Analysis of many families with linked DNA markers has provided support for the Huntington's disease (HD) gene being close to the telomere on the short arm of chromosome 4. However, analysis of recombination events in particular families has provided conflicting results about the precise location of the HD gene relative to these closely linked DNA markers. Here we report an investigation of linkage disequilibrium between six DNA markers and the HD gene in 75 separate families of varied ancestry. We show significant non-random association between alleles detected at D4S95 and D4S98 and the mutant gene. These data suggest that it may be possible to construct high and low risk haplotypes, which may be helpful in DNA analysis and genetic counselling for HD, and represent independent evidence that the gene for HD is centromeric to more distally located DNA markers such as D4S90. This information may be helpful in defining a strategy to clone the gene for HD based on its location in the human genome.


Millennia of human land-use have resulted in the widespread occurrence of what have been coined 'domesticated ecosystems'. The anthropogenic imprints on diversity, composition, structure and functioning of such systems are well documented. However, evolutionary consequences of human activities in these ecosystems are enigmatic. Calluna vulgaris (L.) is a keystone species of coastal heathlands in northwest Europe, an ancient semi-natural landscape of considerable conservation interest. Like many species from naturally fire-prone ecosystems, Calluna shows smoke-adapted germination, but it is unclear whether this trait arose prior to the development of these semi-natural landscapes or is an evolutionary response to the anthropogenic fire regime. We show that smoke-induced germination in Calluna is found in populations from traditionally burnt coastal heathlands but is lacking in naturally occurring populations from other habitats with infrequent natural fires. Our study thus demonstrates evolutionary imprints of human land-use in semi-natural ecosystems. Evolutionary consequences of historic anthropogenic impacts on wildlife have been understudied, but understanding these consequences is necessary for informed conservation and ecosystem management.


Leah Chishugi grew up in eastern Congo but, aged seventeen, she moved to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, to work as a model. She married and had a son. Then in 1994 she was caught up in the horrific conflict, and escaped only after being left for dead under a pile of corpses. She fled with her son to Uganda, then South Africa where she was miraculously reunited with her husband whom she believed dead. Leah finally settled in the UK where she was granted asylum and became a nurse. After her mother died, Leah decided to set up a charity to help the women and children of eastern Congo - victims of continuing war atrocities. A LONG WAY FROM PARADISE is a deeply courageous narrative of one woman's survival of personal trauma and finding a greater purpose in life through devotion to the service of others.


BACKGROUND
The administration of clomiphene citrate is followed by an enhanced release of pituitary gonadotropins resulting in follicular recruitment. After the drug is stopped, there is continuing secretion of estradiol, selection of the dominant follicle and, in successful cases, ovulation. Clomiphene is indicated as the initial treatment in the majority of women with amenorrhoea and oligomennorhoea. In women with irregular ovulation it seems to re-establish typical frequency of ovulation. Its effectiveness in oligo-amenorrhoeic women was tested in a number of randomized controlled trials at that time. These trials form the basis for the following review.

OBJECTIVES
Clomiphene citrate enhances the release of pituitary hormones, often resulting in ovulation. The objective of this review was to assess the effects of clomiphene citrate on ovulation and pregnancy in women with oligo-ovulatory subfertility.

SEARCH STRATEGY
The Cochrane Subfertility Review Group specialised register of controlled trials was searched.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised trials of clomiphene compared with placebo or no treatment in women with oligo-ovulatory subfertility of at least 12 months duration.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Trial quality was assessed and data were extracted independently by two reviewers.

MAIN RESULTS
Four studies were included. They were all of crossover design. Since it was not possible to separate data from the first and second phases of these trials, the effect of clomiphene may be overestimated. Compared with placebo, clomiphene citrate was associated with increased ovulation. The odds ratio for high doses (50-250 milligrams per day) was 6.82 (95% confidence interval 3.92 to 11.85). This dropped to a non-significant odds ratio of 1.29 (95% confidence interval 0.48 to 3.49) with low doses (10 milligrams per day). Clomiphene citrate (all doses) was associated with an increased pregnancy rate per treatment cycle (odds ratio 3.41, 95% confidence interval 4.23 to 9.48).

REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS
Clomiphene citrate (at doses between 50 to 250 milligrams per day) appears to be an effective method of inducing ovulation and improving fertility in oligo-ovulatory women. However adverse effects include possible ovarian cancer risk and risk of multiple pregnancy.


The possibility of determination of sorbitol and fructosamine in saliva has been studied in healthy volunteers and patients with diabetes. The dependence of these metabolites levels in saliva on blood glucose level was demonstrated. It is concluded that saliva sorbitol and fructosamine levels measurements may be used as diagnostic tests in diabetes and serve as indicators of efficacy of therapy in diabetes.


The operating characteristics and experimental performance of continuous-wave (cw) singly resonant optical parametric oscillators (ICSRO's) pumped internally to the cavity of the pump laser are described. We outline the operating principles, design criteria, and optimization procedure for maximum downconversion and power extraction and highlight the merits of the intracavity approach, including low input power requirement, potential for 100% downconversion efficiency, high-power operational stability, and power scalability. The predicted behavior and many of the attractive practical features of these devices are demonstrated in cw ICSRO's based on the birefringent nonlinear materials KTiOPO4 and KTiOAsO4 and on the quasi-phase-matched nonlinear materials periodically poled LiNbO3,RbTiOAsO4, and KTiOPO4, pumped internally to cw Ti:sapphire- and diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Maximum extracted infrared powers of 1.46 W, downconversion efficiencies of as much as 90%, minimum input power thresholds of 310 mW, and wavelength tuning to 4 µm in the mid-infrared are demonstrated.


The literature reports that patents are commonly seen as isolating mechanisms. Nevertheless, our knowledge as to how firms manage both patents and the patenting process to capture the benefits realised from innovative effort is still scant. In this paper we explore how firms use the patenting process to enhance appropriability conditions. Based upon case studies of six various sized UK pharmaceutical firms our findings suggest that it is mainly by managing a whole portfolio of patents that firms will generate the full benefits of patents and limit the operations of (potential) competitors. The portfolio approach is one alternative to broaden the scope of protection. Along the same lines our sample firms also revealed their interest in broader territorial coverage. Although the protection achieved is largely determined by the legal framework, firms revealed that the timing of application is pivotal in determining the scope of the final patent grant and other related follow-up patents.


Abstract A fusion reactor requires high levels of safety and public acceptability, so safeconfinement of tritium is one of the key issues. Tritium must be well controlled with no excessive release to environment and no excessive workers exposure. Especially, the hot cell and tritium facility of ITER will use various construction materials such as the concrete and the organic materials. Since the concrete materials will be contaminated by tritium compared with the metal materials such as SS, it is very important to study the tritium behavior on the materials from the viewpoint of the excessive exposure protection to workers. Therefore, in order to understand the tritium behavior on the concrete materials, the sorption and desorption experiment was carried out as a function of the exposure time and temperature of water in the desorption experiment. The used samples were cement paste, mortar and concrete. These samples were exposed into 740 ˜ 1110 Bq/cm3 of tritiated water vapor at room temperature. The exposed time was from a day to several weeks. The exposed samples for a certain period were soaked into water at 277 K, 298 K and 343 K, and then the water was periodically measured by Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC) and the amount of tritium sorbed on the concrete materials were evaluated. The amount of the tritium sorbed in the concrete materials reached equilibrium less than 2 months. In the desorption behavior from concrete materials to water at 277K, 298K and 343K, the tritium sorbed in the concrete materials was desorbed about 99 % for 2 days at 343 K of water. However, the tritium desorption from concrete materials was sufficiently detected though 3 months passed. In addition, the tritium profile on the surface concrete materials was measured by a tritium imaging plate.


Magnetooptical waveguides having nonreciprocal phase shift for both TE and TM modes can be prepared by properly adjusting the spatial variation of the Faraday rotation. Such waveguides are attractive to realize optical isolators. We investigate four concepts of magnetooptical waveguides which yield equal nonreciprocal phase shifts for the fundamental TE and TM modes. A polarization-independent Mach-Zehnder-type integrated optical isolator is presented. All the calculations are performed using material parameters typical for garnet films.


The flow of information from local police to federal immigration officials forms a central element of the contemporary phenomenon known as "crimmigration" — the convergence of immigration enforcement and criminal law enforcement. This Essay provides the first historical account of the early roots of this information flow and a new perspective on its contemporary significance.Previous scholarship locates crimmigration's origins in the 1980s and '90s. Drawing on extensive archival research on day-to-day interactions between local police and federal immigration officials, this Essay explores a lost chapter in the development of crimmigration: the pipeline that brought men arrested by vice squads in gay cruising areas into the deportation system in the 1950s and '60s. This history demonstrates that the contemporary crimmigration system is best understood not as the merging of two enforcement systems that were formerly separate, but rather as the product of shifts within both policing and the deportation systems that have rendered many more people vulnerable to the intersection of the two. Drawing parallels between the use of vice squad arrest records by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the 1950s and the use of police data by the Department of Homeland Security today, this Essay argues that a symbiotic relationship has developed in recent years between "broken windows" policing and the deportation system. The deportation system has come to depend on the existence of an expansive criminal justice system that subjects low-income communities of color to regular monitoring through frequent stops and arrests for minor offenses. At the same time, programs that promote police-immigration cooperation have themselves become drivers of over-policing.


The Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and its associated mining camp is one of the largest Cu, Ni, PGE ore systems in the world. Due to a long history of mining (>100 years), the SIC has been extensively explored making the discovery of new surface deposits difficult. This study explored the use of dendrochemical analysis as an economic means to locate deposits concealed by overburden. Tree cores combined with soil samples were collected and analyzed from two sites to provide a comparison between a known deposit (Broken Hammer) and a known contamination location (downwind site). Samples were collected from both White Pine (Pinus Strobus) and Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris) species, however White Pine proved to have a stronger affinity for the uptake of ore-associated metals (i.e., Cu, Ni, Fe, Co, Hg, Cd, Pb, Sb, S). Analyses of tree-core intervals revealed clear anthropogenic effects in the samples from both sites; however, due to the age of the trees the magnitude of these effects compared to pre-mining conditions could not be determined. The concentrations of S, Cu, Ni, Fe, Al, Pb and As in the downwind samples increased over time. On average, S increased from 6.37 to 8.98 ppm, Cu from 0.503 to 0.908 ppm, Ni from 0.605 to 1.18 ppm, Fe from 124 to 273 ppm, Al from 4.38 to 6.60 ppm and As from 0.008 to 0.012 ppm. Conversely, the concentrations of Cu, Fe, Ni, Al, S and As in the samples from Broken Hammer decreased over time. Copper decreased from 0.84 to 0.55 ppm, Fe from 2.45 to 1.19 ppm, Ni from 1.02 to 1.18 ppm, Al from 6.81 to 4.96 ppm, S from 7.62 to 7.57 ppm and As from 0.014 to 0.002 ppm. The total Pb concentration decreased over time in all samples from both sites. There were no trends in the Pb isotopic ratios with the exception of the 207Pb/206Pb. A comparison of the samples from each location revealed unique trends in the distribution of the data, which could suggest two sources. Soil (Ah and B horizon) collected proximal to the sampled trees near Broken Hammer showed the metal concentration increasing with depth. Copper averaged 33.6 – 187.9 ppm, whereas Ni had an even steeper trend, increasing from an average of 22.4 ppm–234.5. Sulphur and Hg also displayed a similar trend, however the difference was not as substantial. The highs and lows in concentration levels in the tree cores correspond to various historical events. During WWII (1939 – 1945), the Korean War (1950 – 1953) and the Vietnam war (1964 – 1973), the demand for Ni increased resulting in increased smelting activities and a spike in contamination levels. Conversely, the recession in the late 1970s early 1980s and the INCO strike in the late 1990s resulted in a decrease in Ni production and a drop in contamination levels. The distribution of metal concentrations at Broken Hammer indicates a lack of surface contamination and therefore a non-contaminated B-horizon. The higher concentrations in the B-horizon are anomalous to other studies in the Sudbury area suggesting a possible subsurface source. This is encouraging and the potential remains to develop a method for mineral exploration applications utilizing tree core samples, even in heavily mining impacted areas like the Sudbury.


PURPOSE
To examine the family communication experience of Korean adolescents with cancer and their parents, including how adolescents and their parents verbally share feelings and concerns related to the adolescent's cancer diagnosis with one another, and how emotional communication affects parent-adolescent relationships and the family's coping abilities.

PARTICIPANTS & SETTING
20 participants (10 adolescents with cancer, aged 13-19 years, and their parents) at a university-affiliated hospital in Seoul, South Korea.

METHODOLOGIC APPROACH
Individual, semistructured interviews were conducted and analyzed based on a qualitative descriptive approach. Conventional content analysis was employed to analyze the data.

FINDINGS
The overarching core theme developed from the content analysis and theme generation was "I cannot share my feelings." This core theme is represented by three main themes.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Increased need for nursing awareness and culturally relevant assessment of emotional family communication needs between Korean adolescents with cancer and their family caregivers are necessary.


Chile is an energy independent country; goal achieved due to the diversification of the energy matrix and promoting exploitation of renewable energies. On the other side, Argentina holds permanent electricity importations from its neighboring countries, relying on these transactions to supply its demand. The Northern Interconnected System (SING) is one of the two major electrical isolated power systems in Chile with current surplus capacity and ongoing renewable energy developments. There is an existent not-operating, 345 kV transmission line between SING and the Interconnected Argentinian System (SADI), which in the past was completely dedicated to transmit power to Chile from a generation plant located in Argentina, without being fully interconnected to SADI. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in restarting the operation of the 345 kV transmission line. Therefore, this work performs a steady-state assessment based on load flow calculations with the computational tool DigSilent Power Factory, in order to evaluate the impact and capabilities of transmitting power from Chile to Argentina. This is done by simulating under-development wind projects that the German company, SoWiTec, has in Chile. The created scenarios also take into account that the exported capacity to Argentina might come from other renewables such as solar power as well as conventional technologies based on gas and coal. Permissible voltage levels and thermal loading are monitored throughout the work, paying especial attention to selected electrical nodes where the 345 kV transmission line is connected and to the wind projects´ points of common coupling with the power system. In the case of exceeding acceptable limits, solutions and measures are proposed and documented. This work also contains a commercial aspect in which the goal was to gain comprehension about the commercial structure that the interconnection SING-SADI will have. Ideas, being at the moment considered to be part of the policy framework to rule the transaction, have been gathered. Required regulation in Chile, possible commercialization modes, proposed scheme to manage the transaction and important features to be included at a regulatory level to empower renewable energies, were stated.


We report experimental demonstrations of a quantitative technique for elemental mapping. The technique operates in full-field imaging mode and uses three intensity measurements at energies across an absorption edge of an element of interest to obtain its elemental distribution. The experimental results show that the technique can overcome some limitations in the conventional Absorption Edge Contrast Imaging. The technique allows for an accurate determination of the elemental distribution in a compound sample even at a low level of percentage composition. It is also robust to the choice of energy intervals.


Abstract The main physics results achieved in the recent years in the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) are reviewed. The main focus of research has been the development of performance plasmas at high densities (up to 4 × 1020 m-3), high magnetic field (up to 8 T) and plasma current (up to 1.6 MA), that are therefore in a domain of relevance for burning physics experiments such as ITER. The main tools consist in the development of plasma conditioning techniques and the use of various electron heating and current drive systems. Improved confinement regimes have been developed, including (a) the production of steady electron internal transport barriers at high density and electron temperature (up to central electron temperature of 11 keV at a central density of 0.9 × 1020 m3), (b) the production of repetitive pellet enhanced plasma modes with deep pellet deposition leading to a substantial increase of the neutron yield (and a record FTU value of the fusion product niTi τ E up to 0.8 × 1020 m-3 keV·s), and (c) the production of radiation improved modes at high magnetic field. Main results on the supporting physics program will also be given in the domain of plasma wave physics (lower hybrid current drive, electron cyclotron resonance frequency, ion Bernstein waves), heat and impurities transport, and magnetohydrodynamic studies.


Italy has carried out the deregulation of the electricity sector. The EU 'Renewable Directive' gave Italy a very ambitious burden sharing: by 2010, 25% of the demand will be faced by renewable energy against a 1997 baseline of 16%. To sustain such development, the producers/importers have a yearly obligation to inject into the system 'green production': in 2002 by 2% increasing to 3.05% by 2006 of their 'conventional production'. Further increases are anticipated after 2006. The obligation is satisfied by issuing to the renewable production 'Green Certificates' (GCs), a coupon not technology-related but traded in addition to the sale of renewable energy. The GCs' mechanism and the formation of their prices are described. The wind production is expected to grow from the present 1.5 TWh up to 5–6 TWh by 2010, in keeping with the targets of the Kyoto Protocol. The paper describes the regulatory, connection, system problems of the wind source in the above-mentioned national and international framework.


This advanced torts casebook covers all the major business and dignitary torts, including defamation, privacy invasions, disparagement, bad faith breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion of economic values, interference with contract and economic opportunity, unfair competition, and others. It examines essential policy issues involving free speech, free competition, and the question whether contract trumps tort in commercial transactions. It also includes material on developing law, such as internet issues, SLAPP statutes and analogous free speech issues, and the Economic Loss Rule (or Rules).


Summary Background: Hypereosinophilic syndrome is a rare systemic disease characterized by idiopathic eosinophilia with multiple organ involvement. Symptoms vary in accordance with which organ is affected. Cardiac involvement is one of the most serious complications, substantially contributing to the morbidity and mortality of patients with hypereosinophilic syndrome. Case Report: We present a rare case of hypereosinophilic syndrome with cardiac mass in a 30-year-old male due to a thrombus in the left ventricle. After being treated with intravenous corticosteroid and antico-agulant his symptoms improved, and treatment was tapered with Prednisolone and Warfarin. A sig-nicant reduction in the size of the clot was shown by echocardiography and 5 months later there was no evidence of a residual clot. Conclusions: This is a case report characteristic with apical thrombus of hypereosinophilia of the heart. Echocardiography is recommended for follow-up of hypereosinophilic syndrome patients with car-diac involvement.


In this paper, we demonstrate a system for synthesizing high-resolution, realistic 3D human body shapes according to user-specified anthropometric parameters. We begin with a corpus of whole-body 3D laser range scans of 250 different people. For each scan, we warp a common template mesh to fit each scanned shape, thereby creating a one-to-one vertex correspondence between each of the example body shapes. Once we have a common surface representation for each example, we then use principal component analysis to reduce the data storage requirements. The final step is to relate the variation of body shape with concrete parameters, such as body circumferences, point-to-point measurements, etc. These parameters can then be used as "sliders" to synthesize new individuals with the required attributes, or to edit the attributes of scanned individuals.


This paper presents a new technique for studying the growth and morphology of fatigue cracks. The technique allows short fatigue crack growth, crack depth, aspect ratio (crack depthlhalf crack length), and crack front configuration to be measured using a Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope (CSLM). CSLM measurements of the initial stage of crack growth in Al 2024-T351 revealed that microstructurally short fatigue cracks grew initially along a plane inclined to the applied stress. The angle of the inclined plane (Stage I crack growth) was found to be about 45 degrees to the axis of the applied tensile load. Aspect ratio and the angle of maximum shear plane (Mode II), obtained using the CSLM technique, showed a good agreement with those obtained using a Surface Removal (SR) technique. The aspect ratios obtained using the CSLM technique were found to remain constant with increasing crack length in Al 2024-T351 and SAE 1045 Steel at 0.83 and 0.80, respectively. Optical sectioning along the length of a crack revealed that the crack front in the interior of the materials has a semi-elliptical shape. These results are in good agreement with results obtained using the SR technique. The CSLM technique was employed to characterize the fracture surface of fatigue cracks in an SAE 1045 Steel. CSLM image processing of the fracture surface near the crack tip constructed a three dimensional profile of fracture surface asperities. The heights of asperities were obtained from this profile. Optical sectioning from a post-image-processed crack provided crack depth and crack mouth width at every point along the crack length for each load level. The crack opening stress was taken as the stress level at which the crack depth stopped increasing with increases in applied stress.


Immunization with hepatitis B vaccine is our most effective weapon against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its consequences. Among the estimated 1.25 million persons with chronic HBV infection in the United States, chronic liver disease and primary hepatocellular carcinoma cause an estimated 5000 deaths per year. Because the risk for chronic infection increases with decreasing age, persons infected in early childhood carry a disproportionately large burden of morbidity and mortality attributable to HBV. Adults who have had chronic HBV infection since childhood develop primary hepatocellular carcinoma at a rate of 5% per decade, which is 100 to 300 times the rate among uninfected persons. The major objective of hepatitis B immunization is to prevent chronic infection, which will prevent sequelae such as primary hepatocellular carcinoma. In developing countries, where most infections are acquired in infancy and early childhood, routine childhood immunization against hepatitis B has been the primary strategy to accomplish this objective. The results of the study by Ni and colleagues (1) in this issue clearly show the success of this strategy in interrupting HBV transmission and preventing chronic infection. During the 15 years after routine childhood hepatitis B immunization was implemented in Taiwan, the prevalence of chronic HBV infection among children younger than 15 years of age declined from 10% to 0.7%, a decrease of 93%. Similarly, the overall prevalence of infection (as measured by antibody to hepatitis B core antigen) decreased almost 90%, whereas the prevalence of protective antibody (antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen) remained high. These results were obtained through a combination of routine infant immunization and catch-up immunization of older children and adolescents. The success of this strategy is further demonstrated by a 50% reduction in rates of primary hepatocellular carcinoma among Taiwanese children 6 to 14 years of age (2). A second objective of hepatitis B immunization is to reduce the number of persons with chronic HBV infection who are highly infectious to others and, ultimately, to eliminate this source of HBV transmission. Chronically infected children are likely to be positive for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), a marker of high infectivity. However, as demonstrated in the study by McMahon and associates in this issue (3), two thirds of persons chronically infected with HBV clear HBeAg over time. Thus, elimination of perinatal and early childhood transmission could rapidly decrease the number of HBeAg-positive persons. Such a decrease has been demonstrated in Alaska (where the epidemiology of HBV infection is similar to that in Taiwan) after introduction of routine infant hepatitis B immunization and catch-up vaccination of children (4). Even in the continental United States, where the overall rate of chronic infection is low, integration of hepatitis B vaccine into the existing childhood vaccination schedule has the greatest likelihood of successfully decreasing disease incidence (5). The established infrastructure for vaccine delivery to children ensures high coverage levels, and because the hepatitis B vaccine provides long-term protection against chronic HBV infection, these children will be protected as they move through adolescence and adulthood. Our experience during the first decade after vaccine licensure demonstrated that targeting only adults and children at high risk for infection, including infants born to HBV-infected women, was not effective in preventing most cases of HBV infections (6). The adults at highest risk for infection were the ones who were most difficult to reach with vaccine, and a substantial proportion (30%) did not consider themselves as belonging to a risk group. Furthermore, many children remained at risk because their mothers were not screened for hepatitis B surface antigen and because up to 60% of childhood infections occurred in children born to HBsAg-negative women (7). The extent to which children acquire HBV infection in the United States has not been appreciated, primarily because most infections in this age group are asymptomatic. Not including perinatal infections, recent estimates indicate that 16 000 children younger than 10 years of age were being infected annually in the United States before implementation of routine infant hepatitis B immunization in 1992 (8). However, by 2000, 90% of children 19 to 36 months of age had been fully immunized with three doses of hepatitis B vaccine (9), and the incidence of acute hepatitis B among children younger than 15 years of age had decreased by 75% (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unpublished data). Furthermore, in response to the 1995 recommendation for routine hepatitis B immunization of adolescents (10), a growing number of U.S. states are requiring vaccination for middle-school entry, and a number of programs provide hepatitis B vaccine to high-risk youth. Preliminary vaccine coverage data indicate that 48% of 13- to 15-year-olds have been vaccinated against hepatitis B (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unpublished data). Still, most HBV transmission and morbidity associated with acute hepatitis B occur among older adolescents and young adults, and most of these infections result from sexual transmission. Recommendations are long standing to vaccinate persons who report a history of multiple sex partners, those who receive treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, and men who have sex with men. However, vaccine is rarely offered in settings that provide health care to adults, and persons with high-risk sexual behaviors account for more than half of cases of newly acquired hepatitis B (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unpublished data). Results of several studies indicate that health care practitioners do not routinely ascertain high-risk sex or drug histories from their patients and miss opportunities to inform and vaccinate persons at risk for hepatitis B (11, 12). Even in settings that provide services specifically targeted to high-risk adults (such as sexually transmitted disease treatment clinics, HIV counseling and testing sites, and drug treatment programs), hepatitis B vaccination is not offered routinely (13). Expanding the cohorts of children immunized as infants and decreasing the number of HBeAg-positive persons will ensure that future generations are protected from HBV infection and its consequences. However, without a nationwide program to vaccinate adults at increased risk for this infection, acute disease will continue to occur and transmission of HBV will not be eliminated for decades.


Structural and functional investigations of recombinant human hemoglobin A (HbA) isolated from the erythrocytes of transgenic swine coexpressing human alpha- and beta-globins have been carried out to authenticate its correct expression, post-translational processing and assembly. The HbA expressed in transgenic swine (TgHbA) is indistinguishable from the human-derived HbA in terms of its isoelectric pH, mass and elution pattern on a Mono S column. The chemical identity of the alpha- and beta-globin chains of TgHbA with the corresponding chains from human-derived HbA has been established by tryptic peptide mapping and amino acid sequencing. The proton NMR spectra of TgHbA have demonstrated that the conformational aspects of the protein around the heme pocket are indistinguishable from those of the control sample of HbA. The equivalence of the hydrogen bond pattern of TgHbA (in particular the inter-subunit surfaces) with that of authentic HbA has also been established by NMR studies. Consistent with these structural and conformational analyses, the TgHbA also exhibits complete functional equivalence with the human-derived HbA with respect to oxygen affinity, cooperativity, Bohr effect and allostery. Hence the studies presented here demonstrate that the transgenic swine system correctly transcribes the alpha- and beta-globin transgenes, translates the respective alpha- and beta-globin mRNA to generate the corresponding globin chains, carries out the correct cotranslational processing of the translated globin chains, inserts the heme into the globin chains in the same orientation as in the human-derived HbA and assembles the alpha- and beta-subunits into a functionally cooperative tetramer that exhibits a response to allosteric effectors identical with that of human-derived HbA. Thus, in the transgenic swine system, in vitro chemical manipulation steps such as those needed in the Escherichia coli and the yeast systems, to convert the rHbA expressed in these systems into forms functionally identical with that of the human-derived protein, are not needed. An additional advantage of the transgenic swine system is the stability of the transgenes over many generations. Hence the transgenic swine could serve as an excellent system for the production of human HbA (or its variants) for structure-function studies and for therapeutic applications.


In earlier work, we presented results suggesting that minimum wage increases have important consequences for both the employment opportunities of youths and their decision to enroll in school. In this paper, we show that the recent claim made by William Evans and Mark Turner that our results are sensitive to changes in the definition of the enrollment rate is based upon an analysis that uses a mismeasured minimum wage index. When the data are constructed properly, our original conclusions are not affected by changes in the enrollment definition.


We have analysed the diurnal cycle of rainfall over the Indian region (10S-35N, 60E-100E) using both satellite and in-situ data, and found many interesting features associated with this fundamental, yet under-explored, mode of variability. Since there is a distinct and strong diurnal mode of variability associated with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall, we evaluate the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) to simulate the observed diurnal rainfall characteristics. The model (at 54km grid-spacing) is integrated for the month of July, 2006, since this period was particularly favourable for the study of diurnal cycle. We first evaluate the sensitivity of the model to the prescribed sea surface temperature (SST), by using two different SST datasets, namely, Final Analyses (FNL) and Real-time Global (RTG). It was found that with RTG SST the rainfall simulation over central India (CI) was significantly better than that with FNL. On the other hand, over the Bay of Bengal (BoB), rainfall simulated with FNL was marginally better than with RTG. However, the overall performance of RTG SST was found to be better than FNL, and hence it was used for further model simulations. Next, we investigated the role of the convective parameterization scheme on the simulation of diurnal cycle of rainfall. We found that the Kain-Fritsch (KF) scheme performs significantly better than Betts-Miller-Janjic (BMJ) and Grell-Devenyi schemes. We also studied the impact of other physical parameterizations, namely, microphysics, boundary layer, land surface, and the radiation parameterization, on the simulation of diurnal cycle of rainfall, and identified the "best" model configuration. We used this configuration of the "best" model to perform a sensitivity study on the role of various convective components used in the KF scheme. In particular, we studied the role of convective downdrafts, convective timescale, and feedback fraction, on the simulated diurnal cycle of rainfall. The "best" model simulations, in general, show a good agreement with observations. Specifically, (i) Over CI, the simulated diurnal rainfall peak is at 1430 IST, in comparison to the observed 1430-1730 IST peak; (ii) Over Western Ghats and Burmese mountains, the model simulates a diurnal rainfall peak at 1430 IST, as opposed to the observed peak of 1430-1730 IST; (iii) Over Sumatra, both model and observations show a diurnal peak at 1730 IST; (iv) The observed southward propagating diurnal rainfall bands over BoB are weakly simulated by WRF. Besides the diurnal cycle of rainfall, the mean spatial pattern of total rainfall and its partitioning between the convective and stratiform components, are also well simulated. The "best" model configuration was used to conduct two nested simulations with one-way, three-level nesting (54-18-6km) over CI and BoB. While, the 54km and 18km simulations were conducted for the whole of July, 2006, the 6km simulation was carried out for the period 18 - 24 July, 2006. The results of our coarse- and fine-scale numerical simulations of the diurnal cycle of monsoon rainfall will be discussed.


The cotton crop is one of the most important strategic crops in Egypt, but unfortunately there are several types of insect pests which are very harmful to this crop. One of these pests is cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) which causes damage to leaves and hence decreases the crop yield. One of the commonly used biopesticides is Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies Kurstaki (BTK), the main problem of using this biopesticide is that; it gives low activity towards cotton leafworm. Nanotechnology makes good use of some ecofriendly nanomaterials with their unique physical, chemical and electrical properties to enhance the activity of B. thuringiensis. The current study focused on the use of Titanate nanotubes (TNT) and Nanosheets (TNS) in pure form and as composites with Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt), their insecticidal activity and their impacts on different biological features such as; adult longevity, adult sex ratio, pupation, fecundity and percent of eggs hatching were studied. All samples were characterized using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR-spectroscopy and Zetasizer for zeta potential measurements.


Secure device pairing (SDP) schemes have been developed to facilitate secure communications among smart devices, both personal mobile devices and Internet of Things devices. Comparison and assessment of SDP schemes is troublesome, because each scheme makes different assumptions about out-of-band channels and adversary models, and are driven by their particular use-cases. A conceptual model that facilitates meaningful comparison among SDP schemes is missing. We provide such a model. In this paper, we survey and analyze a wide range of SDP schemes that are described in the literature, including a number that have been adopted as standards. A system model and consistent terminology for SDP schemes are built on the foundation of this survey, which are then used to classify existing SDP schemes into a taxonomy that, for the first time, enables their meaningful comparison and analysis. The existing SDP schemes are analyzed using this model, revealing common systemic security weaknesses among the surveyed SDP schemes that should become priority areas for future SDP research, such as improving the integration of privacy requirements into the design of SDP schemes. Our results allow SDP scheme designers to create schemes that are more easily comparable with one another, and to assist the prevention of persisting the weaknesses common to the current generation of SDP schemes.


The freshwater cyanobacterium Lyngbya wollei forms dense mats in lentic systems throughout the southeastern United States and produces paralytic shellfish poisons (PSPs), such as saxitoxins, that could provide a chemical defense against herbivory. In addition, Lyngbya filaments are surrounded by a prominent extracellular polysaccharide sheath that might function as a structural defense against herbivory. We investigated the roles of PSPs and sheath structure in deterring consumption of Lyngbya by an omnivorous amphipod, Hyalella azteca. A series of two‐choice feeding assays paired Lyngbya with a highly palatable green alga, Rhizoclonium hieroglyphicum. These assays included comparisons of whole Lyngbya and Rhizoclonium, freeze‐dried and ground Lyngbya and Rhizoclonium, artificial food treated with Lyngbya crude extract, artificial food treated with pure saxitoxin, and artificial food containing Lyngbya sheath material, with and without Lyngbya crude extract. Hyalella preferred whole, live Rhizoclonium over fresh Lyngbya. Similarly, Hyalella preferred freeze‐dried and ground Rhizoclonium over Lyngbya. However, Hyalella preferred treated foods containing Lyngbya crude extract or pure saxitoxin over control foods. The sheath constituted over 55% of the total dry mass of Lyngbya. In assays combining sheath material and crude extract in artificial foods, Hyalella avoided foods containing sheath material. Therefore, morphological defenses play an important role in deterring consumption of Lyngbya by Hyalella, whereas PSPs stimulate feeding. Our study indicates that structural defenses can partially explain the high abundance of filamentous cyanobacteria observed in aquatic communities under grazing pressure.


Some of the major causes of maxillofacial injuries are assault/inter-personal violence (IPV), motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), work-related injuries, sporting accidents and falls. However, the epidemiological data for the different types of injury vary significantly and are influenced by geographic location, socioeconomic status, the time of year when patients are assessed and the type of facility where the study is conducted.
The 2012 Statistics South Africa's release document on 'mortality and causes of death in South Africa' indicated that 9.8% of all deaths in South Africa were reported as non-natural. Transport accidents were the third most common (11.2%) reported cause of non-natural deaths followed by assaults at 10.2%.6 According to a number of international studies, the face is the most common site affected by assault-related trauma.
Substance abuse is a major public health concern in South Africa and has also been rated as the leading health problem in the United States. Intoxication is also the most common denominator associated with violence and injury. In a Swiss study, Eggensperger found that almost a quarter of assault-related facial fractures were caused by people intoxicated with alcohol, illicit drugs or a combination thereof.
This article explores epidemiologic data and relevant information related to maxillofacial trauma, specifically associated with alcohol and substance abuse.


In many parts of the developed world, the sale and use of phosphide is under strict regulations with adequate training of workers being a major perquisite before its use. In Nigeria this chemical is commonly available and in most cases users are largely untrained, therefore contamination of cowpea with residual phosphide post-fumigation does occur. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of phosphide residue contamination on organs such as brain, lung and heart. Six rats per group were used for this study. The rats in the first and second groups received phosphide residue contaminated and uncontaminated cowpea respectively, while the rats in the third group were fed untreated cowpea and served as control. Tissues (brain, lung, heart) were fixed in 10% formal saline for routine histological techniques and Haematoxylin and Eosin staining technique was used. Feeding of rats with phosphide residue contaminated cowpea resulted in significant damage to all examined tissues. Examination of different sections revealed severe congestion of the meninges (brain); severe congestion at the interalveolar septum with diffuse hemosiderosis (lung); and congestion of coronary vessels (heart) in rats fed cooked phosphide-residue contaminated cowpea. The rats in treated but uncontaminated cowpea and untreated cowpea groups exhibited no visible lesions in all tissue-sections examined. This study has revealed that the erroneous belief among illiterate grain merchants that phosphide residue is harmless should be discarded and proper training of users of this chemical should be encouraged to prevent many of the anomalies associated with cowpea fumigation in Nigeria.


Geochemical investigations on samples of pumice and lava extracted from the mortars and concretes of the Forum of Caesar and the Forum and Markets of Trajan are pre- sented and integrated with previous analyses of lava samples from Rome and Pompeii, and of pumices from the Colosseum and the Dioclethian's Bath, with the aim to identify the lithological provenance of these materi- als. Discrimination diagrams based on ratios of selected trace elements (i.e., Zr/Y, Nb/Y, Th/Ta, Nb/Zr) allow us to recognize the geo- chemical signature of the different volcanic regions of central Italy. These diagrams in- dicate that in the mortars of the Forum of Caesar and Forum of Trajan, the Roman builders integrated the scanty pumices from deposits of the Monti Sabatini Volcanic Dis- trict near Rome with others coming from the Vesuvius and Phlegrean Fields. Some of the pumices employed in the vaulted ceil- ings of these monuments display a peculiar geochemistry that has a unique correspon- dence with a pyroclastic deposit recovered in a borehole drilled on the southern fl anks of Vesuvius. Similarly, lava fl ows from this borehole display a different trace-element signature with respect to that of other coeval lava fl ows of the northern fl anks of Vesuvius, and it has a closer correspondence to that of the archaeological lava samples. These observations, integrated with historical and archaeological data, indicate that the Roman builders had a profound empirical knowl- edge of the physical properties of the volcanic rocks from different regions, and suggest that a systematic cultivation of lightweight volca- nic material occurred in the area of Pompeii for exportation to Rome and, likely, to other regions of the Mediterranean.


Parenting, Eating and Activity for Child Health (PEACH) is a multi-component lifestyle intervention for families with overweight and obese children. PEACH was translated from an efficacious randomised-controlled trial (RCT) and delivered at scale as PEACH Queensland (QLD) in Queensland, Australia. The aim of this study is to explore pre-post changes in parenting, and child-level eating, activity and anthropometry, in the PEACH QLD service delivery project. PEACH QLD enrolled 926 overweight/obese children (817 families). Pre-programme evaluation was completed for 752 children and paired pre-post-programme evaluation data were available for 388 children. At baseline, children with pre-post-programme data were (mean) 8·8 years old, and at follow-up were 9·3 years old, with mean time between pre-post-programme measures of 0·46 years. Outcomes reflected each domain of the PEACH programme: parenting, eating behaviour of the child and activity behaviours (means reported). Parents reported improvements in parenting self-efficacy (3·6 to 3·7, P=0·001). Children had improved eating behaviours: eating more daily serves of vegetables (2·0 to 2·6, P=0·001) and fewer non-milk sweetened beverages (0·9 to 0·6, P=0·001) and discretionary foods (2·2 to 1·5, P=0·001). Children spent more time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (86 to 105 min/d, P=0·001) and less time in sedentary screen-based behaviours (190 to 148 min/d, P=0·001). Consequently, there were significant improvements in mean BMIz (-0·112; P<0·001) and weight status (healthy weight/overweight/obese/morbidly obese prevalence from 0/22/33/45 % to 2/27/34/37 %, P<0·001). When delivered at scale, PEACH remains an effective family-based, multi-component, lifestyle weight management programme for overweight and obese children whose families engage in the programme.


Gabriel Noone is a writer whose late night radio stories have brought him into the homes of millions. Noone is in the midst of a painful separation from his lover of ten years, when a publisher sends him proofs of a remarkable book: the memoir of a sickly thirteen-year-old boy who suffered horrific sexual abuse at the hands of his parents. Now living with his adoptive mother, Donna, Pete Lomax is not only a brave and gifted diarist but a devoted listener of Noone's show. When Noone phones the boy to offer encouragement, it soon becomes clear that Pete sees in this heartsick, middle-aged storyteller the loving father he's always wanted. Thus begins an extraordinary friendship that grows deeper only as the boy's health deteriorates, freeing Noone to unlock his innermost feelings. Then, out of the blue, troubling new questions arise, exploding Noone's comfortable assumptions and causing his ordered existence to spin wildly out of control. As he walks a vertiginous line between truth and illusion, he is finally forced to confront all his relationships - familial, romantic and erotic. As complex and hypnotically engrossing as the best of mysteries, "The Night Listener" is an astonishing tour de force that moves and challenges Maupin's readers as never before.


We provide the first evidence that promotion incentives can influence effort of employees in the public sector by studying China's system of annual evaluations and promotions for teachers. Theoretical predictions from a tournament model of promotion incentives are tested using panel data on primary and middle school teachers in western China. Consistent with theory, we find that promotions are associated with significant wage increases, that higher wage increases are associated with higher effort, that teachers increase effort in the years leading up to promotion eligibility but reduce effort if they are repeatedly passed over for promotion, and that increasing the number of competitors reduces the relative performance of those at the extremes of the skill distribution. Evaluation scores are positively associated with time spent on teaching and with student test scores, diminishing concerns that evaluations are manipulated.


Two of the key challenges in software testing are the automated generation of test cases, and the identification of failures by checking test outputs. Both challenges are effectively addressed by metamorphic testing (MT), a software testing technique where failures are not revealed by checking an individual concrete output, but by checking the relations among the inputs and outputs of multiple executions of the software under test. Two decades after its introduction, MT is becoming a fully-fledged testing paradigm with successful applications in multiple domains including, among others, big data engineering, simulation and modeling, compilers, machine learning programs, autonomous cars and drones, and cybersecurity. This technical briefing will provide an introduction to MT from a double perspective. First, we will present the technique and the results of a novel survey outlining its main trends and lessons learned. Then, we will go deeper and present some of the successful applications of the technique, as well as challenges and opportunities on the topic. The briefing will be complemented with practical exercises on testing real web applications and APIs.


This paper explores a neglected area of women's reproductive experience, namely major illness during pregnancy. It draws on a qualitative study of 15 women who had either a pre-existing illness or developed a major health problem during pregnancy, and explores in detail the accounts of four contrasting case histories. Analysis is framed by the concept of career. It is argued, however, that an understanding of the women's experiences requires that pregnancy and illness are treated as separate, but co-existent, career paths. Pregnancy and illness were more than a concatenation of contingencies for each other. Pregnancy and the subsequent birth were influenced by the preceding and envisaged course of the illness, and the experience of illness was partly configured by the events of pregnancy. The paper considers the conceptual implications of multiple career analysis, and argues that a multiple career analytic approach has relevance for an understanding of other areas of health care, such as the experience of patients suffering from two or more concurrent illnesses.


DNS64 and NAT64 IPv6 transition mechanisms are expected to play an important role in the near future to solve the problem that some of the new clients will not be able to get public IPv4 addresses and thus having only IPv6 addresses they still should be able to reach servers that have only IPv4 addresses. In our earlier experiments, the TOTD DNS64 implementation showed significantly better average performance than BIND, however TOTD was not stable, therefore now it was carefully tested to find the reason for its experienced strange behavior. Besides the detailed description of the testing method, the bug and the correction, a security vulnerability is disclosed and a patch is provided. The performance and the stability of the modified versions of TOTD are analyzed and compared to that of the original TOTD and BIND.


A new method is proposed for exploiting causal independencies in exact Bayesian network inference. A Bayesian network can be viewed as representing a factorization of a joint probability into the multiplication of a set of conditional probabilities. We present a notion of causal independence that enables one to further factorize the conditional probabilities into a combination of even smaller factors and consequently obtain a finer-grain factorization of the joint probability. The new formulation of causal independence lets us specify the conditional probability of a variable given its parents in terms of an associative and commutative operator, such as "or", "sum" or "max", on the contribution of each parent. We start with a simple algorithm VE for Bayesian network inference that, given evidence and a query variable, uses the factorization to find the posterior distribution of the query. We show how this algorithm can be extended to exploit causal independence. Empirical studies, based on the CPCS networks for medical diagnosis, show that this method is more efficient than previous methods and allows for inference in larger networks than previous algorithms.


The allocated frequency bands for the incoming fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technologies spread broadly from sub 6 GHz to K and potentially W bands. The evolution of the future generations toward higher frequency bands will continue and presents significant challenges in terms of excessive system complexity, production and maintenance costs. Reconfigurable radio architecture with frequency-tunable components is one of the most feasible and cost-effective solutions to meet such challenges. Among these technologies, evanescent-mode (EVA) cavity tunable resonator have demonstrated many of the needed features such as wide tunability, low loss and high linearity. Such a technology typically employs a movable membrane that controls the resonant frequency of a post-loaded cavity. The first part of this work focuses on advancing such technology into the mm-wave frequency bands and beyond. Manufacturing tolerance and tuner performance are the two main limiting factors addressed here. This work develops a cost-effective micro-fabrication and package assembly flow which addresses the manufacturing related limitations. On the other hand, introducing micro-corrugated diaphragms and gold-vanadium co-sputtered thin film deposition technology, significantly reduces (4 times) the tuning voltage and enhances tuning stability (7 times). We demonstrate a tunable two-pole band-pass filter (BPF) prototype as the first EVA cavity tunable filter operating in the K-Ka band. The second part of this work extensively discusses an optimal RF design flow based on the developed manufacturing technology. It considers all technology constrains and allows the actualization of a high Q transfer function with minimum bandwidth variation within an octave tuning range. Moreover, a new fully passive input/output feeding mechanism that facilitates impedance matching over the entire tuning range is presented. The devised RF methodology is validated through the design and testing of a two-resonator BPF. Measurements demonstrate a tuning range between 20-40 GHz, relative bandwidth of 1.9%-4.7%, and impedance matching over the entire tuning range which is upto 2 times better than previously reported state-of-the-art MEMS tunable filters of this type.The third part of this work further advances the technology by proposing the first MEMS-based low-power bi-directional EVA tuning approach that employs both the main bias circuitry as well as a new corrective biasing technique that counteracts viscoelastic memory effects. The two key enabling technologies are extensively discussed: a) a new metal-oxide-metal (MOM) sealed cavity that maintains high quality without requiring complicated metal bonding; and b) a new electrostatic bi-directional MEMS tuner that implements the needed frequency tuning without lowering the resonator quality factor. Furthermore, we explore important design and fabrication trade-offs regarding sensitivity to non-ideal effects (residual stress, fabrication imperfections). Measurement of the new prototype bi-directional design, prove that this technology readily corrects residual post-bias displacement of 0.1 um that shifts the frequency by over 1 GHz with less than 2.5 V. It takes over 100 seconds to recover this error in the uni-directional case. This correction does not adversely affect the filter performance.


Hypothalamic IKKβ-NF-κB signaling plays a critical role in the metabolic response to overnutrition. Overnutrition—in which energy consumption exceeds energy expenditure—is associated with inflammatory signaling in peripheral metabolic tissues, which can lead to metabolic changes associated with obesity and diabetes. For instance, activation of the IKKβ-NF-κB pathway in liver leads to systemic insulin resistance (see Yang and Hotamisligil). Noting that overnutrition interferes with central sensitivity to leptin and insulin signaling, and that disruption of hormonal signaling to the hypothalamus itself promotes obesity and diabetes, Zhang et al. investigated the role of hypothalamic IKKβ-NF-κB signaling in the metabolic consequences of overnutrition. Although IKKβ was abundant in neurons of the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH, a region involved in nutrient sensing) of mice fed standard chow, it was inactive and NF-κB activity was low. A high-fat diet (HFD) increased NF-κB activity; indeed, even acute administration of glucose or oleic acid into the third cerebral ventricle (near the hypothalamus) activated hypothalamic NF-κB. Exogenous stimulation of MBH IKKβ-NF-κB signaling with a constitutively active form of IKKβ (IKKβCA) enhanced food intake and weight gain in mice fed a HFD, whereas inhibition of MBH IKKβ-NF-κB signaling with a dominant-negative form of IKKβ reduced them, as did genetic ablation of IKKβ in brain, MBH, or AGRP neurons (a group of hypothalamic neurons involved in central metabolic signaling). Expression of IKKβCA in the MBH impaired hypothalamic sensitivity to insulin and leptin, whereas IKKβ ablation in AGRP neurons protected against induction of central insulin and leptin resistance by HFD. HFD induced hypothalamic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress [assessed by phosphorylation of PERK (PKR-like ER kinase)], and ventricular administration of an inhibitor of ER stress attenuated HFD activation of NF-κB, whereas an ER stress inducer activated NF-κB. Indeed, chronic administration of the ER stress inhibitor protected against HFD-induced obesity. Expression of IKKβCA in the MBH of chow-fed mice elicited an increase in hypothalamic SOCS3 (suppressor of cytokine signaling-3, an inhibitor of insulin and leptin signaling) mRNA and protein. HFD also increased hypothalamic SOCS3 mRNA, an increase blocked in mice lacking IKKβ in AGRP neurons. Moreover, expression of exogenous SOCS3 in MBH neurons partially overcame the obesity-resistant phenotype of these mice. Thus, the authors conclude that hypothalamic IKKβ-NF-κB signaling—and ER stress—play a critical role in the metabolic response to overnutrition. X. Zhang, G. Zhang, H. Zhang, M. Karin, H. Bai, D. Cai, Hypothalamic IKKβ/NF-κB and ER stress link overnutrition to energy imbalance and obesity. Cell 135, 61-73 (2008). [Online Journal] L. Yang, G. S. Hotamisligil, Stressing the brain, fattening the body. Cell 135, 20-22 (2008). [Online Journal]


Using panel data from Mozambique collected in 2007 and 2008, the authors explore the impact of the food crisis on welfare of households living with HIV/AIDS. The analysis finds that there has been a real deterioration of welfare in terms of income, food consumption, and nutritional status in Mozambique between 2007 and 2008, among both HIV and comparison households. However, HIV households have not suffered more from the crisis than others. Results on the evolution of labor-force participation suggests that initiation of treatment and better services in health facilities have counterbalanced the effect of the crisis by improving the health of patients and their labor-force participation. In addition, the authors look at the effect of the change in welfare on the frequency of visits to health facilities and on treatment outcomes. Both variables can proxy for adherence to treatment. This is a particularly crucial issue as it affects both the health of the patient and public health because sub-optimal adherence leads to the development of resistant forms of the virus. The authors find no effect of the change in welfare on the frequency of visits, but they do find that people who experienced a negative income shock also experienced a reduction or a slower progress in treatment outcomes.


Despite recent UK Government commitments' to encourage public participation in environmental decision making, those exercises conducted to date have been largely confined to 'traditional' modes of participation such as the dissemination of information and in encouraging feedback on proposals through, for example, questionnaires or surveys. It is the premise of this paper that participative approaches that use IT-based methods, based on combined geographical information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria evaluation techniques that could involve the public in the decision-making process, have the potential to build consensus and reduce disputes and conflicts such as those arising from the siting of different types of waste facilities. The potential of these techniques are documented through a review of the existing literature in order to highlight the opportunities and challenges facing decision makers in increasing the involvement of the public at different stages of the waste facility management process. It is concluded that there are important lessons to be learned by researchers, consultants, managers and decision makers if barriers hindering the wider use of such techniques are to be overcome.


The Congressional Budget Office Long-Term (CBOLT) model uses dynamic micro-simulation to analyze Social Security policy. The version of CBOLT currently being used to analyze policy for the Congress incorporates micro behavioral effects insofar as agents alter their timing of initial claiming of Old Age Insurance (OAI) worker benefits when benefits change, and that has a direct impact on government outlays and a feedback on the macro economy through changes in labor supply. However, the change in benefit claim age is only one of three behavioral responses that could be considered in Social Security analysis–the other two are labor supply (before or after claim age) and saving behavior. This paper develops a structural life-cycle model in which agents make choices over all three margins. Because the structural model is developed using the same stochastic processes in CBOLT's micro-simulation, the state-dependent behavioral "rules" obtained from solving the life-cycle model can be used to determine behavior in a CBOLT baseline or reform-analysis simulation.


A sensor is a device that detects or measures a physical property and records, indicates, or otherwise responds to it. In other words, a sensor allows us to interact with the surrounding environment, by measuring qualitatively or quantitatively a given phenomena. Biological evolution provided every living entity with a set of sensors to ease the survival to daily challenges. In addition to the biological sensors, humans developed and designed "artificial" sensors with the aim of improving our capacity of sensing the real world. Today, thanks to technological developments, sensors are ubiquitous and thus, we measure an exponentially growing amount of data. Here is the challenge—how do we process and use this data? Nowadays, it is common to design real-world sensing architectures that use the measured data to estimate certain parameters of the measured physical field. This type of problems are known in mathematics as inverse problems and finding their solution is challenging. In fact, we estimate a set of parameters of a physical field with possibly infinite degrees of freedom with only a few measurements, that are most likely corrupted by noise. Therefore, we would like to design algorithms to solve the given inverse problem, while ensuring the existence of the solution, its uniqueness and its robustness to the measurement noise. In this thesis, we tackle different inverse problems, all inspired by real-world applications. First, we propose a new regularization technique for linear inverse problems based on the sensor placement optimization of the sensor network collecting the data. We propose Frame- Sense, a greedy algorithm inspired by frame theory that finds a near-optimal sensor placement with respect to the reconstruction error of the inverse problem solution in polynomial time. We substantiate our theoretical findings with numerical simulations showing that our method improves the state of the art. In particular, we show significant improvements on two realworld applications: the thermal monitoring of many-core processors and the adaptive sampling scheduling of environmental sensor networks. Second, we introduce the dual of the sensor placement problem, namely the source placement problem. In this case, instead of regularizing the inverse problem, we enable a precise control of the physical field by means of a forward problem. For this problem, we propose a near-optimal algorithm for the noiseless case, that is when we know exactly the current state of the physical field. Third, we consider a family of physical phenomena that can be modeled by means of graphs, where the nodes represent a set of entities and the edges model the transmission delay of an information between the entities. Examples of this phenomena are the spreading of a virus within the population of a given region or the spreading of a rumor on a social network. In this scenario, we identify two new key problems: the source placement and vaccination. For the former, we would like to find a set of sources such that the spreading of the information over the network is as fast as possible. For the latter, we look for an optimal set of nodes to be "vaccinated" such that the spreading of the virus is the slowest. For both problems, we propose greedy algorithms directly optimizing the average time of infection of the network. Such algorithms out-perform the current state of the art and we evaluate their performance with a set of experiments on synthetic datasets. Then, we discuss three distinct inverse problems for physical fields characterized by a diffusive phenomena, such as temperature of solid bodies or the dispersion of pollution in the atmosphere. We first study the uniform sampling and reconstruction of diffusion fields and we show that we can exploit the kernel of the field to control and bound the aliasing error. Second, we study the source estimation of a diffusive field given a set of spatio-temporal measurements of the field and under the assumption that the sources can be modeled as a set of Dirac's deltas. For this estimation problem, we propose an algorithm that exploits the eigenfunctions representation of the diffusion field and we show that this algorithm recovers the sources precisely. Third, we propose an algorithm for the estimation of time-varying emissions of smokestacks from the data collected in the surrounding environment by a sensor network, under the assumption that the emission rates can be modeled as signals lying on low-dimensional subspaces or with a finite rate of innovation. Last, we analyze a classic non-linear inverse problem, namely the sparse phase retrieval. In such a problem, we would like to estimate a signal from just the magnitude of its Fourier transform. Phase retrieval is of interest for many scientific applications, such as X-ray crystallography and astronomy. We assume that the signal of interest is spatially sparse, as it happens for many applications, and we model it as a linear combination of Dirac's delta. We derive sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the solution based on the support of the autocorrelation function of the measured sparse signal. Finally, we propose a reconstruction algorithm for the sparse phase retrieval taking advantage of the sparsity of the signal of interest.


A simple and inexpensive electro-optical switch (infrared light-emitting diode; IR LED) was used to show that soil water suctions can be measured accurately by employing nylon filter disks with different pore sizes. Nylon filter disks that become translucent when water is absorbed were shown to open or close an electro-optical switch at specific soil water suctions associated with the air-entry suction of a disk, thereby demonstrating the principle of a digital tensiometer. Sensors constructed by inserting a nylon filter disk in a switch were shown to operate across a suction range of 0.004 to 2.4 MPa and were tested in a silt loam soil under drying and wetting conditions. The switch-sensor's performance was compared with a second type of sensor (CdS photoresistor with LED) made with a layered fritted-glass disk instead of nylon. This second sensor was able to continuously detect changes of water content from air dry to saturated. We concluded, however, that the first type of sensor was superior for precisely measuring soil water suction.


Abstract. The Amazon region, being a large source of methane (CH4), contributes significantly to the global annual CH4 budget. For the first time, a forward and inverse modelling framework on regional scale for the purpose of assessing the CH4 budget of the Amazon region is implemented. Here, we present forward simulations of CH4 as part of the forward and inverse modelling framework based on a modified version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry that allows for passive tracer transport of CH4, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide (WRF-GHG), in combination with two different process-based bottom-up models of CH4 emissions from anaerobic microbial production in wetlands and additional datasets prescribing CH4 emissions from other sources such as biomass burning, termites, or other anthropogenic emissions. We compare WRF-GHG simulations on 10 km horizontal resolution to flask and continuous CH4 observations obtained during two airborne measurement campaigns within the Balanco Atmosferico Regional de Carbono na Amazonia (BARCA) project in November 2008 and May 2009. In addition, three different wetland inundation maps, prescribing the fraction of inundated area per grid cell, are evaluated. Our results indicate that the wetland inundation maps based on remote-sensing data represent the observations best except for the northern part of the Amazon basin and the Manaus area. WRF-GHG was able to represent the observed CH4 mixing ratios best at days with less convective activity. After adjusting wetland emissions to match the averaged observed mixing ratios of flights with little convective activity, the monthly CH4 budget for the Amazon basin obtained from four different simulations ranges from 1.5 to 4.8 Tg for November 2008 and from 1.3 to 5.5 Tg for May 2009. This corresponds to an average CH4 flux of 9–31 mg m−2 d−1 for November 2008 and 8–36 mg m−2 d−1 for May 2009.


The first major biography of the Conservative Party's dynamic - and enigmatic - new leader. David ('Dave') Cameron has recently emerged as the first Tory leader in years to come across as a man of the people - an ordinary bloke in a traditionally reviled political position. But spin-doctoring aside, not a great deal is known about his background, his family life or his gradual rise through the ranks of the Party. The son of a prosperous and disabled stockbroker father and a magistrate mother, and a descendant of King Henry VII, Cameron excelled at Eton and was voted most likely among his classmates to become Prime Minister. At Oxford he 'played a lot of pool and ate a lot of kebabs', but loved politics and worked extremely hard to achieve a high first. It was clear by then that he was headed for Westminster, and indeed a former colleague at the Conservative Research Department, which Cameron joined after graduation, referred to him as 'a young man in a hurry', a reputation cemented by his rapid rise to the head of the political department and the favour of John Major. Cameron has also worked very closely with Norman Lamont and Michael Howard, and has been an MP since 2001. In 2005 he was asked by Howard to write the Tory manifesto, which was widely considered the most right-wing in post-war history. Months later, at the age of 39, he secured leadership of the Party. This biography reveals the man behind the spin, and explores the future direction of the Conservatives. Is the current honeymoon evidence of a new Tory Party, or simply recognition that the appearance of newness is needed? Will he really be prepared to jeopardise the support of the traditional grass roots? How deep are his environmental credentials? How will he react when the press turns nasty? Does his success mark a return of the old class deference, or is it the opposite; a sign that background, for better or worse, is now unimportant?


The current best practice for computing optimal transport (OT) is via entropy regularization and Sinkhorn iterations. This algorithm runs in quadratic time as it requires the full pairwise cost matrix, which is prohibitively expensive for large sets of objects. In this work we propose two effective log-linear time approximations of the cost matrix: First, a sparse approximation based on locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) and, second, a Nystr\"om approximation with LSH-based sparse corrections, which we call locally corrected Nystr\"om (LCN). These approximations enable general log-linear time algorithms for entropy-regularized OT that perform well even for the complex, high-dimensional spaces common in deep learning. We analyse these approximations theoretically and evaluate them experimentally both directly and end-to-end as a component for real-world applications. Using our approximations for unsupervised word embedding alignment enables us to speed up a state-of-the-art method by a factor of 3 while also improving the accuracy by 3.1 percentage points without any additional model changes. For graph distance regression we propose the graph transport network (GTN), which combines graph neural networks (GNNs) with enhanced Sinkhorn. GTN outcompetes previous models by 48% and still scales log-linearly in the number of nodes.


Stimulation of remyelination in multiple sclerosis lesions may be one possible therapeutic approach. However, since the pathology and pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis may be heterogeneous, it is important to analyze in what patients and at what stages of the disease such a therapy can be reasonable and feasible. Spontaneous remyelination is pronounced in some MS patients. The extent of remyelination correlates well with the presence of oligodendrocytes in the lesions. Yet, the source and origin of the remyelinating cells is still unclear. These may be derived from either undifferentiated progenitor cells or, in part from mature oligodendrocytes, that have escaped destruction during lesional activity. Complete remyelination of plaques is possible, leading to the formation of 'shadow plaques'. No reliable data are available at present on the frequency of remyelination in different forms of MS. However, most studies agree that remyelination is especially prominent at the early stages of the disease, whereas it is sparse after several years of disease duration. In addition, very little remyelination is found in cases of primary progressive MS.


In recent years, academic research has focused on identifying the factors that cause construction project rework in an attempt to eradicate its occurrence. The success of these previous studies has been mixed most notably because industry lacked a clear and universal definition of rework. Consequently, findings emanating from studies conducted to date cannot be compared or contrasted and neither can the work be brought together as a homogenous whole. To address this current deficiency, this study first examined previous rework definitions and a priori research in order to develop a clear definition that would placate industry concerns. This definition was then used as the basis for a national questionnaire survey in Australia, which sought to collate data on the total cost of rework; where total cost is a function of direct and indirect rework costs. A total of 161 construction professionals (from a range of occupations) participated in this study and provided much needed evaluations and personal knowledge of rework costs for recently completed projects. The costs of rework were found to be significant, with the mean direct and indirect cost of rework as a percentage of contract value being 6.4% and 5.9%, respectively. There were significant differences identified between the estimates propagated by respondents, this being between design consultants and project managers. Additionally, there were no significant differences found between rework costs and procurement methods used and project types. The article concludes by suggesting that further work is required to develop a system which is capable of identifying rework and estimating the costs.


BACKGROUND
Concerns have been voiced that the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical trials results in a lack of safety and pharmacokinetic data for antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in pregnancy, creating clear risks to pregnant women living with HIV (PWLHIV) and their infants.

SETTING
The World Health Organization convened a Paediatric Antiretroviral Drug Optimization (PADO) group meeting, December 10-12, 2018, in Geneva, Switzerland METHODS:: The group, comprised of clinicians, scientists, HIV programme managers, regulators and community representatives, were tasked to: consider how ARVs are studied in PWLHIV; define alternative approaches to studying ARVs in PWLHIV; identify ways to shorten the timeline to determine safe use of new agents during pregnancy; and define strategies to collaborate with regulators and industry to change longstanding practices.

RESULTS
Most new ARV's are not studied in pregnant populations until after drug licensure, primarily opportunistically among women who become pregnant while taking the ARV of interest. Acceleration of the timeline will require earlier completion of preclinical studies and a a new paradigm: namely - under certain conditions - allow women who become pregnant while participating in Phase III ARV studies the option of remaining on study and enroll pregnant women into Phase III trials of new agents to obtain preliminary safety and dosing and efficacy data.

CONCLUSION
A revision of the current approach to the study of antiretrovirals in pregnant women is urgently needed to improve timely access and safe use of new agents during pregnancy.


The incredible rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches true life story of acclaimed sports tout Brandon Lang, subject of the motion picture "Two for the Money" (Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey). "Beating the Odds" describes in vivid, colorful detail Lang's rise from small time sports-phone tout to big time national exposure, his dramatic fall, and his subsequent rebirth in the internet age. Also describes the series of improbable events, while working as a golf caddie in Los Angeles, that eventually led Lang to the optioning of his story to Hollywood and the making of "Two for the Money."


Adaptive resource management requires a cost effective, easily repeatable tool for measurement of vegetation quality and comparison of management treatment effects across a natural area and through time. High-resolution satellite imagery may be used as a guide for treatment by facilitating either the comparison of differentially treated units or the measurement of change in vegetation through time. Demonstration of successful application of remote sensing for measurement of vegetation to recognize trends in vegetation quality will help adaptive managers both to apply and to improve the methods for management of vegetation. Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite imagery was used first to map mixed grass prairie communities in the Missouri Coteau region of North Dakota and Montana. Vegetation was classified hierarchically into 5 classes (wetland, tree, shrub, grass/dwarf shrub, and pure grass) with an overall accuracy of 72%. The resultant map was used to sample vegetation of units with various management histories in Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge to measure differences across fire and grazing treatments. Differences across treatments were slight. Satellite imagery may provide the best tool for resampling needed in this and other systems. Sampling with remote sensing may be more expedient than ground surveying, but classifications must have higher accuracies and less bias to be useful to managers. Therefore, satellite imagery needs further development to support on-going adaptive resource management.


In the United States, the "common law," that regulates ethics review is being overhauled. We ask how UK University Research Ethics Committees (U-RECs), following the American model, have been able to shape social-science research without much commotion, and whether it is time for change. Despite the misbehavior of some ethnographic researchers, most social science research is valued for and motivated by its expert engagement with moral questions regarding discrimination, unfairness, exploitation, and so on, at home and abroad: knowledge of and sensitivity to the complexities around the violation of socio-economic, political, and cultural norms and values are carried high in the social science banner. Yet, since the 1990s, social science research projects in the Anglo-American world have increasingly entrusted research ethics to the scrutiny of U-RECs. This ethical delegation gives a mandate to U-RECs, often without suitable expertise, to vet research projects in a bureaucratic and time-consuming manner. It does not just lead to misunderstandings and frustration; it also privileges research as defined by research ethics committees rather than in negotiation with the ethics we encounter "in the field." Although formal research ethics is clearly confusing early career researchers (and others!) about the role of ethics (which?), its forms have come to shape our disciplines. How did we get there? How do we move forward?


This article maps political rhetoric by national leaders during the COVID- 19 pandemic. We identify and characterize global variations in major rhetorical storylines invoked in publicly available speeches (N = 1201) across a sample of 26 countries. Employing a text analytics or corpus linguistics approach, we show that state heads rhetorically lead their nations by: enforcing systemic interventions, upholding global unity, encouraging communal cooperation, stoking national fervor, and assuring responsive governance. Principal component analysis further shows that country- level rhetoric is organized along emergent dimensions of cultural cognition: an agency- structure axis to define the loci of pandemic interventions and a hierarchy-egalitarianism axis which distinguishes top- down enforcement from bottom- up calls for cooperation. Furthermore, we detect a striking contrast between countries featuring populist versus cosmopolitan rhetoric, which diverged in terms of their collective meaning making around leading over versus leading with, as well as their experienced pandemic severity. We conclude with implications for understanding global pandemic leadership in an unequal world and the contributions of mixed- methods approaches to a generative political psychology in times of crisis.


Although ˂5% of children with asthma suffer from severe asthma, they account for the highest use of health resources. The field of asthma therapy is changing rapidly, with a number of new drugs and biologics being added to the treatment armamentarium, particularly for adults. This, though, is not the case for paediatric patients, in whom a number of these novel molecules and drugs have not been investigated. Even though adults have shown responses to medication in some studies, this does not necessarily imply that there will be similar results in children. In the management of severe asthma, use of specific interventions to ensure treatment adherence and goal-setting for self-management is critical to ensure the best treatment outcomes. The objective of this article is to review and grade the current evidence base for use of novel asthma drugs and to make evidence-based recommendations for their administration in children with severe asthma in the South Africa context. We also review the evidence for medication-adherence strategies and self-management plans.


Engineered nanoparticle platforms have been developed intensely in recent years, yielding significantly broadened applications from interrogating novel biology to new therapies. The mammalian immune system has emerged as perhaps the most powerful physiological system where nanoparticle design parameters have drastic implications for nanoparticle fate and function. In particular, the innate immune system is a major concern due to its role as the first-line defense against foreign invaders, responsible for initiating and maintaining the innate immune response as well as priming the adaptive immune response. Understanding how nanoparticles are perceived from a biological perspective is crucial to informing their design with different immunogenic, immunosuppressive, or stealth properties. Nanoparticles are particularly susceptible to innate immune responses such as opsonization and recognition by receptors that enable phagocytic uptake or evoke strong inflammatory responses due to the recognition of various "danger" signals. In this review, we will summarize some of the key advances in our understanding of how physical and biochemical parameters of nanoparticles interact with innate immunity, and note potential opportunities and emerging frontiers for controlling and evaluating nanoparticle–immune interactions.


The molecular mechanism by which cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) confer chemoresistance in ovarian cancer is poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the roles of CAFs in modulating tumor vasculature, chemoresistance, and disease progression. Here, we found that CAFs upregulated the lipoma-preferred partner (LPP) gene in microvascular endothelial cells (MECs) and that LPP expression levels in intratumoral MECs correlated with survival and chemoresistance in patients with ovarian cancer. Mechanistically, LPP increased focal adhesion and stress fiber formation to promote endothelial cell motility and permeability. siRNA-mediated LPP silencing in ovarian tumor–bearing mice improved paclitaxel delivery to cancer cells by decreasing intratumoral microvessel leakiness. Further studies showed that CAFs regulate endothelial LPP via a calcium-dependent signaling pathway involving microfibrillar-associated protein 5 (MFAP5), focal adhesion kinase (FAK), ERK, and LPP. Thus, our findings suggest that targeting endothelial LPP enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. Our data highlight the importance of CAF–endothelial cell crosstalk signaling in cancer chemoresistance and demonstrate the improved efficacy of using LPP-targeting siRNA in combination with cytotoxic drugs.


In this research, the 2013 mission affirmation of the World Council of Churches' (WCC), Together towards life – Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes (TTL), is evaluated through a rather unique hermeneutical lens by interpreting and assessing the ecumenical discourse in the light of the book by Kester Brewin, Mutiny, Why we love pirates and how they can save us (2012), and by integrating these insights. The research acknowledges the emphasis on life-affirming mission in TTL, and the approach that a theological bridge is established between the Christian faith, secular worldviews, indigenous religions, and wisdom traditions, because the gospel is good news for all of creation. The following questions are investigated in the light of this: How can the idea of life be reconciled with the mission of God? What is the content and scope of "life" and what is "life" all about? The focus is on the economic political-social consequences of adapting "life" as a theological point of departure. The research integrates a re-evaluation of piracy, as unpacked by Brewin, with the missional endeavour of discernment and the discovery of what "fullness of life" can mean in our day and times. It discusses piracy and mission as: resistance against the idolatry in the free-market economy; the restoration of the commons and koinonia in places where relationships flourish; living in the margins; and economic and ecological liberation in the Kingdom as a place of freedom.


This article studies politeness related terminology in the history of English with the aim of shedding some new light on the long diachrony of the folk notion of "politeness", and at the same time we assess the usefulness of the research method which we call "metacommunicative expression analysis". Metacommunicative expressions are words and phrases used to talk about aspects of communication, or a particular type of behaviour, such as "polite" or "impolite". The semantic field of expressions that have been used in the history of English to talk about polite and courteous behaviour was charted with the help of the new research tool, the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. The frequencies of politeness related vocabulary items were then studied in the Helsinki Corpus. This exercise revealed areas of higher or lower density of politeness related vocabulary at particular points in the history of the English language and in specific prototypical text categories in the Helsinki Corpus. In the end, the analysis had to go back to the actual texts and interpret the specific politeness related vocabulary in their contexts. The analysis reveals the multifaceted nature of politeness and its manifestations at different points in the history of English and in different text categories.


Biomass is projected to account for approximately half of the new energy production required to achieve the 2020 primary energy target in the UK. Combined heat and power (CHP) bioenergy systems are not only a highly efficient method of energy conversion, at smaller-scales a significant proportion of the heat produced can be effectively utilised for hot water, space heating or industrial heating purposes. However, there are many barriers to project development and this has greatly inhibited deployment in the UK. Project viability is highly subjective to changes in policy, regulation, the finance market and the low cost incumbent; a high carbon centralised energy system. Unidentified or unmitigated barriers occurring during the project lifecycle may not only negatively impact on the project but could ultimately lead to project failure. The research develops a decision support system (DSS) for small-scale (500 kWe to 10 MWe) biomass combustion CHP project development and risk management in the early stages of a potential project's lifecycle. By supporting developers in the early stages of project development with financial, scheduling and risk management analysis, the research aims to reduce the barriers identified and streamline decision-making. A fuzzy methodology is also applied throughout the developed DSS to support developers in handling the uncertain or approximate information often held at the early stages of the project lifecycle. The DSS is applied to a case study of a recently failed (2011) small-scale biomass CHP project to demonstrate its applicability and benefits. The application highlights that the proposed development within the case study was not viable. Moreover, further analysis of the possible barriers with the DSS confirmed that some possible modifications to be project could have improved this, such as a possible change of feedstock to a waste or residue, addressing the unnecessary land lease cost or by increasing heat utilisation onsite. This analysis is further supported by a practitioner evaluation survey that confirms the research contribution and objectives are achieved.


A procedure for determining the combinations of sustained stress and pulsating stress that will cause failure of a given soil is described and such data is presented for three soil types. The relationship depends on the nature of the loading conditions (one-directional or two-directional), the soil type, the principal stress ratio during consolidation, the frequency and duration of the pulsating stresses, the number of stress pulses, and the form of the stress pulse. Data is also presented on the strains resulting from different stress combinations. For typical field and earthquake conditions, it is shown that the relationship between total stress (sustained plus pulsating) and total strain for some soils will not differ greatly from the stress versus strain relationship for the soils determined by conventional undrained test procedures. Finally, it appears that in sensitive clay, a series of vibrations or stress pulses that will not in themselves cause failure, may induce an increase in pore water pressure and initiate creep movement that will lead to failure some time after the vibrations have ceased.


Nietzsche was deeply interested in Shakespeare during the period leading up to the publication of The Birth of Tragedy . His notebooks from this period clearly indicate that throughout the planning stages of The Birth of Tragedy , Nietzsche had intended to devote an entire chapter to Shakespeare, in which Shakespeare was to serve as a bridge between the spirit of the great ancient Greek playwrights and Wagner. In this paper I discuss why, despite the ab sence of a detailed account of Shakespeare in the final version of  The Birth of Tragedy , he is nonetheless essential to Nietzsche's theory of tragedy. Keywords : Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Tragedy, Aesthetics, Hamlet


A Cochrane reviewer has accused a Canadian health chief of misquoting his work to justify a "tyrannical" policy forcing staff to be vaccinated against flu or wear a mask.

Under the policy, being introduced from 1 December, health workers in British Columbia who refuse to be vaccinated must wear a mask throughout the flu season. All those who have had the vaccine will be given a distinctive badge to wear.

British Columbia's provincial health officer, Perry Kendall, told the Vancouver Sun earlier this month that a Cochrane review had referenced studies showing that vaccinating workers protected patients from flu and …


Rational design and synthesis of cathode catalysts are crucial for enhancing the performance of rechargeable Li–O2 batteries. Here, we report a controlled synthesis of the nanocomposite, Co3O4 nanohorns coated with MnO2 nanosheets on a Ni foam (Co3O4@MnO2/Ni). It integrates the catalytic activities of oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions and functions as a carbon- and binder-free cathode catalyst for rechargeable Li–O2 batteries. This nanocomposite catalyst presents a small discharge/charge voltage gap of 0.76 V (a low polarization) and a long cycle life of 170 cycles at 300 mA g−1, coupled with an ionic liquid-based electrolyte, 0.5 M lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (EMITFSI), which are much better than those based on the individual Co3O4 and MnO2 cathodes. The enhanced electrochemical performance is ascribed to the integrated bifunctional catalytic activities and the porous micro/nanostructure of the Co3O4@MnO2/Ni nanocomposite, as well as the ionic liquid-based electrolyte, indicating its promising application in rechargeable Li–O2 batteries.