After the first news items concerning raised dioxin levels in eggs from hens with outdoor access were published in the summer of 2001, Wageningen UR carried out intensive research activities to understand the problem and to find a way to manage the problem.
In 2004 the first Wageningen UR report on this issue was published. It described the possible factors that were associated with high egg dioxin levels in organic poultry farms. The most striking feature was the number of laying hens on the farm. Small and middle sized farms regularly produced eggs that exceeded the dioxin levels set out by the EU. In a follow-up study the relationship between egg dioxin levels and flock size was further analyzed and on-farm control measures were tested. Flock size was shown to be correlated with the use of the outdoor run. Two explanations were found for this observation. The first explanation is that large farms only open the barn doors late in the morning or even at the beginning of the afternoon. Small farms, on the other hand, often do not have doors at all or open them early in the morning. Furthermore, it turns out that the amount of time spent in the outdoor run is inversely related with the size of the flock. Hens from a large flock spend no more than 20% of the available time outside. The increasing scale of organic poultry systems thus already diminishes the problem with dioxin levels. Especially since large-scale organic poultry farms have a market share of 99% in The Netherlands. Various observations from the current project confirm the hypothesis that duration of outdoor run use is related to egg dioxin levels. On one farm with the same flock of hens, but kept under three different management systems, we found a direct relation between duration of outdoor run use and egg dioxin levels. Secondly, on farms where we decreased the amount of time that the hens were allowed outside and fed them inside the barn, egg dioxin levels dropped markedly. Thirdly, we noted a marked lowering of egg dioxin levels after hens were confined inside the barn due to a potential threat of aviary influenza infection from wild birds. When outside, hens pick up soil, worms and insects. The dioxins present in these are transferred very efficiently to the hens' eggs. The longer the hens stay outside, the higher the intake from these sources, which results in high egg dioxin levels. Historical pollution of the soil with dioxins is the main cause of dioxin in the eggs of hens kept in outdoor runs. We found a clear correlation between dioxin levels in soil and in eggs from chickens kept on this soil. This project showed that replacing contaminated soil with fresh sand resulted in a marked drop in the egg dioxin levels. Although worms and other micro fauna could contribute to the egg dioxin levels, we still do not know what the relative contribution from these sources is as compared to the contribution from soil uptake. The knowledge that was gained with this project can now be used to efficiently control egg dioxin levels in poultry with outdoor access, by taking measures mainly directed at the duration of outdoor run use. Thanks to these measures and
the introduction of a dioxin monitoring protocol, dioxin levels can nowadays be managed quite easily. Small organic enterprises still need some attention, as they generally do not take part in the dioxin monitoring protocol, due to economic reasons. Their market share however, is less than 1%.


BackgroundPatients with heart failure have a high prevalence of serious arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Methods and ResultsMale patients aged 18-75 years with chronic heart failure were randomized to enalapril or hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate. Short-term (4-hour to 8-hour) Holter tape recordings were performed before randomization, at 3 months, at 1 year, and yearly thereafter. Of 804 patients randomized to therapy, 715 had Holters at baseline. Couplets were noted in 56% versus 60 % and ventricular tachycardia (VT) (three or more consecutive ventricular premature beats) in 27% versus 29% of patients randomized to enalapril versus hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate, respectively. The presence of VT at 3 months, 1 year, and 2 years predicted significantly higher mortality during the subsequent year (P<0.0001,P<0.001, and P<0.037, respectively). In the enalapril group, VT prevalence decreased by 27% at 1 year (P<0.02). A decrease in prevalence of VT was not seen in the hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate group. New VT was seen in 11% of enalapril patients versus 24% of hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate patients at 1 year (P<0.002). When compared with hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate at 1 and 2 years, there was a 52% and 49% 1 reduction, respectively, in sudden deaths in the enalapril group. Thus, at 1 and 2 years, the decrease in sudden deaths in the enalapril group coincided with the decrease in VT prevalence and the decrease in new VT emergence. ConclusionsIn patients with heart failure, VT and couplets predict increased mortality. When compared with hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate, enalapril decreases both the persistence of baseline VT at 3 months and the emergence of new VT at 1 and 2 years. The reduction in VT prevalence parallels a reduction in sudden death. The effect of enalapril on survival over hydralazine-isosorbide dinitrate may be related to its ability to reduce prevalence of ventricular arrhythmia.


The reduction of NO by CO on Pt has been extensively investigated in the past since it helps to eliminate NO of the exhaust gas of cars. However, the dissociation of NO in this reaction and the deactivation of the NO/CO reaction on Pt-supported catalysts still need to be discussed. In this work, the reduction of NO with CO is examined on a 0.5 % Pt-3.4 % MoO3/alpha-Al2O3 catalyst. The results of a kinetic modeling are presented and a new proposition concerning the mechanism of the observed deactivation is made. To the authors knowledge, this is the first study where the kinetics of the N2O formation on a Pt-catalyst is established.


Individual and population level inference about risk and burden of diabetes is often made using diagnostic tests that are imperfect and prone to misclassification error (i.e. false positives and negatives). These errors or biases are rarely accounted for and could lead to inappropriate clinical decisions, inefficient allocation of scarce resources, and poor planning of disease prevention and treatment interventions. The objective of this article is to describe how misclassification error due to imperfect diagnostic tests affects individual and population level inference, particularly involving the role of hemoglobin HbA1c in diagnosing Type 2 diabetes mellitus. An illustration of how disease prevalence, test sensitivity and specificity could be used by healthcare providers to inform individual level inference is also provided.


Marian Clarke attended Carlton Station Road Senior Girls Council School in Nottinghamshire during the Second World War. The school was a senior elementary school in which the curriculum was still focused largely on the 3 'Rs' - English and Arithmetic together with history, geography, 'physical training' and practical subjects, such as needlework and domestic science. The only natural science taught was biology. The report book contains 6 reports on her progress.


Nanomaterials such as block copolymeric membranes provide a platform for both cellular interrogation and biological mimicry. Their biomimetic properties are based upon the innate possession of hydrophilic and hydrophobic units that enable their integration with a broad range of therapeutic materials. As such, they can be engineered for specific applications in nanomedicine, including controlled/localized drug delivery. Here we describe a method for the functionalization of the polymethyloxazoline-polydimethylsiloxane-polymethyloxazoline (PMOXA-PDMS-PMOXA) block copolymer with anti-inflammatory molecules to develop copolymer-therapeutic hybrids, effectively conferring biological functionality to a versatile synthetic nanomembrane matrix and creating a platform for an anti-inflammatory drug delivery system. Utilizing self-assembly and Langmuir-Blodgett deposition methods, we mixed copolymers with dexamethasone (Dex), an anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid receptor agonist. The successful mixing of the copolymer with the drug was confirmed by surface pressure isotherms and fluorescence microscopy. Furthermore, at 4 nm thick per layer, orders of magnitude thinner than conventional drug delivery coatings, these dexamethasone-copolymer mixtures (PolyDex) suppressed in vitro expression of the inflammatory cytokines/signaling elements interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 12 (IL-12), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and interferon gamma inducible protein (IP-10). Finally, PolyDex maintained its anti-inflammatory properties in vivo confirmed through punch biopsies with tissue imagery via hematoxylin/eosin and macrophage specific staining using CD11b. Thus, we demonstrated that PolyDex may be utilized as a localized, highly efficient drug-copolymer composite for active therapeutic delivery to confer anti-inflammatory protection or as a platform material for broad drug elution capabilities.


Helper T cells were obtained by injecting heavily irradiated semiallogeneic mice with lymph node cells from H-2-incompatible parental strain mice primed with sheep erythrocytes (SRC) 2 mo before. Thoracic duct lymphocytes collected from the recipents 18-40 h later (nearly all of which were theta-positive and of donor origin) were totally and specifically unresponsive against host-type determinants in mixed-lymphocyte culture. The filtered cells were transferred to irradiated semiallogeneic mice together with SRC and anti-theta-serum- treated (B) cells from SRC-primed syngeneic, semiallogeneic, or allogeneic mice. When antibody-forming cells were measured in the spleen 5-9 days later, effective IgM and IgG collaborative responses were observed with both syngeneic and semiallogeneic B cells but not with allogeneic B cells. No evidence was found that the failure to obtain collaboration with the allogeneic B cells was due to inhibition of the B cells by the T cells or vice versa.


Catchments in Victoria, Australia, are essential to the state's water supply, yet have experienced increased stress over the last 30 yr. To gain a better understanding of streamflow variability, 27 catchments across the state were analysed: the majority showed a declining trend in streamflow from 1977-2012, which was largest in the far west and east of the state and smallest close to the Australian Alps. The same spatial pattern was observed for the streamflow reduction during the Millennium Drought. The response of streamflow across the state is strongly related to the mean runoff rather than the pattern of rainfall reduction. In terms of large-scale climate forcings, strong correlations were found during the cool season with the subtropical ridge intensity and to a lesser extent with its position. Tropical modes of variability are important in catchments other than those on the southern flank of the Great Dividing Range; however, they do not explain the streamflow reduction during the Millennium Drought. A simple linear regression was tested based on a temporal range of rainfall parameters with short (from 1 mo) to long (up to 10 yr) memory, combined with temperature, to reconstruct streamflow. High correlations were found between observed and best-reconstructed monthly streamflow. The reconstruction was able to capture the long-term trends and the magnitude of the Millennium Drought well, an important step toward the application of the method to generate streamflow projections using downscaled rainfall from climate models.


For a long time, sport governing bodies have put high hopes in a consideration of sport in the European Union (EU) Treaties. Ideally, such a sport consideration should not only entitle the sport bodies to get access to the EU budget but, more importantly, also attach more weight to political considerations of sport specificity in proceedings before the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). While the Treaty of Lisbon denied the sport bodies once more any exception under EU law, it has set a new scenario under which to develop EU sports policy. This article explores what institutional status would be most beneficial for the sport bodies in that new scenario. By employing basic ideas of veto player (VP) theory, we arrive at the conclusion that veto power within EU policymaking would be likely to grant sport bodies more influence in policymaking, but could also result in bargaining deadlock without ending or solving the conflicts at stake. Only if the sport bodies would be given the status of a legitimate representative of the 'sporting movement', they could prevent any detrimental EU-induced policy change. Since such a status is unlikely to be achieved, our recommendation for the sport bodies is to continue to pursue a more inclusive approach towards other stakeholders in the sport sector.


In this communication, we propose a new paper-based platform functionalized with methylene blue (MB) for the detection and removal of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). Our design took advantage of color changes of the functional paper due to the photocatalytic effect of TiO2 on MB. The paper-based colorimetric sensor displayed a good sensitivity for TiO2, showing great potential for practical applications.


SUMMARY The known indigenous earthworms of lord Howe Island are restricted to the subfamily Megascolecinae. They are assignable to six genera with ten species, Diporochaeta plutelloides sp. n., Plutellus hutchingsae sp. n., Paraplutellus insularis Jamieson, and Pericryptodrilus nanus gen. et sp. n. (Tribe Perionychini), Eastoniella gen. n. with E. howeana and E. modesta spp. n. (Tribe Dichogastrini) and Spenceriella (Austrosco/ex) subgen. n., with S. (A) howeana, S. (A) difficilis, S. (A) hollowayi and S. (A) saundersi spp. n., (Tribe Megascolecini). In addition to these 10 endemic species, the circummundane Amynthas diffringens Baird and the anthropochorous holarctic family lumbricidae are recorded from the island. Diporochaeta and Spenceriella (Austrosco/ex) are otherwise restricted to Australia and (secondarily?) New Zealand, and Plutellus to Australia. Pericryptodrilus and Eastoniella are known only from the island but have strong Australian affinities. The earthworm fauna thus appears to be of Australian origin. Evidence for rifting of the lord Howe Rise from Eastern Australia at ~80 million years before the present is noted but it is considered unlikely that the earthworm fauna dates from that period in view of catastrophic vulcanism on the island between ~30 and 8 million years before the present. The zoogeography and evolution of the earthworms is discussed and a tentative hypothesis of origin of the predominantly Oriental genus Pheretima s.lat. from an Australian precursor of Spenceriella is advanced.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate livingetcindonesia.com website, in order to improve user satisfaction as an online media and the extent to which the level of user satisfaction to the presentation of the website. The website criteria: perceived usefulness, ease of use, ease of finding information, and the design/layout of page is examined to determine the effect on user satisfaction. Analysis of site infrastructure has been meeting the needs of web and database servers, database structure, web analytics to determine the user visits the website and area/location where a user visiting the website. The survey results showed variable Perceived usefullness, Ease of use, Ease of finding information, and Design/Layout of page significant effect on user satisfaction .


Les lipides extraits des membranes de bacteries lactiques du vin sont separes par chromatographie sur couche mince en phospholipides, glycolipides et lipides neutres. Le pourcentage de repartition de chaque classe varie, non seulement en fonction des souches, mais aussi selon leurs conditions de culture.+++Lactic and bacteria of wines are inhibited in fermenting must. Ethanol, fatty acids and other unknow yeast metabolites are responsible for the loss of viability and malolactic activity. Prior results suggest that they induce an alteration of the plasma membrane. Owing to their nature, we assume the lipid constituants to be the target of the inhibitors. So, we have undertaken the study of the membrane lipids of two strains, L. plantarum and L. oenos.After extraction, the samples are analysed by HPTLC. Comparing the strains, the patterns reveal small differences in the distribution of phospholipids, glycolipids and neutral lipids.Some culture factors were investigated for their influence. Within the cell cycle, the distribution of the various classes changes according to the period of incubation. If ethanol is added in the culture medium, neutral lipids decrease by 25 to 50 per cent and glycolipids increase by 30 per cent depending on the age of the culture. Phospholipids remain quite constant.Further researchs are in progress to test the influence of others factors. These results might explain the loss of viability of the bacteria varies when they are added to wine, as well as the variable response to yeast antagonism according to the strains.


Migration as a social phenomenon is deterministic, obeys the fundamental laws of socio-historical development, production, concentration and the social division of labor. It is an objectively progressive process, in this respect, as a manifestation of the above laws. Migration is a general phenomenon, with complex emerging nature and impact. With a higher or lower degree of development trend, time and place, the law of motion of the population is not the same everywhere and always, for all eras and all the places. Expands and eliminates government restrictions within and across borders, changing the form of states, regions and the whole world. It is the expression of overall-general law of concentration of social production, in which lies the objective basis of the phenomenon, as manifested in the slave, feudal and bourgeois society. It is also noted that it is manifestations of the dialectic between the strategy and the geostrategic sphere of global economy and the homonymous community. A careful and penetrating review of the global situation today testifies to the objective fact that the immediately preceding major realities are those that form the cultural, economic and social context of movement of the productive forces. Migration is the effect of broader development processes, which move dialectically with globalization and moves correspondingly, as an intrinsic growing element of objective character. It is the link between the national and international elements due to the dual nature, the national-domestic and international-global, while traditional movement as pertaining the domestic element and the movement out of the borders is international by nature. The official progressive science and sociology also helped in the prevalence of the perception that the first right of potential migrant is the most fundamental principle in theory of human rights.


Thirty lactating Holstein cows were divided into three groups of ten each and assigned to three treatments. The first treatment required using a gel teat sanitizer cleaner (GEL) and paper towels, no water to clean teats prior to milking. The second used only water (WASH) and paper towels, and the third used water, paper towels, and predipping (PREDIP) with 0.5% iodophor solution. Individual cow samples of milk were aseptically collected weekly from weigh jars for ten weeks. Bacteria counts were determined. Microorganism counts were also monitored from individual cow teat swabs. Treatment effects on daily milk yield, fat and protein percentages, udder health, milk iodine residue, and parlor efficiency were investigated. Raw milk microorganism counts were 1184, 2481 and 1119 organisms/ml for GEL, WASH and PREDIP. Teat swab counts were 10388, 28558, and 9205 organisms/'ml for GEL, WASH and PREDIP. Preliminary incubation counts were 2 048, 4583 and 2527 for GEL, WASH and PREDIP. The GEL and PREDIP counts were lower than WASH counts. No differences existed between all counts of GEL and PREDIP treatments. Treatment effects were similar for production traits: fat percent, protein percent, a.m. milk yield, p.m. milk yield, and daily milk yield. Milk iodine content in WASH was 0.002 and 0.001 ppm lower than GEL and PREDIP, but GEL and PREDIP treatments did not differ. The GEL group had lower SCC than WASH and PREDIP. There was no clinical mastitis in the GEL group while 17.24 and 10.34% of cows had clinical mastitis in WASH and PREDIP groups. Cultured organisms from the WASH group included Klebsiella specie, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus bovis. and Streptococcus dvscralactiae. Pathogens from PREDIP could not be identified in two cases and Escherichia coli was isolated in one case. Premilking udder preparation time least-squares means were 1.58, 1.10, and 1.77 min for GEL, WASH and PREDIP. Parlor throughputs were 55, 51, and 43 (cows/hr) for GEL, WASH, and PREDIP. Results showed the GEL procedure to be superior to WASH and PREDIP methods of premilking udder preparation.


The traditional organic geochemical view suggests that polar triterpenoids are degraded easily during fossilization of organic matter. For the first time, we show that dammarane-type tetracyclic polar triterpenoids are preserved in the geosphere. Hydroxydammarenone (20-hydroxy-24-dammaren-3-one), a typical constituent of extant Dipterocarpaceae (an angiosperm tree family) derived dammar resin, is preserved in Miocene amber. The oxidative products of hydroxydammarenone (i.e., 20,24-epoxy-25-hydroxydammaran-3-one, and hexakisnor-dammaran-3,20-dione) are found in both Miocene and Eocene ambers. The presence of hydroxydammarenone in Miocene amber clearly depicts that natural biotriterpenoid markers can be preserved in the geosphere for tens of millions of years. This result demonstrates that the dammarane-type oxygenated compounds, which are extensively used in archaeological studies, can also be utilized as diagnostic markers for paleochemosystematics.


The diffraction orders and coherent bright and dark field images produced by isolated steps and grooves (notches and trenches) are examined. The isolated structures are approximated by means of a grating with a large period that contains small, widely separated, lamellar structures. The rigorous modal method for TE polarized incident light is used for the numerical calculations. Structures in two types of dielectric material, refractive index n = 1.5 and n = 4.0, are discussed. The images are examined for variations with several parameters, including width and thickness of the structure and focus position. Several approximate methods for calculating these images, based on first-order approximations, are suggested.


Background Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death in patients over 65 years old. Hypercholesterolemia is one of the mayor cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs). Statin treatment has proved to be highly beneficial in patients with history of coronary disease and stroke. However, its use is controversial in elderly patients. Purpose To analyse the use of statins in the elderly fragile population admitted to our hospital. Materials and methods Observational, retrospective study of polymedicated patients over 75 years old, included in a medicines reconciliation programme from January to September 2012. Data collected were demographics, cardiovascular risk factors including smoking, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, cardiovascular events (AMI, angina, stroke, transient ischaemic attack) and usual treatment. Results The study included 415 patients (71.8% women), with a mean age of 85 years (76–101), and a mean of 10.14 (6–21) drugs per patient. Out of all patients, 88 were taking statins (41 simvastatin, 32 atorvastatin, 10 pravastatin, 4 lovastatin, 1 fluvastatin). We identified 129 patients with a history of cardiovascular events, 38 (29.4%) of whom were being treated with statins. On one hand, 47 out of 286 patients, who had no history of cardiovascular events, had 3 or more CVRFs, and 23 out of these 47 were being treated with statins. On the other hand, 239 out of the 286 patients had 2 or fewer CVRFs, and 28 (11%) of them were taking hypolipidaemic agents. Conclusions There is great variability in statins prescribing in elderly patients. According to the NICE guideline and the criteria of our regional health department for the use of lipid-lowering drugs, the decision to treat elderly patients must be individualised depending on comorbidity, chronic diseases, polypharmacy, life expectancy and therapeutic goals. An assessment of the risk/benefit balance is essential every time the patient is hospitalised in order to reduce unnecessary and hazardous polypharmacy. Reconciliation is a useful tool in this assessment. No conflict of interest.


Abstract. The Second Edition of the Atlas of Yellowstone will celebrate the 150-year history of the world's first national park – and reflect on the future of Yellowstone and its evolving place in the world. Like the first Atlas of Yellowstone published in 2012, the Second Edition will provide a comprehensive view of the human and natural setting of Yellowstone National Park. Also like the First Edition, the new edition will portray variations over space and time, explore human-nature interactions throughout the region, document connections of Yellowstone to the rest of the world, and – ultimately – guide the reader to a deeper appreciation of Yellowstone.Beyond that, the new edition will provide much expanded coverage of the park's history. Readers will better understand the many different ways in which the creation of Yellowstone National Park has preserved and altered the landscapes and ecology of Yellowstone and conservation thought and practice, both locally and around the world.The new atlas will also reflect advances in scientific data collection, knowledge, and insight gained since publication of the first edition. New topic pages will address key management issues ranging from increased visitor impact to wildlife disease to light pollution. In addition, many of the 850 existing graphics will be updated, reimagined, or replaced by new graphics that capture the remarkable wealth of data that has become available since the First Edition. Whether it be tracking of individual wolves, ecosystem imagery from space, or detailed visitor surveys – new data provide insights that could not be graphically displayed before.The Second Edition celebrates 150 years of America's best idea and what that has meant to the world. The significance of Yellowstone National Park to conservation, scholarship, and the human experience is enormous, and deserves a volume that captures that importance.


Context-aware services are designed to assist users in the real world, but they support only a very limited number of user activities. This article presents a new service platform that can select appropriate services for a wide variety of real-world user activities. The importance of task-awareness for service selection is first emphasized. To obtain task-awareness, a new task model that models comprehensive user activities in the real world is proposed. It enables precise association between user activities and services that assist in performing the activities. This article then presents a new service-selection schema based on the task model. An architecture for building the schema over a network and mobile terminals is discussed, and research on technologies for achieving the architecture is briefly described; these technologies include a tool for populating a task model database, an algorithm for acquiring spatial and temporal contexts to be used as restrictions on service selection, and a push-control mechanism for presenting the results of service selection to users in a context-aware manner. The article concludes with a brief summary and some remarks about potential applications of the proposed platform and its components


Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) encourages the client to focus on their emotional problems in order to understand, challenge and change the irrational beliefs that underpin these problems. REBT can help clients to strengthen conviction in their alternative rational beliefs by acting in ways that are consistent with them and thus encourage a healthier outlook.

This accessible and direct guide introduces the reader to REBT while indicating how it is different from other approaches within the broad cognitive behavioural therapy spectrum. Divided into two sections: the distinctive theoretical features of REBT and the distinctive practical features of REBT, this book presents concise, straightforward information in 30 key points derived from the author's own experience in the field.

Rational emotive behaviour therapy: distinctive features will be invaluable to both experienced clinicians, and those new to the field. It will appeal to psychotherapists and counsellors, together with students and practitioners who are keen to learn how REBT can be differentiated from the other approaches to CBT.


BACKGROUND
Admitted patients boarding in the emergency department (ED) leads to hospital diversion. Active bed management and care for boarded patients can improve throughput. We developed a hospital medicine ED (HMED) team to participate in active bed management, and to care for boarded patients, to decrease diversion and improve throughput.

METHODS
An HMED team was created to participate in active bed management and to care for boarded patients. The HMED team worked with the ED, nursing supervisors, and medical floors to manage inpatient beds. The primary outcome was percentage of hours of diversion attributed to lack of bed capacity. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of patients discharged within 8 hours of transfer to a medical floor, and the proportion of patients discharged from the ED. Promptness of clinical care was measured by rounding times. Satisfaction was obtained via survey.

RESULTS
There was a relative reduction of diversion due to medicine bed capacity of 27% (4.5%-3.3%; P < 0.01), a relative reduction in the percentage of patients transferred to a medicine floor and discharged within 8 hours of 67% (1.5%-0.5%; P < 0.01), and a relative increase in the number of discharges from the ED of admitted medicine patients of 61% (4.9%-7.9%; P < 0.001). Boarded admitted patients were rounded upon 2 hours earlier (P < 0.0001) by the HMED team. Satisfaction with the HMED team was high.

CONCLUSION
An HMED team can improve patient flow and decrease ED diversion while providing more timely care to patients boarded in the ED.


Journalism and Climate Crisis: Public Engagement, Media Alternatives, edited by Robert A. Hackett, Susan Forde, Shane Gunster and Kerrie Foxwell-Norton. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. 2017. 204 pages. ISBN 978-1-1389-5039-9AT THE time of reviewing this important and timely book, Hurricane Irma had just ripped a trail of unprecedented destruction from Antigua, Barbuda and Saint Barthelemy in the eastern Caribbean to Florida with at least 81 deaths. Florida involved one of the largest mass evacuations in US history, with nearly 7 million people being warned to seek shelter elsewhere. Seventy per cent of Miami lost electricity at the height of the storm.


Chlamydia pneumoniae is a Gram-negative, obligate intracellular pathogen thatutilizes a type III secretion system (T3SS) to facilitate invasion of host cells. In C.pneumoniae, CdsN, the T3SS ATPase, has been proposed to facilitate unfoldingof effector proteins by releasing their cognate chaperones. CdsQ is thought tobe the C-ring ortholog of FliN, which interacts with effectors, chaperones, andstructural proteins. We have previously shown that CdsQ interacts with CdsN,however, the role of this interaction is unclear. In this paper, we explored the interactionof CdsQ and CdsN with other T3S components. We identified four novelinteractions between CdsQ and CopN, the YopN plug protein ortholog, Cpn0706,a putative chaperone, Cpn0827, a putative novel effector and LcrH-2, a putativechaperone, all of which have not previously been identified in other T3SS. CdsNhas been shown previously to interact with CopN and Cpn0706 and we reporttwo novel interactions between CdsN and Cpn0827 and LcrH-2. Our findings thatCdsQ binds multiple effectors (Cpn0827 and CopN) and chaperones (LcrH-2 andCpn0706) suggests that CdsQ may act as a multi-cargo transport protein thatshuttles chaperone-effector complexes to the base of the apparatus where CdsQcomplexes may act as a protein scaffold to position chaperone-effector complexesin the context of hexameric CdsN for chaperone release and effector secretion. Wediscuss these new interactions in the context of chaperone-effector delivery andhierarchical secretion of effector proteins in C. pneumoniae.


To improve economic opportunity in Cambodia, we used social cognitive theory to develop gamified, interactive narratives using mobile phones. Participants guided their chosen character toward their "dream job" goal while encountering a series of barriers along the way. Participants (N = 1,625) were randomly assigned to one of four message frequency experimental conditions: a no-play control condition or playing the interactive narrative one, two, or five times. Compared with not playing the interactive narrative (control), those who played showed higher perceived self-efficacy, response efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Playing more times was associated with less attentional focus and enjoyment, but greater narrative understanding and behavioral intentions. These results support the promise of interactive technology using basic mobile phones for social and behavioral change. Moreover, this study addresses the important question of how much exposure to an intervention is necessary to affect change.


The results from mesoscale simulations of the formation and evolution of microstructure for assemblies of Na-smectite particles based on assumed size distributions of individual clay platelets are presented here. The analyses predicted particle arrangements and aggregation (i.e. platelets linked in face-face configurations) and are used to link geometric properties of the microstructure and mechanical properties of the particle assemblies. Interactions between individual ellipsoidal clay platelets are represented using the Gay-Berne potential based on atomistic simulations of the free energy between two Na-smectite clay-platelets in liquid water, following a novel coarse-graining method developed previously. The current study describes the geometric (aggregate thickness, orientation, and porosity) and elastic properties in the 'jammed states' from the mesoscale simulations for selected ranges of clay particle sizes and confining pressures. The thickness of clay aggregates for monodisperse assemblies increases (with average stack thickness consisting of n = 3–8 platelets) with the diameter of the individualclay platelets and with the level of confining pressure. Aggregates break down at high confining pressures (50–300 atm) due to slippage between the platelets. Polydisperse simulations generate smaller aggregates (n = 2) and show much smaller effects of confining pressure. All assemblies show increased order with confining pressure, implying more anisotropic microstructure. The mesoscale simulations are also in good agreement with macroscopic compression behavior measured in conventional 1-D laboratory compression tests. The mesoscale assemblies exhibit cubic symmetry in elastic properties. The results for larger platelets (D = 1000 Å) are in good agreement with nano-indentation measurements on natural clays and shale samples.


The study of the thermal behavior of complex packages such as multichip modules (MCMs) is usually carried out by measuring the so-called thermal impedance response, that is: the transient temperature after a power step. From the analysis of this signal, the thermal frequency response can be estimated, and consequently, compact thermal models may be extracted. We present a method to obtain an estimate of the time constant distribution underlying the observed transient. The method is based on an iterative deconvolution that produces an approximation to the time constant spectrum while preserving a convenient convolution form. This method is applied to the obtained thermal response of a microstructure as analyzed by finite element method as well as to the measured thermal response of a transistor array integrated circuit (IC) in a SMD package.


This article considers the balance between promoting volunteering in sport by emphasising the personal rewards to prospective volunteers themselves – the dominant management approach – and promoting it by the long-term development of the values of volunteering. We review the motivations and rewards of sports volunteers and how these can be used to promote volunteering as being a transaction between the volunteer and the organisation. This is contrasted with a lifecourse approach to understanding volunteering, and evidence that an understanding of the value of volunteering can be inculcated that underpins continued volunteering. The two approaches regard potential volunteers respectively as 'consumers' and as 'citizens'. We suggest that a shift to treating volunteers as consumers can lead to volunteering being regarded as transactional. The discussion has implications for volunteering in general – in particular, how it can be promoted in a society where narratives of 'the consumer' increasingly dominate over those of 'the citizen'.


Strong coupling effects in a dielectric microcavity with a single ZnO nanowire embedded in it have been investigated at room temperature. A large Rabi splitting of ~100 meV is obtained from the polariton dispersion and a non-linearity in the polariton emission characteristics is observed at room temperature with a low threshold of 1.63 μJ/cm(2), which corresponds to a polariton density an order of magnitude smaller than that for the Mott transition. The momentum distribution of the lower polaritons shows evidence of dynamic condensation and the absence of a relaxation bottleneck. The polariton relaxation dynamics were investigated by time-resolved measurements, which showed a progressive decrease in the polariton relaxation time with increase in polariton density.


The objective of this work was to study the maturation of permanent teeth in Venezuelan children between three and six years, and its applicability in the estimation of dental age (DA) for forensic purposes. A descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional and field study was carried out. The sample consisted of 107 panoramic radiographs of Venezuelan individuals (56 females and 51 males). The stages of maturation were assigned to the permanent teeth of the four quadrants according to the original Demirjian et al. (1973) method, while the DA was calculated by Demirjian ́s et al. method and its modifications (Demirjian & Goldstein, 1976), Willems et al. (2001) and Chaillet et al. (2005). It was found that females reached the maturation stages at younger ages than males. The overestimation of the chronological age (CA) by all methods was observed in the total sample, being the method of Chaillet et al., the most accurate. When studying the sexes separately, the method of Chaillet et al., presented the lowest CA-DA difference for males and Chaillet et al., in females. The method of Demirjian et al., showed the greatest CA-DA difference for both sexes. The methods of Chaillet et al. and Willems et al. are applicable for age determination purposes in the studied sample, its utility being sex dependent.


Aspect expresses information about how events unfold in time. In English, imperfective aspect is known to widen the temporal scope of the event described, but little is known about how such imperfective descriptions are processed or what motivates their use. This chapter investigates the conceptual impact of aspect, especially imperfective descriptions of past events, and argues that it shapes our understanding of events, and that its use and function is motivated by our everyday experience of perceiving and simulating events.


Today, chemotherapy and molecularly targeted therapies are the main therapeutic options in cancer treatment, but their effectiveness is limited by drug resistance, a major problem facing current cancer research. Since its establishment in the late 1980s, the NCI60 cell line panel has generated tremendous value, economic as well as societal, by contributing to the identification of mechanisms of drug action. This information, in turn, has been used to create new anti-cancer drugs for the benefit of patients. However, the cell lines comprised in the NCI60 panel are mostly derived from treatment of chemo-naive patients (no medical treatment). Since early clinical trials of anti-cancer drugs most often recruit patients who have failed several different prior treatments, there is a need to develop a platform that builds on the concept underlying the NCI60 cell line panel and extend it to allow testing of potential new drugs in the setting of drug resistance. Moreover, it is also well-known that molecular drug resistance mechanisms might first appear following drug exposure and access to panels of matched drug-sensitive and drug-resistant isogenic cell lines, is thus mandatory for studying the underlying mechanisms of acquired drug resistance. We have initiated the establishment of DEN-50R, a novel and unique cell line-based drug screening platform within cancer treatment. The platform will, when fully developed, consist of human cancer cell lines representing the five most common cancer forms (colorectal, prostate, lung, breast cancer and malignant melanoma) and matched drug-resistant sublines for each of the five cancer forms. In a second phase additional cancer forms will be included. Resistance is developed against drugs and drug combinations currently used in the clinic, and with the introduction of novel drugs and regimens, new corresponding resistant sublines will be generated. All pairs of sensitive and resistant cell lines are thoroughly characterized with regard to cross-resistance to other drugs as well as to genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics profiling. All data generated with the DEN-50R platform will be placed in the new National Danish Life Science Supercomputer with secure, regulated access providing a unique and innovative integrative analysis resource for academic, clinical and industrial researchers involved in anti-cancer drug development and cancer diagnostics at both pre-clinical and clinical levels. We envision that the DEN-50R be used to: • Test novel chemical entities for anti-cancer effects, including potential lack of cross-resistance thereby facilitating selection of analogs for further preclinical and clinical testing. • Test already known drugs for potential effects in drug resistant cell lines facilitating "repurposing" of drugs. • Reveal novel molecular drug resistant mechanisms allowing for targeted development of new drug entities that can circumvent drug resistance • identify novel predictive biomarkers for the most common drug entities further facilitating a personalized treatment approach. Citation Format: Jan Stenvang, Jose Moreira, Niels Frank Jensen, Signe Lykke Nielsen, Torben Orntoft, Ulrik Lassen, Cathrine Nordgaard, Stine Ninel Hansen, Haatisha Jandu, Anna Vind, Maria Andreasen, Camilla Cederbye, Julie Noer, Thiago Lima, Birgitte Martine Viuff, Soeren Brunak, Thomas Skoet Jensen, Peter Buhl Jensen, Joergen Drejer, Henrik Ditzel, Nils Brunner. DEN-50R - establishment of a novel and unique cell line based drug screening platform for cancer treatment. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr B71.


Abstract Seaware is a publish-subscribe middleware used in multi-vehicle networked systems composed of autonomous and semiautonomous vehicles and systems. Seaware provides a high level interface to network communications and may be deployed with a combination of heterogeneous components within a dynamic network. Seaware supports the RTPS (Real Time Publish Subscribe) protocol, underwater acoustic modems and other forms of network transport. This paper gives an overview of Seaware's implementation and its application to multi-vehicle networked systems.


In describing the technical experiences of one company from the beginning of the computer era, this book unfolds the challenges that IBM's research and development laboratories faced, the technological paths they chose, and how these choices affected the company and the computer industry. It chronicles the transformation of IBM into a computer company in a remarkably few years, discussing projects that ended in frustration as well as the more successful ones, and providing a sense of the atmosphere, the people, and the decision-making processes involved during the company's rapid technological transformation."IBM's Early Computers" is a unique contribution to the modern history of computers. It focuses on engineering alternatives rather than business and general management considerations and reveals the significance of imaginative solutions to problems in design and technology, from initial experiments with electronics in digital machines to the threshold of the System 360 era. This fair and balanced account of IBM's role in shaping today's electronic revolution identifies the individuals (both inside and outside the company) whose pioneering work influenced developments at IBM.The book's fourteen chapters briefly survey the card machine era and then cover electronic calculation, the magnetic drum calculator, the Defense Calculator and other first-generation products, ferrite core memories, magnetic tape, and disk storage development, programming, transistors, "Project Stretch" (which involved disappointments but led to one of IBM's greatest successes) high-speed printers, research, and new-product-line considerations."IBM's Early Computers" is included in the History of Computing Series, edited by I. Bernard Cohen and William Aspray.


In this paper we study the problem of learning discriminative features (segments), often referred to as shapelets [Ye and Keogh, 2009] of time series, from unlabeled time series data. Discovering shapelets for time series classification has been widely studied, where many search-based algorithms are proposed to efficiently scan and select segments from a pool of candidates. However, such types of search-based algorithms may incur high time cost when the segment candidate pool is large. Alternatively, a recent work [Grabocka et al., 2014] uses regression learning to directly learn, instead of searching for, shapelets from time series. Motivated by the above observations, we propose a new Unsupervised Shapelet Learning Model (USLM) to efficiently learn shapelets from unlabeled time series data. The corresponding learning function integrates the strengths of pseudo-class label, spectral analysis, shapelets regularization term and regularized least-squares to auto-learn shapelets, pseudo-class labels and classification boundaries simultaneously. A coordinate descent algorithm is used to iteratively solve the learning function. Experiments show that USLM outperforms search-based algorithms on real-world time series data.


Physical urticaria is a heterogeneous group of inducible conditions in which symptoms are induced by exogenous physical triggers such as cold, water, heat, and mechanical stimuli, acting on the skin. Our case involves a sixteen-year-old female patient who presented with erythema, small wheals and pruritus on her skin after contact with water and cold. After conducting water and ice cube provocation tests in addition to her medical history and physical examination, the patient was diagnosed with aquagenic urticaria (AU) and cold urticaria (CU). Her complaints had started 20 days before presentation. Regardless of the temperature and the source of water, her symptoms increased after contact with water, and the physical examination disclosed thoracic scoliosis. Symptoms were significantly relieved after one month of antihistamine and liquid petrolatum treatment. However, the patient developed complaints of urticaria, itching and angioedema in the contact areas of the body after contact with cold air, cold water, and cold objects in the winter season. She was tested with ice cubes and the result was positive. We started treatment with omalizumab, and her symptoms improved at the eighth week of this treatment. Here we present an adolescent female patient diagnosed with CU and AU.


Giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu Arteritis (TAK) are two systemic granulomatous vasculitides affecting medium- and large-sized arteries. Similarities in GCA and TAK regarding the clinical presentation, the systemic inflammatory response and the distribution of the arterial lesions, have triggered a debate over the last decade about whether GCA and TAK represent two different diseases, or are age-associated different clinical phenotypes of the same disease. On the other hand, there are differences regarding epidemiology, several clinical features (eg, polymyalgia rheumatica in GCA) and treatment. The aim of this review is to present the latest data regarding this question and to shed some light on the differences and similarities between GCA and TAK regarding epidemiology, genetics, pathogenesis, histopathology, clinical presentation, imaging and treatment. The existing data in literature support the opinion that GCA and TAK are different clinical entities.


: Purpose: The aim of the paper is to present the most important changes introduced in the balance sheet in the field of financial reporting and the impact of Sars-Cov-2 on the operating activities and financial results of selected companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Design/Methodology/Approach: The article was prepared based on a review of domestic and foreign literature, market analyses of consulting companies such as Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, reports, and recommendations issued by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF), guidelines of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and financial statements of selected stock exchange companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Findings: The conducted research showed that Covid-19 had a significant impact on the financial data presented in the financial statements of selected companies from the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In the case of CCC SA, the management board was forced to issue shares to maintain liquidity. The results of banks show that individuals and enterprises repay their loans to a high degree, which may prove their good financial condition. The dangers of the coronavirus pandemic are still there. The analysis of the financial statements also showed that some companies ignored the risks associated with the pandemic. Practical Implications: The article presents the impact of changes made in legal regulations and accounting regulations on the reported results and financial information. Originality/value: The studies attempted to demonstrate the impact of COVID on the financial performance of enterprises.


Many schools in the developed world have adopted portfolios in an attempt to address the scholarship of teaching. This is because of the atmosphere of "publish or perish" which pervades academia. Buying off teaching obligations with research dollars is an increasingly pervasive practice in many institutions and Faculty caught up in this system have generally gone along with it, focusing on the scholarship of discovery at the expense of the scholarship of integration, application, and teaching - little of which carries the financial consequence or peer recognition of sponsored research.1 Add to this the fact that many medical schools world wide have adopted teacher- intensive, integrated hybrid PBL curricula and the result is frustrated teachers who undergo occupational burnout. An ideal faculty reward system should support the priorities and mission of the institution e.g. if improving the quality of teaching and learning is a high priority, then the tenure, promotion, and merit pay system must support quality efforts to redesign the curriculum, improve courses, and increase the effectiveness of teaching.2 Education Portfolios are not widely used in this part of the world, and few Faculty have even heard of the term "Education Scholarship". This study is a preliminary report on perception of the faculty rewards in place in their institution and their familiarity with the concept of education scholarship. A questionnaire was posted to Faculty of medical schools in Malaysia and also distributed to staff of the National University of Singapore, during an international conference. A total of 54 responses were collected from six institutions (14 were unidentified); representing a response rate of about twenty per cent. Thirty two were teaching in a hybrid curriculum; and 26 were clinical teachers. Thirty three had been in their respective institutions for more than three years.


Progress in understanding changes in soil biology in response to latitude, elevation and disturbance gradients has generally lagged behind studies of above-ground plants and animals owing to methodological constraints and high diversity and complexity of interactions in below-ground food webs. New methods have opened research opportunities in below-ground systems, leading to a rapid increase in studies of below-ground organisms and processes. Here, we summarize results of forest soil biology research over the past 25 years in Puerto Rico as part of a 75th Anniversary Symposium on research of the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry. These results are presented in the context of changes in soil and forest floor biota across latitudinal, elevation and disturbance gradients. Invertebrate detritivores in these tropical forests exerted a stronger influence on leaf decomposition than in cold temperate forests using a common substrate. Small changes in arthropods brought about using different litterbag mesh sizes induced larger changes in leaf litter mass loss and nutrient mineralization. Fungi and bacteria in litter and soil of wet forests were surprisingly sensitive to drying, leading to changes in nutrient cycling. Tropical fungi also showed sensitivity to environmental fluctuations and gradients as fungal phylotype composition in soil had a high turnover along an elevation gradient in Puerto Rico. Globally, tropical soil fungi had smaller geographic ranges than temperate fungi. Invertebrate activity accelerates decomposition of woody debris, especially in lowland dry forest, but invertebrates are also important in early stages of log decomposition in middle elevation wet forests. Large deposits of scoltine bark beetle frass from freshly fallen logs coincide with nutrient immobilization by soil microbial biomass and a relatively low density of tree roots in soil under newly fallen logs. Tree roots shifted their foraging locations seasonally in relation to decaying logs. Native earthworms were sensitive to disturbance and were absent from tree plantations, whereas introduced earthworms were found across elevation and disturbance gradients.


The aim of this study is to simplify the issue of the concept of heritability, to give an introduction to the behavioral genetic theory and methods, as well as to give an overview of the current knowledge about heritability of personality and the quantitative and molecular genetic approach to estimate heritability. Following that, results on heritability of personality are summarized. In addition, we reanalyzed all available behavioral genetic studies published before 2010, which were included in Vukasovic and Bratko (2015) meta-analysis, to estimate the correlations between different family members: 1) monozygotic twins reared together; 2) monozygotic twins reared apart; 3) dizygotic twins reared together; 4) dizygotic twins reared apart; 5) mother and offspring; 6) father and offspring. Estimates of the family resemblance for personality were .54 from intraclass correlations for twin pairs reared together, .45 for intraclass correlations for monozygotic twin pairs reared apart, and .26 and .28 for familial aggregation. This finding is in line with the conclusion of the previous meta-analysis, which showed that the study design is a significant moderator of personality heritability, with twin studies showing higher estimates compared to family and adoption studies. Following that, findings from molecular genetic studies on personality and from gene-environment interaction studies are summarized. Finally, recommendations for future studies are given.


In this study, a flexible and highly sensitive capacitive pressure sensor has been fabricated by coating a microporous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomeric dielectric onto conductive fibers. Conductive fibers were prepared by depositing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in poly(styrene-block-butadiene-styrene) (SBS) polymer on the surface of Twaron fibers. The configuration obtained by cross-stacking of two microporous PDMS-coated fibers imitates a capacitive sensor, which responds to compressive stress by increasing the contact area and decreasing the separation between the fiber electrodes. Moreover, the gradual closure of micropores under pressure increases the effective permittivity of the dielectric, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of the sensor. A relatively high sensitivity of 0.278 kPa−1 for a low pressure region (<2 kPa), negligible hysteresis of 6.3%, a dynamic response time in the millisecond range (∼340 ms), a low detection limit of 38.82 Pa and an excellent repeatability of over 10 000 cycles were achieved. Finally, the practicality of the sensor was also demonstrated by loading small objects (∼9.4 mg) and gentle finger touches (<10 kPa). By virtue of its excellent sensitivity, low pressure detection and cost-effective fabrication process, our sensor is applicable for next-generation advanced touch panels with a more human-friendly interface, non-invasive health monitoring systems, and artificial robot arms.


A central theme of this thesis is using echoes to achieve useful, interesting, and sometimes surprising results. One should have no doubts about the echoes' constructive potential; it is, after all, demonstrated masterfully by Nature. Just think about the bat's intriguing ability to navigate in unknown spaces and hunt for insects by listening to echoes of its calls, or about similar (albeit less well-known) abilities of toothed whales, some birds, shrews, and ultimately people. We show that, perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, multipath propagation resulting from echoes is our friend. When we think about it the right way, it reveals essential geometric information about the sources--channel--receivers system. The key idea is to think of echoes as being more than just delayed and attenuated peaks in 1D impulse responses; they are actually additional sources with their corresponding 3D locations. This transformation allows us to forget about the abstract room, and to replace it by more familiar point sets. We can then engage the powerful machinery of Euclidean distance geometry. A problem that always arises is that we do not know a priori the matching between the peaks and the points in space, and solving the inverse problem is achieved by echo sorting---a tool we developed for learning correct labelings of echoes. This has applications beyond acoustics, whenever one deals with waves and reflections, or more generally, time-of-flight measurements. Equipped with this perspective, we first address the ``Can one hear the shape of a room?'' question, and we answer it with a qualified ``yes''. Even a single impulse response uniquely describes a convex polyhedral room, whereas a more practical algorithm to reconstruct the room's geometry uses only first-order echoes and a few microphones. Next, we show how different problems of localization benefit from echoes. The first one is multiple indoor sound source localization. Assuming the room is known, we show that discretizing the Helmholtz equation yields a system of sparse reconstruction problems linked by the common sparsity pattern. By exploiting the full bandwidth of the sources, we show that it is possible to localize multiple unknown sound sources using only a single microphone. We then look at indoor localization with known pulses from the geometric echo perspective introduced previously. Echo sorting enables localization in non-convex rooms without a line-of-sight path, and localization with a single omni-directional sensor, which is impossible without echoes. A closely related problem is microphone position calibration; we show that echoes can help even without assuming that the room is known. Using echoes, we can localize arbitrary numbers of microphones at unknown locations in an unknown room using only one source at an unknown location---for example a finger snap---and get the room's geometry as a byproduct. Our study of source localization outgrew the initial form factor when we looked at source localization with spherical microphone arrays. Spherical signals appear well beyond spherical microphone arrays; for example, any signal defined on Earth's surface lives on a sphere. This resulted in the first slight departure from the main theme: We develop the theory and algorithms for sampling sparse signals on the sphere using finite rate-of-innovation principles and apply it to various signal processing problems on the sphere.


As we get closer to the middle of this year, it is natural to question what lies ahead in the year 2015. Recently, the literature in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation (JER) has focused on the future of exercise rehabilitation based on three potential scenarios arising from the ongoing information revolution that marginalizes some communities and creates new opportunities for others. The first scenario is that of rehabilitation ruled by the "general public," where exercise is largely administered based on recommendations by consumer agglomerations. The second possibility is that of rehabilitation in which strong associations use large amounts of data obtained from the popularly used exercises to fortify their data. In the third scenario, the central associations are fundamentally weak, with markets — and the society that dominates them — providing almost all exercises or activities for the disabled and children and for recreational and psychological rehabilitation. Each of these scenarios is an extrapolation of a current trend. While all of them could be beneficial in some respects, they also have features, which if left scientifically and medically unchecked, could lead to disappointing outcomes. The Association of Korean Exercise Rehabilitation should, at this time, be implementing policies aimed at guiding trends like generalization, increasing the amount of available data, and grouping people into narrow branches often based on their relationship to the region. The goal should be to take advantage of these trends' potential benefits, while ensuring that they do not undermine other critical aspects of exercise rehabilitation. For example, although exercise has the potential to create new treatment and preventative opportunities for potential patients, it cannot help cure actual diseases. Likewise, while the use of large amounts of general public data has a substantial problem-solving potential, important questions regarding the ownership, control, interpretation, and regulation of the use of this data or information still remain. Finally, while the most efficient way to allocate exercise rehabilitation resources in most cases is to do so based on individual choices within each region, regional branches do not develop sufficient remedial exercise programs. Indeed, there are some exercise methods that the private and regional sectors are simply unable to provide. Obviously, all of this calls for an extensive investigation. Exploring potential future scenarios, as done by the JER, is an important step in the right direction.


The basal ganglia is part of a complex system of neuronal circuits that play a key role in the integration and execution of motor, cognitive and emotional function in the human brain. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder of the motor circuit characterized by tremor, rigidity, and slowness of movement. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus and the globus pallidus pars interna provides an efficient treatment to reduce symptoms and levodopa-induced side effects in Parkinson's disease patients. While the underlying mechanism of action of DBS is still unknown, the potential modulation of white matter tracts connecting the surgical targets has become an active area of research. With the introduction of advanced diffusion MRI acquisition sequences and sophisticated post-processing techniques, the architecture of the human brain white matter can be explored in vivo. The goal of this study is to investigate the white matter connectivity between the subthalamic nucleus and the globus pallidus. Two multi-fiber tractography methods were used to reconstruct pallido-subthalamic, subthalamo-pallidal and pyramidal fibers in five healthy subjects datasets of the Human Connectome Project. The anatomical accuracy of the tracts was assessed by four judges with expertise in neuroanatomy, functional neurosurgery, and diffusion MRI. The variability among subjects was evaluated based on the fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity of the tracts. Both multi-fiber approaches enabled the detection of complex fiber architecture in the basal ganglia. The qualitative evaluation by experts showed that the identified tracts were in agreement with the expected anatomy. Tract-derived measurements demonstrated relatively low variability among subjects. False-negative tracts demonstrated the current limitations of both methods for clinical decision-making. Multi-fiber tractography methods combined with state-of-the-art diffusion MRI data have the potential to help identify white matter tracts connecting DBS targets in functional neurosurgery intervention.


Transportation can account for half the cost to deliver wood to a mill. Contractors seek to maximize truck payload to increase productivity and minimize cost. One method to ensure a maximum payload is to utilize in-woods truck scales. In-woods scales allow the contractor to maximize payload while not exceeding legal limits. Additionally, measuring axle weights allows a contractor to determine whether alternative loading techniques would yield a larger load or avoid over/under axle loads. This paper reports on in-woods truck scales and a field evaluation of an onboard truck scale system.


The use of the Hunter multipurpose reflectometer for color measurement has been limited, particularly at low reflectances, by inaccuracies arising chiefly from stray light in the optical system. A baffle is described whose installation greatly reduces stray light, so that its effect may be ignored above 2 percent reflectance. A method is also described for making corrections for stray light in those cases where its effect cannot be neglected. Application of these two procedures permits the Hunter reflectometer to furnish useful data down to reflectances of 0.1 percent.


PEDIATRIC NURSING: CARING FOR CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES, third edition, offers a dynamic and insightful guide to caring for pediatric clients. The authors embrace a holistic, family-centered approach to the care and nurturing of children in all states of health, exploring healthy growth and development milestones, as well as illness states and chronic conditions. All nursing care is framed within a family context, underscoring the importance of viewing children not just as individuals, but as members of a family. General nursing skills such as assessment, communication, and health promotion are presented within the pediatric framework to help nurses approach children and their families with an authentic, informed understanding of their conditions and needs.


It is often argued that Monty Python's Life of Brian should not be regarded as blasphemous or offensive, largely because Brian and Jesus are two distinct characters in the film. Many religious opponents have claimed otherwise. This article argues that to some degree these pious opponents have a point: Brian does in someway represent Jesus. What Life of Brian does, through interaction with scholarly literature and ideas, is to attribute to Brian a whole host of mildly subversive and critical views about Jesus and effectively create a critical life of Jesus.


Large vein-like deposits of calcite and opaline silica that infill the Bow Ridge fault are exposed by Trench 14 at the Nevada Test Site. The origin of the deposits has been the center of considerable controversy because the deposits occur on the edge of Yucca Mountain, which is being characterized geologically as a possible site for the nation`s first high level nuclear waste repository, and the various proposed modes of origin have differing implications for the performance of a geologic repository. Isotopic data for oxygen, carbon, strontium, and uranium in the carbonates preclude deposition by upwelling waters by any mechanism from either of the regionally extensive aquifers known to exist beneath Yucca Mountain. Data from the adjacent Ash Meadows flow system further suggest that the isotopic compositions of ground water in southern Nevada have not chanted markedly during the last 300 to 600 ky, and that therefore, conclusions based on present-day water compositions are probably valid for at least the last 600 ky. Geologic and paleontologic data are inconsistent with shallow a perched water spring origin for the veins, but are consistent with a pedogenic origin. Mineralogic and isotopic data match well with those for pedogenic deposits with perhaps minor modification from entrained or reacted wall rock. Taken as a whole, the data show that the carbonate and opaline silica deposits exposed in Trench 14 must have formed by a pedogenic process. Preliminary results suggest that veins in the sand ramps west of Busted Butte formed by the same mechanism. 26 refs., 11 figs.


Whole genome and whole exome sequencing technologies are being increasingly used in research. However, they have the potential to identify incidental findings (IF), findings not related to the indication of the test, raising questions regarding researchers' responsibilities toward the return of this information to participants. In this study we discuss the ethical considerations related to the return of IF to research participants, emphasizing that the type of the study matters and describing the current practice standards. There are currently no legal obligations for researchers to return IF to participants, but some viewpoints consider that researchers might have an ethical one to return IF of clinical validity and clinical utility and that are actionable. The reality is that most IF are complex to interpret, especially since they were not the indication of the test. The clinical utility often depends on the participants' preferences, which can be challenging to conciliate and relies on participants' understanding. In summary, in the context of a lack of clear guidance, researchers need to have a clear plan for the disclosure or nondisclosure of IF from genomic research, balancing their research goals and resources with the participants' rights and their duty not to harm.


Jeremy Clarkson gets really riled in Round the Bend. What's it like to drive a car that's actively trying to kill you? This and many other burning questions trouble Jeremy Clarkson as he sets out to explore the world from the safety of four wheels. Avoiding the legions of power-crazed traffic wombles attempting to block highway and byway, he: shows how the world of performance cars may be likened to Battersea Dogs Home; reveals why St Moritz may be the most bonkers town in all of the world; reminds us that Switzerland is so afraid of snow that any flakes falling on the road are immediately arrested; and argues that washing a car is a waste of time. Funny, globe-trotting, irreverent and sometimes downright rude, Round the Bend is packed with curious and fascinating but otherwise hopelessly useless stories and facts about everything under the sun (and just occasionally cars). It's Jeremy Clarkson at his brilliant best. "Brilliant ...laugh-out-loud". (Daily Telegraph). "Outrageously funny ...will have you in stitches". (Time Out). Number-one bestseller and presenter of the hugely popular Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson writes on cars, current affairs and anything else that annoys him in his sharp and funny collections. Born To Be Riled, Clarkson On Cars, Don't Stop Me Now, Driven To Distraction, Round the Bend, Motorworld, and I Know You Got Soul are also available as Penguin paperbacks; the Penguin App iClarkson: The Book of Cars can be downloaded on the App Store.


This document defines the administrative policies for the operation of
remote printer facilities within the context of the tpc.int subdomain.
The document describes different approaches to resource recovery for
remote printer server sites and includes discussions of issues
pertaining to auditing, security, and denial of access. This memo
provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify
an Internet standard.


Within the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, conservation practices are being utilized to mitigate nutrient loading to streams from agricultural landscapes. This study was conducted to determine the potential to use solids, phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) captured by tailwater recovery (TWR) systems for reuse onto production fields through irrigation applications. Seven TWR systems were assessed for seasonal changes in nutrient concentrations and application loads. Samples were collected every three weeks from 2013 to 2015 for seasonal analyses and weekly during the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons for nutrient load analyses. Water samples collected in spring contained greater concentrations of solids than samples collected in winter and summer. In addition, spring samples contained greater concentrations of nitrate–nitrite than samples collected in all other seasons, and spring samples also contained higher ammonium than summer and fall samples. Mean nutrient loads per hectare recycled onto the landscape for an irrigation season were 325.10 kg ha −1 solids, 0.86 kg ha −1 P, and 7.26 kg ha −1 N, with the N being 77% organic. TWR systems can be used to recycle solids, P and N onto agricultural landscapes through irrigation events; however, nutrient loads will not be sufficient to alter agronomic fertilizer recommendations.


As companies' budgets devoted to information technology (IT) outsourcing continue to expand, effective IT provider management becomes one of the most critical administrative skills of the 21st century (Heckman, 1999). Yet to this day, there is no agreement among researchers and practitioners with regard to the main research question of this thesis: How IT buyer-supplier relationships should be managed in order to ensure the relationship success? Adopting an integrative approach to IT outsourcing governance based on both Transaction Cost and Relational Exchange perspectives, a novel IT outsourcing relationship management model is proposed in this thesis with a goal to investigate and explain how formal/contractual and informal/relational governance mechanisms employed by the parties of the IT outsourcing dyads may complement each other in their effect on the overall relationship success. The conceptual model is tested and further developed when applied to five cases of IT outsourcing deals in Canadian insurance and airline industries. The findings not only show support for the integrative approach to IT outsourcing, but also reveal how informal and formal governance mechanisms may complement each other by playing different roles within interorganizational financial, service, and informational exchanges. It appears that in the successful IT outsourcing deals the parties actively practice formal/contractual management of the financial exchanges between them, while resorting to informal/relational governance of interorganizational service exchanges. Well developed both formal and informal information exchanges between organizations seem to be essential to the IT outsourcing relationship success.


Book synopsis: Seeing into Screens: Eye Tracking and the Moving Image is the first dedicated anthology that explores vision and perception as it materializes as viewers watch screen content. While nearly all moving image research either 'imagines' how its audience responds to the screen, or focuses upon external responses, this collection utilizes the data produced from eye tracking technology to assess seeing and knowing, gazing and perceiving.

The editors divide their collection into the following four sections: eye tracking performance, which addresses the ways viewers respond to screen genre, actor and star, auteur, and cinematography; eye tracking aesthetics which explores the way viewers gaze upon colour, light, movement, and space; eye tracking inscription, which examines the way the viewer responds to subtitles, translation, and written information found in the screen world; and eye tracking augmentation which examines the role of simulation, mediation, and technological intervention in the way viewers engage with screen content. At a time when the nature of viewing the screen is extending and diversifying across different platforms and exhibitions, Seeing into Screens is a timely exploration of how viewers watch the screen.


Tiling Theory studies how one might cover the plane with various shapes. Medieval Islamic artisans developed intricate geometric tilings to decorate their mosques, mausoleums, and shrines. Some of these patterns, called girih tilings, first appeared in the 12 th Century AD. Recent investigations show these medieval tilings contain symmetries similar to those found in aperiodic Penrose tilings first investigated in the West in the 1970's. These intriguing discoveries may suggest that the mathematical understanding of these artisans was much deeper than originally thought. Connections like these, made across the centuries, provide a wonderful opportunity for students to discover the beauty of Islamic architecture in a mathematical and historical context. This paper describes several geometric constructions for Islamic tilings for use in the classroom along with projects utilizing girih tiles as construction templates. Open questions, observations, and conjectures raised in seminars across the United Arab Emirates are described including what the medieval artisans may have known as well as how girih tiles might have been used as tools in the actual construction of intricate patterns.


Abstract. Modified local meteorology owing to heterogeneities in the urban–rural surface can affect urban air quality. In this study, the impacts of urban land-surface forcing on ozone air quality during a high ozone (O3) episode in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea, are investigated using a high-resolution chemical transport model (CMAQ). Under fair weather conditions, the temperature excess (urban heat island) significantly modifies boundary layer characteristics/structures and local circulations. The modified boundary layer and local circulations result in an increase in O3 levels in the urban area of 16 ppb in the nighttime and 13 ppb in the daytime. Enhanced turbulence in the deep urban boundary layer dilutes pollutants such as NOx, and this contributes to the elevated O3 levels through the reduced O3 destruction by NO in the NOx-rich environment. The advection of O3 precursors over the mountains near Seoul by the prevailing valley-breeze circulation in the mid- to late morning results in the build-up of O3 over the mountains in conjunction with biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions there. As the prevailing local circulation in the afternoon changes to urban-breeze circulation, the O3-rich air masses over the mountains are advected over the urban area. The urban-breeze circulation exerts significant influences on not only the advection of O3 but also the chemical production of O3 under the circumstances in which both anthropogenic and biogenic (natural) emissions play important roles in O3 formation. As the air masses that are characterized by low NOx and high BVOC levels and long OH chain length are advected over the urban area from the surroundings, the ozone production efficiency increases in the urban area. The relatively strong vertical mixing in the urban boundary layer embedded in the sea-breeze inflow layer reduces NOx levels, thus contributing to the elevated O3 levels in the urban area.


General graduate attributes are among some of the key skills that students in tertiary education develop so that they can increase their competitiveness in the workforce. There is currently a push for work integrated learning (WIL), with particular attention put towards placements, within the tertiary education sector to enable more work ready graduates from universities (Department of Industry, 2014). WIL has been shown to enhance students' transferable skills by putting them in real world context. (Jackson, 2015) The traditional work placement has been to engage with industry. However, finding placements within industry is challenging. To meet the demand of student work placements the Faculty of Science at the University of Western Australia designed a unit where students act as a consultant to a primary or high school teacher that wanted a particular resource created for their science class. This presentation will describe the development of the unit, the assessment tasks and face-to-face interactions within the unit. Moreover, the reflection of students towards their project and time as a consultant provides valuable insight into the range of employability skills that students development within this unit.


The church and power in Revelation 11. The article discusses the notion of power in the episode of the two witnesses in Revelation 11:4–6 as a point of departure for a reflection on power in early Christian documents. It also aims to determine the meaning of power in terms of a close reading of a specific text so that discussions about its nature and about power in Biblical texts can be rooted in firm evidence. This evidence should then, at later stages be further developed with the aid of theoretical models and insights about power. In a first section power in Revelation 11:4−6 is described in terms of the identity and task of the witnesses and in terms of its divine origins, followed in a second part by reflection on the direct references to their power. Special attention is given to some seminal issues about power, namely, its relationship with truth and prophecy, its divine origins, the misuse of power, violence as a response to evil and, finally, its role in the Book of Revelation and Early Christianity.


How does a statistical model differ from a mathematical model? What are the differences among the sample distribution, the sampling distribution, and the population distribution? In an experiment, what effect does the sampling method have on the results? What are the implications of the use of processes of random selection and random assignment? Can a small sample yield accurate estimates of population parameters?This book examines five big ideas and twenty-four related essential understandings for teaching statistics in grades 9-12. The authors distinguish mathematical and statistical models, explore distributions as descriptions of variability in data, focus on the fundamentals of testing hypotheses to draw conclusions from data, highlight the importance of the data collection method, and recognise the need to examine bias, precision, and sampling method in evaluating statistical estimators. Recognising that analysing data is an important part of understanding the world, the authors discuss the growth of students' ideas about statistics and examine challenges to teaching, learning, and assessment. They intersperse their discussion with questions for teachers' reflection.


The conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into value-added chemicals and fuels, preferably using renewable energy and earth-abundant materials, is considered a key priority for future energy research. In this work, a bias-free reactor device for the solar-driven conversion of CO2 to synthesis gas (syngas) has been developed. The integrated fluidic device consists of a cathode made of copper foam coated with low-cost nanosized zinc flakes as catalyst to perform the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to syngas, an adapted silicon heterojunction solar cell structure as photoanode with nickel foam as catalyst to facilitate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and a bipolar membrane separating the respective catholyte and anolyte compartments. The membrane allows for the operation of the catholyte and anolyte at different pH values. Stable and tunable hydrogen-to-carbon monoxide (H2 : CO) ratios between 5 and 0.5 along with high CO Faradaic efficiencies of up to 85% and CO current densities of 39.4 mA cm−2 have been demonstrated. Under photoelectrolysis conditions, the photovoltage of the photoanode was varied between 0.6 V and 2.4 V by connecting up to four heterojunction solar cells in series, and thus reducing the overall cell voltage solely by solar energy utilization. Bias-free operation of the integrated device has been achieved under ambient conditions with active areas for CO2RR and OER, respectively, of 10 cm2. An operation current density of 5.0 mA cm−2 was measured under 100 mW cm−2 illumination of the complete device, which corresponds to a solar-to-syngas conversion efficiency of 4.3%.


The Gujo-Hachiman section in central Japan provides a rare window into environmental conditions within the Panthalassic Ocean, which encompassed more than half the Earth's surface at 251 Ma. The section is characterized by a sharp transition from green-gray organicpoor cherts to black siliceous shales in the uppermost Permian. Normalization to the clay fraction demonstrates that apparent increases in the concentrations of organic matter and trace metals above this transition were due primarily to the loss of a diluent biogenic (radiolarian) silica fl ux and only secondarily to a small shift toward more reducing bottom waters. In the black shale, pyrite abundance increases by a factor of ~30× and is dominated by framboidal grains of probable syngenetic origin. These observations suggest that the expansion of lowoxygen conditions within the Panthalassic Ocean was focused within the oxygen-minimum zone rather than at the seafl oor. Such a pattern implies that (1) changes in nutrient fl uxes and primary productivity rates, rather than stagnation of oceanic circulation, were a key factor infl uencing oceanic redox conditions around the Permian-Triassic boundary, and (2) large regions of the Panthalassic Ocean underwent only limited redox changes, providing potential refugia for marine taxa that survived into the Triassic.


Field research techniques are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the scientific community. There is a growing need for field biology studies to shift towards increasing efficiency and quality of results while simultaneously decreasing cost in both the researcher's time and resources. I tested the efficacy of using multiple recorded birdcall lures (n = 172 species) to improve mist-net captures at a subtropical African savanna setting. Capture success was compared between passive and birdcall enhanced mist-nets during winter and summer seasons. Results suggest that the use of birdcalls does significantly increase the total number of birds caught in both seasons and also increases the diversity of passerine species. Conventional passive mist-nets without an audio lure were initially productive but their capture rate subsequently decreased as sampling days progressed. Birdcall lure enhanced mist-nets had a constant capture output during the summer season. The most responsive birds to audio lures were gregarious species (e.g. Pycnonotus barbatus, Dryoscopus cubla, Prionops plumatus, Phoeniculus purpureus, Turdoides jardineii and Lamprotornis chalybaeus) and the aggressive Dicrurus adsimilis and Acridotheres tristis. I conclude that birdcall lures can be used in summer and winter seasons to improve mist-net captures especially for studies focusing on gregarious and aggressive passerine species in a sub-tropical African savanna setting.


In light of a generic limiting force profile (LFP), closed-form solutions for laterally loaded free- and fixed- head piles in elastic-plastic media have been developed, and implemented by the first author into a spreadsheet program called GASLFP. The solutions offer an expeditious and sufficiently accurate prediction of response of lateral piles. Conversely, they allow input parameters to be deduced using measured pile response, as has been conducted for over 70 test (elastic) piles to date. Nevertheless, structure nonlinearity of pile body is an important issue at a large deflection. In this paper, a semi-empirical approach is established to capture pile response owing to structural nonlinearity. Expressions were provided for gaining cracking moment M cr , flexural rigidity of cracked cross section E p I p , and ultimate bending moment M ult . Against measured response of two laterally loaded single piles, back-estimation indicates that (1) the parameters for elastic piles are quite consistent with the previous findings for piles in sand and clay, (2) The proposed variations of M cr , E p I p and M ult for nonlinear piles provide good prediction of the pile response against measured data and (3) the modulus of rupture k r of 16.7 (clay) and 33.0(sand) are close to those adopted for structural beams, although a very high k r of 62.7 (thus resulting in higher M cr ) for a pile in sand was deduced (shown elsewhere). The use of the k r for beams would render pile deflections of the later pile to be significantly overestimated. The conclusions may be incorporated into design of laterally loaded piles.


The current frenzy over global warming has galvanized the public and cost taxpayers billons of dollars in federal expenditures for climate research. It has spawned Hollywood blockbusters and inspired major political movements. It has given a higher calling to celebrities and built a lucrative industry for scores of eager scientists. In short, ending climate change has become a national crusade. And yet, despite this dominant and sprawling campaign, the facts behind global warming remain as confounding as ever. In Climate Confusion, distinguished climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer observes that our obsession with global warming has only clouded the issue. Forsaking blindingly technical statistics and doomsday scenarios, Dr. Spencer explains in simple terms how the climate system really works, why man's role in global warming is more myth than science, and how the global warming hype has corrupted Washington and the scientific community. The reasons, Spencer explains, are numerous: biases in governmental funding of scientific research, our misconceptions about science and basic economics, even our religious beliefs and worldviews. From Al Gore to Leonardo DiCaprio, the climate change industry has given a platform to leading figures from all walks of life, as pandering politicians, demagogues and biased scientists forge a self-interested movement whose proposed policy initiatives could ultimately devastate the economies of those developing countries they purport to aid. Climate Confusion is a much needed wake up call for all of us on planet earth. Dr. Spencer's clear-eyed approach, combined with his sharp wit and intellect, brings transparency and levity to the issue of global warming as he takes on wrong-headed attitudes and misguided beliefs that have led to our state of panic. Climate Confusion lifts the shroud of mystery that has hovered here for far too long and offers an end to this frenzy of misinformation in our lives. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


This book presents a new perspective on the link between economic growth and environmental change. All the key issues in environmental economics are covered, including: * industry, creation and environmental change * air, water and toxic pollution * economic growth and the limits of environmental regulation * ethics and the limits of environmental economics. The central thesis is that whilst new industries are necessary for economic growth, their development creates new environmental problems which become difficult to reverse. An alternative approach, 'steady-state economics', based on the concept of ethical commitment, is put forward as a possible alternative to a high-growth, environmentally destructive economy. Providing a welcome alternative to conventional, neoclassical microeconomic thought on environmental issues, this will be vital reading for students of environmental economics and related subjects.


It was realized over 100 years ago (Bishopp, 1913), that Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) was an insect of veterinary importance. Since then, however, very little work has been done on its life-history. The object of this investigation was to ascertain the number of instars and their duration, and to do this with any degree of accuracy a study of the morphological development of the cephalopharyngeal sclerites seemed to be the only reliable method.


Object of fascination and fantasy, the female body can be idealized, reified or shrouded. "It is we who make women what they are worth and that is why they are worthless", proclaimed Mirabeau in the days of the Enlightenment, to which Aragon later replied: "Woman is the future of Man". The ambiguities of the female body are therein exposed. This work examines the relationship between the female body and biomedicine. Many possibilities are offered to women through biomedical techniques: from assistance to procreate (with assisted reproduction) to refusal to do so (contraception, voluntary sterilization, termination of pregnancy); to be informed of genetic predispositions (through the use of available genetic tests); or to improve their physical appearance with cosmetic surgery. But a recurrent question arises: with its rapid progress and its extreme medicalization of the body, can biomedicine liberate women? Or rather, given the risks of the commodification of the body or its parts, is it not a source of exploitation ? The authors of this work, jurists, anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists and doctors, have explored these questions. The contributions from nineteen countries in this international multidisciplinary study analyse the reality of the amazing developments of biomedicine on the female body. Numerous systems are compared for the first time; European, African, North and South American, but also Chinese and Japanese. Beyond highlighting differences, and identifying similarities in the development of "enhancement medicine", the objective of this work is ultimately to show the complexity surrounding the question of a woman's freedom over her body and the extent to which this is limited by the State.


Alhagi graecorum is used in the folk medicine and might be beneficial in certain medical conditions. Experiment was thus designed to evaluate the possible protective effect of Alhagi graecorum extract against the alloxan diabetic rats. Alhagi graecorum aqueous alcoholic extract was given orally to alloxan induced diabetic rats once a day for 4 weeks. Diabetes was assessed by elevation of blood glucose, lipids and liver malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as well as decrease of reduced glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) activities. Administration of insulin or Alhagi graecorum reversed the deleterious effect induced by alloxan. In conclusion the extract of Alhagi graecorum may be useful in the controlling glucose and lipid levels, especially if oxidative stress is a part of its pathophysiology.


In this paper, the energy performance of a flat-plate collector and a heat pipe evacuated tube collector exploited for domestic hot water production in the Mediterranean climate is compared. For this purpose, yearly data obtained from two field-trial solar water heating systems are used. The selected systems are with forced circulation and installed near each other. The studied solar collectors are installed on the roof with the same slope angle of 45° and the surface azimuthal angle of 10°. The installed surface area of the flat-plate solar collector is 4.41 m, whereas for the heat pipe evacuated tube collector is 1.5 m. The annual irradiation on solar collector plane was 1,456 kWh/myear. Obtained results showed that the annual solar yield for the flat-plate collector was 664 kWh/myear, whereas for the heat pipe evacuated tube collector was 885 kWh/myear. The annual average collector efficiencies were 0.494 and 0.62, respectively.


Wilde was both a glittering wordsmith and a social outsider. His drama emerges out of these two perhaps contradictory identities, combining epigrammatic brilliance and shrewd social observation. Includes "Lady Windermere's Fan", "Salome", "A Woman of No Importance", "An Ideal Husband", "A Florentine Tragedy" and "The Importance of Being Earnest", which appears in full with the "Grigsby" scene which originally made up the fourth act.


Requirement specifications for the guidance of researchers in collecting and recording the history of computing have been sought by many persons during our 12 year history as a journal. While there does not exist a definitive outline which covers all aspects of the field, the set of guidelines created for the first History of Programming Languages Conference in 1976 have been used by many researchers, authors, and editors. This set of questions, primarily targeted toward those who were involved in the very history which they are recording and reporting on, has been revised and expanded by the program committee of the proposed second History of Programming Languages Conference, scheduled for 1993.