In North Carolina, one in seven adult drivers currently has a suspended license, for non-driving related reasons. The government can suspend a person's driver's license for reasons unrelated to traffic violations, including failure to appear in court and failure to pay fines. To better understand what effects these driver's license suspensions have on people, and whether they are even aware of the suspensions, we sought to survey a randomly selected 300 people in Wake County, North Carolina, who had their license suspended between 2017-2018. We sent these surveys by mail and found something unexpected and unrelated to many of the survey questions themselves: that the addresses on file for these people were extremely inaccurate. Over one-third had these mail surveys returned, for reasons that we detail. Only eight responded to the survey, suggesting that many others failed to receive the mail. As in many other states, in North Carolina, driver's licenses are commonly suspended for failure to appear in court in response to notice of a traffic court date. Notices of such court dates are sent by mail, typically to the address on record at the Department of Motor Vehicles, as are subsequent notices notifying people that the consequence will be a driver's license suspension. These undeliverable mailings suggest that large numbers of people, numbering perhaps in the hundreds of thousands in North Carolina, never receive actual notice of either their court date or the drastic consequence for non-appearance. They may have no idea that the state has suspended their license, and as a result, may suffer severe consequences if later stopped for driving with a revoked license. We conclude by discussing the due process and policy problems implied by these findings.


The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent Turkish EFL students are successful in the use of prepositions, and how much impact their mother tongue has on their errors. In order to achieve this aim, 30 students in the upper-intermediate level of a university prep school were given a 60-sentence gap-filling test. Each sentence in the test included a collocation of preposition in which students are likely to misuse prepositions due to the effect of their native language. They were asked to fill in the gaps with a suitable preposition or put a (-) if no preposition is necessary. The result of the test showed that even at this level, students have great difficulty in finding the correct preposition, with a significant number of errors resulting from mother tongue interference. Separate categories as to different error forms and word forms were also included along with the overall results. Such analysis may encourage EFL instructors to prepare remedial teaching activities which will specifically focus on teaching prepositions, considering students' L1 as well.


An established Stochastic Reactor Model (SRM) is used to simulate the transition from Spark Ignition (SI) to Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion mode in a four cylinder in-line four-stroke naturally aspirated direct injection SI engine with cam profile switching. The SRM is coupled with GT-Power, a one-dimensional engine simulation tool used for modelling engine breathing during the open valve portion of the engine cycle, enabling multi-cycle simulations. The mode change is achieved by switching the cam profiles and phasing, resulting in a Negative Valve Overlap (NVO), opening the throttle, advancing the spark timing and reducing the fuel mass as well as using a pilot injection. A proven technique for tabulating the model is used to create look-up tables in both SI and HCCI modes. In HCCI mode several tables are required, including tables for the first NVO, transient valve timing NVO, transient valve timing HCCI and steady valve timing HCCI and NVO. This results in the ability to simulate the transition with detailed chemistry in very short computation times. The tables are then used to optimise the transition with the goal of reducing NO x emissions and fluctuations in IMEP. Copyright © 2010 SAE International.


ABSTRACT This exploratory study contributes to the body of knowledge of leisure research, investigating various dimensions related to home brewing, particularly reasons for and benefits from engaging in this activity through the lens of the Serious Leisure Construct (SLC). Although evidence suggests that home brewing has increased in popularity, to date, it has received limited attention from the academic literature. The study is based on the responses of 219 home brewers in Australia. The employed content analysis and word association identified the feeling of a rewarding and enjoying experience, affordability, sharing, brewing-to-taste, and socialising opportunities as key perceived benefits. In addition, various links between the findings and the SLC were identified. Overall, the findings revealing the seemingly multifaceted nature of home brewing, which combines tangible elements such as producing the craft beer, and intangible, for instance, sharing and socialising, highlight important theoretical and practical implications for leisure involvement.


This essay, prepared for a book on the effect of regulatory, liability, and litigation inefficiencies on the global competitive position of the U.S., focuses on the role of the US federal system. We show that, although multiple US states offer significant potential for jurisdictional choice to address misguided or inappropriate law, this system is only a partial solution to these problems and can itself be a source of bad law and excessive litigiousness. Federal law and enforcement of contractual choice-of-law, choice-of-court, and arbitration clauses provide some, but only partial, relief. As a result, choice of law and jurisdiction rules potentially expose firms that do business nationally or internationally to oppressive law in any of the US states. Without reform of the rules regarding jurisdictional choice the US is losing an opportunity to exploit the edge in international competition it might get from its federal system.


Abstract A global particle balance study has been investigated in the Large Helical Device (LHD) in which the first wall and the divertor tiles are made of stainless steel (SUS-316L) and carbon, respectively. The carbon area is less than 10% of the stainless steel area. The analyzed discharges have been conducted under an intrinsic helical divertor (HD) or a local island divertor (LID). The HD is an open divertor at this stage, and the LID is a closed divertor equipped with a baffle structure and a pump system. In the HD configuration, fuel retention up to 75% of injected hydrogen was observed, and the retained hydrogen affected the plasma density control. On the other hand, almost all fueled hydrogen was evacuated by the pumps in the LID configuration. After each experimental campaign, detailed analyses of the in-vessel material probes (SUS-316L stainless steel) and a divertor tile exposed to various plasma discharges during each experimental campaign were conducted. The areal density of the retained hydrogen both in the material probes and the divertor tile was in the range 1021 to 1022 H/m2, and it corresponded to the averaged areal density that was observed after an experimental day with high-density discharges.


Tissue extraction plays an important role in the study of brain structure and function. To avoid brain tissue autolysis, we propose an in vivo cardiovascular perfusion technique. In this experiment, we selected the carp as a research object and used the medicated bath method to anaesthetize it. Then two infusion needles were, respectively, inserted into the ventral aorta and total primary vein. Subsequently, the brain tissue of carp was perfused with physiological saline containing 10% formalin. Then the carp was decapitated and the brain fixed in 10% formalin solution. Finally, paraffin sections were prepared and observed under a light microscope. The results showed that this technique could effectively avoid the autolysis and thus result in relatively complete and normal brain tissue. The results suggested that the method is simple, reliable, and able to effectively fix the brain tissue.


Introduction The tobacco industry now aggressively targets women in order to increase its consumer base, since fewer women than men use tobacco all over the world. In response to the call by the WHO for more research aimed at understanding tobacco use among women, this study examined associations between history of domestic violence and current tobacco use among women of reproductive age. Methods Data from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), a nationally representative cross sectional survey of 33 385 women aged 15–49 was analysed. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between domestic violence and tobacco use. Results Only 0.9% of women were current users of tobacco in any form. Of these, 0.5% used snuff, 0.2% used cigarettes, 0.1% used chewing tobacco while 0.1% smoked pipes. The odds of tobacco use increased with experiences of severe physical violence [OR=2.9; 95% CI 2.2 to 3.9] and sexual violence [OR=2.9; 95% CI 2.0 to 4.1] but not with emotional violence. Those women who had also been hurt physically by a former partner had higher odds of current tobacco use [OR=5.2; 95% CI 2.1 to 12.8]. Interestingly women who used tobacco had more often also physically hurt their husbands even when the husbands were not hurting them [OR=2.2; 95% CI 1.3 to 3.8]. Conclusion Experiencing violence affects the psychological health status and may explain susceptibility to tobacco use in women. In the spirit of World No Tobacco Day 2010 tobacco control strategies must recognise the psychosocial environment of tobacco users and also address domestic violence for sustained impact.


Purpose: To explore the Healthcare Professionals and Knowledge of Medications cost in Saudi Arabia. Methods: It is a 4-months cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals and knowledge of medicines. The survey consisted of two-part, demographic information and second part forty-nine questions divided into four domains. It included domain one: Primary or essential information about healthcare providers medication, domain two: healthcare professionals information about the drug-related problem, domain three: healthcare professionals information about drug-related cost and domain four: Healthcare providers perception of medications. All type of healthcare professionals included in the study. Medline Plus health information and DailyMed-INH elements information from National Institute of Health United State of America were used. The 5-point Likert response scale system was used. The questions were open and closed-ended. The survey was distributed through social media by using what's App to more than one thousand healthcare professionals overall Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The survey was made in an electronic format and it analyzed domain three: healthcare professional's information about drug-related cost through survey monkey system. Results: The total responders were (188) Healthcare professionals. Of those 177 (95.16%) were Saudi and 9 (4.84%) were non-Saudi. The gender distribution 120 (63.83%) were females and 68 (36.17%) were males. The most of Healthcare professionals were pharmacist 93 (71.54%), followed by nurses 18 (13.85%) and physicians 15 (11.54%). The most type of medications used was anti-hypertension medicines, anti-diabetic medicines, Skin medications and drugs for Respiratory Diseases. Also, the most number of medications taken either one 29 (15.85%) or two 17 (9.29%). The healthcare professionals showed good knowledge with both complete and incomplete information about drug storage at room temperature 148 (81.3%) or refrigerator 143 (77.7%), protect medication from light exposures 133 (72.3%) and how to behave with an expired medication 127 (70.5%). The healthcare professionals had not adequate information with both complete and incomplete information about prescription prices 110 (59.78%) and imperfect knowledge about Health insurance coverage of medications 69 (37.9%). The healthcare professional's knowledge about missing of medications, led patient visit doctor clinic 35 (18.72%), visit the pharmacy 50 (27.47%), visit hospital emergency 17 (9.24%) hospital admission 20 (10.87%) or intensive care admission 8 (4.79%). Conclusion: Healthcare professional missed medication-related cost knowledge. Healthcare professionals may implicate in drug-related problems with burden cost. Healthcare providers demanded of Drug-related prices and drug cost awareness program in Saudi Arabia. Keyword: Healthcare professional, Knowledge, Cost, Medications, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.


The ethics of international relations must not be limited to airing principles on the nature of international trade. It must engage all the multifarious manifestations of the globalization process, therein identifying innovative means to handle relations in addition to devising an overall development strategy for Third World countries (including all the aspects related to reforms, production innovations, technology transfer and the re-conversion of sectors). Fair relations on a worldwide basis will generate connections between different value production systems, and draw them into a global network where material and intangible/cultural elements merge in order to produce a flow of international relations. The content of these relations will not be merely economic but will favor people and cultures meeting.


This article is an analysis of the teen-targeted vampire novel Twilight. The series and related merchandise have been a runaway financial success. Illustrative quotes from Twilight are presented according to Guggenbühl-Craig's concept of the "compensated psychopath" (CP)—an individual who approaches the psychological extreme of psychopathy but is able to pass for functional in society. The author argues the lead male character Edward Cullen is a CP and that the representation is problematic. The book's main female character, Bella Swan, becomes completely dependent on Edward, desires him in part because he seems unattainable, and is willing to die and live a life of predation in order to be with him. The largely uncriticized idealization of Edward as top boyfriend material flies under the radar of contemporary concern for girls' psychic and physical well-being.


Federal policies have encouraged the growth of wireless communications services while recognizing the traditional primacy of state and local land use regulations governing their infrastructure. However, collective action problems have resulted in the externalization by some communities of the burdens of accommodating wireless towers and other equipment serving them to other localities. This article explores the infrastructure siting provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It concludes that Congress's effort to strike a balance between local concerns on one hand and national commerce and homeland security on the other has proved vague in content and susceptible to procedural delays that might make local parochialism impervious to challenge. The article suggests statutory changes, including time limitations and the creation of presumptions and safe harbor rules, that might better balance infrastructure development needs with local autonomy.


Exploiting the multiprocessors that have recently become ubiquitous requires high-performance and reliable concurrent systems code, for concurrent data structures, operating system kernels, synchronization libraries, compilers, and so on. However, concurrent programming, which is always challenging, is made much more so by two problems. First, real multiprocessors typically do not provide the sequentially consistent memory that is assumed by most work on semantics and verification. Instead, they have relaxed memory models, varying in subtle ways between processor families, in which different hardware threads may have only loosely consistent views of a shared memory. Second, the public vendor architectures, supposedly specifying what programmers can rely on, are often in ambiguous informal prose (a particularly poor medium for loose specifications), leading to widespread confusion. In this paper we focus on x86 processors. We review several recent Intel and AMD specifications, showing that all contain serious ambiguities, some are arguably too weak to program above, and some are simply unsound with respect to actual hardware. We present a new x86-TSO programmer's model that, to the best of our knowledge, suffers from none of these problems. It is mathematically precise (rigorously defined in HOL4) but can be presented as an intuitive abstract machine which should be widely accessible to working programmers. We illustrate how this can be used to reason about the correctness of a Linux spinlock implementation and describe a general theory of data-race freedom for x86-TSO. This should put x86 multiprocessor system building on a more solid foundation; it should also provide a basis for future work on verification of such systems.


2 . Previous morphological and genetic studies have proposed the existence of at least two evolutionary significant units: one distributed across the Orinoco and Amazon basins and another confined to the Bolivian Amazon. The presence of barriers in the riverine environment has been suggested to play a significant role in shaping present-day patterns of ecological and genetic structure for this species. In the present study, we examined the phylogeographic structure, lineage divergence time and historical demography using mitochondrial (mt)DNA sequences in different pink dolphin populations distributed in large and small spatial scales, including two neighbouring Brazilian Amazon populations. mtDNA control region (CR) analysis revealed that the Brazilian haplotypes occupy an intermediate position compared to three previously studied geographic locations: the Colombian Amazon, the Colombian Orinoco, and the Bolivian Amazon. On a local scale, we have identified a pattern of maternal isolation between two neighbouring populations from Brazil. Six mtDNA CR haplotypes were identified in Brazil with no sharing between the two populations, as well as specific cytochrome b (cyt b) haplotypes identified in each locality. In addition, we analyzed autosomal microsatellites to investigate male-mediated gene flow and demographic changes within the study area in Brazil. Data analysis of 14 microsatellite loci failed to detect significant population subdivision, suggesting that male-mediated gene flow may maintain homogeneity between these two locations. Moreover, both mtDNA and microsatellite data indicate a major demographic collapse within Brazil in the late Pleistocene. Bayesian skyline plots (BSP) of mtDNA data revealed a stable population for Colombian and Brazilian Amazon lineages through time, whereas a population decline was demonstrated in the Colombian Orinoco lineage. Moreover, BSP and Tajima's D and Fu's Fs tests revealed a recent population expansion exclusively in the Bolivian sample. Finally, we estimated that the diversification of the Inia sp. lineage began in the Late Pliocene (approximately 3.1 Mya) and continued throughout the Pleistocene. Published 2011. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 812-827.


PURPOSE
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Current treatment decisions are based on clinical variables. Novel tumor-derived biomarkers may improve the risk stratification of medulloblastoma patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A model for the molecular risk stratification was proposed from an array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) screen (n = 80). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses for chromosome arms 6q, 17p, and 17q and the MYC and MYCN loci were performed in an independent validation set (n = 260). Copy number aberrations were correlated with clinical, histologic, and survival data.

RESULTS
Gain of 6q and 17q and genomic amplification of MYC or MYCN were each associated with poor outcome in the array-CGH study (n = 80). In contrast, all patients with 6q-deleted tumors survived. Given these findings, the following hierarchical molecular staging system was defined: (1) MYC/MYCN amplification, (2) 6q gain, (3) 17q gain, (4) 6q and 17q balanced, and (5) 6q deletion. The prognostic value of this staging system was investigated by FISH analysis (n = 260). The addition of molecular markers to clinical risk factors resulted in the identification of a large proportion of patients (72 of 260 patients; 30%) at high risk for relapse and death who would be considered standard risk by application of clinical variables alone.

CONCLUSION
Genomic aberrations in medulloblastoma are powerful independent markers of disease progression and survival. By adding genomic markers to established clinical and histologic variables, outcome prediction can be substantially improved. Because the analyses can be conducted on routine paraffin-embedded material, it will be especially feasible to use this novel molecular staging system in large multicenter clinical trials.


Fraser Bergersen rose from humble beginnings in New Zealand to become a leading microbiologist who specialized in the physiology and biochemistry of legume nitrogen fixation. He and his family emigrated to Australia in 1954. Virtually all of his career was spent in Canberra at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Plant Industry. In the 1970s, Bergersen and colleagues achieved worldwide prominence when they elucidated the role of leghaemoglobin in facilitating oxygen diffusion to the Bradyrhizobium bacteroids in soybean nodules and in the nitrogen fixation process itself. During the rest of his working life, Fraser Bergersen contributed greatly to understanding the role of oxygen, the mode of its delivery, and terminal oxidases in all forms of biological nitrogen fixation.


Current methods for monitoring deforestation from satellite data at sub-annual scales require pixel time series to have many historical observations in the reference period to model normal forest dynamics before detecting deforestation. However, in some areas, pixel time series often do not have many historical observations. Detecting deforestation at a pixel with scarce historical observations can be improved by complementing the pixel time series with spatial context information. In this work, we propose a data-driven space-time change detection method that detects deforestation events at sub-annual scales in data cubes of satellite image time series. First we spatially normalised observations in the local space-time data cube to reduce seasonality. Subsequently, we detected deforestation by assessing whether a newly acquired observation in the monitoring period is an extreme when compared against spatially normalised values in a local space-time data cube defined over reference period. We demonstrated our method at two sites, a dry tropical Bolivian forest and a humid tropical Brazilian forest, by varying the spatial and temporal extent of data cube. We emulated a "near real-time" monitoring scenario, implying that observations in the monitoring period were sequentially rather than simultaneously assessed for deforestation. Using Landsat normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series, we achieved a median temporal detection delay of less than three observations, a producer's accuracy above 70%, a user's accuracy above 65%, and an overall accuracy above 80% at both sites, even when the reference period of the data cube only contained one year of data. Our results also show that large percentile thresholds (e.g., 5th percentile) achieve higher producer's accuracy and shorter temporal detection delay, whereas smaller percentiles (e.g., 0.1 percentile) achieve higher user's accuracy, but longer temporal detection delay. The method is data-driven, not based on statistical assumption on the data distribution, and can be applied on different forest types. However, it may face challenges in mixed forests where, for example, deciduous and evergreen forests coexist within short distances. A pixel to be assessed for deforestation should have a minimum of three temporal observations, the first of which must be known to represent forest. Such short time series allow rapid deployment of newly launched sensors (e.g., Sentinel-2) for detecting deforestation events at sub-annual scales.


"Film criticism is exciting just because there is no formula to apply," Pauline Kael once observed, "just because you must use everything you are and everything you know." Between 1968 and 1991, as regular film reviewer for "The New Yorker," Kael used those formidable tools to shape the tastes of a generation, enthralling readers with her gift for capturing, with force and fluency, the essence of an actor's gesture or the full implication of a cinematic image. Kael called movies "the most total and encompassing art form we have," and she made her reviews a platform for considering both film and the worlds it engages, crafting in the process a prose style of extraordinary wit, precision, and improvisatory grace. To read "The Age of Movies," the first new selection in more than a generation, is to be swept up into an endlessly revealing and entertaining dialogue with Kael at her witty, exhilarating, and opinionated best. Her ability to evoke the essence of a great artist-an Orson Welles or a Robert Altman-or to celebrate the way even seeming trash could tap deeply into our emotions was matched by her unwavering eye for the scams and self-deceptions of a corrupt movie industry. Here in this career spanning collection are her appraisals of the films that defined an era-among them "Breathless," "Bonnie and Clyde," "The Leopard," "The Godfather," "Last Tango in Paris," "Nashville"-along with many others, some awaiting rediscovery, all providing the occasion for masterpieces of observation and insight, alive on every page.


Geometric morphometric methods using computer software is a more statistically powerful method of assessing changes in the anatomy than are traditional measurements of lengths. The aim of the study was to investigate whether changes in the size and shape Paradiplozoon sp. permanent attachment clamps could be used to determine the duration of the organsism's life-cycle in situ. A total of 149 adult Paradiplozoon sp. ectoparasites were recovered from Labeobarbus aeneus and Labeobarbus kimberlyensis in the Vaal Dam. The software tool tpsDIG v.2.1 was used on six digitised landmarks placed at the junctures between the sclerites of the attachment clamps from digital micrographs. The tpsSmall v. 2.0 and Morphologika 2 v. 2.5 software tools were used to perform principal component analysis (PCA) on this multivariate dataset. The PCA analysis indicated that the increase in size and linear change in shape of the selected landmarks, were significant predictors of the sampling season. This study suggests that it takes one year for the permanent attachment clamps of a Paradiplozoon sp. to grow to their maximum size in the Vaal Dam. Key words: Diplozoidae, Labeobarbus aeneus, Labeobarbus kimberlyensis , Vaal Dam, morphometrics.


The theme of visual representations in science was already central to our research when we aended the 6th European Spring School on History of Science and Popularization in Menorca, Spain, in 2011. As discussed in the review of this conference by Ignacio SuayMatallana and Mar Cuenca-Lorente (245), many participants not only described the particulars of the generation of individual images, but also broader issues surrounding the constitution of visual domains. We were impressed by the range of scholarship surrounding the production, circulation, and interpretation of a wide variety of images, yet a nagging question remained: what issues unite this diversity of research and compel us to investigate such representations? Beyond their novelty, why study scientific images at all?


The hydrothermal transformation of single aragonite crystals into polycrystalline calcite has been studied under hydrothermal conditions. The transformation involves a fluid-mediated replacement reaction, associated with fracturing of the initial aragonite crystal and growth of calcite throughout various parts of the reacted aragonite. The observed overall preservation of the crystal morphology is typical of an interface-coupled dissolution-reprecipitation mechanism. Analysis of the crystallographic orientation of the product calcite using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) showed little to no link between the two phases under the studied conditions, with calcite crystallites exhibiting dominantly different crystallographic orientations compared to those of the aragonite and of neighbouring calcite domains.

The complexity of the observed textures is mainly a result of the combination of fracturing of the crystal and initiation of nucleation and growth at different points of the exposed aragonite surface. Experiments performed with solutions enriched in 18O as a tracer for oxygen exchange and monitored by Raman spectroscopy, showed that carbonate ions in the starting solution are mixed with carbonate from the dissolving aragonite, resulting in an 18O concentration in the product calcite which depended on the local fluid transport through the fractures. As replacement processes among the CaCO3 phases are relevant to a wide range of applications, understanding the mechanisms is essential for the interpretation of observations of natural and/or experimental samples. This study describes the interplay between the replacement process, the fracturing of the crystal and growth of the new phase, calcite, and provides new insights into the mechanism of the aragonite to calcite transition. The combination of the two methods, EBSD and Raman spectroscopy, demonstrates the importance of local fluid composition and transport pathways in determining the isotope and element exchange in mineral replacement reactions.


We constructed a model cytoskeleton to investigate the proposal that this interconnected filamentous structure can act as a mechano- and signal transducer. The model cytoskeleton is composed of rigid rods representing actin filaments, which are connected with springs representing cross-linker molecules. The entire mesh is placed in viscous cytoplasm. The model eukaryotic cell is submitted to either shock wave-like or periodic mechanical perturbations at its membrane. We calculated the efficiency of this network to transmit energy to the nuclear wall as a function of cross-linker stiffness, cytoplasmic viscosity, and external stimulation frequency. We found that the cytoskeleton behaves as a tunable band filter: for given linker molecules, energy transmission peaks in a narrow range of stimulation frequencies. Most of the normal modes of the network are spread over the same frequency range. Outside this range, signals are practically unable to reach their destination. Changing the cellular ratios of linker molecules with different elastic characteristics can control the allowable frequency range and, with it, the efficiency of mechanotransduction.


Abstract: Piracetam and structurally related nootropics are known to potentiate the anticonvulsant effects of antiepileptic drugs. It remains to be seen, however, whether these nootropics inhibit proconvulsant actions of many toxic agents including Ro 5‐4864, a specific agonist for peripheral‐type benzodiazepine receptors (PBR). The present study was designed to address this issue using EL mice, an animal model of epilepsy. In behavioral pharmacological experiments, EL mice were highly susceptible to convulsions induced by Ro 5‐4864 (i.p.) in comparison with nonepileptic DDY mice. Nefiracetam administered orally to EL mice inhibited spontaneous seizures. In DDY mice, convulsions induced by Ro 5‐4864 were prevented by nefiracetam when administered by i.v. injection. Aniracetam (i.v.) was partially effective, but piracetam and oxiracetam were ineffective as anticonvulsants. Binding assay for brain tissues revealed a higher density of mitochondrial PBR in EL mice compared with DDY mice. Binding of the PBR ligands Ro 5‐4864 to either EL or DDY mouse brain was inhibited by micromolar concentrations of these nootropic agents in the sequence of nefiracetam > aniracetam ≫ oxiracetam, piracetam. This rank order is identical to potency as anticonvulsants. These data suggest that nefiracetam may prevent toxic effects of PBR agonists through interacting with PBR.


OBJECTIVE
This randomized crossover double-blind placebo-controlled study aimed to assess the efficacy of nateglinide (A-4166), a novel phenylalanine-derived insulin secretagogue, in type 2 diabetic subjects while fasting and 5 min before a standard meal.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
A single dose of nateglinide (60, 120, or 180 mg) or placebo was given to eight diet-treated overnight-fasted type 2 diabetic patients and to seven patients 5 min before a standard breakfast. Plasma glucose, radioimmunoassay insulin, and nateglinide were measured at baseline and for a further 180 min.

RESULTS
The time-averaged 180-min postdose mean decrease in fasting plasma glucose concentration was greater after nateglinide (1.8 mmol/l; 95% CI 1.5-2.0) than after placebo (0.7 mmol/l; 95% CI 0.3-1.2) (P < 0.001). Hypoglycemia did not develop in any of the subjects. Insulin concentrations increased 1.5-, 1.8-, and 1.9-fold with the 60-, 120-, and 180-mg doses, respectively (P < 0.001), peaking approximately 30 min after the dose. Nateglinide concentrations peaked after approximately 30 min, decreasing to 21% of peak by 180 min. In the meal test, the mean increase (2.9 mmol/l, 2.3-3.6) in plasma glucose over 180 min after placebo was reduced by 1.8 mmol/l (P < 0.001) with the two higher doses of nateglinide.

CONCLUSIONS
A single dose of nateglinide administered to diet-treated type 2 diabetic patients with fasting hyperglycemia increased insulin secretion and reduced fasting glucose without hypoglycemia. Administered 5 min before a meal, nateglinide reduced the postprandial glucose excursion by 64%. With its rapid onset and short duration of action, nateglinide is a promising oral prandial therapy in type 2 diabetes.


Launched in April 1999, the Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument is in its sixth year of operation. The ETM+ instrument has been the most stable of any of the Landsat instruments. To date, the best onboard calibration source for the reflective bands has been the Full Aperture Solar Calibrator, a solar-diffuser-based system, which has indicated changes of between 1% to 2% per year in the ETM+ gain for bands 1-4 and 8 and less than 0.5%/year for bands 5 and 7. However, most of this change is believed to be caused by changes in the solar diffuser panel, as opposed to a change in the instrument's gain. This belief is based partially on vicarious calibrations and observations of "invariant sites", hyperarid sites of the Sahara and Arabia. Weighted average slopes determined from these datasets suggest changes of 0.0% to 0.4% per year for bands 1-4 and 8 and 0.4% to 0.5% per year for bands 5 and 7. Absolute calibration of the reflective bands of the ETM+ is consistent with vicarious observations and other sensors generally at the 5% level, though there appear to be some systematic differences.


This article explores the implications of the extent to which the mythic intrudes on the everyday in newspaper reporting, taking as a case study the drive-by shooting of two young, black women in Birmingham in 2003. An analysis of news headlines and texts demonstrates the use of mythical language and imagery in this case (as in other high-profile cases) as compared with the usual reporting of homicides in the press. Notions of innocence and guilt are explored through the construction of gendered and raced bodies in the case study. The article finds that this media discourse relies for its impact on the simultaneous and mutually dependent construction of fabular gendered and raced ideas; of exceptional innocence and purity (unusually) attached to black femininity (beauty) and of exceptional and volatile violence (usually) attached to black masculinity (the beast). Moreover, the discourse is constructed such that guilt for the gun crime extends beyond the individual perpetrators to the black community as a whole. While media coverage reflects a realistic fear of gun crime, the article concludes that media discourse in this case directs fear towards the black community/male as the dangerous 'other', and that this is crucially underpinned by polarized gendered discourse.


An archaeological evaluation undertaken in 2004 in Baillet-en-France, north of Paris, unearthed remains of the sculptured frieze which adorned the Soviet pavilion at the 1937 International Exhibition. This discovery led us to track the astonishing trajectory of this emblematic monument, example of socialist realism and symbol of the USSR.
Upon the dismantlement of the 1937 exhibition, the Soviet monument's propylaeum, composed by artist Josef Chaikov of sculpted reliefs and statues representing the peoples of the USSR, was given to the metallurgist CGT worker's union, who brought it to its newly opened leisure park at Baillet-en-France. With the abrupt political changes that followed, the monument was smashed to pieces in 1941, rediscovered after the liberation in 1944, and then buried in the ice ditch where it laid forgotten until 2004. The study of these unexpected remains with their iconic and iconoclastic destinies enables us to better understand the different aspects of their creation (origins, techniques, iconography) – at the same time, a new career awaits these Stalinian relicts, as a museum exhibit but also as a model, monumentally reconstructed in Moscow in 2010.


BACKGROUND
Percutaneous epidural neuroplasty (PEN) is a minimally invasive intervention designed to treat neck, back, and low back pain. The efficacy of lumbar PEN has been relatively well investigated, but clinical effectiveness according to catheter position has not yet been established.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between the ventral and dorsal positions of the catheter tip during lumbar PEN procedures using a retrospective review series.

METHODS
A total of 303 patients with back pain from single-level lumbar disc disease with and without radiculopathy were included in this study. In all patients, an attempt was made to place the catheter tip in the ventral position to maximize theoretical clinical improvement; however, several catheters failed to reach the desired position. Patients were assigned to 2 groups after lumbar PEN procedures were completed: those with catheters in the ventral position (Ventral group) and those with catheters in the dorsal position (Dorsal group). Clinical outcomes were assessed according to the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score for back pain and leg pain at 0, 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment.

RESULTS
The only demographic difference observed between the 2 groups (Ventral and Dorsal groups) was an elongated symptom duration in the Dorsal group compared to the Ventral group (16.1 vs. 9.4 months, P = 0.013). The VAS (back) scores during the follow-up period (1, 3, and 6 months) were similar between the 2 groups. In one area of the VAS scoring (leg), the Ventral group showed a similar effect at postoperative one month compared to the Dorsal group, but significantly improved at postoperative 3 and 6 months (1.3 and 0.9 in ventral group, and 1.9 and 1.4 in dorsal group, respectively; P = 0.002 and 0.010). Odom's criteria were also significantly improved over 6 months in the Ventral group compared to the Dorsal group.

LIMITATIONS
This study was a retrospective analysis with a relatively short follow-up duration was not a randomized, controlled study. Therefore, the clinical effects of the catheter position could be confounded by other variables.

CONCLUSION
In this short-term follow-up study, the effects of lumbar PEN on VAS scores were different according to the position of the catheter tip in patients with single-level lumbar disc herniation. Better outcomes in the Ventral group may have been achieved by more localized treatment with a selective block in the epidural space closer to the dorsal root ganglion and ventral aspect of the nerve root.


The United States is the third largest consumer of seafood products in the world. The percentage of imported seafood consumed in the U.S. has steadily increased from 66% in 1999 to over 84% in 2009 (NOAA, 2010). Food safety, especially of imported foods and products from developing countries, has raised increasing concerns among American consumers and policy makers. Accordingly, the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) (Ababouch et al. 2000) border inspection system is considered critical for ensuring the safety of domestic seafood consumers. However, the potential non-tariff barrier to trade posed by FDA regulations, especially for many developing country exporters have been frequently cited in the literature. This paper investigates trends and patterns in U.S. import detentions and refusals of seafood products between 2000 and 2010. Data from U.S. FDA import refusal report is used to uncover patterns of detainments and import refusals across major exporting countries, World Bank income classification and time. The analysis in this paper suggests that the FDA's approach to food safety regulation for seafood at U.S. ports of entry does follow random selection based inspections. Instead, a system of Import Alerts results in targeted inspections and mandatory "flagging" of repeat code violation. We find evidence of increasing levels of seafood shipment detentions without physical examinations targeted at predominantly lower-middle income seafood exporting countries which make up the majority of the U.S. seafood supply.


This article attempts to contribute to the ongoing academic dialogue surrounding water and its centrality to human life. Its purpose is to provide insight into what may be the most notable water management innovation in human history: the universal human right to water. Specifically, this essay seeks to outline the source and content of the right to water and that right's "minimum core" – both concepts that have reached the level of positive international law. It will then summarize the recent work of numerous national courts "giving content" to the human right to water, addressing the ways in which the international legal norm is strengthened or challenged by this jurisprudence. Without an international body capable of enforcement, the human right to water depends on this activity of national courts to make its philosophical "universality" a matter of legal fact.


The Labuan Island in East Malaysia possesses some geological features with geoheritage values. A study on the new list of potential geoheritage sites has been carried out in the island through some systematic steps includingidentification, characterization, classification, assessment, and evaluation of eight (8) geosites: Tanjung Punei Beach, turbidite outcrops in Kampung Bebuloh, Tanjung Batu Beach, Labuan mud volcanoes in Kampung Layang-layangan, Tanjung Layang-layangan Beach, coal-bearing strata and oil seepages in Kampung Ganggarak, historical coal mining sites in Tanjung Kubong, and Tanjung Kubong Beach (Bethune Head – Kubong Bluff). These potential geoheritage sites have their own unique characteristics such as distinctive rocks (lithological/petrological sites), landform/landscape features (geomorphological sites), and fossil occurrences (paleontological sites). Other sites exhibit some unique processes/phenomena such as mud volcanoes and oil seepages. In term of scale, they range between small to medium sizes. These geological resources have been assessed based on some geodiversity/geoheritage values including scientific (and educational), aesthetic, recreational, cultural, and some other values, with the local level of significance. SWOT analysis has been conducted to evaluate these potential geoheritage resources. All these geoheritage resources are expected to be utilized properly, such as for research and educational activities as well as geotourism development.


Various guidance techniques have been proposed to help users to quickly and effectively locate objects in large and dense environments such as supermarkets, libraries, or control rooms. Little research, however, has focused on their impact on learning. These techniques generally transfer control from the user to the system, making the user more passive and reducing kinesthetic feedback. In this paper, we present an experiment that evaluates the impact of projection-based guidance techniques on spatial memorization. We investigate the roles of user (handheld) vs. system control (robotic arm) guidance and of kinesthetic feedback on memorization. Results show (1) higher recall rates with system-controlled guidance, (2) no significant influence of kinesthetic feedback on recall under system control, and (3) the visibility and noticeability of objects impact memorization.


Rational expectations assume perfect, model consistency between beliefs and market realizations. Here we discuss behaviorally rational expectations, characterized by an observable, parsimonious, and intuitive form of consistency between beliefs and realizations. We discuss three case-studies. Firstly, a New Keynesian macro model with a representative agent learning an optimal, but misspecified, AR(1) rule to forecast inflation consistent with observed sample mean and first-order autocorrelations. Secondly, an asset pricing model with heterogeneous expectations and agents switching between a mean-reverting fundamental rule and a trend-following rule, based upon their past performance. The third example concerns learning-to-forecast laboratory experiments, where under positive feedback individuals coordinate expectations on non-rational, almost self-fulfilling equilibria with persistent price fluctuations very different from rational equilibria.


The outer membranes of many gram-negative bacteria contain a major heat-modifiable protein which shows serological cross-reactivity with the OmpA protein of Escherichia coli K-12. Using the cloned gene for the E. coli K12 protein as a DNA-DNA hybridization probe, we were able to identify the corresponding genes from Shigella dysenteriae. Enterobacter aerogenes, and Serratia marcescens. These were cloned in a phage lambda vector, and their expression in E. coli K-12 was studied. All three OmpA proteins were fully produced and correctly exported to the outer membrane. In several cases, complete or partial restoration of known function of the E. coli K-12 protein was observed.


After years of colonial rule and a long struggle to end external administration, Namibia became independent in 1990. The realization of political reform within a modern democratic framework has called for wide-ranging reforms in all sectors of the economy to which the water sector is not an exception. Institutional reforms in the water sector were undertaken with an overall aim of introducing integrated water resources management as a durable solution to the water challenges of the arid environment prevailing in Namibia. The reforms included the development of a new national water policy, the preparation of draft legislation, and new organizational changes to develop, manage and regulate activities in the water sector. Although institutional reforms in the water sector are necessary to meet the demands of a new nation, they cannot succeed without the required level of skill and capacity both within and outside water administration. While it is relatively easier to formulate new policies, promulgate legislation and create new organizations, it is very difficult for an emerging country to develop quickly the human capacity necessary to handle the reforms, especially when inadequate funding constraints create a conflict between resource development and capacity building.


Background Postmenopausal hormone (PMH) therapy may reduce colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but existing data are inconclusive. Objectives To evaluate associations between PMH therapy and incident CRC, overall and by molecularly defined subtypes, in the population-based Iowa Women's Health Study of older women. Methods Exposure data were collected from Iowa Women's Health Study participants (55–69 years) at baseline (1986). Archived, paraffin-embedded tissue specimens for 553 CRC cases were collected and analysed to determine microsatellite instability (MSI-L/MSS or MSI-H), CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP-negative or CIMP-positive) and BRAF mutation (BRAF-wildtype or BRAF-mutated) status. Multivariable Cox regression models were fit to estimate RRs and 95% CIs. Results PMH therapy (ever vs never use) was inversely associated with incident CRC overall (RR=0.82; 95% CI 0.72 to 0.93), with a significantly lower risk for MSI-L/MSS tumours (RR=0.75; 95% CI 0.60 to 0.94), and borderline significantly lower risks for CIMP-negative (RR=0.79; 95% CI 0.63 to 1.01) and BRAF-wildtype (RR=0.83; 95% CI 0.66 to 1.04) tumours. For PMH therapy >5 years, the subtype-specific risk estimates for MSI-L/MSS, CIMP-negative and BRAF-wildtype tumours were: RR=0.60, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.91; RR=0.68, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.03; and RR=0.70, 95% CI 0.47 to 1.05, respectively. PMH therapy was not significantly associated with the MSI-H, CIMP-positive or BRAF-mutated CRC subtypes. Conclusions In this prospective cohort study, PMH therapy was inversely associated with distinct molecularly defined CRC subtypes, which may be related to differential effects from oestrogen and/or progestin on heterogeneous pathways of colorectal carcinogenesis.


The Internet computer system is estimated to have over 20 million users world-wide and a growth of one million per month. Internet can also improve communications around the world (Eddy, 1994). Millions of persons are taking distance education television courses - no accurate number is known. Computer programs help find valuable funding sources (Eddy, Nicklas and McLeod, 1995). Having computers in schools and in homes can be a real asset for students (Spaulding and Eddy, 1996). The authors are not against this technology but support its use as we have Internet and have presented on television for years, but there are some basic problems. These difficulties range from psychological addiction to unethical behavior and inappropriate actions of technology producers and users. Internet Issues Research on Internet issues (Arden-Smith, October, 1995) may be summarized as follows: 1) Some persons are so addicted to its use to the extent they have actually flunked out of college, lost their marriage partners, become mentally sick, given up their jobs, and decreased their human contacts. 2) Some persons have become psychologically stressed and ill trying to handle 40 to over 100 random E-Mail messages a day. 3) Some persons avoid personal contacts by overusing Internet so to decrease their personal communications with persons. 4) Some persons have gone into Internet seclusion, while still taking care of daily routines, so failing to learn to work and deal with people. Some persons misuse Internet as a kind of opportunity to do the following: 1) Tell jokes better not told; 2) Advertise everything from old furniture for sale to tickets to buy for various affairs. 3) Unload their "ego games" on the world as a confessional catharsis; 4) Giving advice on everything from how to attend sporting events to office parties; and 5) Unethical behavior from reading private messages to spreading rumors. Other persons mess up their use of Internet by giving a message one minute and then come back in a minute later with the rest of the message. They sound like the old radio show star, Paul Harvey, who said, "Now for the rest of the story." This reveals how they haven't thought through their message and want the message receiver to bear with their composition confusions. Other persons are so in love with their computers that when you come to visit them at their office, this happens: 1) They give you the impression you are invading their territory, turf and time when they are into their love affair with their computer. 2) You are secondary to their "machine god" that they daily worship. 3) You are to go away as soon a possible so they can return to their "worship altar key board and screen" to do what they feel is more important than you. 4) You are less than adequate if you are not addictive to the computer and do not have the splendid skills they pretend to possess to have on the computer. Other troublesome issues with "computer freaks" are: 1) Some are always angry at their computers and this bad attitude transcends to persons around them in "psychological projections." 2) Some seem "stressed out" because they work so many hours at a computer without taking breaks or doing exercises. 3) Some convey a superiority complex against less interested computer buffs. Distance Education Issues Research into distance education television (Bangpipob, 1995) reveals some interesting problems such as: 1) Students in college credit computer classes doing homework for other classes or other things on their computers during the actual class time. …


Research on financial misconduct uses data on enforcement outcomes, such as the penalties that the firm pays. The distribution of most enforcement outcomes shows extreme observations or outliers, but you wouldn't necessarily glean that by a casual examination of some of the leading research on financial misconduct. In this paper I describe the public-policy context of such research and raise the issue of whether the extreme-values problem has been given adequate attention. I touch on a number of papers, and then focus on a 2018 Journal of Accounting Research article by Andrew Call, Gerald Martin, Nathan Sharp, and Jaron Wilde (CMSW), which purports to show a positive association between the severity of enforcement outcomes and the involvement of a whistleblower. I show that the top one percent of the enforcement outcomes (11 observations) in CMSW's large sample of 1,133 enforcement actions drive their results; a number of robustness checks suggest that the extreme-values problem is serious. Moreover, I explain numerous sources of fuzziness in their whistleblower coding, and explain that research with the extreme-values problem is highly sensitive to such fuzziness because a few dubious codings can change the results. Unfortunately, CMSW do not disclose how each coding was arrived at, so we cannot peer into the fuzziness to see how the extreme observations came to be coded as they are. I suggest that CMSW could have been upfront about the looming problem of a few extreme values in enforcement outcomes, should have shown how the outliers affect their results, and should have explained and resolved (to the extent possible) the mysteries surrounding the coding. Furthermore, as regards the larger issue of public policy, it should be emphasized that we would expect strong and natural correlations among severity of misconduct, likelihood of penalties, and whistleblowing, like the correlations among the severity of health emergencies, likelihood of medical interventions, and calls to 9-1-1. Correlation is not causation. CMSW do not give this point the emphasis that it deserves. It looms especially large in light of my findings that CMSW's results are not robust to removing the outliers. Accordingly we should perhaps be surprised that CMSW did not find a statistically significant correlation for one of the enforcement-outcome categories.


Traditional mixed agroforestry farms are regarded as sustainable agroecological systems contributing to agrobiodiversity conservation and household food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in Kenya little is known on the level of agrobiodiversity of these mixed farms and its contribution to food and nutrition security. A case study was conducted to assess food plant and livestock diversity and to identify the biophysical and socioeconomic factors influencing food plant diversity in 30 smallholder farms in Western Kenya. The survey identified six livestock species and 59 food plant species. Higher food plant species richness was found on farms managed by wealthier households and older household heads. However, households with high on-farm food plant richness and diversity were not more food secure than households managing species-poor farms. The nonsignificant relationship between food security and agrobiodiversity during the time of this case study may have resulted from the fact that the surveyed 30 families sourced significant proportions of their food from markets and did not fully depend on their farms for food, particularly for spices and condiments, fruits, and animal source foods. Therefore, we suggest a diversification of farms through livestock and fruit tree farming for improving dietary diversity and incomes of the surveyed households.


The structure and functional properties of metal oxide films for device applications are largely affected by oxygen vacancies. While the macroscopic relationship between functionality and oxygen supply during growth is easy to access, the local influence of changing oxygen content on the incorporated metal atoms has been rarely investigated. As a model system, we use Mn as a local probe in hetero- and homoepitaxial ZnO thin films for electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). Mn is expected to be incorporated as Mn2+ in the Zn-lattice site of ZnO films grown in a wide range of oxygen partial pressures. The zero field splitting (ZFS) parameter D depends on the crystallographic c/a ratio of ZnO : Mn lattice constants as it measures the trigonal distortion of oxygen tetrahedra at the Zn2+ site with respect to the Mn2+ site. The ZFS parameter D correlates linearly with displacement of Mn2+ ions along the c-axis in the MnO4 tetrahedra and the corresponding bond lengths between the Mn2+ ions and the axial oxygen ion.


Sulphur dioxide reacts with 1-oxydienes generating zwitterions which are quenched by enoxysilanes to form substituted silyl alkenylsulfinates. These intermediates are desilylated with Bu4NF and the resulting sulfinates react with MeI giving the corresponding methyl sulfones. This new SO2 reaction cascade, hetero-Diels-Alder addition of SO2/oxyallylation/alkylation, was expanded to a variety of electrophiles successfully. Several functional sulfones have been synthesized in modest to high yields. A number of chiral Lewis acids have been prepared and applied into this reaction cascade. Two common techniques were employed to analyze the enantiomeric excess in the resulted sulfones: chiral HPLC and chemical shift reagents. No interesting result was obtained. The removal of water in the reaction system indeed made the reaction better but did not lead to any increase in the enantioselectivity. Silyl sulfinate itself was found not to be able to catalyze the reaction. The formation of (E)-product was discovered in some cases. The introduction of another coordinating oxy-substitution into the dienes did not change the reaction. So the asymmetric catalytic version could not be realized. Silyl sulfinates were found to undergo the silicon/palladium transmetallation. This process could be realized by catalysis with either Pd(PPh3)4 or Pd(OAc)2. The driving force is the formation of silyl acetate. When the sulfinyl palladium complex forms, it can undergo either reductive elimination to give allyl sulfones, or elimination of SO2 in the presence of proton source, such as isopropanol or methanol, giving retro-ene products in good yields. The success of the reactions depended on the amount of the ligand, the solvent and the temperature. More ligand, such as triphenylphosphine, and THF as solvent favor the reductive elimination, while less ligand and CH3CN as solvent favor the retro-ene reaction. The reaction mechanism was studied by NMR experiments which afforded the direct proofs for transmetallation reactions. Kinetic studies on the decomposition of simple silyl alkenylsulfinate into retro-ene products indicated that the cleavage of silicon-oxygen bond could be simply realized by isopropanol. CD3CN was found to have an enormous solvent effect. The presence of Pd(II) species made the reaction somehow faster and cleaner. Related with the studies above it was discovered that trialkylsilyl 2-methylprop-2-enesulfinates are good silylation reagents. For TMS and TES sulfinates, the reactivities were the same and led to 100% conversion in a few minutes for all kinds of alcohols. But for TBS sulfinate, the reactivity decreased significantly due to steric hindrance. Silyl sulfinates were also found to undergo silyl exchange with carboxylic anhydride and acetal/ ketal. The synthetic potential of the sequence hetero-Diels-Alder of SO2, quenching of zwitterions intermediate with an enoxysilane, desilylation and retro-ene elimination of SO2 was demonstrated by the synthesis of (βR,4R,5S,6R)-β,2,2,5-tetramethyl-6-{(1R)-1-[(4S,5S)-2,2,5-trimethyl-1,3-dioxan-4-yl]ethyl}-1,3-dioxane-4-ethanol, a known synthetic intermediate in the total, asymmetric synthesis of Rifamycin S.


The Norman Conquest in 1066 was the last time England was successfully invaded, and was one of the most profound turning points in English history, cataclysmically transforming a disparate collection of small nations into a European state. But what actually happened? How was the invasion viewed by those who witnessed it? And how has its legacy been seen by generations since? This fascinating Very Short Introduction reveals how dramatically English life was changed, from its language to its law, and focuses on the differing ways the conquest has been viewed by historians and in folklore ever since. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.


Falls in the workplace are a major cause of injuries and fatalities. Muscle fatigue is one important factor that has been linked to a decrement in postural control and a potential increased falling risk. However, potential interactive effects of muscle fatigue with other risk factors remain unclear, and practical interventions are needed to mitigate the adverse effects of muscle fatigue. The current work was conducted to address these research needs through three experimental studies. The first study investigated how muscle fatigue affects postural control during quiet standing on inclined surfaces. Inclined surfaces compromised postural control, with the most deleterious effects found while standing in a lateral direction. Fatigue did not result in further decrements in postural control during standing on inclined surfaces. The second study investigated the effects of muscle fatigue on postural control while lifting unexpected loads. Lifting an object with unexpected mass compromised postural control, with a more substantial effect found in the unexpectedly light load condition. Fatigue-related effects were not consistent, though there was evidence that lumbar muscle fatigue did not compound the adverse effects of lifting an object in unexpected mass conditions. The last study evaluated the efficacy of three interventions (two auditory stimulations and periodic rest breaks) at mitigating the adverse effects of muscle fatigue on postural control. Allowance of rest breaks did not improve postural control during the fatiguing work, though it was indicated that benefits may be present for some individuals. Both a static pure tone and moving conversation appeared to offset fatigue-induced postural instability. The current research provides a more comprehensive understanding of the contribution of muscle fatigue to fall risks during occupationally relevant tasks and assessed the efficacy iii of practical interventions to reduce the risk of falls. These findings may facilitate the development of strategies to prevent occupational falls related to muscle fatigue, inclined surfaces, and manual material handling tasks.


Abstract Numerous exuviae of three Dechenella species (D. givetensis, D. ziegleri and D. calxensis) from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of NE France (Ardenne Massif) provide the opportunity to identify the evolutionary modifications of ontogeny of the three Dechenella species and to elaborate a conceptual framework of developmental shape changes. First we used biometric and morphometric approaches to characterize shape modifications. Then we computed ontogenetic trajectories by multivariate regression of geometric shape variables on centroid size in order to compare them. Finally, we compared parallelism between trajectories and rates of development relative to size. These analyses demonstrate a significant difference in the cranidial developmental trajectories of D. givetensis and D. ziegleri indicating an allometric repatterning. However, pygidia of these species share the same allometric pattern with a distinct developmental rate suggesting that heterochrony could be a partial explanation for the body shape evolution. Pygidial ontogeny of D. calxensis corresponds to an allometric repatterning with respect to both other species. This work illustrates the complexity of evolutionary modifications of ontogeny constituting an important process in morphological novelties.


Abstract. Geoscientific models and measurements generate false precision (scientifically meaningless data bits) that wastes storage space. False precision can mislead (by implying noise is signal) and be scientifically pointless, especially for measurements. By contrast, lossy compression can be both economical (save space) and heuristic (clarify data limitations) without compromising the scientific integrity of data. Data quantization can thus be appropriate regardless of whether space limitations are a concern. We introduce, implement, and characterize a new lossy compression scheme suitable for IEEE floating-point data. Our new Bit Grooming algorithm alternately shaves (to zero) and sets (to one) the least significant bits of consecutive values to preserve a desired precision. This is a symmetric, two-sided variant of an algorithm sometimes called Bit Shaving that quantizes values solely by zeroing bits. Our variation eliminates the artificial low bias produced by always zeroing bits, and makes Bit Grooming more suitable for arrays and multi-dimensional fields whose mean statistics are important. Bit Grooming relies on standard lossless compression to achieve the actual reduction in storage space, so we tested Bit Grooming by applying the DEFLATE compression algorithm to bit-groomed and full-precision climate data stored in netCDF3, netCDF4, HDF4, and HDF5 formats. Bit Grooming reduces the storage space required by initially uncompressed and compressed climate data by 25–80 and 5–65 %, respectively, for single-precision values (the most common case for climate data) quantized to retain 1–5 decimal digits of precision. The potential reduction is greater for double-precision datasets. When used aggressively (i.e., preserving only 1–2 digits), Bit Grooming produces storage reductions comparable to other quantization techniques such as Linear Packing. Unlike Linear Packing, whose guaranteed precision rapidly degrades within the relatively narrow dynamic range of values that it can compress, Bit Grooming guarantees the specified precision throughout the full floating-point range. Data quantization by Bit Grooming is irreversible (i.e., lossy) yet transparent, meaning that no extra processing is required by data users/readers. Hence Bit Grooming can easily reduce data storage volume without sacrificing scientific precision or imposing extra burdens on users.


In group decision making situations, there may be cases in which experts do not have an in-depth knowledge of the problem to be solved and, as a result, they may present incomplete information. In this paper, we present a new selection process to deal with incomplete fuzzy linguistic information. As part of it, we use an iterative procedure to estimate the missing information. This procedure is guided by the additive consistency property and only uses the preference values provided by the experts. In addition, the additive consistency property is also used to measure the level of consistency of the information provided by the experts. The main novelties of this selection process are both the possibility to manage decision situations under incomplete fuzzy linguistic information and the importance of the experts' preferences in the aggregation processes is modeled by means of the experts' consistency.


In this paper we study the ergodic theory of a class of symbolic dynamical systems $(\O, T, \mu)$ where $T:{\O}\to \O$ the left shift transformation on $\O=\prod_0^\infty\{0,1\}$ and $\mu$ is a $\s$-finite $T$-invariant measure having the property that one can find a real number $d$ so that $\mu(\tau^d)=\infty$ but $\mu(\tau^{d-\epsilon}) 0$, where $\tau$ is the first passage time function in the reference state 1. In particular we shall consider invariant measures $\mu$ arising from a potential $V$ which is uniformly continuous but not of summable variation. If $d>0$ then $\mu$ can be normalized to give the unique non-atomic equilibrium probability measure of $V$ for which we compute the (asymptotically) exact mixing rate, of order $n^{-d}$. We also establish the weak-Bernoulli property and a polynomial cluster property (decay of correlations) for observables of polynomial variation. If instead $d\leq 0$ then $\mu$ is an infinite measure with scaling rate of order $n^d$. Moreover, the analytic properties of the weighted dynamical zeta function and those of the Fourier transform of correlation functions are shown to be related to one another via the spectral properties of an operator-valued power series which naturally arises from a standard inducing procedure. A detailed control of the singular behaviour of these functions in the vicinity of their non-polar singularity at $z=1$ is achieved through an approximation scheme which uses generating functions of a suitable renewal process. In the perspective of differentiable dynamics, these are statements about the unique absolutely continuous invariant measure of a class of piecewise smooth interval maps with an indifferent fixed point.


Responding to the resurgence of verbatim theatre that emerged in Britain, Australia, the United States and other parts of the world in the early 1990s, this book offers one of the first sustained, critical engagements with contemporary verbatim, documentary and testimonial dramaturgies. Offering a new reading of the history of the documentary and verbatim theatre form, the book re-locates verbatim and testimonial theatre away from discourses of the real and representations of reality and instead argues that these dramaturgical approaches are better understood as engagements with forms of truth-telling and witnessing. Examining a range of verbatim and testimonial plays from different parts of the world, the book develops new ways of understanding the performance of testimony and considers how dramaturgical theatre can bear witness to real events and individual and communal injustice through the re-enactment of personal testimony. Through its interrogation of different dramaturgical engagements with acts of witnessing, the book identifies certain forms of testimonial theatre move beyond psychoanalytical accounts of trauma and re-imagine testimony and witnessing as part of a decolonised project that looks beyond event based trauma, addressing instead of the experience of suffering wrought by racism and other forms of social injustice.


How we concieve of the movement of ancient phenomena through time and space has been undergoing reassessment over the last two decades, causing the grip to be loosened on the well-entrenched interpretative models that had dominated research up to that point. The 'Regionalism and Globalism in Antiquity' conference, held in Vancouver on March 16-17, 2007, aimed to take stock of this situation and in particular to investigate in fresh ways how regional and global phenomena in the ancient Mediterranean, Near East and Eurasia shaped local life. Still today two models tend to guide explanations of intercultural and interregional contact and interaction: diffusionism from cores (or centres) to peripheries, involving 'superior' civilisations influencing other 'inferior' ones, and Mediterraneanism, the set of distinctive environmental, cultural and historical images that create a unified and unchanging view of the Mediterranean. These two models have come under increasing scrunity since the 1980s, as we have been living in a world of shifting perceptions of time and space and of greater interconnectedness that affects our everyday lives in numerous ways. The source of these shifts has been credited to globalisation, and with it has also come a greater historical appreciation of the phenomenon, including the recognition that the world has witnessed periods of globalisation since the end of the Ice Age. This volume contains 14 reworked and peer-reviewed essays from the original conference proceedings and provides a fair overview of the various chronological periods, methods and data, and perspectives encountered at the conference. The essays consist of case studies whose subjects range in date from the 10th millennium BC to the 4th century AD and draw in all the major regions of the ancient world. These essays and the original conference from which they derive have by no means exhausted all the potential topics raised by the framework within which they work. Much work remains to be done for antiquity and, given the framework's wide applicability, later periods of history.


Objective: To investigate separate and combined associations of occupational social class and personality traits with late midlife leisure-time physical activity duration and intensity. Method: Cross-sectional data from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (N = 4,649) were analyzed using linear regression models with leisure-time physical activity (metric equivalence) as outcome. Results: Low versus high occupational social class was associated with 4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = [3%, 5%]) greater leisure-time physical activity duration, but 2% (CI = [1%, 3%]) lower intensity. Each 10-unit increase in extraversion was associated with 5% (CI = [2%, 8%]) greater duration. Intensity increased by each 10-unit increase in conscientiousness (6%, CI = [4%, 7%]), openness (3%, CI = [1%, 4%]), neuroticism (3%, CI = [1%, 4%]), and extraversion (5%, CI = [4%, 7%]). Conscientiousness was positively associated with duration in low, but not in high, occupational social class (interaction p value = .002). Discussion: Higher occupational social class was associated with lower leisure-time physical activity duration, but higher intensity. Extraversion was positively associated with duration and intensity. Conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism were positively associated with intensity. Overall, interactions were not consistent.


In order to learn more about how bats perceive their environment in such detail using sonar, it is imperative that their calls can be accurately recorded. By the nature of these calls and their production, this accuracy is difficult to achieve using the conventional method of a handheld or static microphone, coupled to some recording media. There are various factors which mean that this method is likely to produce an imprecise representation of the emitted call. Firstly, the frequency-dependent attenuation of ultrasound in air, coupled with the frequency-dependent directionality of both source and receiver, mean that the signal which arrives at the microphone is only a representation of the sound at that point in the field. Furthermore, with the bat moving in flight and also altering the direction in which sound is emitted, even two identical calls may be significantly altered from the viewpoint of the observer. All this makes it practically impossible to capture or recreate the call as emitted by the bat. One method which mitigates for these problems is the use of a miniature wireless sensor which can be mounted on a bat, thereby providing a microphone which is close to the emitter and does not move in relation to it. Such an approach has been successfully utilised to obtain echolocation recordings from bats while in flight in a laboratory situation. The work reported here aims to take this concept a stage further by introducing variable gain into the sensor such that echoes returning to the bat, as well as the emitted call, can be detected. The sensor is designed and built around a variable gain amplifier (VGA), with the emitted bat call used to trigger a gain-control circuit. Hence, with the emitted call as the point of reference, the circuit gradually increases from its low gain state to its high gain state, before being reset. The dynamic range of the gain is shown to be in the region of 70dB, with the frequency response and gain curve being characterised in the laboratory. Ideally, the system would have a flat response over the frequency range of interest (20kHz - 200kHz), however it is demonstrated that the system has a repeatable low-pass characteristic, which means the recorded signals can be compensated for in post processing. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that signals obtained from the system accurately recreate the ultrasonic signal, through comparison with signals captured using a calibrated microphone. The wireless system is then used to record emitted and reflected calls from the echolocating fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus while in flight in a captive environment. Five individuals were flown in a flight corridor, with trains of calls being obtained over three-second recording periods. These results indicate that the 'impulse-like' signals emitted by R. aegyptiacus have interesting, and repeatable, notches in the frequency domain, though their purpose is unknown. Furthermore, as would be expected, the calls recorded with this sensor can be shown to contain more high-frequency components in comparison with recordings in the literature made by conventional means. These experiments demonstrate that this technology is indeed capable of obtaining signals and echoes from a flying echolocating bat. However, the next stage of this work is to use such a sensor system on British bats, which are much smaller and lighter than R. aegyptiacus. For this, a smaller lightweight version of the sensor has been designed. At the same time a microphone is being designed which will have a flatter frequency response across the range of interest.


One mechanism of generating cellular diversity is to distribute developmental potential asymmetrically to daughter cells at mitosis. Two observations described in this report suggest that the C. elegans HAM-1 protein functions in dividing neuroblasts to produce daughter cells that adopt distinct fates. First, HAM-1 is asymmetrically distributed to the periphery of certain mitotic cells, ensuring that it will be inherited by only one daughter cell. Second, ham-1 mutations disrupt the asymmetric divisions of five neuroblasts. In one of these divisions, loss of ham-1 function causes the daughter cell that does not inherit HAM-1 to adopt the fate of the daughter cell that normally inherits HAM-1. We propose that asymmetric distribution of HAM-1 enables daughter cells to adopt distinct fates.


In October 1990 questions were raised about real estate problems in the life insurance industry after the ninth largest life company sustained a major loss as a consequence of a write-down of real-estate-related assets. The value of insurance company stocks declined as the financial community began to take a hard look at the recent changes that had taken place. During the spring of 1991 the press increasingly focused on the industry, once it became evident that the life subsidiaries of First Executive and First Capital were impaired as a consequence of substantial investments in junk bonds. ; In the summer of 1991, the Federal Reserve Bank sponsored a conference to examine the dramatic changes that have transformed the seemingly stable insurance industries into industries that could arouse public anxieties. How pervasive are the weaknesses that have shown up in a few large insurers? Is there a danger that widespread liquidity pressures could develop? What changes should be made in regulation or in arrangements to protect customers of insurance companies? These are some of the primary questions addressed in the conference proceedings.


NetSuite is an easy-to-use, customizable enterprise software for running your business. Part I explains NetSuite basics everyone should know. Part II focuses on tracking money (accounting, AR, AP, and managing inventory). Parts III, IV, and V explain how to sell and market your products, take care of customers, and sell goods online with NetSuite. Part VI describes how to gauge your progress using dashboards and analytics. Bonus chapters provide information about scripting, customization, and setting up your Web site (see the Downloads tab). Table of contents: Part 1: NetSuite Basics Part II: Using NetSuite's Various Components Part III: How to use NetSuite for your specific business Part IV: Configuring NetSuite Part V: Getting organized with NetSuite. Bringing it all together Part VI: Advanced stuff Part VII: The Part of Tens


This paper offers fictionalism as a new approach to the problem of reasonable disagreement discussed in social epistemology. The conciliationist approach to reasonable disagreement is defined, and three problems with it are posed: that it is destructive of inquiry, self-defeating, and unacceptably revisionary. Hans Vaihinger's account of fictions is explained, and it is shown that if the intellectual commitments that are the subject of reasonable disagreements are treated as fictions rather than as beliefs, the three noted problems are avoided. Whereas beliefs have a "rivalrous" relation to the source of their justification (evidence), fictions have a non-rivalrous relation to the source of their justification (expediency), meaning that disagreement over which fictions to employ is not problematic in the way that disagreement over what to believe is. Some objections to the fictionalist approach to reasonable disagreement are answered.


Sandwich panels have shown improved air blast performance over more traditional monolithic armor however it is an area of continuous research in order to optimize the beneficial shock mitigative properties of the sandwich structure. To that end a series of shock experiments on various sandwich panels via shock tube with high speed photography and numerical analyses via finite element method were performed to determine their efficacy for shock mitigation. Originally corrugated steel core sandwich panels were investigated varying face sheet thickness, corrugation thickness, boundary conditions, and foam infill. The hierarchy of foam infilling within the core was then iterated on and lastly, the corrugated core was replaced with an open cell foam core entrained with various Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids to determine their behavior under shock loading. These results found that foam infilling had the greatest impact upon shock performance although the benefit decreased with increased face or corrugation thickness (increasing stiffness). When selectively filling the foam hierarchy within the core it was found that back filled (soft/hard) arrangements to be the most effective but using the foam alternately to attenuate the shock wave was not effective. Lastly, the various non-Newtonian fluid fillings were found to have detrimental effect on the performance of the sandwich structures while often being weighty.


Purpose of review Little information is available on healthcare provision related to the prevention of mental health diseases in people with intellectual disabilities. This review summarizes recent literature reports concerning mental health problems, services and prevention in people with intellectual disability. Method Electronic searches of Medline, PubMed and PsychInfo literature mainly using the key terms of prevention, health policy, mental health, mental disorder, intellectual disability, learning disability and mental retardation were carried out. Recent findings Most experts agree on the need for prevention or early recognition of mental health problems through better screening and appropriate treatment of people with intellectual disability. Recent studies have attempted to provide treatment-oriented solutions, specific mental health units and integrative treatment or person-centered planning for this service user group, although inequalities in both access to and the efficacy of services still exist in practice. There is also a continuing lack of sound evidence to support preventive policy-making related to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems in people with intellectual disability. Such evidence to support the implementation of proposed guidelines, protocols and programs related to preventive mental health policies has been poor and needs development. Summary To minimize the impact of mental health problems in people with intellectual disability, an evidence-based preventive policy is urgently needed for this group of people. In addition, there is an urgent need to establish an appropriate screening and monitoring system to track their mental health status and understand the treatment and side-effect profiles of psychiatric medication used to combat these disorders.


Wellington's Peninsular War provides a concise and comprehensive account that can be enjoyed by both professional and amateur historians and which includes details of the battlefields as they are today and how to find and explore them. The Peninsular War (1808-1841) was part of the twenty year struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte that involved campaigns in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the West Indies, South America and South Africa and until 1914 was known as 'The Great War'. The author has presented a balanced picture of the whole campaign and gives due credit to the Spanish and Portuguese efforts without which victory would not have been possible. Arranged in sections, the author starts with a review of the whole war and the background to it and follows with a complete chronological account of the war year by year. Finally a chapter on each of the major battles includes maps and photographs of the battlefields, orders of battle and instructions on how to find the battlefield today and what to see there. The maps show the ground as it was at the time but also include modern features to identify where the fighting took place enabling the reader to stand where Wellington would have stood when surveying the battlefield.


Abstract Simulations of porous gaseous flows are routinely used to investigate membrane permeation in catalytic adsorption and separation problems. Although basic continuum equations are supposed to breakdown in these nanoscale pores, many studies of force/flow relations assume flow to be linear in chemical potential or pressure differences. This work tests common assumptions using simulations of an atomistic, Lennard–Jones pore flow with distant, Langevin forcing at densities stretching through the transition and free flow regimes. Using NVE dynamics in very large boundary reservoirs, we find local equilibrium is established in the steady-state, but also identify two new finite-size effects. First, there is a steady flow of heat from the high-pressure reservoir backward to the thermostat region, and second, a significant proportion of the channel flow originates from the monolayer adsorbed to the flat outer wall. All walls are shown to obey a simple Langmuir adsorption isotherm at these low ( kPa) pressures, even in the presence of flow. Despite multi-layer formation on the inner pore walls as density increases, the current carried by atoms at the wall has the same proportion to current carried through the channel center under nearly all conditions tested (with constant pore diameter). Comparing our flow rates to Fickian and Knudsen linear relations shows that the difference in reservoir pressure is significantly more predictive than the difference in chemical potential for this size regime.


The number plate detection is a key step affecting the overall performance of the number plate recognition system. In the paper a novel algorithm for this purpose is proposed. The approach is based on the detection of text areas using the stroke width transform. More plate candidates are detected using the specifically developed image preprocessing scheme based on set of morphological operators and contour analysis. The final number plate candidates are properly classified using the neural network which is learned from the training dataset. Experiment results indicate on the high performance of the developed methodology.


This paper develops structural dynamic methods to project future carbon fluxes in forests. These methods account for land management changes on both the intensive and extensive margins, both of which are critical components of future carbon fluxes. When implemented, the model suggests that U.S. forests remain a carbon sink through most of the coming century, sequestering 128 Tg C y−1. Constraining forestland to its current boundaries and constraining management to current levels reduce average sequestration by 25 to 28 Tg C y−1. An increase in demand leads to increased management and greater sequestration in forests. The results are robust to climate change. (JEL Q23, Q54)


Standard antireflective coatings applied to hard substrates like sapphire suffer from poor abrasion resistance. Silica is used as low refractive index layer in many multilayer systems although it has a lower hardness than the substrate. In this work an attempt was made to enhance the hardness by the addition of alumina. Magnetron sputtering was used in two different ways because it delivers dense coatings with high durability. Nanoindention hardness measurements of mixed alumina-silica films are presented in comparison to haze measurements after a sand trickling test. The hardness of silica is unexpectedly lowered by the addition of small amounts of alumina. Two different stacks were coated in which the low refractive index layers were sputtered as pure material and material mixtures. The thickness loss results after an oscillation abrasion test are presented.


Recent assaults on foreign-funded civil society groups in Egypt and Russia reflect a worrisome trend: Since 2002, twenty countries have updated their laws to restrict foreign funding to NGOs. Under what conditions do governments set these restrictions in place? Using original data from nearly 100 countries and case studies of regime behavior in East Africa and the former Soviet Union, we find that vulnerable governments restrict foreign support to civil society when they feel vulnerable to domestic challenges. Yet, worries about international retaliation can restrain such behavior if governments believe that clamping down will cost them more than it is worth.


Recent research indicates that suicide rates are elevated in those living at higher altitudes in both the United States and South Korea. A possible mechanism that was proposed is metabolic stress associated with hypoxia. This commentary discusses these results, and also the association between elevated suicide rates and other conditions associated with hypoxia (smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma). Tryptophan hydroxylase may not normally be saturated with oxygen, so mild hypoxia would decrease serotonin synthesis. Low brain serotonin is known to be associated with suicide. Thus, the commentary proposes and discusses the hypothesis that decreased brain serotonin synthesis associated with hypoxia is a mechanism that may contribute to suicide in conditions causing hypoxia. Finally the commentary proposes various studies that could test aspects of this hypothesis.


International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 368X is the third of three cruises that form the South China Sea Rifted Margin program. Expeditions 367, 368, and 368X share the common key objectives of testing scientific hypotheses of breakup of the northern South China Sea (SCS) margin and comparing its rifting style and history to other nonvolcanic or magma-poor rifted margins. Four primary sites were selected for the overall program: one in the outer margin high (OMH) and three seaward of the OMH on distinct, margin-parallel basement ridges informally labeled Ridges A, B, and C from north to south. The ridges are located in the continent–ocean transition (COT) zone ranging from the OMH to the interpreted steady-state oceanic crust (Ridge C) of the SCS. The main scientific objectives include 1. Determining the nature of the basement in crustal units across the COT of the SCS that are critical to constrain style of rifting, 2. Constraining the time interval from initial crustal extension and plate rupture to the initial generation of igneous ocean crust, 3. Constraining vertical crustal movements during breakup, and 4. Examining the nature of igneous activity from rifting to seafloor spreading. In addition, sediment cores from the drill sites targeting primarily tectonic and basement objectives will provide information on the Cenozoic regional environmental development of the Southeast Asia margin. Expedition 368X was planned to reoccupy a site started during Expedition 368. Because of repeated breakdowns of the low clutch diaphragm in the drawworks, Hole U1503A was abandoned after installing casing to 991.5 m. Despite this setback to Expedition 368 and the South China Sea Rifted Margin program, Hole U1503A was completed during Expedition 368X. The overarching scientific goal of IODP Expeditions 367 and 368 was to unveil the mechanisms of continental breakup at the northern SCS margin from rifting through steady-state spreading. A key operational objective of Site U1503 was to sample the lowermost ~300 m of sediments on top of basement to constrain the age and subsidence history of the crust at this location, the timing of normal faulting, and the environment of the early half-graben fill. A second important goal was to sample at least 100 m of the igneous basement. Deep representative sampling of the igneous material at this site will provide an important reference frame for the modeling of breakup and early ocean spreading. In Hole U1503A, the sediment sequence was cored with the rotary core barrel (RCB) system from 995.1 to 1597.84 m (602.74 m penetration; 128.01 m recovered; 21%) and then the underlying basement was continuously cored from 1597.84 to 1710.1 m (112.26 m penetration; 47.91 m recovered; 43%). Although logging deeper than 991.5 m (bottom of casing) was not possible because of unstable hole conditions, Hole U1503A was logged with the Vertical Seismic Imager in the cased portion of the hole. No days were lost to waiting on weather, and the only mechanical downtime was a 1.5 h period when an electrical malfunction caused the top drive to shut down for repairs. Expedition 368X successfully completed the operational objectives in Hole U1503A that were abandoned during Expedition 368. In the SCS margin science program, material recovered during Expedition 368X will contribute toward meeting the four specific objectives of Expeditions 367 and 368. Postexpedition research on the sediments and basalt recovered from Hole U1503A will allow for determination of emplacement age and geochemical analyses of 5 rock composition and assessment of melting processes and age of crystallization. The combination of such analyses will contribute to geochemical or thermomechanical modeling that will constrain mantle origin and melting processes leading to the formation of these basalts.


July 2005 | Volume 3 | Issue 7 | e259 | e244 Cell membranes are largely made of proteins, and membrane proteins account for about a third of all genes. Despite their importance, they are devilishly hard to isolate and stabilize, and therefore are hard to study. The problem lies in their structure: membrane proteins have at least one hydrophobic domain, composed of a stretch of waterrepelling amino acids, which holds the protein snugly in the lipid membrane. Purifying such a protein in an aqueous medium makes the hydrophobic parts aggregate, destroying the protein's delicate three-dimensional structure and often disrupting its function. The alternative is to extract the protein with a detergent, a two-headed "Janus" molecule with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic ends. The protein remains surrounded by the hydrophobic ends, while water clusters at the hydrophilic ends, easing the protein out of the membrane and into solution, where it can be studied. To date, though, relatively few complex membrane proteins have been successfully purifi ed with available detergents. In this issue, Shuguang Zhang and colleagues show that a simple amino acid–based detergent can successfully stabilize the dauntingly large protein complex photosystem I (PS-I), an integral part of the photosynthetic machinery. The molecule they made, abbreviated A 6 K, links six units of the hydrophobic amino acid alanine to one of the hydrophilic amino acid lysine. The authors used it to stabilize PS-I and then attached the detergent–protein complex to a glass slide, allowed it to dry, and examined the stability of PS-I by testing its fl uorescence. Intact PS-I emits red light with a characteristic peak wavelength; as it degrades, this peak subsides and is replaced by another, bluer peak. Even the two best standard detergents did poorly at maintaining the red peak. In contrast, the spectrum after A 6 K extraction was almost a perfect match for the normal one, indicating the complex was largely intact after drying. Furthermore, the complex appeared to remain stable for up to three weeks on the glass slide. The potential applications of this work are severalfold. PS-I itself remains to be fully characterized, and this stabilization technique offers new means to explore its properties. In addition, an isolated and stabilized form of PS-I may hold some promise as an alternative energy source, since it generates an electric current in sunlight. Perhaps most importantly, the full potential of such simple amino acid–based detergents has only begun to be explored. It is likely that either this one, or others like it, can be used to isolate and stabilize hundreds of other membrane proteins, allowing them to be studied in detail for the fi rst time.