The Final Project "Remote monitoring of airfields and heliports: Transport Network" focuses on the transport of data generated by the devices installed on the premises of airfields and heliports of Catalonia to a control center that would be located on the campus of Castelldefels (EETAC). The work is part of an overall project that is based on the implementation of a monitoring and remote airfields and heliports remotely from a common point. The aim of the project itself is to cost savings at aerodromes and heliports where it would not be economically viable to have air traffic controllers permanently. Air traffic in these aerodromes is very low, which would be enough with the remote control center to simulate virtually a control tower of an airport for all aerodromes and heliports in Catalonia. For this, the local installation of the necessary devices such as cameras, weather station, air-ground communications, and other remote devices is necessary. This document will explain the process of transporting data between the airfield concerned and the control center. We will focus on WiMAX technology to access a network, with the advantages that will offer over other systems. The material needed to implement the system also will be defined, including their costs. And finally, the calculation method will be detailed to give as a viable radio links using the Radio Mobile software. Annexes find data sheets of selected equipment for the project and the viability study of other airfields in Catalonia.


A new full-vectorial beam propagation algorithm based on the versatile finite element method, in order to accurately characterize three-dimensional (3-D) optical guided-wave devices, is presented. The computationally efficient formulation is based on the two transverse components of the magnetic field without destroying the sparsity of the matrix equation. The robust perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition is incorporated into the formulation so as to effectively absorb the unwanted radiation out of the computational domain. The efficiency and precision of the proposed full-vectorial propagation approach is demonstrated through the analysis of single optical waveguide, directional couplers, and electrooptic modulator.


Introduction: A simple stability indicating reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method has been developed for the determination of Eplerenone (EPL) in its tablet dosage forms. EPL is an aldosterone antagonist. It is administered either alone or in combination with other drugs to treat cardiovascular diseases. Materials and Methods: EPL was eluted on SHIMADZU HPLC system using Agilent column (150 mm × 4.6 mm i.d., 3.5 μm particle size) (isocratic mode). A mixture of 10 mM tetra butyl ammonium hydrogen sulfate and methanol (30: 70, v/v) was used for the chromatographic separation and was monitored at 242 nm (PDA detector) with flow rate 1.0 mL/min. The total run time was 10 min. Forced degradation studies were performed, and the method was validated. Results and Discussion: EPL has obeyed Beer-Lambert's law 0.1–40 μg/mL with correlation coefficient 0.9996. The limit of detection and limit of quantification are found to be 0.0283 μg/mL and 0.0846 μg/ mL, respectively. EPL was found to be highly resistant toward hydrolysis and acidic conditions. Conclusions: It is observed that this RP-HPLC method is accurate, precise, sensitive, and reproducible for the estimation of EPL in tablets. The method was validated as per the ICH guidelines and very much specific and selective.


This standard textbook on the background, content, and message of the Old Testament is now thoroughly revised and updated and takes full account of new research in the field of Old Testament studies. This second edition features a new chapter on archaeology and the Old Testament by Robert E. Cooley, and other key chapters have been updated and expanded by leading scholars in the field of biblical studiesLeslie C. Allen, John E. Hartley, Robert L. Hubbard Jr., William B. Nelson Jr., Nancy Heidebrecht, and John E. McKenna."


Objectives: Positive psychology philosophy underpinned the rationale of the current study. The aim of the research was to examine factors that are considered to cultivate human strength. It was hypothesised that hope and perceived social support will be associated with and will predict participants' subjective life satisfaction. Secondary objectives were to investigate how well the data obtained supported the theoretical models upon which the questionnaires were based.

Method: This quantitative study utilised a cross-sectional design. One hundred and fourteen participants from the community aged between 21 to 65 years, completed questionnaires regarding perceived social support (Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey), hope (Adult State Hope and the Adult Trait Hope Scales), and subjective life satisfaction (The Satisfaction With Life Scale). Participants were approached in shopping areas in London and Surrey. Internet methods of recruiting participants provided supplementary data.

Results: The main hypotheses were partly supported by the results. All dimensions of hope and social support were found to relate significantly with subjective life satisfaction. Agency, which refers to the individual's perceived capacity to initiate and sustain actions towards desired goals, emerged as the most significant predictor of subjective life satisfaction. Global Perceived social support was found to be a stronger predictor of subjective life satisfaction than global hope. The co-habiting and married groups perceived that they have significantly more tangible and affectionate support when they needed it than singles. Cohabitees' reported significantly more overall support than singles. Principal Components Analyses of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey which was used to assess perceived social support and the dispositional and situational hope measures supported the theoretical frameworks the questionnaires were based on.

Conclusions: The study confirms existing results and supports the idea that a person could increase subjective life satisfaction when is motivated to initiate and sustain movement toward goals. Results also points out to the direction of researching family life and social relationships in understanding subjective life satisfaction. Data provided evidence that hope and social support are multidimensional concepts. The implications of these findings for theory, measurement and clinical practice are discussed.


A study was conducted to assess the annual variability in planktonic metabolism and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) utilization in an oligotrophic Mediterranean Bay (Bay of Palma, Spain) and to test the role of elevated DOC concentrations in driving planktonic metabolism off balance. We examined, at monthly intervals over 17 mo, gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (R), net community production (NCP), DOC concentration, total chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration, and, for a smaller subset of 11 to 14 mo, net DOC fluxes, bacterial abundance (BA) and bacterial respiration (BR). The community was net heterotrophic in autumn, winter and the first summer studied, and shifted to net autotrophic towards the end of the study period. This period of sustained autotrophy was an anomalous period characterized by frequent storms that stimulated autotrophic processes in the bay, leading to the development of a bloom of the cyanobacteria Synechoccocus. Use of DOC was consistent with the trophic state of the system, as DOC consumption was observed during periods when the system was net heterotrophic and there was a net DOC production when the system shifted to autotrophic. Bacterial respiration accounted for, on average, 51.76% of R and increased as the percent of cells with high DNA content increased. The planktonic community was net heterotrophic on an annual basis, suggesting that the system imports DOC. In particular, the organic carbon import may derive from the excess production of the underlying Posidonia oceanica meadow.


In December 1989, the United States invaded Panama, deposed its government, and established another in its place. While this act of violent intervention brought Panama to public attention, the justifications for it obscured the underlying instabilities that have plagued the country throughout its history. Although a stated purpose of the invasion was to remove one man, Manuel Noriega, from power, "Panama at the Crossroads" demonstrates that the crisis sweeping Panama in the late 1980s was not caused by one man, but in fact derived from the history of U.S. domination and the nature of Panamanian society itself. Panama is located at a crucial geographic crossroads, a fact that has greatly influenced the country's history since the sixteenth century. Labor scarcity and inhospitable terrain, joined with its location, contributed to the mercantile orientation of Panama's economy. Accordingly, the country's politics and economics have been consistently dominated by foreign trading interests, first from Spain, then Colombia and the United States. Now in the 1990s, Panama stands at a historical and economic crossroads, and according to Zimbalist and Weeks its traditional entrepot institutions are no longer able to promote and sustain growth. Before building the basis for long-term economic expansion, Panama must first undo the devastating economic and political damage engendered by nearly three years of U.S. economic sanctions and the U.S. invasion. In this timely book, Zimbalist and Weeks document the origins and characteristics of this crossroads. Their analysis points the way to a more encompassing and equitable strategy for Panama's economic development."


Abstract Despite the progress made in recent years in addressing natural language understanding (NLU) challenges, the majority of this progress remains to be concentrated on resource-rich languages like English. This work focuses on Persian language, one of the widely spoken languages in the world, and yet there are few NLU datasets available for this language. The availability of high-quality evaluation datasets is a necessity for reliable assessment of the progress on different NLU tasks and domains. We introduce ParsiNLU, the first benchmark in Persian language that includes a range of language understanding tasks—reading comprehension, textual entailment, and so on. These datasets are collected in a multitude of ways, often involving manual annotations by native speakers. This results in over 14.5k new instances across 6 distinct NLU tasks. Additionally, we present the first results on state-of-the-art monolingual and multilingual pre-trained language models on this benchmark and compare them with human performance, which provides valuable insights into our ability to tackle natural language understanding challenges in Persian. We hope ParsiNLU fosters further research and advances in Persian language understanding.1


The objective of this study was to investigate anatomical and biomechanical parameters of the canine capal joint in order to determine the physiological situation of articular loading. 121 carpal joints of 61 dogs of varying age weighing more than 20 kg were examined. The joint angle of the carpal joint was measured in 50 standing dogs.
Long term tensile stresses of the articular cartilage and the subchondral bone were determined by the split line method. The distal articular surface of the radius showed two different types of split line patterns, a clear transverse orientation or one singular attractive point at the dorsal rim of the articular surface. The split lines at the dorsal aspect of the radius diverged towards its distal end, which is an evidence of a transverse strain of the articular surface during loading. In all joints compressively loaded regions were located especially in the dorsal parts of the articular surfaces. The articular surfaces of the second carpal bone showed two different split line patterns depending on the weight of the dogs. The palmar aspects of the proximal articular surfaces of the metacarpal bones showed evident transverse tensile stress.
The silicon cast method was used to determine the contact areas and Fuji pressure sensitive film to determine the contact pressures at different loading steps. In all joints of the carpus the contact areas increased nonlinear with an increasing loading rate. They never included more than 50% of the convexe articular surface. Contact areas in the antebrachiocarpal joint always were larger than those of the midcarpal and carpometacarpal joint at the same loading step, the latter being nearly identical for each loading step. Because of the hyperextension the antebrachiocarpal contact areas were located close to the dorsal edge of the articular surfaces, while in the midcarpal and carpometacarpal joint they reached further palmar. The centres of the contact pressures corresponded closely with the centres of the contact areas. Greater pressures in the antebrachiocarpal joint were located medially, in the midcarpal joint they were equally distributed over the whole articular surface, while in the carpometacarpal joint they were found laterally.
The long term loading situation of the articular surfaces was investigated by means of computertomography-osteoabsorptiometry (CTOAM). Individual CT-datasets were matched onto one target joint surface. Thus the mean values of all bone density measurements of the subchondral bone could be visualized. Areas of high bone density were very consistent and coincided with the location of high compressive load in the split line investigation and the contact areas. In the antebrachiocarpal joint, areas with high bone density were found dorsomedially. In both the midcarpal and carpometacarpal joint they were more equally distributed over the joint surfaces. With increasing age the subchondral bone density increases as well. Furthermore the bone density maxima are more clearly demarcated in older animals.
The joint angle of the carpal joint of standing dogs showed a significant correlation with the age of the animals. Body weight and breed did not have any influence.
From the biomechanical point of view the distal radioulnar ligament is a tensile loaded structure which connects radius and ulna distally and inhibits a separation of the two bones in stress. Moreover it increases the congruence of the antebrachiocarpal joint and thus is stressed with compressive forces.
Because of the physiologic hyperextension and valgus-angulation of the carpal joint the articulation with the greatest range of motion, the antebrachiocarpal joint, is loaded unilaterally. Due to the limited range of motion in both the midcarpal and carpometacarpal joint the load is equally distributed over the articular surface in these two joints.


Abstract While cochlear implantation is an increasingly routine provision for profoundly deaf children in many countries, parents still require information about the procedure and likely outcomes in order to make an informed decision. Other parents can provide them with the insights of those who have undergone the process themselves and observed outcomes at first hand. The parents of 101 consecutively implanted children completed the questionnaire: Children with cochlear implants: parental perspectives. Average age at implantation was 4.7 years: range 1.3–12.4 years, with 86% percent congenitally deaf, and 14% acquired deafness. Parents responded to 74 statements on a Likert scale; the responses exploring the process of implantation have been reported in a previous paper. Those responses reporting the outcomes for children and families following implantation are analysed in this paper. Parents reported that they were largely satisfied with the outcomes from implantation: that their children developed greater confidence, were more independent, that the use of spoken language had developed greatly and that communication within the family had improved. The children did not need more support from their parents than before implantation and the support parents were giving was more productive. However, there still remained concerns: parents needed to be patient as progress took time, and a number remained concerned about future education and felt that outcomes from implantation had not met their expectations. The children were considered reliant on their implant systems and hence on the optimal functioning of the technology; this demands long-term management to ensure that those dealing with the technology on a daily basis have the skills and equipment to manage them optimally. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is responsible for nearly half a million deaths annually world wide (11). We present a series of mathematical models describing the dynamics of the intestinal epithelium and the kinetics of the molecular pathway most commonly mutated in CRC, the Wnt signalling network. We also discuss how we are coupling such models to build a multiscale model of normal and aberrant guts. This will enable us to combine disparate experimental and clinical data, to investigate interactions between phenomena taking place at different levels of organisation and, eventually, to test the efficacy of new drugs on the system as a whole.


The New Guinea Big-eared Bat Pharotis imogene has not been reported since the first and only specimens were collected in 1890 and the species was presumed extinct. We document the capture of one individual of the species from the coastal district of Abau, in Central Province, Papua New Guinea, 120 km east of the only previous known locality at Kamali. We recommend that field surveys be urgently undertaken to assess the conservation status of the species.


[1] Measurements obtained during the NASA Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment are used in conjunction with regional modeling analysis to evaluate emission estimates for Asia. A comparison between the modeled values and the observations is one method to evaluate emissions. Based on such analysis it is concluded that the inventory performs well for the light alkanes, CO, ethyne, SO2, and NOx. Furthermore, based on model skill in predicting important photochemical species such as O3, HCHO, OH, HO2, and HNO3, it is found that the emissions inventories are of sufficient quality to support preliminary studies of ozone production. These are important finding in light of the fact that emission estimates for many species (such as speciated NMHCs and BC) for this region have only recently been estimated and are highly uncertain. Using a classification of the measurements built upon trajectory analysis, we compare observed species distributions and ratios of species to those modeled and to ratios estimated from the emissions inventory. It is shown that this technique can reconstruct a spatial distribution of propane/benzene that looks remarkably similar to that calculated from the emissions inventory. A major discrepancy between modeled and observed behavior is found in the Yellow Sea, where modeled values are systematically underpredicted. The integrated analysis suggests that this may be related to an underestimation of emissions from the domestic sector. The emission is further tested by comparing observed and measured species ratios in identified megacity plumes. Many of the model derived ratios (e.g., BC/CO, SOx/C2H2) fall within ∼25% of those observed and all fall outside of a factor of 2.5.


This paper reports on the analysis of parent-recorded video diaries from a parent-driven campaign, #notanurse_but, supported by the charity WellChild. The campaign reveals the challenges that parents (predominantly mothers) face providing high level, ongoing clinical care for a son or daughter who has complex care needs. A team of four researchers analysed 30 videos from the WellChild website, WellChild Facebook page, a dedicated #notanurse_but campaign Facebook page, YouTube and Twitter. An interpretative, inductive qualitative analytical approach was utilised. This paper reflects on the portrayal of mothering (it was predominantly mothers who produced campaign videos) a child with complex health care needs. In particular, this paper considers the competing identities of mother and nurse that these mothers fulfil as part of their daily regimes in 'being mum'. This paper also contributes to geographical discussions concerning methods and ethics of online data collection and the use of secondary online material.


Between 1906 and 1911, as a response to Betrand's Russell's review of La Science et l'Hypothèse, Henri Poincaré launched an attack on the movement to formalise the foundations of mathematics reducing it to logic. The main point is the following: the universality of logic is based on the idea that their truth is independent of any context including epistemic and cultural contexts. From the free context notion of truth and proof it follows that, given an axiomatic system, nothing new can follow. One of the main strategies of Poincaré's solution to this dilemma is based on the notions of understanding and of grasping the architecture of the propositions of mathematics. According to this view mathematic rigour does not reduce to "derive blindly" without gaps from axioms, mathematical rigour is, according to Poincaré, closely linked to the ability to grasp the architecture of mathematics and contribute to an extension of the meaning embedded in structures that constitute the architecture of mathematical propositions. The focus of my paper relates precisely to the notion of architecture and to the notion of understanding. According to my reconstruction, Poincaré's suggestions could be seen as pointing out that understanding is linked to reason not only within a structure but reasoning about the structure.


Generally speaking, `almost distance-regular graphs' are graphs which share some, but
not necessarily all, regularity properties that characterize distance-regular graphs. In
this paper we rst propose four basic di erent (but closely related) concepts of almost
distance-regularity. In some cases, they coincide with concepts introduced before by
other authors, such as walk-regular graphs and partially distance-regular graphs. Here
it is always assumed that the diameter D of the graph attains its maximum possible
value allowed by its number d+1 of di erent eigenvalues; that is, D = d, as happens in
every distance-regular graph. Our study focuses on nding out when almost distance-
regularity leads to distance-regularity. In other words, some `economic' (in the sense
of minimizing the number of conditions) old and new characterizations of distance-
regularity are discussed. For instance, if A0;A1; : : : ;AD and E0;E1; : : : ;Ed denote,
respectively, the distance matrices and the idempotents of the graph; and D and A
stand for their respective linear spans, any of the two following `dual' conditions su ce:
(a) A0;A1;AD 2 A; (b) E0;E1;Ed 2 D. Moreover, other characterizations based on
the preintersection parameters, the average intersection numbers and the recurrence
coe cients are obtained. In some cases, our results can be also seen as a generalization
of the so-called spectral excess theorem for distance-regular graphs.


The internal/external frame of reference model (I/E model) posits that individuals' achievement-related self-concepts are formed through social comparisons (e.g., self vs. peers) within academic domains and dimensional comparisons (e.g., math vs. verbal) between distinct domains. A large body of research has supported the theorized pattern of positive within-domain and negative cross-domain effects of achievement on self-concept. However, research on moderators of these effects has been scarce. In this article, we report results from 2 samples of 7th graders (Nsample1 = 1,045 and Nsample2 = 1,966) in which we investigated whether students' perceptions of teachers' domain-specific competence in judging students' achievement moderated the relation between teacher-assigned grades and students' self-concepts in the I/E model. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the I/E model, which also included teachers' perceived diagnostic competence in each domain (i.e., math and verbal) and 4 latent interaction variables derived from that competence and from school grades in both domains. Both studies found support for the predictions of the I/E model. The cross-domain effect on math self-concept was consistently moderated in both studies: The lower students perceived their teachers' competence in diagnosing math achievement, the stronger the negative path from verbal grade to math self-concept. Furthermore, the results tentatively imply that the positive within-domain effect of verbal grade on verbal self-concept is stronger when students' perceptions of teachers' diagnostic competence in judging verbal achievement are higher. The results extend knowledge on the conditions of academic self-concept formation and provide valuable insights into possible ramifications of teachers' judgment accuracy.


A guide to the services available for faculty at Loras College. Find out who your librarian is, and how to schedule a library instruction session, get research assistance, and put a book on reserve.


Institutional repositories have spread in universities where they provide services for recording, distributing, and preserving the institution's intellectual output. When the Lausanne "academic server", named SERVAL, was launched at the end of 2008, the Faculty of Biology and Medicine addressed from the outset the issue of quality of metadata. Accuracy is fundamental since research funds are allocated on the basis of the statistics and indicators provided by the repository. The Head of faculty also charged the medical library to explore different ways to measure and assess the research output. The first step for the Lausanne university medical library was to implement the PubMed and the Web of Science web services to easily extract clean bibliographic information from the databases directly into the repository. Now the medical library is testing other web services (from CrossRef, Web of Science, etc.) to generate quantitative data on research impact mainly. The approach is essentially based on citation linking. Although the utility of citation and bibliometric evaluation is still debated, the most prevalent output measures used for research evaluation are still those based on citation analysis. Even when a new scientific evaluation indicator is proposed, such as h-index, we can always see its link with citation. Additionally, the results of a new indicator are often compared with citation analysis. The presentation will review the web services which might be used in institutional repositories to collect and aggregate citation information for the researchers' publications.


A carefully parameterized and tested simulation procedure for studying the dynamic properties of long linear DNA, based on a representation that combines features of both wormlike-chain and bead models, is presented. Our goals are to verify the model parameters and protocols with respect to all relevant experimental data and equilibrium simulations, to choose the most efficient algorithms, and to test different approximations that increase the speed of the computations. The energy of the linear model chain includes stretching, bending, and electrostatic components. Beads are associated with each vertex of the chain in order to specify the hydrodynamic properties of the DNA. The value of the stretching rigidity constant is chosen to achieve a compromise between the efficiency of the dynamic simulations (since the timestep depends on the stretching constant) and realistic modeling of the DNA (i.e., small deviations of the input contour length); the bead hydrodynamic radius is set to yield agreement with known values of the translational diffusion coefficient. By comparing results from both a first- and a second-order Brownian dynamics algorithm, we find that the two schemes give reasonable accuracy for integration timesteps in the range 200Â?500 ps. However, the greater accuracy of the second-order algorithm permits timesteps of 600 ps to be used for better accuracy than the 300 ps used in the first-order method. We develop a more efficient second-order algorithm for our model by eliminating the auxiliary calculations of the translational diffusion tensor at each timestep. This treatment does not sacrifice accuracy and reduces the required CPU time by about 50%. We also show that an appropriate monitoring of the chain topology ensures essentially no intrachain crossing. The model details are assessed by comparing simulation-generated equilibrium and dynamic properties with results of Monte Carlo simulations for short linear DNA (300, 600 base pairs) and with experimental results. Very good agreement is obtained with Monte Carlo results for distributions of the end-to-end distance, bond lengths, bond angles between adjacent links, and translational diffusion measurements. Additionally, comparison of translational diffusion coefficients with experimentally-measured values for DNA chains (of 367, 762, 1010, 2311 base pairs) shows excellent agreement as well. This lends confidence to the predictive ability of our model and sets the groundwork for further work on circular DNA. We conclude with results of such a predictive measurement, the autocorrelation time, for the end-to-end distance and the bending angle as a function of DNA length. Rotational diffusion measurements for different DNA lengths (300 to 2311 base pairs) are also presented.


Abstract. Fumarole fields related to hydrothermal processes release the heat of the underground through permeable pathways. Thermal changes, therefore, are likely to depend also on the size and permeability variation of these pathways. There may be different explanations for the observed permeability changes, such as fault control, lithology, weathering/alteration, heterogeneous sediment accumulation/erosion and physical changes of the fluids (e.g., temperature and viscosity). A common difficulty, however, in surface temperature field studies at active volcanoes is that the parameters controlling the ascending routes of fluids are poorly constrained in general. Here we analyze the crater of Stefanos, Nisyros (Greece), and highlight complexities in the spatial pattern of the fumarole field related to permeability conditions. We combine high-resolution infrared mosaics and grain-size analysis of soils, aiming to elaborate parameters controlling the appearance of the fumarole field. We find a ring-shaped thermal field located within the explosion crater, which we interpret to reflect near-surface contrasts of the soil granulometry and volcanotectonic history at depth. We develop a conceptual model of how the ring-shaped thermal field formed at the Stefanos crater and similarly at other volcanic edifices, highlighting the importance of local permeability contrast that may increase or decrease the thermal fluid flux.


Recombinant protein production is applied for a wide range of applications, however, so far no universal system exists which allows for production of sufficient amounts of any protein of interest. Thus improvement of existing systems and better understanding of their molecular function is still as important as the discovery and development of new expression tools. Particularly expression systems which allow a certain degree of flexibility and adaptation concerning growth conditions, expression levels, and choice of expression host appear promising. The work described in this thesis concentrates on vectors with these characteristics. They combine the positively regulated XylS/Pm promoter system with the broad-host-range RK2 mini-replicon. They are well established and have been shown to be capable of industrial-level production of several medically important proteins. Intensive studies, especially with bla (coding for β-lactamase) as reporter gene, and mutagenesis of several of the control elements in the applied system have resulted in identification of variants that increase expression levels also for other reporter genes tested. In this thesis it was aimed to assess, whether there was potential for further improvements of the vectors, and indeed, a combination of several high-expression variants in one cassette resulted in higher expression levels than those achieved by single variants. With the reporter gene bla about 75 times as much protein as with the wild type system could be produced when variants for Pm, the DNA-region corresponding to the 5'-untranslated region of mRNA (5′-UTR) upstream of the reporter gene, and the gene of the positive regulator of the system, XylS, were combined. As a result of this combination corresponding transcript levels could also be increased up to 63-fold.Testing of these new vectors with several other reporter genes demonstrated that expression of them in general could be increased, however, only within the limits of gene- and protein-specific boundaries. This was particularly investigated in the case of celB (coding for phosphoglucomutase), and a new role for the plasmid copy number was discovered: an increase in plasmid copy number does not only lead to higher expression levels due to increased production of transcript, but also facilitates better exploitation of the resources due to the larger distribution of mRNA across the cell.The transcription factor XylS is of central importance for the here applied vectors and a study of its expression revealed new insights into limitations and mechanisms by which it activates Pm. Its expression could not be increased by codon optimization, which was partly, but not only, caused by secondary structure formation in its translation initiation region. However, XylS expression could be improved either by exchange of its 5'-UTR and/or the promoter from which it was expressed. The choice of the positively regulated promoter system ChnR/Pb for transcription of xylS allowed variation of XylS expression levels with concurrent investigation of its mechanisms of activation of Pm. A synthetic operon construct permitted to detect XylS at physiological concentrations. This revealed the existence of a roof for induced expression from Pm depending on XylS expression levels, which probably is caused by oligomerization of the transcription factor at high levels inside the cell. This indicates that it is redundant to increase XylS expression levels beyond the saturating concentration, and the maximum induction ratio at Pm with the wild type system was found to be around 700-fold, with bla as reporter gene.Regulation of XylS expression was also demonstrated to be useful in reduction of background expression from Pm, which often is increased, when induced expression is improved. This might provide benefits for expressing host-toxic proteins. Also background levels of the vectors which combine several high-expression variants, could be reduced by XylS regulation.Another way of background reduction and enhancement of the induction ratio was demonstrated to be the usage of low-expression 5′-UTR variants, which turned out to be a promising approach for metabolic engineering purposes. This also revealed Rho-dependent termination of celB-transcription at low expression levels.The combination of high-expression variants turned out to be useful in reduction of the metabolic load, which is imposed onto cells by recombinant protein production. The high expression levels which were achieved by this approach allowed expression from one single copy on the chromosome at levels higher than that of the wild type plasmid system.The findings described here demonstrate that there is potential to further improve expression from vectors that combine the XylS/Pm expression system with the RK2 mini-replicon. In addition there already exist variants that cause varying phenotypes for several of the elements in these vectors, and it offers a large toolkit with many possibilities for combination of these features. Thus the system probably can be adapted to expression requirements of many proteins. Some of the reported findings can also be seen in a broader context and potentially adapted to other systems, as for example the combination of variants with defined phenotype. Low-expression variants might be helpful to reduce background levels of strong promoters like in the largely applied T7-system. The discovery of the new role in plasmid copy number might be of importance for every expression system and the mechanisms which were revealed for XylS may potentially also exist for other and related transcription factors.


The objective of this research is to characterise the type and frequency of restraint misuse by child occupants, and the implications for restraint effectiveness. This paper presents preliminary findings from three areas - a field study of restraint misuse, real-world injury cases, and crash simulations in the laboratory. Results from these studies demonstrate that misuse is widespread in all restraint types, and includes errors in installation of child restraints and incorrect use of the restraint by the occupant. Injury data shows that incorrect use of the restraint by the occupant (e.g. excessive slack in harnesses, placing sash belt under the arm or behind the back) can be associated with catastrophic injuries. Laboratory simulations demonstrate the injury mechanisms are the result of excessive occupant motion allowed by the restraint. This research demonstrates that to get the full protective benefit from restraints, it is not only important that children use the most appropriate restraint for their size, but that the restraint is used correctly. Failure to educate parents on the correct use of restraints could potentially negate the benefits of appropriate restraint use laws and guidelines


The static and dynamic characteristics of digital wavelength switching in a novel V-coupled-cavity semiconductor laser is investigated. In contrast to previously investigated Y-laser, the V-shaped coupler can realize not only an optimum coupling coefficient but also a ¿-phase difference between the cross-coupling and self-coupling coefficients, which results in a high single-mode selectivity. It is shown that while switching to an optimal current value results in the maximal output power and maximal side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR), the digitally wavelength switchable laser has a good tolerance on the accuracy of the switching current. For a current deviation corresponding to ±25% of the channel spacing, the SMSR only degrades by about 5.2 dB, while the wavelength varies by only ±0.01 nm from the set value for the case of 0.8 nm channel spacing. The dynamic properties including the switching transients and switching delay are also investigated and discussed.


This paper considers wireless-powered relaying multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication, where all four nodes (information source, energy source, relay, and destination) are equipped with multiple antennas. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is applied for information processing to compensate the frequency selectivity of communication channels between the information source and the relay and between the relay and the destination as these nodes are assumed to be located far apart from each. The relay is equipped with a full-duplexing interface for harvesting energy not only from the wireless transmission of the dedicated energy source but also from its own transmission while relaying the source information to the destination. The problem of designing the optimal power allocation over OFDM subcarriers and transmit antennas to maximize the overall spectral efficiency is addressed. Due to a very large number of subcarriers, this design problem poses a large-scale nonconvex optimization problem involving a few thousand variables of power allocation, which is very computationally challenging. A novel path-following algorithm is proposed for computation. Based on the developed closed-form calculation of linear computational complexity at each iteration, the proposed algorithm rapidly converges to an optimal solution. Compared to the best existing solvers, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is reduced at least 105 times, making it very efficient and practical for online computation while existing solvers are ineffective. Numerical results for a practical simulation setting show promising results by achieving high spectral efficiency.


It has been shown that some children with reading difficulties have underlying developmental delay and that this may be related to the persistence of primary reflexes. This study investigated the prevalence of persistent primary reflexes in the ordinary primary school population and how this related to other cognitive and social factors. Three groups of 41 children were drawn from a representative, cross-sectional sample of 409 children (aged 9-10 years) attending 11 ordinary primary schools in N. Ireland. The three groups represented the bottom, middle and top 10% respectively of readers from the total sample population. The relative persistence (on a scale of 0 to 4) of the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR) and the prevalence of motor difficulties were assessed for these 3 groups. The rôle of 5 predictor variables (verbal IQ, social deprivation, sex, month of birth and religious affiliation) in determining the reading level of the total sample was also investigated. It was found that the lowest reading group had a significantly higher mean level of ATNR (1.56 [95% CI 1.22-1.90]) compared with the middle reading group (0.56 [0.22-0.90]) and the top reading group (0.59 [0.25-0.92]). 17% of children in the lowest reading group had extremely high levels of the ATNR while 24% showed no presence of ATNR. This contrasted with 0% and 66%, respectively for both middle and top reading groups. It was also found that there was a significant difference between the lowest reading group and the top reading group on a standardised test of motor ability. Furthermore, there was evidence that ATNR persistence but not motor ability was associated with the sex of the child with boys, in particular, at risk. There was no evidence that ATNR persistence or motor ability was significantly associated with social deprivation. It was also found that there were no significant differences between dyslexic and non-dyslexic children with reading difficulties in motor (including balance) performance. This study highlights the high levels of primary reflex persistence in children with reading difficulties and it provides further evidence of the association between reading difficulties and movement difficulties in young children. However, while the implications for intervention are discussed, it is stressed that the persistence of primary reflexes cannot be used as a causal model for reading difficulties, including dyslexia.


We demonstrate the correspondence between charge transition levels of localized point defects in hybrid density functional theory and in G(0)W(0) many-body perturbation theory. To achieve this correspondence, it is necessary to properly combine the treatments of the finite-size effect, the delocalization error, and the path dependency in the G(0)W(0) scheme. In particular, we introduce a beyond-monopole finite-size electrostatic correction for the eigenvalue which is fully consistent with the analogous correction for the total energy. We illustrate how the comparison with experiment is affected by the calculated band-edge positions, which unlike the defect levels are sensitive to the adopted electronic-structure method.


Background and Aim: Children who work or live in the streets are one of the high-risk groups for HIV. The high population of street child ren and lack of comprehensive intervention programs for them increase their risk for HIV in Iran. This study intended to explore the situation of drug abuse in street child ren in Tehran, the capital city. Materials and Methods: This paper reports part of a comprehensive rapid ssessment and response (RAR) research project on street children in Tehran during 2012-13. Data were collected by interviewing subjects using questionna ires. The sample size was 289 street children selected by time-location sampling in Tehr an. Results: Data showed that about 25.6% of the street childr en had had some history of cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, and/or drug abuse . Most of them were boys aged 15-18 years. The prevalence rate of cigarette and/or hubb le-bubble smoking, alcohol consumption and drug abuse during the preceding 6 months 12.1%, 1% and 6.9%, respectively. Significant associations were found between alcohol consumption and rug abuse on the one hand and the children's age, type of occupation and home-leaving experience on the other. Further analysis of the data showed that the main r eason for drug abuse was curiosity (56.6%), followed by mere enjoyment (39.6%) and lei sure (35.8%) . Conclusion: It can be concluded that drug abuse among street children is highly associated with gender, age, alcohol consumption, cigarette sm oking and leaving home experience. Therefore, it is recommended to start drug abuse pr evention programs at lower ages, with particular emphasis on boys. In addition, family in tervention and improvement of children's lifestyle aiming at preventing home-leaving could b e a main strategic plan for reducing drug abuse among street children.


Abstract Aortic valve (AV) disease is a major cause of cardiovascular-linked deaths globally. In addition, AV disease is a strong risk factor for additional cardiovascular events; however, the mechanism by which it initiates and progresses is not well-understood. We hypothesize that low and oscillatory flow is present on the fibrosa side of the AV and stimulates ECs to differentially regulate microRNA (miRNA) and mRNAs and influence AV disease progression. This hypothesis was tested employing both in vitro and in vivo approaches, high throughput microarray and pathway analyses, as well as a variety of functional assays. First, we isolated and characterized side-dependent, human aortic valvular endothelial cells (HAVECs) isolated from transplant recipient AVs. We found that HAVECs express both endothelial cell markers (VE-Cadherin, vWF, and PECAM) as well as smooth muscle cell markers (SMA and basic calponin). Further, HAVECs align in the direction of the flow as well as uptake acetylated LDL. Using microarray analysis on sheared, side-specific HAVECs, we identified side- and shear-induced changes in miRNA and mRNA expression profiles. More specifically, we identified over 1000 shear-responsive mRNAs which showed robust validation (93% of those tested). We then used Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to identify key miRNAs, including those with many relationships to other genes (for example, thrombospondin and IκB) and those that are members of over-represented pathways and processes (for example, sulfur metabolism). Furthermore, we validated five shear-sensitive miRNAs: miR-139-3p, miR-148a, miR-187, miR-192, and miR-486-5p and one side-dependent miRNA, miR-370. To prioritize these miRNAs, we performed in silico analysis to group these key miRNAs by cellular functions related to AV disease (including tissue remodeling, inflammation, and calcification). Additional miRNAs of interest (including miR-7 and miR-506) were determined through analysis of overrepresented miRNA binding sequences in the shear-sensitive mRNA array. Next, to compare our in vitro HAVEC results in vivo, we developed a method to isolate endothelial-enriched, side-dependent total RNA and identify and validate side-dependent (fibrosa vs. ventricularis) miRNAs in porcine aortic valvular endothelium. From this analysis, we discovered and validated eight side-dependent miRNAs in porcine endothelial-enriched AV RNA, including one miRNA previously identified in vitro, miR-486-5p, as well as a shear-responsive miRNA cluster, miR-199a/214. Through microarray studies and in silico analysis, we have prioritized key miRNAs which may serve as master regulators of AV disease. Better understanding of AV biology and disease in terms of gene-regulation under different hemodynamic conditions will facilitate the design of a tissue-engineered valve and provide alternative treatment options.


Displaced communities respond to the challenges and losses of their changed circumstances by drawing on their remaining resources. The challenge for those working in such contexts is how to effectively combine these community initiatives with their own organisational resources. This paper reports a study of 112 residents of four camps for internally displaced Ugandans. The respondents were primarily concerned with the structural, social and economic difficulties that affected them. Those problems most frequently identified were the fundamental issues of food, health and poverty, which were perceived to stem primarily from the way the camps were structured and resourced. Respondents described four main response strategies: assistance from others (including neighbours, relatives, agencies and community organisations); work and income generation; personal characteristics (e.g. determination, ability to work hard); and social support.


Abstract The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between adult children's education and older parents' cognitive health, and the extent to which this relationship is moderated by parents' own socio-economic and marital statuses. Data using Waves 5 (2000) to 13 (2016) are drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel survey of individuals age 50 and above in the United States of America (USA). Older parents' cognitive functioning is measured using episodic memory from Waves 5–13. Adult children's education is measured using years of schooling, on average, for all adult children of a respondent. Analyses based on multilevel linear growth curve modelling reveal that parents with well-educated adult children report higher memory score over time compared to their counterparts whose children are not as well-educated. We also find that the positive effect of children's education on parents' cognitive health is moderated by parents' own education, though not by their income, occupation or marital status. Our work contributes to the growing body of research on the 'upward' flow of resources model that assesses the ways in which personal and social assets of the younger generation shape the health and wellbeing of the older generation. Our findings are particularly relevant to the USA given the enduring linkage between socio-economic status and health, and the limited social and economic protection for those of lower social status.


Abstract—The human middle ear (ME) is a delicate and vital organ. It has a complex structure that performs various functions such as receiving sound pressure and producing vibrations of eardrum and propagating it to inner ear. It consists of Tympanic Membrane (TM), three auditory ossicles, various ligament structures and muscles. Incidents such as traumata, infections, ossification of ossicular structures and other pathologies may damage the ME organs. The conditions can be surgically treated by employing prosthesis. However, the suitability of the prosthesis needs to be examined in advance prior to the surgery. Few decades ago, this issue was addressed and analyzed by developing an equivalent representation either in the form of spring mass system, electrical system using R-LC circuit or developing an approximated CAD model. But, nowadays a three-dimensional ME model can be constructed using micro XRay Computed Tomography (μCT) scan data. Moreover, the concern about patient specific integrity pertaining to the disease can be examined well in advance. The current research work emphasizes to develop the ME model from the stacks of μCT images which are used as input file to MIMICS Research 19.0 (Materialise Interactive Medical Image Control System) software. A stack of CT images is converted into geometrical surface model to build accurate morphology of ME. The work is further extended to understand the dynamic behaviour of Harmonic response of the stapes footplate and umbo for different sound pressure levels applied at lateral side of eardrum using finite element approach. The pathological condition Cholesteatoma of ME is investigated to obtain peak to peak displacement of stapes footplate and umbo. Apart from this condition, other pathologies, mainly, changes in the stiffness of stapedial ligament, TM thickness and ossicular chain separation and fixation are also explored. The developed model of ME for pathologies is validated by comparing the results available in the literatures and also with the results of a normal ME to calculate the percentage loss in hearing capability.


Microbubbles promise not only as effective acoustic probes for ultrasonic molecular imaging,but also as drug carrier vehicles by conjuncting to specific antibody or ligand. Microbubble's targeting efficiency to certain cells or moleculars is one of the major challenges of being as the acoustic probes. In this study, we developed tumor targeted contrast microbubbles by binding LyP-1 (a cyclic nonapeptide acid peptide) targeted to cancer cell. In addition, we utilized microfluidic technology to evaluate the targeted capability and efficiency of microbubbles to tumor cell surface. The system includes 8×8 chamber microfluidic array and each chamber contains eight micro cell sieves which is semicircular for cell trapping. Assisted with the controllable fluid shear stress, the microbubble's targeted to the cell and the corresponding affinity efficiency could be quantitatively evaluated under a florescent microscope. The result demonstrated that LyP-1 is an efficient maker to be congjuated with microbubbles as tumor targeting probe. Moreover, this system is shown as a useful low-cost and high efficient in vitro platform for studying ultrasonic molecular imaging , drug-delivery and therapy.


BACKGROUND: Surface electromyography (EMG) has been often used, in the last years, as a tool to assess and evaluate different diseases and disorders. Despite its effectiveness in analyzing of muscle fatigue was largely shown, there is still lack of information regarding the evolution of EMG fatigue signals in persons with hip replacement during sub-acute period.
PURPOSE: the aim of this study was to evaluate EMG muscle fatigue and asymmetry between healthy and operated limb, and how these parameters changed during two-week rehabilitation.
METHODS: Forty-three patients (28 females) with hip replacement were enrolled in the study. Surface EMG signals were recorded from vastus medialis (VM) and lateralis (VL) muscles using adhesive concentric ring electrodes (OT-Bioelettronica, Torino, Italy) during isometric squat. A force platform was used to provide a visual feedback in order to have equal distribution of the body weight on the two legs. Patients were asked to maintain a squat position with their back against a wall and knees flexed at 120° for 60 seconds. The measurements were repeated in three sessions (T0 two-three days after the operation, T1 after one week, and T2 after two weeks of rehabilitation). Muscle force was measured separately during leg extension using a hand-held dynamometer (MicroFet, Hoggan ind. Salt Lake City, USA). Borg scale, numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain, Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test, were collected during each session. In addition, a Western Ontario & McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) was used to assesses pain stiffness and physical function before the rehabilitation cycle and two months after the discharge from the clinic, as well as a EQ-5D questionnaire to measure the health-related quality of life. EMG signals were analyzed in order to extract amplitude (ARV) and mean power frequency (MNF). Linear regression analysis was applied in order to extract initial values and slopes of the two variables. Statistical analysis was performed using non parametric paired tests between the two limbs (Wilcoxon signed-rank test).
RESULTS: MNF showed a statistically significant decrease in both legs indicating muscle fatigue during the task. A statistically significant asymmetry of ARV was observed between the two legs at T0, with the operated leg showing lower EMG amplitude as expected. The asymmetry was progressively reducing at T1 and disappeared at T2. Force asymmetry between the two legs at T0 was also observed, with the operated leg showing lower force. The force asymmetry did not change significantly during the two weeks of rehabilitation. No correlation was observed between EMG amplitude asymmetry and force asymmetry, while a significant correlation was observed between amplitude asymmetry and WOMAC total score. MNF slope did not change significantly during the three sessions, indicating no variations of muscle fatigue in the vastii muscles.
CONCLUSION: An asymmetry of muscle activation was observed after the hip replacement, with lower EMG amplitude in the operated limb, and this asymmetry was progressively reduced during the rehabilitation period, disappearing after two weeks.
IMPLICATIONS: EMG signal amplitude asymmetry showed to be a promising tool to assess muscle activity during a rehabilitation period.


Marx's value theory is standardly interpreted as a theory of price: qualitatively, as a kind )f materialist sociology, concerned to show how money, markets and prices, in a developed form, are the mere reflux of a particular mode of production, i. e. capitalism; and quantitatively, how the configuration of money prices may be related to the proportions of social labour-time expended in the various sectors of the economy. According to this view, Marx's value-project is foundational for the understanding of the laws of motion of capitalist society, a motion which is thence shown to rely on the performance and appropriation of surplus labour under capitalist relations of production. As such, human activity is taken to serve an alien will and intelligence, namely, that of capital. Apart from the last sentence (though, admittedly, this in itself is an important caveat) there is little in this standard reading of Marx's value-project to distinguish its orientation from that of the value-moderns. Moreover, in making the wage-contract and its performance the very site of the deformation of human purpose - in intimating that the imposition of a purpose alien to a properly human form of activity comes with the wage contract - any distinction between Marx and value-modernity is all but obliterated. I will want to argue below that, to avoid doing violence to his value-project, Marx's labour theory of value needs to be interpreted in such a way that labour is explicitly understood as a systematically constituted form of self-limiting activity. My aim is to show the various forms that this 'activity of alienation' takes and how the key value-phenomena, organised markets, prices and money, are implicated in this process of selflimitation.


This report has been prepared as part of an effort by IUCN to define its position on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and plan for future work to advance this concept and support effective implementation of NbS to enhance ecosystem services provision and address societal challenges. The report proposes a definitional framework for NbS, including a set of general principles for any NbS intervention. The report also defines the scope of NbS as an umbrella concept embracing a number of different ecosystem-based approaches.


A novel wideband sensitive dry holographic photopolymer sensitized by rose bengal (RB) and methylene blue (MB) is fabricated, the holographic storage characteristics of which are investigated under different exposure wavelengths. The result shows that the sensitive spectral band exceeds 200 nm in visible light range, the maximum diffraction efficiency under different exposure wavelengths is more than 40% and decreases with the decrease of exposure wavelength, the exposure sensitivity is not change with the exposure wavelength. This photopolymer is appropriate for wavelength multiplexing or multi-wavelength recording in digital holographic storage.


Clearly defined methodologies employed during Facebook research projects is lacking. This is problematic with a continual rise in Facebook research studies being published. Transparent methodologies will enhance future protocols and help to shape research practices when using Facebook as a research tool. As Facebook appears to provide an environment that fosters social support when adopting healthier behaviours, understanding best practice evaluation approaches of the site will help shape public health research agendas. Resultantly this paper presents the methods applied in a qualitative analysis of online support seeking communications of a group of running app users, actively engaging in Facebook groups related to the app. Strengths and limitations of utilising Facebook for research are addressed and points for consideration prior to undertaking Facebook research are presented.


English professional football is a highly tenuous and unstable occupation. Because of this the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) have, in more recent years, overseen the establishment and introduction of a series of educational and vocational training packages into the game which have aimed to offer players some kind of safeguard against the high probability of occupational failure. Over the past two decades, many school-leavers, for example, have entered professional football via recognised vocational training programmes-YOP, YTS or YT-schemes which have provided opportunities for individuals to prove their sporting worth whilst fulfilling some form of broader educational pursuit [1]. This article draws on ethnographic research carried out with a group of professional football Youth Trainees during the course of the 1993/94 footballing season. It looks at how notions of 'education' and 'work' represented polarised entities in terms of trainee career choice, and how, as a consequence of this polarity, dismissive subcultural codes were attached to notions of educational pursuit and alternative career planning. The article utilises established research findings within its analysis, (cf. Hollands, 1990; Willis, 1977, 1990; Banks et al ., 1992; Bates & Riseborough, 1993), and in doing so illustrates that, like other occupational spheres, Youth Training in professional football may be seen to carry with it a plethora of assumptions and commonsense practices which collectively ostracise those who wish to supplement their everyday workplace position by pursuing programmes of educational development.


The primary function of access controls is to restrict the use of information systems and other computer resources to authorised users only. Although more secure alternatives exist, password-based systems remain the predominant method of user authentication. Prior research shows that password security is often compromised by users who adopt inadequate password composition and management practices. One particularly underresearched area is whether formal password composition policies actually lead to more secure passwords and user security practices. Consequently, this study investigates empirically the efficacy of using password composition rules to improve password security. The results show that the enforcement of password composition rules does not significantly reduce the use of meaningful data. While the enforcement of rules does reduce password reuse, the overall incidence remains high. These passwords are also perceived by users as being more difficult to remember. Finally, the enforcement of password composition rules significantly increases the average Levenshtein's edit distance between the passwords and ordinary dictionary words indicating that enforcement does improve protection against dictionary-based attack.


We present a framework for fitting multiple random walks to animal move- ment paths consisting of ordered sets of step lengths and turning angles. Each step and turn is assigned to one of a number of random walks, each characteristic of a different behavioral state. Behavioral state assignments may be inferred purely from movement data or may include the habitat type in which the animals are located. Switching between different behavioral states may be modeled explicitly using a state transition matrix estimated directly from data, or switching probabilities may take into account the proximity of animals to landscape features. Model fitting is undertaken within a Bayesian framework using the WinBUGS software. These methods allow for identification of different movement states using several properties of observed paths and lead naturally to the formulation of movement models. Analysis of relocation data from elk released in east-central Ontario, Canada, suggests a biphasic movement behavior: elk are either in an ''encamped'' state in which step lengths are small and turning angles are high, or in an ''exploratory'' state, in which daily step lengths are several kilometers and turning angles are small. Animals encamp in open habitat (agricultural fields and opened forest), but the exploratory state is not associated with any particular habitat type.


The number of cyber "attacks" being carried out by various actors is continually increasing. The vast majority of these cyber activities are not generated by nations, but by individual civilians, hacktivists, organized groups, transnational criminal organizations and other non-state actors. And yet, all of these harmful cyber activities originate and pass through the sovereign territory of individual nations. International law has long held that each nation has a duty to remedy transboundary harm that originates or passes through its sovereign borders and adversely affects another sovereign. Further, modern international law requires nations to solve these potential disputes peacefully, without resort to illegal force. This article analyzes these doctrines of international law, in light of the realities of cyber activities and argues that nations must solve their cyber disputes peacefully, and that they have an emerging duty of due diligence to monitor their networks in order to prevent them from being used to cause transboundary harm to other nations and in some cases, to non-state actors. Further, in the event of transboundary cyber harm, nations have a duty to cooperate with each other in resolving the situation.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific angiotensin II (AII) type 1 receptor blockade with losartan would affect arrhythmia generation in an isolated guinea pig ventricular model of simulated ischemia and reperfusion. Effects of losartan were evaluated in the presence and absence of exogenous AII. Transmembrane potentials and an electrocardiogram were recorded during perfusion with normal Tyrode's solution, exposure to simulated ischemia for 15 min (hypoxia, acidosis, lactate, hyperkalemia, glucose-free) and reperfusion for 30 min. Under normal conditions, losartan did not affect endocardial or transmural conduction times, action potential duration at 90% repolarization or effective refractory period (ERP). However, losartan and AII each had significant effects on electrophysiological parameters during simulated ischemia and reperfusion. Further, losartan and AII, both independently and in combination, exerted antiarrhythmic effects in early reperfusion. Neither losartan nor AII affected action potential duration at 90% repolarization during simulated ischemia or reperfusion. However, AII exerted antiarrhythmic effects by preventing pronounced shortening of ERP in simulated ischemia and early reperfusion. Losartan by itself had no effect on ERP, but completely blocked the antiarrhythmic action of AII on ERP. Nevertheless, losartan preserved antiarrhythmic efficacy by attenuating prolongation of transmural conduction times in stimulated ischemia and early reperfusion. This antiarrhythmic action occurred in the absence or presence of AII. Our results indicate that losartan has antiarrhythmic efficacy which is independent of AII type 1 receptor blockade.


This paper compares the efficiency of a system of objective air-mass types and the Peczely's weather types in classifying pollution levels over the Carpathian Basin for the winter and summer months. Based on the ECMWF data set, daily sea-level pressure fields analysed at 00 UTC were related to the levels of air pollutants for both the objective air-mass types and the Peczely-types in Szeged. The data base comprises daily values of 12 meteorological and eight pollutant parameters for the period 1997-2001. Mean sea-level pressure fields of the Peczely-types show higher independence from each other than those of the objective clusters in both seasons. In the winter months, anticyclonic types are mostly favourable, while cyclonic ones are mostly negligible in classification of pollutant levels both for the objective and the Peczely-types. In the summer months, neither the objective nor the Peczely classifications are effective in categorisation of pollutant concentrations.


Corporations, government offices, and academic institutions have long used video to educate and inform. The only thing that's changed is the people who are producing them: With low-priced equipment and easy-to-use software flooding the market, now you're the person behind the camera, not some high-priced video specialist! This is the guide for you, then-and all of the other nonprofessionals who've been called upon to produce top-quality videos. Long on essentials-like where to place the camera, how to connect microphones, and which font to use in titles-and short on theory, this guide focuses instead on the simple steps and best practices needed to produce great videos. Veteran author Jan Ozer gives you the lowdown on shooting, audio, and lighting before describing the workflow and procedures involved in converting raw DV footage to streaming video and DVDs, and distributing the final product. For software-specific guidance, you can purchase downloadable PDF workbooks that use the book's projects to walk you through the production process.


The objective of this paper is to prepare a numerical model of the pulp and paper sector in Japan.

In order to accomplish this, we discuss the present situation and historical trends, starting with primitive materials and then proceeding to the demand and supply of chips, pulp, and paper, and paperboard.

Next, we discuss causal flow of the factors in the pulp and paper model. Then, I introduce the equations which express this numerically, and, associated with this, I have prepared several statistical studies and simulations.

Also, in connection with these analyses, I present several interesting economic features and finally consider problems which still remain to be solved.


The increased use of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medication by children has led to growing concerns. In a previous study, we found that many of the teachers that were interviewed about ADHD spontaneously associated ADHD with medication. The present study is a qualitative reanalysis of what precisely these 30 primary school teachers had spontaneously said about medication in our previous semi-structured interviews on ADHD. Almost all respondents had experience with pupils taking ADHD medication. The majority of spontaneously mentions medication as the treatment of ADHD. Attitudes towards ADHD medication use by pupils are mainly ambivalent, but more positive than negative effects of medication are reported. However, what teachers say about ADHD medication is often not based on sound information; their attitudes tend to be formed by personal experiences rather than founded on professional and scientific sources. We conclude from our analysis that it will be in the interest of reducing the number of children on ADHD medication that teachers have good access to verified and up-to-date information on ADHD and medication so that they are better supported in making evidence-based pedagogical judgments.


The earliest avian eggshells probably lacked pigmentation but, in part to help protect the eggs from predators, many species of bird have evolved a diverse range of coloured shell markings. However, the wide variation in shell colour and pigment pattern arise out of probably no more than three molecules, protoporphyrin, biliverdin and zinc biliverdin chelate. These molecules are constructed from four pyrrole rings (tetrapyrroles) but, while their synthesis pathways are well defined, the site(s) of shell pigment synthesis is less well defined. It is probable that biliverdin is synthesised in the uterus. While there is evidence that protoporphyrin is also synthesised in the uterus the evidence for this is more circumstantial. What is known is that pigment is secreted from the surface epithelial cells of the uterus into the uterine fluid and hence onto the shell. It is notable that the protoporphyrin content the uterine tissue of white-egg laying birds is not dissimilar to that of brown-egg laying birds, the control mechanisms being exerted at the level of protoporphyrin release from the surface epithelial cells into the lumen of the uterus. Similarly white-shelled eggs are not necessarily devoid of pigment. While pigment is normally concentrated on the outer surface of the shell there are many species of bird that incorporate pigment into the outer half or third of the shell. This has stimulated research into potential functional roles for shell pigments, including substituting for calcium carbonate when calcium is limiting and improving shell strength through 'lubricating' the calcite crystals.


I interpret the 'distribution of income by sectors of the population' to refer to the personal distribution of income, with evidence about it derived from household surveys. Section 1 outlines the links between the personal and factor income distributions, and includes a discussion of research using National Accounts data to check the quality of household survey income data. Section 2 provides a number of breakdowns of the personal income distribution in Britain using a variety of methods and subgroup types (including age, family type, housing tenure, and economic status). Section 3 draws attention to longitudinal issues - how much individuals's incomes and subgroup membership changes between one year and the next, and the links between them. Section 4 provides a summary and concluding remarks.


We find that, on average, firms added to the S&P 500 index experience a permanent price increase, while those deleted from it suffer only a temporary price decline. Existing theories, such as a downward sloping demand curve, liquidity, and information, fail to explain the asymmetric response. We propose a new explanation for the observed price patterns: changes in investor awareness. Investors become more aware of a stock upon its addition to the S&P 500 index but do not become similarly unaware of a stock following its deletion. This results in a significant price increase after an addition but not an equivalent decline after a deletion. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that Merton's (1987) measure of awareness improves after an addition but remains essentially unchanged after a deletion. The price reaction is related to changes in the measure of awareness. From a practical standpoint, our results suggest that index fund managers who are not constrained by tracking error minimization are better off not trading on the effective date. Rather, they may be able to benefit their shareholders by executing purchases of additions upon announcement, but waiting to sell deleted firms until well after the effective date.


This paper traces the emergence of a new visual language for statistical paleontology in the early nineteenth century as part of a broader project to uncover a deep genealogy of modern practices in data visualization. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, natural historians had amassed large quantities of taxonomic data, but lacked quantitative and visual methods to produce and communicate knowledge derived from their data collections. As our "main witness" (in Ian Hacking's sense), we call on the German paleontologist H. G. Bronn—one of the earliest proponents of a "data-driven" approach to statistical natural history—to highlight two unexpected sources of a transformative visual idiom introduced at the time: so-called spindle diagrams representing historical patterns in taxonomic diversity. The first source—which informed Bronn's general statistical approach to fossil data—was the bureaucratic science of cameralism, in which Bronn was steeped as a student and professor at the University of Heidelberg. The second was an earlier tradition of historical visualization popularized by Joseph Priestley and others, which represented time—or the "timeline"—as measured graphical space on the horizontal axis of a chart. In combining the tabular statistical approach of Heidelberg cameralism and the historical timeline, Bronn contributed to the emergence of a powerful new visual language for producing and communicating aggregative statistical generalizations.


Nearly two decades ago Tom LeClair's groundbreaking book on Don DeLillo, In the Loop (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1988), invited further studies of the Bronx writer's works in the context of systems theory, which brings together a number of sciences including those of chaos and complexity. Numerous scholars have, since then, established further connections between the continually shifting field of systems theory and DeLillo as well as other authors such as John Barth, William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon, and Richard Powers. These authors often craft their fictions with one eye trained on newly developing theories, as DeLillo's giant novel Underworld all too well reveals. One recent theory in complexity science, known as autocatalysis, shapes the very structure of this ambitious book and defines the relationships among its many characters. In At Home in the Universe, Stuart Kauffman introduces the theory of autocatalysis while using it to debunk the concepts of random mutation and natural selection, which "could not possibly explore ... patterns of gene activities in the lifetime of all the ... worlds" in the universe (NY: Oxford UP, 1995, p. 106). Instead, a natural proclivity to order drives evolution, with autocatalytic networks serving as vehicles--groups of proteins and catalysts that interact in such a way that they complete self-contained loops. In order to accomplish these loops, a "soup" of chemicals must cross a threshold from subcritical to supracritical levels. A soup consisting of only a few reactions never generates an autocatalytic network. But once a soup of chemicals possesses sufficient diversity "a living metabolism crystallizes" and an "autocatalytic system snaps into existence ..." (62). Kauffman describes the human body, neighborhoods, cities, and entire civilizations as conglomerates of these autocatalytic networks. Underworld's first section, "Long Tall Sally", operates as such a conglomerate. The artwork of Ismael Munoz, to start, originates from the single phrase, "graffiti instinct," that Klara Sax mentions during an interview about her B-52 project several decades after, but several hundred pages before she goes to search for him with her art dealer Esther Winship. Before the interview in fact Klara's former lover, Nick Shay, observes that the planes Klara uses are covered in a sort of primordial soup of paint. A few pagers later Shay and his friend Brian Glassic encounter "condoms marked with graffiti that stretched to your erection, a letter becoming a word, a word that expands into a phrase" (111). While waiting for Chuckie Wainwright, Marvin Lundy encounters graffiti-covered tunnels (311). And, finally, when Klara and Esther go hunting for Ismael, Esther remarks that his graffiti "is so completely everywhere" (381). It is this point at which one notes a paradox. Although the primordial soup of paint covering the bombers seems to evolve into more complex forms through Ismael's graffiti, Underworld's retrograde narration enables a kind of feedback loop between Ismael and Klara. The chapter in which Klara searches for Ismael actually occurs about twenty years before she becomes famous for her bomber project. It is then, in the 70s as she accompanies Esther into New York's subways, that Klara enters Ismael's "system" as a new catalyst. Inspired by the graffiti, Klara then, several years later, organizes the immense bomber project. …


This is, in essence, the project initiation paper for the CEO Project. Its main concern is explaining the project's aims, how it intends to achieve them and the methodological framework within which the project will work. It explains the origins, conception and motivation for the project and gives an outline of the management framework for the project, in particular the first synthesis stage. It clarifies the terms of the art and describes the nature of ontological analysis. It also characterises the requirements that shape it and the meta-ontological choices and analytic styles that underlie it. Finally, it describes the potential applications and the next steps.


Credit reports are used in nearly all consumer lending decisions and, increasingly, in hiring decisions in the labor market, but the impact of a bad credit report is largely unknown. We study the effects of credit reports on financial and labor market outcomes using a difference-in-differences research design that compares changes in outcomes over time for Chapter 13 filers, whose personal bankruptcy flags are removed from credit reports after 7 years, to changes for Chapter 7 filers, whose personal bankruptcy flags are removed from credit reports after 10 years. Using credit bureau data, we show that the removal of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy flag leads to a large increase in credit scores, and an economically significant increase in credit card balances and mortgage borrowing. We study labor market effects using administrative tax records linked to personal bankruptcy records. In sharp contrast to the credit market effects, we estimate a precise zero effect of flag removal on employment and earnings outcomes. We conclude that credit reports are important for credit market outcomes, where they are the primary source of information used to screen applicants, but are of limited consequence for labor market outcomes, where employers rely on a much broader set of screening mechanisms.


The Corporate Social Responsibility (hereafter CSR) concept of Transnational Corporations (hereafter TNCs) is beneficial from many aspects for the societies living in host countries and their governments. Some researchers claim that it has no benefit for TNCs rather than being waste of time, energy, labor and money; the only party enjoying CSR is developing countries. However, the paper clarifies that both parties reap benefits from CSR programs and give away something in return hence, the aim of this paper is to take up several issues in the hope of clarifying above-mentioned controversy and misapprehension and discussing gains and losses for both parties-TNCs and developing nations. As a result, the paper has revealed that actually it is not TNCs who lose money, labor and time but in fact it is developing countries that give more but get less in return with these CSR programs. These findings establish better understanding of CSR, TNC policy in developing countries and a base for future researches.


Intake generated flows are known to have a fundamental influence on the combustion both in spark ignition (SI) and compression ignition engines. This study experimentally investigated the tumble flow structures inside a cylinder of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine utilizing a stereoscopic time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV). The experiments were conducted in a GDI engine head for a number of fixed valve lifts and 150 mmH2O pressure difference across the intake valves. A tumble flow analysis was carried out considering different vertical tumble planes. In addition, the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) identification technique was applied on the PIV data in order to spatially analyze the structures embedded in the instantaneous velocity data sets. The results showed that the flow was dominated by a strong tumble motion in the middle of cylinder at high valve lifts (8–10 mm). Moreover, it is worth pointing out that, because of the complexity of the flow at the high valve lifts, the flow energy was distributed over a higher number of POD modes. This was confirmed by the need of a higher number of POD modes needed to reconstruct the original velocity field to the same level of fidelity.


Imperfect rights are not held against any single person, and when violated, they do not ground a claim for any particular quantum of redress. The right to an adequate income may be an imperfect right. Because imperfect rights have been asserted only as claims against the state, and because they do not lend themselves to constitutional adjudication, they have had little traction. In my paper, I will emphasize that any claim on the state is derivative from the right held as against other citizens. Even those who believe that individuals have perfect social rights against the state should concede an imperfect right against other individuals in the ubiquitous case of (at best) partial compliance by the state.Because the right to basic income ultimately is held against other individuals, it is effective outside the boundaries of public law. I will argue that, though the United States does not recognize a constitutional right to adequate income, the common law does implicitly recognize certain imperfect social rights. Imperfect rights shape rights and responsibilities with respect to individuals against whom an imperfect right-holder does not otherwise bear a direct claim under private law.Theorists of private law have been reluctant to recognize any role for distributive justice in private law because social rights are perceived as collective in nature, and therefore, without import for the scope of obligation between individuals. I show that imperfect social rights may be taken into account in a way that respects the foundational status of individual responsibility in private law.


The noradrenaline system is extensively innervated throughout the brain, implicated in the aetiology of a wide range of psychiatric conditions, and the pharmacological modulation of the noradrenaline system has had a positive influence upon the alleviation of symptoms for those suffering psychiatric or neurological disease. Clinical imaging of the brain with technologies such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) can provide clinicians and researchers with valuable information for elucidating disease aetiology, monitoring patient condition, and also confirming the mechanism of action for drug development through occupancy studies. However, to date, there is no SPECT brain imaging tracer for the noradrenaline transporter in regular clinical use.

This thesis is a body of work to develop a novel SPECT brain imaging tracer for the noradrenaline transporter with compounds that are iodinated forms of reboxetine, the selective noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor and clinically used antidepressant. From the compounds synthesised and tested, the one which demonstrated the best pharmacological affinity and selectivity for the noradrenaline transporter was NKJ-64. This same compound also displayed many of the HPLC-derived properties predicting in vivo molecular behaviour that are associated with successful brain imaging tracers. Therefore, NKJ-64 was recommended for radiolabelling and further study.

PCP MODEL OF THE METABOLIC HYPOFRONTALITY OBSERVED IN SCHIZOPHRENIA:

The metabolic hypofunction observed in the prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic patients is mimicked in a rat model via repeated, low-dose phencyclidine administration. The neural mechanisms underlying this hypofrontality are unclear. Whilst dopaminergic transmission is classically associated with aberrant activity in schizophrenia, modulation of noradrenergic neurotransmission is correlated with the alleviation of negative symptoms. Furthermore, the noradrenaline transporter rather than the dopamine transporter functions as the dominant dopaminergic reuptake mechanism in the prefrontal cortex. It was hypothesised that repeated phencyclidine administration in the rat would induce a down-regulation of the NAT.

Ligands labelled with [3H] were used for autoradiographic imaging of the noradrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin transporters in phencyclidine-treated and control groups, and [35S]-labelled oligonucleotide probes specific for the mRNA of each transporter were used for in situ hybridisation. The binding densities of the noradrenaline and dopamine transporters were unaltered in the model, however significant selective reductions of serotonin transporter binding sites were measured. The densities of mRNA for all three monoamine transporters were unaltered, so the unaltered densities of noradrenaline and dopamine transporter binding sites and the changes in serotonin transporter binding densities were not the result of altered gene expression.

Although the noradrenaline transporter was not directly affected in this model of one particular aspect of schizophrenia and the model is not ideal for demonstrating the capability of a SPECT tracer for the NAT, this does not imply that the noradrenaline transporter is uninvolved in the disease aetiology of schizophrenia or of diminished importance to future schizophrenia studies. The aforementioned correlation of noradrenaline transporter modulation to the alleviation of negative symptoms emphasises the importance of acquiring the clinical ability to assess the density and/or occupancy of the noradrenaline transporter by developing a useful SPECT brain imaging tracer for this site.

PHARMACOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION OF POTENTIAL SPECT BRAIN IMAGING TRACERS FOR THE NORADRENALINE TRANSPORTER:

In vivo imaging of the noradrenaline transporter was previously limited to peripheral tracers such as metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), which does not cross the blood-brain barrier, and neuroligands such as radiolabelled desiprimine, which demonstrated problematically high nonspecific binding. Recent efforts in the literature have focused upon modified reboxetine analogues, and some progress was made with the S,S-isomer of iodophenoxy-ring reboxetine, referred to as both INER and IPBM in publication (Tamagnan et al. 2007; Kanegawa et al. 2006).

Synthesised iodophenyl-ring compounds in S,S-, R,R-, S,R-, and R,S-isomers were evaluated for their affinity for the NAT. The R,S-isomer demonstrated a very similar level of binding to the S,S-isomer and so this was explored in an iodophenoxy isomer to determine if improvement upon the characteristics of lead iodinated reboxetine compounds in the literature was possible.

The R,S-isomer iodophenoxy reboxetine analogues were synthesised with the iodine in the ortho, meta, and para positions of the phenoxy ring and assigned the designations NKJ-64, NKJ-67, and NKJ-68, respectively. NKJ-64 has strong affinity and selectivity for the noradrenaline transporter, with a KD of 8.4 ± 1.7 nM, a 6-fold selectivity for the noradrenaline transporter over the serotonin transporter, and a 63-fold selectivity for the noradrenaline transporter over the dopamine transporter. From the compounds synthesised and tested, NKJ-64 has the most suitable pharmacology to be developed further as a SPECT brain imaging tracer for the noradrenaline transporter and has an affinity in the same order of magnitude as iodinated compounds in the literature, such as the aforementioned INER/IPBM.

USING HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC) TO PREDICT IN VIVO CHARACTERISTICS OF TRACER CANDIDATES:

The development of any candidate tracer compound must include an evaluation of its in vivo properties. To streamline this process and select only the most viable compounds for further testing, predictors of in vivo molecular characteristics are used to conserve research effort. Measures such as lipophilicity, phospholipophilicity, and plasma protein binding, used to estimate the potential for blood-brain barrier penetration, nonspecific binding, and the likelihood of serum availability would be very time-intensive to determine via traditional bench-top methodologies.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a quick, precise, and reliable technique that is a rapid and high-throughput automatable process with exceptional precision that does not rely on the bench-top proficiency of an individual experimenter. The optimisation of gradient elution protocols and formulae to interpret sample retention times on commercially available columns into reproducible standardised units has allowed for the efficient evaluation of tracer candidate compounds.

The iodinated reboxetine compounds were compared to examples of both successful and failed neuroimaging tracers. Generally, the evaluations of the successful and failed neuroimaging tracers validated the combined methodologies of the HPLC-derived predictors of in vivo molecular behaviour. In applying these methodologies to the synthesised iodoreboxetine compounds, NKJ-64 displayed many of the HPLC-determined properties that are consistent with successful tracers.


A common requirement of many scienti c applications is the ability to process queries involving expensive predicates corresponding to user programs. Optimizing such queries is hard because static cost predictions and statistical estimates are not applicable. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, called Cherry Picking (CP), based on the modelling of data dependencies among expensive predicate input values as a k-partite graph. We show how CP can be easily integrated into a cost-based query processor. We propose a CP Greedy algorithm that processes the graph by selecting candidate values that minimize query execution cost, and the Epredicate algorithm that processes tuples in pipeline following the CP approach. Based on performance simulation, we show that these algorithms yields executions up to 86% faster than statically chosen pipeline strategies.


ABSTRACT Background: Programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a cell surface protein that delivers inhibitory signals to T cells through interaction with the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) receptor and the CD80 receptor. Numerous cancers appear to exploit this PD-L1/PD-1 pathway and evade the immune system via upregulation and cell surface expression of PD-L1. Anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have shown encouraging preclinical and clinical activity against a number of tumor types. MEDI4736 is a human IgG1 mAb that blocks PD-L1 binding to PD-1 and CD-80 and is associated with a low frequency of anti-drug antibodies. Evidence of clinical activity for MEDI4736 in NSCLC has been observed in a Phase 1 study. The current Phase 2 study assesses the efficacy and safety of MEDI4736 treatment in patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC. Trial design: ATLANTIC (NCT02087423) is a Phase 2, non-comparative, multicenter, international, open-label study, evaluating the efficacy and safety of MEDI4736 (administered IV every 2 weeks for up to 12 months) in patients with PD-L1-positive locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC (stage IIIb - IV). Eligible patients (age ≥18 years) will have a WHO Performance Status of 0 or 1 and must have received at least 2 prior systemic treatment regimens, including a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen. Approximately 188 PD-L1-positive patients (∼50% known EGFR or ALK positive [Cohort 1] and ∼50% EGFR and ALK-negative [Cohort 2]), will be treated at ∼100 sites across North America, Asia, and Europe. Prior therapy for Cohort 1 patients must include appropriate tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The primary outcome measure is objective response rate according to RECIST 1.1. Secondary outcome measures will further assess efficacy (including disease control rate, duration of response, deep sustained response, progression-free survival and overall survival), safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity of MEDI4736. Recruitment is ongoing. Disclosure: N. Rizvi: I receive consulting income from Medimmune, Roche, Merck and BMS; J. Gray: MedImmune considers the research funding received for the conduct of a MedImmune-sponsored study as conflict of interest; M. Ballas: Employee of AstraZeneca and owns stock/stock options in AstraZeneca; D. Jayawardene: Employee of AstraZeneca and owns stock/stock options in AstraZeneca; P. Stockman: Employee of AstraZeneca and owns stock/stock options in AstraZeneca; J.D. Powderly: Speaker Bureaus BMS: Ipilimumab & ImmunoOncology. Dendreon: Sipileucel T. Genentech: Bevacizumab. Research Funding: BMS, Genentech/Roche, AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Merck/EMD Serono, Amplimmune, CellDex, ABBVie, Lilly/Imclone. Stock Ownership: BioCytics


In this paper, a novel framework is proposed to deliver a fast, robust, and generally applicable SVM-based image retrieval for large databases. A quick test scheme is developed, and on-line kernel learning is employed to realize it after analyzing the relationship between them. Then an upper bound on maximum test scope is derived to speed up testing further. Also, the general applicability is well maintained because this framework does not need a kernel function and index structure to be pre-defined. Taking the advantages of this framework, more sophisticated SVM can be used to improve retrieval performance while keeping short response time. Experimental results on large image databases verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework.


This perspective is a very personal account of the history and evolution of experimental trace element partitioning, although I cannot hope to exhaustively cover all aspects of this discipline. Therefore, I emphasise issues with which I am most familiar: (i) partitioning between mafic silicates and silicate melt; (ii) solid metal-liquid metal partitioning – especially the effects of non-metals; and (iii) metal-silicate liquid partitioning. I first entered the field of experimental partitioning as a grad-student in the mid-1970's and so was able to see some of the growing pains of this discipline up close and personal. Also where appropriate, I will mention applications of experimental partitioning data to geologic and planetary problems.