Finite element analysis using fiber technique was carried out to study the post-yield buckling mechanism of reinforcing bars. It was found that the softening of compressive stress takes place due to the geometrical nonlinearity associated with the lateral deformation of the compressed bars, especially after the absolute strain exceeds the yielding strain. It was clarified that the post-buckling average stress-strain relationship over the analysis domain can be specified in terms of the product of square root of yield strength and slenderness ratio of the reinforcing bar. Moreover, a unique relationship between the average stress and average strain of reinforcing bars including the effect of buckling is established through various parametric analyses. The comparison of analytical results and proposed model with experimental data showed good agreement.


In this study we examined the normative and construct equivalence of the teacher IOWA Conners Rating Scale (IOWA) in a sample of 3,998 elementary school children (2,124 African American and 1,874 European American) ages 5 to 11 years in an urban school district. Risk odds ratios (% > 2 SD) were calculated by gender and ethnicity. An exploratory Principal Axis factor analysis was performed to determine the appropriateness of the 2-factor model. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the degree of fit for the 2-factor model. Both African American boys and girls received significantly higher scores than their European American counterpoints.There was a 2.48 to 3.51 greater likelihood forAfrican American boys and a 3.60 to 5.27 greater likelihood of African American girls to be rated > 2 SD above the mean for inattention/overactivity, aggression, or IOWA Conners Rating Scale scores. A rater ethnicity by student ethnicity (European American vs. African American) interaction was also found. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the same 2-factor model was appropriate for the African American and European American groups. The results suggest that although there is construct equivalence across the African American and European American groups, there is still a question as to normative equivalence.


Parasitic extraction is one of the key techniques in very large scale integration design that has been widely used to build the equivalent-circuit model of interconnects. In this paper, a parallel adaptive finite-element method (AFEM) for capacitance extraction of large-scale interconnects (ParAFEMCap) is developed to provide extremely high parallel scalability and numerical accuracy. First, the proposed ParAFEMCap has the potential of high parallel scalability by taking advantages of several advanced parallel techniques, such as parallel adaptive mesh refinement and dynamic load balancing. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first capacitance extraction field solver that is able to run in parallel on hundreds and even thousands of CPU cores. Second, the proposed ParAFEMCap is based on the AFEM, which is proven to converge to the exact solution of the electromagnetic problems in a theoretically quasi-optimal rate. The solution precision of ParAFEMCap can easily be controlled by varying the threshold for the a posteriori error estimator, while the computational time can easily be reduced by increasing the number of CPU cores. Moreover, ParAFEMCap is shown to have the same linear computation complexity as those integral-equation methods, which make it very promising for capacitance extraction of large-scale interconnect problems. Numerical experiments will demonstrate that ParAFEMCap has the advantages of high computational efficiency and accuracy for solving the capacitance extraction problem of large-scale interconnects with complex multilayer structures.


Objectives. Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by a limited ability to identify and express emotions and it represents a possible risk factor for disease development and management. The objective of the study is to evaluate alexithymia in patients with persistent asthma and comorbid rhinitis and its relation with patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Methods. Alexithymia, quality of life, illness perception, and stress were assessed, as well as rhinitis symptoms and asthma control in out-patients classified according to GINA and ARIA guidelines. Results. Out of 115 patients, 19% turned out to be alexithymic (TAS-20 ≥ 61). Concerning alexithymia level, no difference was detected between males and females (χ2 = 0.317) and among GINA levels (χ2 = 0.22). Alexithymics had significantly lower Asthma Control Test scores when compared with non-alexithymics (15.86 vs. 19; p = .02). Alexithymics had a worse quality of life (p< .001) and, concerning illness perception, they ascribed to respiratory allergy symptoms that are not strictly disease related and referred to asthma and rhinitis more serious negative consequences (p < .001) and emotional representations (p < .035). Moreover, they had lower illness coherence (p < .001) and lived their disease as a cyclical rather than a chronic disorder (p < .035). As regards stress, alexithymics reported less energy (p < .001), higher levels of tension (p < .001), depression (p < .001), confusion (p > .001), and inertia (p < .001). Conclusion. Alexithymia is present in a relevant percentage of subjects and, as it can modulate illness perception, quality of life, and stress, it should be considered in disease management.


This paper uses administrative data from Value Added Tax (VAT) returns to provide insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rwanda. We show that the lockdown in Rwanda had a severe impact on the domestic economy, despite relatively low case numbers. However, the economy quickly rebounded after restrictions were lifted, with overall sales losses amounting to 5 per cent of GDP. Although in absolute terms, these losses are concentrated amongst the largest firms, in proportional terms, small firms have been worse affected. We also show that firms providing accommodation, food and transport services, as well as those based in the capital, have been particularly affected by the crisis. Overall, the decline in economic activity translates to a 5.1 per cent loss in VAT revenue for the government. Our results offer policy-makers evidence on the real impact of the crisis, both in aggregate terms and disaggregated by firm size, sector, and location. In a literature that has largely focused on higher-income countries, these results complement projections to inform appropriate policy responses in the specific context of low-income countries.


This training guide introduces development practitioners, policy analysts, and students to social accounting matrices (SAMs) and their use in policy analysis. There are already a number of books that explain the System of National Accounts and SAM multipliers—some of these are recommended at the end of this training guide. However, most books tend to be quite technical and move quickly from an introduction to more complex applications. By contrast, this guidebook uses a series of hands-on exercises to gradually introduce SAMs and multiplier analysis. It therefore complements more theoretical SAM and multiplier literature and provides a first step for development practitioners and students wishing to understand the strengths and limitations of these economic tools. It is also useful for policy analysts and researchers embarking on more complex SAM-based methodologies. One such methodology is computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, for which IFPRI has also developed a series of introductory exercises and a standard modeling framework.


Introduction - The purpose of the research was to explore coping and relapse strategies used by pregnant and postpartum women to avoid smoking and to investigate the process of lapses and why this leads to relapse with pregnant and postpartum women. The purpose was to evaluate service delivery by interviewing pregnant and postpartum women. Achieving behaviour change in pregnant women and maintaining cessation in postpartum remains a great challenge in the UK. Gaining a deeper understanding of service delivery may contribute to identification of the active component parts and mediators of successful interventions that elicit behavioural change.

Design - Semi-structured interviews were carried out with fourteen female participants. All of the interviews were conducted in the participant's home. The interviews lasted between twenty and forty minutes. Participants were six pregnant and eight postpartum clients who had access the service and set a quit date and the age range was from twenty- two to forty-one years of age. The clients were recruited as four distinct samples. The first sample (hereafter referred to as Group 4) consisted of postpartum women who had set a quit date during their pregnancy and had maintain cessation during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. Participants from the second sample (hereafter referred to as Group 3) included pregnant women who had maintained cessation for eight to twelve weeks or longer at any stage during their pregnancy. The third sample (hereafter referred to as Group 1) consisted of postpartum women who had managed to stop smoking during pregnancy and had relapsed back to smoking in the postpartum period within two months. Participants from the last sample (hereafter referred to as Group 2) were pregnant women who had set a quit date at any stage of their pregnancy and relapsed back to smoking.

Results - Twenty themes were identified. Some of the important themes included emotional aspects of smoking, identifying coping strategies, addiction, morals, support, being in control, preparation, adjustment period and postnatal period.

Conclusions - This study has shown that interventions designed to promote cessation during pregnancy and continue postpartum are effective. It has shown how interventions are sensitive to the needs of the pregnant smoker and take into account the psychological and social factors involved with smoking. It has given further insight into the psychological change processes underlying the effectiveness of these interventions and those changes that are important in successful giving up smoking. In addition, it has revealed coping strategies that pregnant and postpartum women utilised to maintain cessation and it explored the journey of lapses to becoming a smoker again and participants' experiences of service delivery.


The warrantless search of travelers' electronic devices as they enter and exit the United States is rapidly increasing. While the Supreme Court has long recognized a border-search exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, it applies to only two interests: promoting the duty regime and preventing contraband from entering the country; and ensuring that individuals are legally admitted. The government's recent use of the exception goes substantially beyond these matters. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are using it to search electronic devices, and at times the cloud, for evidence of any criminal activity, bypassing the warrant requirement altogether. Searches of these devices implicate privacy concerns well beyond those of the home, which has long been protected even for customs and immigration purposes. This Essay traces the evolution of the border exception, noting the effect of recent Supreme Court decisions, to argue that CBP and ICE are operating outside constitutional constraints. The Essay considers two objections grounded in the legitimate interests of CBP and ICE. It responds, first, that inspection of digital devices differs from the examination of a traveler's purse or luggage: the level of intrusion and the amount of information obtained changes the quality of the search, triggering Fourth Amendment protections. Second, as an immigration matter, as soon as citizens are identified, absent probable cause, the government does not have the constitutional authority to search their devices at all. Foreigners lacking a substantial connection to the country, however, do not enjoy the same Fourth Amendment protections. It concludes by observing that because of the substance and complexity of the issue, Congress has an important role to play in determining what types of searches are justified.


Paramuricea clavata (Cnidaria, Octocorallia) is an important ecosystem engineer of coralligenous assemblages increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities and climate changes. As climate warming is predicted to continue in the coming years it is important to hypothesize future scenarios. Here we tested the influence of gorgonian colonies on sedimentation rates and vagile fauna trends, comparing sediments collected by traps inside and outside a gorgonian garden, in a coralligenous community of the Western Ligurian Sea, at 32 m depth, over a period of 1 year. The results indicated that sea fans created a sort of homeostatic effect on the surrounding habitat. We found evidence that where gorgonian colonies were present, the monthly fluctuations of sediments rate were lower than outside a garden. Gorgonian colonies also influenced the distribution of the associated vagile fauna; these organisms were generally more abundant inside than outside the garden. The data collected in this work appear to confirm the role of P. clavata as an ecosystem engineer, affecting biomass and variability of the surrounding habitat at both spatial and temporal scales.


Even though rail transportation is one of the most fuel efficient forms of surface transportation, fueling costs are the single highest operating cost head for railroad companies. For larger companies with several thousands of miles of rail network, the fuel costs often run into several billions of dollars annually. The railroad fueling problem considered in this paper has three distinct cost components. Fueling stations usually charge a location dependent price for the fuel in addition to a fixed contracting fee over the entire planning horizon. In addition, railroad company must also bear incidental and notional costs for each fuelling stop. This paper proposes a mixed integer linear program model that determines the optimal strategy for contracting and purchase schedule decisions that minimizes overall costs under certain reasonable assumptions. This model is tested on a large, real-life problem instance. Model performance was significantly enhanced by decomposition and introducing several MIP cuts. This paper compares the efficiency of different MIP cuts in order to reduce the run-time. Lastly, the paper concludes with an observation that even though the problem scale was expected to diminish the model performance, it was indeed noted that run-time and memory requirements are fairly reasonable.


A unifying framework—probabilistic inductive classes of graphs (PICGs)—is defined by imposing a probability space on the rules and their left elements from the standard notion of inductive class of graphs. The rules can model the processes creating real-world social networks, such as spread of knowledge, dynamics of acquaintanceships or sexual contacts, and emergence of clusters. We demonstrate the characteristics of PICGs by casting some well-known models of growing networks in this framework. Results regarding expected size and order are derived. For PICG models of connected and 2-connected graphs order, size and asymptotic degree distribution are presented. The approaches used represent analytic alternative to computer simulation, which is mostly used to obtain the properties of evolving graphs.


During development, multipotent stem cells divide and respond to cues that lead to their terminal differentiation. Isshiki et al. studied the Drosophila nervous system to learn about the sequence of transcription factors responsible for determining cell fate in lineages from specific neural precursors. In Drosophila, the multipotent neuroblasts divide asymmetrically to produce a cell that will differentiate [these cells will become ganglion mother cells (GMCs)] and a cell that retains multipotency. Isshiki et al. identified an invariant linear pattern of expression of four transcription factors [hunchback (hb), Krüppel (Kr), pdm, and castor (cas)] that are sequentially expressed transiently in most neuroblast precursors and that persist in the differentiating GMCs. Thus, hb is expressed in the earliest born GMCs and is required for their differentiation, and Kr is expressed in the second-born GMCs and is required for their differentiation. One surprising result was that hb mutants lacked only the GMC-1 cells and the Kr mutants lacked only the GMC-2 cells. This suggests that these transcription factors act independently of one another in terms of the history of the cell. Persistent expression of either hb or Kr resulted in increased numbers of their respective GMCs at the expense of later GMCs, suggesting a conversion of later GMC phenotypes to earlier ones. Although the later neuroblasts can differentiate in the absence of the first transcription factors, the later neuroblasts do not differentiate properly if the first transcription factors persist in the multipotent precursor daughter cell, indicating that there is a regulatory interaction among these proteins. T. Isshiki, B. Pearson, S. Holbrook, C. Q Doe, Drosophila neuroblasts sequentially express transcription factors which specify the temporal identity of their neuronal progeny. Cell 106, 511-521 (2001). [Online Journal]


Elder abuse is one of the most significant violations of the human rights and dignity of older persons in both Australian society and in the global community. Elder abuse is defined as the physical, sexual, psychological, financial and social abuse and or neglect of older people, by a person or persons with whom the victim of abuse maintains a relationship of trust and confidence. This thesis acknowledges and expands upon the role of the international and Australian legal systems in the prevention of elder abuse. To this end, the law has a role in the promotion of healthy and active ageing and the protection and promotion of the human rights of the aged. Through an understanding of the historical recognition of elder abuse as a phenomenon and the nature of the global cultural, social and economic issues that face older people, a framework is identified to assist in combating elder abuse. The discussion draws widely upon the various disciplines, theoretical perspectives and practical responses that have developed historically to combat the challenges of ageing, celebrate the contributions of older people to society and empower older people to retain their autonomy and dignity. Social, primary health, public health and epidemiological perspectives on ageing and elder abuse, in both a global and domestic setting, are essential to effectively develop a valuable framework for the analysis of the law and a pathway for future legal reforms to address elder abuse. Human rights principles underscore this analysis. This thesis focuses upon the legal strategies that currently operate internationally and that exist in Australia for the prevention, detection and remedy of the abuse of older people, and draws upon the experiences and lessons learned in other jurisdictions such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Building upon existing legal frameworks, acknowledging the theoretical and practical challenges confronting professionals working in the aged care arena, and by recognising community perceptions and expectations about the care of older members of our society, this thesis proposes future directions for legal policy and reform in Australia. It is argued that the law constitutes a critical tool for promoting healthy and active ageing.


Farm direct payments (DPs) have been the main instrument of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support farm income in the EU. After the decoupling of DPs from production levels, the distributional objectives are among the major justifications of DPs. This paper addresses their role in the distribution of farm inc come among farmers. The analysis accounts direct payments granted in the context of the market and income supp port policies and of rural development policies. Using the Gini coefficient and its d disaggregation, this study investigates the impact of b both kinds of payments on farm income inequality among a large sample of farms in Italy. The analysis is developed a at a national level but also considering the three main regions of Italy and three types of farming. DPs are very concentrated but reduce fa arm income inequality. Therefore, their reduction should result in an increase of farm income concentration particularly y in some of the considered types of farming. Results suggest that the CAP reform has decreased the role DPs have played in reducing farm income inequality. This is not just because of a change in their relative importance, but especially because of changes in the patterns of their distribution.


The learning crisis in many developing countries has led to searches for innovative teaching models. Adoption of innovation, however, disrupts routine and breaks institutional inertia, requiring government employees to change their way of working. Introducing and embedding innovative methods for improving learning outcomes within state institutions is thus a major challenge. For NGO-led innovation to have largescale impact, we need to understand: (1) what factors facilitate its adoption by senior bureaucracy and political elites; and (2) how to incentivise district-level field staff and school principals and teachers, who have to change their ways of working, to implement the innovation? This paper presents an ethnographic study of Pratham, one of the most influential NGOs in the domain of education in India today, which has attracted growing attention for introducing an innovative teaching methodology— Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) – with evidence of improved learning outcomes among primary-school students and adoption by a number of states in India. The case study suggests that while a combination of factors, including evidence of success, ease of method, the presence of a committed bureaucrat, and political opportunity are key to state adoption of an innovation, exposure to ground realities, hand holding and confidence building, informal interactions, provision of new teaching resources, and using existing lines of communication are core to ensuring the co-operation of those responsible for actual implementation. The Pratham case, however, also confirms existing concerns that even when NGO-led innovations are successfully implemented at a large scale, their replication across the state and their sustainability remain a challenge. Embedding good practice takes time; the political commitment leading to adoption of an innovation is often, however, tied to an immediate political opportunity being exploited by the political elites. Thus, when political opportunity rather than a genuine political will creates space for adoption of an innovation, state support for that innovation fades away before the new ways of working can replace the old habits. In contexts where states lack political will to improve learning outcomes, NGOs can only hope to make systematic change in state systems if, as in the case of Pratham, they operate as semi-social movements with large cadres of volunteers. The network of volunteers enables them to slow down and pick up again in response to changing political contexts, instead of quitting when state actors withdraw. Involving the community itself does not automatically lead to greater political accountability. Time-bound donor-funded NGO projects aiming to introduce innovation, however large in scale, simply cannot succeed in bringing about systematic change, because embedding change in state institutions lacking political will requires years of sustained engagement.


Proteomic Profiling and Analytical Chemistry helps scientists without a strong background in analytical chemistry to understand basic analytical principles and apply them to proteomics profiling. In most proteomic profiling experiments, liquid chromatography is used; this method is also used widely in analytical chemistry. This book bridges the gap between overly specialized courses and books in mass spectrometry, proteomics and analytical chemistry. It also helps researchers with an analytical chemistry background to break into the proteomics field. Proteomic Profiling and Analytical Chemistry focuses on practical applications for proteomic research helping readers to design better experiments and to more easily interpret, analyze and validate the resulting data. Experimental aspects such as sample preparation, protein extraction and precipitation, gel electrophoresis, microarrays, dynamics of fluorescent dyes, and more are all covered in detail. It covers the analytical consequences of protein and peptide modifications that may have a profound effect on how and what researchers actually measure. It includes practical examples illustrating the importance of problems in quantitation and validation of biomarkers. It helps in designing and executing proteomic experiments with sound analytics.


An examination of some aspects of the provision and use of pictures in the teaching of geography in a developing country. The teaching of geography should begin with a study of the local environment and proceed from the known to the unknown. From the scene we can visit to the scene we can only visualise. The local study can be completed without the use of pictures, though this is, in my view, quite wrong and will be discussed later, but the geographical study of places quite remote, physically and economically, from the environment of our school, is very dependent on our pupils ability to visualise the unfamiliar scene.


The population explosion is almost over, with fertility below the replacement rate in many advanced countries and rapidly declining in most developing countries. In the next half century, economic growth will be robust, especially in developing countries, and will increase world wealth dramatically. These factors will make it easier, not harder, to preserve the natural environment and avoid resource shortages. Investors should focus on natural resources and other industries that will benefit from these trends. Despite a deep-seated bias toward pessimism that pervades much of intellectual thought throughout history, the human condition—physical and economic—has steadily improved for at least two centuries and will continue to do so in the future. In contrast to the past 200 years, however, future economic growth will be accompanied by population stabilization as fertility rates decline in developing countries even more quickly than they declined in developed countries in past decades. In other words, the population explosion is almost over. A "greener" environment will be a consequence of the leveling off of world population and increasing affluence as more resources are devoted to conservation, pollution control, and environmental remediation. As a population becomes richer, there is a change in the trade-off facing a couple deciding how many children to have. Children become expensive and provide fewer benefits (e.g., you cannot put them to work on the farm if you are not engaged in farming). As a result, the fertility rate declines. A decline in fertility rates was observed long ago in developed countries, but the decline has become nearly universal today, with such countries as Brazil, Turkey, and Iran approaching First World fertility rates. The UN Population Division's projections reflect these trends, with the world's population reaching 10 billion to 11 billion late in this century before stabilizing or possibly declining. This population outlook is very favorable for addressing such environmental concerns as natural-resource usage, overcrowding, and pollution (including greenhouse gas emissions) and is consistent with projections of continued rapid economic growth, especially in the developing world. Everyone knows that the world is becoming dramatically richer, yet at the same time, many people seem to believe that economic conditions are worse than in the "good old days." In the last five years, there has been some deterioration, but economic setbacks have always occurred and have usually been followed by rebounds to new heights of prosperity. The facts are that developed-country per capita GDP has been rising at a remarkably steady annual rate of 1.8% for two centuries and developing-country per capita GDP has been rising even faster, though over a shorter period. "Peak inequality" between developing and developed countries occurred around 1950, and the developing world has been catching up ever since, while inequality in developed-world economies has edged upward. The forecast is for more of the same, with developing economies leading the way. Perhaps the most difficult forecast for readers to accept is that this richer world of fewer people will also be greener, more environmentally sound. A proposition called the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) asserts that as an economy begins to develop, the environment becomes "dirtier" because of industrial pollution and higher population densities. As the society becomes more affluent, however, people can afford a cleaner environment and can attain it through a mix of private and public action. The argument is essentially that environmental quality is a luxury good. The EKC theory is borne out for most industrial pollutants but not for all environmental indicators; for example, wild fisheries have continued to deteriorate in developed countries even as air and water have become dramatically cleaner. A related question is whether the high cost of increasingly scarce natural resources will limit economic growth. Economic history suggests strongly that it will not, in part because the high price of a given resource causes substitutes to be developed. However, some resources are in essentially fixed supply, and one should be careful about extrapolating consumption growth rates in such circumstances. A growing world economy should favor equities at the expense of fixed income. Active managers hoping to profit from a greener world of fewer, richer people should focus on food and agri-technology, water, traditional and alternative energy, minerals and other natural resources, infrastructure, environmental remediation, and human capital.


Background: Cancer is a common malignant disease that affects a large number of individuals world-wide, including Iraq with a high prevalence and mortality rate. Aim: Investigation for cancers in one of Iraq cities. Methods: A total of 12,000 specimens from patients suspected to have cancer in a Karbala city in Iraq between 2008 and 2015 was histopathologically examined to diagnose various types of cancer diseases. The prevalence, incidence rate, and agespecific rate (ASP) were determined for 838 confirmed positive cases (320 males and 518 females). Results: In males, high prevalence and incidence rate were observed for bladder, gastro-oesophageal (GOC), colorectal, lymphoma, and prostate cancers, while in females, breast, thyroid, lymphoma, colorectal, bladder, and gastro-oesophageal cancers were highest. The prevalence of all types of cancer was higher in females than in males during almost all the survey periods. ASR was observed higher in the older age groups for most patients with cancer. Some cancers were also prevalent at younger ages (≤30 years). Conclusion: The high prevalence and incidence rate of many types of cancer in Karbala were of concern, especially for older age groups. In this survey, bladder cancer in males and breast cancer in females were ranked first in each year.


ABSTRACT Hormographiella aspergillata, a filamentous basidiomycete, has rarely been involved in human infections. We describe 2 febrile neutropenic patients who developed a severe pulmonary infection due to H. aspergillata while receiving empirical caspofungin therapy for presumed fungal pneumonia. After introduction of liposomal amphotericin B, one patient, who had neutrophil recovery, presented a favorable outcome, while the other, who remained neutropenic throughout the course of infection, died. Resistant fungi, including basidiomycetes, may emerge during empirical treatment with caspofungin in febrile neutropenic patients. A rapid switch to any other potent antifungal should be rapidly considered in case of failure of caspofungin in this setting.


Fault block basins exposed along NE Greenland provide insights into the tectonic evolution of East Greenland and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. We present a new geological map and cross sections of the Traill O region, NE Greenland, which formed the western margin of the Voring Basin prior to Cenozoic seafloor spreading. Observations support a polyphase rift evolution with three rift phases during Devonian–Triassic, Jurassic–Cretaceous, and Cenozoic time. The greatest amounts of faulting and block rotation occurred during Cenozoic rifting, which we correlate with development of the continent-ocean transition after ca. 56 Ma and the Jan Mayen microcontinent after ca. 36 Ma. A newly devised macrofaunal-based stratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous sandy mudstone succession provides insights into Jurassic–Cretaceous rifting. We identify a reduction in sedimentation rates during the Late Cretaceous; this corresponds to a transition from structurally confined to unconfined sedimentation that coincides with increased clastic sedimentation to the Voring and More Basins derived from East Greenland. With each rift phase we record an increase in the number of active faults and a decrease in the spacing between them. We attribute this to fault block rotation that leads to an excess build-up of stress that can only be released by the creation of new steep faults. In addition, we observe a stepwise migration of deformation toward the rift axis that we attribute to preexisting lithospheric heterogeneity that was modified during subsequent rift and post-rift phases. Such observations are not readily conformable to classic rift evolution models and highlight the importance of post-rift lithospheric processes that occur during polyphase rift evolution.


This chapter aims to examine how changes in transport technology have influenced and altered the landscape for crime, criminal opportunity and the criminal justice system. The original intention at the outset of this chapter was to examine developments in transport and technology separately, and then to discuss a combined definition of what transport technology is. However, in doing this it quickly became apparent that this was a rather futile approach. The traditional definitions of technology were centred on the study of arts and crafts, but soon evolved to include an emphasis on purposeful invention and the strategic deployment of such invention (Rip and Kemp, 1998). In its narrowest sense technology can be thought of as a set of tools. However, more modern definitions of technology encompass a notion of something that works, thus often incorporates systems rather than just tools, and, therefore, in its widest sense, technology can also include skills and infrastructure. When considering advances in transport, from the development of the wheel, of boats and horse drawn carriages, from the first to more modern motorised vehicles, or considering other forms of travel such as bicycles and motorcycles, submarines, hovercraft, aeroplanes, and even spacecraft it becomes apparent that disentangling developments in transport from developments in technology is rather difficult. When adopting the systems view of technology, this is particularly evident. Indeed, within the transport literature frequent reference is given to the notion of a 'transport system'. Examples include public transport systems, the growth of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), automated and smart transport systems, travel demand and forecasting systems, and fuel efficiency systems. Therefore, by virtue of the way modern transport has evolved, there is a defensible argument for considering transport systems and transport technologies as interchangeable terms.


This paper studies the effects of gaining international accreditation in business schools (B-schools) in Lithuania. As in other CEE countries, in Lithuania international accreditation has recently become one of the key solutions to achieving legitimacy for B-schools. Due to the lack of research in this area, the aim of this paper is to explore and unveil the reasons for, and the consequences of the accreditation using an institutional theory framework. A multiple case study methodology is used to answer the research questions. The findings reveal that accreditation effects represent a case of institutional isomorphism, because B-schools seek accreditation to achieve legitimacy rather than improved performance. B-schools decide for accreditation and implement it mainly because of bandwagon effects and the reduction of information asymmetry – reasons which are accompanied by all three types of isomorphic change (coercive, mimetic, and normative). Based on the findings, the study concludes by suggesting propositions to be tested in future studies to further investigate this under-researched topic, especially in the CEE region. DOI: 10.15458/85451.8


It was previously thought that the establishment of the gut microbiota was completed within the first two years of life, and this community maintains fairly stable throughout the adult lifetime thereafter. However, recent evidence shows that the gut microbiota composition is constantly changing in the gut environment and is heavily influenced by diet. The individual differences responding to diets would root on the fluctuations of gut microbiota if dietary fluctuations affect the composition of gut microbiota so significantly.


In this paper, an improved design for a small molten-salt reactor (MSR) that uses neutron flux flattening, which is referred to as FUJI-U3, is proposed. This reactor is a 200-MW(electric) power reactor, and its core contains graphite (as the moderator) and fuel salt. The fuel salt is composed of ThF4 as the fertile material, 233UF4 as the fissile material, and LiF-BeF2 as both the solvent and heat transfer medium. A basic improvement in FUJI-U3 is the introduction of the design concept of a three-region core in order to avoid the replacement of graphite, which is achieved by reducing the maximum neutron flux. Since there is a limit for irradiation growth in graphite, this reduction in the maximum neutron flux contributes to a longer lifetime of the graphite. Based on calculations using the nuclear analysis code SRAC95 and the burnup analysis code ORIGEN2, it is concluded that there is no need to replace the graphite moderator of FUJI-U3 for 30 yr. Further, the chemical-processing interval of the fuel salt is studied for 7.5, 15, and 30 yr. An increase in this time interval will also contribute to reduce maintenance and cost.


The seventh Tokyo International Conference on Africa's Development (TICAD VII) will be held in Yokohama, Japan from August 28 to 30, 2019. Two of the three specific agendas of the conference will directly and indirectly focus on issues of peace and security. In light of TICAD VII, therefore, it is high time to revisit Africa-Japan relations focusing on the peace and security agenda. In the last decade alone Japan has established its first-ever overseas military base in an African state, it has deployed hundreds of troops in South Sudan as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan from 2012-2017, and it has also taken part in the multilateral counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. Regardless of the above, Japan's contribution to international peace and security is so far primarily oriented in a nonmilitary direction, although the 2015 Legislation for Peace and Security aims to broaden Japan's engagement in other areas of international peace and security from which it has traditionally shied away from. This policy brief highlights the changes and continuities in Japan's engagement in Africa's peace and security. It argues that it is important for African counterparts to understand Japan's peculiar approach to international peace and security; one that is shaped by constitutional restrictions, entrenched domestic norms and public opinions. Hence, this policy brief calls for concrete and welltailored African policies towards Japan. Policy Brief Vol. 13, Issue 09 | July/August


These guidelines are designed to provide a format allowing for the protection of child subjects in drug research. Research involving children carries with it additional responsibilities for the investigator, IRB, and sponsor. The additional responsibilities should not be reasons for the pharmaceutical company, IRB, or the investigator to exclude children from drug research and its potential benefits. It is hoped that these guidelines foster an increase in the number of drug investigations carried out in children, thereby improving their health care.
 The AAP believes it is unethical to deny children appropriate access to existing and new therapeutic agents. It is the combined responsibility of the pediatric community, pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory agencies to conduct the necessary studies; it is the responsibility of the general public to support the necessary research in order to assure that all children have access to important medications and receive optimal drug therapy.


In geophysics, signals come with noise. It is desirable to minimize the effect of this noise. If we knew the probabilities of different values of signal and noise, we could use statistical filtering techniques. In geophysics, however, we rarely know the exact values of these probabilities; instead, we have to rely on the expertise and intuition of experts. We show how fuzzy techniques can transform this expertise into precise de-noising methods, we explain that the resulting methods indeed satisfy several natural requirements, and that these methods are in good accordance with heuristic techniques successfully used by geophysicists.


In the search for a criterion for the fracture of brittle materials by crack extension, George Irwin first identified the linear elastic stress intensity as a quantitative measure of the associated mathematical singularity, and then laid the foundation of a relevant stress analysis system. This permitted the significance of increased fracture toughness, section thickness and dynamic effects to be established. There was much initial scepticism in the engineering and metallurgical communities, eventually countered successfully by sustained research and patient argument. Peer acceptance led in 1957 to the formation of the E24 Committee of the American Society for Testing and Materials, and the subsequent creation of a valuable series of handbooks, so that within a further decade linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) had been additionally and successfully applied to fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. The definition and standardization of measurement specimen shapes and testing procedures opened the way to the development of strong metallic and non-metallic materials with improved fracture toughness properties, thereby leading to safer structures with improved performance. Despite cumulative complexities, fracture mechanics is now associated with a vast published literature and is applied extensively.


Why does reason matter, if (as many people seem to think) in the end everything comes down to blind faith or gut instinct? Why not just go with what you believe even if it contradicts the evidence? Why bother with rational explanation when name-calling, manipulation, and force are so much more effective in our current cultural and political landscape? Michael Lynch's In Praise of Reason offers a spirited defense of reason and rationality in an era of widespread skepticism -- when, for example, people reject scientific evidence about such matters as evolution, climate change, and vaccines when it doesn't jibe with their beliefs and opinions. In recent years, skepticism about the practical value of reason has emerged even within the scientific academy. Many philosophers and psychologists claim that the reasons we give for our most deeply held views are often little more than rationalizations of our prior convictions. In Praise of Reason gives us a counterargument. Although skeptical questions about reason have a deep and interesting history, they can be answered. In particular, appeals to scientific principles of rationality are part of the essential common currency of any civil democratic society. The idea that everything is arbitrary -- that reason has no more weight than blind faith -- undermines a key principle of a civil society: that we owe our fellow citizens explanations for what we do. Reason matters -- not just for the noble ideal of truth, but for the everyday world in which we live.


A coherent O-O framework has been developed for describing the LHCb experimental apparatus to be used by the simulation, reconstruction and analysis applications. This framework is used for the realization of the detector data service, which is one of the main components of the GAUDI architecture in use in LHCb. Examples of detector description data are: the geometry and alignment parameters, the electronics calibration and their organization, the environmental parameters needed for the data processing, etc. The detector description data are made available to the physics algorithms through a number of transient objects. These transient objects are hierarchically organized and are a view of a global persistent representation, which is currently implemented using XML and takes into account versioning and a time validity interval. Other representations of the data are also provided to domain specific frameworks such as Geant4 and visualization components. We present the use-cases that have driven the development, the main design choices, and details of the first implementation of the framework. Finally we describe how it is customized to provide the specific needs of the various LHCb sub-detectors.


Abstract. We characterised trace gas emissions from Australian temperate forest fires
through a mixture of open-path Fourier transform infrared (OP-FTIR) measurements and selective ion flow tube
mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) and White cell FTIR analysis of grab samples. We
report emission factors for a total of 25 trace gas species measured in smoke
from nine prescribed fires. We find significant dependence on modified
combustion efficiency (MCE) for some species, although regional differences
indicate that the use of MCE as a proxy may be limited. We also find that the
fire-integrated MCE values derived from our in situ on-the-ground open-path
measurements are not significantly different from those reported for airborne
measurements of smoke from fires in the same ecosystem. We then compare our
average emission factors to those measured for temperate forest fires
elsewhere (North America) and for fires in another dominant Australian
ecosystem (savanna) and find significant differences in both cases. Indeed,
we find that although the emission factors of some species agree within
20  % , including those of hydrogen cyanide, ethene, methanol, formaldehyde
and 1,3-butadiene, others, such as acetic acid, ethanol, monoterpenes,
ammonia, acetonitrile and pyrrole, differ by a factor of 2 or more. This
indicates that the use of ecosystem-specific emission factors is warranted
for applications involving emissions from Australian forest fires.


The article considers trends and dynamics of the regional development based on cluster initiatives. It should be noted that the current structural changes have a big impact on the economic development of regional and national markets. The object of the research has been selected by the elements such as regional cluster systems operating at the Russian and international markets, tendencies and features of the development. The authors are determined that in the context of the dynamic development of the economics of most countries, that have retained a high industrial potential, is needed an organizational support of industrial enterprises and complexes contributing to increase they competitiveness. Nowadays one of the most effective forms of such support is the increasing of the efficiency of industrial production including the integration and formation of industrial clusters. The implementation of cluster initiatives contributes to the development of business competitiveness by the realization of effective potential based on effective cooperation of the cluster's participants. It is linked to the geographical position, including the expanding access to the innovations, technologies, "know-how", specialized services and high-qualified staff, and also decrease of transaction costs, providing the formation of preconditions for the realization of join cooperation projects and productive competition.


The CALorimetric Electron Telescope, CALET, was installed on the International Space Station in August 2015 and it has been collecting data of high energy cosmic rays since October 2015. The primary purpose of CALET mission is obtaining high-precision direct measurements of the electron+positron spectrum up to the multi-TeV energy region, which can provide unique information on the presence of nearby astrophysical sources and possible signals from dark matter. Other important objectives are the observation of nuclei spectra from proton to Fe up to several hundred TeV energies and the detection of gamma-ray emissions up to ∼10 TeV with high-accuracy energy measurement.
The CALET instrument consists of a charge detection device composed of two layers of plastic scintillators, a finely-segmented sampling calorimeter (IMC) with imaging capabilities made of scintillating fibers (with total depth of 3 radiation lengths) and a homogeneous calorimeter (TASC) with PWO scintillating logs (27 radiation lengths).
Since protons are the largest background source for the electron measurements and the ratio of protons to electrons increases at higher energies, a proton rejection power of $10^5$ is required in the TeV region. Owing to the thick and well-segmented calorimeter, CALET has capabilities to absorb most of shower energy for electrons in TeV region and to identify electrons from protons by the difference of shapes between electromagnetic showers and hadronic showers. The present work contains a comparative study, with different Monte Carlo simulation codes, of the proton rejection power obtained with optimized selection cuts. In order to maximize the rejection power we have also confirmed the consistency between flight data and Monte Carlo simulations for the variables obtained by the reconstruction of shower images and we have applied multivariate analysis (MVA) with boosted decision tree algorithms. The resulting capability of electron identification with CALET will be presented.


After the oil supply shocks in the 1970s, research on development of alternative sources of liquid fuels was intensified. The initial emphasis was on processes that used coal as a feedstock, but later investigations were on the direct fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass where the biomass is first treated to convert it to fermentable sugars, followed by the familiar alcoholic fermentation, generally by yeast. Synthesis gas can be fermented or otherwise converted to a number of desired products, including ethanol. It can be chemically converted to liquid fuels. Clostridium carboxidivorans has been shown to ferment 100 mmol of fructose to 23 mmol of ethanol, 81 mmol of acetate, and 4 mmol of butanol. Upon fermentation of an equivalent amount of carbon monoxide (600 mmol), the end products produced shifted to 96 mmol of ethanol, 12 mmol of acetate, and 24 mmol of butanol. The presence of reducing agents alone can shift products of fermentation from acetate to ethanol. The ability to produce butanol from synthesis gas appears to be the most attractive feature of Butyribacterium methylotrophicum. C. ljungdahlii was isolated from chicken yard waste based on its ability to ferment synthesis gas to ethanol. The first commercial fermentation of synthesis gas to ethanol will probably use C. ljungdahlii as the microbial catalyst. C. carboxidivorans can directly ferment biomass, at least the cellulose fraction.


Celiac disease (CD) is a complex disorder with no bona fide animal model that would exhibit all the features of the disorder. The small-intestinal mucosal biopsies commonly used to study the disease present a limiting factor, which is the survival of the specimen for only 24-48 hours. The goal of this project was to develop a system to support the biopsy using mice as carriers for a long-term culture and to subsequently use this system to test potential therapeutic compounds. We obtained biopsies from CD and control patients and implanted them under the skin of athymic mice for the duration of 8 days. To determine if certain key features of CD were maintained in the biopsy during the extended incubation time, we performed various immunofluorescent stains. We found abundant, well developed vessels in the control and reduced size and functionality in the CD vessels, consistent with the situation in actual patients. We also confirmed the presence of B-cells, and found evidence of IgA/transglutaminase 2 colocalization, both important features of the disease. To test the effectiveness of different compounds at ameliorating the decreased vascularization seen in CD samples, we applied statin class drugs, shown to increase angiogenesis, to HUVEC cells in the presence and absence of celiac disease-specific transglutaminase 2 – targeting autoantibodies. We found that the compound α-amino-γ-butyrolactone hydrobromide had the ability to accelerate the growth of the HUVEC cells even in the inhibiting presence of the CD autoantibodies, while the drug Atorvastatin show variable and inconclusive results. We proceeded with the application of both of these compounds to mice implanted with CD and control biopsies. The samples from these final mouse experiments have yet to be analyzed but we feel confident that our organ culture model provides a valid option for extending the life of human biopsies as well as an opportunity to test novel compounds.


Cluster magnetotail data together with ACE solar wind data from 2001 to 2009 are used to investigate the dependence of the azimuthal flow direction of earthward magnetotail fast flows on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We find an indication that fast flows have favored azimuthal directions that have dependence on the IMF. Our results suggest that for positive IMF By, the favored azimuthal direction of the fast flows is dawnward in the northern plasma sheet and duskward in the southern plasma sheet. For negative IMF By, an opposite situation takes place, the favored azimuthal flow directions are then duskward and dawnward in the northern and southern plasma sheet, respectively. As a possible explanation for the results, it is suggested that the untwisting reconnected magnetic field lines may direct the fast flows in the magnetotail, the field line twist itself being dependent on the IMF.


[This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the events and political culture of the Ottoman civil war of 1402-1413. After Timur defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara and dismembered their empire, the sons of Bayezid "the Thunderbolt" fought bloody battles for his throne, using literature and other means to justify their claims against each other. An analysis of the literature in question, which is among the earliest in Ottoman history, reveals fascinating attitudes on matters such as dynastic fratricide and power-sharing., This book is the first detailed reconstruction of the events and political culture of the Ottoman civil war of 1402-1413. After Timur defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Ankara and dismembered their empire, the sons of Bayezid "the Thunderbolt" fought bloody battles for his throne, using literature and other means to justify their claims against each other. An analysis of the literature in question, which is among the earliest in Ottoman history, reveals fascinating attitudes on matters such as dynastic fratricide and power-sharing.]


We present a heterogeneous-firm model in which management ability increases both production efficiency and product quality. Combining six micro-datasets on management practices, production and trade in Chinese and American firms, we find broad support for the model's predictions. First, better managed firms are more likely to export, sell more products to more destination countries, and earn higher export revenues and profits. Second, better managed exporters have higher prices, higher quality, and lower quality-adjusted prices. Finally, they also use a wider range of inputs, higher quality and more expensive inputs, and imported inputs from more advanced countries. The structural estimates indicate that management is important for improving production efficiency and product quality in both countries, but it matters more in China than in the US, especially for product quality. Panel analysis for the US and a randomized control trial in India suggest that management exerts causal effects on product quality, production efficiency, and exports. Poor management practices may thus hinder trade and growth, especially in developing countries.


In 1967 the French philosopher, Michel Foucault, presented a lecture with the title, "Of Other Spaces," to a small group of architects, and thereby made known his understanding of the term "heterotopia" initially and briefly introduced in The Order of Things. In the past decade there has been considerable renewed interest in Foucault's work, and a renewed interest in this obscure and complex notion of 'other' spaces. One example he gives, among many, is that of cinematic space, as well as the space of the cinema. This paper aims to explore aspects of Foucault's thinking as it might apply to cinema, with particular emphasis on relations developed in his work on power, space and knowledge. The cinema of Hitchcock is particularly apt for such an engagement, not simply because Hitchcock has a rich and complex engagement with spatiality and pathologies, or an 'otherness' of spatially defined norms. More so than cinematic depictions of the heterotopic is Hitchcock's distilled understanding of the spatiality of power's exercise in producing the 'true' and in speaking the true. Thus, with so many plots in Hitchcock, the driving force of a cinematic narrative and mise en scene concerns implicit relations between power, knowledge and space. The paper will engage a number of Hitchcock films, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934/1956); Rope (1948); Vertigo (1958); and North By Northwest (1959).


Many violence prevention programs include a focus on the role of bystanders and third parties in violence prevention training. Central to this work has been the classic social psychological research on the "bystander effect". However, recent research on bystander behavior shows that the bystander effect does not hold in violent or dangerous emergencies. Meta‐analyses of the literature show that the presence of others can facilitate as well as inhibit intervention in emergencies. Studies of real‐life bystander behavior captured on CCTV cameras shows that some bystander intervention is the norm and that the likelihood of bystanders being victimized is low. One reason for the limited effectiveness of violence reduction programs may be their approach to bystanders. We argue that violence reduction programs should: recognize that some intervention is likely (although it may not always be successful); see the group as a route to successful intervention rather than a threat to the likelihood of any single individual becoming an intervener; inform bystanders of the real risks of victimization; utilize the power of social relations between bystanders, victims, and perpetrators to enhance successful intervention; seek to deliver bystander intervention training in situ, rather than away from the context of the aggression or violence.


Ellinger's Modern Banking Law sets banking law against the background of general legal doctrines and banking regulation, discussing its operation in the context of its wider economic function. It makes use of American, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian examples and takes account of the changes promoted by the recent global financial crisis. It provides analysis of the banker and customer relationship, explaining the different types of accounts available, the duties and the liabilities of banks, and the latest processes used in the clearance of cheques, plastic money and electronic money transfers. Issues relating to overdrafts, bank loans, credit agreements, and securities for bankers' advances are covered. This is a significant book for undergraduates and postgraduates alike, as well as practitioners, providing comprehensive and up-to-date coverage. Online Resource Centre Weblinks and twice-yearly updates will be available on an Online Resource Centre accompanying the book. Contributors to this volume - John Phillips , Professor of Law, King's College London


The goal of this work is to present an extension to the vector model that accounts for the correlation among query terms, by using association rules, a popular data mining technique. In Information Retrieval, the vector model allows retrieving a set of documents from a termbased query, where both query terms and documents are vectors in a vector space. Although the vector model has been used succesfully for decades, there are no practical and efficient mechanisms that account for correlations among query terms in each document from the collection until now. The novelty of this work is the proposal of a method for computing the correlations among query terms. The changes to the original vector model are minimal, and experimental results show that our extended vector model enhances the precision of the results for all the collections evaluated.


Strategies to reduce phosphorus and sediment yields are identified for two Australian catchments using a nonlinear optimisation model. This provides novel insight into the cost-effective management of dual pollutants of water courses in Australia. A strong degree of complementarity between the two pollutants is highlighted, given the adsorption of phosphorus to sediment that augments the value of gully and streambank management for mitigation. However, the relationship between the two pollutants is asymmetric. A 30 per cent reduction in phosphorus yield achieves a 75 per cent reduction in sediment yield in one catchment, while a 30 per cent reduction in sediment yield achieves only a 12 per cent reduction in phosphorus yield. Sediment abatement costs are low given the efficiency of gully and streambank management. A 30 per cent phosphorus reduction lowers profit by 3–7 per cent, while a 30 per cent sediment reduction lowers profit by around 1 per cent. Land-use optimisation requires spatial heterogeneity in land-use and gully/streambank management responses. Overall, this research demonstrates the need to determine whether one pollutant is more important than another, while recognising the potential that mitigation practices possess for the reduction of multiple emissions during their evaluation.


The synthesis of nitro-2,3-dimethylnaphthalenes has been undertaken, and fourteen previously unreported dinitro, trinitro, tetranitro and pentanitro derivatives of 2, 3-dimethylnaphthalene have been prepared. The synthesis of nitro-1, 5-dimethylnaphthalenes has also been undertaken, and seven previously unreported mononitro, dinitro, trinitro and tetranitro derivatives of 1, 5-dimethylnaphthalene have been prepared. The positive and negative ion mass spectra, electronic spectra and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of these compounds have been recorded and discussed in terms of the structures of the compounds. The electron spin resonance spectra of the radical anions of two of the symmetrically substituted compounds have been recorded.
The reactions of polynitro-2, 3-dimethyl-naphthalenes with methoxide ion and sulphite ion have been investigated, and the Meisenheimer complexes so formed characterised by NMR spectroscopy. In a number of cases solid Meisenheimer complexes have been isolated. The reaction of 4-nitro-1, 5-dimethylnaphthalene with hydroxide ion was found to produce dinitro derivatives of naphthastilbene and naphthabibenzyl, resulting from coupling via the 1-methyl group. The reactions of polynitro-1, 5-dimethylnaphthalenes with methoxide ion, sulphite ion, diethylamine and triethylamine in dimethylsulphoxide solvent have been investigated in situ by NMR spectroscopy, and benzyl-type ions resulting from abstraction of methyl hydrogen atoms were found to have been produced. The reaction of 2, 4, 6, 8-tetranitro-1, 5- dimethylnaphthalene with methoxide ion in tetrahydrofuran solvent was investigated, and a solid Meisenheimer complex was isolated.
The association constants for the formation of charge-transfer complexes between benzene and the polynitro-1, 5-dimethlnaphthalenes and polynitro-2, 3- dimethylnaphthalenes have been determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and it has been shown that polynitro-1, 5-dimethlnaphthalenes are stronger electron-acceptors than polynitro-2, 3-dimethylnaphthalenes.
The rates of nitration of a number of mononitro, dinitro and trinitro derivatives of 1, 5-dimethylnaphthalene and 2, 3-dimethylnaphthalene have been investigated and the rates correlated with theoretical reactivity indices derived from Huckel Molecular Orbital calculations.


Dental caries continues to be a serious problem. Affecting 2.4 billion people, it is the most prevalent disease worldwide.1 Although a highly prevalent condition, the impact of childhood dental caries is often underappreciated as the disease is rarely life-threatening or overtly limiting on daily activities. However, it carries significant consequences for children in terms of day-to-day living and it is expensive to treat.

Dental caries has a linear relationship with poverty, affecting those in lower socioeconomic groups most. This variation in disease levels is stark and can be clearly seen in the UK, with 56% of 5-year-old children in the deprived regions of Blackburn and Darwen having visible decay, but only 4% in the more affluent South Gloucester similarly affected. In England as a whole, a quarter of 5-year-olds have visible dental caries, with an average of three to four decayed teeth each. Tooth extraction is the sixth most common reason for admittance to hospital for general anaesthesia (GA) for the under 5s and the single most common reason for children aged 5–9 years old.2 These figures are reflected across Europe, the USA and beyond.

The consequences of the disease have significant impacts on children's daily lives. These include pain,3 interference with sleep and loss of time4 from school. Around 50% of children aged 12 and 15 years old report toothache, and around a quarter of them experience difficulty eating. Dental caries can also affect the general health and quality of life of children, impairing growth and cognitive development, and interfering with nutrition and school attendance.5 In 2013, 6% of 12-year-olds and 3% of 15-year-olds reported difficulty with schoolwork because of the condition of their teeth and mouth over the previous 3 months.6

Dental caries affects one in three 12-year-olds in the UK. It has a positive association with …


Apatite and zircon fission-track ages of three samples of the Huachon granite and one sample of the Quiparacra granite, from the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes of central Peru, have been determined. Zircons from the Huachon granite yielded two groups of ages. An older group, made up of zircons with the lowest uranium content, gave an age of c. 270 Ma. The zircons with high uranium content from this granite gave ages of c. 160 Ma. The zircon ages from the Huachon granite show no correlation with elevation. The age of 270 Ma is interpreted as the age of probable emplacement; the 160 Ma age is evidence of a mild cooling (≥200°C) event that ended in late Mid-Jurassic time. This cooling correlates, in central Peru, with thick conglomerates in the Sub-Andes and strong exhumation in the Eastern Cordillera during Bathonian to Malm times. Zircons from the Quiparaca granite, which is a component of a composite batholith of possible Precambrian to Tertiary age, show ages of c. 30 Ma which are interpreted as the emplacement age. These zircons were totally annealed prior to the cooling in the Oligocene. This required temperatures, >200°C. Apatite fission-track dating of the Huachon granite yielded only Neogene ages which reflect the total annealing of the tracks present in the apatite before exhumation began c. 22 Ma. Apatite ages show a correlation with elevation and indicate two periods of cooling during the Neogene at c. 21 Ma and between 12 Ma and the Present. These young ages suggest approximately 4 to 6 km of erosion in the Eastern Cordillera of central Peru in the past 30 Ma. These amounts are consistent with known geological data and fission-track ages obtained from other parts of the eastern Andes.


ABSTRACT: The following case examples present the use of music therapy with 6 Latino children who were learning English as a second language (ESL). Of the 6 children, 4 were kindergarten students who participated in half hour group sessions using traditional Spanish language children's music primarily from Mexico, which had been translated into English. The other 2 students, a fourth grader and a sixth grader, were involved in twice weekly music therapy sessions that utilized music from Western pop culture. These case examples illustrate the differential use of a client's traditional music and the music of the culture in which they currently live. Through a narrative description of the interventions, one way of working with this population is described. The children's improvements indicated that music therapy assisted in increasing vocabulary, receptive and expressive language skills, as well as sequencing. Interventions and techniques are described as well as recommendations for future directions and research. As the Latino population continues to grow in the United States, there are more children who speak English as a second language (ESL) entering the public school system and who need specialized services to help them achieve not only their academic goals but also master the English language. Planning and developing an individualized program to meet this need is a challenge to both classroom and specialized ESL teachers. There are two main types of education to assist students in mastering English. The first is a truly bilingual program where students are taught some subjects in English, some subjects in both Spanish and English, and other subjects in only Spanish. Abril (2003) noted that many school districts provide varying degrees of the bilingual program depending on the population of students and services available. He then described that students are taught English, which is through an English as a Second Language (ESL) or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program. Abril noted that students are often pulled out of their classrooms during electives such as music and do not get to participate in these courses especially in the secondary grades. Many music educators do not have the training or resources to provide music instruction to children who speak English as a second language (Abril, 2003). However, music can be an integral part of learning English. There have been a limited number of studies that measured the outcomes of students participating in ESL programs utilizing music. Fisher (2001) conducted a 2-year quasi-randomized trial involving 1 60 low-income kindergarten students enrolled in a bilingual program. It was found that students in the classrooms that used music to assist in teaching English scored significantly higher on standardized tests of oral language, decoding of written material, and reading comprehension than those whose classrooms did not use music. Of the 80 students in the music classrooms, a quarter could read at grade level based on the results from the reading comprehension test while only one could read at grade level in the nonmusic classes. Fisher (2001) concluded that in addition to significantly better performance by music versus nonmusic environment students, music "complemented the instruction rather than detracted from it" (p. 48). Ray (1997) achieved similar results with her study of 14 pre-K to second grade bilingual classrooms. In this 2-week study, 93% of those who received daily music instruction for 30 minutes advanced one or more levels on the English Language Assessment while only 23% of those who received no music instruction demonstrated such growth. Ray described the process the children went through when singing along with the English songs. First, their words sounded unclear, but as the songs were repeated, the words became much more precise and much more usable for the children. In addition to the increased word recognition, children were more engaged in the music-based instruction, which seemed to be less embarrassing and discouraging for the children than traditional oral instruction. …


Hazardous weather conditions significantly limit the operational capability of civil helicopters. This limitation arises from the crew's inability to determine the location of obstacles in the environment by sight. In order to assist the crew in these circumstances a range of equipment and sensors may be installed in the helicopter. However, with multiple sensors on board, the problem of efficiently assimilating the large amount of imagery and data available generates a significant workload. A reduction of the workload may be achieved by the automation of this assimilation (sensor fusion) and the design of a system to guide the pilot along obstacle free paths. In order to provide the guidance to avoid obstacles a system must have knowledge about the obstacles' possible positions and likely future positions relative the system's own aircraft. Since the information being provided by the sensors will not be perfect, (i.e. it will have some uncertainty associated with it), and since the process model, which must be used to predict any future positions, will also be uncertain, the required positions must be estimated. As the dynamics of moving obstacles will be a priori unknown, it will be necessary to learn process models for them. The dynamics of the obstacles cannot be guaranteed to be linear, therefore these process models must be capable of reflecting this non-linear behaviour. The uncertain information produced by the various sensors will be related to required knowledge about the obstacles by a sensor model, however this relationship need not be linear, and may even have to be learned. Currently used estimation techniques (e.g. the ordinary extended Kalman filter) are inadequate for estimating the uncertainty involved in the obstacles' positions for the highly non-linear processes under consideration. Neural network approaches to non-linear estimation have recently allowed process and sensor models to be learned (sometimes implicitly), however these approaches have been quite ad hoc in their implementation and have been even more negligent in the estimation of uncertainty. The main contributions of this research are the design of non-linear estimators which may use process and sensor models that result from learning processes, and the use of the output of these estimators to determine guidance for obstacle free paths through the environment in 3 dimensions.


We have developed a simple and efficient synthetic route, starting from easily available starting materials, to the novel ring system benzo[4,5]isothiazolo[2,3-a]pyrazine-6,6-dioxide. A series of chalcones were synthesized which were subsequently reacted with chlorosulphonic acid to generate the chalcone sulphonyl chlorides. The chalcone sulphonyl chlorides were then treated with bromine to generate the dibromo chalcone sulphonyl chlorides. These were subsequently reacted with 1,2-diaminopropane and 2-methyl-1,2-diaminopropane in boiling ethanol resulting in compounds 22-30 and 31-39 respectively, in 12-80% yields. The products were recrystallized using appropriate solvents and were characterized by spectral analysis, melting point, infrared spectroscopy, 1 H and 13 C NMR and mass spectrometry. In addition to spectral analysis, X-ray crystallography data was also collected for compound 31, confirming the definitive structure of the synthesized compounds. The reaction is believed to occur by the domino effect. The less sterically hindered amino group reacts with the sulphonyl chloride group to from the sulphonamide. The sulphonamide group then reacts with the β-carbon by nucleophilic substitution to form the isothiazole ring system and then the second amino group reacts with the α-carbon with elimination of the bromide ion to form the pyrazine ring. X-Ray data confirmed the structure of compound 31 and clearly confirmed that the dimethyl groups were on the carbon atom adjacent to the NH group. The synthesized compounds have been screened for potential antimicrobial properties against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Proteus hauseri and Staphylococcus aureus. Compound 27 displayed antibacterial activity against B. subtilis at a concentration of 416 µgml-1. 36 all showed activity against B. subtilis at a concentration of 6.67 mg ml-1 , generally the compounds synthesized displayed activity at the highest concentration and were more active against gram positive bacteria. A simple, efficient method for the synthesis of the novel benzo[4,5]isothiazolo[2,3-a]pyrazine-6,6-dioxide ring system which should be applicable to generate other fused pyrazine ring systems of biological interest has been developed.


The paper seeks to demonstrate that, first, over the course of interaction in the radio phone-in events, participants display orientation to various aspects of their co-participants´ identities, second, since membership categories emerge and are developed at various sequentially relevant times, membership categorisation processes are closely tied with the event´s sequential organisation, and, third, categorisation bears on politeness aspects of interaction as the participation in the public ´arena´ causes participants´ faces to be constantly at stake. The methodological underpinnings of the paper represent the approaches of Membership Categorisation Analysis and the model of politeness based on the conceptualisation of face. The data are drawn from the corpus of Nocne dialogy (´Night Dialogues´) radio phone-ins broadcast on the Slovak public radio over the period of 1995-2004. The paper further attempts to demonstrate that participants are engaged in category work which sequentially unfolds in the course of the production of phone-in calls. Participants´ progressive involvement in talk is closely linked with the construction of ´layers´ of their categorial identities. The membership category of ´location´ represents the minimum agreed-upon canon of callers´ call-relevant identities. As the category is universally applicable, it bears the least face-threatening potential, for which reason it is used explicitely. In contrast, strategies of non-explicit categorisation, i.e. invoking categories through category-relevant predicates, apply to those topic-relevant categories which carry a significant face-threating ´load´ (e.g. ´family status´, ´political affiliation´, etc.). In summary, sequential organisation and category work are seen as being closely intertwined, with the latter also being employed as a positive and negative politeness strategy.


This comprehensive book reveals the evidence for intracellular calcium as a universal switch in all animal, plant, fungal and microbial cells. It shows how the components required for calcium signaling are named and classified; covers the technology that has been developed to study intracellular calcium; describes how calcium is regulated inside cells and how it works to trigger an event; explains the role of intracellular calcium in disease, cell injury, and cell death; reveals how many drugs work through the calcium signaling system; and demonstrates how intracellular calcium is involved in the action of many natural toxins. The book also illustrates how the intracellular calcium signaling system has evolved over millions of years, showing why it was crucial to the origin of life. Additionally, the book promotes the importance of the molecular variation upon which the intracellular calcium signalling system depends.

Featuring more than 100 figures (including detailed chemical structures as well as pictures of key pioneers in the field), a bibliography of some 1000 references, and a detailed subject index, this definitive work provides a unique source of scholarship for teachers and researchers in the biomedical sciences and beyond.
•Emphasizes two key scientific principles—the first to show how intracellular Ca2+ acts as a switch, to activate a wide range of cellular events, and the second demonstrating how an analogue mechanism can be superimposed on such a process
•Written by an internationally recognized expert in the field
•Filled with images and references to facilitate learning

Fundamentals of Intracellular Calcium is an all-important text for post-graduate students and researchers working in biomedicine and biochemistry. It is also essential for undergraduate lecturers and their students in physiology, medicine, pharmacy, and the biosciences.


The characteristics of the Palestinian Healthcare sector has led to a poor quality of care being provided which in turn pushed the Ministry of Heath (MOH) to initiate the Quality Improvement Project ( QIP ). That project was held responsible for improving the quality of healthcare provided through implementing Total Quality Management. This study assesses the process of TQM implementation in the Palestinian Healthcare sector. The central thrust of this study involves the identification of: The main pitfalls and obstacles to TQM which impede its implementation. The process of TQM implementation in the Palestinian healthcare sector. The main driving and restraining forces while implementing Total Quality Management in the Palestinian healthcare sector. The main lessons and recommendations for the future development of quality improvement. Case study methodology will be used in this thesis as it is unique in its ability to deal with a full variety of evidence through the use of documents, interviews and observations. The data that will be produced cannot be generalised. To overcome this disadvantage in the case study approach, a multi- method approach will be used in this thesis. A postal questionnaire survey, as part of the evaluation study, will be also used. The use of multiple cases and questionnaire surveys will justify the validity and reliability of the data .The multimethod approach in collecting the data in this thesis shows that the Quality Improvement Project (QIP) was not methodology - bound when implementing TQM. In the first cycle of improvement, the PDCA cycle was used as a model for implementation. In the second cycle of improvement, the Tom Noland model was used as basis for implementation. In seeking to improve the quality ofhealthcare, the QIP utilised no single scientific methodology for the improvement of the quality of healthcare but combination of more than one methodology that could assist in achieving the best results possible.The thesis also shows that the Quality Improvement Project Team (QIPT) dealt with many driving forces during their attempts to implement quality improvement such as team work, planning, a well defined and a scientific methodology, the use of a simple quality improvement model, a new management system, enthusiasm of the team leaders for quality improvement, and strong coordination. Furthermore, the QIPT faced many obstacles during implementing quality improvement such as the turbulent external environment, internal problems and difficulties inside the subject organisations, lack of monitoring and follow - up systems, resistant to change, centralisation, poor communication, and the dissatisfaction of health personnel. The QIPT learnt many lessons and drew many conclusions from their efforts to implement quality management in the Palestinian healthcare sector; such as the importance of the commitment of macro level managers to quality improvement. Quality improvement in Palestine is possible and has the potential to be successfully introduced into the current professional and technical internal environment. Consumer (internal & external) views about the health services is very important to consider when seeking any improvement in the health sector, and of maintaining a cintinous pattern of consolidation for the gains made in quality provision. In particular, there is a need to note the importance of conducting improvement processes within the selected organisations in response to the annual improvement needs plan within those organisations, of meeting the demand of the MOH and the importance of providing the financial and staff support that quality improvementprocesses needed if they are to be brought to a successful conclusion are recognised and recommendations offered.


Population-based cervical screening has been promoted widely and enthusiastically as a preventive measure for cervical cancer since the development of the Papanicolaou smear test in the 1940s. In 1984 the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Co-ordinating Committee on Cervical Screening1 confidently announced "With the exception of stopping the population from smoking, cervical cytological screening offers the only major proved public health measure for significantly reducing the burden of cancer today."

Throughout its history, however, the 'Pap' smear has been subject to intense criticism. Critics have wondered whether many lesions or dysplasias identified by smears and treated would have developed into cancer if left alone. From the 1960s, in the light of the growing importance attached to the sciences of biostatistics and epidemiology, others questioned whether screening programmes had reduced the incidence of cervical cancer. Feminists from the 1980s critiqued the interventionist medical model, arguing that the costs to individual women outweighed the public health benefits. Archie Cochrane, Professor of Epidemiology and the doyen of evidence-based medicine, claimed that the subject of cervical screening in Great Britain was highly emotional, and "never has there been less appeal to evidence and more to opinion".2 3 This article revisits the debates, focusing in particular on the critiques that have existed as long as the screening programmes themselves.

At the 1960 American Medical Association annual meeting, chairman Dr Curtis Lund4 announced that an epitaph for cervical carcinoma could be written "The lethal methods are ready, only the proper application remains." The method referred to was the Papanicolaou smear test, developed in America.

The American Society for the Control of Cancer (later the American Cancer Society; ACS) was founded in 1913 specifically to combat the fatalistic attitude to cancer by arguing that it was curable if caught early.5 The problem for cancer …


The world's poor -- and programs to raise their incomes -- are increasingly concentrated in fragile states. We review the evidence on what interventions work, and whether stimulating employment promotes social stability. Skills training and microfinance have shown little impact on poverty or stability, especially relative to program cost. In contrast, injections of capital -- cash, capital goods, or livestock -- seem to stimulate self-employment and raise long term earning potential, often when partnered with low-cost complementary interventions. Such capital-centric programs, alongside cash-for-work, may be the most effective tools for putting people to work and boosting incomes in poor and fragile states. We argue that policymakers should shift the balance of programs in this direction. If targeted to the highest risk men, we should expect such programs to reduce crime and other materially-motivated violence modestly. Policymakers, however, should not expect dramatic effects of employment on crime and violence, in part because some forms of violence do not respond to incomes or employment. Finally, this review finds that more investigation is needed in several areas. First, are skills training and other interventions cost-effective complements to capital injections? Second, what non-employment strategies reduce crime and violence among the highest risk men, and are they complementary to employment programs? Third, policymakers can reduce the high failure rate of employment programs by using small-scale pilots before launching large programs; investing in labor market panel data; and investing in multi-country studies to test and fine tune the most promising interventions.


Legislation related to water quality is becoming more stringent worldwide. A clear example is the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EU) (WFD) that involves both a good chemical and biological status of water bodies. To achieve this good status advanced water quality monitoring platforms are needed. For that purpose, several detection technologies have been tested to evaluate their potential for river water quality assessment including on-line and off-line methodologies for measuring both chemical and biological status. The combination of these technologies has proved to be capable of detecting the presence of contaminants at low concentrations and sudden changes in water quality.


Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the deposits of the 4-kDa amyloid β peptide (Aβ). The Aβ protein precursor (APP) is cleaved by β-secretase to generate a C-terminal fragment, CTFβ, which in turn is cleaved by γ-secretase to generate Aβ. Alternative cleavage of the APP by α-secretase at Aβ16/17 generates the C-terminal fragment, CTFα. In addition to Aβ, endoproteolytic cleavage of CTFα and CTFβ by γ-secretase should yield a C-terminal fragment of 57–59 residues (CTFγ). However, CTFγ has not yet been reported in either brain or cell lysates, presumably due to its instability in vivo. We detected thein vitro generation of Aβ as well as an ∼6-kDa fragment from guinea pig brain membranes. We have provided biochemical and pharmacological evidence that this 6-kDa fragment is the elusive CTFγ, and we describe an in vitro assay for γ-secretase activity. The fragment migrates with a synthetic peptide corresponding to the 57-residue CTFγ fragment. Three compounds previously identified as γ-secretase inhibitors, pepstatin-A, MG132, and a substrate-based difluoroketone (t-butoxycarbonyl-Val-Ile-(S)-4-amino-3-oxo-2,2-difluoropentanoyl-Val-Ile-OMe), reduced the yield of CTFγ, providing additional evidence that the fragment arises from γ-secretase cleavage. Consistent with reports that presenilins are the elusive γ-secretases, subcellular fractionation studies showed that presenilin-1, CTFα, and CTFβ are enriched in the CTFγ-generating fractions. The in vitroγ-secretase assay described here will be useful for the detailed characterization of the enzyme and to screen for γ-secretase inhibitors.


have long claimed the Indus Valley as one of the four literate centers of the early ancient world, complete with long texts written on perishable materials. We demonstrate the impossibility of the lost-manuscript thesis and show that Indus symbols were not even evolving in linguistic directions after at least 600 years of use. Suggestions as to how Indus symbols were used are noted in nonlinguistic symbol systems in the Near East that served key religious, political, and social functions without encoding speech or serving as formal memory aids. Evidence is reviewed that the Harappans' lack of a true script may have been tied to the role played by their symbols in controlling large multilinguistic populations; parallels are drawn to the later resistance of Brahmin elites to the literate encoding of Vedic sources and to similar phenomena in esoteric traditions outside South Asia. Discussion is provided on some of the political and academic forces that helped sustain the Indus- script myth for over 130 years and on ways in which our findings transform current views of the Indus Valley and of literacy in the ancient world in general.


This report hopes to fill some of the knowledge gaps in the current immigration debate by describing the unauthorized population nationally and in California and Los Angeles?the state and urban area with the largest numbers of these immigrants. Unauthorized immigrants numbered 2.45 million in California in 2004, representing almost one-quarter (24 percent) of the nation's total (10.3 million). There are about 1 million unauthorized immigrants in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, almost twice the number of any other metro area; the unauthorized are one-tenth of the area's population (10 million). The report presents findings about these populations, including their socio-economic characteristics, such as national origin, education, employment, and poverty.


Islet transplantation has become a viable clinical treatment, but is still compromised by long-term graft failure. Exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, has in clinical studies been shown to improve insulin secretion in islet transplanted patients. However, little is known about the effect of exendin-4 on other metabolic parameters. We therefore aimed to determine what influence exendin-4 would have on revascularized minimal human islet grafts in a state of graft failure in terms of glucose metabolism, body weight, lipid levels and graft survival. Introducing the bilateral, subcapsular islet transplantation model, we first transplanted diabetic mice with a murine graft under the left kidney capsule sufficient to restore normoglycemia. After a convalescent period, we performed a second transplantation under the right kidney capsule with a minimal human islet graft and allowed for a second recovery. We then performed a left-sided nephrectomy, and immediately started treatment with exendin-4 with a low (20μg/kg/day) or high (200μg/kg/day) dose, or saline subcutaneously twice daily for 15 days. Blood was sampled, blood glucose and body weight monitored. The transplanted human islet grafts were collected at study end point and analyzed. We found that exendin-4 exerts its effect on failing human islet grafts in a bell-shaped dose-response curve. Both doses of exendin-4 equally and significantly reduced blood glucose. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), C-peptide and pro-insulin were conversely increased. In the course of the treatment, body weight and cholesterol levels were not affected. However, immunohistochemistry revealed an increase in beta cell nuclei count and reduced TUNEL staining only in the group treated with a low dose of exendin-4 compared to the high dose and control. Collectively, these results suggest that exendin-4 has a potential rescue effect on failing, revascularized human islets in terms of lowering blood glucose, maintaining beta cell numbers, and improving metabolic parameters during hyperglycemic stress.


Accurate knowledge of retention time (RT) in liquid chromatography-based mass spectrometry data facilitates peptide identification, quantification, and multiplexing in targeted and discovery-based workflows. Retention time prediction is particularly important for peptide analysis in emerging data-independent acquisition (DIA) experiments such as SWATH-MS. The indexed RT approach, iRT, uses synthetic spiked-in peptide standards (SiRT) to set RT to a unit-less scale, allowing for normalization of peptide RT between different samples and chromatographic set-ups. The obligatory use of SiRTs can be costly and complicates comparisons and data integration if standards are not included in every sample. Reliance on SiRTs also prevents the inclusion of archived mass spectrometry data for generation of the peptide assay libraries central to targeted DIA-MS data analysis. We have identified a set of peptide sequences that are conserved across most eukaryotic species, termed Common internal Retention Time standards (CiRT). In a series of tests to support the appropriateness of the CiRT-based method, we show: (1) the CiRT peptides normalized RT in human, yeast, and mouse cell lysate derived peptide assay libraries and enabled merging of archived libraries for expanded DIA-MS quantitative applications; (2) CiRTs predicted RT in SWATH-MS data within a 2-min margin of error for the majority of peptides; and (3) normalization of RT using the CiRT peptides enabled the accurate SWATH-MS-based quantification of 340 synthetic isotopically labeled peptides that were spiked into either human or yeast cell lysate. To automate and facilitate the use of these CiRT peptide lists or other custom user-defined internal RT reference peptides in DIA workflows, an algorithm was designed to automatically select a high-quality subset of datapoints for robust linear alignment of RT for use. Implementations of this algorithm are available for the OpenSWATH and Skyline platforms. Thus, CiRT peptides can be used alone or as a complement to SiRTs for RT normalization across peptide spectral libraries and in quantitative DIA-MS studies.


One of the key challenges of working well in partnerships is ensuring a good level of engagement from all sides, so that everyone feels equally responsible and accountable for the delivery of the project, and ultimately for helping to improve the lives of marginalized and vulnerable people. So, how do we achieve this? This paper examines a specific case of a network that went wrong, and how it was rebuilt more successfully thanks to accountability and feedback mechanisms. Partnering for Impact series To do the work it does, Oxfam works closely with partners at all stages of the programme, in all kind of contexts: humanitarian, influencing, development, etc. But what does it mean for our staff? Each day brings new challenges and opportunities, so how do they do it? Following a reflective and productive writeshop, this Partnering for Impact series was developed to share and explore learning from experienced practitioners about what it takes to 'work well in partnership'.