targeted residential customers was $0.021/kWh, compared to $0.025/kWh for programs for commercial and industrial customers. Ultimately, we developed an aggregate program savings "cost curve" for the actual electricity efficiency resource during the period that provides insights into the relative costs of various types of efficiency programs and the savings contribution of each program type to the efficiency resource at a national level.


The practice of restorative justice in schools has the capacity to build social and human capital through challenging students in the context of social and emotional learning. While restorative justice was originally introduced in schools to address serious incidents of misconduct and harmful behavior, the potential this philosophy offers is much greater. The conviction is that the key challenge for schools is addressing the culture change required to make the shift from traditional discipline, driven by punitive (or rewards based) external motivators, to restorative discipline, driven by relational motivators that seek to empower individuals and their communities.


Although previous research provides insight into how women construct and idealize their appearance through clothing, the connection to the design elements of a garment is lacking. Using an exploratory approach, the current study, theoretically grounded in the self-discrepancy theory, investigated a woman's perceptions of her body shape. The primary goal of this exploratory study was to understand how garments created with optical illusion prints or patterns, can affect women's perceptions of body shape and if optical illusion garments can increase body satisfaction while helping a woman achieve the appearance of a more ideal body shape. Fifteen women were body scanned to determine their body shape and then participated in an in-depth semistructured interview while viewing a personalized avatar (created from their body scan) depicted in the seven different optical illusion garments created by the researcher. Data analysis revealed seven themes: (1) Perception of Self, (2) Clothing and the Body, (3) Defining Ideals, (4) Optical Illusion Applications, (5) Preferences by Body Shape Category, (6) Effects of Wearing Optical Illusions, and (7) A More Ideal Self. Results from this study showed that optical illusion garments do effect the visual perception of body shape and can result the perception of a more ideal body shape.


As of October 11, 2004, 29 bills have been introduced in the 108th Congress to change the nation's campaign finance laws (primarily under Titles 2 and 26 of the U.S. Code). These bills — 20 in the House and nine in the Senate — seek to make improvements in the current system, including to tighten perceived loopholes. In the wake of enactment of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107- 155), there has been decidedly less legislative activity in this area than in recent Congresses, which typically saw well over 100 campaign finance-related bills introduced.


Humans play a major role shaping the living conditions for not only ourselves, but also all other species on Earth. In fact, some species-rich habitat types require human management to uphold the biodiversity and related ecosystem services. One of the world's most biodiverse habitats on small spatial scales, semi-natural grasslands, have been formed over the course of centuries through extensive grazing and mowing. However, due to political and economic reasons, up to 90% of the European semi-natural grasslands have been lost during the 20th century. To counteract these drastic losses, restoration actions are implemented in environmental policies across Europe. Yet, knowledge of the long-term restoration effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services is still limited. The vast need for future restoration also requires a better understanding of how different pre-conditions affect the restoration outcome, as well as how stakeholders perceive restoration, to be able to prioritise between sites and recognise the limitations of the restoration process. In this thesis, I examine restoration outcomes in Swedish semi-natural grasslands, in terms of plant diversity, associated ecosystem services and from the farmers' and land-owners' perspective. The outcome is also analysed in relation to environmental factors at the local and landscape scale. I found that the overall community composition recovered to resemble intact reference communities, but it took relatively long time (12-20 years). Moreover, the reference sites still had higher species richness both at large and small spatial scales, more grassland specialist species and a higher abundance of plant species important to the five tested ecosystem services (meat production, pollination, water retention, temperature regulation and cultural heritage). My results show that prioritising large, unfertilised, newly abandoned grasslands situated in landscapes containing a large grassland specialist species pool and high amounts of intact and remnant semi-natural grasslands, could speed up the plant recovery. However, prioritising fast results does not necessarily ensure long-term success at a larger spatial scale. Since restoration success can be interpreted differently depending on evaluation measure used, pre-defined, clear and realistic goals are essential. While the surveyed farmers and landowners overall perceived the restoration as successful, 40% were unsure whether the grasslands will be managed in the future. Low profitability still poses a threat to their maintenance and thus, also to the coupled biodiversity and ecosystem services. Policy changes are therefore urgently needed to facilitate incentives for sustained management of restored and intact European semi-natural grasslands in a long-term perspective.


Interdisciplinarity is one of the key catchphrases that define the ongoing educational reform in the Philippines. Through the K-12 basic education curriculum and the revamped tertiary-level general education curriculum, bureaucrats and their partners in the academe seek to equip students with knowledge and skills that will allow them to think and act beyond their chosen field. Such an edge supposedly affords graduates a competitive advantage in a highly globalized labor market. Nonetheless, one must not be carried away by the hype; interdisciplinarity, especially this version imposed from above, still has to be interrogated. For one, lost in the state-directed discourse of interdisciplinarity is the emancipatory tradition arising from epistemological movements that question methodological and conceptual conventions. In the discipline of history, one such epistemological movement—with "movement" deployed here in its broadest sense—is the push toward crafting a "history from below." Foregrounding diversity rather than orthodoxy, this historiographical turn has sought to give voice to the voiceless. In the Philippines, the nineteenth-century ilustrados' conception of the nascent field of Philippine studies and the social histories that broke new ground starting in the 1970s best represent this progressive knowledge–power nexus. These examples demonstrate that interdisciplinarity, for it to be beneficial, should not be the goal itself but a means to an end. Without substantial changes emanating "from below," especially among teachers and students from the huge number of educational institutions neglected by the state, the promise of interdisciplinarity that the Philippine government is peddling is nothing but the production of fantasy.


This study presents the modification of surfaces of nanoclays, halloysite nanotubes (HNT) and sepiolite (SEP), with styrene-maleic anhydride copolymers (SMA) via esterification reaction between hydroxyl groups of the nanoclays and anhydride groups of SMA. The structural, thermal, and morphological analyses of the modified nanoclays were performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). All of these results suggested that the expected modification of HNT and SEP surfaces were performed. Although XRD patterns of HNT containing samples showed that the basal spacing shifted to higher distances, it was found that those of the crystalline structure of SEP remained unchanged. Thermal gravimetric analysis exhibited that SMA copolymers were grafted onto the surfaces of nanoclays varying amounts between 15 and 43 wt. % depending on the types of nanoclays and SMA copolymers. This modification indicates that these nanoclays can be added to the polystyrene matrix without any compatibilizers.


Partial pressures of carbon dioxide (CO2) over aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), and N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) have been correlated using a simple approach where only one chemical equilibrium reaction is taken into account and assuming ideal gas and ideal liquid properties. The approach combines the Henry's law constant and the chemical reaction equilibrium constant for the formation of carbamate for primary and secondary alkanolamines (MEA, DEA) or bicarbonate for tertiary alkanolamines(MDEA), resulting in an explicit expression for calculating the partial pressure of CO2 over an aqueous alkanolamine solution. Accurate values for the partial pressure of CO2 are obtained for a limited loading, temperature, and pressure range that is useful in modeling CO2 capture from coal-fired power plants. Heat of absorption values derived from the model agree with experimental data from the literature.


Abstract. Vegetation phenology as well as the current variability and dynamics of vegetation and land cover, including its climatic and human drivers, are examined in a region in north-western Morocco that is nearly 22 700 km2 big. A gapless time series of Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite raster data from 29 September 2000 to 29 September 2009 is utilised. The data have a spatial resolution of 250 m and were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor. The presented approach allows to compose and to analyse yearly land cover maps in a widely unknown region with scarce validated ground truth data by deriving phenological parameters. Results show that the high temporal resolution of 16 d is sufficient for (a) determining local land cover better than global land cover classifications of Plant Functional Types (PFT) and Global Land Cover 2000 (GLC2000) and (b) for drawing conclusions on vegetation dynamics and its drivers. Areas of stably classified land cover types (i.e. areas that did not change their land cover type) show climatically driven inter- and intra-annual variability with indicated influence of droughts. The presented approach to determine human-driven influence on vegetation dynamics caused by agriculture results in a more than ten times larger area compared with stably classified areas. Change detection based on yearly land cover maps shows a gain of high-productive vegetation (cropland) of about 259.3 km2. Statistically significant inter-annual trends in vegetation dynamics during the last decade could however not be discovered. A sequence of correlations was respectively carried out to extract the most important periods of rainfall responsible for the production of green biomass and for the extent of land cover types. Results show that mean daily precipitation from 1 October to 15 December has high correlation results (max. r2=0.85) on an intra-annual time scale to NDVI percentiles (50 %) of land cover types. Correlation results of mean daily precipitation from 16 September to 15 January and percentage of yearly classified area of each land cover type are medium up to high (max. r2=0.64). In all, an offset of nearly 1.5 months is detected between precipitation rates and NDVI values. High-productive vegetation (cropland) is proved to be mainly rain-fed. We conclude that identification, understanding and knowledge about vegetation phenology, and current variability of vegetation and land cover, as well as prediction methods of land cover change, can be improved using multi-year MODIS NDVI time series data. This study enhances the comprehension of current land surface dynamics and variability of vegetation and land cover in north-western Morocco. It especially offers a quick access when estimating the extent of agricultural lands.


In early September, I took a trip to Woods Hole, where Incoming Editor-in-Chief Sharona Gordon and I attended the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society of General Physiologists. This year's meeting saw the unveiling of the Society's Friends of Physiology Lecture Series Honoring Clara Franzini-Armstrong and Clay Armstrong. Clay, who has devoted many years to investigating ion channel permeability mechanisms and gating processes, and Clara, who has spent many years investigating the structural bases of excitation–contraction coupling, were gracious enough to allow Sharona and me to record a conversation in which we discussed some of their work. In this month's installment of Generally Physiological, we're delighted to present a condensed version of that conversation in what will be the first of an occasional series of audio presentations of conversations with notable physiologists. The interview and transcript are available here: http://www.jgp.org/cgi/content/full/jgp.201311115/DC1. Listeners inspired to learn more about the studies Clara and Clay spoke about may wish to explore some of their pertinent JCB and JGP articles.


Mobile Cloud Computing: Foundations and Service Models combines cloud computing, mobile computing and wireless networking to bring new computational resources for mobile users, network operators and cloud computing providers. The book provides the latest research and development insights on mobile cloud computing, beginning with an exploration of the foundations of cloud computing, existing cloud infrastructures classifications, virtualization techniques and service models. It then examines the approaches to building cloud services using a bottom-up approach, describing data center design, cloud networking and software orchestration solutions, showing how these solutions support mobile devices and services. The book describes mobile cloud clouding concepts with a particular focus on a user-centric approach, presenting a distributed mobile cloud service model called POEM to manage mobile cloud resource and compose mobile cloud applications. It concludes with a close examination of the security and privacy issues of mobile clouds.Shows how to construct new mobile cloud based applicationsContains detailed approaches to address security challenges in mobile cloud computingIncludes a case study using vehicular cloud


All melodies have shape: a pattern of ascents, descents, and plateaus that occur as music moves through time. This shape—or contour—is one of a melody's defining characteristics. Music theorists such as Michael Friedmann (1985), Robert Morris (1987), Elizabeth Marvin (1987), and Ian Quinn (1997) have developed models for analyzing contour, but only a few compare contours with different numbers of notes (cardinalities), and fewer still compare entire families of contours. Since these models do not account for familial relations between different-sized contours, they apply only to a limited musical repertoire, and therefore it seems unlikely that they reflect how listeners perceive melodic shape. This dissertation introduces a new method for evaluating familial similarities between related contours, even if the contours have different cardinalities. My Familial Contour Membership model extends theories of contour transformation by using fuzzy set theory and probability. I measure a contour's degree of familial membership by examining the contour's transformational pathway and calculating the probability that each move in the pathway is shared by other family members. Through the potential of differing alignments along these pathways, I allow for the possibility that pathways may be omitted or inserted within a contour that exhibits familial resemblance, despite its different cardinality. Integrating variable cardinality into contour similarity relations more adequately accounts for familial relationships between contours, opening up new possibilities for analytical application to a wide variety of repertoires. I examine familial relationships between variants of medieval plainchant, and demonstrate how the sensitivity to familial variation illuminated by fuzzy theoretical models can contribute to our understanding of ii musical ontology. I explain how melodic shape contributes to motivic development and narrative creation in Brahms's "Regenlied" Op. 59, No. 3, and the related Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78. Finally, I explore how melodic shape is perceived within the repetitive context of melodic phasing in Steve Reich's The Desert Music. Throughout each study, I show that a more flexible attitude toward cardinality can open contour theory to more nuanced judgments of similarity and familial membership, and can provide new and valuable insights into one of music's most fundamental elements.


James C. Anderson Jr. Roman Architecture in Provence Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, 303 pp., 155 b/w illus. $99.99, ISBN 9780521825207

James C. Anderson Jr.'s Roman Architecture in Provence aims to provide a survey of Roman architecture and town building in the modern French region of Provence. While Provence was not a Roman province in itself, it is notable for the survival of a number of impressive buildings that have played a pivotal role in our understanding of the architecture of the Roman west, such as the amphitheaters at Arles and Nimes, the theater at Orange, and the houses of Vaison-la-Romaine. These monuments provide tantalizing material for any architectural historian of the Roman period, and they deserve the attention they receive within the scholarly literature. Anderson seeks to describe this evidence, discussing some of the dating issues connected with the buildings' construction. This focus raises the question of whether the dating and description of buildings is enough in itself, or whether this material would be better served by an examination of broader historical and architectural issues.

The book is divided into four very unequal chapters. The first, titled "Historical Overview: Roman Provence/'Provincia Nostra,'" provides a chronological narrative of the development of Provence/Narbonensis as an administrative entity from the late second century BCE through to the fourth century CE. It also raises two key ideas to be explored within the book: the process of cultural change or Romanization seen …


Purpose: To study if prolonged in vitro exposure to 1800 MHz radiofrequency (RF) could exert an effect on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from young and elderly donors by affecting apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential and heat shock protein (HSP) 70 levels. Materials and methods: Endpoints were analysed in the presence or absence of the apoptosis‐inducing agent 2‐deoxy‐D‐ribose. Three different signal modulations typical of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) system were applied. The modulations are widely used in mobile telephony (GSM Basic, discontinuous transmission [DTX] and Talk) at specific absorption rates of 1.4 and 2.0 W kg−1. Results: In all conditions and for all endpoints tested, there was no significant difference between RF‐ and sham‐exposed cells. Conclusion: 1800 MHz RF could not induce apoptosis by itself or affect the apoptotic phenomenon when induced by an apoptotic agent. Moreover, RF did not modify the mitochondrial functionality and the expression of HSP 70.


Supersymmetry remains one of the most favourable candidates for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) due to the solution it provides to the little hierarchy problem as well as the prediction of a Dark matter candidate and other theoretical caveats of the standard model. The minimal supersymmetric standard model despite its success, faces the well known μ problem and the need for large radiative corrections in light of the Higgs discovery which destabilizes the weak scale. Our project addresses this problem in the MSSM and studies the possibility of having a natural theory of singlet extensions of the MSSM with an additional U(1)' gauge group. In a bottom-up approach we have considered a phenomenological version of the gauge extensions of the MSSM (pUMSSM) with generic charges which obey the relations of gauge invariance of the Yukawa terms in the superpotential and perturbativity bounds. Furthermore, we construct a model independent way to impose constraints on the mixing angle from the W mass measurement.

We show a strong dependence of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass in different models of pUMSSM, on the Higgsino mass μeff and we identify regions of the parameter space in which the Higgs mass is enhanced at tree level by heavy Higgsinos. Furthermore, we analyse the squark sector and find interesting scenarios with heavy third generation squarks with masses directed by large U(1)' D-term contributions. Using the program SARAH and its interface with SPheno, which allow for the calculation of the Higgs mass at the two-loop level in BSM scenarios, we improve the quality and the validity of our results in light of the Higgs discovery. We investigate the role of the gaugino masses M1, M2, M'1 in affecting the fine-tuning at one-loop in the MSSM and in different models of the pUMSSM.

A study of the fine tuning measure in MSSM is presented, moreover constraints from collider searches using the program Fastlim are imposed and all points of the parameter scans are being tested. We explore regions of the parameter space in which the natural MSSM scenario is not yet ruled out by currently available searches. We proceed to investigate the fine tuning in scenarios of the pUMSSM with different charge assignments, with light and heavy Z' bosons, and identify interesting regions with low fine tuning. We impose constraints from collider searches on supersymmetric particles using Fastlim and find models which can evade current and future searches at the LHC.


This article analyses firstly a few statements released in memory of Gilbert Durand after his death in 2012, then the meaning of his study of the imaginary as it was explained by the philosopher himself in his lecture Fondements et perspectives d'une philosophie de l'imaginaire (Quebec 1989), and finally the mythocritical and mythoanalytical methods that he applied to art and literature. A connection appears clearly between Gilbert Durand's biography – his commitment to the fight against totalitarianism and the painful experiences he endured – and the direction of his research determined by the crisis of a long-established value system. Durand's research was inspired by Gaston Bachelard's teaching, while he discovered the notion of archetype, which he investigated in depth, in Jung's works; thanks to Henry Corbin, he became aware of the religious matrix in the formation of human psyche.


Abstract. This paper presents a methodology for optimisation of flat steel trusses with a system of highstrength tie bars, for each of which the possibility of multiple pre-stresses is provided. Pre-stress is one of the most effective ways to increase the carrying capacity of steel trusses with minimum material costs. Besides, a significant effect, according to the literature data, can be achieved by alternating stages of pre-stresses and payloads. At the same time, algorithms for designing such objects while choosing a sequence of force actions still need to be worked out. The problem of minimising the truss cost is considered taking into account strength, stiffness, and stability constraints. A search has been specified for the sequence of alternating the stages of pre-stress and the application of portions of useful loads, pre-stress forces, bar profiles, and cable crosssection area values. Multiple allowable scenarios of force impacts on a redundant template are used. It is acceptable to indicate the load absence condition in such template in some positions. A possibility has been implemented for the cable system to set a redundant topology which is controlled by including the ability to select negligible cross-section areas. As a result, the mathematical statement of the problem is reduced to discrete parametrical optimisation. A scheme of genetic algorithm is implemented with a mixed approach to the mutation operator in order to find efficient solutions. A methodology has been developed to calculate the stress-strain state of steel frameworks pre-stressed using high-strength cables in a single computational process to efficiently check for compliance with the problem constraints. The performance of the suggested procedure of the optimum search has been illustrated by the example of a steel arch truss. A possibility to use bars made of round pipes together with high-strength tie bars was provided. The efficient parameters of the framework and force impact modes have been determined. The expediency of alternating impacts caused by pre-stresses of cables and application of useful load parts is confirmed. The approach proposed will significantly increase the possibility of obtaining cost-effective design solutions for steel trusses.


We estimate empirically the effect of immigration on house prices and residential construction activity in Spain over the period 1998-2008. This decade is characterized by both a spectacular housing market boom and a stunning immigration wave. We exploit the variation in immigration across Spanish provinces and construct an instrument based on the historical location patterns of immigrants by country of origin. The evidence points to a sizeable causal effect of immigration on both prices and quantities in the housing market. Between 1998 and 2008, the average Spanish province received an immigrant inflow equal to 17% of the initial working-age population. We estimate that this inflow increased house prices by about 52% and is responsible for 37% of the total construction of new housing units during the period. These figures imply that immigration can account for roughly one third of the housing boom, both in terms of prices and new construction.


This essay begins by looking at the nature of social capital and the ways that religion contributes to and undermines social capital. The paper draws on data from a survey on religion and community undertaken in Australia by Edith Cowan University and NCLS Research in 1997 and 1998 showing that religious belief and practice relate to the affirmation of the values of altruism and helpfulness and to participation in voluntary activities for the sake of the well-being of individuals and the wider community. However, the survey suggests that religion does not contribute to trust, and can, in certain circumstances, contribute to distrust. Nor does it contribute to confidence in organisations and expert systems. Similarly, in terms of the global arena, it is evident that religions continue to contribute to distrust. Yet, there are signs that religions can rise above their differences, pointing to universal ethical principles and dimensions of spirituality that transcend particular religious expressions. Religious organisations can also contribute to social capital by cooperating with each other as they seek the common good.


Due to the rapid growth of new technologies, the Business Intelligence (BI) market is growing as well that forces the corporations to adopt their offerings to the needs of the customer. Adoption of Business Intelligence system has become one of the most important technological and organizational innovations in modern organization that promote knowledge diffusion, and cornerstone of business decision making processes. Since the way of BI integrated and implemented is quite different among organizations, it is important to approach BI literature by adaption of BI application and its implementation, BI architects, and enabling factors in BI projects. Furthermore, we are also going to discuss how technological capabilities such as user access, data quality and the integration of BI with other systems in the firm, as well as organizational capabilities such as flexibility and risk management support, are essential for BI success, regardless of the decision environment. Last but not least, this paper will also discuss how the idea of BI has been built on the school of thought. We expect that results could create the value and input for enterprises that plan to implement a BI application in their organization.


As we enter the brave new world of the 21st century, a critical analysis of Africa's position in the globalising world economy with a view to grasping fully the policy challenges that lie ahead has become increasingly necessary. To this end, the paper addresses not only the challenges which globalisation poses to Africa; it also draws attention to the general denunciation, in Africa, of the phenomenon of globalisation. It is argued that while Africa cannot resist globalisation, it can at least make adjustments in economic policies that will enable the African countries to achieve gains while conceding losses. Hence an agenda for action has been provided to highlight a number of key areas on which policy should focus attention.


Brain ArterioVenous Malformation (BAVM) is an abnormal tangle of brain blood vessels where arteries shunt directly into veins with no intervening capillary bed which causes high pressure and hemorrhage risk. The success of treatment by embolization in interventional neuroradiology is highly dependent on the accuracy of the vessels visualization. In this paper the performance of clustering techniques on vessel segmentation from 3D rotational angiography (3DRA) images is investigated and a new technique of segmentation is proposed. This method consists in: preprocessing step of image enhancement, then K-Means (KM), Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) and Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering are used to separate vessel pixels from background and artery pixels from vein pixels when possible. A post processing step of removing false-alarm components is applied before constructing a three-dimensional volume of the vessels. The proposed method was tested on six datasets along with a medical assessment of an expert. Obtained results showed encouraging segmentations. Keywords—Brain arteriovenous malformation (BAVM); 3-D rotational angiography (3DRA); K-Means (KM) clustering; Fuzzy CMeans (FCM) clustering; Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering; volume rendering.


Abstract Mountain biking (MB), unlike road cycling (RC) involves exposure to ground impact bone strain and requires upper-body muscle forces to maintain stability over uneven terrain and therefore may have differential effects on radial bone structure and strength. This study aimed to compare serum bone turnover marker concentration, 1-repetition maximum muscle strength and the radial proximal (diaphysis) and distal (metaphysis) bone structure [bone mineral content, total and cortical area (CoA), density and thickness, diameter and circumference], strength strain indices and muscle cross-sectional area (MCSA) using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) between 30 male cyclists (18–34 years) MB (n = 10), RC (n = 10) and non-athletes controls (CON, n = 10). Differences were assessed by ANOVA and an ANCOVA (adjusting for body mass and height) where appropriate. MB radii were characterised by significantly stronger (14–16%), denser (9–27%) and larger (10%) metaphyses and stronger (22–23%) and larger (11–13%) diaphyses compared to RC and CON. RC had significantly 7% higher strength indices and 4% greater CoA and thickness than CON at the diaphysis, with no differences for other bone measurements. Serum C-terminal telopeptides of type-1 collagen concentration (bone resorption marker) was higher in RC than MB (p < 0.05) and above the age-reference range. MCSA and strength were greater in MB than RC (p < 0.05). Muscle forces generated during RC appear to produce an osteogenic stimulus to increase radial bone strength indices with minimal improvement in bone structure. However greater resorptive activity in RC suggests inadequate loading to support bone maintenance. In conclusion, bone loading, muscle size and strength of MB are superior to RC.


There have been times, such as the summer of 1997, when economic statistics for the United States have told an almost-euphoric story of national well-being: inflation far down, unemployment at the lowest levels in years, increasing productivity, a booming stock market, and the federal budget deficit falling so rapidly that policymakers have begun to talk about what to do when the budget starts showing a surplus. All the while, there have been continuing news reports of corporate mergers, downsizings and restructurings, with abundant layoffs. In their personal lives many Americans have several acquaintances who are being retired early, or moving through a series of temporary jobs, or working at employment far below their qualifications, or waiting with bated breath to be ousted in a "reduction in force," or retaining a job only by moving hundreds of miles to a new location, tearing up roots with family and friends that the person had hoped would last a lifetime. For many people, their own income has hardly moved up in years, certainly not to match inflation, and they know that making any progress at all has depended upon a second income brought in by a working spouse. Often at the same time, however, if they are fortunate, they receive quarterly reports from their retirement stockfund informing them of gains at a dizzying pace, portending (if all remains well) an affluent old age. How are these seemingly incongruous elements to be reconciled? More by theory, certainly, than by statistics. It would seem that almost anything can be "reconciled," or not, depending upon ones wishes. Economic statistics today, in the hands of differing interpreters, can and do give widely varying pictures. It is plausible to speak of "a crisis of statistics." Every subject is lost in a welter of claims and counterclaims, with all points of view citing statistics that confirm their position, so that it is almost impossible to penetrate through to reality on the basis of statistics alone. In this vein, Business Week in March 1996 spoke of a resulting "cognitive dissonance"' and Kenneth Auchincloss in Newsweek, talking about the figures for per capita income, says "the statistical argument is an impenetrable thicket."2 In an enlightening article entitled "The Real Truth About the Economy: Are Government Statistics So Much Pulp Fiction?," Business Week in November 1994 said that "the economic statistics that the government issues every week should come with a warning sticker," adding that "the government is pumping out a stream of statistics that are nothing but myths and misinformation."3 And yet it is striking that Alan Greenspan, who as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board holds center stage in the making of economic policy, is willing freely to use standard statistics on such things as unemployment and the Gross Domestic Product as though they are fully meaningful, which they probably are for his purposes, since he's certainly no fool.4 He sees the statistics, in their usual form, as conveying significant information. Just the same, he acknowledges the problem when he says that "the list of shortcomings in U.S. economic data is depressingly long."5 Whatever continuing value the statistics may have for some uses, for the purpose of understanding where the United States' and the world's economies are going in response to global high-tech, the criticisms in Business Week have considerable force. A current statistical category such as "Gross National Product" was adopted after World War II as a tool that was useful to economists at that time. With changing conditions, it and other measures are becoming increasingly ill-suited. The Economist suggests that a major reason "for the inadequacy of official statistics may be that the economy is simply becoming unmeasurable. Conventional methods of measuring the economy are no longer up to the task, and economists cannot agree on how to improve them."6 The result is that we are forced to rely more on theoretical insight than we would like to in knowing the current state of things. …


Preeclampsia is a unique pregnancy hypertensive disorder, being an important medical condition associated with a high risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The early detection of pregnancies at high risk of preterm preeclampsia has become a significant challenge in nowadays obstetrics follow-up. The latest studies have demonstrated that between 11-13 weeks of gestation an important rate of pregnancies at high risk of preterm preeclampsia can be detected, using an algorithm with significant data features regarding early biopshysical and biochemical markers of altered placentation.


Compositional prior information is used to bridge a gap in the theory between optical coherence tomography (OCT), which provides high-resolution structural images by neglecting spectral variation, and imaging spectroscopy, which provides only spectral information without significant regard to structure. A constraint is proposed in which it is assumed that a sample is composed of N distinct materials with known spectra, allowing the structural and spectral composition of the sample to be determined with a number of measurements on the order of N. We present a forward model for a sample with heterogeneities along the optical axis and show through simulation that the N-species constraint allows unambiguous inversion of Fourier transform interferometric data within the spatial frequency passband of the optical system. We then explore the stability and limitations of this model and extend it to a general 3D heterogeneous sample.


Impairments in executive functions (EF) are consistently associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to a lesser extent, with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD), i.e., oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, in school-aged children. Recently, larger numbers of children with these disorders are diagnosed earlier in development, yet knowledge about impairments in clinically diagnosed preschool children and the role of co-morbidity is limited. The aims of this dissertation were threefold. We aimed to study EF, the development of EF, and the role of the caregiving environment on the development of EF in preschool children with ADHD and/or DBD. First, we focused on the assessment of EF in these groups by (a) using newly developed age-appropriate EF tasks and examining the EF factor structure; (b) conducting a meta-analysis regarding the relation between EF and externalizing behavior problems in preschool children; (c) conducting a cross-sectional study to examine differences in EF performance in preschool children diagnosed with ADHD and/or DBD. Second, the development of EF in these children was examined in a 1½ year longitudinal study. Third, the role of the caregiving environment on the development of EF was investigated. Method: To examine the aims (except for conducting the meta-analysis) we investigated clinically diagnosed preschool children, 61 diagnosed with ADHD, 33 with DBD, 52 with ADHD+DBD and 58 typically developing children. Five EF tasks were administered at baseline, at nine-months follow-up and at eighteen months follow-up. Caregiving environment characteristics (parenting practices and stress, depression and ADHD symptoms of the caregiver) were evaluated at baseline. Results: In the meta-analysis 22 studies were reviewed with three to six year old children with symptoms of ADHD and/ or DBD from community and referred samples. A medium effect size was obtained for overall EF and for inhibition, whereas a small effect size was found for working memory and for cognitive flexibility. Moderator analyses revealed a stronger effect for older preschoolers compared to younger preschoolers, and for children from referred samples compared to community samples. In our own study, we found a two factor structure of EF: an inhibition and a working memory factor. Clinically diagnosed preschool children with ADHD showed robust inhibition deficits, whereas preschool children with DBD showed impaired inhibition especially where motivational incentives were prominent. Severity of inhibition impairment in the co-morbid group was similar to the ADHD group.For working memory, few group differences were found. Regarding the second aim, inhibition and working memory performance increased over time for children with ADHD and/or DBD, especially in the early preschool period. Working memory impairments became more apparent with age in children with ADHD. Regarding the third aim, even over a relatively brief period of 18 months caregiving characteristics such as maternal stress were associated with young children's developmental changes in executive functions, also in children with ADHD and DBD. Conclusion: Preschoolchildrenwith ADHD, and to a lesser extent children with DBD, were impaired on inhibition performance. Overall, we found more similarities than differences in EF performance between children with ADHD and DBD.


OBJECTIVE—β-Cell function in type 1 diabetes clinical trials is commonly measured by C-peptide response to a secretagogue in either a mixed-meal tolerance test (MMTT) or a glucagon stimulation test (GST). The Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Research Group and the European C-peptide Trial (ECPT) Study Group conducted parallel randomized studies to compare the sensitivity, reproducibility, and tolerability of these procedures. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—In randomized sequences, 148 TrialNet subjects completed 549 tests with up to 2 MMTT and 2 GST tests on separate days, and 118 ECPT subjects completed 348 tests (up to 3 each) with either two MMTTs or two GSTs. RESULTS—Among individuals with up to 4 years' duration of type 1 diabetes, >85% had measurable stimulated C-peptide values. The MMTT stimulus produced significantly higher concentrations of C-peptide than the GST. Whereas both tests were highly reproducible, the MMTT was significantly more so (R2 = 0.96 for peak C-peptide response). Overall, the majority of subjects preferred the MMTT, and there were few adverse events. Some older subjects preferred the shorter duration of the GST. Nausea was reported in the majority of GST studies, particularly in the young age-group. CONCLUSIONS—The MMTT is preferred for the assessment of β-cell function in therapeutic trials in type 1 diabetes.


A continuous 305-year (1711–2016) monthly rainfall series (IoI_1711) is created for the Island of Ireland. The post 1850 series draws on an existing quality assured rainfall network for Ireland, while pre-1850 values come from instrumental and documentary series compiled, but not published by the UK Met Office. The series is evaluated by comparison with independent long-term observations and reconstructions of precipitation, temperature and circulation indices from across the British–Irish Isles. Strong decadal consistency of IoI_1711 with other long-term observations is evident throughout the annual, boreal spring and autumn series. Annually, the most recent decade (2006–2015) is found to be the wettest in over 300 years. The winter series is probably too dry between the 1740s and 1780s, but strong consistency with other long-term observations strengthens confidence from 1790 onwards. The IoI_1711 series has remarkably wet winters during the 1730s, concurrent with a period of strong westerly airflow, glacial advance throughout Scandinavia and near unprecedented warmth in the Central England Temperature record – all consistent with a strongly positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Unusually wet summers occurred in the 1750s, consistent with proxy (tree-ring) reconstructions of summer precipitation in the region. Our analysis shows that inter-decadal variability of precipitation is much larger than previously thought, while relationships with key modes of climate variability are time-variant. The IoI_1711 series reveals statistically significant multi-centennial trends in winter (increasing) and summer (decreasing) seasonal precipitation. However, given uncertainties in the early winter record, the former finding should be regarded as tentative. The derived record, one of the longest continuous series in Europe, offers valuable insights for understanding multi-decadal and centennial rainfall variability in Ireland, and provides a firm basis for benchmarking other long-term records and reconstructions of past climate. Correlation of Irish rainfall with other parts of Europe increases the utility of the series for understanding historical climate in further regions.


This paper describes a new methodology for gait training and recovery for people in midand late-stage dementia. A combination of social and rhythmic auditory cues is used to express the robot's behavior. Specifically, the described research develops and evaluates a method for on-line adaptation aimed at both personalizing the therapy process and maximizing its health-related outcomes. This novel user activity sensing approach provides the rationale for development of socially assistive robotics therapy for monitoring and coaching users toward customized and optimized recovery and care programs.


Although prednisolone is a routinely prescribed medication in dogs, there is a lack of information regarding prednisolone prescribing practices by veterinarians. This study aims to describe characteristics of dogs receiving prednisolone, disease processes treated, doses prescribed as well as to identify factors influencing the dose rate in Australia. The VetCompass Australia database was queried to identify dogs prescribed prednisolone between 1 July 2016 to 31 July 2018 (inclusive). A random sample of 2,000 dogs from this population were selected. Dog demographic data, prednisolone dose and indication for prescription were collated. Indicated dose for the condition treated was compared to prescribed dose. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify patient-level characteristics associated with prescribed prednisolone dose. A large and small breed dog cohort, treated for the same disease process, were compared for differences in dosing. Median age of dogs was 73 (range 2 to 247) months and median body weight was 17 (range 1.56 to 90) kg. Median prescribed prednisolone dose was 0.8 mg/kg/day, with most dogs receiving an anti-inflammatory dose (0.3–1 mg/kg/day, 58%). Prednisolone prescriptions were predominantly for diseases of the integument (n = 1645, 82%) followed by unknown indication and respiratory disease. A total of 152 dogs (8%) were prescribed immunosuppressive doses of prednisolone for conditions where an anti-inflammatory dose would be recommended. Increases in bodyweight were associated with lower doses on mg/kg scale but higher doses on a mg/m2 scale (p < 0.001). Overall, prednisolone was primarily used as an anti-inflammatory in this population, with some inappropriate use of immunosuppressive doses. Increasing bodyweight was associated with a small reduction in dose in mg/kg, suggesting that clinicians are adjusting prednisolone dose rates based on dog bodyweight.


With digitization, today many collections are being rediscovered; research and safeguarding projects often initiate the re-propertization and commodification of these archives as "heritage". Through two case studies we show how audio recordings in different historical contexts are culturally-politically (re-) appropriated and how technology is involved in this. Thereby, our essay investigates the apparent contradiction between the cultural-political perspective on cultural heritage, which assumes that valuable cultural heritage and cultural property "exist" and are worth of being protected, and the perspective in cultural analysis, which assumes that the value of cultural elements is "constructed" through cultural-political practices. Rather, we argue that the constructivist approach on analyzing heritage is not independent from the existence of socially appreciated cultural phenomena, and that cultural heritage as a "theoretical practice" holds a close connection with both, cultural-political practice and theoretical conceptualizations.


Die wear is an undesired and unpredictable failure and downtime reason in metal forming operations. It directly affects the part formability and surface quality, and causes production loss, cost increase and delays. In sheet metal stamping, the wear of deforming dies continues to be a great concern to the automotive industry as a result of increasing die maintenance cost and scrap rate. The demand to reduce the use of lubricants and increase tool life in sheet metal stamping has resulted in increased research on the suitable combination of die materials. During production, the higher forming forces, higher wear; galling and premature die surface failures, and eventually insufficient product quality, interrupted production, and unexpected cost increases. Hence, in order to prolong the die-life, reduce down-time, and increase production rate and profitability; manufacturers are looking into alternative die materials, coatings, lubricants and their compatible combinations that would increase the die-life/ performance at reasonable cost levels. There are so many options and combinations of die materials and coatings that it is rather time-consuming to select a proper, if not optimal, pair of die material and coating for a given application. The various types of tool or die steels are there which are used in industries like sheet metal industry and press working. The wear of tools or dies is a common problem in these industries. Hence the present study aims to investigate the wear performance of AISI D3 die steel against mild steel under dry sliding conditions. Sliding parameters such as sliding speed, sliding time and normal load are taken.


In this experiment we investigated the hypothesis that heterogeneity of plant structures presents disparity in niches available for colonisation by the rumen microbiota resulting in differential colonisation. Fresh perennial ryegrass (PRG) stem and leaves were incubated in the presence of rumen bacteria under rumen-like conditions with incubations harvested at many time intervals up to 24 h. In vitro dry matter degradability (IVDMD) of stem material was lower than that of leaves at all harvesting times. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) derived dendrograms, canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) and PERMANOVA demonstrated that diversity of bacteria attached to PRG stem and leaf material was different at all harvesting times although QPCR data showed similar quantities of bacterial 16S rDNA on stem and leaf material at all harvesting times. Conversely, bacterial diversity on abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces was similar, but 16S rDNA quantity differed with more 16S rDNA on the adaxial surface at all harvesting times. Image analysis of low temperature scanning electron microscopy (LTSEM) pictures confirmed that biofilm coverage on the adaxial surface was greater than the abaxial surface. We demonstrate that differing plant parts can affect attached bacterial diversity and/or 16S rDNA quantity present. This result is consistent with concepts of niche specialisation by the rumen microbiota. This observation is particularly relevant to understanding rumen plant-microbe interactions which is necessary for development of novel strategies for improving ruminant nutrient use efficiency.


[1] We present observations of the F-region ionosphere over Arecibo, Puerto Rico (18.34°N, 66.75°W), during the January–February 2008 and January–February 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events. For the first period (2008), we have used incoherent scatter radar (ISR) electron density and temperature measurements from the Arecibo Observatory (AO), as well as relative total electron content (TEC) derived from a dual-frequency GPS receiver. For the second event (2009), during which we observed the largest recorded stratospheric warming, we have used the relative GPS TEC. Our analysis indicates that the ionosphere over Arecibo exhibits perturbations after the SSW, the effects are most visible during the daytime. The strongest signatures are observed in the TEC measurements, represented by large enhancements (with respect to non SSW days), particularly during daytime hours. However, the local time dependence of these enhancements is not the same in the two events. In addition, the data show that our results are consistent with the larger than normal daytime vertical drift differences observed at the magnetic equator over Jicamarca. The electron temperature is also affected during the daytime due to changes in electron density, indicating that the electron temperatures is influenced, indirectly, by changes in planetary wave activity in the lower altitudes.