This chapter aims to explore two areas of computer assisted language learning (CALL) work that have proved problematic over time. The first area relates to our understanding of the broader contextual factors that influence CALL activity; the second relates to our understanding of the nature of interactions when those interactions are mediated via technology in some way. Thus, we aim to consider external factors and their influence on CALL and internal factors as they pertain to mediated interactions in CALL contexts. In both cases, we argue that insights and techniques drawn from the fields of HCI and engineering can enrich our understandings and practices, especially in focusing areas of research and development more effectively, and in conceptualizing research and practice in the first place.


We present a multichannel fluorescence microscopy technique for high throughput imaging applications. A microlens array with over 140,000 elements is used to image centimeter-scale samples at up to 18.1 megapixels per second. Large field-of-view multichannel fluorescent imaging is demonstrated in both sequential and parallel geometries. The extended dynamic range of this approach is also discussed.


Many different models for the behavior of interest rates have been proposed and investigated over the years. We have made progress in the sense that some formerly popular models have been eliminated from serious consideration, but there is still no general agreement on which model is the best. The uncertainty leads to substantial model risk in pricing and hedging interest rate derivatives. This article presents a different approach: rather than specifying a particular stochastic process for the short-term interest rate, Epstein, Haber, and Wilmott simply place bounds on its behavior, in the form of maximum and minimum feasible values and a constraint on its rate of change, while permitting any movement of the rate within the constraints. This general approach leads to an acceptable range for the interest rate and for financial instruments based upon it. Model dependence is greatly reduced in this way. The next challenge will be to develop models in this framework that produce tight enough bounds to be useful for traders and investors.


UNLABELLED
Detection is a fundamental task that is critical to visual behavior. Our aim here was to measure and model behavioral and neurophysiological performance for detection of targets under naturalistic conditions. We first measured behavioral detection performance in three humans and two macaque monkeys. Localized oriented stimuli were presented for 250 ms and contrast psychometric functions were measured on uniform backgrounds and for several contrasts of the natural image backgrounds. We found that (i) threshold contrast power is a linear function of background contrast power for both humans and macaques, and (ii) the relative threshold functions (the ratio of thresholds under natural and uniform background as a function of background contrast) for humans and macaques are in good agreement, although (iii) the macaques are less sensitive overall. Subsequently, we used voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) to measure the neural population activity in V1 for the same stimuli, while the monkeys held fixation. The spatial scale of VSDI measurements was sufficient to resolve orientation columns over the whole region activated by the target. The average VSDI response to high-contrast targets on a uniform background was used to define a "matched template". Then, for each condition we applied the template to the responses on target + background trials and background alone trials and computed the signal-to-noise ratio (d'), which specifies the neurometric functions. We found that (i) the threshold contrast power for the VSDI responses is also linear with background contrast power and (ii) the relative thresholds for the VSDI responses are in fairly good agreement with the human and macaque behavioral thresholds.

CONCLUSIONS
the macaque is a good model of human detection behavior in natural images, and population responses at the columnar scale in V1 predict behavioral detection performance in natural images. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Attention is a powerful concept in computer vision. End-to-end networks that learn to focus selectively on regions of an image or video often perform strongly. However, other image regions, while not necessarily containing the signal of interest, may contain useful context. We present an approach that exploits the idea that statistics of noise may be shared between the regions that contain the signal of interest and those that do not. Our technique uses the inverse of an attention mask to generate a noise estimate that is then used to denoise temporal observations. We apply this to the task of camera-based physiological measurement. A convolutional attention network is used to learn which regions of a video contain the physiological signal and generate a preliminary estimate. A noise estimate is obtained by using the pixel intensities in the inverse regions of the learned attention mask, this in turn is used to refine the estimate of the physiological signal. We perform experiments on two large benchmark datasets and show that this approach produces state-of-the-art results, increasing the signal-to-noise ratio by up to 5.8 dB, reducing heart rate and breathing rate estimation error by as much as 30%, recovering subtle pulse waveform dynamics, and generalizing from RGB to NIR videos without retraining.


Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder which is characterized by elevated blood glucose levels. This common disease affects more than 170 million individuals worldwide. It is a complex disease caused by a combination of multiple genetic factors and environmental exposures. Early attempts to decipher the genetics of type 2 diabetes achieved limited success with only a handful of loci identified showing convincing association. However, with the advent of genome-wide association studies, much progress has been made in recent years in understanding the genetics of type 2 diabetes. Over a dozen novel susceptibility loci showing consistent and robust associations across different populations have been identified, with the risk associated with the majority of these loci exerting their effect through pancreatic β-cell dysfunction, leading to impairment in insulin secretion, in the patho-physiology of diabetes.

Key concepts

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by hyperglycaemia (elevated blood glucose level) as a consequence of the body's inability to maintain blood glucose homeostasis.

This common disease affects more than 170 million individuals worldwide, and this has been projected to increase to over 360 million by 2030.

It is a polygenic disease with many genetic variants, each contributing a modest effect with additional gene–gene and gene–environment interactions adding further complexity.

As with many other complex diseases, the molecular pathways or mechanisms underlying the development of type 2 diabetes have remained poorly understood.

Genetic studies of diseases have traditionally relied on two methods to discover the responsible genes: whole genome linkage mapping and candidate gene association studies.

Genetic studies of the past were largely unsuccessful with only a handful of loci showing convincing association with type 2 diabetes.

Genome-wide association study is a comprehensive and unbiased approach of interrogating a large number of genetic markers across the genome to identify statistical association between genetic variants and phenotypes.

In contrast to linkage studies, it is usually carried out in unrelated individuals, and unlike candidate gene studies, it does not require any prior supposition of the biological function of genes or pathogenesis of the disease.

The findings from genome-wide association studies have made some advances in our understanding and knowledge of the genetic basis of this common disease, and it has also implicated the importance of β-cell dysfunction and impairment in insulin secretion in the patho-physiology of type 2 diabetes.

Cumulatively, all the type 2 diabetes susceptibility SNPs that have been identified account for only a small proportion of the heritability (approximately 10%); with the majority of the genetic predisposition remaining unexplained, indicating that much still remains to be discovered and understood of the genetic basis of this complex disease.

Keywords:

type 2 diabetes;
complex diseases;
linkage mapping;
genome-wide association studies;
single nucleotide polymorphisms;
International HapMap Project


Numerous stepped spillways were built to date, namely on RCC gravity dams or on valley flanks besides embankment or rockfill dams, while some others are currently under design or construction. In some cases, slope changes may be required on stepped chutes, due to the topography, leading to reduced excavation and related economic benefits. A quite limited number of stepped spillways have been built with slope changes, whereas no systematic scientific investigation for designing such type of configuration has been conducted to date. Thus, there is a lack of information with regards to the main flow features along abrupt slope changes on stepped spillways. The present study is focussed on an experimental investigation of the air entrainment and pressure development on skimming flow on stepped spillways, in the vicinity of an abrupt slope change. Physical modelling was conducted in a relatively large scale facility, where detailed air-water flow measurements were gathered upstream and downstream of a 50˚-30˚slope change. In addition, dynamic pressure measurements were obtained on both vertical and horizontal faces of several steps in the vicinity of the slope change. The results on the air entrainment and pressure development are presented and discussed. A substantial influence was observed on the air entrainment and pressure development pattern, in comparison with typical results for constant sloping stepped spillway flows.


The human body develops from a single diploid cell called a zygote and contains at adulthood an estimated 85 trillion cells, of which more than 150 billion turn over every day. All of these cells originate from a tiny population of so-called "embryonic" and "adult" stem cells which uniquely possess a longterm self-renewal capacity and have the potential to differentiate into a variety of cell lineages. "Embryonic Stem Cells (ESC)" is a term commonly used to refer to a distinct cluster of pluripotent stem cells found in the inner cell mass of mammalian blastocysts (earlystage embryos). Their primary function is to give rise to cell lineages of all three germ layers. On the other hand, "Adult Stem Cells (ASC)" is one of several terms used to describe a diverse group of multipotent stem cells clustered in various niches throughout the body, particularly in loci with high cell turnover such as bone marrow, skin, and intestine, but also in sites with low cell turn over such as brain and pancreas. ASC, also known as somatic or tissue-specific stem cells, serve as a renewable source of specialized cells for tissue development, maintenance, and repair. Depending upon the prevailing conditions in their microenvironment, individual stem cells express distinct cell-surface proteins and display differentiation patterns which normally suit the needs of the tissue or organ in which they reside. As discussed later, such stem-cell specialization is enabled by a battery of epigenetic regulatory factors which provide the means not only to arrest and maintain a particular stem-cell behavior, but also to modify it in response to changes in the cell's microenvironment. Therefore, although ESC and the seemingly various kinds of ASC display different gene expression and differentiation patterns, it remains unclear whether these dissimilarities reflect different cellular entities or different manifestations of the same cellular entity.


Synthetic glacier length records are generated for the Holocene epoch using a process-based glacier model coupled to the intermediate-complexity climate model ECBilt. The glacier model consists of a mass-balance component and an ice-flow component. The climate model is forced by the insolation change due to variations in the Earth's orbital parameters. We consider three glaciers, ranging from maritime to continental. At Nigardsbreen (southern Norway), the simulated long-term trend in the annual mass-balance is primarily determined by summer temperature, with a smaller contribution from winter precipitation. In the early Holocene, summers were warmer and winters wetter than today in the ECBilt simulation. Both signals seems consistent with proxy data. The simulated glacier length shows a phase of rapid expansion during the mid-Holocene, followed by more gradual growth. At Rhonegletscher (the Swiss Alps), ECBilt simulates warmer and wetter summers in the early Holocene. The temperature signal seemns realistic, but proxy data and earlier modelling results are not conclusive with respect to the precipitation signal. The implied glacier length shows a maximum extent at 3-5 kyr BP, which seems unlikely. This suggests that the simulated precipitation response is not realistic. The simulated early-Holocene climate at Abramov glacier (Kirghizia) is characterized by high summer precipitation, associated with a northward extension of the Asian monsoon. The precipitation signal reaches its maximum around 6 kyr BP, which is consistent with the timing of the maximum in lake-level data. The simulated glacier length shows a pronounced postglacial maximum at the time of maximum monsoon intensity. There is considerable centennial-timescale variability in the simulated glacier length records. These length variations are generated by internal climatic variability. They are typically asynchronous among the three different glaciers. ECBilt has reasonable skill in simulating the relative importance of temperature and precipitation as well as the seasonality of the forcing, although the overall level of variability is underestimated. Length variations are shown to behave as a lagged moving-average process, with a glacier-specific memory.


For people who live with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity syndrome illness is a hidden construct. The body does not display the chronicity of the internal experience. This thesis removes the barrier between what is experienced and what is visible by creating visual means of communicating the body's hidden experience. The place of the viewer is part of this discussion. Through visual methods digital photographic techniques and the current interest in sensory anthropology the embodied sensory chronic illness experience is explored. The hidden experiences were made visual creating "MeBoxes" and masks which showed both the external and embodied internal experiences of chronic illness. As the process of working with and walking beside the participants developed, I found that the discourse on imaging within the literature was inadequate to show the real lived experiences of those with chronic illness. My interactions with the people of this thesis and the process of honouring their experiences required a model that would encourage the viewer to new and perhaps unrealised depths of participation to understand the participant's multi-faceted and multi-layered experiences. Part of the discussion is the ability of images to communicate sensory experience as is the case with Munch's The Scream and Picasso's Guernica. Through the use of a hypertextual self-scape I show how participants created access to their experiences through their visual representations and through a collaborative approach became composite hypertextual self-scape metaphors.


Introduction: Although for thyroid disorders are the second most prevalent endocrine
abnormalities among reproductive aged women, the signs and symptoms of thyroid disease can
often be masked by the physiologic changes of pregnancy. The aim of this study was to identify
physiological signs and symptoms common to both pregnancy and thyroid disorders among a
community based sample of pregnant women without thyroid dysfunction. Materials and Methods:
This population-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 1600 pregnant women. A
comprehensive questionnaire including questions regarding the signs and symptoms of thyroid
disease was completed for subjects and relevant clinical examinations were conducted. Blood
samples were taken and serum thyroxine (T4), T-uptake, thyrotropin (TSH) and thyroid peroxidase
antibodies (TPO-Ab) were measured. Results: Of study participants, 63.5% had normal thyroid
function. The prevalence of overt hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism were 3.8%, and 0.8%,
respectively and 29.8% of patients had subclinical hypothyroidism. Of pregnant women without
thyroid dysfunction, 64.8% had one or more of the signs and symptoms of thyroid disorders. Most
common symptoms were fatigue (30.3%), followed by lethargy and drowsiness (20.3%).
Conclusion: Normal physiological changes of pregnancy can mimic some of the signs and
symptoms of thyroid disorders. The results indicated that over half of the healthy pregnant women
experienced one or more of the signs and symptoms of thyroid disorders during pregnancy.
Correct interpretation of signs and symptoms of thyroid dysfunction during normal pregnancy is
critical to discriminate between physiologic and pathological changes.


Romania has no tradition in militarism despite its history of authoritarian regimes in 20th century. The process of modernization and democratization that started in the middle of 19th century was interrupted for about half a century by the authoritarian regime of King Carol II (1938), followed by a military dictatorship during the Second World War, and continued with a Communist dictatorship until 1989.
 The transition to democracy started in 1990 from a very low level, Ceausescu's regime being one of the fiercest dictatorial regimes. However, Romania succeeded in building up a functional democracy and market economy with Western assistance that transformed it into a full member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). One basic conditionality to the admission into NATO and the EU was putting the military under civilian control and building up democratic civil–military relations. Thus, Romania has no history of military involvement in politics. After three decades of transition, Romania implemented a complex mechanism of democratic control of the military. However, issues regarding the incomplete internalization of democratic norms of control of the military, resistance to change through the system of military education, an obsolete national security legislation, and some legacy practices related to rights abuses perpetrated by intelligence services need to be addressed in order to consider Romania a consolidated democracy.


The increases in petrodollars received by oil producing countries of the Middle East in the past few years can become a reality again when the world economy recovers from this recession. The access to so much hard currency in the past could have potentially improved the economies of these nations beyond imagination. Economic development specialists regard reaching some goals such as higher growth rate of real output, less chronic inflation, Improvements in education and healthcare services, greater diversity in the economy and in exports, greater equality in the distribution of income, and lower unemployment rate as indication of economic progress or socio –economic improvements in a developing country. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative success of the Oil-Producing Countries of the Middle East in achieving the above socio- economic goals within the context of huge inflows of petrodollars into their countries every year. Through analysis of data from the region the author of this paper has obtained convincing evidence in support of the view that the oil-exporting nations have, for the most part, wasted the abundant and extremely valuable foreign currencies that they have received every year for the past several decades


Using TOMS total-ozone measurements over high-altitude cloud locations and nearby paired clear loca- tions, we describe the Clear-Cloudy Pairs (CCP) method for deriving tropical tropospheric ozone. The high-altitude clouds are identified by measured 380 nm reflectivities greater than 80% and Temperature Humidity InfraRed (THIR) measured cloud-top pressures less than 200 hPa. To account for locations without high-altitude clouds, we apply a zonal sine fitting to the stratospheric ozone derived from available cloudy points, resulting in a wave-one amplitude of about 4 DU. THIR data is unavailable after November 1984, so we extend the CCP method by using a reflectivity thresh- old of 90% to identify high-altitude clouds and remove the influence of high-reflectivity-but-low-altitude clouds with a lowpass frequency filter. We correct ozone retrieval errors associated with clouds, and ozone retrieval errors due to sun glint and aerosols. Comparing CCP results with South- ern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ) tro- pospheric ozone indicates that CCP tropospheric ozone and ozonesonde measurements agree, on average, to within 3 ± 1 DU standard error of the mean. The most significant differ- ence between CCP and ozonesonde tropospheric ozone can be explained by the low Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) version-7 retrieval efficiency of ozone in the lower troposphere.


In a roll-to-roll web system lateral motion of a web caused by disturbances, which are often periodic, results in poor product quality. To reduce the effect of such disturbances, two control strategies are applied. First, the internal model principle is used to reject a sinusoidal disturbance. Second, repetitive control theory is used to reject a general periodic disturbance. We provide the synthesis procedure for both strategies, and demonstrate its use in several simulation studies on a five-roller web system. The simulation results show that the effect of disturbances, either sinusoidal or triangular, on lateral motion are significantly reduced with the internal model controller or the modified repetitive controller.


This research investigates the collaboration problems faced by the construction industry
as a result of the traditional, sequential ways in which its practitioners work, and
proposes nD modelling as a new approach for multi-disciplinary teams.
The life-cycle of a building - from its design, construction, use, maintenance and
demolition - requires and generates a large amount of information from both the supply
and demand sides. The individual components that a building is comprised of have
mutually reflexive relationships with one another and so changes to one parameter in a
design can have positive and negative impacts upon one or more of the other
components. However, the sequential way in which practitioners traditionally work, in
separate, discipline-defined silos means that they are often unaware of the nature and
effects of these relationships. This has resulted in the UK in a construction industry that
is characterised by fragmentation and poor communication (Egan, 1998).
The nD approach is holistic and aims to integrate all the data and processes related to
the n or infinite number of dimensions in the whole lifecycle of a building - the
geometric x, y and z dimensions, with time, acoustics, crime, thermal requirements,
access, facilities management and maintenance to name a few - into one, single process.
In doing so, the discipline based silos in which construction related stakeholders are
based will be broken down and replaced with concurrent collaboration methods,
enhanced comprehension of building plans through the use of advanced computer
interfaces and better access to information by stakeholders.
Information communication technologies (ICTs) can help facilitate organisational
change by supporting new ways of working: the barriers of time and space between
collaborators can be bridged by electronic data exchanges and telephone- and videoconferencing
which allow individuals to work in both synchronous and asynchronous
ways between offices in the same building or between continents throughout the world.
ICTs can also facilitate better teaching and understanding in the classroom, in public
participation forums and on the building site through the use of enhanced interfaces and
virtual reality technology. By using an nD model as a data repository for all the
information required during the building lifecycle, it can be used for decision-making
and 'what-if scenario development so that the impacts of small changes to individual
components upon the whole design can be established.
This research proposes that for an nD modelling approach to be truly holistic, it is not
sufficient to add all the dimensions and data together so that nD equals the sum of all
the separate dimensions, in other words for it to be multi-disciplinary in nature. Instead,
and in common with business process re-engineering approaches, if a new approach to
collaboration is to have real efficiency and effectiveness gains it must be more radical in
nature. It is proposed therefore that nD modelling should aim to be inter-disciplinary in
nature: the approach should be greater than the sum of its constituent parts. Whilst
ICTs can help facilitate better collaboration on a practical level, in order for them to be
implemented successfully in teams and organisations it is essential to understand some
of the social and psychological aspects of the membership and dynamics of groups. It is
important to establish the social pre-requisites for successful teams - such as the
existence of trust - and understand how these relationships may change, for better and
for worse, as a result of electronic communication and collaboration.
As a result of a literature search and a number of workshops, a framework has been
developed and validated which illustrates how the currently multi-disciplinary
construction industry can become more holistic and inter-disciplinary in nature by
overcoming a number of barriers that currently exist. It is proposed that, although
construction stakeholders continue to think and work in mono-disciplinary ways, by
adopting the inter-disciplinary nD modelling approach they will be able to exploit a
number of opportunities that will allow the industry to be more efficient, trusting and
effective.


Modern communication and identification products impose demanding constraints on reliability of components. Due to this, statistical constraints more and more enter optimization formulations of electronic products. Yield constraints often require efficient sampling techniques to obtain uncertainty quantification also at the tails of the distributions. These sampling techniques should outperform standard Monte Carlo techniques, since these latter ones are normally not efficient enough to deal with tail probabilities. One such a technique, Importance Sampling, has successfully been applied to optimize Static Random Access Memories (SRAMs) while guaranteeing very small failure probabilities, even going beyond 6-sigma variations of parameters involved. Apart from this, emerging uncertainty quantifications techniques offer expansions of the solution that serve as a response surface facility when doing statistics and optimization. To efficiently derive the coefficients in the expansions one either has to solve a large number of problems or a huge combined problem. Here parameterized Model Order Reduction (MOR) techniques can be used to reduce the work load. To also reduce the amount of parameters we identify those that only affect the variance in a minor way. These parameters can simply be set to a fixed value. The remaining parameters can be viewed as dominant. Preservation of the variation also allows to make statements about the approximation accuracy obtained by the parameter-reduced problem. This is illustrated on an RLC circuit. Additionally, the MOR technique used should not affect the variance significantly. Finally we consider a methodology for reliable RFIC isolation using floor-plan modeling and isolation grounding. Simulations show good agreement with measurements. Keywords: Failure; Floor-plan modeling; Importance sampling; Isolation grounding; Monte carlo; Parameterized model order reduction; Reliability; RFIC isolation; Sensitivity; Stochastic collocation; Stochastic galerkin; Tail probabilities; Uncertainty quantification; Variation aware; Yield estimation


We use infrared thermography to monitor the cooling kinetics of a millifluidic diphasic flow comprising a fusible alloy and silicone oil; the flow is generated at high temperature and then reaches a cooler environment. Above the solidification point of the alloy, the flow pattern is analogous to that of immiscible fluids with a transition from drops to jets depending on the flow conditions. Below the solidification temperature of the alloy, the flow may become unstable and clog depending on the amount of metal drops present in the diphasic flow. At low concentration of drops in the flow, the production of solidified monodisperse particles becomes continuous and we identify some parameters that permit us to tune their geometry, either spheres, ellipsoids, or rods.


Current methods of estimating the random coefficients logit model employ simulations of the distribution of the taste parameters through pseudo-random sequences. These methods suffer from difficulties in estimating correlations between parameters and computational limitations such as the curse of dimensionality. This article provides a solution to these problems by approximating the integral expression of the expected choice probability using a multivariate extension of the Laplace approximation. Simulation results reveal that our method performs very well, in terms of both accuracy and computational time.


The goal of VISION Cloud, a European Commission funded project, is to design a new scalable and flexible storage cloud architecture able to provide data-intensive storage cloud services. The proposed environment employs a distributed file system on top of a set of storage rich nodes composing a cluster. Several clusters constitute a data center, while multiple geographically distributed data centers form a single storage cloud. In this paper, we focus on a single VISION Cloud storage cluster, providing a stochastic reward net model for an investigation of its availability. The proposed model is a first attempt at obtaining a quantification of the availability level of the cloud storage provided by the VISION Cloud architecture.


The female reproductive biology of Chasmagnathus granulatus Dana, a semiterrestrial burrowing crab endemic to the southwestern Atlantic, was compared in two contrasting coastal habitats: San Antonio (SA, marine) and Mar Chiquita (MC, estuarial). Mature females were collected monthly for 1.5 years and the ovarian cycle was described using a qualitative scale. Gonadosomatic (GSI) and hepatosomatic (HSI) indexes were calculated. The highest GSI and HSI occurred early in the reproductive season in SA and during the non-reproductive season in MC. The beginning and duration of the reproductive season also differed between populations: it started later and was shorter in SA. In MC, secondary vitellogenesis continued when the reproductive season had finished, and the ovaries remained fully developed throughout the non-reproductive season (winter). Therefore, females of MC were ready to lay eggs as soon as spring environmental conditions appeared. However, SA females did not attain a fully developed ovary during winter. A limited food supply would restrict the available energy to complete secondary vitellogenesis at the end of the reproductive season in SA, after the last spawning. Thus, the vitellogenic cycle should be completed in the following spring, causing a delay in the beginning of the reproductive period. In addition, the higher temperature amplitude may cause the reproductive period in SA to end early.


One of the most significant and controversial issues facing the United States as it prepares for the 2020 election cycle centers around reparations—whether the United States should compensate African Americans for slavery, Jim Crow segregation, racial inequalities, and persistent racial discrimination—and the numerous moral, political, social, and cultural arguments for and against reparations. The disputes surrounding reparations are not new in American politics; in fact, they have been present since the end of the Civil War in 1865, and have fluctuated in the public consciousness based on grassroots movements, media attention, legal opinions, and academia's interests in the most effective manner to achieve racial justice. The debate regarding reparations is enormously complex and fraught competing ideologies, contradictory visions for achieving racial justice, and is an emotionally charged issue. Nevertheless, secondary students should be taught multiple perspectives regarding reparations—including the historical events that precipitated the current focus on racial and social justice—and have access to competing arguments, facts, statistics, and opinions to construct their own views. In the United States, the reparations debate is controversial and is a currently important topic in education and politics. This topic is ideal for social studies education because it allows students to engage in a powerful moral, political, economic, and social issue with profound historical and contemporary implications. This article will examine the reparations debate and propose several instructional methods and activities to teach this debate in a pedagogically sound manner that advances civic participation without indoctrination.


We theoretically investigate the resolution of the photonic crystal (PC) superprism as a narrow-band filter at 1.55 /spl mu/m wavelength range. First, we defined the equi-incident-angle curve against the dispersion surface of each photonic band in the Brillouin zone and calculated the beam collimation, wavelength sensitivity, and resolution parameters for a PC. The result indicated that the conventional superprism which deflects the Poynting vector of light cannot achieve a high resolution and the miniaturization of the PC, simultaneously. So, we proposed a new superprism (/spl kappa/-vector prism), which deflects the /spl kappa/ vector and enhances the refraction angle at an angled output end of the PC. We estimated that the resolution is the same as or higher than that of the conventional prism and the PC can be significantly miniaturized. Through the finite-difference time-domain simulation of light propagation, we observed a correspondence and a characteristic difference against the above analysis.


Background: Endogenous hormones are critical to spermatogenesis and maintenance of male reproductive function. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), inhibin B and testosterone all serve important and well-known functions in the male hypothalamopituitary-gonadal axis and male reproduction. However, the potential relationship between other hormones, including thyroid hormones, and semen quality are still not completely understood. Thus in the present study an attempt has been made to report the degree of associations between thyroid hormones and semen quality. Methods: Fifty-five men were recruited from an infertility clinic between August 2010 to May 2011. Fresh semen samples were assessed for quality (concentration, motility and morphology) and the serum levels of Tetraiodothyronine (T4), Triiodothyronine (T3), and Thyroid stimulation hormone (TSH) were measured. Result & Conclusion: We have found that though men with abnormal semen profile had higher total T3, T4 concentrations and lower TSH concentrations compared to those with normal semen profile, only T4 showed significant increase and further it was found that only total T4 was significantly associated with asthenozoospermia. Further studies and observation are needed on a larger number of patients, to validate the correlation with Thyroid status and to justify the trial of a small dose of anti-thyroid drug in asthenozoospermic patients.


In this paper, we study a problem from the realm of multicriteria decision making in which the goal is to select from a given set S of d-dimensional objects a minimum sized subset S0 with bounded regret. Thereby, regret measures the unhappiness of users which would like to select their favorite object from set S but now can only select their favorite object from the subset S0. Previous work focused on bounding the maximum regret which is determined by the most unhappy user. We propose to consider the average regret instead which is determined by the sum of (un)happiness of all possible users. We show that this regret measure comes with desirable properties as supermodularity which allows to construct approximation algorithms. Furthermore, we introduce the regret minimizing permutation problem and discuss extensions of our algorithms to the recently proposed k-regret measure. Our theoretical results are accompanied with experiments on a variety of inputs with d up to 7.


How often have you looked up an English word in a German dictionary only to be confronted by a bewildering array of German equivalents? Which is the correct word for the context in question? Thirty years' experience in teaching Germanic languages at tertiary level to English-speaking students have made the author acutely aware of this problem. Mastering German Vocabulary explains how to use over 2,200 common German words correctly, using example sentences in German with English translations. In order to aid quick consultation, all German and English words are listed in separate indexes. The book is designed for all upper secondary and tertiary students of German and complements Routledge's grammar, dictionary and vocabulary building textbooks. It is a practical companion for anyone serious about perfecting their German.


Background The association between overtime work and depression is still unclear. This study examined the association between overtime work and the onset of a major depressive episode (MDE). Methodology/Principal Findings Prospective cohort study with a baseline examination of working hours, psychological morbidity (an indicator of baseline depression) and depression risk factors in 1991–1993 and a follow-up of major depressive episode in 1997–1999 (mean follow-up 5.8 years) among British civil servants (the Whitehall II study; 1626 men, 497 women, mean age 47 years at baseline). Onset of 12-month MDE was assessed by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) at follow-up. In prospective analysis of participants with no psychological morbidity at baseline, the odds ratio for a subsequent major depressive episode was 2.43 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 5.30) times higher for those working 11+ hours a day compared to employees working 7–8 hours a day, when adjusted for socio-demographic factors at baseline. Further adjustment for chronic physical disease, smoking, alcohol use, job strain and work-related social support had little effect on this association (odds ratio 2.52; 95% confidence interval 1.12 to 5.65). Conclusions/Significance Data from middle-aged civil servants suggest that working long hours of overtime may predispose to major depressive episodes.


Buyer power and competition policy in food supply chains has emerged as an important economic issue and a highly sensitive item on the policy agenda all around the world. Claims that large retailers and food companies are depressing farm prices because of their market power have been made in many countries around the world (Swinnen and Vandeplas, 2009). Arising concentration of retailer sector increases the concern of existence and gradual growth of buyer power in this sector. The key reason is that the growing buyer power may have the effect of considerably distorting both retail and producer competition, and eventually it may damage economic welfare. In Finland, the increased concentration of the retail sector, with fewer outlets and the growth of the large supermarket chains, has been particularly fast. The two leading Finnish retail chains of food and daily goods increased their market share from 55 per cent in 1990 to nearly 75 per cent in 2008 (Niemi and Ahlstedt 2009).. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible existence of buyer power in Finnish food retail food industry. In details, we follow an approach used by Lloyd et al (2009) to measures oligopoly and oligopsony market power in the Finnish food retail industry. This offers a 'first-filter' test of price data that may be used as part of the preliminary analyses into the presence of buyer power in food markets. In practice, we apply a vector error correction mechanism (VECM) to perform two-stage tests: First is to test the hypothesis of cointegration between the supply and demand price indices with expected signs for the coefficients irrespective of the degree of retail competition; second is to test the null hypothesis of the perfect competition. The model also serves as a useful device for characterising how prices are transmitted in food market, albeit in simplified form.


This paper discussed the two cases of the regulatory decisions of the electricity sector regulator of Sri Lanka on renewable energy tariff calculation and approval of long term generation Expansion plan. The objectives of the analysis of the case studies are to examine how does utility can react on the regulatory decisions in the monopolistic market and whether it leads to a situation of Indirect Regulatory Capture. The regulatory process is examined from the perspective of various interest groups over the time, using Public Interest theory and Interest Group theory. The two cases are shown to have been strongly influenced by the interests of the different stakeholders of the electricity sector themselves, indicating a degree of 'regulatory capture'. The relationship of the utility and the regulator has been increasingly challenged by external pressures, interests of the stakeholders, and by, the level of resistance of the monopolistic utility. The paper concludes that in the monopolistic electricity market regulators decision can be reversed if the Utility is strong enough to resist the regulators decision if not favorable for the public or the utilities' interest.


Epidemiological evidence regarding the occurrence of drug driving amongst young drivers is concerning. This study examined the prevalence of drug driving in a sample of 331 young Australian drivers (average age 24 years), as well as a number of social and psychological influences associated with the behaviour. Results revealed that 26% reported having driven under the influence of psychoactive drugs at least once in their lifetime, and 15% indicated driving within 6 hours of taking drugs and alcohol. While no participants reported being convicted of a drug driving offence, 3% had been involved in one or more crashes whilst drug driving (10% of those who had ever drug driven). Investigations revealed that drug driving behaviour was significantly correlated with vicarious punishment avoidance (r = .41) and direct punishment avoidance (r = .35), suggesting an important link between young peoples' perceptions about detection and punishment and their own propensity to drug drive. Sensation seeking (r = .24) and attitudes (r = .34) were also significantly correlated with drug driving. Further evidence indicated that those who perceived more social and non-social rewards than punishments associated with drug driving, were more likely to engage in the behaviour. Results suggest that perceptions about detection and punishment are an important influence upon drug driving behaviour for young drivers. The social and non-social rewards associated with drug driving also play an important role.


The drive to understand galaxy formation and evolution over the lifetime of the universe has justified vast space-based and ground-based telescope facilities, as well as the development of new technologies. The details of star formation, and the modes by which that activity couples to the broader galactic environment, occurs on small spatial scales. These scales can only be traced with great sophistication in the local universe, as witnessed by observations using the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). A critical realization of the last decade, however, is that the large scales and small scales are strongly coupled, and cannot be treated in isolation. At the same time, the scales studied in the local universe are "sub-grid"
for the purpose of cosmological simulations that make valiant efforts to include the physics of star formation and its feedback to the local environment. The fundamental uncertainties in how this sub-grid physics is incorporated into the larger picture are by far the greatest limitation in understanding galaxy formation and evolution.

The main goal of cosmological simulations is to understand the formation and evolution of the universe over a wide range of scales going from the Hubble volume to sub-light-year scales within galaxies. However, due to computational limitations, the physics of star formation in galaxies and the effects this process has on the formation and evolution of galaxies are often greatly simplified.
For instance, accounting for the effect of stellar feedback in cosmological simulations is a crucial factor in galaxy formation and evolution. Without stellar feedback in galaxies, the gas would rapidly cool and collapse, converting all available gas into stars within a dynamical time. This consequence is in sharp conflict with observations—there are vastly fewer stars in our universe
than the models would predict. Until recently, numerical simulations have been unable to regulate star formation efficiently enough to reproduce observations, with many consequences: models with too many stars also predict they form at the wrong times in the universe's history, that there are the wrong abundances of heavy elements, that galaxies look nothing like the Milky Way, and even that the observable properties of dark matter are (apparently) discordant with new
precision-cosmology measurements. All of these problems may, in fact, be due to the fundamental problem of understanding how small and large scales interact.


Informations technological developing which so quick really result so implication gigantic. Information of other state gets easily and quick to be known. One will no confining or resistor among geographical position effect State, as: continent, ocean, mountain etcetera. Insignificantly, quick, and efficient. With marks sense so emulation its tights, therefore grocer shall make lee way to apply effective strategy to prop goods sell. Before applying in point needs to be known how emulation position among grocer handphone and also aught market compartment, so grocer can apply good strategy and can increase sell. To know emulation position can utilize that analisis's tool will get to know market emulation position handphone at Malang Plaza, firm can determine effective strategy according to its emulation position.
There is two aims of this paper. First to know persainganYOEZ Cellular's position at Malang Plaza. Both of, to know strategy that is applied corresponds to YOEZ Cellular's emulation position at Malang Plaza.
Data collecting utilizes to methodic field research and studi is library. In this research utilize primary data as data that acquired straightforward from counter and secondary data as data of supporting that gets bearing with observational one is done.
Analisis's result points out that all sample which be analyzed included YOEZ Cellular lies on course emulation penggarap market niche and make is emulation that really tight. Be all this time strategy utilized by YOEZ Cellular is strategy knock to contaminate, its mean is its marketing relies to consumer to broadcast its experience to others and is expected as customer YOEZ Cellular.
Conclusion from skrpsi it is in common strategy which utilized by YOEZ Cellular less effective and needs to mark sense expected new strategy refractive raise competing position at market. Meanwhile suggested strategy is end user strategy, its mean is sell is focused to direct consumer (don't go to counter any other) and product specialization strategy that aims to increase sell because just sell product the most hankered by consumers.


The precise knowledge of the proton-proton cross section is extremely important to model
the development, in the atmosphere, of the showers induced by the interaction of ultra high energy cosmic rays.

The TOTEM (TOTal cross section, Elastic scattering and diffraction dissociation Measurement at the LHC) experiment, located at the interaction point 5 of the LHC, has measured the total, elastic and inelastic proton-proton cross-sections, using a luminosity independent method, based on the optical theorem, in a center-of-mass energy range from 2.76 to 13 TeV. The elastic scattering was investigated in a wide range of the squared four-momentum transfer |t| allowing the study of Coulomb-nuclear interference region down to |t| ~8 x \(10^{-4} GeV^{2}\). This made possible the first measurement of the rho parameter at \(\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV\), rho being the ratio between the real and the imaginary part of the nuclear elastic scattering amplitude at t = 0. This measurement, combined with the total cross-section results, led to the exclusion of all the models classified and published by the COMPETE Collaboration. The results obtained by TOTEM are indeed compatible with predictions of a colorless 3-gluon bound state exchange in the t-channel of proton-proton elastic scattering, as postulated by alternative theoretical models both in the Regge-like framework and in the modern
QCD framework.

In this contribution the latest TOTEM will be given, along with the actual experiment status and the future physics program for the LHC run 3.


In agricultural ecosystems, arthropod herbivores and fungal pathogens are likely to colonise the same plant and may therefore affect each other directly or indirectly. The fungus that causes powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis tritici) and cereal aphids are important pests of wheat but interactions between them have seldom been investigated. We studied the effects of powdery mildew of wheat on two cereal aphid species, Metopolophium dirhodum and Rhopalosiphum padi. We hypothesized that aphid number and size will be smaller on powdery mildew-infected plants than on non-infected plants. In a first experiment we used six commercially available wheat varieties whereas in the second experiment we used a genetically modified (GM) mildew-resistant wheat line and its non-transgenic sister line. Because the two lines differed only in the presence of the transgene and in powdery mildew resistance, experiment 2 avoided the confounding effect of variety. In both experiments, the number of M. dirhodum but not of R. padi was reduced by powdery mildew infection. Transgenic mildew-resistant lines therefore harboured bigger aphid populations than the non-transgenic lines. For both aphid species individual size was mostly influenced by aphid number. Our results indicate that plants that are protected from a particular pest (powdery mildew) became more favourable for another pest (aphids).


Phonological awareness may be defined as an individual's awareness of the phonological or sound structure of spoken words. Usually the term is related to the sphere of preschool and elementary classroom training, as it is one of the most important predictors of reading in normally developing children. However, when it comes to adult teaching, for example non-native English philology students, an in-depth study of phonetics is a necessity. The nature of the subject requires building cumulative knowledge, ear-training and taking a good grasp in phonology of both native and target languages, i.e. developing their phonological awareness. When combined with poetry of the studied language, it may become an interesting and motivating activity, leading to a better understanding of the language, phonetic proficiency as well as expansion of the general knowledge of English literature. The main objectives of this article are 1) to discuss the general terminology and content of phonological awareness 2) to share experience on how poetry may be applied as a successful teaching tool for developing students' phonological awareness. Therefore, the concepts of rhyme, rhythm, consonance, assonance, alliteration, etc. are discussed and examples of possible phonological activities used for analyzing poetry are given.


Oxandrolone (OXA) (5 alpha-androstan-2-oxa-17 alpha-methyl-17 beta-ol-3-one) is a clinically useful, synthetic, anabolic androgen steroid hormone. OXA was administered to rats orally twice daily for 3 days at 75 mg/kg to study the effect on hepatic cytochrome P450 (P450) isozymes. Western blots were performed on the hepatic microsomal fraction and probed with isozyme-specific monoclonal antibodies. Microsomes were also tested for catalytic activity in a testosterone metabolism assay. Data from Western blots revealed that, in female rats, there were increased levels of two male-specific isozymes, P4502C11 and P4503A2, as well as P4503A1. In contrast, male rats showed little or no change in expression of these P450 isozymes after OXA treatment. The 6 beta-hydroxylation of testosterone, which is catalyzed predominantly by P4503A1 and P4503A2, increased approximately 10-fold in female rats after treatment with OXA (from 0.05 +/- 0.01 to 0.52 +/- 0.05 nmol/min/mg protein), but only relatively small changes were seen in the male rats (from 1.02 +/- 0.05 to 1.38 +/- 0.07 nmol/min/mg protein). To investigate if the changes seen in P4503A1 and P4503A2 protein and activity were caused, at least in part, by an increase in mRNA levels, Northern blot analysis was performed. P4503A2 mRNA was increased dramatically in the female rat liver after OXA treatment, but only small increases in P4503A1 mRNA were seen. This data indicate that OXA induces P450 isozymes in the female but not in the male rat liver, probably through transcriptional activation, and some of these induced isozymes are male-specific.


Abstract AHyaluronic acid (HA) is part of the extracellular matrix of connective, epithelial and neural tissues, as well as the synovial fluid, skin, and cartilage. It is composed of repeating disaccharide units of D-glucuronic acid and N-acetyl glucosamine. Hyaluronic acid is used in abdominal surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology, rhinology; it is usable for the osteoarthritis treatment. The membranes of eggshell are a natural source of hyaluronic acid, collagen, glycosaminoglycan and collagenous proteins. In paper, we tested the possibility of extraction hyaluronic acid from the eggshell membranes by enzymatic hydrolysis. We identified optimal conditions of hydrolysis with trypsin at reaction temperature of 37 °C and pH 8; with pepsin at 40 °C and pH 3, as well as with papain at 60 °C and pH 7.5. The content of hyaluronic acid in samples was determined spectrophotometrically using the carbazole method. The experimental results showed a yield of ~ 4 -4.5 % hyaluronic acid per 1 g of dry eggshell membranes.


Data clustering techniques have been applied to ex- tract information from gene expression data for two decades. A large volume of novel clustering algorithms have been developed and achieved great success. However, due to the diverse structures and intensive noise, there is no reliable clustering approach can be applied to all gene expression data. In this paper, we aim to the feature of high noise and propose a cubic smoothing spline fitted for the time course ex- pression profile, by which noise can be filtered and then groups genes into clusters by applying fuzzy c-means clustering on the resulting splines (FCMS). The discrete values of radius of curvature are used to compute the similarity between spline curves. Results on gene expression data show that the FCMS has better performance than the original fuzzy c-means on reliability and noise robustness.


This paper is part of papers included in the volume "Market functioning and central bank policy", BIS Papers No 12
August 2002. These were presented and discussed at the Autumn Central Bank Economists' Meeting held at the BIS on 15-16 October 2001. The meeting focused on recent changes in market functioning and their impact on central bank policy. A number of structural developments seem to have had a significant influence on the functioning of financial markets. The most important of these developments are the introduction of the euro, the spread of electronic trading, changes in the constellation and behaviour of market participants and falling supplies of government debt. There is some evidence that such structural changes resulted in shifts in liquidity among different market segments and, moreover, that liquidity is less robust than in the past. The process of price formation and the information conveyed by prices also appears to have been affected. This poses various challenges for central bank policy, including how best to gauge market expectations and conduct monetary policy operations.


Background : Joint pain is frequently found in daily life activities. The prevalence of joint pain increases within the age. One of the medicine used for joint pain is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). In connection with inappropriate usage and their side effects, this study aimed to seek the extent ofhousewives' knowledge on the use of NSAID for joint pain in Hegarmanah village, Jatinangor subdistrict. Methods : This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in October 2013 to the housewives resided in Hegarmanah village, Jatinangor subdistrict, West Java. Questionaire sheet was distributed to each of 110 housewives that had been stratifiedly with randomized sample. The questionaire contained identity, age, education level, and knowledge of NSAID in related to joint pain. Results : Based on the data collected, 73 subjects had adequate level of the knowledge and 37 subjects were in a poor level of the knowledge. The proportion of respondents who knew that joint pain was the pain occurs in the joint was 99.1%, the proportion of respondents who knew that the pain relieving drugs are called NSAID group was 40.9%, the proportion of respondents who knew that NSAID had a side-effect was 73.6%, and the proportion of respondents who knew that the side-effect of NSAID is abdominal pain was 61.8%. Conclusions : Most of the housewives in Hegarmanah Subdistrict have adequate knowledge in the use ofNSAID for joint pain relief. [AMJ.2016;3(1):115–9] DOI:  10.15850/amj.v3n1.711


This study reports on the success of using a problem-based learning approach (PBL) as a pedagogical mode of learning open inquiry science within a traditional four-year undergraduate elementary teacher education program. In 2010, a problem-based learning approach to teaching primary science replaced the traditional content driven syllabus. During the 13 week semester, a cohort of 150 elementary preservice teachers embarked on a Design and Make project to solve an individually chosen real world problem. Over one week, the pre-service teachers used a problem based mode of learning in conjunction with an open scientific inquiry to showcase individual working models (prototypes) in a public science museum to schools, interested stakeholders and the general public. The PBL mode of teaching science was well suited to the recommended New South Wales Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus Design and Make learning process. The PBL course had a positive impact on the pre-service teachers' motivation to teach science ideas within a real world context. This article reports on the PBL science program and offers recommendations to future instructors of undergraduate science education who may include PBL as a part of their science curriculum.


Designers interested in applying evo-devo-design methods for performance based multi-objective design exploration have typically faced two main hurdles: it's too hard and too slow. An evo-devo-design method is proposed that effectively overcomes the hurdles of skill and speed by leveraging two key technologies: computational workflows and cloud computing. In order to tackle the skills hurdle, Workflow Systems are used that allow users to define computational workflows using visual programming techniques. In order to tackle the speed hurdle, cloud computing infrastructures are used in order to allow the evolutionary process to be parallelized. We refer to the proposed method as Evo-Devo In The Sky (EDITS). This paper gives an overview of both the EDITS method and the implementation of a software environment supporting the EDITS method. Finally, a case-study is presented of the application of the EDITS method.


Recent efforts in the field of implantology have highlighted the significance of modifying implant surface topography and biomaterial composition to improve their biocompatibility. Titanium and its alloys are commonly used as biomaterials for orthopedic, dental or neurosurgical applications. Even though titanium based implants are typically expected to last ten years or more, their longevity is not assured and the lack of integration into the bone for long-term survival often occurs and leads to implant failure. Therefore, a planned modification of the surface of the alloys is strived to obtain a highly biocompatible coating with a strictly defined structure and architecture.
The goal of the presented study was to optimize the production of titania-based biomaterials with high porosity and defined nanostructure, which supports the cell viability and growth. We assessed the bioactivity of amorphous titania coatings of different nanoarchitectures (Nano porous, nanotubular and Nano sponge-like) (TNTs), produced on the surface of Ti6Al4V alloy by electrochemical oxidation. Samples were structurally and morphologically analyzed. They were also characterized in terms of wettability and mechanical properties. In-vitro biological research has been carried out of modified titanium alloy surfaces, aimed at assessing their ability to communicate with adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSC) and affect their activity. In parallel, proliferation of bone tissue cells - human osteoblasts MG-63 and connective tissue cells - mouse fibroblasts L929, as well as cell viability in cocultures (osteoblasts/ADSCs and fibroblasts/ADSCs) has been studied. The cell proliferation was studied using the MTT assay.
The results of our experiments proved that the Nano porous surface is favorable for ADSC, which produced huge amounts of extracellular matrix when they were cultured on the scaffolds alone or co-cultured with MG-63 osteoblasts. The number of osteoblasts seeded and cultured with ADSCs on TNT5 surface after 72h culture almost doubled when compared with unmodified scaffold and rose by 30% when compared with MG-63 cells growing alone.


Because of global warming, the thinning ice in the Arctic is opening up the region for navigation for a few months in the summer season. The Arctic littoral countries (Canada, Norway, Denmark [Greenland], Russia and the United States), shipping companies and several other stakeholders (the EU and Asian countries such as China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea) are closely tracking shipping related developments in the Arctic and developing strategies to exploit the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This article argues that the NSR offers a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges and would require the technological upgrade of platforms, navigational facilities, trained human resource and a cargo base to encourage shipping companies to deploy vessels along the new routes. Furthermore, stakeholders would need to be conscious of the adverse impact of commercial and human activity on the Arctic ecology.


Background Human cadaveric skin grafts are considered as the "gold standard" for temporary wound coverage because they provide a more conductive environment for natural wound healing. Lyophilization, packing, and terminal sterilization with gamma-ray can facilitate the application of cadaveric split-thickness skin grafts, but may alter the adhesion properties of the grafts. In a pilot study, we found that 500 Gy &ggr;-irradiation seemed not to reduce the adherence between the grafts and wound beds. Aim and Objectives We conducted this experiment to compare the adherences of lyophilized, 500-Gy &ggr;-irradiated skin grafts to that of lyophilized, nonirradiated grafts. Materials and Methods Pairs of wounds were created over the backs of Sprague- Dawley rats. Pairs of "lyophilized, 500-Gy &ggr;-irradiated" and "lyophilized, nonirradiated" cadaveric split-thickness skin grafts were fixed to the wound beds. Adhesion strength between the grafts and the wound beds was measured and compared. Results On post-skin-graft day 7 and day 10, the adhesion strength of &ggr;-irradiated grafts was greater than that of the nonirradiated grafts. Conclusions Because lyophilized cadaveric skin grafts can be vascularized and the collagen of its dermal component can be remodeled after grafting, the superior adhesion strength of 500-Gy &ggr;-irradiated grafts can be explained by the collagen changes from irradiation.


Objectives We evaluated the association between occupational exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in a pooled analysis of four international case-control studies. Methods Overall, the pooled study population included 3788 NHL cases and 4279 controls. Risk of NHL and its major subtypes associated with TCE exposure was calculated with unconditional logistic regression and polytomous regression analysis, adjusting by age, gender and study. Results Risk of follicular lymphoma (FL), but not NHL overall or other subtypes, increased by probability (p=0.02) and intensity level (p=0.04), and with the combined analysis of four exposure metrics assumed as independent (p=0.004). After restricting the analysis to the most likely exposed study subjects, risk of NHL overall, FL and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) were elevated and increased by duration of exposure (p=0.009, p=0.04 and p=0.01, respectively) and with the combined analysis of duration, frequency and intensity of exposure (p=0.004, p=0.015 and p=0.005, respectively). Although based on small numbers of exposed, risk of all the major NHL subtypes, namely diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, FL and CLL, showed increases in risk ranging 2–3.2-fold in the highest category of exposure intensity. No significant heterogeneity in risk was detected by major NHL subtypes or by study. Conclusions Our pooled analysis apparently supports the hypothesis of an increase in risk of specific NHL subtypes associated with occupational exposure to TCE.


Cooperation and joint actions are often investigated in terms of how individuals explicitly coordinate their plans and intentions to achieve a shared goal. However, goals may also be achieved without prior arrangements, when, for instance, an individual takes part in someone else's action without an explicit agreement, helping that action to be performed. Participating in social interaction may be considered as a basic form of cooperation that does not always require verbal communication or the ability to predict the other's intentions. Rather, it is based on daily experiences of interacting and coordinating with others in many, different situations.
Framed in this way, cooperative participation can be explored even in those who do not possess high mental abilities, such as infants. Indeed, infants seem to have a natural motive to engage in social interactions (Trevarthen, 1979). How does this participation develop from early forms of social interactions in infancy, to more complex types of interactions later on? Are there early forms of interactive participation in infancy that can be described as supportive for the caregivers' action? The aim of the present Ph.D. work is to explore the way in which infants participate in daily routines, through the observation of 3-months-old infants' behaviour in familiar interactions and their response to violations of these routines.
Chapter two presents a critical reflection, developed with Hanne de Jaegher, on inferential, representational accounts of cooperation by analytical philosophy and experimental psychology. A theoretical reconceptualization of cooperative interactions as social encounters is proposed, framed within the theoretical tenets of enactivism.
Chapter three investigates the structure and function of early social games, considered as early contexts for participation in distributed actions. Through behavioural observations, this study suggested that changes in the multimodal format of the play routines affected the infant's behaviour and participation in the play interaction.
Chapter four extends the exploration of infants' cooperative participation in joint routines, observing infants' behaviour when being picked up. Infants showed specific cooperative adjustments of the body to complement the mother's action when being picked up, as opposed to un-supportive loss of bodily tension and head strength when the pick-up action was delayed. Participation in this joint routine thus appeared to be conditional to aspects of timing and recognition of the mothers' movements in the sequence, without relying on inferential knowledge.
Chapter five focuses on intrusiveness, a maternal behaviour that has been described as strongly affecting the infant's participation in early interactions. In a joint work with Laura Galbusera, a qualitative microanalysis was applied to explore the sequential organisation of mother-infant exchanges to investigate 1) the consistency of current behavioural descriptions of intrusiveness and 2) their efficacy in analysing the interactional dynamics which may restrict the infant's participation in interaction. A microanalysis inspired by Conversation Analysis methods revealed that interactional dimensions such as persistency, alignment, sequential structuring and timing appeared to be essential elements for the interactional organisation and the shaping the possibility for the infant's participation.
The sixth and final chapter summarises the findings emerged throughout the thesis and discusses some key features of infants' cooperative participation.
By integrating different approaches investigating intersubjective encounters, such as Enactivism, Conversation Analysis and Infant Research, this dissertation has explored cooperation as an aspect of social participation that evolves within human interactions, but is also already grounded in infants' interactional competencies. This comprehensive approach has provided much needed insight into the importance of widening the concept of cooperation and its development, considering joint routines as multimodal contexts in everyday life where infants (but also adults) learn to understand, make sense of, and align with the other's actions and affects, without relying on inferential processes.


Medical epidemics that are constrained in the developed world are wrecking havoc on developing countries, which are bearing the brunt of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases. Because medicines used to treat these conditions are patented, they are expensive and inaccessible to poor countries. In 1994, the United Nations established a system of international patent protection through the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and simultaneously tried to accommodate its commitment to making life-saving pharmaceuticals available to developing countries. When TRIPS failed to accomplish this goal, Article 31bis, an amendment to TRIPS, was introduced in 2003, seeking to make it easier for developing countries to acquire low-cost drugs. However, the amendment has been criticized and has largely gone unused. This Note addresses ways in which Article 31bis can be employed to deliver treatment to the neediest. In particular, this Note advocates that, whether or not the amendment is used, life-saving drugs must be provided at low-cost to developing countries.


CQPweb is a new web-based corpus analysis system, intended to address the conflicting requirements for usability and power in corpus analysis software. To do this, its user interface emulates the BNCweb system. Like BNCweb, CQPweb is built on two separate query technologies: the IMS Open Corpus Workbench and the MySQL relational database. CQPweb's main innovative feature is its flexibility; its more generalised data model makes it compatible with any corpus. The analysis options available in CQPweb include: concordancing; collocations; distribution tables and charts; frequency lists; and keywords or key tags. An evaluation of CQPweb against criteria earlier laid down for a future web-based corpus analysis tool suggests that it fulfils many, but not all, of the requirements foreseen for such a piece of software. Despite some limitations, in making a sophisticated query system accessible to untrained users, CQPweb combines ease of use, power and flexibility to a very high degree.


We have developed a procedure that allows the autoradiographic localization of benzodiazepine receptors in whole-body sections of neonatal rats. Central-type benzodiazepine receptors, visualized with [3H]methylclonazepam, are restricted to nervous tissue. In contrast, peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors, visualized with [3H]Ro5-4864, occur widely, but with discrete localizations throughout the body. Peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptors are most concentrated in the adrenal cortex and the skin. Substantial levels of these receptors are also evident in the heart, the salivary glands, discrete regions of the kidney, the epithelium of the lung, the nasal and lingual epithelia, the lining of the pulmonary arteries, the thymus, the hair follicles of the vibrissae, the tooth buds and the bone marrow. Considerable binding of [3H]Ro5-4864 is observed in the brown fat pads, the liver and the spleen, but high levels of nonspecific binding preclude accurate evaluation of the actual specific binding in these organs. Only low levels of [3H]Ro5-4864 binding sites are found in the brain and they are virtually undetectable in the skeletal muscle, the eye, the inner ear and the gastrointestinal tract. High levels of peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor appear present in tissues that derive their metabolic energy primarily from oxidative phosphorylation, whereas only low levels are present in tissues that can derive their metabolic energy largely from glycogenolysis. Association of these receptors with mitochondria and a possible role in modulation of energy metabolism is suggested further by the observation that the histochemically visualized distribution of cytochrome oxidase activity overlaps the autoradiographic pattern of [3H]Ro5-4864 binding sites.


Water is of extreme importance and is vital in order for the survival of all forms of life.
Therefore the quality of water is also of vital importance, as it determines the quality and
quantity of life. The following study examined the water quality of 2 selected ponds in order
to identify which pond had the water quality best suited to that of aquatic invertebrates.
The 2 ponds were selected in light of their management. Located in Shruggs Wood Nature
Reserve, the 2 ponds serve as two different purposes, one acts as a fishing pond, managed
by Shurggs Wood Angling Club, and the other acts as a recreation pond for the public,
managed by the South Ribble Borough Council. This study involved the analysis as to
whether or not management implications have an effect on the water quality.
There is little evidence suggesting that management implications within the area have had
an effect on the water quality. However introduction of new species of aquatic plants and
control over fish stock levels has meant that the south pond has a higher abundance of
aquatic life in comparison to the north pond.
Data suggested that water quality, based on the majority of water parameters tested, leads
to the rejection of the hypothesis that the pond managed and used for the purpose of
angling would have a higher water quality best suited to the aquatic vertebrates in the area.


Aircraft design is an inherently multidisciplinary activity that requires integrating different models and tools to reach a well-balanced and optimized product. At Linkoping University a design framework is being developed to support the initial design space exploration and the conceptual design phase. Main characteristics of the framework are its flexible database in XML format, together with close integration of automated CAD and other tools, which allows the developed geometry to be directly used in the subsequent preliminary design phase. In particular, the aim of the proposed work is to test the framework by designing, optimizing and studying a transport aircraft wing with respect to aerodynamic, geometry, structural and accessability constraints. The project will provide an initial assessment of the capability of the framework, both in terms of processing speed and accuracy of the results.


The role of historical mill dams in transforming river systems, especially throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic Piedmont regions of the United States has recently emerged as a topic of debate amongst the scientific community. In both physiographic provinces, large postsettlement alluvium "legacy" deposits originating from colonial-era deforestation, agriculture, and ongoing hillslope land-use disturbances characterize the floodplains. Furthering land-use impacts, water-powered milling from the late 17 to early 20 century was historically intensive throughout Southeastern New England and Pennsylvania, aiding in the floodplain storage of legacy deposits behind mill dams. These geologically recent legacy sediments overlay comparatively organic-rich, pre-colonial buried floodplain soils. Along mid-Atlantic Piedmont streams, debate has emerged regarding the ubiquity of both the interpreted pre-disturbance land surface, and the thickness of the legacy sediment layers in modern floodplains. When coupled with management concerns regarding the potential for legacy sediment to serve as a source for nutrient-rich sediment pollution and the rise of a billion dollar stream restoration industry, it is imperative that our understanding of the nature and extent of these floodplain deposits is pushed further. In this study, field sampling of exposed riverbanks was carried out along two major tributaries to the Christina and Brandywine Rivers in Pennsylvania and along two tributaries to the Connecticut River in order to characterize the nature and spatial variation of legacy sediment and buried soil thicknesses along the floodplain continuum. Floodplain deposits were analyzed for thickness, organic material, grain size, and color. A longitudinal survey accompanied the deposit measurements relative to the stream gradient and bank elevation. Deposit thicknesses were mapped using GIS and investigated for correlations with known historical mills and dams. Sites were cross-compared to explore the role of glacial history in legacy sediment deposition and variability of the pre-disturbance floodplain surface. Results indicated that floodplain deposits vary greatly within and between watersheds as well as within different glacial settings. Buried soils were consistently richer in organic content than post-settlement alluvium, but both layers had similar characteristic grain-size distributions. Post-settlement alluvium deposits varied widely in thickness within and between watersheds (20-160 cm in PA, 51-143 cm in CT), as did buried organic soils (0-80cm in PA, 20-48cm in CT). Mill dams served as a source of legacy sediment preservation, but were not collectively coupled with sediment deposits. Differences in regional and glacial histories influenced the magnitude to which sediments were stored in the floodplains, but it was slope, sinuosity, and depositional environment that appeared to most significantly impact the preservation of sediments in the landscape. The overall trends in the results suggest patchy distributions of pre-colonial floodplain conditions (e.g. grass dominated wetland, bottomland forest) as well as a patchy post-settlement depositional environment.


ABSTRACT
The thesis aims at developing conceptual and methodological tools in order to adapt sound in a "designerly" way within the discipline textile design. Occupational groups working with sound are to a large extent problem driven. This implies knowledge regarding sound and sound design mostly focuses on defensive strategies, not creative possibilities. The ambition with this research project is to make suggestions how textile designers can work practically with textile sound design, in a more nuanced way. /br

As a starting point the thesis describes commonly used methods and processes used in the design process within an industrial context, followed by a more thorough analyze of the textile design process. These studies constitute a foundation to make it possible to see in what way these methods and processes will be affected when sound is added as new design tool./br

By studies of two sound design models, the first attempts to develop a vocabulary concerning how to describe sound affecting qualities or sound expression of a textile are presented. Research focusing on language issues, especially on the development of conceptual tools done at the research institute Cresson, provides descriptive concepts, "sound effects", embracing the interaction between human and his sound environment. These concepts are followed by a model of how to describe a "sound object" in "itself" (not in relation to anything else), developed by Pierre Schaeffer./br

The theoretical models have been applied on the outcome of an phenomenological study named Describe.
A number of design examples are finally presented as methodological examples of different ways to work with textiles and sound./br

Keywords: sound, design, textile design, sound effect, sound object


A technique for target locations in the through-the-wall radar imaging application is presented. The algorithm corrects for the shifts in target positions due to ambiguities in the wall thickness and dielectric constant. Imaging is obtained using wideband beamforming with the antennas placed against the wall. The imaging is performed for different assumed sets of wall parameters and using two different structures of transmit and receive arrays. For each structure, a trajectory of the shifts in the target locations is formed. The target position is estimated as the intersection of the two corresponding trajectories. The paper shows the close proximity of the target estimated and true positions. The performance of the proposed technique is robust to the target location behind the wall and to various array structures.


This title presents the changing definitions of what it means to be Native American, African American, or white. "The Color of the Land" brings together the histories of Oklahoma's Creek Indians, African Americans, and whites into one story that explores the way races and nations were made and remade in conflicts over who would own land, who would farm it, and who would rule it. This story disrupts expected narratives of the American past, revealing how identities - race, nation, and class - took new forms in struggles over the creation of different systems of property. Conflicts were unleashed by a series of sweeping changes: the forced 'removal' of the Creeks from their homeland to Oklahoma in the 1830s, the transformation of the Creeks' enslaved black population into landed black Creek citizens after the Civil War, the imposition of statehood and private landownership at the turn of the twentieth century, and the entrenchment of a sharecropping economy and white supremacy in the following decades. In struggles over land, wealth, and power, Oklahomans actively defined and redefined what it meant to be Native American, African American, or white. By telling this story, David Chang contributes to the history of racial construction and nationalism as well as to southern, western, and Native American history.


Dr. Selden Haines Talcott, superintendent of the Middletown State Homeopathic Hospital in Orange County, New York, had progressive ideas about how to treat the mentally ill. In a time not long after the basic treatment for "lunatics" was to warehouse them in asylums and poorhouses, Talcott believed a healthy mind should reside in a healthy body. As he put it, "the physical means for recuperating the worn and wasted systems of the insane may be stated in three words--heat, milk, and rest, and the greatest of these is rest." (1) Talcott and his staff also believed in stimulating patients' minds through activities. The hospital had educational classes, theater, and its own patient-run newspaper. The doctors also encouraged their wards to exercise, in the fresh air if possible, and soon settled upon baseball as a way to give male inmates a workout and provide a sort of therapy to other patients who could become attentive fans and focus on the game instead of their troubles. Baseball, the sole nationally popular team sport in America at the time, was not a new tool for mental health practitioners. Its usefulness in treatment had been known of for years, but the Middletown staff went a step farther. In 1888, they founded a team partially composed of patients, hospital employees, and some of the best local amateurs and semiprofessionals to be an informal part of the treatment regimen. That didn't last long because the team soon developed into a semipro powerhouse in the lower--Hudson River Valley area north of New York City, and thousands came to see its marquee games. This was at a time when baseball was establishing itself at all levels. Beyond the two major leagues (the National League and the American Association) were "thousands of local amateur clubs, semiprofessional independent teams, barnstorming teams, town teams, company-sponsored leagues, and semiprofessional and professional minor leagues. ... There was no well-defined line between amateur and professional play; teams would fill out their schedule with any team that people would pay to see." (2) In those long-ago days before major-league farm systems, the Asylums were known for drafting amateur stars, organizing big-league scouting, and developing major- and minor-league ballplayers. The late nineteenth century was also a time of evolution in the medical profession in general, and the treatment of the mentally ill in particular. By the turn of the twentieth century, Middletown State Hospital was noted for its advanced methods of treating the mentally ill. The hospital opened in 1874, a time when American medicine, including the ideas of proper psychiatric care, was in a state of dignified turmoil. During the 1874s, it was still common procedure for many physicians to treat illnesses by extracting some (often quite a lot) of the patient's blood. Bloodletting, as it was called, was thought to drain away the dangerous humors that caused disease. Medicines were prescribed in large doses and often included ingredients that would appall modern doctors. "Most doctors treated fever not only with bloodletting, but with great quantities of laxatives," according to one medical historian, which "also brought on strong bouts of nausea; emetics, ... which also produced heavy sweating; large doses of mercury ... black pepper in whiskey, chloroform, zinc, iron or colds baths and cold drinks. Blistering was a common treatment." (3) Mercury, given straight and in bulk doses ranging up to two pounds, was used for its sheer weight to blow away intestinal blockages. In combination with inert substances, mercury was used both inside and outside the body to treat diseases as various as constipation, syphilis, and itching. One common compound called "blue mass" (named for the color of its additives) was one-third mercury, and a single daily pill contained about forty times the modern Environmental Protection Agency's daily safe limit of the toxic element. (4) The way the mentally ill were treated wasn't generally much kinder. …


In much scholarly writing and in many leftist and activist accounts the enclosures of the cultural commons have been fiercely critiqued. However, during the last years, new media business models, that challenge the notion of the cultural industries as "copyright industries", has been taking shape. A new class of entrepreneurs is instead working to expand the commons as part of their businesses. Accordingly, representatives from these new media industries, policy makers, and politicians have joined the academic and political critique of the "enclosures of the cultural common". The paper argues that this is a shift within the dominant media policy paradigm and an attempt to integrate existing practices on the Internet, based on cooperation and sharing, into the market. By relocating the struggle from "intellectual property" to "platform economics", the media industry can exploit the productivity of the commons while holding on to the power that comes with ownership and property.


Prepared by the Water Supply Engineering Technical Committee of the Infrastructure Council of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE. This report examines the application of artificial neural network (ANN) technology to water supply engineering problems. Although ANN has rarely been used in in this area, those who have done so report findings that were beyond the capability of traditional statistical and mathematical modeling tools. This report describes the availability of diverse applications, along with the basics of neural network modeling, and summarizes the experiences of groups of researchers around the world who successfully demonstrated significant benefits from using ANN technology in water supply engineering. Topics include: Forecasting salinity levels in River Murray, South Australia; Predicting gastroenteritis rates and waterborne outbreaks; Modeling pH levels in a eutrophic Middle Loire River, France; and ANNs as function approximation tools replacing rigorous mathematical simulation models for analyzing water distribution networks.


Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.95Ti0.05)O3 antiferroelectric thick films were prepared on platinized silicon substrates by sol–gel methods. Films showed polycrystalline perovskite structure with a strong (100) preferred orientation. The antiferroelectric nature of the films was confirmed by the double hysteresis behaviors versus applied field. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant and loss displayed the Curie temperature was 225oC.The current caused by the polarization and depolarization of polar was detected at coupling application of electric field and temperature. The phase transition characterization could be effectively adjusted by electric field and temperature.


39 thin sections and petrophysical log data from the Skalle well in the Hammerfest Basin, in the southwestern part of the Barents Sea, have been studied to interpret lithology, and diagenesis and their effect on the reservoir quality, and to compare reservoir properties of the different reservoir units. Petrophysical log data have been calibrated for reservoir description in cases where core material is not available. The studied formations are comprised by the Sto, Fuglen, Hekkingen, Knurr, Kolje and the Lower Kolmule Formations. The Knurr and Kolje Formations have been identified and interpreted only by wire line logs, as core material was not available for those intervals. The Lower Kolmule Formation of sandstones of lithic greywacke composition, and the Sto Formation with sandstones of subarkosic arenite composition are considered as possible reservoir rocks. All the formations are water filled which is reflected by the low resistivity logs responses. The mature sandstones of the Sto Formation show high reservoir quality (high porosity and permeability) compared to the Lower Kolmule Formation. The Hekkingen Formation is a potential source rock for the Lower Kolmule Formation, as well as a seal (cap rock) for the Sto Formation. Cementation, dissolution, compaction, clay mineral authigenesis and stylolitization are the most significant diagenetic processes affecting the reservoir quality. Some other type of processes such as glauconitization and bioturbation are also common in the studied well.


As the amount of scholarly communication increases, it is increasingly difficult for specific core scientific statements to be found, connected and curated. Additionally, the redundancy of these statements in multiple fora makes it difficult to determine attribution, quality, and provenance. To tackle these challenges, the Concept Web Alliance has promoted the notion of nanopublications (core scientific statements with associated context). In this document, we present a model of nanopublications along with a Named Graph/RDF serialization of the model. Importantly, the serialization is defined completely using already existing community developed technologies. Finally, we discuss the importance of aggregating nanopublications and the role that the Concept Wiki plays in facilitating it.


Abstract. Vertical gradients of mixing ratios of volatile organic compounds have been measured in a Ponderosa pine forest in Central California (38.90° N, 120.63° W, 1315m). These measurements reveal large quantities of previously unreported oxidation products of short lived biogenic precursors. The emission of biogenic precursors must be in the range of 13-66µmol m-2h-1 to produce the observed oxidation products. That is 6-30 times the emissions of total monoterpenes observed above the forest canopy on a molar basis. These reactive precursors constitute a large fraction of biogenic emissions at this site, and are not included in current emission inventories. When oxidized by ozone they should efficiently produce secondary aerosol and hydroxyl radicals.


Abstract We identify structural breaks in economic growth in 140 countries and use these to define "growth spells:" periods of high growth preceded by an upbreak and ending either with a downbreak or with the end of the sample. Growth spells tend to be shorter in African and Latin American countries than elsewhere. We find evidence that growth duration is positively related to: the degree of equality of the income distribution; democratic institutions; export orientation (with higher propensities to export manufactures, greater openness to FDI, and avoidance of exchange rate overvaluation favorable for duration); and macroeconomic stability.


Career and education decisions are amongst the most important young people make. Gender, ethnicity and socio-economic factors all strongly affect these choices. Career guidance is both an individual and a social good: it helps individuals to progress in their learning and work, but it also helps the effective functioning of the labour and learning markets, and contributes to a range of social policy goals, including social mobility and equity. This justifies the public investment in career guidance activities. Empirical evidence point towards career guidance services – in school and outside – having a formative influence on young people's understanding of themselves and the world of work, and can often improve educational, social and economic outcomes. As young people stay in education and training longer and as the labour market becomes more complex, the case for career guidance grows. But what makes for effective provision? This paper looks at the features of good career guidance practice, including the need for schools to begin early and the essential role of exposure to the world of work.


In Europe mass killing is usually associated with the Holocaust. The areas where the brutality of the Second World War concentrated the most are identified with the regions that in today's terms include St. Petersburg and the western rim of the Russian Federation, most of Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. This is what historian Timothy Snyder has called the 'blood lands.' The present research argues that Snyder's concept of "blood lands" extended through Greece to former Yugoslavia and Venezia Giulia, the area that is the focus of this thesis. With the invasion of Yugoslavia by Fascist Italy in April 1941 Venezia Giulia witnessed some of the most horrendous crimes committed by the Italian army against Slavs. After Fascism collapsed in September 1943, and especially in the period 1945-1947, the
Communist forces led by Marshal Tito and Italian Communist partisans who ideologically shared Yugoslavia's plans in revenge unleashed a terror and exterminatory campaign against Italians. Both sets of persecution were facilitated by an open hostility between the two ethnic
groups that dated back centuries. Focusing particularly on the Yugoslav Communist persecution of Italians in Venezia Giulia, this thesis establishes that it was true that the vicious Communist partisan atrocities targeted not just Italian prisoners of war and returning soldiers, but also unarmed civilians due to their ethnic background, as Italian survivors always claimed, even if many of them were innocent of any wrongdoing or even of political activism. Also the horrifying violence was not just a form of spontaneous vindictiveness that captured the imagination of the Italians in Venezia Giulia, but it was rather something meticulously planned and carried out well after the war was over because the conflict had to
continue by other means, in the prisons, concentration camps and in the homes of civilians. This thesis reconstructs the killings and persecution of Venezia Giulia from the archives of Western observers and illustrates that this political mass murder was part of a more persistent strand in the first half of the twentieth century to destroy, subjugate and drive out groups
judged dangerous. At the same time it shows how little Anglo-American observers were able or willing to do to intervene in the chaotic context of the end of the Second World War. The major contribution ofthis book is not only to bring victims in the full light of history, but also
to explain that in Italy there is a fiction of war. The 8 May 1945 is celebrated as the end of the conflict in Europe. It was not. The killings went on for many years as the violence that was unleashed could not be reined in and this research tries to make sense of the brutality and loss.